Greeks and the Meru of the Aryans. We might, there- | coal distillation. The method of converting the one fore, expect to find the paradise of the Hebrews in the region which was the cradle of that race, near "Ur of the Chaldees," a spot now certainly determined by the Cuneiform inscriptions to have been at Mugheir, on the lower Euphrates. The name Hebrew is derivable from the same locality, Ibri being the specific title among the Arabian geographers for the belt of alluvial land in that neighbourhood. It is further likely that Gan-Eden, which we translate "Garden of Eden," is nothing more than the Hebrew rendering of one of the vernacular names of Babylonia, such as Gan-duni, Gana meaning enclosure, and Aduni being the name of one of the earliest-worshipped gods. The "Garden of Eden" is said to have been watered by four rivers; so, too, was the land of Babylonia in the inscriptions. Of these, two are called Tigris and Euphrates; the other two Surrapi and Ukni; the first, probably, answering to the biblical Gihon, the second to the Pison. Ukni, on other grounds, may be shown to mean Onyx, or (as Sir H. Rawlinson suggested), with more probability, Alabaster. Bdellium, most likely, is bedolat, or pearls. The Gihon in the Bible is said to "encompass the whole land of Cush," which our translators, by a bold guess, have rendered Æthiopia. Now "Cush," or "Kish," was one of the primitive capitals of Babylonia, and apparently gave its name to the whole country along the river. Two great outlets from the Euphrates, one towards the S.E., and one due E. to the Tigris, have been known throughout all ages, and these are doubtless to be identified with the Pison and Gihon respectively.

The chief scientific event of the year was the total eclipse of the sun over a considerable extent of the south of Europe and north of Africa. Altogether five expeditions left England for the purpose of an examination of the eclipse from all points, and in view of all its attendant phenomena. Unfortunately, the weather proved unpropitious, especially around Cadiz, where the chief observations were to be made. Owing to this circumstance, the foreign expeditions were not so successful as had been anticipated, although everything was done that was possible. In London and throughout the United Kingdom the eclipse created a general interest among all classes of people. The clouds parting at the most favourable moment for observation arrested the footsteps of pedestrians in the most crowded thoroughfares; everybody appeared to be gazing heavenwards. In country districts, whole towns seem to have been engaged in watching the eclipse. At Norwich, Mr. Justice Lush adjourned the sitting of the Assize Court at noon, in order to observe it.

Astronomers were diligent throughout the year, and their labours were rewarded with success. Two comets were discovered within the year. The first was found on the 30th of May, by Dr. Winnecke, of Carlsruhe; and the second by M. Coggia at Marseilles, on the 29th of August. Neither was conspicuously bright, but the light of the first was sufficiently so to be examined by spectroscope and polariscope; and it was found to consist in part of reflected sunlight and in part of that emitted by the comet itself. Three new planetoids were respectively discovered on April 19, August 14, and September 19; the first by M. Borelli, at Marseilles; the other two by Professor Peters, at Clinton, in New York State. The little worlds were respectively named, Lydia, Ate, and Iphigenia. The sun also was a centre of attraction for observers and speculative astronomers throughout the year, and will continue to be so for years to come.

The most remarkable of the achievements of chemistry was the working out of a process for making artificially the colouring matter of the madder-root, known as alizarine. The key to this discovery was the recognition of a chemical identity between the hydrocarbon base of the root tincture and one of the crystalline products of

