the governorship of the infant King put into his hands. In the first arrangements of the Queen and Court, due honour had not been paid him; and artfully expressing his mortification in the shape of a request to be permitted to return to Rome, Queen Anne, unwilling to send away the Nuncio, and giving credit to a declaration of fidelity to her interests, which he had taken care she should hear, soothed him by an offer of the power he desired. In compensation for the gift, he promoted her appointment, by the Parliament, to the Regency of France. Two objects now occupied his care,-to make the most of his position for the extraction of gold from the pockets of the French by excessive taxation, and to manage the schooling of the child Louis XIV. in such a manner that he might know nothing of the history of the country which it would one day be his duty to govern, and as little as possible of the actual state of its affairs. But the preceptor and the valet de chambre, no lovers of the Cardinal, read the history of Mezeray to the child every night, encouraged his curiosity, and frustrated every contrary effort of Mazarini by filling his mind with such information as they thought would eventually be needed by their Sovereign. Early discovering this, the Governor surrounded his charge with spies, took away his books, and substituted demoralising amusements for education; but young Louis was not suffered to be ignorant of the reason that actuated his master, and the master of his kingdom. He therefore slily called Mazarini “Grand Turk ;" persisted in questioning him in Council, and on every occasion; would not be debarred of knowledge; and by that energy of character which might have made a good King, but really made a terrible oppressor,-of which the revocation of the edict of Nantes is evidence, he rose above the nefarious dishonesty of his guardian. When the spirit of a rapidly-advancing youth could no longer brook such treatment, he demanded provision suitable to his royal station, repelled with a just disdain the artificial poverty that had been resorted to to make him appear despicable to his subjects, and showed the Prince of the Church that his blinding and repressive policy would not any longer be endured. that liberty and education are conducive to the extension of life; and some of the facts which he quotes in support of his theory are of great interest. He begins by quoting the authority of Bouvard in his Notice sur la Vie Humaine in the French colonies from 1831 to 1834. The free population at that period is given as 111,046, the births as 3,026, and the deaths as 3,090. The slave-population he sets down at 260,286, the births, 5,765, and the deaths, 7,214: thus showing that, although the proportion of deaths was nearly alike, this must be accounted for by the circumstance of climate, which would necessarily affect a large portion of the free population, being European, to a greater degree than the slaves, who were all natives; while the superiority of births among the free population indicates the influence of liberty in the increase of the population. As regards the mortality, however, M. Bertillon shows from the tables that have been published, that in the English colonies, before the emancipation, one Negro slave in five or six died; while of the free blacks, who served in the English army, the deaths were only one in thirty-three. He adds that in the French colonies in 1847, the births in the free population always exceeded the deaths, and among the slaves the deaths always exceeded the births. The author then proceeds at great length to notice the mortality in prisons, and draws from the tables which have been published conclusions strongly in favour of his theory. It should be remembered, however, that these tables were made up from returns at a period when the hygienic regime of prisons was very inferior to what it is now; and, although it may be true that the deprivation of liberty may contribute to shorten life, the great mortality in prisons of which he speaks may be attributed to other causes than the effect upon the physical condition of the prisoners arising from a sense of degradation, and other mental sources. To this part of the article, therefore, we are not disposed to attach the importance assigned by the author; neither do we accept as positive all that he says of the mortality in the army. His figures, indeed, show a large proportion of deaths. He says, "Men who are no longer free, who live in an absolute and forced communism, who pass their lives in a narrow subjection, although the chosen part of the population, are more exposed to mortality than freemen." And then he quotes returns, which show a much higher degree of mortality in the army than among civilians. But does it follow necessarily that this difference is caused by the absence of liberty? We know nothing to indicate that the restrictions to which the soldier is subjected are of a nature to shorten life, either as regards the influence of subjection upon his mind or his physical treatment. The most interesting part of the article in the Presse is that in which the writer treats of the influence of education upon mortality. The statistical information that he gives on this point is exceedingly curious; and we agree with him when he attributes the decline in the state of mortality to the higher degreee of education in the people. As the mind is expanded by education, habits and prejudices which are opposed to cleanliness disappear, and the hygienic ameliorations which we owe to modern science are eagerly adopted. A stronger illustration of this truth cannot be given, than the progress that vaccination has made in those parts of France where education is most general. Cleanliness, which is so conducive to health, is also, in a high degree, the consequence of education; for educated persons become necessarily a higher order of beings, and acquire habits which are opposed to the filth and the promiscuous intercourse of the uneducated. The