the mouth the depth in the middle decreases to 47 fathoms, remaining so to Welikokamenuj Muis, from whose point to Mischukow Point it varies between 47 and 23 fathoms. In all that extent the shores are steep, and entirely free of reefs. For a distance of four leagues from Mischukow Point to the Abraham's Hills, which rise abruptly from the water on the west shore, the depth in the middle is 17 to 11 fathoms, and there is an extensive sandy shoal on the west shore. Opposite Abraham's Hills, 82 fathoms from the shore, lies a reef about one cable in length, bearing the name of Abramowaja Kosa. At the same place a sandbank extends for a distance of 14 cable, towards the middle of the strait, from Chaldejew Point on the east shore opposite Abraham's Hills, which sandbank approaches Abramowaja Kosa to 117 fathoms. Vessels may pass on either side of that reef. The fairway is narrower but safer than the eastern one, because in the former one can keep closer to the shore, and therefore more easily avoid the reef. For three leagues from this reef the depth continues between 11 and 4 fathoms, and the fairway is confined to 350 fathoms by sandbanks extending from both shores. Further upwards, to a distance of one league from the headland of Elaw, which projects from the west shore, and which may easily be known by a large cross there erected, the depth is but 4 to 24 fathoms. The distance from this headland to the town is above half a mile."

Having accomplished our purpose, we quitted the smoking city on the morning of the 24th, and succeeded in finding our way out of the Kola river without accident. Receiving information from a Russian of the whereabouts of two schooners, which were stowed away in creeks, waiting until our squadron should proceed home for the winter, to make for Archangel, we proceeded to dig them out, and after some intricate navigation, succeeded in capturing them the same evening, as well as four large lodji, all laden with fish, which they were daily collecting and salting down. We collected all our prizes together in a snug and most picturesque little bay, called Litscha, and commenced preparing the schooners for England, and transferring the cargoes of the lodji, which we destroyed, into them. On the 27th we left Litscha Bay with our prizes in tow, and after taking them clear of the land, despatched them to England, returning ourselves to examine some other creeks and harbours. Finding nothing but two lodji in them, which we destroyed, we began on the evening of the 28th to make the best of our way back to Cross Island, where we arrived and anchored, without anything worthy of notice, on the 1st of September. We found the English and French vessels there, and on the senior officer opening the despatches from England, which we had brought down with us, he found that they contained orders for the "Miranda" to proceed home. We accordingly coaled with all despatch, and left Cross Island on the evening of the 4th, exceedingly glad that we had seen the White Sea, and satisfied with our cruise, but still delighted to be recalled to take a share in the great undertakings now being carried on.

* On these hills, opposite to which the navigation is intricate and dangerous, two guns, properly placed, and a small body of musketry, could prevent any ship from proceeding up to Kola, and their position would also be almost impregnable to a landing party.

MAJOR MERRYMAN'S MISHAP.

BY DUDLEY COSTELLO.

No later than the month of December last, a very pleasant party was assembled in the Pavilion Hotel at Folkestone.

This, in itself, is no very extraordinary circumstance, for a more agreeable gîte is nowhere to be found in England; but there were one or two things in connexion with the réunion which made it pleasanter than the ordinary run of accidental gatherings.

It was not a wedding excursion (whatever might come of it), the number of persons who were thus congregated forbade that idea, newlymarried couples being for the most part fond of seclusion, though I have known some instances to the contrary: but then there were reasons. Neither was it a meeting of railway directors, collected very comfortably "to make things pleasant" to each other-at the expense, perhaps, of the shareholders; the sex being fairly represented put that also out of the question. Neither was it a Mormonite meeting, for, thank Heaven, Kent is not California, nor even Wales. It is scarcely worth while, however, to dwell upon what this assemblage was not, only the Ministerial practice of beating about the bush, instead of going at once to the point, has become so perniciously prevalent, that even I, who detest Ministerial practices in general, have been unwittingly drawn into the vortex, and experience some difficulty in the attempt to make myself intelligible. Yet, after all, as Mrs. Chick would say, "an effort" only is necessary, and any difficulty, weight, clog, hindrance, nightmare (Ministerial or otherwise), may be got rid of by a slight exercise of determination. So! now I will mention who the party consisted of, and why the persons who composed it found themselves sheltering within the same fold.

They were twenty in number, and the muster-roll ran as follows: Captain and Mrs. Fladgate; Mr. Wrottesley Jones; Lady Rubble and her two nieces, Miss Parsons and Miss Matilda Parsons; Messrs. Cadby, Roach, Stokes, and Sythers; Sir Michael O'Daisy; Mr. Andrew M'Quirk; Mr. and Mrs. Pepper Partridge; Lord MacSherry; Mrs. and Miss Blackadder; Mrs. Elton and her daughter Alice; and Major Matthew Merryman, who made up the score.

