Mr. Pennington of Baltimore,
United States of America, a manuscript and a printed prospectus
Concerning a project of a steam balloon, upon which he wished the Academy
to decide.

* * * * *

The holder of the appointment of Examiner of Plays, in England, enjoys a
salary of $2000 per annum, beside a tax upon every play, interlude,
farce, or song, licensed for representation upon the stage. This
appointment is in the gift of the Lord Chamberlain.

* * * * *

GEORGE CATLIN, the Indian traveler, is soon to sail to Texas from
Liverpool, with a large body of emigrants; they will settle on the lands
of the Emigration Colonization Society.

* * * * *

AGES OF PUBLIC MEN.--The Duke of Wellington is aged 81: Lord Lyndhurst,
78; Lord Dunfermline, 74; Mr. Joseph Hume, 73; Lord Brougham, 72; Lord
Heytesbury, 71; Lord Denman, 71; Lord Campbell, 71; Lord Gough, 71; Earl
of Haddington, 70; Marquis of Landsdowne, 70; Lord Cottenham, 69; Earl of
Ripon, 68; Earl of Minto, 68; Earl of Aberdeen, 66; Viscount Palmerston,
66; Right Hon. H. Goulburn, 66; Viscount Hardinge, 65; Sir Robert Inglis,
64; Sir John Cam Hobhouse, 64; Duke of Sutherland, 64; Sir George Clerk,
63; Duke of Richmond, 59; Mr. Andrew Rutherford, 59; Sir James Graham,
58; Lord John Russell, 58; Right Hon. C. Lefevre, Speaker of the House of
Commons, 56; Right Hon. Richard L. Shiel, 56; Sir Frederick Thesiger, 56;
Sir Francis Baring, First Lord of the Admiralty, 54; Sir Fitzroy Kelly,
54; Marquis of Normanby, 53; Right Hon. H. Labouchere, 52; Lord Stanley,
51; Sir George Grey, 51; Right Hon. T.B. Macaulay, 51; Earl of Clarendon,
50; Sir Charles Wood, 50; Mr. Fox Maule, 49; Lord Ashley, 49; Mr. J.A.
Roebuck, 49; Earl of Carlisle, 48; Marquis of Clanricarde, 48; Earl Grey,
48; Sir John Jervis, 48; Mr. Cobden, 47; Mr. Benjamin D'Israeli, 45;
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, 41; Right Hon. Sydney Herbert, 40; Earl of
Lincoln, 39; Mr. John Bright, 39; Hon. George A. Smythe, 32; Lord John
Manners, 32.

* * * * *

ANCIENT DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA.--In the popular and unique work, "Notes
And Queries," we find the following paragraph, from a correspondent who
probably gleaned it from the last years Proceedings of the New-York
Historical Society. "In the _Voyage Round the World_, by Captain George
Shelvocke, begun February 1719, he says of California,