AN ACCOMMODATING CHANCELLOR. dies, this was deemed a piece of gallantry, which the latter returned by emptying their comfit-boxes into the waistcoat-pockets of the former. LUNAR ROADS. A professor of Munich is reported Maupeou, Chancellor of France under Louis XV. was more than once seen at Paris, in all the paraphernalia of office, playing at shuttlecock with the little Negro Zamori, the train-bearer of Madame Dubarry, and patiently permitting his play-to have lately discovered high-roads fellow to drive the shuttlecock in his face. At the same period ministers of state did not scruple to play at piquet with the king's valets. SINGULAR CUSTOM. It was a curious custom of the middle ages to make what were termed oizelets de Chypre (birds of Cyprus) from the bladders of carp; these were then painted with gay colours by Neapolitan painters, filled with a sort of gas, and so contrived, that they burst at the slightest touch, and diffused around an exquisite perfume. Ladies frequently employed them for particular purposes; but when gentlemen offered them to la in the moon with a telescope possessing the magnifying power of 100. The moon at that time was, we will say, for the sake of a round number, only 200,000 miles distant from his eye, and that divided by 100 consequently gives 2000 miles as the distance at which the roads in question may be discerned by the naked eye. What immense sums a road of sufficient breadth to be seen 2000 miles off must have cost! We ought to congratulate ourselves that we have not to contribute to the highwayrates in that planet. They are high enough in our own, though our roads are not so broad by a mile or two as those in the moon. COSTUMES OF THE MEXICANS. A From BULLOCK's "Six Months' Residence and Travels in Mexico." THE Costumes of the various class- || universally black; the head of the es of inhabitants of the city of Mexico vary considerably. The dresses of the Spaniard, and higher class of white natives, differ but little from those worn in Europe. The men and boys often appear in the streets in the long cloak; and in the house light jackets, of printed calico, are generally worn. They shave less often than we do, and when on a journey, or as long as they are indisposed, that operation is not performed. The dresses of the ladies, and even of children, in the streets, is Vol. IV. No. XXII. former generally uncovered, or only a slight veil thrown over it. They take great pains with their fine hair, and are particularly neat about the feet, the stocking being usually of fine silk. This is their morning appearance, in which they are seen going to or returning from church, to the duties of which they are very attentive. No well-regulated family omits hearing mass every morning, mostly before breakfast. On holidays, processions, and other public occasions, the dresses of the ladies are very gay, but not of KK 4 such expensive materials as those || magnificence and workmanship with worn by our fashionables; artificial the boots. The hat is of various flowers are used in abundance, but colours, large, and the crown very ostrich feathers sparingly. It is ge- flat and low, bound with broad gold nerally in their carriages that the la- or silver lace, and with a large round dies appear in public, and very sel-band, and fringe of the same. They dom on horseback. The dress of the country gentlemen, or paysanos, is showy and expensive; and, when mounted on their handsome and spirited little horses, they make an elegant appearance. The lower dress consists of embroidered breeches, chiefly of coloured leather, open at the knees, and ornamented with numbers of round silver buttons and broad silver lace; a worked shirt, with high collar; and a short jacket of printed calico, over which is generally thrown an elegant manga or cloak, of velvet, fine cloth, or fine figured cotton, the manufacture of the country: these are often embroidered, or covered with a profusion of gold lace. On the feet are soft leather shoes or boots, over which is tied a kind of gaiter, peculiar to the country; they are commonly of cinnamon-coloured leather, wrapped round the leg, and tied with an ornamental garter: these are a very expensive article, the leather being cut in relievo in a variety of elegant patterns, which is done by the Indians in the interior provinces, in a manner that it would be difficult to copy in Europe. They are sold from eight to forty or fifty dollars the pair, and at that price yield a poor remuneration to the makers. Yet they are an article of great consequence in the fitting-out of the Mexican beau, who often appears in this kind of boot, richly embroidered in gold and silver, which costs upwards of one hundred dollars. The stirrups and spurs correspond in are elegant, and well calculated to guard the sun from the head and shoulders. The decorations of the horse are also expensive; the great Spanish saddle, with its broad flaps,” is richly embroidered with silk, gold, and silver, and the high-raised front covered with the same metals. The stirrups are often of silver, while those of the lower classes are of wood. The bridle is small, with a very large and powerful bit, by means of which the riders suddenly stop their fine little horses when at full speed. The dresses of the country ladies are showy, but not elegant: worked shifts, with a light open jacket, and a richly embroidered or spangled petticoat, of bright-coloured soft cloth (often scarlet or pink), seem to be the unvarying costume. The dresses of the poorer classes and Indians vary in the different provinces. The mixed descendants of the Spaniards, in the capital, and in Tolluca and other cities, have little more than a blanket, worn much in the fashion of the Roman toga; whilst the garb of the Indian men consists of a straw hat, close jacket with short sleeves, of different darkcoloured coarse woollen or leather, and a short pair of breeches, open at the knees, also of leather, sometimes of the skin of goats, or of the peccary, with the hair-side outwards. Under this are worn full calico trowsers, reaching to the middle of the leg, with sandals of leather on the feet, much in the form of the ancient |