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The Queen has been graciously pleased to direct that letters patent be passed under the great seal, granting and declaring that the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Medicine, Doctor of Medi- cine, Bachelor of Laws, Doctor of Laws, Bachelor of Music, and Doctor of Music, already granted or conferred, or hereafter to be granted or con- ferred, by the University of Melbourne, in the colony of Victoria, shall be recognised as academic distinctions and rewards of merit, and be en- titled to rank, precedence, and consideration, in the United Kingdom, and in the colonies and possessions of tho crown throughout the world, as fully as if the said degrees had been granted by any university of the United Kingdom.—Gazette.

The Queen has been pleased to exercise her right to appoint one Royal trustee for the British Museum in favour of the Reverend William Cure- ton, Canon of Westminster and Rector of St. Margaret's. We believe that no royal trustee for that institution has been appointed since the death of the late Duke of Cambridge, and the appointment in the present instance will be hailed with satisfaction by the literary world as a recog- nition by Her Majesty of the eminent services which Mr. Curoton has rendered to the science of Biblical criticism, and which have secured for him an European reputation.—Times.

The Morning Post says that the fate of the Enfield rifle has trembled in the balance for the last three months, but that the crisis has now passed. The Enfield is saved. According to the statement of the Post the greased cartridges were the cause of the disgust of the troops at the Enfield— "Chemical action between the leaden bullet and the enveloping grease has ensued, the result of which has been the expansion of the bullets to such an extent that they in many cases could only be rammed down by hammering with a stone, and in some cases they could not be rammed down at all. Our troops on many occasons have cast aside their rifles with disgust, and loudly clamoured for the smooth bore firelock. Lastly, Lord Clyde has borne testi- mony to the inferiority of the Enfield rifle when used with its present ammu- nition. Under pressure of this report we say the proposal was seriously entertained of throwing aside the Enfield rifle altogether, and returning to smooth-bore small arms. That no longer exists; the crisis has passed. The bullet is to be reduced in dimensions, and a mixture of wax and tallow (the ordinary lubricator) is no longer to be adopted Certain inventors are on the alert to impress Government with the merits of rifle guns, the special advantage of which—if advantage there be—consists in an accurate mechanical fit between the bore and the projectile. We commend to the notice of such the history of Enfield greased ammunition as furnished by our recent Indian campaign. '

The interest excited by the report of a shower of living fish as having fallen near Aberdare, in South Wales, has induced the Reverend' Mr. Griffiths, a gentleman residing near the spot, to communicate with Pro- fessor Owen, on the subject. He confirms the statement that has been made, and as additional evidence of its truth, has sent about a dozen of the fish to the Professor; who has transferred them to the Fishhouse in the Zoological Gardens. There they may be now seen alive, end ap- parently but little the worse for their recent aerial excursion.

A further grant of 35,0001.is to be asked of the House of Commons, for special improvements and additional buildings in Kew Gardens. We trust that the sub-director Dr. Hooker will be consulted in the arrange- ments for fitly spending this large sum of public money, rather than other authorities who are not so readily accessible or so amenable to pub- lic opinion as this gentleman.

A communication from Vienna, in the Nuremberg Correspondent, states that an envoy is to be shortly sent by the Austrian Government to London, and that Field Marshal the Prince de Windiechgratz is to be selected to carry an autograph letter from the Emperor Francis Joseph to Queen Victoria. It is again stated that the Emperor of Austria is shortly to leave Vienna for Italy, accompanied by Field-Marshal Baron Hess, and a nume- rous military suite.

The Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden arrived at Berlin on the 19th, to be present at the anniversary of the birthday of the Prince Regent, and alighted at the palace of Prince Frederick William. " This visit," says a letter from Berlin, " will, it is hoped, contribute to the arrangement of several petty differences which exist between Prussia and Baden.'

It is stated that the Emperor of Austria has made Lord Cowley a Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold—a distinction which has been conferred on no other foreign ambassador but M. de Bourqueney.

The Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Cobourg may be expected to reach London in the early part of April, and will be the guests of her Majesty. The arri- val of the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Cobourg will be succeeded by that of Prince and Princess Frederick William of Prussia. The date of this event will probably be May.—Court Journal.

