quaintance, a remarkably brave young warrior from Adughûm, who only ten days before had received a concussion of the brain and other injuries by a fall with his horse. On the second day of his visit, when the roar of the firing was almost incessant, he became perfectly miserable; mutteringly bewailing, in the corner where he lay, his hard fate, that he had not died to prevent his being left to be degraded to a woman. His impatience at length became so great, that he had himself dressed to set forth, notwithstanding that his right arm is almost powerless, his right eye entirely so (from the falling of the eyelid), and the vision of the left greatly impaired, and all my arguments about the imprudence of such an attempt; but on coming to the examination of his hazirs (the cartouche-tubes on the breast), he found that some kind friend, during his late insensibility, had wisely relieved them of the powder." Osman, however, went off immediately; but whether he found means to go to the field or otherwise, our author did not learn. Nor are the old men one whit behind their juniors in chivalrous gallantry. Mr Bell met an aged chief who had left his home for the field, and was told the following anecdote of him. "I have just heard from Kusht Vardan, who says that a few days since Hasesh and he having found themselves in presence of a considerable body of Russian horse, the former, whose beard is already all blanched, turned to him gaily (for he is full of gaiety and spirit), and merely saying, 'Follow me,' dashed in among the enemy with his sabre, and cut his way through without receiving any injury. Vardan, who enjoys a high character for bravery, candidly owns he had not courage to follow such an example."

The female slaves who are sent from Circassia, are principally, if not entirely, derived from an inferior caste, who stand in the relation of serfs to the landed proprietors of the country, as is the case in Russia. Serf-girls are still sold by the Circassian proprietors, though the disgraceful trade is much less extensive than formerly. Yet, when their fate is at the worst, these poor girls have hopes, which soothe their distress. "Two serf-girls of this establishment about twelve or thirteen years of age-have just been sold to a merchant going to Constantinople. Twelve horse-loads of merchandise have arrived in payment of them-a sight that sickens my British stomach, however it may operate on a Turk's. The girls have been here to kiss my host's hand at parting, on which occasion the hearts of both of them seemed greatly convulsed; and one with reddish hair (and therefore keener feelings) shed floods of tears, which wont nigh to set mine a-flowing. Parting, however, is always painful; and I trust these two girls may be sustained by the ambition I believe common here among the youth of their sex-of becoming wives to nabobs of Stambul.”

"As we

One of the most remarkable features in the social policy of the Circassians, consists in the existence of numerous septs or fraternities, the members of each of which hold themselves to be of one stock, and do not intermarry. The young people of each fraternity look upon one another in the light of brothers and sisters. A union of this kind may contain from two or three hundred to two or three thousand families. The members are bound to protect each other in danger and distress, and to assist in paying those fines which constitute the chief legal punishments of the country. If a member is condemned to capital punishment, his fraternity inflict it. Altogether, these fraternities of Circassia bring one forcibly in mind of the Scottish clans. Mr Bell mentions the following case illustrative of the criminal procedures of Circassia. passed the temporary court of justice a thatched shed-we had further proof of proceedings having terminated, by its being set fire to, as is invariably done. The delinquent in this case appears to have been insane, as he had killed a boy, and wounded two other persons of a family he had conceived himself aggrieved by, and bad entered a house for the purpose of killing one of my countrymen whom he expected to find there. His fraternity had consequently put him to death in the usual manner, by throwing him into the sea with his arms tied; yet his family and fraternity are bound by the Circassian ideas of justice to pay the legal fines for his offences. It may easily be conceived that such institutions, though at variance with our notions of justice in the west, are yet highly conducive to good order, each family and fraternity being deeply interested in watching the conduct of each individual connected with them, lest they should be amerced for his misdemeanour.

The fines payable in this instance were two hundred oxen for a boy killed, and thirty for a young man and two for a woman wounded, the latter having been less severely injured. Of these only the former has yet been exacted; the parents of the boy having received the value of sixty oxen, and their fraternity the remainder. The payment of the other two is fixed for next summer, and will be proportionably divided among the sufferers and their fraternities. The cause for such division is, that the family and fraternity of the delinquent are amenable in similar proportions. So far as I can learn, insanity is almost unknown in this country. It appears to be a curse attendant on the complications of civilisation and commerce."

We have now quoted pretty freely from Mr Bell's volumes, endeavouring to choose such passages as would at once illustrate the character of the Circassians, and exhibit the very interesting nature of the work, which has the additional attraction of numerous engravings.

The principal drawback in the character of the people under our notice, is their recklessness in shedding human blood. They are certainly not blood-thirsty, but seem to know no other arbiter in disputes than cold steel or the bullet. Much must be allowed, however, for position and training, and, taking such things into account, we would say that, upon the whole, the Circassians seem to have in them the materials of a noble race of people. Let us hope, that in the event of a new arrangement of eastern affairs, our statesmen will at the same time discover some mode of restoring peace to the north-eastern shores of the Black Sea. The following closing anecdote will show the honesty of the Circassians. "During almost the whole four months I have been in this valley, I have slept alone out of doors; first under a great pear-tree, on a green within the enclosure of this hamlet, and latterly on a stage, which Hassan Bey, of his own accord, ordered to be erected for me in an orchard, slightly enclosed, and which overhangs a deeply-wooded glen. This glen communicates with the valley, in which there are no houses all the way to the sea. On my couch, on this stage (which in fine weather, such as we generally have, is my house), sundry articles of high value here, such as my watch, silver snuff-box, silver-mounted dagger, knives, &c., lie throughout the day frequently (during my walks for exercise) quite unprotected; and at night, the four plum-trees which form my leafy shelter are hung with my clothes and other appurtenances; yet have I never missed a single article, although my retreat is well known to all the neighbours round; groups of whom, and of strangers, almost daily seat themselves on the grass arcund me. Nor must it be forgotten that my person also is of no little value, on account of the price set upon it by the munificent offer of the Russian general in the neighbourhood." The reward was 2000 silver roubles.

SHAKSPEARE'S JEST-BOOK.

IN Much ado about Nothing, Benedick alleges of Beatrice that she had her good wit out of the Hundred Merry Tales. Overlooking an erroneous surmise of Mr Steevens, this book seems to have been a small black-letter volume published in the reign of Henry VIII., under the title of "Tales and Quick Answeres, very mery, and pleasant to rede," and which, consisting of a centenary of anecdotes, had probably come to bear the familiar appellation of the Hundred Merry Tales. A copy of this volume was in the Duke of Roxburghe's celebrated collection (now in that of the Duke of Marlborough), and from it a new edition was produced a few years ago, with the additional title of "The Hundred Merry Tales, or Shakspeare's JestBook."