author gives us a proof of the effect of ignorance on mortality in a table, by which he shows that in the Côtes-du-Nord, where 702 persons out of 1,000 can neither read nor write, the average duration of human life is only 31 years; in the Finistère, where the proportion is nearly the same, the average of life is only 27 years; in La Vendée, where the number of persons in every 1,000 who can neither read nor write is 621, the average duration of life is only 32 years: whereas, in the Calvados, where the number who can neither read nor write is only 246 in 1,000, the average of life is 49 years; and in the Manche, where the number of totally uneducated is 255 in 1,000, the average of life is 42 years. The nine departments in which the average of duration of life is the lowest, namely, 30 years, are the Finistère, Corrèze, Cher, Haute-Vienne, Puy-de-Dôme, Dordogne, Côtes-duNord, Allier, and Indre; and in these departments the average number of persons in 1,000 who cannot read or write is 752. The departments in which education is most general, there being only 145 persons in 1,000 who cannot read, are the Jura, Haute-Marne, Meuse, Doubs, Haute-Saône, Vosges, Meurthe, Côte-d'Or, Ardennes, Aube, and Moselle; and in these departments the average duration of life is 36 years. THINGS AND WORDS. THE following is said to have been written by Luther on the wall of his chamber with chalk : Res et verba, Philippus; res sine verbis, Lutherus; verba sine re, Erasmus; nec res, nec verba, Carolostadius. Philip Melancthon has both matter and eloquence. Luther has matter without eloquence. Erasmus has eloquence without matter. And Carolostadt has neither matter nor eloquence." VARIETIES. PERSECUTION AT FLORENCE. (From a Correspondent of "The Times."-By letters received from Florence it appears that on the 7th instant the Court of Cassation reject ed the appeal for a reversal of the sentence pronounced against the Madiai. It is generally supposed that this has been obtained in consequence of the urgent demands of the Government, and with the view of inspiring a wholesome fear in the public mind by an example of terrible severity. By the sentence now confirmed, Madame Madiai will be subjected to forty-five months' hard labour at the galleys, and her husband to fifty-six months', besides having to defray the whole expense of the trial; and it will be remembered that their sole crime has been the abandonment of the communion of the Romish Church, and, according to the literal terms of the sentence, "for following the pure Gospel" (puro Evangelo). To this add, from a Correspondent of the "Christian Times" who writes from Tuscany, that "the Grand Duke, when a petition was presented to him on their behalf, peremptorily rejected it, saying it was a matter of conscience with him, and justice must have its course." PERSECUTION IN FRANCE.-The Gazette de France states that the Bishop of Luçon had refused to authorise the singing of a Te Deum on the birthday of Napoleon, unless the body of a Protestant, who had been interred by order of the Mayor in the Catholic cemetery, should be removed therefrom. The Prelate notified his resolution in the following terms: "The diocese is plunged into affliction in consequence of the non-execution of the orders of the Minister of Public Worship with regard to the Cemetery of Cugand. Canticles of thanksgiving would be unbecoming under such deplorable circumstances, and His Grandeur has informed the Government, that he would not order THE following is a decree published by the Prefect of the Aisne : a Te Deum to be chanted on the 15th | part of his kingdom. The official proAugust unless that evil had ceased." clamation says: "The English and Americans who reside in the kingdom of Siam are allowed to enjoy greater privileges than formerly. They are allowed to travel to and fro in the kingdom wherever they please. They are permitted to follow the dictates of their own consciences in religious observances; to erect chapels and cemeteries according to their wishes; and in all respects they are allowed unreserved freedom, so long as they do not infringe upon the customs and laws of the country." "LAON, August 21. "We, Prefect of the Department of the Aisne, having seen the report of the gendarmerie of Bohain, from which it appears that on the 11th of this month a numerous meeting took place in the commune of Fresnoy-leGrand, in the Protestant school-house, and before the door of that house, with the apparent object of hearing religious lectures and sermons, and having examined the 291st article of the Penal Code, considering that meetings of the nature of that in question may lead to a violation of public order, have decreed, and decree, as follows: -Article 1. All religious meetings which shall be held without permission in any place but that allocated for public worship are formally forbidden in the arrondissement of St. Quentin, and particularly in the commune of Fresnoy-le-Grand. Article 2. The Sub-Prefect of St. Quentin is charged with the execution of the present decree. "Viscount de BEAUMONT VASSY." TOLERATION IN SIAM.-The King of Siam has allowed free toleration to all religions, and also permits free access by the Missionaries to every NEW PLANET.-Mr. Hind has an. nounced the discovery of another new planet. The newly-found planet, to use the words of Mr. Hind, "shines as a fine star of between the eighth and ninth magnitudes, and has a very steady yellow light. At moments it appeared to have a disc, but the night of its discovery was not sufficiently favourable for high magnifiers. At 13h. 13m. 16s. mean time, its right ascension was 18h. 12m. 58 8s., and its north polar distance 98° 16/ 0 9/1. The diurnal motion in R. A. is about Im 2s. towards the west, and in N. P. D. two or three minutes towards the south." Mr Hind is now the great discoverer of planets; and were it the fashion to confer fortune-names, he would infallibly be known as "the Star-Finder." POETRY. NATURE. O, WHO has gazed on evening sky, |