subject, and some substitute contrived. The French have
led the way, and that too by the most obvious and simple arrangement
possible. The "_Omnibus_,"--for they still have Latin enough in
France for the name of this travelling collection of all sorts of human
beings--the Omnibus is a long coach, carrying fifteen or eighteen
people, all inside. For two-pence halfpenny it carries the individual
the length of the Boulevard, or the whole diameter of Paris. Of those
carriages there were about half-a-dozen some months ago, and they have
been augmented since; their profits were said to have repaid the outlay
within the first year: the proprietors, among whom is Lafitte, the
banker, are making a large revenue out of Parisian sous, and speculation
is still alive.--_Monthly Mag_.

* * * * *

FRANKLIN'S GRAVE.

Captain Basil Hall, in his _Travels in North America_, just
published, says, "On the 12th of December, we made a pilgrimage to the
tomb of Franklin--dear old Franklin! It consists of a large marble slab,
laid flat on the ground, with nothing carved upon it but these words:--

BENJAMIN AND DEBORAH
FRANKLIN.
1790.

Franklin, it will be recollected, wrote a humorous epitaph for himself;
but his good taste and good sense showed him how unsuitable to his
living character it would have been to jest in such a place. After all,
his literary works, scientific fame, and his undoubted patriotism,
form his best epitaph. Still, it may be thought, he might have been
distinguished in his own land by a more honourable resting-place than
the obscure corner of an obscure burying-ground, where his bones lie
indiscriminately along with those of ordinary mortals; and his tomb,
already wellnigh hid in the rubbish, may soon be altogether lost. One
little circumstance, however, about this spot is very striking. No
regular path has been made to the grave, which lies considerably out of
the road; but the frequent tread of visiters having pressed down the
rank grass which grows in such places, the way to the tombstone is
readily found without any guide."

* * * * *

AN INDIAN SULTANA IN PARIS.

It is known to very few even in France that an Indian Sultana, a
descendant of Tamerlane, named Aline of Eldir, has been living in Paris,
poor and forgotten, for above forty years. This heiress to a great
kingdom was stolen almost out of her cradle, and deserted by the robb