ther springing from " susceptibility of being Six inches of dung as before. Six inches of very rotten dung. The quarter must now be divided into beds five feet wide, by paths constructed of turf, two feet in breadth, and one foot in thickness. The asparagus must be planted about the end of March, eighteen inches asunder. In planting them, the bud, or top of the shoot, is to be placed at the depth of an inch and a half in the ground, while the roots must be spread out as wide as possible in the form of an umbrella. A small bit of stick must be placed as a mark at each plant, as it is laid in the ground. As soon as the earth is settled and dry, a spadeful of fine sand is to be thrown on each plant, in the form of a molehill. If the asparagus plants should have begun to shoot before their transplantation, the young shoots should be cut off, and the planting will, with these precautions, be equally successful, though it should be performed in this country even as late as July. Should any of the plants originally inserted have died, they also may be replaced at this season. The plants ought to be two years old when they are transplanted; they will even take at three; but at four they are apt to fail. If it be necessary to buy asparagus plants for these beds, it will be proper to procure twice as many as are required. The best Madame de Stacl was one of the writers in the "Biographie Universelle," in which the articles Aspasie, Camoens, Cleopatra," &c. are from her pen. Two letters from her to Talma appeared in a Bourdeaux Journal about a month ago. She was upon the point of publishing Considerations on the respective situation of France and England in 1813," at the time of her decease. We take it for granted that it will be edited. must then be selected for planting, and the remainder placed in some remote portion of the prepared bed, or into a similar situation, but without separating the plants. Here they must first be covered with four inches of sand during the summer, and as soon as the frost sets in with six inches of dung over that. The stems of the planted asparagus must be cut down as soon as the frost commences, and close to the ground. The beds are then to be covered with six inches of dung, and four of sand. In March the bed must be stirred with a fork, taking care not to apthem. Towards the end of April, the plants proach so near to the plants as to derange which have died, may be replaced with the reserved ones lately described. In three years the largest plants will be fit to cut for use. If the beds be sufficiently large to furnish a supply in this manner, the asparagus shoots should be cut as fast as they appear; otherwise they must be left till the quantity required has pushed forth; in which case the variety in colour and size prevents them from having so agreeable an appearance. An iron knife is used for this purpose. In cutting, the knife is to be slipped along the stem, till it reaches the bottom of the shoot, where the cut is to be made. At the end of four years the great and small ones may be taken indiscriminately. The cutting should cease about the end of June. At the beginning of winter the stems are all to be cut away, and the beds covered with dung and sand in the manner above described. If muddy sand from the sea-shore can be procured for the several purposes above described, it is the best; otherwise, river sand may be used; and if that cannot be procured, fine earth must be substituted. The asparagus bed now described will generally last thirty years; but if they be planted in such abundance as to require cutting only in a state of reservation, it will last a century, once in two years, half the bed being always or more. The turf used in making the beds should be very free from stones. Care must be taken not to tread on the beds, so as to condense the earth, in planting the asparagus; and to prevent such an accident happening on any other occasion, a plank should be used to tread on. It must be remembered, that the division of the beds, which is formed by thick turf, is intended to prevent the condensation of the earth below, in consequence of the necessary walking among the beds. As in the course of time this condensation will gradually take place, the turf ought to be renewed every three years. for the purpose of stirring the ground below and in applying the winter coat of manure, it must be remembered, that even these walks are to be covered. If these circumstances are not attended to, or if the earth below the walks has not originally been constructed in the way described above, the asparagus plants which grow near the walks will be much less fine than those in the mid dle of the beds. I understand that this plan has been put in practice by Mr. Allan, of Tweedside, with success. From an English Paper. EARLY DEPRAVITY. Mary Farthing, who keeps a coffee shop in Warwick-lane, charged three boys with a burglary. The case is interesting from the tender years of the delinquents, and the unparalleled depravity of one of them. The complainant stated, that on Saturday se'night she left her shop safely locked up, and upon returning to it on Monday morning found that the casement was broken open, that