The contents of this volume are extremely curious. The anecdotes strongly illustrate the simplicity and rudeness of the middle ages, and also, we fear, speak of a time when men were more easily amused than they are at present. The language is extremely quaint, the construction faulty, the words variously and venerably ill-spelt, and the stops almost invariably misplaced. The moral reflections which are made to accompany many of the stories is an amusing feature in the collection; for their naïveté frequently excites a smile, even when the " mery tale" itself would fail The following selections from the volume will, we think, make good these remarks :—

to do so.

Of hym that felle in to the fyre.

A felowe that was frowarde to his wyfe, vsed to be oute drynkynge many tymes verye late. So on a nyghte he taryed so longe oute, that his wyfe wente to bedde, and badde her mayde make a good fyre, and tarye vp for hym. About xij. of the clocke home he came, and as he stode warmynge him by the fyre his hede was so tottye, that he felle in to the fyre. The mayde seing him fall ranne vp cryenge to her maistres, and sayd: Alas my maister is fallen and lyeth longe straughte in the fyre. No force mayde, said her maistres, let him lye and take his pleasure in his owne house, where so euer him listeth.

Of Papirius pretextatus.

Aulus Gellius reherseth, how the Senatours of Rome on a tyme helde a great counsaile. Before which tyme the senatours chyldren, called of their garmentes Pueri pretextati, vsed to come in to the parlement house with theyre fathers. So at this tyme a chylde called Papyrius, cam in with his father and herde the great counsayl the which was straytely commaunded to be kept secrete tyll hit was decreed. Whan this chylde came home, his mother asked him what the counsaile was. The chylde answered, hit oughte nat to be tolde. Now was his mother more desyrous to knowe hit than she was before: wherfore she enquered more straitly and more violentlye. The chylde beinge sore constrayned of his mother, shortelye deuysed a propre merve leasynge. It is reasoned in the parlemente (quod he) whether of both shulde be more profytable for the comon welth, a man to haue ii. wiues or els a woman ii. husbandes. Whan she harde him say so, her mynde was pacified: and forth with

she wente and tolde hit to the other matrones.

On the morowe a great company of the moste notable wyues of Rome came to the parlemente house weping, and humbly prayen: that rather one woman shuld be maryed vnto ii. men than ii. wemen to one

* London: J. Chidley. 1831.

man. The Senatours entringe in to the court, what with the sodayn assembling of the wyues and of their request, were right sore astonied, than the childe Papyrius stode forth, and enformed the senatours, how his mother wold haue compelled him to vtter the secretc counsayle: and howe he to content her mynde, feyned that leasynge. For which dede the Senatours right hyghly commended the childes fydelite and wytte. And forth with they made a law, that no child after that (saue only Papirius) shuld come in to the parlement house with his father. And for his great prudence in that tender age he had gyuen to hym, to his great honour, this surname Pretextatus.

Wherby ye may se, that the hygh treasure of man, and greattest grace, resteth in well ordrynge of the tonge. The moste prudent poete Hesiodus sayth: The tonge shulde not ronne at large, but be hydde as a precicus treasure. For of all the membres of man, the tonge yll ordered is the worste. The tonge blasphemeth God: The tonge sklaundereth thy neyghbour. The tonge breaketh peace, and stereth vp cruell warre, of all thynges to mankynde moste mischefull, the tonge is a brcker of baudrye: the tonge setteth frendes at debate: The tonge with flatterynge, detraction, and wanton tales enfecteth pure and clene myndes: the tonge without sworde or venome strangleth thy brother and frende: and brefely to speake, the tonge teacheth cursed heresyes, and of good Christiens maketh Antichristes.

Of kynge Lowes of France and the husbande man.

What tyme kynge Lowes of Fraunce, the xi. of that name, bycause of the trouble that was in the realme, kepte hym solfe in Burgoyne, he chaunced by occasion of huntinge to come acqueynted with one Conon a homely husbande man, and a plaine meanynge felowe. In whiche maner of men the hygh princes greatly delyte them. To this mans house the kynge ofte resorted from huntynge. And with great pleasure he wolde eate radysshes rotes with hym. Within a whyle after whan Lowes was restored home, and had the gouernaunce of France in his hande, this husbande man was counsailed by his wyfe, to take a goodly sorte of radysshe rotes and to go and gyue them to the kyng, and put him in mynd of the good chere, that he had made hym at his house. Conon wolde nat assent therto, what folysshe woman quod he, the great princes remembre nat suche smalle pleasures. But for all that she wolde not reste tyll Conon chose out a great syght of the fayrest rootes, and toke his iourney towarde the courte. But as he went by the way, he yete vp all the radysshes saue one of the greattest.

Conon peaked in to the courte, and stode where the kynge shulde passe by: By and by the kynge knewe hym, and called hym to hym. Conon stepte to the kynge and presented his rote with a gladde chere. And the kynge toke it more gladly, and bad one, that was nerest to hym, to laye it vp amonge those iewels that he best loued: And than commaunded Conon to dyne with hym. Whan dyner was done he thanked Conon: and whan the kyng sawe that he wolde departe home, he commaunded to guye him a thousande crownes of golde for his radisshe rote. Whan this was knowen in the kinges house, one of the court gaue the kyng a propre mynion horse. The kyng perceiuing, that he dyd it, bicause of the liberalite shewed vnto Conon, with very glad chere he toke the gyft, and counsailed with his lordes, how and with what gyft he myght recompence the horse, that was so goodly and faire. This meane while the picke thank had a meruailous great hope, and thought in his mynde thus: If he so wel recompensed the radysshe rote, that was gyuen of a rusticall man: howe moche more largely wyl he recompence suche an horse, that is gyuen of me that am of the courte: wian euery man had sayde his mynde, as though the kynge had counsayled aboute a great weyghty matter, and that they hadde longe fedde the pycke thanke with vayne hope, at last the kyng sayd. ́ ́I remembre nowe, what we shal gyue hym: and so he called one of his lordes, and badde hym in his eare, go fetche hym that that he founde in his chambre (and told hym the place where) featly folded vp in sylke. Anone he came and brought the radysshe roote, and euen as it was folded vp, the kyng with his owne hande gaue it to the courtier, sayenge: we suppose your horse is well recompensed with this iewell, for it hath cost vs a thousande crownes. The courtier went his way neuer so glad, and whan he had vnfolded it, he found none other treasure, but the radysshe rote almoste wethered.

