lip, and would cast a dull stare at the assembled crowd, and he would then relax into a state of stupor. He was on the brink of what the French call “ une apoplexie foudroyante"-an apoplectic stroke that strikes a man down without a hope!

I never saw anything so horrible in all my life. the defeat of Herode was certain.

Every one saw that

"He is lost!" they whispered to one another. "He who thought himself invincible has found his master; two or three glasses more, and it is all over with him."

Some, however, thought differently, and affirmed that Gambrinus would hold out for three or four hours. Van Rasimus even offered to bet a barrel of ale that he would not roll under the table till sunset, when an incident of an apparently trivial character came to decide the contest.

It was now near noon. The cellarman, Nickel Spitz, was replenishing the decanters for the fourth time. The spare Judith, after having made a vain attempt to mix water with the schiedam, had gone out bathed in tears, and was heard mourning in an adjoining room.

Herode was in a state of semi-stupor.

Suddenly the old clock began to grind after an unknown fashion; it then struck twelve times in the midst of the deepest silence; which done, the little wooden cock perched over the frame beat its wings and ko-kori-koed in the most triumphant manner possible. No cock on its own dunghill ever crowed more lustily.

Then, my friends, those who were in the hall witnessed a frightful scene. Van Gambrinus arose at the sound of the cock crowing, as if impelled by an irresistible impulse. I shall never forget his open mouth, his haggard eyes, his countenance livid with terror. I see him now before me, stretching forth his hands to repel the frightful spectre. I still hear him crying out with a strangulated voice:

"The cock! oh, the cock!"

He wanted to run away, but his legs refused to perform their office, and the terrible Herode van Gambrinus fell like an ox beneath the club of the slayer, at the feet of Master Cappelmans.

Next morning, about six o'clock, Cappelmans and I quitted Osterhaffen, taking with us the "Miraculous Draught of Fishes."

Our return to Leyden was a complete ovation; the report of the contest had spread throughout the whole town, and the population awaited our arrival in the streets and in the squares, and cheered the victor of Van Gambrinus. He alone did not participate in the universal joy; his mind seemed to be full of thought, and no sooner had he reached his own house than he carefully closed the door.

66

Christian," said my worthy master, as he took off his great-coat, "I want to be alone; go to your aunt's, and work there. When the picture is finished, I will send Kobus to inform you."

It was on a fine day, after the lapse of nigh six weeks, that Master Andreusse came himself to fetch me, and led me to his study. The "Miraculous Draught of Fishes" was suspended on the wall in front of the two windows.

"Heaven! what a sublime work! Is it possible that man could produce such things!" Cappelmans had thrown his whole heart and genius into it. The soul of Van Marius must have been satisfied! March-VOL. CXXXIII. NO. DXXXI. 2 B

MINES AND MINING.*

THE importance of a work of the kind now before us can be hardly over-estimated. To the mineral productions of Great Britain and Ireland must be mainly attributed, the author justly remarks, that high commercial position which the geographical extent and population of the two islands would scarcely have led us to expect. With her coal England has kept every part of the empire in vigorous operation, and is provided with the means of enhancing the domestic comforts of the people; with her iron she has promoted the arts, added to her material strength, and produced some of the finest pieces of mechanism the world has ever seen; and with her lead, tin, and copper, she has increased the security and supplied some of the most urgent necessities of the nation. Conjointly, these several productions have given her a commanding trade, rendered her pre-eminence the envy of other nations, and augmented the resources, stimulated the energies, and proved a blessing to the great mass of the community.

The law relating to mines is, therefore, of universal importance, but especially to those who are more immediately affected by it. To the prince, as a large landed proprietor and possessor of extensive mineral rights, to the peer, as hereditary counsellor of the crown, and final arbiter of every litigated mineral question, to the landowner, who may be called upon at any moment to establish his rights, resist obtrusion, abide by the acts of his agents, or to give compensation for injuries done by them or his workmen,—to the adventurer, who expends his capital in exploring the hidden treasure of the soil,-to the merchant, whose dealings must be conducted in accordance with the peculiar laws and customs which prevail in particular districts,—to the manufacturer, who must not commit a nuisance or suffer a dangerous vapour to continue when bringing the rude matter into due form,-and to the labourer and artisan who, on the one hand, are subjected to civil and criminal proceedings for acts of omission as well as commission wilfully incurred in the course of their employment, and, on the other, have a remedy for all grievances or injuries to which they may be subjected by the oppression, negligence, or commands of their employers, to one and all the law relating to mines is shown to be of considerable importance.