an iron bar which crossed one of the skylights had been wrenched from its place. Upon examining her property she ascertained that her prayer-book was stolen, and she also missed a paper bag containing two pounds of sugar. The articles that were not taken away were scattered about as if a search had been made by the thieves for what was most portable. An officer was immediately employed. He suspected a most abandoned boy named Sullivan, who is only nine years of age, of being a party to the robbery. He went to the lodgings of the boy's parents, and found there a paper containing two pounds of sugar, and a prayer-book, which the complainant swore was that which had been stolen from her shop. Young Sullivan was apprehended, and upon being questioned by the officer, said that he had nothing to do with the robbery, but had taken the prayer-book and sugar from two boys named Alley and Conolly, upon suspicion that they had not come by them honestly. For his part, he intended that the property should be given to the proper persons as soon as he had time to make inquiry after them. The officer soon apprehended the two boys thus accused, and brought them on Wednesday before Alderman Cox, who entered into a long examination of all the circumstances, and found a case against Sullivan of the most desperate description. as by some respectable persons, that Sullivan, Sen. had done all in his power to correct the unfortunate propensities of his child. The following was the story told by the two children, Alley and Conolly:-As they were going to school, to which they used to go every day, they met Sullivan, who had formerly been their school-fellow. Sullivan told them he would show them how to make money to buy cakes and apples; said it was foolish to go to school, and prevailed upon them to attend him at night to Warwick lane, where he raised them up to the sky-light of a coffee-shop, put an iron instrument into the bands of one of them, and made him break the window with it. He then obliged the other, who is a cripple, to tie a rope to a bar which ran across on the inside, and with the assistance of both, succeeded in dragging the bar from its place. He then sent the more active boy through the sky-light, with orders to steal all the money he could get, and any thing else he could carry. All the money the boy found consisted of two bad dollars and a halfpenny with a hole in it. The other property he took was that found at Sullivan's lodgings. As soon as the business was done, Sullivan took all the plunder, and threatened to hang them if they said a word. A tradesman here stepped forward and said, the tools with which the burglary had been effected were some time ago stolen from his house by Sullivan, who broke open one house for the purpose of entering another with greater facility. Young Sullivan was fully committed for trial. His father was discharged. Alley's and Conolly's parents were bound over to answer for the appearance of their children against the prisoner at the ensuing sessions. SKETCHES OF SOCIETY AND THE PLAY AT VENICE. Some years since, a German Prince making a tour of Europe, stopped at Venice for The ages of the two boys accused by Sul- a short period. It was the close of summer, livan were six and seven years. The mem- the Adriatic was calm, the nights were lovebers of a Committee who superintend a freely, the Venitian women in the full enjoyment school where the three boys had been received, stated to the Alderman that Alley and Conolly were, up to the time of the crime with which they were charged, honest and harmless children; but that Sullivan was a boy of the most incorrigible habits of theft. The Alderman ordered that the father of Sullivan, who was during the examination in the office, should be put to the Bar, next his son, as it was most improbable that a child should engage in such dangerous enterprises without the authority and instruction of some experienced person; and as the stolen articles had been found at the father's lodgings, there was reason in supposing that some depraved participation existed between him and his son. The father was, however, proved to be wholly ignorant of the boy's conduct; and it was stated by several of the police, as well of those delicious spirits that in their climate rise and fall with the coming and the departure of this finest season of the year. Every day was given by the illustrious stranger to researches among the records and antiquities of this singular city, and every night to parties on the Brenta or the sea. As the morn ing was nigh, it was the custom to return from the water to sup at some of the palaces of the nobility. In the commencement of his intercourse all national distinctions were carefully suppressed. But as his intimacy increased, he was forced to see the lurking vanity of the Italian breaking out. One of its most frequent exhibitions was in the little dramas, that wound up those stately festivities. The wit was constantly sharpened by some contrast of the Italian and the German, some slight aspersion on Teutonic rudeness, some remark on the history of a people un touched by the elegance of Southern manners. The sarcasm was conveyed with Italian