Of the plough man that sayde his pater noster. A rude vplandisshe plough man, whiche on a tyme reprouynge a good holy father sayd, that he coude say all his prayers with a hole mynde and stedfaste intention, without thinkyng on any other thynge. To whome the good holy man sayde: Go to, saye ens Pater noster to the ende, and thynke on none other thynge, and I wyll gyue the myn horse. That shall I do, quod the plough man, and so began to save, Pater noster qui es in celis, tyll he came to Sanctificetur nomen tuum, and than his thought moued him to aske this question: yea but slal I have the sadil and bridel withal? And so he lost his bargain.

Of the fryer that brayde in his sermon. A fryer that preached to the people on a tyme, wolde otherwhyle crie out a loude (as the maner of

Accord

Not content with military glory by land, the French have been equally ambitious to become a great naval power, but have not hitherto succeeded in rendering themselves formidable by sea. After a century and a half of continual effort and frequent conflict, their fleet was almost annihilated by the battle of Trafalgar, and subsequent minor engagements during the late war. Since the peace, the government have paid the utmost attention to the navy, and are now prepared, in the event of war, to send a powerful fleet to sea. ing to the budget of 1839, there were in active service, 8 ships of the line, 12 frigates, 16 corvettes or sloops, 24 brigs, and numerous other vessels; and the amount of their crews was 20,317 men. The number in commission at 1st January 1840, was-Ships of the line, 13, from 80 to 120 guns; frigates, 13; corvettes, 19; brigs, 33; gunbrigs, 9; schooners, cutters, advice-boats, transports, &c., 578; steam vessels, 25. By royal ordonnance of 1st January 1837, the navy in time of peace is fixed at 40 ships of the line, 50 frigates, 40 steamers, and 190 smaller vessels. The smaller vessels are to be

kept afloat; but only half of the ships of the line and frigates are intended to be launched, the other half to be kept on the stocks in different stages of building. As soon as a young man has been apprenticed in the coasting trade, or has made two voyages at sea, or has been employed two years in the fisheries, he is registered in the lists of the district to which he belongs. Besides this class of mariners, all other persons, be their ages what they may, who enter merchant vessels, or engage in the fisheries, are inscribed in the registers as soon as they have seen service; nor is any exception made in their favour, though they may have previously stood their chance of the ballot for the army, or have served their time in its ranks. The record of their names in the register of mariners is all that is necessary to fix that liability upon them; and in their case, as well as in that of every regularly bred seaman, this liability continues till the age of fifty. They all become as much the property of the state as the Russian serf is of the landowner at the moment of his birth. Whenever sailors are required for the naval service, the naval prefect announces to the local supervisor or commissary the quota of men to be supplied from each district. The latter thereupon directs the syndic of the navy to send him twice or thrice the number of men required, and he makes such selections from them as he thinks proper. No exemption whatever is admitted; and there is no appeal from the will or caprice of the commissary. The total number of individuals, of all descriptions, employed in the sea service, as at 1st January 1838, was 110,589, among whom there were 10,836 captains, shipmasters and pilots; and of that number 272 belonged to the public, and 6946 to the mercantile service.

As connected principally, though not exclusively, with the army and navy, we may mention the Order of the Legion of Honour, which was instituted by Napoleon. The usual title to admission is the discharge of important duties, either civil or military; and in time of war, the performance of some action of great bravery. The gradations are-1. Chevaliers, of whom the number is unlimited; 2. Officers, limited by the laws of the order to 2000; 3. Commanders, limited to 400; Grand-Officers, to 160; and Grand-Crosses, to 80; but on 1st January 1840, the actual number of the members was -Grand-Crosses, 96; Grand-Officers, 206; Commanders, 829; Officers, 4491; Chevaliers, 44,393; in all, 50,015.

PUBLIC HEALTH AND MORTALITY.

Paradoxical as it may appear, it is certain that a man's health, nay life, is nearly as much in the keeping of those of whom he knows nothing as in his own. Of the three influences mainly acting on it himself, society, and external nature-the first bears on it most intensely, the second most covertly, the last most constantly. Moral culture may teach the individual so to curb his passions and appetites, as to develop all the forces of his organisation in their most healthful scope; or its neglect may set them loose as the deadliest instruments of self-destruction. The social system acts upon us not only through its fashions and customs, but by the power of government; and an ill-considered impost, indirectly affecting the food, the habitation, or the clothing of the community, shall send more to their graves than ever fell by sword or spear. Climate is always so ameliorated by civilisation, that we may safely say that it forms no exception to the general fact, that all the sources enumerated as influencing life are greatly modifiable; so that, although we may not believe, with M. Quetelet, in the perfectibility of our race, we may yet be sure that all its numerous ills may be immeasurably lessened. Nothing is truer than that the mortality of a kingdom is the best gauge of its happiness and prosperity. Show us a community wallowing in vice, whether from the pamperings of luxury or the recklessness of poverty, and we will show you that there truly the wages of sin are death. Point out the government legislating only for a financial return, regardless or ignorant of the indirect effects of their enactments, and we shall see that the pieces of silver have been the price of blood.-Quarterly Review.

room :

ADVISERS.

THE following specimen of the shrewd humour of James Smith was intended to have been included in a notice of his "Memoirs and Comic Miscellanies," which lately appeared in the Journal, but was postponed for want of There is a family named Partington, that has lately commenced its residence in Upper Harley Street. It consists of a father, a mother, two sons, and two daughters. The father is a sturdy, red-faced, good sort of man, and the mother is a slender, sallow, good sort of woman. John, the elder son, is with his father in the wine and spirit line, in America Square; Charles, the younger son, is in the law; the two girls expect to be married. There is at present a great deal of advice stirring about London, and the Partingtons have given and received more than their due proportion of it. It has often astonished me why so much of that commodity has been, and continues to be, given: nobody thanks you for it; indeed, nine people out of ten tell you, in pretty plain terms, to keep your advice to yourself-yet still we continue to give it. Never was benevolence more gratuitous than ours!

