small rant.

Captain Charles Buller, C.B. of the Royal Sovereign Yacht, is. appointed Superintendent of Chatham Yard, with the same rank and. authority as a Commissioner of the Navy. The Reverend Edward Repton, Minister of Saint Philip's Chapel, Regent Street, has been appointed by the Speaker Chaplain to the House of Commons.

MOVEMENTS OF THE GREAT.—The Duke of Buccleuch has left town on his return to Dalkeith Palace. On his way his Grace in- tended to pay a short visit to the Duke and Duchess of Northumber- land, at Alnwick Castle. Sin W. SCOTT.—When the Baronet was urged not to prop the fall- ing credit of an acquaintance, he replied, " The man was my friend when my friends were few, and I will be his, now that his enemies are many:" [There is no doubt Sir Walter did this good thing ; but we question if be said it. His mind is too large to turn in an antithesis.] PUNNING JusricE.—The other day, in the course of the trial ofan action for a tailor's bill, in the Court of King's Bench, it appeared on the defence, that none of the clothes supplied fitted the defendant. "Then," observed the Lord Chief Justice, with one of his benignant smiles, "we must proceed according to the lex talionis—the plaintiff must be mm-suited."—Globe. Our lively contemporary calls this "Lord Tenterden's first :" we suppose there is at last an end of "Lord Nor- bury's last."

We are assured upon good authority, that circumstances of a nature strictly personal and private (so much so, that in another case we should not have 'referred to them) conspired to recommend to Mr. Hulton. of Hulton, the prudence of a temporary secession from the splendid othit t■f his public duties, no less than the force of political considerations on his patriotic mind.--Morning Chronicle. • Experiments were made last night on the Chain Pier of a new code taf rocket signals, invented by Lieutenant Hughes, R. N., and intended to supersede the lanterns at present used for that purpose in the Navy. The signals were fired from two batteries, on the pier, and at Bear's Hide, near Newhaven. Rockets of ten different colours are used : it is supposed that they will be equally available in the most boisterous wea- ther as in a perfect calm—Brighton Gazette, Dec. 29.

A treaty of marriage is said to be on foot between the King of the Belgians and Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of Louis Philip. The ,bride is, it seems, to receive a dowry of a large amount.

ITALIAN OPERA.—It is pretty certain that the Opera will open on the 14th or 21st of January. We last week gave a pretty complete ac-

count of the talent already engaged for the ensuing season; and have now the pleasure to add the name of a performer of very extraordinary powers, whose like we will be bound to say was never looked upon before. It is in " the person " of a musical instrument of an entirely new construction, the invention of a professor of eminence, which it is proposed to name the Baru-chordon, in token of its extraordinary depth of tone, being capable of going down with ease to a full octave below the double bass ! We do not feel warranted, at the present stage of proceedings, in entering into any description of its construction, which we can assure our readers is both ingenious and original. It will form a conspicuous, though not a leading feature in the orchestra, where, when it sounds, 'twill be with a full forty-Dragonetti-power!--Literary Guardian, Dec. 31.

THE PUFF PRELIMINARY.—The following paragraph is going the usual round—" Tosi has for some time been a prodigious favourite at

Madrid, where she received no less than 1,200/. for performing three nights a-week for five months. When she appeared in an opera written expressly for her, the applications for admission were three times more numerous than the house could hold. Bribery was resorted to, to ob- tain a preference ; and the Corregidor of Madrid pocketed as many as 40 or .50 dollars a-day by trafficking in tickets." Madame or Mademoi- selle Tosi, we are further informed, is very like Catalani ; she only ex- cels "ma femme" in voice, acting, and person. We had supposed that these impudent and stupid attempts at prejudging the merits of the fu- ture candidates for public applause, would have dropped under the new management of the King's Theatre.

.MaruEws.—Mathews had, on Friday evening last week, the ho- nour of entertaining theKing, at the Pavilion, for upwards of three hours, with a selection from his " Comic Annual."

The French Ministers are busy reducing. All the pensions granted either to Peers created by Charles the Tenth and rejected by the Char- ter of 1830, or to Peers who may have refused to take the oath, have been erased from the great book of the public obligations. The whole of these reductions amount to 381,000 francs. The pensions granted to retired Ministers or their widows have also come under revision. The Ministry have reduced to the maximum of 12,000 francs those which exceeded that amount; and five which have been reduced were those of Messrs. Villele, Corbieres, La Bourdonnaye, Freyssinous, and Peyronnet.—[It is worth while to compare the maximum of the French

Ministerial pensions with the minimum of ours. Fancy such men as De Villdle and Corbieres, with their allowance of 480/. each, and Lord Sidmouth with his 3,0001.!]

Two enterprising individuals, of the names of Colthurst and Tyr- wbitt, gentlemen by birth and education, are about to proceed imme- .diately to Africa, at their own expense, with a view of exploring the interior of that country. Their intention is to proceed from Benin, on

the western coast, through to Egypt, their object being to solve the problem of the mighty Nile. They have our best wishes for the suc- cess of so noble and spirited an enterprise.— Times.

Sir John Hayes, who left Bombay with Lady Hayes, in the Coote, for New South Wales, died at Cocos, where he was interred.

TRAVELLERS IN NAPLES.—Travellers from the " United King- dom of England," who shall have left it subsequent to the 20th Octo- ber, will not in future be permitted to enter the dominions of Naples, unless provided with a certificate " delivered to them by the Consular agent of his Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies, attesting that they have dwelt forty days in some part of the Continent where no disease prevails, and that they have not touched at any infected place." Neither will they be permitted to introduce into the kingdom any susceptible article, excepting the Wearing apparel upon them.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE POOR.—The Spaniards are poor them- prehensiye creatures. A modern traveller says, "give a Spaniard his shade in the summer, and his sunshine in winter ; his tobacco, his melon, his dates, his bread, and his wine ; give him a hole to creep into, and put him within sound of a convent bell, and he asks no more ; or, if he be a respectable peasant, then give to him his embroidered jacket, his tasselled bat, his guitar, and his /nada (sweetheart) ; and it is a matter of indifference to him whether Spain is ruled by a Caligula or a Titus." We have known even Englishmen, who, if you gave them all they wanted, would not ask for more; but such specimens of slavish content are not common.

We would recommend the following facts to the attention of Alder- man Waithman. In the year 1812, the price paid for weaving a six- hundred fancy patent cotton net, was 3s. 6d. and 2d. per shilling addi- tional of master wages, making altogether 4s. ld. per ell of forty-five inches. Now the same fabric, with the patterns greatly improved, can

be manufactured at •Barrhead, at from---one penny to twopence per yard. —Paisley Advertiser.

A cathedral is said to have been built at Sierra Leone in 1824, at a cost of 70,0001., for the accommodation of not more than twenty or thirty persons; and that is now a heap of ruins, and without a roof. Two non-commissioned officers of the Artillery, in garrison at Douai, fought a duel last week ; in which one of them, a fencing- master, was mortally wounded. He had just obtained leave of absence to celebrate his wedding, the banns having already been published.

The French Minister of War has addressed a circular to all the General Officers of the army, directing them to warn the soldiers under

their command against listening to the doctrines of the St. Simonians. A committee of ladies of distinction, in Paris, has been formed for the purpose of establishing a lottery, as a means of raising a fund W. aid of the distressed Poles who have taken refuge in France.

An ingenious practical chemist, in America, has succeeded in pro.. curing from potatoes a syrup, not at all inferior to molasses, and quite as rich as the syrup obtained from the sugar maple. Some time ago, it was stated that a French gentleman had discovered a method of con- verting potatoes into sxcellent wheaten bread. Irish men and Irish produce against the world! General O'Connell need not put bullets in the pouches of his soldiers ; let him only supply them with plenty of potatoes, and they will defy the world in arms.

A FLOCK OF SWANS CAUGHT IN LONDON.—Between the hours of twelve and one o'clock on Tuesday, in consequence of the dense fog

which prevailed, a flock of swans lost their way, and came down the Thames from the direction of Richmond. They passed the different bridges of the metropolis until they arrived at Bankside, between Blackfriars and London Bridges ; where two of them were taken. Meanwhile, the rest of the flock passed on, down the river, until they reached St. Katherine Docks, into which five of them strayed, and were also taken. One more, making eight, was taken in the mud at the side of the river, near Limehouse. The poor birds were so confused, that they suffered themselves to be taken easily.—Chronicle.

During Saturday and Sunday, a great munber of wild geese and ducks arrived on the ornamental waters in the Regent's Park, and no previous season has there been seen so great a number on these waters. Since the establishment of the Regent's Park, there never was known to be so many pheasants and hares in it as there are this season. At one period it abounded with partridges, but there is not one to be seen there DOW.

LEGITIMATE ROBRERY.—The Gazette of Warsaw states that the twenty-two magnificent paintings found in the museum of the Jesuits at Plock are destined for the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. —Gazette de Prasse.

AUSTRIAN VESSELS.—The vessels of the Emperor are in future to be received in British harbours on the same dues and charges as are levied on British vessels in Trieste and the other ports of Austria ; the Emperor haying become a party to the reciprocity system proposed in

M i Mr. Huskisson's amended Navigation-laws. This s one step, though but a small one, to its general adoption. A correspondent of a Morning Paper cautions tea-drinkers against the risk they ran of being poisoned—and how ? A lady of Kensington was lately very ill, in consequence of drinking tea, which had simmered for three hours in an oven by the side of the fire, in a teacup, with a metal spoon in it At Boston, on the 23rd, a snow-storm came on, and the thermometer was down to 10.

DISCIPLINE OF THE GUARDS. — On Friday, last week, a man named Holman, a private of the Coldstream Guards, received three hundred lashes, by sentence of a Court-martial. The man did not wince or complain throughout the long and terrible infliction; and when the Sergeant-Major told three huirdred, he turned round with the utmost coolness, and exclaimed "Domino," as if he had won the game ! His offence was using insulting and threatening language to his Sergeant.

