NOTES BY THE WAY.
library of Count Macarthy at Paris in May is mentioned, when, among other treasures, the Psalmorum Codex, Mogunt., 1457, fol., fetched 12,000 francs. We also find that the Paris booksellers' petition for the repeal of the heavy duties on the importation of foreign books has been partly successful, and the duty reduced to ten francs per fifty kilogrammes metriques about two cwt. The monthly list of new publications is full of interest, and the published prices vary much from those of later times. The completion of the new edition of Chalmers's 'Biographical Dictionary ' is announced, 32 vols. 8vo.
Trial of
Wooler
Presentation
to theDuke of
Wellington.
Sir Humphry
Davy.
Steamships
favoured.'Morte d' Arthur,' reprinted from Caxton's edition of 1485, "with an introduction and notes by Robert Southey, Esq., price 8l. 8s.," is announced in July. The stirring times of 1817 are brought to view in the ' Political Record.' We have the account of the attack on the Prince Regent on his way to open the Houses
of Parliament; the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act; and the trial of Mr. T. J. Wooler, of The Black Dwarf, for libelling Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning. Mention is made of the coinage of sovereigns in place of the old guineas; the crossing of the Irish Channel in a balloon; the report from St. Helena that Bonaparte
is in good health and looking well "less bloated than ordinary" but complaining much of Sir Hudson Lowe and of his being detained a prisoner, for which he knows no law; and that Russia
is cultivating peace with all her neighbours and making extensive reductions of her army, but still with an eye to the Dardanelles. We have the Pacha of Egypt preparing to dispute the sovereignty of that province with the Ottoman Porte. We are also informed that the Paris census, taken in June, shows that the population exceeds 860,000, being 20,000 more than that of London; and it is recorded that Dr. Esquirol has read a paper to the Academy on a kind of mental derangement to which he gives a new term, "hallucination." A presentation to the Duke of Wellington of plate of the value of 200,000l. by the Prince Regent of Portugal is also noticed, as is the first survey of the wreck of the Royal George by means of the diving bell. Even a fire at Bankside is reported, at which, the water being low in the Thames, a tank of lime water was emptied into the engines, and it was remarked
that the material thus wetted did not again take fire. It is also announced that the medals of the Royal Society have been presented to Sir Humphry Davy, and that a Committee of the House of Commons reports that steam engines of some construction may be applied with perfect safety even to passenger vessels. In Germany animal magnetism is in favour as a remedy for disease. All these, and many other things, are recorded in the 'Chronicle of Events.' Many of the ages among the deaths are indeed startling, sixteen during the six months being stated as over one hundred years, one being given at 130, and another at 117 ; but this was