Hardly was old Partington well settled in Upper Harley Street, in a most commodious situation, inasmuch as

it commanded a corner view of the outside of the Diorama, with a peep at the little statue of the late Duke of Kent at the top of Portland Place-when he received a visit from his crony, Mr Chapman, of Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate Street, who called to give him some advice as to his recent proceedings.

Mr Chapman commenced his harangue in one of the have too much good sense to be offended at what I am accustomed forms: "Now, Mr Partington, I am sure you about to say." Mr Partington assured him, in answer, that he had a great deal too much good sense; whereupon the adviser, in reply, began to descant upon the extreme folly of Mr Partington in quitting his city residence to sojourn in Upper Harley Street. The adviser reminded the advisee of those happy days when, Bedlam being then standing upon London Wall, they used to walk up and down Moorfields in front of the iron gates of that edifice, for half an hour before dinner, to get an appetite; a needless ceremony, but persisted in notwithstanding. Mr Partington owned, with downcast eyes, that such had been their practice; but alleged in his Bedlam has deserted it," exclaimed he, with a sigh. defence, that nobody lived in the city at present-"even "True," answered the adviser, "and if you had removed your quarters to St George's Fields, I should not have so much wondered; but what the deuce could draw you to Upper Harley Street? Let me now advise you as a friend: if you have not yet signed and sealed, declare off, and come back again. We have dined with you once, in the way of friendship; but, my dear Jonathan, when you could have us all to dinner in a ring-fence, within one hundred yards of the Royal Exchange, what could put it into your head to drag us four miles off, to cut your tired, and Mr Partington took his advice as children take mutton in Marybone parish ?" Mr Chapman now rephysic, by canting it out of the window the moment the apothecary's back is turned. The lease was executed that very morning, and Mr Partington, notwithstanding a strong internal aversion to the hot chalky dusty corner of the Portland-road, became tenant of the house in Upper Harley Street for twenty-one years, from Christmas-day then last past. Men in the spirit line are not to be advised with impunity.

While this affair was transacting in the small back apartment behind the dining-room (the only one in the whole house which a married man can call his own, and brellas, out of number), advice was going on at a great even this is apt to be invaded by hats, canes, and umrate in the front drawing-room up stairs. Mrs Chambers was full tilt at Mrs Partington, advising her how to manage her family. "My dear Mem (for to this diminutive is our French Madame humbled since the Revolution)-my dear Mem," said this matronly Mentor, "only conceive that you should never have heard of Doctor Level. I've got three of my girls down under his hands, and I hope to get Julia down the moment she comes from school." "Down! Mrs Chambers, I don't quite understand you." "No!-only conceive how odd By down, I mean down flat upon their backs upon three girls straight. All depends upon the spine: nerves, bile, sofas. Doctor Level says it's the only way to bring up toothache, asthma, and every thing of that kind-all springs from the spine." "Well!-but, Mrs Chambers, is not horse exercise a better thing? My girls ride in St James's Park now and then, with their brother Charles as a make-weight. I can assure you, several young men of very considerable property ride there; and, according to my calculation, men are more apt to fall in love on horseback than on foot." "Horseback!only conceive how dreadful! Doctor Level won't hear of it: he says girls should be kept quiet-quite quiet. Now, you know Anna is short and rather thick in her figure: the poor girl burst into tears on reading that spair about her: only conceive!-no more figure than Lord Byron hated a dumpy woman. I was quite in deIt's no matter, she must have the long gaiters." my thumb! I spoke to Dr Level about it, and he said, gaiters, Mrs Chambers!-a very pretty appurtenance to a grenadier, but surely for a diminutive young lady""Oh, Mem, I beg your pardon: it's the best thing in the world; let me advise you, as a friend, to try the long gaiters.* I'il venture to say, that in six years he would make little Crachami as long as the Queen of the Sandwich Islands. How he manages it I don't know; but there are two long straps that keep down the shoulders under the sofa, which sets the straps in motion, and pulls and flatten the ankles; then he turns a sort of screw, out the body just for all the world as if he were rolling Mem, would you believe it? we have already gained two out paste for a gooseberry pie-crust. Well, my dear inches; and Doctor Level promises me, if I keep Anna

* Qu. Elongators?

"Long

may

quite quiet for three years and seven months, she get up quite a genteel figure. Jemima and Lucy are rather better figures: I hope to have them up and about in a twelvemonth." "Poor girls, don't they find it very dull ?" "Oh no; I left them this morning with Irving's Four Orations,' and 'Southey's History of the Brazils. Plenty of amusement, that's my maxim. Let me advise you, as a friend, to follow my example."

Mrs Chambers was qualified to give all this advice from living in Lower Grosvenor Street, which gave her much more knowledge of the world (especially on a fine Sunday) than could be possessed by an inhabitant of Upper Harley Street. Mrs Partington, for the same reason, was bound to take it in seeming thankfulness. Most fortunate was it for the two Misses Partington, that their mamma was "advised as a friend." But for those soulrevolting expressions, Mrs Partington might have been induced to call in Doctor Level to bind her daughters' back-bones over to their good behaviour; and the two wall of Marlborough House, and kicking up as much Misses Partington, in lieu of cantering under the backdust as a couple of countesses, might, at this present writing, have been flat on their backs, in the back drawing-room in Upper Harley Street, like a couple of Patiences on a monument, smiling at a whitewashed ceiling!

LINES TO MURPHY.

[The following lines, which first appeared some months since in a periodical work of limited circulation, are obligingly placed at our disposal by the author-the same individual who composed "Tonis ad resto Mare."]

Oh, Murphy, Murphy, I am s're afraid
You're but a poor and sorry common-tator;
A very tyro in the weather trade,

And all unfit for Jack Frost's legislator.
Your foggy days, alas! are clear and fine,
Your cold and rainy all are warm and sunny;
Each following day belies your every line,

And proves your want of science and of money.
What ails your hail that it will not come down?
Why does your Phoebus fib us, too, like this?
Why does your thunder disappoint the town,
In your ephemeral Ephemeris?
Your meteorologic logie pray revise,

Your problems too, so very problematic;
And if, moon- struck, you still must theorise,
Let not your comet course be so erratic.
Your reign will end before the rain begins,

And down to Zero sink your reputation;
Fog, Meteor, Vapour, all will kick your shins,
And change your altitude to declination.
The powers above-Aries, et celero,
Libra, Aquarius, Sagittarius-all
Will be indignant at thy exposé,

And stop, methinks, thy Comic Annual.
The planets, too, will doubtless join the wars,
Stop thy diurnal, annual rotation;
And, thy Urania mania marred by Mars,
Thou wilt not well escape a good gyration.
But fare you well, my weather-beaten boy;
I'll bid good-bye, with every wish that's kind:
May all your future days be fine and dry.
And you still make a breeze and raise the wind.
S. W. P.