into the other was perfected step by step by Messrs. Graebe and Liebermann; and of several methods for practically working the process, that chiefly in operation in this country is one patented by Mr. Perkin. When it is considered that the English consumption of the natural substance amounts in money value to two millions a-year-of which one-half goes at present to | foreign pockets-some idea may be formed of the importance of a process which will not only cheapen the produce, but keep the work of production at home. This is another example of the latent value of gross substances; and we shall have others of its kind before long. Efforts have been made during the year to utilise the gas-waste known as naphthaline. They have not led to much as yet, but the troublesome crystals that choke our gas-pipes must give up their riches in turn. Other practical matters of chemical advancement were:-A method of obtaining fuschine dye without danger of arsenical contamination; a method of generating ozone by blowing a current of air through a Bunsen's gas-burner; a method of preserving butchers' meat by steeping it in a solution of hydrochloric acid, glycerine, and bisulphate of soda in water; a rapid method of detecting the amount of sulphur contained in cast-iron and steel; an investigation of the efficacy of various wood-preserving processes, which led to the conclusion that the old process of subjecting timber to the action of air and water is the best, although the slowest; copper and manganese have been alloyed to form a metal resembling German silver, which may in part supersede nickel; the cheap manufacture of oxygen has suggested its extended employment as a source of heat and light, and even as vital regenerator; glycerine has asserted its further claim to high regard by showing itself available for a variety of useful purposesthe manufacture of paper, of elastic sponge, and of copying ink, or as a solvent of dye-stuffs, as a tempering medium to prevent wood from warping and leather from cracking; and glycerine has even been fermented with alcohol.

Of the art of 1870, a contemporary graphically writes-"A melancholy hangs over the art of the year. The great art-centre of Europe has been rooted up; and the genius that tranquilly laboured in the most splendid city on the face of the earth, is toiling in exile, or dead, or fighting. Our own fashionable galleries afford painful evidence of the blow war deals to the work of the imagination. We find Gérôme and Fleury, Tadema, Isabey, and others known to fame far beyond their native country, sadly toiling and waiting in our London winter. An exhibition for the French and German sick and wounded, concerts, and bazaars, and subscriptions, were the order of the day in the autumn; and some of the most attractive additions to the art-wealth of the world during 1870 are devoted to the victims of the struggle between France and Germany. The exhibition of the Royal Academy, the salon of the Champs Elysées, have been pounded out of people's minds by the shocks of war, the tremendous current of events, and the blows which have fallen upon thousands of families. The gayest nation in the world is in mourning; the world of wit and learning, and frivolity and taste, that was at its brightest when the salon was last opened in Paris, and poor Charles Dickens faltered almost to tears over the memory of Maclise at the Royal Academy dinner, is scattered over Europe. The Louvre pictures are rolled up in tin cases, and the light that shone on the masterpieces of ancient Greece is blocked out with sandbags."

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1870 was one, the critics were agreed, of average merit. Millais shone in great force-in his young Raleigh, in the "Cradle on the Flood;" and in his superb portrait of

Gentleman's Annual.

the Marchioness of Huntly. Sir Edwin Landseer exhibited his great canvas of the meeting of the Queen and Prince Consort in the Highlands (by no means a happy effort); and another and an exquisite work of less pretensions but higher worth, poor Maclise's last picture -full of learned labour and perfect drawing-was in the place of honour upon the walls.

Among the statues erected during the year was the memorial statue of Lord Carlisle, which was erected in the portion of the Phoenix Park, Dublin, called the "People's Park." The statue was unveiled by his excellency the lord-lieutenant, in presence of Lady Spencer and a number of personal friends of the late earl and subscribers to the fund. It is one of the most successful of Foley's works. With a delicacy of feeling which was generally commended, his excellency dispensed with all formal panegyric and parade in presenting to the Irish public the lifelike statue of their favourite viceroy. The site was happily chosen, the park being one of the latest tokens of his desire to promote the social and moral improvement of the people. The statue is eight feet three inches in height, and stands on a pedestal nearly as high. The following inscription is on an entablature ::

"GEORGE WILLIAM FREDERICK,

Fourth Earl of Carlisle, K.G.,
Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1835-41,
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. 1855-56, 1858-61;
Born 1802; Died 1861."

