der the
mount called Monte di Grano. The material of which it is made is glass,
the body being of a beautiful transparent dark blue, enriched with
figures in relief, of opaque white glass. For more than two centuries it
was the principal object of admiration in the Barberini Palace. It came
into the possession of Sir William Hamilton, from whom it was purchased
by the Duchess of Portland.

On 11 Feb. the delinquent was brought before Mr. Jardine, at Bow Street,
and the Museum authorities electing to prosecute him for the minor
offence of breaking the glass case which held the vase, and which was
under the value of 5 pounds, he was convicted of that offence, and
sentenced to pay 3 pounds, or two months' hard labour in the House of
Correction. He could not pay, and was committed to prison, in default,
but on 13 Feb., someone paid the money, and the man was released.

An employe of the British Museum, named Doubleday, undertook, and
effected, the restoration of the Vase, and it may now be seen in the Gold
Room of the British Museum, but, alas! "all the King's horses, and all
the King's men," can never make it as it was. Wedgwood feebly reproduced
it in ceramic ware, copies of which are now worth 200 pounds each, and
one copy, if not more, was made in silver.

I come across a curious paragraph in the _Morning Post_ of March 13:
"WILLIAM AUSTIN.--This person, whose name must be familiar to all who
have had any acquaintance with the history of the Parliamentary
proceedings in the case of the late Queen Caroline, or the eventful life
of that unhappy Princess, arrived in London, last week, from Milan, where
he has been residing for several years, for the most part, in a state of
fatuity, the inmate of a lunatic asylum. We understand that he has been
removed to this country through the intervention of the British
Government, under an authority from the Lord Chancellor, in whose care,
his person, and some considerable property, left to him by the late
Queen, have been placed by certain proceedings on the part of his
relations. He was conveyed hither from Milan under the charge of a
medical and two other attendants; and immediately on his arrival, was
visited by two London physicians, who, after an interview with him of
some duration, at the hotel where he stopped, signed the necessary
certificate for his detention in a private asylum, where he now remains.
Austin is a very good-looking man, apparently about 40 years of a