CON.—In the Court of Common Pleas on Thursday, an action

was brought by Sir Thomas Croft, against Colonel Lyster, for criminal conversation with the plaintiff's wife, and the damages were laid at 10,000/. The defendant admitted the facts proved, and the Jury assessed the damages at 35004 GOVERNMENTS THAT HAVE NEGLECTED THE GREATEST HseetNEss.—There wants a collection of dying speeches of nefarious governments. It would not be difficult to make something of this kind out of the history of the Stuarts. France could supply something like it from periods of her history. The kingdoms of the Penin- sula may be considered as in that state where the dying speech is in every body's hands before the man is dead. The antiquary might go back to Rome, and the orientalist to Babylon.— Westminster Review.

Mr. Bald, of Edinburgh, was employed some time ago by the Swedish Govern- ment to superintend a mining survey of Seania; and his services were so highly appreciated, thai when the survey was completed, the King of Sweden presented him with a gold snuffbox, having his Majesty's initials in diamonds on the lid.

NOVELTIES IS VEGETATION.—The groves of evergreens have been sadly plun- dered during the week. The Herald says—" Unless those private grounds and the large gardener's grounds where there happened to be holly, laurel, Sim. were guarded during the night, many of the trees were found in the morning to have been most liberally thinned ; nay, in many instances, beyond Hammersmith and between Aeon, little but the roots were left to branch, of course, for next year's visit." We do not know who the " large gardener" may he, but his trees are well worth a visit. We wish the site of the nursery had been more distinctly marked.

MARCH OF CIVILIZATION IN FRANCE.■A correspondent of a Morning Paper gives the following decided proofs of Continental improvement. " Beer is to be found in every tavern and cabaret ; and though last, not least, an Irish gentle- man, of the name of Higgins, has commenced, at Fontainbleau, the distillation of malt whisky, on an extensive scale."—We may add in corroboration, that a large field, in the neighbourhood of Versailles, has been laid out in leeks, by Jones Aprice, Esq. a gentleman from the Principality; and a Scotch farmer has taken a loan of five hundred acres near Paris, which he proposes to sow entirely with oats. They will steal all our good things from us.

POETRY EXTRAORDINARY.—We extract the following beautiful stanzas from the Morning Herald of Wednesday :—

Leilihniittr lukkunnar liggr i passunt reit, injok psim hun mislynd var, Meir pa opt hold enn belt ; bvilu, sem piabl prfitt,

pversynjat honum var

Ok rot a engan bats unnt neina pessarar.

Pat er Joa porlaksson pessa sem byugir griif bi6andi i bliNri von betralifs eptir gjiif ;

penk, mar! pa, sem ert

pvilfkr var hann ber

pCi vert'r, pat er bert pviltkr sem hann Cr.

Eiga mun aptrkvmmt annat haus Iffs a skeitC,

pa sisal af per ei &rant

pat, sem hann gj i ok lei;

bast vi pvi koma kann

krezt el af pvi, sem or, pu veizt ei, heldr eon hann twat lukkan wtlar der.

Our contemporary very properly dwells on the beauty of sentiment and sweetness of rhythmus that thee lines exhibit. Where, for instance, can we find a finer thought than "pat Cr JUn porlaksson"

Or a more musical than

" Eiga mun aptrlauemt"?

The close of this last line is delicious!—By the by, we understand that some Sia- mese ballads, the authority of which is vouched by Miss Djelk, of the Adelphi, are in the possession of our contemporary, and may be expected very soon to gratify his erudite readers. The sounds present some difficulties, but by a judicious admixture of Cuphic with Pali characters, and a hieroglyphic or two, it is hoped these will be got over.

IRISH PnoiccriLEs.—They manage matters in Ireland, even the smallest, after a peculiar fashion. A party of gentlemen went out the other day from Rostre- vor, in Down, to shoot water-fowl ; and because the birds were shy. they took—a swivel gun, fixed to tt e bow of the boat, for the purpose of shooting them. At the first fire of this sicgular fowling-piece, the ball, instead of -going forwards, as all balls since the creation had gone, saw fit to move backwards, and carrying the breach of the gun along with it, the latter struck one of the party, and killed him dead on the spot. The breach, it is said, was loose,—which accounts for its flying off; but from what cause the ball followed it, we do not pretend to know, though we suspect it must have been the Emancipation Bill„ in consequence of which every thing goes backward.