If an acquaintance with multifarious branches of science-mathematics, mechanics, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and metallurgy—are requisite for the successful miner, a mere reference to the index of this ponderous tome will surprise the unthinking person how many questions are involved in the law of mines, minerals, and quarries. There are not only the laws as relating to our own and to foreign states, laws of ownership, and of titles, alienation, leases, grants, sales, and exchanges, but there are also local laws and customs to be considered-easements and servitudes, rating, re

* The Law relating to Mines, Minerals, and Quarries in Great Britain and Ireland; with a Summary of the Laws of Foreign States, and Practical Directions for obtaining Government Grants to work Foreign Mines. By Arundel Rogers, Esq., of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. V. and R. Stevens, Sons, and Haynes.

gulation and inspection, the coal trade, the relation of masters and workmen, pleading in actions and criminal offences. The number of branch questions which again spring from these-accidents, bankruptcies, rights of way, canals, commons, barriers, compensations, fences, railways-are still more numerous.

Amid such a multitude of questions, we will select one, perhaps not the least important of all, as an example of the uncertainty which pervades many of these points. The author adopts Sir William Armstrong's opinion upon the subject of the proximate exhaustion of coal; he says that these views may be taken as substantially correct, and it is therefore of the greatest importance that the amount of waste now going on in the coal-fields should be ascertained and prevented.

Mr. Greenwell stated, a few years since, his opinion that the northern coal-field would continue 331 years. Mr. Hall agreed in the main with Mr. Greenwell, and taking the annual consumption of the Newcastle coal-field at fourteen millions of tons, he gives 365 years as the period at which this coal-field will be exhausted. Mr. Fordyce, in 1860, supposing the drain upon this coal-field to be twenty millions of tons annually, says that at this rate of demand the coal-field would be exhausted in the course of 256 years. (Trans. of the North of Eng. Instit. of Min. Eng.; Fordyce, Hist. of Coal, 1860.)

In the report presented by the coal trade at the meeting of the British Association (1863), the rate at which the reporters suppose the exhaustion of this coal-field to be going on in 1861, is given as at 21,777,570 tons. (Hist. of the Trade and Man. of the Tyne.) The quantity is above that which is given in Mr. Hunt's Mineral Statistics for 1862 (we there find 19,360,356 tons recorded as the quantity raised and sold).

Mr. Edward Hull has devoted much attention to this important subject, and he calculates that the total remaining supply of coal amounts to 79,843 millions of tons, and that in the whole of Great Britain the supply is sufficient to last for upwards of a thousand years with a production of seventy-two millions of tons annually. (The Coal-Fields of Great Britain, by Ed. Hull, B.A., and No. 1, Quarterly Jour. of Science.)

The increase of consumption has, however, been going on in recent times at a fearful rate, and Sir William Armstrong startled the world -and more especially the geological world-by his recent statement, which was to the effect that "by combining the known thickness of the various workable seams of coal, and computing the area of the surface under which they lie, it is easy to arrive at an estimate of the total quantity comprised in our coal-bearing strata. Assuming four thousand feet as the greatest depth at which it will ever be possible to carry on mining operations, and rejecting all seams of less than two feet in thickness, the entire available coal existing in these islands has been calculated to amount to about eighty thousand millions of tons, which, at the present rate of consumption, would be exhausted in 930 years; but with a continued yearly increase of two millions and three-quarters tons, would only last 212 years."

It has, however, been justly remarked that it is not probable that there will be any long continuance of such a rapid increase. The progress of civilisation has ever been a system of undulations, the maximum of elevation is reached, and the still onward wave subsides, the momentum

acquired in its decline being the power by which it again rises to its highest level. It must not be inferred from this that it is to be supposed that our commerce and manufactures have reached their highest point. It is believed that a large extension is before us, but it is argued, from the history of the past, that our progress will not be a system of continuous rise in the future.

Whatever real foundations there may be for this deduction, its propounder has been led by the consideration of the subject to practical considerations-perhaps not novel, but of great importance to the community-in regard to the present mode of employing this precious fuel. He has shown that improved machinery, a better arrangement of the fire-grate, and an easy method of firing, would not only economise its consumption to an almost incredible degree, but that the inhabitants of cities would be spared the annoyance and inconvenience of a vitiated atmosphere. Even in our present fireplaces, he tells us, we consume five times as much coal as would be requisite in a properly constructed stove or improved open fireplaces.

