MEASURES OF LENGTH. Metric denominations and values. 10,000 metres. 1,000 metres. Equivalents in denominations in use. 6.2137 miles. 0.62137 mile, or 3280 ft. and 10 in. 100 metres. 328 feet and 1 inch. 10 metres.393.7 inches. 1 metre 39.37 inches. gale in gusts till about 840, force 8. 5th, deep purplish haze, tipped SIMCOE.-Rain on 3rd and 4th. On 5th, solar halo at 1 p.m. 8th, rain with south wind began about 3 a m., ended 9 30 a.m., when wind changed to SW and WSW with velocity 6 or 7; clouds broke up and passed rapidly in same direction; occasionally during day clear sky; occasional light showers; thermometer fell suddenly during night after the storm, which continued till after midnight. Light showers with scarcely any intermission from 2 p.m. 22nd till 1 p.m. 24th. On 27th, aurora in the form of a northern twilight from 9 to 9.30 p.m. Snow on 9th, 11th, 16th, 19th, 24th, 25th, 26th. 1-10 of a metre. 1-100 of a meter. 3.937 inches. MEASURES OF SURFACE. Metric denominations and values. Hectare.. Centare.. 100 sq. metres. Equivalents in denominations in use. 2.471 acres. 119.6 square yards. 1550 square inches. Equivalents in denomin. in use. MEASURES OF CAPACITY. Names. Kiloliter or stere Hectoliter Deciliter STRATFORD.-On 10th, mill pond frozen. 16th, snow from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., depth 2 inches. On 22nd, rain began at 8 p.m., and ended 23rd at 9 p.m., depth .6429 inches. Violent storms of wind 8th and 9th. Storms of wind also on 10th, 11th, 15th, 16th. On 27th, violent storm of wind and snow began at 11 a.m, and ended during night between 28th and 29th; Centiliter good sleighing 27th. Rain on 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 22nd, 23rd. Snow on 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 19th, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th. Fog on 23rd. A lower indication of barometer than is noted in the table above was observed here on Sunday 23rd, at 9 p.m., viz., 27.945. WINDSOR-Month remarkable for cloudiness. Snow on 13th, 15th, 16th, 19th, 24th, 26th, 27th. 4th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th. Rain on 3rd and 22nd. Storms of wind on 3rd, V. Papers on Scientific subjects. Milliliter .......... 1.308 cu. yards. Weight of what quan- 1,000,000 1 cubic meter....... 1-10 1-100 1-1000 1,000 1 liter............... 10 10 cubic centimeters 264.17 gallons. 1. HOW TO VENTILATE SCHOOL HOUSES. All the windows of a school room should be hung with pulleys, in order that they may be easily raised or lowered. If windows and doors are skilfully used, a tolerably good degree of ventilation can The Boards of Trade of Milwaukie and Albany have resolved to be secured. The ventilation will be much more perfect if the adopt this system. The change from the old system of grain measarrangement be adopted which is indicated in the designs represent-urement to the new standard is simple. Suppose it to take effect ing the internal arrangements of a school-house. In this arrange- on a day when the market quotations are as follows: ment, the smoke-flue starts from the cellar and runs out at the roof; No. 1 wheat (per bush., 60 lbs). $2 06 | No. 2 oats, (per bush., 82)...$0 43 and starting at the floor of the school-room, a ventiduct is carried No. 1 corn (per bush., 56 lbs).. 0 80 | No. 2 barley per bush.. 48 lbs. 0 68 up in front of it, and separated from it by a sheet-iron partition. To find the equivalent price per cental annex two ciphers to the In this way the smoke in the flue will heat, and of course expand, price per bushel, and divide this amount by the number indicating the air in the ventiduct, and make it rise in a strong current, while the pounds required of the given grain to make a bushel: the quothe air in the ventiduct will not interfere with the draft in the flue.tient will be the price per cental. Thus amended, the above table The smoke-flue should be about twenty-four inches by nine inches, would read (adopting the usual rule with the last figure): and the ventiduct the same. The stove or furnace may have two No. 1 wheat, per cental.... $3 43 | No. 2 oats, per cental...... 81 34 pipes, one running to each smoke-flue. The ventiduct should have No. 1 corn, per cental...... 1 48 No. 2 barley per cental..... two registers, one at the ceiling and the other at the floor, though during the school sessions-unless the room be too warm-the upper one should be closed. Impure air is heavier than other air, and will generally find egress from near the floor. If a stove must be placed in the room, it should be surrounded with a tin casing made to extend from the floor to about one foot above the top of the stove. There should be a door in the casing for putting in fuel; and a trunk for the conveyance of fresh air should start outside of the building, run under the floor, and communicate directly with the stove. This arrangement will distribute the heat much better about the room, and avoid those cold currents of air which always, in a room heated by an ordinary stove, sweep along the floor from the bottom of doors and windows, and openings in the floor or walls.-Wickersham's School Economy. 