RECOVERY OF PROPERTY.

The following circumstance is as true as it is singular. A few years ago two gentlemen, who had been left executors to the will of a friend, on examining the property, found a scrap of paper on which was written, the literal sense, and examined all his apartments care"Seven Hundred Pounds in Till." This they took in fully, but in vain. They sold his collection of books to singularity of the circumstance occasioned them frea bookseller, and paid the legacies in proportion. The quently to converse about it, and they recollected among the books sold (which had taken place upwards of seven weeks before), there was a folio edition of Tillotson's Sermons. The probability of this being what was alluded to by the word "Till" on the piece of paper, made one of them immediately wait upon the bookseller the edition of Tillotson, which had been among the who had purchased the books, and ask him if he had books sold to him. On his replying in the affirmative, and the volumes being handed down, the gentleman immediately purchased them, and on carefully examining the leaves, found bank notes, singly dispersed in various places of the volumes, to the amount of seven hundred pounds! But what is perhaps no less remarkable than the preceding, the bookseller informed him that a gentleman at Cambridge, reading in his catalogue of this edition to be sold, had written to him, and desired it might be sent to Cambridge, which was accordingly done; but the books not answering the gentleman's exthe bookseller's shop till the period of this very singular pectations, they had been returned, and had been in discovery.-Odd Fellow.

FLUENCY OF SPEECH.

Dean Swift says, the common fluency of speech, in most men and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter and scarcity of words; for whoever is a master of language, and hath a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas common speakers have only one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in, and these are of church when it is almost empty, than when a crowd always ready at the mouth; so people come faster out is at the door.

LONDON: Published, with permission of the proprietors, by W.S. ORR, Paternoster Row; and sold by all booksellers and newsmen.-Printed by Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars.

"CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE," &c.

NUMBER 461.

A FEW WEEKS FROM HOME. THE NORE AND THEREABOUTS.

To continue these rambling sketches of home travelthe reader may be reminded that we stopped in our journey through Hampshire, to spend a quiet Sunday amidst the interesting antiquities of Winchester and St Cross. Departing from this scene of William of Wykeham's glories, and now one of the least altered of Old England's oldest cities-leaving the green and soft luxuriance of the vale of the Itchin, we proceed on our way by rail to London, and in little more than two hours we are turned out from the mixed train to be mixed among the busy crowds of the metropolis.

Some writers-my Lady Morgan for one, if we recollect rightly-have a very convenient knack of vaulting at a bound over an interval of time in their narratives, by giving a dashing line of stars-the said stars being all that the reader gets for some darkly mysterious part of the story which it would puzzle the author to explain. On the present occasion it would be remarkably easy to follow this excellent example, but as plain dealing is more to our taste, we shall just say, in a few words, that we pass over an interval of three months, and are again, during the fortnight or three weeks of "farewell summer," once more upon our rambles from home. In short, we are again in London, ready for all sorts of inquiries and excursions. I had gone, I do not know how often, up and down the Thames. Sheerness, and Tilbury Fort, and Purfleet, and Gravesend, and the old cocked hats and wooden legs which daily air themselves on the terrace at Greenwich, were all perfectly familiar to me. But somehow or other I had never got round the Nore, in the direction of Margate; and so now I resolved to pay a brief visit to a few places in this quarter of the Kentish coast.

The opportunities for making such an excursion are now exceedingly plentiful. In the days of old, the only means of transit consisted of the Margate hoys, a class of small sloops which carried you in a couple of days, wind and weather permitting, to the place of your destination; but now, what a change !-smart steamers dash off daily from London Bridge, and in five or six hours disload their hundreds of gaily-dressed passengers on the jetties of Herne Bay and Margate. In one of the most active of these well-managed boats, the Red Rover, we one morning placed ourselves; and in due time were brought abreast of the Isle of Sheppy and adjacent parts in the mainland of Kent. This part of the coast, it is necessary to explain, forms the great airing ground of the good folk of the metropolis. During "the season" as many as two or three thousand persons are daily landed and carried back to town. But Saturday, in particular, forms the great day for these excursions; the toiled and stupefied tradesman, who has been stewed up for a week amidst the streets and lanes of the city, on that day gets off to pay his accustomed visit to his wife and family to enjoy a few hours' fresh air on the beach on Sunday-and to return again on Monday to his desk and dingy counting-house.

From all I could learn, there are two kinds of summer recreation in these places of resort-one consisting of actual rustication and airing at Herne Bay or Ramsgate, and another of imaginary rustication and airing among the fashionable lounges and tea-gardens of Margate. Another thing may be mentioned; the resort to cither of these places is almost exclusively of persons east of Charing Cross-that is to say, citizens with their wives and families, or young ladies and gentlemen of the same class, who wish to spend money any way, but "genteely," if possible; and what

PRICE THREE HALFPENCE.

