THE EARLY DAYS OF BONAPARTE. In the month of October, in the year 17-, in a dark, gloomy garret in one of the poorest parts of the city of Lyons, a young man, apparently about the age of one and twenty years, was stretched upon a miserable and mean-looking truckle-bed: he seemed to be afflicted with a dreadful attack of fever-now and then placing his hot hands outside the rough bed-clothes-now tossing from one side to the other: at last he fainted away, as if from exhaustion, and appeared to be entirely worn out from the effects of the malady under which he laboured, Near him, on a rotten and old-fashioned chair-the only furniture of the room beside the bed-were his clothes; they were the uniform of the French artillery, and a foraging-cap lay on the floor at some distance from them. His disorder seemed at its height; his feverish lips appeared parched for want of a friendly hand to administer drink; his whole frame looked wasted. He was a young French officer of artillery, and had lately, while passing through Lyons, been seized with the illness under which he was now suffering; and being ill supplied with money, his purse was soon exhausted by the expenses his malady had occasioned him. His landlady being afraid to call in a doctor, least she should be made accountable for the expenses that might be incurred, had him removed to the wretched place where he now was, and had sent an old woman to visit him once or twice a day. The fate of the young officer interested all the domestics of the hotel, and the particulars of his friendless condition reached the ears of a German gentleman of the name of Ager, through his servant, who acquainted him at the same time of the cruelty of the landlady in sending him out of the house in so destitute a condition. It happened that this German was travelling through France for pleasure at this time, and being well supplied with money, determined to relieve the young officer. He sent his servant to procure the attendance of a physician; at the same time informing the hostess that he would be accountable for all charges, and ordered her as soon as possible to have him removed to the chamber which he had first occupied at the hotel. The young soldier, weakened by his illness, which was much increased from neglect, was in a dreadful state of dilirium when the physician visited him, and during the changing of his apartment; so that, when his senses returned, he was much surprised to find himself in a room so comfortable. Near him sat a nurse whom the German had sent to tend him, and who watched him with a tenderness of a mother; and when he asked her to whom he was indebtod for the preservation of his life, she answered that the sime was not yet come to tell him, and that the physician had ordered him to keep very quiet. After a few days, when the young officer was recovering his strength, she related everything to him-how Monsieur Ager had found him where he was, and alluded in as delicate words as possible to the deplorable condition in which he was found. He begged of her, with a countenance that seemed unable to brook delay, to go and request Monsieur Ager to come to him immediately, that he might lighten his heart of some of its gratitude to him. The good woman, without delay, set off to seek Mons. A., and to

inform him of the earnest desire her patient had to see him. He came at once, and immediately on his entrance the young soldier raised himself on his elbow, and thanked him in the most sincere manner for saving his life and conferring so many favours upon him. He begged of him to accept his thanks now, as the only token of his gratitude he was able to offer; hereafter, he hoped to have it in his power to acknowledge his obligations in a more suitable manner. The kind and good-natured German offered him a selection of books to pass away the tiresome hours, until he should be recovered; he even offered to come himself and read for him every day, until he should become stronger and better able to endure the fatigue of reading himself. These kind offers were accepted thankfully, and he requested to be favoured with accounts of the lives of the most celebrated French characters and a treatise on engineering. For two or three weeks did the kind German read for him, until he was convalescent. He intormed his protector, in the course of conversation, that he was a lieutenant in the 3d regiment of artillery ; that he was a Corsican by birth, and his nameNapoleon! In a few days after he was quite well, and having everything prepared to set out and join his regiment, he came once again to thank Mons. Ager for his kindness, and assured him he would never forget it.

Years rolled by. The young officer was now Emperor of France; but he had not forgot the favours that were conferred upon him by the German gentleman. A short time before Bonaparte's coronation, messengers were sent to inquire for a Monsieur Ager in the town which he had so long ago told the young soldier that he lived in ; and they had orders, if he or any person of that name were there, to bring them without delay to Paris. The messengers returned in about two months, after having accomplished their mission, and bringing with them an old gentleman and two young men, apparently his sons. They set off at once for St. Cloud, where the Emperor then resided, and were conducted immediately into the presence of Napoleon. Upon their entrance, Bonaparte stood up, and embraced the old man ; turning to his generals and suite, who were standing by and looking on, he addressed them thus: "Gentlemen, you see my benefactor, to whom I am indebted for my life. I was in want of every thing, when he succoured me, and rescued me from an early grave. I am happy and proud to be obliged to him, and have never forgot him." Then turning to the two young men, he said— "You are henceforth captains in my own regiment of hussars; and, if you have no objection, you can join them at once." He then again embraced Monsieur Ager-for it was he and his two sonsand told him he had a pension of ten thousand francs from that day forward, and apartments in his palace of St. Cloud!