2. METRIC SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. In July last the Metric system of weights and measures was formally adopted by the United States Congress, and a law passed, authorizing it to be used throughout the various States. One section of the Act declares that the following shall be the various lawful "Measures," of the system to be substituted for the old measures: 142 1867-other Boards of Trade concurring, all their transactions in The Chicago Board of Trade have resolved that after March 1st, grain, seeds, etc., shall be conducted in centals instead of bushels.— Illinois Teacher. 3. VARIOUS SCIENTIFIC NOTES. product of which has become a great article of commerce. China has within her boundaries what is called a Tallow-Tree, the For the most part, this tree is found in the northern part, and yields an article which furnishes an excellent light, free from smoke or smell. It is prepared from the seeds. The tree grows rapidly and luxuriantly, yielding fuel in abundance, and its leaves being used for coloring purposes. In India, it has lately been introduced. Trees, grown from the seed, and only eight years old, are six feet in circumference. The French are experimenting with oxygen gas for illuminating purposes. The objection, at first, was its costliness, the cost being one dollar per cubic foot. Recent experiments show that it can be furnished at two cents per foot. It is obtained from the reaction of silica upon sulphate of lime. By directing a jet oxygen through an ordinary gas-burner, the illuminating power of the gas is increased, thereby saving in expense 30 or 40 per cent. It is conducive to health, because other hurtful gases are consumed. The story that the upas-tree of the island of Java exhales a poison ous aroma, the breathing of which causes instant death, is now One of the curiosities which will figure at the Paris Exhibition is a perpetual motion pendulum, which has been in motion for three years, and is still in motion. A watchmaker in Paris is the inventor. The capital of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, when the cable is in final working order, will be £600,000, or say, in round figures, $4,000,000. The governments of the United States and of Great Britain give a subsidy between them of $175,000 a year, and the cable, having passed four thousand words in twelve hours, may be held capable of passing messages which, at the charge at present fixed, will yield an income of about $3,000,000. In 1865, the length of the various telegraph wires centering in Paris was about 50,000 miles, enough to put a girdle twice round the earth. There are 610 officers for the working of these lines, and the number of messages sent over them was 2,967,748, for which the charge was $1,224,665. Two iron wheels 4 feet in diameter, weighing 1,600 pounds, and revolving 80 times in a minute, generate a sufficient heat to warm a large factory. They are turned by a band and water wheel, and are said to last four years. VI. Biographical Sketches. miles a second, and is notably less than the velocity of the electric upon land lines, which numerous observations have shown to average sixteen thousand miles in a second." No. 4.-COLONEL STRICKLAND. In Samuel Strickland, Esq., was born on the 6th day of November, 1804, at Reyden Hall, Suffolk, England. He was the eldest son of Thomas Strickland, Esq., and Elizabeth Homer, eldest daughter of John Homer, Esq., of Barking, Essex. He was educated at Dr. Valpy's school in Norwich, and emigrated to Canada in 1825. He settled, in the first instance, in Darlington. now Bowmanville, where he married Emma, daughter of Colonel Black, by whom he had one son who did not survive his infancy, and who herself died shortly after the birth of her child, in 1826. In that year the subject of our memoir left Darlington for Peterboro. During his residence in this neighborhood, in 1828, he was engaged as out door superintendent of the Canada Company, by the late Mr. Galt, who was at that time the Company's Commissioner, and he assisted in the first settlement of the town of Guelph. It is an interesting fact that with his own hand he ploughed the first sod that was turned, and sowed the first grain (oats) that was grown in the Huron District, on the flats of the River Maitland at Goderich, in 1829. He was also present when the first sheaf of wheat was reaped in the same district, by Mrs. Von Egmond, on her husband's farm, 18 miles from Goderich, in 1830. On one occasion he was wrecked off A plan is in contemplation to supply the City of Buffalo from gas-vation of his life to his accomplishment as a powerful swimmer. Goderich, in the Canada Company's schooner, and owed the preserwells at Amherst, ten miles distant. One well is said to flow 40,000 feet of pure gas every day. It is proposed to dig five more, which 1831, he left Goderich to take up his residence in North Douro, are estimated to yield 200,000 cubic feet per day. where, before so much as a shanty had been erected in what now Scientific men assert that brick walls are a great help to ventila- constitutes the thriving village of Lakefield, he once more estabtion, especially when they are old and dry. Hence the unhealthi-lished his home; and where first in a cottage on the lake shore, ness of new and damp dwellings. then in a frame-house on more elevated ground, and lastly in the commodious stone mansion so well known for the hospitality of which it