Oneida, by which 120 men were drowned. The Oneida, being homeward bound, left her anchorage at Yokohama at about five o'clock in the afternoon, and the accident occurred at seven in the evening. The United States minister visited her in the forenoon, and received the usual salute, and the guns were reloaded with the expectation of replying to a salute from a Russian gunboat to Mr. Delong. The salute, however, was not given, and the guns remained loaded. As the Oneida steamed out of the harbour the crews of the various vessels and men at work in the port gave cheers, and wished her a happy voyage. On passing out of the harbour her fires were banked, and steam blown off. While the officers were at dinner, at about seven o'clock, the look-out man shouted, "Steamer lights ahead," and a midshipman gave the order to port helm. Everything seemed quiet on board the other steamer. This led to the belief that she had not observed the Oneida, although her lights were burning brightly. The steamer, which proved to be the Bombay, of the Peninsular and Oriental line, came right on, and struck the Oneida on the starboard side, abaft the gangway, about half-way between the main and mizen rigging. A hole was cut, through which the whole interior of the ship was visible. The binnacle, wheel, and rudder were carried away, and two men standing at the wheel were instantly || killed. The Bombay did not stop after crashing through the Oneida, though the guns of the latter, which happened to be loaded, were almost instantly fired to A fine statue of Mr. Gladstone was formally unveiled attract her attention and bring her back. Orders were by the mayor of Liverpool, Mr. Alderman Hubback, given to lower the boats, but only one lifeboat was on the 14th of September. The work originated by a available, the others having been crushed. The lifenumber of gentlemen in Liverpool, of all shades of boat was manned by Dr. Stoddart, the boatswain, and politics, being anxious that a statue should be erected fifteen of the crew. Five guns were fired, but before to Mr. Gladstone in his native town. A sufficient sum the sixth could be discharged the Oneida sank—within of money having been subscribed, the execution of the ten minutes after she was struck. None of those saved work was entrusted to Mr. Adams Acton, who fulfilled saw a man or heard a voice on board the Bombay. They his important task in a manner that gave entire satis-reported that when it became evident that there was no faction to the statue committee. The statue was subse- hope of saving the ship, the officers gathered around quently presented to, and accepted by, the corporation Captain Williams, and he was heard to say that if the of the town, who appropriated to it one of the niches ship went down he would go down with her. The lifeat the side of the centre door on the east wall of St. boat was obliged to leave the sinking ship, to avoid being swamped. After pulling about for a while, the crew of the lifeboat, seeing none of the crew floating, not one of the 160 who went down, unwillingly bent their boat's head landward, about five miles distant. On landing, the natives kindly treated them; and they | obtained the assistance of a guide, and started to walk! to Yokohama, which they reached at daylight the next morning. The Bombay was immediately ordered to the scene of the wreck, and succeeded in saving thirty-nine men, who had got into a cutter which floated when the ship went down. Several other vessels, one with Minister Delong on board, proceeded to the scene of the disaster during the day, but no more lives were saved. The Japanese government sent boats and apparatus search for the wreck, and, if necessary, to buoy the spot. The passengers on board the Bombay were quite surprised when they heard the calamity that had be fallen the vessel they had struck, but declared they neither heard any request from the Oneida to stay by them, or minute-guns fired. The officers and men of the Oneida numbered 176, only fifty-six of whom, including Dr. Stoddart and two junior officers, survived the disaster. A naval court was demanded by the cap. tain of the Bombay, Captain Eyre. The result of the inquiry was the suspension of Captain Eyro's certificate for six months.

George's Hall, that of the late Earl of Derby occupying the corresponding niche on the other side of the door. The statue represents the premier standing in a sculpturesque attitude, with his right hand resting on his chest, and his left holding a scroll of notes. He is clothed in the robes of the chancellor of the exchequer; these being treated, however, after the manner of the drapery of the best Greek portrait-statues. The expression of the countenance is calm and dignified, the artist having succeeded in portraying the aspect of concentrated thought and power which is so characteristic of Mr. Gladstone.

On the 16th of September, a monument to the memory of Daniel Defoe was unveiled at Bunhill Fields, by Mr. Charles Reed, M.P. The origin of the monument was peculiarly interesting: it had been raised principally by the boys and girls of England, in answer to an appeal through the columns of the Christian World. Mr. Charles Reed, M.P., said they were met to do honour to the memory of a neglected man, who was buried in that place one hundred and thirty-nine years ago; and although Johnson, Franklin, Scott, Lamb, and Coleridge had broken the silence, and Talfourd had demanded that a public statue should be erected to his memory, it had been left to the boys and girls of England to carry the work out. Mr. Reed then unveiled the monument, which bore the following inscription :-" Daniel Defoe, born 1661, died 1731, author of 'Robinson Crusoe.""