These were the dramatis persona, words which describe the relative positions of the greater number, a dramatic object being the link which bound them all together. Belonging to the same "set" in LondonTyburnia or Marylebone, it matters little which-they had "concluded,” as the Americans say, to pass the summer in each other's society, not having had enough of it during the winter season. Economy, however, went for something in the arrangement; but it was a splendid economy, with so much dazzle about it that simple folks only saw the shining part. Captain Fladgate, who was a man of brilliant expedients, though not overburdened with cash, had satisfied himself, after a careful consideration of the question, that there was a way of passing three or four months in a highly agreeable and fashionable manner without incurring (at least as far as he was concerned) any great expense. He mentioned the

subject to Mrs. Fladgate, a lady as shrewd as himself, and they set to work at once. His idea was this: to hire a spacious mansion in the country, if a nobleman's seat, so much the better,-there are always plenty to be had if you will pay the price,-with a park, or what auctioneers call "parklike grounds," in a picturesque locality, not too much out of the way nor too directly in it, with railway accommodation at hand, a decently lively neighbourhood (the most you can hope for in the rural districts), and one or two other items which may be imagined. Captain Fladgate could not, of course, afford to embark in this project on his own account; such an undertaking, he said, would fall too heavily on an individual; but he had no objection to manage a kind of jointstock fashionable company at so much per head, the money to be subscribed at starting. Aided by Mrs. Fladgate's able diplomacy, the notion took with the "set," the house and parklike grounds were hired, and-what was the only extraordinary part of the affair-everything went off admirably; a little occasional bickering amongst the ladies, and a few (moral) sparring-matches between the gentlemen, being merely matters of course which must develop themselves in every community. One untoward event happened, however. Captain Fladgate was out of pocket by the transaction. At least he said so, but he made the admission so cheerfully that I don't think he could have suffered much, because, if he had, it does not seem likely that he would have expressed the hope, when he wound up his accounts, that they "might all meet again in the same manner next year." Still, he might have been a very disinterested person; though that view of the case would not have struck every one who was acquainted with all his antecedents.

Be this as it may, Captain Fladgate was ready "to stand the racket" (the phrase was his own) at any time, for no other earthly reason than "just to see people happy about him;" and even before the autumnal break-up at Bumpstead Hall (that was the name of the country-houseit belonged to that haughty peer, Lord Bumpstead), he had secured the assent of all the directing minds of the party to another scheme of his.

"The Patriotic Fund, now!" he said. "It is the bounden duty of all ranks to do their best to increase it. I don't like putting my hand into people's pockets, like a tax-gatherer; the thing is offensive and disagreeable, and never answers. Nobody wants to see his name in the paper-only-but if you mix up a little amusement with your charity, why you accomplish your object far more effectually, and every one is pleased."

This was Captain Fladgate's proem, and the result was a mutual agreement to meet again in December, at the Pavilion Hotel (under his management, as before), and get up some privately public theatricals, tickets at so much, the profits to be devoted to the Patriotic Fund, or to any other useful purpose-there were plenty to be found-which Government had neglected.

When I said just now that "everything went off admirably" at Bumpstead Park, I included, of course, a variety of those little arrangements (called "flirtations" by some) which must inevitably take place in a mixed society of ladies and gentlemen, where several of the former are pretty and several of the latter young-though for the purpose of flirting it is not absolutely necessary that there should be youth or beauty on

either side. For instance, I once knew a lady who had such a tendency that way, that it would have been dangerous to leave her for five minutes alone in a ménagerie, particularly if it contained any monkeys; and, as regards the other sex, the number is "legion" of those bold adventurers, who would think nothing of paying their addresses to a female hyena, provided she had plenty of money.

But I pass over all the minor affairs, including the attentions paid to Lady Rubble by Lord MacSherry, an Irish nobleman, the bulk of whose fortune lay in a large pair of whiskers (which were dyed); the demonstration of Mr. Wrottesley Jones in favour of Mrs. Pepper Partridge, which perfectly shocked Miss Matilda Parsons; and the silent devotion of Mr. Sythers to Miss Blackadder, who took no notice of him, but rather encouraged Sir Michael O'Daisy, a Separatist-that is to say, a gentleman who didn't live with his wife. These affairs, I say, I pretermit, in order to make mention of a real "case," the respective parties being Miss Alice Elton and Major Matthew Merryman.