•

William Courtenay, Earl of Devon, died on Saturday, at Shrivenbatm the residence of his brother-in-law, 'Archdeacon Berens. Ire was in his eighty-second year. He entered on public life in 1812, when Exeter elected him. In 1826 he was appointed clerk-assistant to the Parliaments ; an office he held fur nineteen years. His tenure was terminated by his acces- sion to the Peerage. The late peer was the tenth Earl, the title having been dormant from the death, in 1556, of Edmund, son of Henry, the at- tainted Marquis of Exeter, in whose behalf the earldom of Devon had been revived in 15.53, till the 15th of March 1831, when it was adjudged by the House of Lords to William, third Viscount Courtenay, cousin of the deceased Earl, who succeeded to the ancient title on his demise in 1835. He held the offices of High Steward of the University of Oxford and Governor of the Charterhouse. He is succeeded by his eldest son Lord Conrtenay, Secre- tary to the Poor-law Board, and now in his fifty-second year.

On the 23d instant, died in Paris Count Sigismund Krasinski, a Polish noble, hero, and poet. He was related to the Royal houses of Saxony and Piedmont, and his godfather was the Emperor Napoleon, who appointed him on the day of his birth aide-de-camp to the King of Rome. Count Sigismund's was an agitated and sorrowful existence. A great nobleman, a great poet, and one of the richest men in Europe, he might have aimed at the highest destinies, yet he voluntarily resigned himself to an obscure and passive life.

Colonel Eyre John Crabbe, a gallant officer who shared in the conspicuous battles, sieges, and combats of the Peninsular war, died at his house in Hampshire, on Saturday, at the age of sixty-eight. He was Colonel of the Seventy-fourth Highlanders.

The Bishop of Rochester, a venerable and aged prelate, is so ill that his friends are in great anxiety respecting him. He is the oldest Bishop alive except one.

A letter from Belgrade states that the Prince Ifilosch bad fallen ill, and that his son, Prince Michael, had undertaken the despatch of business.

Mr. Robert Malcolm Kerr, LL.B., of the Northern Circuit, is a candidate for the office of Judge of the Sherifk Court, which within the last few days has become vacant in consequence of the death of Mr. M. Prendergast, Q.C. Mr. Sergeant Thomas has also oome forward as a candidate for the office.

"Mr. Joseph Wyon," says the-eithenawni, "has received the appointment of chief engraver of her Majesty's seals."

Oxford Middle Class Examinations will be held this year at Oxford, and also in London, Bath, Bedford, Birmingham, Brighton, Exeter, Gloucester, Ipswich, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Reigate, and South- ampton. They will commence on June 14, and no candidate's name will be received at any place after April 30.

The vacancy among the Governors of the Charterhouse occasioned by the death of the late Earl of Ripon has been filled up by the election of the Bishop of London.

Dr. Ludovie Hirschfeld, Chef de Clinique de l'Hotel Dieu, whose work on the.nervons system has been adopted as the standard book by all the best medical schools of Europe, has lately been appointed Professor of Anatomy at the Imperial Academy of Warsaw, Conseiller d'Etat, and a nobleman of the fourth order of nobility. This appointment marks an era for the Jews of Russia, as no Jew before his time has ever been permitted to hold office there. Several months ago the same post was offered to Dr. Hirschfeld, with an intimation that all persons holding such offices must be members of the Greek Church, when, to his great honour, Dr. Hirschfeld refused to ac- cept it on any such terms. The refusal was referred to the Emperor, to- gether with the unanimous recommendation of the university that the con- dition should be waived, and Dr. Hirschfeld appointed to the vacant chair. This has been done, and Dr. Hirschfeld leaves Paris with his family for Warsaw in the middle of next month.—Jewish Chronicle.

What next ? The Reverend E. L. Ward of Blenworth, Hants, "feeling deeply the extreme imprudence of which Lord Derby has been guilty "—in allowing the Prince of Wales to visit Rome, has for the last three Sundays made the visit of the Prince the subject of prayer, and has prayed that he may be preserved "from the dangers to which he will be exposed during his residence at Rome, the head-quarters of Popish error, superstition and idol- atry."

Mademoiselle Marie de la Rochejacquelein, daughter of the Marquis and Senator, took the veil three days ago in the Convent des Oiseaux. The Bishop of Poitiers officiated.

Monsignor Perny, Roman Catholic pro-vicar at Canton, has arrived at 'Marseilles from Rome. This prelate, who has resided twenty-two years in the extreme East, has adopted the costume of a Chinese mandarin. His head is shaved, and he wears along tail from the summit of the head. He will leave the above port for the Holy Land next week, and then return to his post.

Father Felix, the celebrated preacher at Notre Dame, is again drawing immense audiences during Lent at Paris. He is described as a person of small stature, with a high falsetto voice, but a singularly clear and precise manner of speaking. He always delivers extempore, introducing all manner of modern subjects, such as railways and telegraphs, into his ora- tion' and, what most pleases his hearers, addresses them invariably as "Ladies and Gentlemen," (Messieurs et Mesdames) and not in the old- fashioned way as "Brethren in Christ."

The Courrier de Paris says that over the gate of the cemetery of the little town of Bourdeaux, department of Dr8me has lately been painted the inscription : .■ lei on n'enterre

Que les morts qui vivent Dana Is commune.

(" Here are buried only those who live in the parish.") Lamartine has got a legacy of a farm and town-house from an old maid, Mademoiselle Martin, of Saone and Loire. She says in her will she never saw him, and he never answered her letters, " Probably," she adds, " be- cause not post-paid." The bequest is valued at 150,000 francs.

Baron de Humboldt has addressed the following note to the Berlin jour- nals. " Overwhelmed by the number of letters sent me, which are increas- ing every day, amounting to from 1600 to 2000 per annum,—many, too, being on the most futile subjects, such as demands for my autograph and offers to cure me of all diseases,—I once more make a public appeal to the persons who wish me well, and request them not to occupy themselves so much with what concerns me, in order that with the diminution of strength, physical and intellectual, which I experience, I may be allowed a little leisure for study and composition. I trust that this step, to which I have recourse with reluctance, will not be interpreted unkindly."- The Messenger, in giving an account of the annual bazaar lately held at Paris, in the Palais Lambert by the Princess Czartorisky, for the benefit of the poor Poles, narrates that Madame George Sand, keeping a stall, saw Baron James de Rothschild pass. She invited him to buy something of her, exhibiting all her goods to him. " What can I buy of you," replied the ;arm, "you have nothing to suit me. But stop,' he continued after a

little while, "an idea strikes me. Sell me your autograph." The lady immediately wrote down on a piece of paper, "Received from Baron James de Rothschild the sum of 1000 francs, for the benefit of distressed Poles." The Baron read the autograph, smiled, thanked her, handed her over a note of the amount mentioned, and walked oft; evidently highly pleased with his

bargain.—Jeteish Chronicle. • A fortnight back or so, Rossini laid the first stone of his villa on the ruins of " Ranelagh," at Paris. Determined to have his joke even in the serious matter of building a house, he placed a coin of the date of Caracalla in the foundation, so that some future savant, centuries after, coupling his dis- covery, it is to be hoped, of the effigies of one of the Cresars with the fact of Rossini's residence on the same spot, would pronounce the musician to have been one of the Roman masters of the art. A quatrain has been suggested as the inscription over the portal.

" Fos anus, quand cette villa Surg,it comme au doigt d'une fee, Demanderent qu'on inscrive Id; I Saluez la [Watson d'Orphde."

The Gazette Musicale of this week announces that a Straduarius violin has lately changed hands at Paris, for the sum of 15,000 francs, 6001.

"La France, Coloniale et Maritime," is the title of a new weekly journal, the first number of which appeared in Paris on the 3d of this month. The London agent for the publication is Turner, King William Street, Strand. The editor deprecates, on behalf of the French colonies, the " sterilizing tutelage" of the Government, and claims a freer scope for individual enter- prise.

At the grand review in Paris, on Sunday, the Prince Imperial appeared as a Grenadier of the Guard, in his full dress with bearskin cap and cor- poral's galons on his sleeve ; the child was as much observed as the mini- couvres of the troops, and "Le petit beau " was heard on the lips of the delighted crowd.

The Piedmontese officers, failing a sufficient supply of horses from England, are to be mounted on ponies from the Island of Sardinia. These little wild animals are as hard to manage as the native horses of India, and have the same powers of endurance and speed.

There were discovered last week, in the environs of the town of Basle, on the spot where is believed to have stood the old Augusta Rauracorum of the Romans, the remains of a Roman house, in a very complete state of preservation. The walls and ceiling of the room still bore the trace of the fresco paintings with which they were once covered, and a handsome chimney, near to which stood divers utensils in iron and bronze, and a thick vase filled with carbonised grains of corn, was found in one of the side apartments.

The number of deaths last week in London was 1175, or one more than in the preceding week. This is 177 fewer than the calculated average.

M. de Luca has communicated to the Academy of Sciences in Paris a case of cancer in the stomach cured by lime-water in the space of a fortnight.

Colonel Waugh has written a letter to the Times, dated from "near Mar- seilles, March 10, 1859," declaring his intention to return to London fdr the purpose of prosecuting that journal. "In giving vent," he says, " to your vindictive feelings you have far outstepped the bounds of fair and legi- timate criticism, and have again laid yourselves open to legal proceedings, which I now pledge myself to adopt—as soon as my state of health will admit."

There is much unpleasantness among some large shareholders of the Great Western at the distinct statement that some of the 10001. debenture& have been offered under the Company's issue at 9501.