half so genteel as spending it for a few weeks on the character of the coast. About three miles to the amusements of Margate? eastward, on the verge of the sea, stand those reWith these preliminary explanations, we now land, markable objects of antiquity, and land-marks, the in the first place, on that part of the coast where the towers of the church of Reculver. To this spot real and more sober-minded rusticators resort. Herne I hastened to pay a visit. In front is the wide Bay, as this place has been called, is quite of modern expanse of the German Ocean, studded here and date; and its name, as may be inferred, is derived from there with vessels making for the mouth of the the ancient village of Herne, which is situated about Thames from the Downs or continental ports; on our a mile inland, on the high road to Canterbury. The left is the Isle of Sheppy, darkly pictured on the coast at this spot is eminently suited for a watering-horizon, and on the right that flat expanse of prairie place. Unlike the greater part of the adjacent dis- or meadow land, which occupies the filled-up channel trict, the shore has a fine slope, in the form of a sandy between the mainland and Thanet, whose higher and pebbly beach, to the water, and may at all times be grounds close up the scene. Nowhere, on the reached from steamers with perfect comfort, by means coast of Great Britain, have such extensive changes of a beautiful and substantial jetty of three quarters been effected by the sea and other causes, on the of a mile in length. The country, backwards, all the dimensions and configuration of the land. On a proway to Canterbury, is of a soft undulating character, minent knoll, now carried completely away by the well plenished with woods and copses, and dotted over waves of the ocean, once stood the castle of Raculfwith old-fashioned hamlets and trimly thatched farm-cester, an early station of the Romans, and, latterly, buildings and cottages. The walks, therefore, whether along the grassy downs which overhang the sea, or into the rural scenery beyond, seem well adapted for the summer solacement of the overworn inhabitants of the city. Some ten or twelve years ago, Herne Bay, by the activity of a few rash speculators, became "all the rage," and buildings and streets, on a superlatively grand scale, sprung up in all directions. From one cause or other, however, the tide of popularity did not last a sufficient length of time, and the building lots being retained at enormous prices, the projected town stuck after it had been begun, and in the present day we find it composed of many partially finished edifices, and rows of streets standing like so many loopholed and ragged ruins. Nevertheless, the place, as Brown would have said, has capabilities calculated to carry it over this great initiatory misfortune, and these are leading gradually to its settlement and improvement.

a seat of the Anglo-Saxon king, Ethelbert. During this latter period, a church of great extent was built adjoining the castle; and it is the towers of this edifice, popularly called the Reculvers, which now stand as the most prominent objects on the whole line of coast. On attaining the spot, we find that the sea has washed away at least a mile of the land, leaving for several miles a precipitous cliff, which is daily lessening in bulk. In dread of these rapid encroachments, the church has been many years abandoned, and is now an open desolated ruin-the only complete portion remaining being the two towers, which are preserved as land-marks for mariners: The sea has not, as is generally reported, reached the building, but it has carried away a half of the burying-ground around it, and numerous remains of mortality project from the face of the cliff, and are scattered along the beach. To prevent, if possible, farther inroads, the Trinity House has caused the erection of a paved bulwark for a considerable distance along the shore; and it is evident, that unless some precautionary measures of this kind be speedily adopted elsewhere, a very considerable loss of land must ensue. The extraordinary carelessness hienerto shown on this point, is far from creditable. At present, as we are told by Mr Lyell, the loss of land, by the washing away of the clayey and chalky cliffs, is at least two feet per annum; and it is calculated that the whole island of Sheppy, now measuring six miles in length by four in breadth, will be annihilated in half a century.

Along the shore there is a remarkably neat terracelike walk for promenaders. Adjacent are bathinghouses, numerous dwellings for visiters, and two hotels of large dimensions in full operation; during my short stay, a very handsome church was consecrated by the archbishop for the use of the inhabitants, regular and transient. It would be very inexcusable to pass over in this notice, however slight it be, the good deeds done to the town by a benevolent and wealthy patroness, Mrs Thwaites, relict of an opulent merchant in the city, and who devotes no small share of her property to charitable and public purposes. Unlike the generality of mankind, who only leave wealth to their fellow-creatures when they can no longer make use of it themselves, this well-disposed lady, having taken a fancy to Herne Bay, has largely assisted in the support of free schools for the place, and lent her charitable aid to the poor of the neighbourhood. She likewise, a few years ago, erected, at a considerable expense, a tall and handsome clock-bellished with trees, fences, and farm-offices, was once tower on the sea-promenade, which may be seen at a great distance. Although totally unacquainted with this lady, there seems such a degree of rationality in the disposal of her superabundant wealth, that I feel much pleasure in holding up her conduct to imitation. Herne Bay forms a good starting-point for those who wish to explore the antiquities and geological

bishop of Rochester and London; and here he resided for several *Herne was the first cure of the pious Ridley, afterwards years, discharging the duties of his pastoral office with great zeal.-Beauties of England and Wales, vol. viii. Herne church, to which I paid a visit, contains a number of objects as old as the fifteenth century; among others, is a monumental brass figure over the tomb of Lady Phelip, wife of Matthew Phelip, sometime Lord Mayor of London; she died in 1470, and is represented in the dress of the times.

It is interesting, in a geological point of view, to remark, that while the precipitous and some other parts of the coast have been diminishing annually, land has in one spot been accumulating with equal rapidity. Casting our eye south-eastwards from the Reculvers, as I have said, we observe a flat tract of rich meadow land, as like the polders of Holland as any thing in this country. This tract, which is em

an arm of the sea, which stretched from Sandwich to near the Reculvers, and through this navigable channel the Roman fleets used to sail on their way to and from the Thames. About the time of the Norman Conquest, the Channel became impassable, from the accumulation of earthy matter; and in the fifteenth century it was crossed by a bridge. Since that period, all vestige of water course has disappeared, if we except the wet ditches which here and there intersect the enclosed fields. It will be understood, therefore, that Thanet is no longer an island, but a portion of the mainland of Kent, and forms a bold piece of country, with the North Foreland, Margate, and Ramsgate, on its exterior and sea-washed extremity.

Having sufficiently explored the environs of Herne

de camp, lieutenant-general, and marechal of France. Promotion is never obtained by purchase, and not often by special order; more than half the appointments take place by seniority. The number of marechals of France is at present ten; but by the new regulations it is to be fixed at eight in time of peace, and may be increased

to twelve in time of war.

Not content with military glory by land, the French have been equally ambitious to become a great naval power, but have not hitherto succeeded in rendering themselves formidable by sea. After a century and a half of continual effort and frequent conflict, their fleet was almost annihilated by the battle of Trafalgar, and subsequent minor engagements during the late war. Since the peace, the government have paid the utmost attention to the navy, and are now prepared, in the event of war, to send a powerful fleet to sea. According to the budget of 1839, there were in active service, 8 ships of the line, 12 frigates, 16 corvettes or sloops, 24 brigs, and numerous other vessels; and the amount of their crews was 20,317 men. The number in commission at 1st January 1840, was-Ships of the line, 13, from 80 to 120 guns; frigates, 13; corvettes, 19; brigs, 33; gunbrigs, 9; schooners, cutters, advice-boats, transports, &c., 578; steam vessels, 25. By royal ordonnance of 1st January 1837, the navy in time of peace is fixed at 40 ships of the line, 50 frigates, 40 steamers, and 190 smaller vessels. The smaller vessels are to be

kept afloat; but only half of the ships of the line and frigates are intended to be launched, the other half to be kept on the stocks in different stages of building.