was the constant scene, he resided until his death. When the rebellion broke out in 1837-a commission had been given him in 1825 by Sir P. Maitland in the First Durham militia, and he Its subsequently served in the seventh incorporated battalion in PeterOb-boro, and was afterwards promoted to the rank of Lieut. Col. of the Peterboro' militia, from which he retired a few years ago, retaining his rank-when the rebellion broke out he was amongst the first of the volunteers who left Peterboro' for Toronto to aid in quelling the insurrection fomented by Mackenzie. In 1851, he returned to England. His sisters Misses Eliza and Agnes Strickland, (the latter the world-renowned authoress) Mrs. Gwillym, wife of the incumbent of Ulverston, Lancashire, Miss Jane Strickland, Mrs. Trail and Mrs. Moodie, both authoresses of repute, and his brother Thomas survive him. He was a J. P. for the county, and he served in the township council, and also in the county council. in religion a member of the Church of England. Tolerant ever, he "The difference of longitude between England and America has assisted in the erection of no fewer than five churches in his own hitherto rested upon the chronometric expeditions instituted by the immediate neighborhood. We may add that he was the author of coast survey during the years 1849-51 and 1855. Fifty chronome-"Twenty-seven years in Canada," published in England about 13 ters were transported between Liverpool, England, and Cambridge, years ago and favorably noticed by the English press. Mass., three times in each direction across the Atlantic. The probable error of the result by these expeditions was nineteen-hundredths of a second. The value thus obtained, though for all practical purposes sufficiently precise, is not so for the necessities of astronomical science in its present refined state. When, therefore, the success of the cable provided telegraphic trans-Atlantic connection with Eng. land, parties of the coast survey were formed under the direction of Dr. B. A. Gould, to take advantage of this means of obtaining a value more precise than that furnished by the chronometric expedi-Toronto University. Dr. Edward Hincks was born in the month of tion, allusion to which has been made. A variable star has been discovered in the Northern Crown. rate of decrease in brilliancy has been noted at the Washington servatory. It seems to lose 4 of a magnitude daily. When first observed, it was a star of the second magnitude, now it is of the eighth. A fibre of silk a mile in length weighs only 12 grains, so that there are 584 miles of fibre in a pound avoirdupois. Tin wire, 1-13 of an inch in diameter sustains 34.7 lbs. ; lead wire 28 lbs. 4. LONGITUDE BY THE CABLE. A writer of the Boston Traveller furnishes the following informa-In politics he was a staunch and uncompromising conservative, and tion: "The peculiarities in the methods and apparatus employed in working the cable, render the process of determining longitude by its means different in many respects from that by the land telegraph lines. New obstacles, which made success exceedingly doubtful, were to be surmounted, and new sources of error eliminated. But thanks to the genius, experience and perseverance of Dr. Gould, these have been overcome, and results of remarkable precision elicited. The probable error of the resulting longitude is about four hundredths of a second. Perhaps it will give the reader a clearer idea of the nicety implied in this, by stating that a distancce of about nineteen hundred miles has been measured, and that the measure is not probably four feet from the truth. "The time required for a signal to pass through the cable has been discovered with still greater precision to be thirty-one hundredths of a second; which is probably not in error by one hundredth of a second. "This is equivalent to the velocity of six thousand and twenty No. 5. THE REV. EDWARD HINCKS, D.D. Dr. Hincks was the son of the Rev. Thomas Dix Hincks, LL.D., pastor of the Presbyterian congregation of Prince's Street, in the city of Cork; and, in the latter years of his life, head master of the classical school, and Professor of Hebrew and other Oriental languages in the Belfast Academical Institution. He was also brother to the Hon. Francis Hincks, C. B., and of Rev. Professor Hincks of August, 1791. At a very early age, he gave indications of no common powers of observation and comparison. Before he was able to speak, he had learned to put together a dissected map of Europe, and could point out every important country, river, mountain and town on the terrestrial globe. His education under his learned father, was so carefully superintended that he entered Trinity College, Dublin, at an unusually early age taking the first place; and having "gone in" for a fellowship before the completion of his under graduate course, he obtained it, being of all the candidates facile princeps. He soon afterwards took orders as a clergyman in the Church of England, was afterwards promoted to the Rectory of Killyleagh, in the Diocese of Down, which is also in the gift of Trinity College; and there he spent the last forty-one years of his life, respected, honoured, and beloved by all who enjoyed the privilege of his acquaintance. He early manifested a wonderful capacity for deciphering texts in characters and languages equally unknown to him. His first essay in this line was somewhat remarkable. A gentleman desiring to test the power of learned men in acquiring a knowledge of truths locked for several years, first as a weekly, then as a daily gazette; but up in the obscurity of languages and obsolete alphabets, published withdrew from it upon the death of his wife in 1824, and made in a periodical work a passage from a foreign book which he had another visit to England, where he published "Dashes at Life with transcribed in a set of characters invented by himself, and totally a Free Pencil," consisting of stories and sketches of European and differing from any known form of writing, and requested those who American society. On his return to New York he issued his comthought themselves skilled in such undertakings to send to the edi-plete works, which filled a closely-printed imperial octavo volume of tor a transcript of it in common type, and a translation in the several hundred pages. In New York, he was associated with Mr. English language. Dr. Hincks did both in twenty-four hours after Norris, as editor of the "Home Journal," a weekly gazette of litethe magazine came to his hands. The language, it may be observed rature. Mr. Willis belongs to what has been styled the Venetian was Spanish, with which he had no previous acquaintance. This school in letters. There is no drawing, but much colouring in his facility of analysis was of great use to himself and to the learned pictures. His stories have little probability, coherence, or consistworld when he afterwards applied himself to the study of Egyptian ency; but the abundance of ornamental details scattered over his Hieroglyphic and Demotic texts, and to the inscriptions in the Cun- writings have gained for him considerable popularity.-Montreal ciform character found in Persepolis, Nineveh, and other places in Daily News. the Ancient Empire of Assyria. His interpretations of these inscriptions were at first disputed by men of great experience and paramount ability; but we believe that at length his principal opponents, and rivals-Rawlins, Grotefend, and others-have admitted that his fundamental principle was right, and have acknowledged that all consistent and trustworthy interpretation of these texts must proceed on the principles which he was the first to discover and explain. Dr. Hincks lived and died-incomparably the most learned man in the Irish Church, and inferior to none in personal and moral qualification, never owed one farthing to the favor or patronage of the Crown, except a literary pension bestowed upon him not long since in acknowledgement of his labors as a scholar. He also had an Order of Knighthood conferred upon him by the King of Prussia, on similar grounds. Most of his publications appeared in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy and other learned societies many of which had enrolled him among their members. We have been informed that an entire volume of the Transactions of the Academy consists of papers from his pen. He also read some interesting papers at the meetings of the British Association, and some which excited much attention at public meetings of the Natural History and Philosophical Society of Belfast. He was also brother to the Honorable Francis Hincks, C. B., and of the Rev. Professor Hincks of Toronto University. No. 6.-CARDINAL GOUSSET ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS. A man well known in Europe for his very great learning has just been taken away. Cardinal Gousset, archbishop of Rheims, was born in 1792. He was the son of a farmer and worked in the fields until the age of 17, when he entered a clerical college for his educacation. He was afterwards known as a man of extensive learning, and became bishop of Perigeux in 1835. He was promoted to the archbishopric of Rheims in 1840 on the death of Mgr. de Latel. The Pope created him cardinal in 1850. The whole career of the deceased prelate presents a remarkable example of what can be effected by a strong will supported by fair ability. No. 7.-NATHANIEL P. WILLIS, ESQ. Mr. Willis, a poet, critic, and journalist of considerable talent, was born in Portland on January 20th, 1807, and died on January 20th, 1867, his sixtieth birth-day. While a child he was removed to Boston, and received his first education at the Latin school of that city and the Phillip's Academy at Andover. He entered Yale College in the seventeenth year of his age, and about the same time produced a series of poems on sacred subjects, which obtained for him some reputation. Immedlately after he had graduated, in 1827, he was engaged by Goodrich ("Peter Parley") to edit "The Legendary" and "The Token." In 1828 he established the "American Monthly Magazine," which he conducted for two years and a half, when it was merged in the "New York Mirror," and Willis came to Europe. On his arrival in France he was attached to the American legation by Mr. Rives, the minister at the Court of Versailles, and with a diplomatic passport he travelled in that country, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Turkey, and last of all in England, where he married. The letters he wrote while abroad, under the title of "Pencillings by the Way," first appeared