DISASTERS AT SEA.

On the 24th of January a disastrous collision occurred in Yokohama Bay, between the Peninsular and Oriental mail-steamer Bombay and the United States steamer

The Inman steamer City of Boston, Captain J. J. Halcrow, left the port of Halifax for Liverpool on the 28th of January, with fifty-five cabin and fifty-two steerage passengers. The vessel had a crew of eighty-four men, and the usual officers. She was provisioned for fiftyeight days, and her cargo consisted also in great measure of supplies of food. From the day she left Halifax nothing was seen or heard of the unfortunate

steamer. It was long before the public gave the City | Warden before leaving for home. They all belonged to of Boston up for lost, and the hopes of those who had friends on board were buoyed up from time to time by rumours brought by various ships of her appearance in distant waters. It was thought that she might have been driven by stress of weather far out of her course, and put into some foreign harbour. On the 24th of April a thin slip of wood, bearing the inscription" City of Boston is sinking, February 11th," was picked up at Perran Porth, on the north coast of Cornwall. Whether or not this sad relic was genuine, there seems no doubt that the vessel disappeared amid the waters of the Atlantic with all her crew, and no one escaped to give tidings of her fate.

On the 7th of September a terrible calamity befell the nation in the loss of the Captain, a six-gun turret-ship, built on the plan of Captain Cowper Coles, which foundered at sea. She was commanded by Captain Burgoyne, only son of Field-Marshal Burgoyne, and had a crew of five hundred men. Captain Coles, the inventor, a son of Mr. Childers, the first lord of the admiralty, and other visitors, were on board. Admiral Milne, in his report to the Admiralty, dated from her Majesty's ship Lord Warden, off Finisterre, respecting the loss of the Captain, said that on the evening of the 6th the squadron was formed into three divisions, the Lord Warden (the admiral's ship), Minotaur, and Agincourt leading, the Captain being the last, astern of the Lord Warden. At eight and ten P.M. the ships were in station, and there was no indication of a heavy gale, although it looked cloudy to the westward. At eleven the breeze began to freshen, with rain. Towards midnight the barometer had fallen, and the wind increased, which rendered it necessary to reef; but before one A.M. the gale had set in at south-west, and square sails were furled. "At this time," Admiral Milne said, "the Captain was astern of this ship, apparently closing under steam. The signal open order' was made, and at once answered; and at 1.15 A.M. she was on the Lord Warden's lee quarter, about six points abaft of the beam. From that time until about 1.30 A.M., I constantly watched the ship; her topsails were either close-reefed or on the lap, her foresail was close up, the mainsail having been furled at 5.30 P.M., but I could not see any fore and aft set. She was heeling over a good deal to starboard, with the wind on her port side. Her red bow light was all this time clearly seen. Some minutes after I again looked for her light, but it was thick with rain, and the light was no longer visible. The squalls of wind and rain were very heavy, and the Lord Warden | was kept, by the aid of the screw and after-try sails, with her bow to a heavy cross sea, and at times it was thought that the sea would have broken over her gangways. At 2.15 A.M. (the 7th) the gale had somewhat subsided, and the wind went round to the north-west, but without any squall; in fact, the weather moderated, the heavy bank of clouds had passed off to the eastward, and the stars came out clear and bright; the moon, which had given considerable light, was setting; no large ship was seen near us where the Captain had been last observed, although the lights of some were visible at a distance. When the day broke the squadron was somewhat scattered, and only ten ships, instead of eleven, could be discerned, the Captain being the missing one." Search was made in all directions by the ships of the squadron, but nothing was seen of the missing ship. Afterwards portions of wreck belonging to the Captain were picked up, and the body of a seaman. Admiral Milne said he could come to no other conclusion than that the Captain had foundered, probably in one of the heavy squalls between 1.30 and 2.15 A.M., at which time a heavy cross sea was running.