grace, and the offence softened by its humour. It was obvious that the only retaliation must be humorous. At length the Prince, on the point of taking leave, invited his entertainers to a farewell supper. He drew the conversation to the infinite superiority of the Italian, and above all of the Venetian, acknowledged the darkness in which Germany had been destined to remain so long, and looked forward with infinite sorrow to the comparative opinion of posterity upon a country to which so little of its gratitude must be due." But my Lords," said he, rising, we are an emulous people, and an example like yours cannot be lost even upon a German. I have been charmed with your dramas, and have contrived a little arrangement to give one of our country, if you will condescend to follow me to the great hall." The company rose and followed him through the splendid suit of a Venetian villa, to the hall which was fitted up as a German barn. The aspect of the theatre produced first surprise and next an universal smile. It had no resemblance to the gilded and sculptured saloons of their own sumptuous little theatres. However it was only so much the more Teutonic. The curtain drew up. The surprise rose into loud laughter, even among the Venetians, who have been seldom betrayed into any thing beyond a smile for generations together. The stage was a temporary erection. rude and uneven. The scenes represented a wretched and irregular street, scarcely lighted by a few twinkling lamps, and looking the fit haunt of robbery and assassination. On a narrower view some of the noble spectators began to think it had a kind of resemblance to an Italian street, and some actually discovered in it one of the leading streets of their own famous city. But the play was on a German story, they were under a German roof. The street was, notwithstanding its illomened similitude, of course German. The street was solitary. At length a traveller, a German, with pistols in a belt round his waist, and apparently exhausted by his journey, came heavily pacing along. He knocked at several of the doors, but could obtain no admission. He then wrapped himself up in his cloak, sat down upon a fragment of a monument and soliloquized. "Well, here have I come, and this is my reception. All palaces, no inns, all nobles, and not a man to tell me where I can lie down in comfort or in safety. Well, it cannot be helped. A German does not much care. campaigning has hardened effeminacy among us. Hunger and thirst, heat and cold, dangers of war and the roads, are not very formidable after what we have had to work through from father to son. Loneliness however is not so well, unless a man can labour or read. Read, that's true, come out Zimmerman." He drew a volume from his pocket, moved nearer to a decaying lamp, and soon seemed absorbed. He bad till now been the only object. Another soon shared the eyes of the spectators. A long, light figure came with a kind of visionary movement from behind the monument, surveyed the traveller with keen curiosity, listened with apparent astonishment to his words, and in another moment bad fixed itself gazing over his shoulder on the volume. The eyes of this singular being wandered rapidly over the page, and when it was turned they were lifted up to heaven with the strongest expression of wonder The German was weary, his head soon drooped over his study, and he closed the book. What," said he, rising and stretching his limbs, "is there no one stirring in this comfortless place? Is it not near day?" He took out his repeater, and touched the pendant, it struck four. His mysterious attendant had watched him narrowly the repeater was traversed over with an eager gaze; but when it struck, delight was mingled with the wonder that had till then filled its pale. intelligent Countena: ce. Four o'clock," said the German, in my country, half the world would be thinking of going to the day's work by this time. In another hour it will be sun-rise. Well then, I'll do you a service, you nation of sleepers, and make you open your eyes." He drew out one of his pistols, and fired it. The attendant form, still hovering behind him, had looked curiously upon the pistol, but on its going off, started back in terror, and with a loud cry that made the traveller turn-"Who are you?" was his greeting to this strange intruder. "I will not hurt you," was the answer. "Who cares about that " was the German's retort, aud he pulled out the other pistol. My friend," said the figure, Even that weapon of thunder and lightning cannot reach me now. But if you would know who I am, let me entreat you to satisfy my curiosity a moment. You seem a man of extraordinary powers." "Well then," said the German in a gentler tone, "if you come as a friend. I shall be glad to give you information; it is the custom of our country to deny nothing to those who will love or learn." The former sighed deeply and murmured." and yet you are a Tueton; but you were just reading a little case of strange and yet most interesting figures: was it a manuscript?" No, it was a printed book!" "Printed, what is printing? I never heard but of writing." He was a German ?" What, still a barbarian! I remember his nation. I once saw an auxiliary legion of them marching towards Rome. They were a bold and brave blue-eyed troop. The whole city poured out to see those northern warriors, but we looked on them only as gallant savages. I have one more question, the most interesting of all. I saw you raise your hand, with a small truncheon in it ; in a moment something rushed out, that seemed a portion of the fire of the clouds. Were they thunder and lightning that I saw? Did they come by your command? Was that truncheon a talisman, and are you a mighty magician? Was that truncheon a sceptre commanding the elements? Are you a god? The strange inquirer had drawn back gradually as bis feelings rose. Curiosity was now solemn wonder, and he stood gazing upward in an attitude that mingled awe with devotion. The German felt the sensation of a superior presence growing on himself as he looked on the fixed countenance of this mysterious being. It was in that misty blending of light and darkness which the moon leaves as it sinks just before morn. There was a single hue of pale grey in the East that touched its visage with a chill light, the moon resting broadly on the horizon was setting behind, the figure seemed as if it was standing in the orb. Its arms were lifted towards heaven, and the light came through its drapery with the mild splendour of a vision. But the German, habituated to the vicissitudes of "perils by flood and field," shook off his brief alarm, and proceeded calmly to explain the source of his miracle. He gave a slight detail of the machinery of the pistol, and alluded to the history of gun-powder. "It must be a mighty instrument in the hands of man for either good or ill," said the form. "How much it must change the nature of war! how much it must influence the fates of nations! By whom was this wondrous secret revealed to the treaders upon the earth "" A German." The form seemed suddenly to enlarge, its feebleness of voice was gone, its attitude was irresistably noble. Before it had uttered a word, it looked as made to persuade and command. Its outer robe had been flung away; it now stood with an antique dress of brilliant white, gathered in many folds, and edged with a deep border of purple; a slight wreath of laurel, dazzlingly green, was on its brow. It looked like the Genius of Eloquence. "Stranger," said it, pointing to the Appennines, which were then beginning to be VOL. II.-No. II. 20 marked by the twilight, "eighteen hundred years have passed away since I was the glory of all beyond those mountains. Eighteen hundred years have passed into the great flood of eternity since I entered Rome in triumph, and was honoured as the leading mind of the great intellectual empire of the world. But I knew nothing of those things. I was a child to you, we were all children to the discoverers of those glorious potencies. But has Italy not been still the mistress of mind? She was then first of the first; has she not kept her superiority? Show me her noble inventions. I must soon sink from the earth-let me learn still to love my country." The listener started back; "Who, what are you?" "I am a spirit. I was CICERO. Show me, by the love of a patriot, what Italy now sends out to enlighten mankind." The German looked embarrassed; but in a moment after he heard the sound of a pipe and tabor. He pointed in silence to the narrow street from which the interruption came. A ragged figure tottered out with a barrel organ at his back, a frame of puppets in his hand, a hurdy-gurdy round his neck, and a string of dancing dogs in his train, CICERO uttered but one sigh-"Is this Italy!" The German bowed his head. The showman began his cry-" Raree show, fine raree show against the wall! Fine Madame Catarina dance upon de ground. Who come for de galantee show!" The organ struck up, the dogs danced, the Italian capered round them. CICERO raised his broad gaze to heaven: "These the men of my country-these the orators, the poets, the patriots of mankind! What scorn and curse of providence can have fallen upon them?" As he gazed, tears suddenly suffused his eyes, the first sunbeam struck across the spot where he stood, a purple mist rose around him, and he was gone! The Venetians, with one accord, started from their seats, and rushed out of the hall. The Prince and his suite had previously arranged every thing for leaving the city, and they were beyond the Venetian territory by sun-rise. Another night in Venice, and they would have been on their way to the other world. London Literary Gazette. As early as the reign of Augustus but more particularly under the succeeding Emperors, a partiality for the Greek language and Greek fashions was not less prevalent among the Romans, than the partiality for the French language and French fashions is, at the present day, among the English. Two causes concurred to produce this effect-a frequent intercourse between the respective countries, and a love of novelty common to all mankind. If the Romans had been content with adopting a few only of the more elegant arts and fashions of the Greeks, no mark would have sprung up against which the shafts of the satirist could have been pointed; but their imitation of that refined