ny relief, she finally consented to make trial of a new
cure. During twelve weeks she saw no one except the members of her own
household and the physicians, who sometimes said she was better and
sometimes that she was worse; finally, however, fever set in,
accompanied by all the signs of consumption.

Perfectly aware of her condition, she prepared for death with
resignation and devotion; she died during the night of the 30th of
April. Her breast had burst open several weeks before. An examination
was made after her death, and many causes for her last illness were
discovered; but I cannot dwell upon these details.... In my opinion, and
I followed the whole course of her malady, her chest was seriously
affected in addition to the cancer.

We have experienced an irreparable loss; I can scarcely endure life
since our misfortune, and will never be able to think of the princess
royal without the most bitter regret. I have not yet seen her husband;
some say that he is ill, and cannot long survive his wife, but others
speak of him as quite well: I know not whom to believe.

I sometimes see their daughter, the Princess Mary, whom I love with all
my heart, but whom I can only visit once during the week. She is
charming, and already gives promise of a noble character. The princess
royal, during her dying moments, left her under the protection of
Elizabeth, the king's daughter and the prince royal's sister. Elizabeth
is warmly interested in the young princess, and sincerely attached to
her brother; she is a highly meritorious personage.

May I beg you, madame, to continue toward me your previous sentiments of
kindness, and to accept the expression of my unbounded esteem.
L. MOSZYNSKA.

The prince royal, Charles, survived his wife several months, and their
daughter, still very young, was confided to the guardianship of Prince
Charles's sister. When she reached a marriageable age, she wedded Prince
Carignan, of Savoy, and their descendants are now allied to the reigning
family of Sardinia.

PETROLEUM.

Lucian of Samosata is responsible for the strange story of Minerva--how
Jupiter commanded Vulcan to split open his skull with a sharp axe, and
how the warlike virgin leaped in full maturity from the cleft in the
brain, thoroughly armed and ready for deeds of martial daring,
brandishing her glittering weapons with fiery energy, and breaking at
once into the wild P