the starboard watch. The watch was called, the men said, a few minutes past midnight, and, as the men were going on deck to muster, the ship gave a lurch to starboard, but righted herself again immediately. Robert Hirst, able seaman, was stationed on the forecastle. There was a strong wind, and the ship was then under her three topsails, double reefs in each, and the foretopmast staysail. The yards were braced sharp up, and the ship did not seem to have much way upon her. As the watch were mustered he heard Captain Burgoyne give the order, " Let go the foretopsail halyards!" followed by "Let go fore and maintopsail sheets!" By the time the men got to the topsail sheets the ship was heeling over to starboard so much that the men were washed away off the deck, the ship lying down on her side as she was gradually turning over, and trembling with every blow which the short, jumping seas (the sea now was white all round with the squall) struck her, and the roar of the steam from the funnel roaring horribly above everything, and continuing to do so even when under water. Hirst, with two other men, rushed to the weather-forecastle netting and jumped overboard, and immediately afterwards they found themselves washed on to the bilge of the ship's bottom, but had no sooner got there than the ship went down. Hirst and his companions went down with the ship; but the next feeling of consciousness by the former was coming in contact with a floating spar, to which he tied himself with his black silk neckerchief. He was soon afterwards, however, washed away from the spar, but got hold of the stern of the second launch, which was floating as it was stowed on board the ship. Other men were there on the top of the canvas covering. They fell in with the steam life-boat pinnace, bottom up, with Captain Burgoyne and a number of men on her bottom, but could not distinguish how many. Four men, of whom Mr. May, the gunner, proved to be one, jumped from off the bottom of the steam-pinnace to the canvas covering of the galley and launches. The canvas was immediately cut away, the galley thrown out, the first launch floating away from underneath the second, and the oars got out in the second launch to pull up to the steam-pinnace to take off Captain Burgoyne and the men remaining there. It was soon found impossible to do this. As soon as they endeavoured to get the boat's head up to the sea to row her up to windward to where the capsized boat, with their captain and a few shipmates with him, was floating, the boat was swamped level to her thwarts, and two of the men were washed out of her. The pump was set going, and caps used for baling the water out, and a second attempt was made to row the boat up against the sea. This proved as unsuccessful as the first. There were only nine oars in the boat, the remainder having been washed away, and one being in use for steering, only eight remained for pulling the boat. Nothing could be done under such conditions, with a heavy boat such as the second pinnace, and her head was put for the shore before the wind and sea, but Captain Burgoyne was away to windward, clinging to the bottom of a boat.

The Captain was built on the design of Captain Cowper Coles, the inventor of the turret principle, by Messrs. Laird and Sons, Birkenhead. It was generally agreed that in the whole Navy List there was not a more formidable fighting man-of-war. She was & double-screwed ship of 4,272 tons and 900-horse power, and carried iron armour of varying strength, being in the most exposed positions as much as eight inches thick, and elsewhere ranging, fore and aft and below the water-line, between seven inches, four inches, and even three inches. In her two turrets she carried six Some of the crew escaped and landed at Corcubion, guns of the heaviest calibre-an armament which made north of Cape Finisterre, in the evening, and arrived on her more than the equal of any other ship in the navy, the 12th at Portsmouth in H.M.S. Volage. The deposi- and enabled Vice-Admiral Symonds to say of her, tions of the men saved were taken on board the Lord "She is a most formidable ship, and could, I believe,

VOL. IV.

4 R

by her superior armament, destroy all the broadside ships of the squadron in detail." The Captain had made two successful voyages to Vigo, after the preliminary trip from Liverpool to the Channel, before the present fatal cruise. On the first of these she set sail on May 10, and returned on June 6. It was of this voyage, during which she experienced a considerable variety of weather, that Sir Thomas Symonds made his report to the admiralty, and in which, beside the remark we have quoted with regard to her admirable fighting qualities, he stated, among other things, that she was perfectly seaworthy, and that, in spite of her low seaboard, she was a dry ship. There was appended to the official report a short criticism of Sir Robert Spencer Robinson, who generally endorsed the views of Sir Thomas Symonds. The second voyage of the Captain across the Bay of Biscay was made between July 6 and 28, and the reports made were equally favourable.