As soon as a young man has been apprenticed in the coasting trade, or has made two voyages at sea, or has been employed two years in the fisheries, he is registered in the lists of the district to which he belongs. Besides this class of mariners, all other persons, be their ages what they may, who enter merchant vessels, or engage in the fisheries, are inscribed in the registers as soon as they have seen service; nor is any exception made in their favour, though they may have previously stood their chance of the ballot for the army, or have served their time in its ranks. The record of their names in the register of mariners is all that is necessary to fix that liability upon them; and in their case, as well as in that of every regularly bred seaman, this liability continues till the age of fifty. They all become as much the property of the state as the Russian serf is of the landowner at the moment of his birth. Whenever sailors are required for the naval service, the naval prefect announces to the local supervisor or commissary the quota of men to be supplied from each district. The latter thereupon directs the syndic of the navy to send him twice or thrice the number of men required, and he makes such selections from them as he thinks proper. No exemption whatever is admitted; and there is no appeal from the will or caprice of the commissary. The total number of individuals, of all descriptions, employed in the sea service, as at 1st January 1838, was 110,589, among whom there were 10,836 captains, shipmasters and pilots; and of that number 272 belonged to the public, and 6946 to the mercantile service.

As connected principally, though not exclusively, with the army and navy, we may mention the Order of the Legion of Honour, which was instituted by Napoleon. The usual title to admission is the discharge of important duties, either civil or military; and in time of war, the performance of some action of great bravery. The gradations are-1. Chevaliers, of whom the number is unlimited; 2. Officers, limited by the laws of the order to 2000; 3. Commanders, limited to 400; Grand-Officers, to 160; and Grand-Crosses, to 80; but on 1st January 1840, the actual number of the members was -Grand-Crosses, 96; Grand-Officers, 206; Commanders, 829; Officers, 4491; Chevaliers, 44,393; in all, 50,015.

PUBLIC HEALTH AND MORTALITY.

Paradoxical as it may appear, it is certain that a man's health, nay life, is nearly as much in the keeping of those of whom he knows nothing as in his own. Of the three influences mainly acting on it-himself, society, and external nature-the first bears on it most intensely, the second most covertly, the last most constantly. Moral culture may teach the individual so to curb his passions and appetites, as to develop all the forces of his organisation in their most healthful scope; or its neglect may set them loose as the deadliest instruments of self-destruction. The social system acts upon us not only through its fashions and customs, but by the power of government; and an ill-considered impost, indirectly affecting the food, the habitation, or the clothing of the community, shall send more to their graves than ever fell by sword or spear. Climate is always so ameliorated by civilisation, that we may safely say that it forms no exception to the general fact, that all the sources enumerated as influencing life are greatly modifiable; so that, although we may not believe, with M. Quetelet, in the perfectibility of our race, we may yet be sure that all its numerous ills may be immeasurably lessened. Nothing is truer than that the mortality of a kingdom is the best gauge of its happiness and prosperity. Show us a community wallowing in vice, whether from the pamperings of luxury or the recklessness of poverty, and we will show you that there truly the wages of sin are death. Point out the government legislating only for a financial return, regardless or ignorant of the indirect effects of their enactments, and we shall see that the pieces of silver have been the price of blood.-Quarterly Review.

There is a family named Partington, that has lately commenced its residence in Upper Harley Street. It consists of a father, a mother, two sons, and two daughters. The father is a sturdy, red-faced, good sort of man, and the mother is a slender, sallow, good sort of woman. John, the elder son, is with his father in the wine and spirit line, in America Square; Charles, the younger son, is in the law; the two girls expect to be married. There is at present a great deal of advice stirring about London, and the Partingtons have given and received more than their due proportion of it. It has been, and continues to be, given: nobody thanks you has often astonished me why so much of that commodity for it; indeed, nine people out of ten tell you, in pretty plain terms, to keep your advice to yourself—yet still wo continue to give it. Never was benevolence more gratuitous than ours!

Hardly was old Partington well settled in Upper Harley Street, in a most commodious situation, inasmuch as it commanded a corner view of the outside of the Dio

rama, with a peep at the little statue of the late Duke of Kent at the top of Portland Place-when he received a visit from his crony, Mr Chapman, of Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate Street, who called to give him some advice as to his recent proceedings.

Mr Chapman commenced his harangue in one of the accustomed forms: "Now, Mr Partington, I am sure you have too much good sense to be offended at what I am about to say." Mr Partington assured him, in answer, that he had a great deal too much good sense; whereupon the adviser, in reply, began to descant upon the extreme folly of Mr Partington in quitting his city residence to sojourn in Upper Harley Street. The adviser reminded the advisee of those happy days when, Bedlam being then standing upon London Wall, they used to walk up and down Moorfields in front of the iron gates of that edifice, for half an hour before dinner, to get an appetite; a needless ceremony, but persisted in notwiththat such had been their practice; but alleged in his standing. Mr Partington owned, with downcast eyes, Bedlam has deserted it," exclaimed he, with a sigh. defence, that nobody lived in the city at present-" even "True," answered the adviser, "and if you had removed your quarters to St George's Fields, I should not have so much wondered; but what the deuce could draw you to Upper Harley Street? Let me now advise you as a friend: if you have not yet signed and sealed, declare off, and come back again. We have dined with you once, in the way of friendship; but, my dear Jonathan, when you could have us all to dinner in a ring-fence, within one hundred yards of the Royal Exchange, what could put it into your head to drag us four miles off, to cut your tired, and Mr Partington took his advice as children take mutton in Marybone parish ?" Mr Chapman now rephysic, by canting it out of the window the moment the apothecary's back is turned. The lease was executed that very morning, and Mr Partington, notwithstanding a strong internal aversion to the hot chalky dusty corner of the Portland-road, became tenant of the house in Upper Harley Street for twenty-one years, from Christmas-day then last past. Men in the spirit line are not to be advised with impunity.