"The thief suspects each bush an officer."—About two o'clock in the morning of the 17th instant, a fire broke out in the church of St. Mar- garet, at Ferrara, which had been converted into a store for forage. The tocsin sounded, and the effect of the bells upon a population alter- nately excited by the fear or hope of revolutionary movements, may be easily imagined. The Austrians, on hearing the first stroke, came out of the fort and barracks with their train of artillery, which they planted at the entrance of all the principal streets, and on the esplanade which commands the town. As soon, however, as the cause was known, they retired again, somewhat ashamed of their alarm.—Letter from Bologna. The complaint lately so prevalent in France, called time grippe, is at present raging iii Italy ; and forty thousand persons are said to have been attacked with it at Rome.

The collection of animals presented by the King to the Zoological Society have been removed to the gardens in the Regent's Park.

A beautiful specimen of the procellaria leachii, or fork-tailed petrel, was driven ashore during the late hurricane, and caught in a bird-net in a ditch, near Kingston, where it was seen to alight. A specimen of that elegant little bird, the phalarapus lobatus, or gray phalarope, was shot last week on the moors. Both are extremely rare.— Taun- ton Courier.

The Edinburgh Academy of Painting,, kw. have purchased the two great pictures of Mr. Etty, " The Combat," and " Beriah," for their collection.

Four handsome lamp-pillars have been erected at the corners of the pedestal of the statue of George the Fourth, in George Street, Edin- burgh. Playgoers will be glad to hear that small bonnets will soon be the rage. At Paris it is the mode to wear them with brims not more than six inches in depth.—Just in time for the Pantomimes !

A celebrated actress, long admired on the French stage, having lost a large stun in some stock speculations, is again obliged, at time age of fifty-six, to make a reappearance, in order to regain a fortune or a livelihood.

Madame Malibran Garcia, having been advised that her marriage rontracted in America is void, has given her hand to the celebrated violinist De Beriot.

Weber asserted that he never saw a beautiful landscape that did not produce in his mind a train of corresponding musical associations.

Alas. RENAUD. — This veteran actress [known by old London play- goers as Mrs. Powell] has not long survived her great contemporary, Mrs. Siddons. She died, under the roof of the widow of the late Mr. Den- ham, after a long complication of disorders, on the 27th current. Her last days were embittered by sorrow and poverty, insomuch that she was latterly compelled to part with her raiment for subsistence ; but she died before that source of support was exhausted, and therefore did not feel the actual pressure of penury. One faithful female servant adhered to her mistress to the last, after having shared her brilliant and fade fortunes during the last thirty years.—Edinburgh Weekly Journal.

A LITTLE UNKNOWN.—The Westnilnster Review hints that the Tour of a German Prince, attributed to Prince Puckler Muskau, is the production of "a young Irishman of good family, in foreign service during his two years' furlough, done into choice German by the • very able chaplain of his,regiment." It is a fact less generally known, that the book of Genesis was written by a young Irishman, an ensign in Pharaoh's Life Guards, and afterwards translated into choice Hebrew brthe brother of-the Chaplain-General of the Jewish forces. A TERRIBLE STORY.—The passengers in Prince's Street, a few evenings ago, were thrown into a state of alarm and excitement, from a whisper, which quickly collected a crowd around a porter proceeding westward with a heavy-loaded creel, that he was carrying a dead body to the Royal Institution on the Mound, for dissection ! One affirmed, that he of the creel must either be a "Burke or a Bishop ;" while an- other, with more prying eyes, declared he saw the legs of the subject distinctly through the spars of the basket. There was no withstanding this last remark ; the bearer of burdens was instantly disencumbered of Iris load ; the dead body was hauled forth to public view, when lo ! it turned out to be a well-scraped pig !—New North Briton.

Poon LAWYF.RS. — In Spain, before a barrister, attorney, or notary is admitted to practice, he is obliged to swear that he will defend the poor gratis. That this gratuitous labour may be the more equally divided, thirty are every year appointed from each class to defend the poor in civil cases, and every one is accounted poor who can swear himself worth less than 4,000 reels (40/.) In criminal cases the accused is entitled to make choice of any barrister in Madrid to defend him.

In Scotland, the criminal and civil defence of the poor (that is, of all persons who are not worth 10/., ) is intrusted to the two youngest counsel on the roll. It is in general well managed. The young men are anxious- to make themselves known, and they have at command, gratis, the advice of all their seniors.

A witness at the last Old Bailey Sessions, who said that he was a solteitor by profession, turned out on his cross-examination to be a common beggar ! A young Scotch clergyman, who was in the habit of applying for all the vacancies that took place within his knowledge or reach, acquired in consequence, the name of the " Solicitor-General." lie and our friend, the Old Bailey solicitor, might have shaken hands.

The arsaire says—" Let Englinal make war upon Russia, and we Shall become entangled in the movement ; but let France commence first arming herself against Nicholas, and it is doubtful whether England follows the example." This is but a new version of the old remark, that Englislunen will always lead if any one will follow, and that Frenchmen will always follow if any one will lead.