to the best of my judgment, ten or eleven of us, all steerage passengers, I think, besides two seamen. No provisions were taken on board. We were near shore. Our boat, however, was scarcely launched when she capsized. When the boat lurched over I got hold of it, but I cannot say what part of it, and when it righted again I managed to scramble in. I never saw a living soul after that. I did not hear a single cry when the boat heeled over, and I never afterwards saw any of my companions. I was very much put about, I must have grasped the boat quite mechanically, and when I got into it again I don't know that I could have told where I was. I did not see the Cambria go down. The waves carried my boat quickly away from her. When I recovered myself I noticed some one lying in the bottom of the boat. I stooped down and found that it was a young woman, lying face downwards. She was dead. I saw that nothing could be done for her, poor thing; and, to tell you the truth, I did not feel able to do much for myself. The oars were tied with small | ropes to the boat, and I was not equal to the exertion of recovering them; I just let the boat drift aimlessly along. The wind and the waves carried me along all the morning with my melancholy burden-the poor thing at the bottom of the boat. At half-past two o'clock that afternoon, after fourteen hours' and a half drifting helplessly in the storm, I was picked up by the Enterprise (Captain Gillespie) in Lough Foyle. I was almost insensible at the time. A rope was passed round my body, and I was drawn on deck. I was brought to Londonderry, and have since been almost entirely confined to bed. I lost all my clothes and eleven guineas in money."

The vessel, it appears, which was under sail and steam, and proceeding at a rapid pace, struck on Innistrahull, a dangerous island, guarded with lighthouses, about ten miles from the coast of Donegal, and about 135 miles from the city of Derry. The vessel immediately commenced to fill, a tremendous hole having been made in her bottom. The fires were at once put out, and every attempt was made then to save the passengers, who rushed on the deck and crowded the boats, four in number, which had been speedily launched. The chief keeper of the Innistrahull lighthouse made a confir matory statement. On the night when the Cambria was wrecked he had opened a door or window in the lighthouse apparently a few minutes after the steamer struck on the rocks. Looking to seaward, he observed a light a short distance away which suddenly disappeared, and then rose above the roar of the tempest the agonising shrieks of men and women, which were quickly stilled. The vessel was in command of Captain George Carhnahan, who had long been in the service of Messrs. Handyside and Henderson, and enjoyed their confidence as an able and experienced officer.

On the 17th of September the following gracious message from her Majesty was received by Admiral Sir Sydney Dacres, K.C.B., at the Admiralty :-"The Queen has already expressed to several of the widows and near relatives of the unfortunate sufferers in the late shipwreck her Majesty's deep sympathy with them in their affliction, but there are many others equally deprived of husbands and relatives whom the Queen is unable to reach except through an official channel. Her Majesty, therefore, desires that measures may be taken to signify to the widows and relatives of the whole of | the crew, of all ranks, who perished in the Captain, the expression of her Majesty's deep sympathy with them, and to assure them that the Queen feels most acutely the misfortune that has at once deprived her Majesty of one of her finest ships of war and of so many gallant seamen, and which has inflicted upon their widows and other relatives losses which must for ever be deplored.”* On the 19th of October the Cambria, one of the Anchor line of steamers, which left New York on the 8th, went ashore on the island of Innistrahull during the gale that raged during this night, and became total wreck. Four boats containing some of the passengers and crew left the ship, but only one of them was picked up, and that contained only one sailor and one lady passenger-the former alive, the latter dead. The loss of life was very great, over 170 persons. Large quantities of the wreck were washed ashore on various parts of the coast at Antrim and Denegal. The body of a lady, about twenty-five years of age, elegantly dressed, was washed ashore at Dunluce Castle, Portrush. This was supposed to have been the lady who was in the boat with the rescued sailor, M'Gartland, who made a statement of his escape. He said that in the night the weather was very bad, and he could see nothing outside the ship. He remained on deck till about eleven o'clock; then he went below. "I had seated myself," he continued, "at my bunk, thinking over old times and my near approach to home, when suddenly there was a horrid crash, and I was sent spinning forward on my face on the floor. I did not lose my senses, al-known as a resort of convivial parties from London, was though I was a good deal frightened, and, getting to my feet, I hurried up on deck. Here I found passengers running to and fro in great excitement, but I cannot say there was much crying or shouting. I was myself much put about. I heard the order given, 'Launch the boats,' but I cannot say whose voice it was; and I also heard some one saying, 'There's a mighty big hole in the boat. Our vessel, I now knew, had struck the rock of Innistrahull, bow on, but at that time I really saw nothing beyond the boat itself, the night was so dark, and there was so much blinding rain and spray. I did not see the light on Innistrahull. There were seven small boats, I think, on board, four of which were lowered. When the boat in the steerage end was lowered, I got into it with others. There were in all,