in the "New York Mirror." In 1835 he published "Inklings of Adventure," a series of tales, which appeared originally in a London magazine under the signature of "Peter Slingsby." In 1837 he returned to the United States, and retired to a pleasant seat on the Susquehanna, where he resided two years. Early in 1839 he became one of the editors of the "Corsair," a literary gazette in New York; and in the autumn of the same year he came again to London, where in the following winter, he published "Loiterings of Travel," in two volumes, and "Two Ways of Dying for a Husband." In 1840 appeared his "Poems," and "Letters from under a Bridge." About the same time he wrote the descriptive portions of some pictorial works on American scenery and Ireland. In 1843, with Mr. G. P. Morris, he revived the "New York Mirror," which had been discontinued VII. Miscellaneous.* 1. TWO LITTLE PAIRS OF BOOTS. Two little pairs of boots, to-night, In a trundle bed are lying. These little boots with copper toes! Their heavy tramp at play. They walk about the new-ploughed ground, To-day I was disposed to scold; At those little boots before the fire I think how sad my heart would be For, in a trunk up-stairs I've laid I mourn that there are not to-night, I mourn because I thought how nice We mothers weary get and worn N. Y. Evangelist. 2. ROYAL MARRIAGE IN RUSSIA OF THE PRINCESS ALEXANDRA'S SISTER. the fort on the northern bank of the river, opposite the Winter Morning had scarcely dawned when the guns of Petropavlovsk, Palace, announced that the day of the Imperial marriage had ar NOTE TO TEACHERS.-FRIDAY READINGS FROM THE JOURNAL.-Our Chief motive in maintaining the "Miscellaneous" department of the Journal is to furnish teachers with choice articles selected from the current literature of the day, to he read in the schools on Fridays, when the week's schoolwork is finished, as a means of agreesble recreation to both pupil and teacher. Several teachers have followed this plan for several years with most gratifying success. rived. Soon after a hurricane of clangor burst forth from the bells It is a hall of moderate dimensions, in the French style of the last century. White walls, copiously studded with bronze garlands, festoons, and diminutive angels, impart to it a courtly rather than a religious air. To this part of the church, destined for the congregation, there is joined a dome containing the altar. In the first dome the clergy were already in attendance. At their head was pointed out to me the Archbishop Metropolite of Novgorod and St. Petersburg, than whom there is only one greater ecclesiastic, the Archbishop of Moscow, in the empire. With him were four other bishops, old men, all wearing the silver tiaras, and ample mantles of their rank. Archpriests, with uncovered heads and long flowing hair, reaching to the shoulder, stood beside them in violet cloaks; other priests were seen stationed in the background. In a niche on the right stood the Court singers-boys and men of all ages. Close to them, in the front part of the chapel, I saw Prince Menschikoff leaning against the rail. A friendly old gentleman, with bright eyes and relaxed features, he certainly did not look like one who but twelve years ago caused a sanguinary war. Sir Andrew Buchanan, in British diplomatic uniform, with the order of the Thistle round his neck, was talking with his fellow ambassadors. A Greek general, in loose jacket and Oriental gaiters, was noticeable by contrast, and French Marquises, German Grafs, and Italian Contes vied with Russian Princes in the profusion of Orders and the elegance of garb. Suddenly the hum is hushed. A master of ceremonies, baton in In a long narrow passage, which deserves to be specially mention-hand, has entered to announce the appearance of the marriage proed, many hundreds of portraits are panelled on the walls. They cession. While the same message is being given to the town by the represent the Generals who fought against Napoleon I., and, with guns outside, the equerries and fouriers de la cour enter the chapel. the Emperor Alexander, his victorious enemy, occupying a whole The masters of ceremonies, the chamberlains, and the various charges side of the gallery for himself, are an interesting illustration of a of the Court follow in due succession. And now the Emperor and great and decisive time. Another hall devoted to the memory of Empress come in sight, preceded by Count Schuvaloff, the Grand the various field-marshals who distinguished themselves in the same Marschal. His Majesty is in the uniform of a General, and leads war, contains the portraits of some Russian Generals, with the his Royal spouse to the Metropolite, standing in the centre of the "Iron Duke," and "old Blucher associated with them. There were church to receive them. As the aged dignitary slowly and gently also pictures of battles, showing within their enormous frames waves his cross to and fro, the Emperor stoops to kiss the sign of whole fields of contest. The gay and brilliant crowd was now fast Salvation, and to cross himself on forehead and chest with holy assembling. The room positively sparkled with the shine of tunics, water. The Empress repeats the sacred rite, and places herself catans, and dress-coats of every cut and form. The variety of beside her