It is in contemplation to fortify the ports of Algeria,
and from 12 to 14 millions are to be devoted to the purpose. The Government is said to have fixed on the roadstead of Bugia as the point of concentration for the French squadrons on the northern coast of Africa, and the vessels which may be lying there in a well-sheltered anchorage will be protected by several strong forts. Algiers, Philippeville, and Bona are also to be fortified.—Algirie Nouvelle.
Nor is the topic of what is called the melodrama of Tours (though sadly tragic) leas talked of. It is simply a baby burnt to ashes by its grandmother, Madame Lemoinne, to conceal the shame of her daughter, aged sixteen ; the father of the child being the family coachman. The Lemoinne household consisted of the principal residence, park, and garden of the small town on the Loire called Chignon, famous for being the birth-place of Rabelais. In- deed that great clerical humourist has left on record this singularly pro- phetic account of the town, which would indicate that burning human beings (at the stake) was an old attribute of the locality :—"Moi, Francois Rabelais, Buis ne a Chignon en Touraine, vile qui se resent du fagot, phi- sieurs de mes parens y ayant ete brules pour heresie."—Globe Paris Corre- epondent.
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