While it is certain that striking improvements are being introduced into the construction of land and marine engines, which herald a constantly increasing diminution in the expenditure of fuel, and an increased economy in the private consumption of coal presents itself as a means of saving, if for no higher motive, it does not appear that the experience of practical geologists altogether bear out the gloomy anticipations of Sir William Armstrong.

A revolution will probably be soon effected in regard to coal-mining, as well also as in other mining operations, by the further introduction of machinery. At the present day, in nearly every division of human labour, some mechanical power has been introduced for the purpose of relieving the labourer from the constant strain made upon his muscular system. The coal-hewer has not, however, been in any way assisted; with the primitive pick and the ancient wedge he has been compelled, often under the most trying conditions, to "get" the coal. The question of supplanting this circumscribed hand-labour by machinery has not been, however, entirely neglected. So long since as 1789, a patent appears to have been granted for improved machinery to be used in getting coal, and since that time many plans have been proposed, and some of them patented, and have even been successfully applied. The first machine which has been found capable of taking its place in the regular business of coal cutting is one belonging to the West Ardsley Coal Company, Messrs. Firth, Donisthorpe, and Bower. This machine has been in regular work for now some time past, and it appears to be admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is contrived. The length of this coal-cutting machine has been thought by some to be a disadvantage. Difficulties are said to have arisen when it was required to be taken round the short elbows and the abrupt curves which often occur in a colliery. To obviate this, Messrs. Ridley and Jones have constructed a new machine, which is about half the length of the machine used by the Ardsley Company.

MADAME DE FONTANGES.

I.

IN the autumn of 1677 there was a remarkable excitement at the château of the Marquis Sorcillac de Roussille, in Brittany. The "great king," Louis XIV., was hunting in the neighbourhood, and intended on the next day to return through the park. What an event! The news produced an astounding effect, for the poor old marquis, with his sister, the Dowager Marquise Fontenois, and his granddaughter, Angélique, had lived, since the death of his son and daughter-in-law, in such retirement from the court and the world that not the faintest gleam of the sun shining at Versailles penetrated to him.

The poor old man himself was not much affected by the news, for he had for many years lost all memory of the living, and only remembered things that were told him for a second. The marquise, however, was all the more excited, for the dignity of the family was entrusted to her. She regarded her brother as an imbecile fool, and her granddaughter as a child, who, in spite of her sixteen years, had as yet no idea of the importance of a lady of la belle France.

She bitterly complained daily that the little girl had inherited neither the grace nor the beauty of the women of her family, but was unhappily the image of a mother who had not the slightest right by birth to bring a Sorcillac de Roussille into the world. So the king intended to come. "The king!" the marquis repeated, with a flash of intelligence in his large melancholy eyes. "The king!" Angélique exclaimed, clapping her hands, when the old servant brought them these wonderful tidings.

These two had no idea of the feelings that agitated the Marquise Fontenois as she now paced up and down the sitting-room. They were aware that the château was as little suited to receive a royal visit as a magpie's nest would be. Of all the riches of the Sorcillacs de Roussille, only this pile of stones remained- -as empty inside as a cheese occupied by mice. Of all the costly plate, nothing was left but two drinkinghorns, a small number of silver spoons, a cup on the toilette-table of the marquise, a silver-framed hand-glass for Angélique, and a gold fruit-dish, which was never absent from the dinner-table, though it performed the most varied duties. There was also a silver plate, with the arms of the family, on which the marquise was accustomed to breakfast, and a small cup set with jewels, out of which the marquis always drank. But all these visible defects were as naught compared with the awful difficulty. of collecting and clothing the number of servants requisite for the family of the Sorcillacs. The king only intended to ride through the park, hence there would be no eating and drinking, beyond filling the horns with spiced wine, which the marquise prided herself on preparing -that is to say, if there were the ghost of a bottle of wine in the cellar. A dish of fruit would also be piled up and presented by "the child." To this moment the ambitious dreams of the marquise clung. It was high time to think of the young lady's future, and the king's arrival was, perchance, a hint from Heaven. The old lady intended to ask his majesty for the post of maid of honour to the queen for her grand-niece. Angélique