Here is a specimen of the _slip-slop_ with which so many thousand reams of paper have lately been spoiled. "Tea was announced, and the ladies adjourned to the saloon; Lady Harriet and Lady Charlotte, discussing, as they went in together, the difficult question, whether it was or was not an improvement in modern arrangements to have tea _en-buffet_. One of its advantages the ladies were perfectly aware of, namely, that it afforded a _point de reunir_, for both beaux and belles, which is always so much wanted before the music begins; and calculating on this important circumstance, Lady Charlotte possessed herself of the chair which was the most accessible of the whole group. Miss Mortimer, with equal foresight, stationed herself at the fire:--"Good generalship," whispered Lady Hauteville to the duchess, as the two experienced matrons communicated together _sur les petites ruses_, which the actors fancied were unperceived, &c." Dr. Walsh, in his _Journey from Constantinople_, describes a species of woodpecker, about the size of a thrush, of a light, blue colour, with black marks beside the bill. "It entered my room," says he, "with all the familiarity of an old friend, hopped on the table, and picked up the crumbs and flies. It had belonged to the doctor's child, just buried, and by a singular instinct, left the house of the dead, and flew into my room. Its habits were curious, and so familiar, that they were quite attractive; it climbed up the wall by any stick or cord near it, devouring flies. It sometimes began at my foot, and at one race, ran up my leg, arm, round my neck, down my other arm, and so to the table. It there tapped with its bill with a noise as loud as a hammer. This was its general habit on the wood in every part of the room; when it did so, it would look intently at the place, and dart at any fly or insect it saw running. Writers on Natural History say it makes this noise to disturb the insects concealed within, so to seize them when they appear." At Brussels apartments are not to be procured for a shorter term than six months. In the prison at Ghent, spirits are sold, but pens and paper cannot be obtained without a special application to the governor. Mr. Brande, in his recent Lecture on Vegetable Chemistry, says, "Salt has been very much extolled for a manure; I believe that a great deal more has been said of it than it deserves; it certainly destroys insects, but I do not believe what has been said of its value. We are not to infer that because a manure is found to be useful on one soil in a certain climate, that it shall prove equally useful in others; experience must direct us in this particular." STROLLING SCHOOLS.