and luxurious people exceeded all bounds; it was conspicuous in every department and transaction of public and private life; and seemed to threaten the total abolition of Roman customs and manners. Between ancient Rome and modern Britain how exact is the parallel in this respect. With the conquerors of Attica, every thing was Greek; with the conquerors of France, every thing must be French. It cannot have escaped persons of observation, that in the higher orders of society, in this country, the French mode is predomi nant in the dress, at the table, and in the socia! amusements. Among the women, the glittering silks of the continent have supplanted the less showy, but not less elegant, garments of our own looms; our tables are now covered with ragouts and fricassees, instead of plain English dishes; and reels and country-dances have given way to waltzes and quadrilles. Nor is it upon our manners alone that the evil spirit of Gallicism is exerting its intrigu ing influence. It is intriguing also to the corruption of our language. In many circles there is an affectation of using French phra ses on almost every topic of conversation; and the following letter from an English gentleman at Paris to his friend in London, may serve to show in what sort of jargon some persons of fashion now write: "You must come to us immediately, my dear H you must en verite. I have just been looking at a house on the Boulevards that will suit you à merveille. Colonel G―, who is gone to Swisserland, was the last tenant It is bien meublée, and vraiement raisonable. When Mrs. H-sees it, I am certain she will exclaim c'est tres jolie and tout à fait ce qu'il faut. Living is extremely agreeable here; it is en verité. Amusement after amusement sans cesse. No time for ennui, mon cher H—. A mere list of the different spectacles would fill up a whole sheet of paper. "What fools we English are, n'est-ce pas ? It is the French alone who understand ce que c'est que de vivre. You have ten times the agrémens at Paris that you have in London, en verité; and what is worth consideration pour beaucoup moins d'argent. Some of our booby-country-men find fault with the French cuisine. Pour moi, I like it much better than the English cookery. The latter is too insipid; but there's some gout in the French dishes. Non, non, I shall never like plain roast and boiled again, en verité. "I dine most days at a table d'hôte, where there are as many English as French; but I always manœuvre to sit next to a Frenchman, to bear his conversation and to be au fail of all that is going on in the capital. The French are very communicative, en verité, and one can't be surprised that they complain of our countrymen, as being trop serrés, trop rétenus. Plost a few hundreds last week at the Palais Royal. I don't play every night. On the whole I have been rather lucky--quelque chose in pocket, mais pas beaucoup. There were "I was at the bal masqué given by It was magnifique, en verilé. about sixty masques, and the different characters were supported avec tout l'esprit possible. In the course of the evening there was some waltzing, and quadrilles. I wish you could have seen the company at supper. The coup d'œil was brilliant à l'extréme, and the tout entier was conducted with the greatest éclat. · Believe me, mon cher H, in daily expectation of seeing you, most truly, "Your's, G. M. "P. S. I had almost forgot to tell you how You gaiement we pass the Sunday here. know what a stupid day it is (n'est il pas?) in England. C'est toute autre chose a Paris, enverité. The opera, cards, dancing, &c. &c. &c." European Magazine. Extract of a Letter from Lieut. James Richard Colnett, 11th Reg. Nat. Inf. dated Secrora (Oude.) 8th Sept. 1815. In the beginning of May, 1815, our army, from the hot winds and bad weather, became so sickly that we were ordered into quarters. On the 6th May we passed through a forest, and encamped on its skirts, near a small village, the head man of which came and entreated us to destroy a large tiger, which had killed seven of his men, and was in the habit of daily stealing his cattle, and had that morning wounded his son. Another officer and myself agreed to attempt the destruction of this monster. We immediately ordered seven elephants, and went in quest of the animal, whom we found sleeping under a bush; the noise of the elephants awoke him, when he made a furious charge on us, and my elephat received him on her shoulder; the other six elephants turned about, and ran off, notwithstanding the exertions of their riders, and left me in the above situation: I had seen many tigers, end been at the killing of them, but never so large a one as this: the elephant shook the tiger off: I then fired two bails, and the tiger fell; but again recovering himself, made a spring at me, and fell short, but seized the elephant by her hind leg; then receiving a kick from her, and another ball from me, he let go his hold, and fell second time; thinking he was by this disabled, I very unfortunately dismounted, with a pair of pistols, intending to put an end to his existence; when the monster, who was only couching to take another spring, made it at that moment, and caught me in his |