• Annual Register.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS.

The old Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, so long totally destroyed by fire at an early hour on the morn ing of the 12th of January. The fire was first observed by the coachman of Colonel Burdett, late of the 17th Lancers, who resided at Ancaster House, opposite the hotel, and adjoining the great gates of Richmond Park. He was driving the Misses Burdett home from a party in the neighbourhood, and at a quarter-past one o'clock had arrived at his master's house, when he remarked smoke issuing from the areas and beneath the entrancedoor of the hotel. He called the attention of the Misses Burdett to the fact, and while he was shutting up his horses these ladies, with great presence of mind, regardless of the slender protection their evening dresses afforded, crossed the road and knocked and rang loudly at the door of the new hotel, which was built in 1861, a few vards nearer to Richmond Park, and which.

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though belonging to the same proprietary, is an entirely distinct building. Having roused the inmates, they returned to their house and called Colonel Burdett, who was just retiring to bed. He immediately directed his butler to ring his alarm-bell and rouse the neighbourhood. By this time Mrs. Bearpark, the housekeeper of the hotel (who, with half-a-dozen female domestics, slept in the new building), had arrived in front of the old hotel, and, in reply to inquiries addressed to her by the only two policemen who had arrived on the spot at the time, she described the persons sleeping in the old building to be Mr. Lever, the manager; Mr. Simpson, his clerk; and George Mingey, the cellarman. Meantime Colonel Burdett had been very active, and with the assistance of his coachman and butler had brought a ladder from his grounds, which arrived most opportunely, and just at the moment when Lever the manager, and Simpson the clerk, presented themselves together at the window of a bedroom on the third floor, calling piteously for aid. Although at this moment the flames had not broken through any of the front windows of the hotel, a dense smoke was escaping from every casement, including those on the third floor, where the two men were imploring help. Unfortunately, the ladder brought from Colonel Burdett's would not reach higher than the second floor, and there appeared imminent probability of both lives being sacrificed; but happily Colonel Bull, of the 19th Surrey Volunteers, arrived about this time, and, seeing the difficulty, called out to the inmates to lower themselves, which Simpson immediately did by tying one end of a sheet round the iron flower-basket outside the window, and lowering himself as far as the sheet permitted. There were still some inches between his feet and the top spar of the ladder, when Colonel Bull, with great daring, mounted the ladder, and, almost hidden by dense volumes of smoke, continued to ascend until he got hold of Simpson's feet, which he steadied on the topmost spar, and thus brought him safely to the ground, to the inexpressible relief of those who had assembled. Simpson was dreadfully cut about the face and neck by coming in contact with the glass windows while swaying to and fro upon his fragile support. He swooned on reaching the ground, and was carried across the road to Colonel Burdett's house, where all needful attention was immediately paid him. It was hoped that Lever would have followed Simpson's example and have lowered himself, but those present said that while Simpson was hanging from the window they observed Lever suddenly disappear, and the presumption was that he was suffocated by the smoke and fell down insensible. About this time it was discovered that Mingey the cellarman, who slept on the first floor, had contrived to escape through the new coffee-room on the north side of the old hotel, and which was the only portion of the building not entirely destroyed. There was no clear account as to how the fire originated. That it broke out in the basement-the kitchen or cellar-there could be no doubt whatever, because that was the portion of the hotel in which the fire was first discovered. All business in both the old and the new hotels had been recently suspended for the winter season, the few servants retained having been engaged in taking the stock in the cellars, &c., and, no doubt, those portions of the old building had been visited on the previous day. Simpson the clerk stated that he was engaged with Mr. Lever the manager up to midnight in making up his stock-books, and that, having himself turned off the gas at the main in the entrancehall, they together retired up-stairs to their respective bedrooms his own on the second floor, and Mr. Lever's on the third floor. He stated he was awoke by a suffocating sensation, and on rising in bed found his room nearly full of smoke. He jumped up, and, putting on his trousers, dipped two towels in the water-jug and wrapped them round his head. Thus prepared, he left his room and groped his way up-stairs to the bedroom