august husband. The Crown Prince Czarewitch is the official vestment was astonishing. Officers in English military coats next to enter, to kiss, bow and cross himself in accordance with the alternated with others wearing Polish, Cossack and Circassian dress. devout forms of the Church. After him walk in princess Dagmar, The sons of the Don, in scarlet blouses, appeared in friendly prox- or, as she has been lately called, the Orthodox Grand Duchess imity to the descendants of the gallant men who, in the hills of the Maria Fedorowna of all the Russians. She walks in beauty. The Caucasus, have so long withstood the whole might and main of the Metropolite, who looks as though he had stepped out of the frame Czar. Some of these foreign mountaineers were clad in Carmoisin of some ancient picture of the church, inclines himself to the bloomvelvet, trimmed with sable fur and set off by red and golden facings. ing girl as she conforms to the requirements of the national creed. On the breasts as well as the backs of their blouses they had rows Her Imperial Highness steps back to the three principal members of folds sewed on to hold cartridges, the rest of their armament of her family, who have already entered the sacred edifice. The being equally distributed over both sides of their body. Two pist- four stand together, and the eyes of all present centre upon them. ols behind and another in front seemed to be a favorite mode of In them is compassed the present and future of this immense emequipment. In that corner a bevy of generals, with refulgent epau- pire. The Czar, tall, majestic, with the habit of command and the lettes, were conversing on the events of the day; here ministers, disposition to kindness clearly legible on his manly features, is not without any epaulettes at all, but with an intricate arrangement of only the first, but also the finest man in the room. His Queen, boughs, leaves and fruit on their dresses, were courteously doing whom sickness has not robbed of the feminine grace which clothed the honors of the place to foreign guests. Councillors of state, her younger years, is readily recognizable from the well known porjudges and members of the senate, the synod, the academy of traits representing the beautiful Mary of Hesse. In a white dress, science, and many other scientific and administrative boards were with a train of gold stuff, trimmed with ermine, and a sparkling present. This superb assemblage consisted of the men that govern diadem on her head, her Majesty looks worthy to be a queen. The Russia. Grand Duke, successor to the throne, is rather stout for his age, As the crowd began to thicken, the first ladies made their appear- with a good share of will and resolution stamped upon his youthful ance. Nearly all of them were clad in white silks, with trains ex-face. Like a rose growing in the shadow of an oak, Princess Daghibiting every hue and shade; strips of colored velvet trimming the mar stood beside him. Her lovely features were animated by the bodies, and in many cases the skirt also, constituted the peculiar excitement, and in her eye shone confident the hope of future hapelement of the "Russian dress." Another feature of the national piness. On her dark locks rested a crown of priceless diamonds, costume prescribed for the occasion, was the kakosh hik or diadem graceful and light as a wreath or a chaplet of flowers. A superb worn by all the ladies, excepting the bride. It is a semicircular brooch, if a jewel covering nearly the whole upper part of the bodice band covered with velvet and studded with pearls and jewellery so can be called so, glistened on her breast. Her robe was of white graceful and becoming that it reflects no little credit on the taste of moire-antique, and her train, carried by four chamberlains, of crimthe peasant girls, the original devisers of this ornament. The ladies son velvet, trimmed with ermine. had magnificent robes, but the grand display of jewellery was reserved for the ball in the evening. Then came Their Royal Hignessess the Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of Prussia, and the Prince of Denmark entered next. Leaving the Field-Marshal's hall before the arrival of the Im- the younger son of the Emperor, Princess Vladimir, Alexis, Serge perial procession, I threaded my way to the Chapel Royal. Detach- and Paul, the Grand Duke Constantine, and his consort with their ments of various troops of the guard were drawn up here and there, children, and after them the other Princes and Princesses of the and every door watched by the cuirassiers of the body guard. blood, close the royal party of the procession. All went through Gigantic men in scarlet uniform, with buckskins, top-boots, and the same ceremony of kissing the cross offered them by the Metrosteel helmets, crowned with the two-headed eagle, stood like so polite, and all in turn were kissed, so it seemed to me by the Memany mute statues in the places assigned to their care. They are tropolite. He bowed lovingly down to the little children, as they the Russian Horse Guards, and though an eye accustomed to the went up to him, one after the other, and when the last of them had sight of the two silent horsemen holding watch and ward in White-made obeisance before the cross, returned with his clergy