scented
spirits and oil, which are much esteemed for the composition of delicate
varnish. In the rough state, amber is sold by the ton, and forms an object
of export trade from Memel and Konigsberg.--_Granville's Travels in
Russia_.

* * * * *

The head of the late Dr. Gall has been taken off agreeably to his wishes,
and dissected and dried for the benefit of science.

* * * * *

MUSICAL TALENT.

All the principal Italian composers were _in flower_ about the age of
twenty-five. There is scarcely an instance of a musician producing his
_chef-d'oeuvre_ after the age of thirty. Rossini was not twenty when he
composed his _Tancredi_, and his _Italiana in Algieri_.

* * * * *

The most important principle perhaps in life is to have a pursuit--a
useful one if possible, and at all events an innocent one. The unripe
fruit tree of knowledge is, I believe, always bitter or sour; and
scepticism and discontent--sickness of the mind--are often the results of
devouring it.--_Sir Humphry Davy_.

* * * * *

COFFIN OF KING DUNCAN.

A coffin has been discovered among the ruins of Elgin cathedral, supposed
to be that of the royal victim of Macbeth.

* * * * *

AN IMPERIAL ENCORE.

When Cimarosa's opera of _Matrimonio Segreto_ was performed before the
Emperor Joseph, he invited all the singers to a banquet, and then in a fit
of enthusiasm, sent them all back to the theatre to play and sing the
whole opera over again!--_Foreign Review_.

* * * * *

_Dinner_ is a corruption of _decimer_, from _decimheure_, or the French
repast _de dix-heure. Supper_ from _souper_, from the custom of providing
soup for that occasion.

* * * * *

LARKS.

We have heard much of _Dunstable larks_ but the enthusiasm with which
_gourmets_ speak of these tit-bits of luxury, is far exceeded by the
Germans, who travel to Leipsic from a distance of many hundred miles,
merely to eat a dinner of larks, and then return contented and peaceful to
their families. So great is the slaughter of this bird at the Leipsic fair,
that half a million are annually devoured, principally by the booksellers
frequenting the city. What is the favourite bird at the coffee-house
dinners of our friends in Paternoster Row?

* *