of the manager, whom he had great difficulty in rousing. When he told Mr. Lever the house was on fire, the latter replied, half-asleep, "Oh, nonsense! humbug!" and it was only by dint of almost pulling him out of bed that he could be made aware of his danger. The unfortunate manager had only assumed the position a fortnight before the fire took place.

On the 14th of February a fearful explosion occurred at Morfa Colliery, near Swansea, at half-past six o'clock in the morning, as the men were proceeding to their work. Fortunately, however, only about fifty of the men, out of a far larger number employed in the works, had descended the pit. A man who was standing on the stage above the pit's mouth heard a noise below, and at the same instant was thrown backward by a violent gust of air forced upward from the shaft. The alarm was given, and at first it was naturally concluded that an explosion of fire-damp had occurred. By means of a contrivance kept in readiness for an emergency, the usual mode of descending being destroyed, the manager of the colliery, Mr. Gray, descended the shaft, and after a careful examination of the workings, found that a store of gunpowder, more or less large, but supposed to be larger than the quantity allowed to be kept by the rules of the colliery, had exploded. That store of powder was kept by the men engaged in sinking the pit to a deeper level. The explosion occurred in the principal drawing shaft. The colliery is one of the largest, and, according to all testimony, one of the best managed in the South Wales district. There were two shafts; the colliery was admirably ventilated, the men worked with locked safety lamps, and undoubtedly all means were adopted to prevent an explosion of fire-damp. The injured men were brought up out of the pit as speedily as possible, and were at once attended to by a number of medical gentlemen who had hastened to the place immediately the alarm was spread, and every aid and appliance were supplied abundantly by the manager. The occurrence caused considerable alarm in the neighbourhood. The total number of men and boys killed by the explosion, together with those who died after from their injuries, was twenty-three. About thirty others were badly injured.

On the 3rd of March an explosion occurred at the Astley Deep Pit, Dukinfield. This pit, which is 800 yards deep at the lowest point, was worked in two seams, the black mine and the cannel seam, and the explosion occurred in the former, in what is called the 1,500 or 1,600 brow. At this point eleven men were working, and nine of these perished. In the whole mine some ninetythree miners were engaged, but the explosion was confined to the region where the eleven men were. No indication of the concussion of the air current, or any other such effect, reached the surface; but the miners in other parts of the vast workings heard the shock, and ran to render their fellow-workers in the 1,200 and 1,600 brows all the assistance in their power. An awful spectacle met their view. The roof was blown down for a great distance. Two men were reached when just succumbing to the after-damp, but they were brought to the surface, and under able medical treatment were recovered. About ten o'clock the exploring party that had descended the mine reached three dead bodies, frightfully burnt, and bearing the appearance that death had resulted from suffocation. Owing to the enormous amount of roof that had fallen, the explorations went on but slowly, and, though the ventilation had been restored, the air was very heavily charged with gas, and the searchers had often to be relieved. It was not until the morning, about two o'clock, that three other bodies were recovered, and the three remaining men were brought to the bank later in the forenoon. No fewer than 320 men were employed in the pit during the day, and had the explosion occurred then, at least sixty men would have been at work in the place where the nine poor fellows met their death.