While this affair was transacting in the small back apartment behind the dining-room (the only one in the whole house which a married man can call his own, and brellas, out of number), advice was going on at a great even this is apt to be invaded by hats, canes, and umrate in the front drawing-room up stairs. Mrs Chambers was full tilt at Mrs Partington, advising her how to manage her family. "My dear Mem (for to this diminutive is our French Madame humbled since the Revolution)-my dear Mem," said this matronly Mentor, "only conceive that you should never have heard of Doctor Level. I've got three of my girls down under his hands, and I hope to get Julia down the moment she comes from school." "Down! Mrs Chambers, I don't quite understand you." "No!-only conceive how odd! By down, I mean down flat upon their backs upon three girls straight. All depends upon the spine: nerves, bile, sofas. Doctor Level says it's the only way to bring up toothache, asthma, and every thing of that kind-all springs from the spine." "Well!-but, Mrs Chambers, is not horse exercise a better thing? My girls ride in St James's Park now and then, with their brother Charles as a make-weight. I can assure you, several young men of very considerable property ride there; and, according to my calculation, men are more apt to fall in love on horseback than on foot." "Horseback!only conceive how dreadful! Doctor Level won't hear of it: he says girls should be kept quiet-quite quiet. Now, you know Anna is short and rather thick in her figure: the poor girl burst into tears on reading that Lord Byron hated a dumpy woman. I was quite in despair about her only conceive!-no more figure than It's no matter, she must have the long gaiters."" "Long my thumb! I spoke to Dr Level about it, and he said, gaiters, Mrs Chambers!-a very pretty appurtenance to a grenadier, but surely for a diminutive young lady""Oh, Mem, I beg your pardon: it's the best thing in the world; let me advise you, as a friend, to try the long gaiters.* I'il venture to say, that in six years he would make little Crachami as long as the Queen of the Sandwich Islands. How he manages it I don't know; but there are two long straps that keep down the shoulders and flatten the ankles; then he turns a sort of screw, under the sofa, which sets the straps in motion, and pulls out the body just for all the world as if he were rolling Mem, would you believe it? we have already gained two out paste for a gooseberry pie-crust. Well, my dear inches; and Doctor Level promises me, if I keep Anna

* Qu. Elongators?

quite quiet for three years and seven months, she may get up quite a genteel figure. Jemima and Lucy are rather better figures: I hope to have them up and about "Poor girls, don't they find it very in a twelvemonth." dull ?" "Oh no; I left them this morning with Irving's Four Orations,' and 'Southey's History of the Brazils. Plenty of amusement, that's my maxim. Let me advise you, as a friend, to follow my example."

Mrs Chambers was qualified to give all this advice from living in Lower Grosvenor Street, which gave her much more knowledge of the world (especially on a fine Sunday) than could be possessed by an inhabitant of Upper Harley Street. Mrs Partington, for the same reason, was bound to take it in seeming thankfulness. Most fortunate was it for the two Misses Partington, that their mainma was "advised as a friend." But for those soulrevolting expressions, Mrs Partington might have been induced to call in Doctor Level to bind her daughters' Misses Partington, in lieu of cantering under the backback-bones over to their good behaviour; and the two wall of Marlborough House, and kicking up as much dust as a couple of countesses, might, at this present writing, have been flat on their backs, in the back drawing-room in Upper Harley Street, like a couple of Patiences on a monument, smiling at a whitewashed ceiling!

LINES TO MURPHY.

[The following lines, which first appeared some months since in a periodical work of limited circulation, are obligingly placed at our disposal by the author-the same individual who composed "Tonis ad resto Mare."]

Oh, Murphy, Murphy, I am s're afraid
You're but a poor and sorry common-tator;
A very tyro in the weather trade,

And all unfit for Jack Frost's legislator.
Your foggy days, alas! are clear and fine,
Your cold and rainy all are warm and sunny;
Each following day belies your every line.

And proves your want of science and of money.
What ails your hail that it will not come down?
Why does your Phœbus fib us, too, like this?
Why does your thunder disappoint the town,
In your ephemeral Ephemeris?

Your meteorologic logie pray rovise,

Your problems too, so very problematic;
And if, moon-struck, you still must theorise,
Let not your comet course be so erratic.
Your reign will end before the rain begins,

And down to Zero sink your reputation;
Fog, Meteor, Vapour, all will kick your shins,
And change your altitude to declination.
The powers above-Aries, et cetera,
Libra, Aquarius, Sagittarius-all
Will be indignant at thy exposé,

And stop, methinks, thy Comic Annual.
The planets, too, will doubtless join the wars,
Stop thy diurnal, annual rotation;
And, thy Urania mania marred by Mars,

Thou wilt not well escape a good gyration.
But fare you well, my weather-beaten boy;
I'll bid good-bye, with every wish that's kind:
May all your future days be fine and dry.
And you still make a breeze and raise the wind.
S. W. P.

RECOVERY OF PROPERTY.

The following circumstance is as true as it is singular. A few years ago two gentlemen, who had been left executors to the will of a friend, on examining the property, found a scrap of paper on which was written, "Seven Hundred Pounds in Till." This they took in the literal sense, and examined all his apartments carefully, but in vain. They sold his collection of books to a bookseller, and paid the legacies in proportion. The singularity of the circumstance occasioned them frequently to converse about it, and they recollected among the books sold (which had taken place upwards of seven weeks before), there was a folio edition of Tillotson's Sermons. The probability of this being what was alluded to by the word "Till" on the piece of paper, made one of them immediately wait upon the bookseller the edition of Tillotson, which had been among the who had purchased the books, and ask him if he had books sold to him. On his replying in the affirmative, and the volumes being handed down, the gentleman immediately purchased them, and on carefully examining the leaves, found bank notes, singly dispersed in various places of the volumes, to the amount of seven hundred pounds! But what is perhaps no less remarkable than the preceding, the bookseller informed him that a gentleman at Cambridge, reading in his catalogue of this edition to be sold, had written to him, and desired it might be sent to Cambridge, which was accordingly done; but the books not answering the gentleman's expectations, they had been returned, and had been in the bookseller's shop till the period of this very singular discovery.-Odd Fellow.

FLUENCY OF SPEECH.

Dean Swift says, the common fluency of speech, in most men and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter and scarcity of words; for whoever is a master of language, and hath a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas common speakers have only one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in, and these are always ready at the mouth; so people come faster out of church when it is almost empty, than when a crowd is at the door.

LONDON: Published, with permission of the proprietors, by W.S. ORR, Paternoster Row; and sold by all booksellers and newsmen.-Printed by Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars.