of the entry into the Hotel des Invalides
of a soldier, stated to be 126 years of age. This is not quite
correct. The following are some precise details respecting this
extraordinary man, who arrived at the Hotel on the 21st inst.:--Jean
Kolombeski, born at Astrona (Poland), on the 1st of March, 1730,
entered the service of France, as a volunteer in the Bourbon regiment
of infantry, in 1774, at the age of forty-four. He was made corporal
in 1790, at the age of sixty. He made all the campaigns of the
Revolution and of the Empire, in different regiments of infantry,
and was incorporated, in 1808, in the 3d regiment of the Vistula. He
was wounded in 1814, and entered the hospital at Poitiers, which he
soon afterward left to be placed _en subsistence_ in the 2d regiment
of light infantry. On the 11th of October of the same year he was
admitted into the 1st company of _sous-officiers sedentaires_, and, in
1846, into the 5th company of Veteran Sub-Officers. The last three of
these companies having just been suppressed by the Minister of War,
Kolombeski was placed _en subsistence_ in the 61st regiment of the
line, received a retiring pension by decree of May 17, 1850, and the
Minister authorized his admission into the Invalides. Kolombeski is,
therefore, more than 120 years of age; he reckons seventy-five and
a half years of service, and twenty-nine campaigns. He enjoys good
health, is strong and well made, and does not appear to be more than
seventy or eighty. He performed every duty with big comrades of the
5th company of Veterans, When King Louis Philippe visited Dreus,
Kolombeski was presented to him, who, taking the decoration from
his breast, presented it to the veteran soldier. This is the most
astonishing instance of longevity that has, perhaps, been ever known
in the army. The Marshal Governor of the Invalides ordered that
Kolombeski should be brought to him on his arrival; but, as the old
soldier was fatigued, he was taken to the infirmary, and the Governor,
informed of it, went to his bedside with General Petit, the commandant
of the hotel, and addressed the veteran in the kindest manner. The
Governor has issued an order that, for the future, all centenarian
soldiers admitted into the hospital shall mess with the officers, in
order to show his respect for their age, and for the long services
they have rendered to the state.--_Galignani's Messenger_.

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ANECDOTE OF LORD BRO