Mons. Ager lived for about two years after, having had the gratification of beholding the young artillery officer whom he had taken from a filthy garret-the Emperor of all France! O'G.

IRON SHIPS.-Three iron ships sailed from Liverpool, for various destinations, on the 3d Januaryone of which was nearly 1,000 tons burden.

EVILS OF INTEMPERANCE.

Of the many misfortunes that have befallen mankind from time immemorial, but of late years in particular, not a few have resulted from the baneful effects of intemperance. Like the mighty river, which at its source is but an insignificant rivulet, it gains strength and size from its its many tributary streams as it advances, until at last it bids defiance to the intervention of its impetuous waters. So it is in effect with intemperance, in its beginning and results. Like the stream in its first career, its influence is feeble-its results equally so; but as it advances, it gains strength and vigour, almost imp erceptibly, from its various tributaries-temptation, added to temptation unrestrained—until, at last, its several confluences are submerged in the ocean of misfortune. The awfully evil effects of intemperance have too long been felt in these highly favoured and enlightened lands of our nativity-Britain in general; but to us more immediately-Ireland in particular. Who is there amongst us that has not felt its evil results, more or less? We speak not to the lower classes of our brethren only-we appeal to the higher classes of society also. How many (alas! too many) are there who might, in the ordinary course of events, have been affluent, can trace their present indigency to that accursed medium of human degradation? How many have been brought by its influence to pursue a life little better, nay, in many cases, inferior to brutes? Many have been plunged in this state into the dread realities of an unknown eternity! But we rejoice that our land hath no longer lain dormant in her dast demoralising condition. A better state of things now exists a great reformation has been effected-a mighty good has resulted meliorating the social, and hence the spiritual condition of the masses of our people. We would exhort those who have experienced its beneficial effects, to stand fast in the glorious liberty wherewith they have been made free.

To take an example of the murderous effects of intemperance in other climes, we subjoin an account of the mode of distillation and its results among the South Sea islanders* :

"Intemperance at this time (1815) prevailed to an awful and unprecedented degree. By the Sandwich Islanders, who had arrived some years before, the natives had been taught to distil ardent spirits from the saccharine ti root, which they had now

still.

practised to a great extent, and exhibited, in a proportionate degree, all the demoralising and debasing influence of drunkenness. Whole districts frequently united to erect what might be termed a public It was a rude, unsightly machine; yet it answered but too well the purpose for which it was made. It generally consisted of a large fragment of rock hollowed in a rough manner, and fixed firmly upon a solid pile of stones, leaving a space underneath for a fire-place. The but-end of a large tree was then hollowed out, and placed upon the rough stone boiler for a cap. The baked ti root, dracanæ terminalis, macerated in water, and already in a state of fermen

tation, was then put into the hollow stone, and covered with the unwieldy cap. The fire was then kindled underneath; a hole was made in the wooden cap of the still, into which a long, small bamboo cane, placed in a trough of cold water, was inserted at one menced, the spirit flowed from the other into a calaend, and, when the process of distillation was combash, cocoa-nut shell, or other vessel placed underneath to receive it. When the materials were prepared, the men and boys of the district assembled in a kind of temporary house erected over the still, in order to drink the ava, as they called the spirit. The first that issued from the still being the strongest, they call the ao; it was carefully received, and given to the chief; that subsequently procured was drunk by the people in general. In this employment they were sometimes engaged for several days together, drinking the spirit as it issued from the still-sinking into a state of indescribable wretchedness, and often practising the most ferocious barbarities. Travellers among the natives experienced greater inconvenience from the district stills than from any other cause; for when the people were either preparing one or engaged in drinking, it was impossible to obtain either their attention or the common offices of hospitality. Under the unrestrained influence of their intoxicating draught, in their appearance and actions, they resemble demons more than human beings. the fragments of the rude boiler, and other appenSometimes, in a deserted still-house, might be seen dages of the still, scattered in confusion on the ground; and among them the dead and mangled bodies of those who had been murdered with axes or billets of wood in the quarrels that had terminated their dissipation."

S. N. A.

to

RIGHT AND WRONG.-A principle seems pervade Nature, which renders it impossible for man to escape the consequences of his evil deeds, even in this life; as if God had decreed the universal predofalsehood from the beginning; the success of wrong minance of truth and the never-failing downfall of being ever temporary, while the triumph of right is eternal.

LEAD PIPES.-The researches of Professor Chris

tison have proved, that water which is exposed to the action of lead by continually running through pipes of metal, becomes impregnated with a carbonate of lead, to an excess which, when the water is habitually made use of, exposes the drinker to a disease called the leadcolic. If it be asked, how it is that so many persons are daily partaking of the so-called "harmless beverage," without experiencing any ill effects? the liable to deteriorate; that impure water, which is decianswer is, that it is only very pure water which is dedly in most frequent use, generally carries a protection in certain neutral salts containing saline matter, which prevents the lead from impregnating the water in proportion to the quantity of acid contained in the salts. Thus, the greater the original purity of the water, the greater its danger of developing carbonate of lead.

From Ellis's Polynesian Researches.

staple.

STEAM NAVIGATION.

In tracing the progress of steam navigation, it is singular to note the prejudice which it has had to overcome, and to speculate on its prospects. Notwithstanding what has already been effected, many persons still entertain doubts of its efficiency in war, while others confidently predict that it will altogether supersede ships of the line, and that the proud Union Jack is doomed to give way to a smoke-jack. Here, according to philosophy of Sir Roger de Coverley, much may be said on both sides; but there is a desponding class, who apprehend that machinery will level our marine distinction, and that the supremacy of the seas will be achieved by lubbers. Now we fear not the result of any change of warfare. So much of our prowess was formerly supposed to depend on the cloth-yard arrow and yew-tree bows of our yeomen, that a proverb got abroad

England were but a fling,

Save for the crooked stick and the grey goose-wing." But the introduction of powder, ball and bayonet ne'er interrupted our progress to glory. Steam does not paralyse the art of seamanship, most of the details and manipulations of which will continue, and the science and practise of navigation must remain as much in demand while steaming over the ocean, as in effecting the same by wind and sails. In a word, as we have elsewhere expressed it-while iron, coal and limestone are so much more readily procured here than elsewhere-while our capital and industry surpass those of the whole world and steam or sails are in the hands of men accustomed by habit and

prepossession to the sea, the relative situation o Great Britain and her rivals will be as heretofore, United Service Magazine.

PROTECTION OF the Person of tHE SOVEREIGN IN CHINA. According to the Chinese code, persons convicted of treasonable practices are to be put to death by slow and protracted torture, and all their male relations in the first degree indiscriminately beheaded-their female relations sold into slavery, and all their connexions residing in their family relentlessly put to death. All persons who at any time presume to walk upon the roads set apart for the imperial journeys shall be severely punished. If they intrude into the line of imperial retinue they shall suffer death, and the same if they enter any apartment of the palace set apart for the use of his majesty, or any of his near relations. Workmen employed in the palace shall receive a passport at entering, and deliver it back on their return; they shall be regularly counted as the pass out before sunset; and if any one remain behind he shall be put to death. If the emperor's physician compound any medicine in a manner "not sanctioned by age," he shall receive one hundred blows. If there shall be any dirt in his imperial majesty's food, the Cook shall receive eighty blows.

VELOCITY OF SOUND.-On a still night the voices of the workmen at the distillery at Battersea may be heard at Westminster-bridge, an interval of three niles. The watch-word at Portsmouth, it is said, an be heard at Ryde, Isle of Wight, a distance of ur or five miles. The echo in Woodstock-park is epeated seventeen times by day and twenty times y night. The artillery, at the siege of Genoa by he French, was heard at Leghorn, a distance of inety miles. The firing at the battle of Waterloo as heard at Dover, a distance in a direct line of ne hundred and forty miles, of which one hundred nd ten were over land, and the remainder over water.

THE DANUBE AND THE RHINE. These two great rivers have a certain similarity, and yet very great differences. They have both their woods, their mountains, their castles, their vineyards, and their legends: but the Rhine is more populous and cheerful; the Danube more solitary and solemn. You have not those large and populace towns seated

along the banks of the Danube, nor the same life of commerce on its waters. You have not the same extent of finely cultivated vineyards: the same continued stretch of rocks and precipices; at least so far you have more splended woods, more rude and solemn as I have traversed it-from Linz to Vienna; but scenery, mingled with slopes and meadows of the most soft and beautiful character. The Danube has not been for ages, like the Rhine, the great highway of commerce, though it has been the scene of bloody contests, and of the marches of armies. Its towns, therefore, are small, few, and far between. Its villages have an antiquated, weather-beaten, and halfdecaying air; its only life, a few ill-dressed peasants, gazing at the steamer as it flies past. Its current is rapid and irregular, interrupted with shoals and sandbles, thrown up by the floods, testify to its fury in banks; and marshy meadows, where heaps of pebwinter and in rainy weather. The Rhine has a more joyous and flourishing aspect, with its cities, its populous villages stretching along its banks, and those banks so green, and smoothed for the purposes of navigation. On the Danube you have solitude; an air of neglect; a stern and brooding spirit, which less woods; of solitary miners; of rude feudal chiefs seems to belong to the genius of the past; of trackhunting the boar and the hart in the wild glens and deep forests-a genius which gives reluctantly way to the spirit of steam, which has invaded it. You meet white sail grecting you in the distant sunshine; for or pass on its waters scarcely a boat. There is no

the boatman dare not hoist one, lest the sudden

Squalls from the hills should sink his craft. Vast rafts, now and then, with rude looking-men, float down from the distant Bohemian forests. Old and weathershaggy rocks as you pass; and views into distant beaten towers give you a grim greeting from the glens and dark woodlands make you feel that you are the Rhine.-Howitt's Sketches. in a far wilder and more savage region than that of