to the hall, may be excused for preferring the familiar to the foreign, it altar. The Imperial family aud their royal guests then likewise must be admitted that the latter too are no bad specimens of strength preceeded to the centre of the church, the remaining members of and elegance combined. the procession, as they came in, disposing themselves in the entrancehall. There were but few ladies in the train. The Chapel Royal, in which the ceremony was to be performed, already swarmed with the cream of the aristocratic company invited. And now the service began. The clergy having ranged themselves round the altar, prayers were intoned by them, and hymns and responses chaunted by the singers. The serious and measured music of the Greek Liturgy is rich in beautiful cadences, and may, perhaps, be best described as something between the rigid austerity of the Lutheran choral and the lighter rhythms of the Romish church. The solos are chiefly recitatives, broken by the constant repetition on the part of the choir of the responses, "God, be gracious to us," and "God, we cry to thee." In the more independent parts of the choral singing, soft voices of children are effectively blended with sonorous basses. At a certain part of the service the Czarewitch and his bride stepped forward from the circle of the Imperial family, and having been conducted by the Emperor to a raised dais, joined in the prayers of the Metropolite. Later, two younger Princes of the blood, one of whom I recognized as Prince Alexis, approached and held above the heads of the bridal pair the marriage crowns peculiar to the orthodox ritual. They resemble in shape and size the Episcopal tiaras, and seem to be of silver wire, or some such material, interwoven with silk. This singular ceremony continued for about twenty minutes, the officiating Princes being repeatedly obliged to change their hands from weariness. Suddenly the music became softer, quicker and more melodious. Its eloquent notes predicted the speedy consummation of the hallowed act. To this tune bride and bridegroom were led thrice round the altar by the Metropolite. Then they were pronounced to be man and wife. An exchange of rings in this country only takes place at the betrothal. While the young Prince and Princess Alexander were still receiving the congratulations of their illustrious relatives, a hoary archpriest, with stentorian voice, intoned a prayer for the health and welfare of the Czar, his wife, and children. His appeal to the Deity was preferred in urgent accents, the other clergy chiming in, and with many inflections and genuflections, asking blessings on the head of their beloved sovereign. A rolling Te Deum terminated the service. It was a glorious composition, and jubilantly sung. At its close the Imperial family, having received the felicitations of the clergy, left the chapel with their royal guests. The only difference to the order in which they entered was that the bridegroom and bride walked side by side. They all acknowledged the respectful salutations of the spectators. The procession re-formed, and accompanied the Imperial personages to their private apart ments. As I left the palace the first snow had fallen. Russia had assumed her national garb to welcome her future Queen.-Correspondence of the London Times. 3. GREAT BRITISH DURBAR IN INDIA. One of the most magnificent assemblages, of principalities and powers that ever took place in India, met on the 12th of November, at Agra, to do homage to Sir John Lawrence, Viceroy of India, as representative of the Queen of England. At this Durbar there were more native princes than ever attended the Durbars of the Great Mogul, and yet only about the third part of British India was represented. There was, as we have said, a great concourse of native princes (some of whom traced their descent from before the time of Alexander the Great) all decorated in magnificent and varied costumes, and glittering, not only with barbaric pearl and gold,' but with the most magnificent array of diamonds that was, perhaps, ever displayed at any single assembly in the world. These native princes consisted of two, or, more properly speaking, three classes. First, the ancient families of the country, who have always so far as they could, stood aloof from all invading and upstart dynasties, and who had never attended any British Durbar before. These are the chiefs of the Rajpoots and other pure ancient races of India, who have looked down alike on Mogul and English conquerors. The second class were the remaining chieftains of the Mogul empire, dating only some three or four hundred years back; and the third were the upstart Mahrattas and other plundering chieftains, who acquired great power and dominion about a hundred years ago, and who for a long time fiercely disputed the empire of India with England. It is a somewhat singular fact that the British government in India never had any trouble with the first class, and very little with the second. It was only the upstart potentates who were angry that England could stretch farther and grasp more than themselves, that have seriously opposed British progress and authority. Among the various ranks and orders composing this great assemblage, all exceedingly tenacious of their dignity and privileges, and