Alice Elton was a very charming girl of five-and-twenty, with as many personal and mental attractions as usually fall to the lot of most young ladies; she had a good fortune, too, in perspective, which did not diminish the interest she inspired. To describe her in one brief sentence, if the attempt be not an impertinence, I might say that the place she occupied in society was like that of a diamond in a cluster of precious stones, the best thing would have been wanting, had she been absent. So, at least, thought Major Matthew Merryman, who, notwithstanding his high military rank, was only five years older than Miss Elton, and in spite of his alliterative and rather absurd name, not altogether a fellow to be despised by any fair damsel whose affections were not engaged elsewhere. If there was anything in his appearance to which the sentimental might object, it was, perhaps, an undue development considering his age of emponpoint; but he carried it off so easily, his air was so dégagé, and his good-humour so untiring, that everybody laughed with instead of at him. He had excellent qualities of disposition, his cheerfulness never left him, he was always ready to promote the amusement or happiness of others, and (like Alice Elton) where he had been accustomed to frequent, a void was felt if he did not continue to make one of the company. One peculiarity, however, marked him, which only those who knew him well would have suspected: although nothing ever seemed to disturb his equanimity-and he was the constant promoter of every description of funhe was of a highly sensitive nature, and if by accident anything were said or done which he thought was likely to give pain or annoyance to anybody, he straightway became the most miserable person in existence, and a very long time elapsed before he was able to recover himself. Respecting his military position, it is only necessary to observe, that he held the rank of Major in the South Sussex Sharpshooters, a corps recently embodied, and willing to serve, not only at Malta or Corfu, butif need were on the snow-clad heights of the Crimea. At the period of which I am speaking, the "S. S. S." were doing duty at Brighton, and the gallant Major had obtained a fortnight's leave of absence to assist in Captain Fladgate's patriotic scheme, and profit by the opportunity it offered of being near the dame de ses pensées.

The relation in which they stood towards one another was not abso

lutely defined, though a sharp-sighted person, like Miss Matilda Parsons, could not be deceived by all the indications which she had taken care to observe, I need not say without the slightest desire on her part to give the Major's thoughts a different direction. That never for an instant entered into the mind of Miss Matilda Parsons. Why should it? Had she not plenty of admirers? Messieurs Cadby, Roach, and Stokes were ready to declare themselves at any moment, if she only gave them-or any one of them-the very least encouragement. Mr. Andrew M'Quirk, too, although a lawyer and a Scot, was not impracticable,-that she was certain of. And then there were many more whom she would not hint at, even to her inmost self; so that it was quite out of the question she should have any desire to become Mrs. Merryman. "Still," as she casually observed to Mrs. Blackadder, whom the world accused of being rather censorious, she thought it "a pity such a person as the Major should dance attendance so on Alice Elton, if she meant nothing by the encouragement she gave him;" a remark to which Mrs. Blackadder immediately and cordially assented.

You may infer from this that the condition of affairs between Miss Elton and Major Merryman was making progress towards a satisfactory dénouement, whenever the gallant sharpshooter's courage might be sufficiently screwed up to precipitate the much-longed-for, much-dreaded

event.

Under auspices, therefore, which, taken as a whole, were not more unfavourable to the harmonious execution of his plan than such things generally are, Captain Fladgate assembled his corps dramatique at the Pavilion Hotel.

Amateur acting is so very much the same sort of thing, wherever it may be attempted, that it is hardly worth while to attempt to describe the Fladgate Company. You have upon these occasions, one, two, orat most-three individuals in the troupe who, if they had devoted their whole lives to the profession, might have passed muster on the legitimate boards: for the rest, the word "Stick" is sufficiently descriptive of their merits generally, though the wooden property is more conspicuous in some than in others. The most natural actor of the present party was, incontestably, Major Merryman; Mr. Pepper Partridge possessed a certain smack of stage capability; Mr. Andrew M'Quirk had a hard, dry sort of humour, and was gifted with presence of mind; Sir Michael O'Daisy's chief merit was a brogue, which is always useful; and Mr. Wrottesley Jones was celebrated-he thought-for a fine stage figure; Lord MacSherry professed himself "no actor," but was willing to do anything, which, of course, ended in his doing nothing; and Messrs. Cadby, Roach, Stokes, and Sythers never spoke a sentence that did not entitle them to an ovation-of orange-peel! As to Captain Fladgate, the promoter of the entertainment, his duties were chiefly behind the scenes; but Mrs. Fladgate, on or off the stage, was a first-rate actress: this was not surprising, as it was whispered by Mrs. Blackadder, "who couldn't account for it in any other way," that, "at one period of her life, Mrs. Fladgate had belonged to the profession." Mrs. Pepper Partridge had some tolerably comic notions to which she was able to give expres sion, and the younger ladies made up in youth and good looks for what might be wanting in dramatic power. With the unfailing instinct of