CLONMACNOISE.-At the meeting of the Royal Irish Academy, on the 9th of January, Mr. Petrie exhibited a drawing of an ancient tomb-stone and inscription found at Clanmacnoise-the date and name on which correspond with that of one of the kings of Ireland. Mr. Petrie expressed his regret that many of the ancient monuments in this ancient burialplace were fast disappearing, being made use of as head stones by the country people, who resort in great numbers to bury their relatives near the solitary ruins of the Seven Churches.

IRISH ART-UNION.-Nearly £4,000 has been contributed to this society during the year 1842, and an increased sum is expected this year.

HOME. Keep your store of smiles and your kindest feelings for home; give to the world only those which are to spare.

VIRTUE. The vigour which virtue imparts to the mind, the weight which it adds to the character, the generous sentiments which it breathes, the fortitude which it inspires, the diligence which it quickens, are the sure foundations of all that is great and valuable in life. It is connected with eminence in every liberal act, with reputation in every branch of fair and useful business, and with distinction in every public station

No. 13.-VOL. II.

THE STILL HUNTER.

"Hath not a Jew, eyes?

Hath not a Jew, hands ?-organs, dimensions,
Senses, affections, passions ?-Fed

With the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
As a Christian is ?"
Merchant of Venice.

There are few words in the English language more true to their original derivation than “Excise”—literally signifying, "A part, or portion cut off." The explanation may, with perfect propriety, be extended to all the branches of that department of the Revenue now identified with the term. In truth, from the hour of its first creation in the reign of Charles II. down to the present moment, "The Excise" has ever been regarded with peculiar feelings of dislike. An antipathy has grown with its growth and strengthened with its strength, which is by no means a silent one, but has been often loudly and variously expressed;

sometimes written in fearful characters in the blood of its murdered victim, and at all times discernible in the applauding merriment with which the efforts of the Rhymer or the Playwright were hailed, when the arrows of their sarcastic wit were directed against its humble but

obnoxious officer.

has

It were, perhaps, to reason somewhat too curiously" for my subject, to endeavour to analyse this feeling, and try to trace it through all its tributary streams up to the original source, and to remark how the stern indignation with which the subdued Republican first greeted the introduction of those fiscal regulations, deeming them the arbitrary enactments of Monarchical power, coalesced with the emotions of contemptuous ridicule with which they were viewed by the more volatile cavalier; and graduating thence, through successive generations, has rolled its current to the present day, but little diminished in the bulk or bitterness of its waters. Such disquisition is far too foreign to my present purpose, and involves too much of abstract investigation to detain me a moment. Still, it must be palpable, even to the most careless observer, that while such feelings existed against the principle of those laws, their executive branch could find but little favour in the eyes of the community. It is, therefore, by no

PRICE 1d.

means a matter of surprise, that with all grades and classes of society the Revenue Officer has ever been an object of distaste. Nor must it be denied, that the conduct of individuals occasionally overstepping the limits of their duty, through mistaken zeal, or more unworthy motives, and making harsh laws seem doubly severe by their method of enforcing them, has given ample excuse to those who were willing

"To judge the many by the rascal few;"

and thus afforded a colourable pretext for an antipathy, originating in nine cases out of ten from blind prejudice or personal dislike. To such a pitch has this feeling progressed, that the very name of an Exciseman has become a byeword of contempt he himself considered an official whom it is creditable to dupe-a man shut out from the sympathies of his fellow-men—the ready butt of every coarse and vulgar witticism—and

one,

to quote from Holy Writ, "whose hand is against every man, and every man's hand against him"!

In making these remarks, I fear I may have trespassed too much on the patience of my readers; but the recollections that gave them birth are so intimately connected with the narrative I am about to submit to their notice, that I could not refrain.

Seldom, if ever, in the literary arena has any voice been raised to plead for, or any arm uplifted to

defend the class of men I have alluded to; and while it has been always a safe and pleasant pastime for fresh competitors for fame to discharge an arrow as they passed at the victim, bound hand and foot to the stake-no one, as yet, has been found hardy enough to step to his side, or try and shield him from one of the many darts hurled against him.

No; his cries remain unheeded, and the very writhings of his pain, beneath each new infliction, call forth but louder shouts of glee from the applauding spectators. But here let me pause. I fear I am getting too excited for my subject, and prudence whispers in my ear that it were better to descend from the stilts my feelings

have supplied me with, and tell, in calmer language, my sad, but over-true tale. Be it so.

Late on a winter's evening, in a plainly furnished