jealous of the slightest infringement of etiquette, it required a ruler as well versed in Indian costumes and ideas as Sir John Lawrence to maintain order and good humor. The great point with the representatives of the high old families was to get the Queen's representative to advance, not only to the edge of the carpet on which he stood, but a few inches beyond it, so that they might boast of being more honored than the rest; but he, though he knew exactly to an inch how far to advance to meet each, and came nearest the edge for those highest in authority and antiquity, would not compromise the dignity of the Queen by going in any case an inch beyond. The great difficulty in point of etiquette, however, occurred when the new order of Indian Knighthood was conferred on a select few, and the knights took precedence in the order of their appointment. A high dignitary, who would far outrank another of inferior standing in all other relations, would find himself placed behind that other as a knight of more recent appointment: and it was only after the fullest explanation, that the Prince of Wales himself would take his place below an older knight, that they reluctantly assented to take the places assigned to them. The excellent Viceroy gave the assembled half-independent sovereigns some very profitable advice, such as they should travel over India and other countries to enlarge their observation and knowledge, instead of shutting themselves up in their castles and devoting their lives to luxury or intrigue, and that they should open up their countries to the civilizing and enriching pursuits of commerce. Such an assembly as this from all parts of northern and central India, under such enlightened and experienced auspices as those of Sir John Lawrence, cannot fail to do much towards the elevation and enlightenment of India. 4. VICTORIA CROSS IN CANADA.* A warrant under Her Majesty's sign manual orders that the Victoria Cross may be conferred on persons who may hereafter be employed in the local forces raised, or which may be raised, in the colonies and their dependencies generally. In the London Gazette it is notified that the Queen intends to confer the Victoria Cross on private Timothy O'Hea, 1st battalion, Prince Consort's Own Rifle Brigade, for his courageous conduct on the occasion of a fire which occurred in a railway car containing ammunition between Quebec and Montreal, on the 9th of June last. The sergeant in charge of the escort states that when at Dunville station on the Grand Trunk Railway, the alarm was given that the car was on fire; it was immediately disconnected, and while considering what was the best to be done, private O'Hea took the keys from his hand, rushed to the car, opened it, and called for water and a ladder. It was stated that it was due to his example that the fire was suppressed." 5. HOW THE SOUTH STILL HONOURS ITS DEAD. The New Orleans Crescent has the following account of the obsequies of the Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston in that city:-"A tribute of respect was paid to the memory of the great leader which has never before been witnessed in this city-not even when Colonel Charles Dreux was interred-the first of the war victims from the state, and one of the most popular men that has ever lived in our midst. The mark of respect which was shown upon the present occasion was the marching in procession, and on foot of the ladies of the city. "In this extraordinary procession we observed many ladies of advanced years, and all, young and old, walked through mud and mire in the middle of the street. Such a spectacle has never been seen in New Orleans within our observation. We are told that at the funeral of the wife of an illustrious general, which occurred in the midst of the war, there was a like exhibition of womanly sentiment, one allied to the hero; but with the exception of that sad solemnity, a sentiment expressing admiration for heroism and respect to every which we did not witness, no such spectacle as that of yesterday has been seen in New Orleans during the last quarter of a century, and perhaps never before. who officiated, and one of the generals who had lost the use of his "No one, so far as we could observe, rode, excepting the ministers limbs. The rest followed, although the way was a long one, on foot. population of the city. It certainly was the saddest we have ever It was composed, without exception, of the most respectable seen. There was not an exclamation or a shout upon the streets as it passed; there was no appeal to the emotions in any dire-like music; there was scarcely any whispering or conversation in the immense throng that followed." The Picayune says: bearers who walked beside the hearse were generals high in rank and "No stranger could have supposed that the plainly-attired pallreputation-men who had led armies to battle and to victory; who had defended cities and who had organized campaigns. Among them were several who had been the friends and associates of the de Few who remember the gallantry displayed by Dr. S. P. May (of the Educational Department of U. C.) Assistant Surgeon of the Queen's Own Rifles, at Ridgeway on the 2nd of June, but feel that he, too, richly deserves some such mark of honor for his heroism on that memorable day. |