rs in that manner. But this expostulation served only to irritate
the raggamuffins; and one of them taking hold of my arm tried to force me
into compliance with his orders. This was our trying moment; we all three
made one desperate effort 'for liberty;' and, each of us having dealt his
opponent a severe blow on the cheek, we broke from them, and ran off at
our best speed. Three shots were immediately fired, and still we galloped
on unhurt;--another went off, and I felt it--not that I was mortally
wounded; it was only a spent ball that lodged itself in the flesh of my
leg. The accident lamed me, however, for the time, and consequently put an
end to my adventures. I was carried to my hotel, and the ball was
extracted; but still the wound confined me to my room for two months."

The battle-pieces, and head and tail-cuts, well bespeak the ups and downs
and bursts of the Revolution. They are as plentiful in this volume, as the
balls were about Paris in _La Grande Semaine_.

* * * * *

TIME'S TELESCOPE FOR 1832

Is, as usual, a multifarious volume, and abounds with reading that must
please all tastes. It has, moreover, to meet the exigencies of the day, a
pretty sprinkling of cuts and plates, respecting the number of which we do
not quarrel; in the choice of some of them we must, however, dissent from
the editor. The Astronomical portion, by Mr. Barker, is unusually copious,
and the cometary plates are well executed. We quote a passage:

_On the probability of a concussion of a Comet with the earth_.

It has been stated that the comet of 1770, passed through the system of
the planet Jupiter, without in the slightest degree affecting the motions
of either the primary or his satellites; also, that it passed sufficiently
near our planet to have shortened the length of the year had its mass been
equal to that of the earth. No effect whatever was produced, from whence
it may be concluded, that the neighbourhood of a comet is not of
sufficient importance to excite any alarming apprehensions for the safety
of the habitation of man.

Most of the calculations that have been made respecting the effect of the
proximity of a comet to our earth have proceeded on erroneous
principles,--over-rating the quantity of matter in comets, and losing
sight of their great velocity when in this part of the system. For a comet
to produce any direful effect, it ought to contain not merely a
considerable quantity