rebuilt on others without solidity or system. To introduce order or add solidity to so ill-constructed a fabric, was impossible; Richelieu found it necessary to raze all at once to the ground, except the central donjon of despotism, which he left standing. Had Richelieu, with all his genius and sagacity, undertaken for liberty what he achieved for royalty, his age would have rejected or misunderstood him, as it did Bacon and Galileo. He might, indeed, as a man of letters, have consigned such a political dream to the volume of an Utopia, but from action or administration he would have been soon discarded as a dreamer. Liberty must come of the claim of the mass; of the general enlightenment, firmness, and probity. It is no great physical secret, which a single brain, finding, may announce and so establish: it is a moral truth, which, like a gem, hides its ray and its preciousness in obscurity, nor becomes refulgent till all around it is beaming with light.--_Cabinet Cyclopaedia--History of France._ * * * * * THE GATHERER. A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. SHAKSPEARE. * * * * * From what town in England does all the butter come in the London market?--Cowes. Which is the closest town in Ireland, and is the best when drawn?--Cork. _A Dirty Member._--A member of a certain house was noticed the other night to be very dirty in his appearance, which a wit accounted for by saying he supposed the gentleman had been assisting the Chancellor of the Exchequer in taking the duty off coals!--_From "the Age."_ * * * * * LUXURY Was once restricted by an English law, wherein the prelates and nobility were confined to two courses at every meal, and two kinds of food in every course, except on great festivals: it also prohibited all who did not enjoy a free estate of £100. per annum, from wearing furs, skins, or silk, and the use of foreign cloth was confined to the royal family alone, to all others it was prohibited, 1337. In 1340, an edict was issued by Charles VI. of France, which says, "Let no one presume to treat with more than a soup and two dishes." T. GILL. * * * * * KNAVE Formerly signified valet or servant as appears from Wickliffe's New Testament, kept in Westminster Library, and where we read--"_Paul the knave of Jesus Christ_." Hence the introduction of the knave in the pack of cards. * * * * * STEEL THREE HUNDRED TIMES DEARER THAN GOLD. Steel may be made three hundred times dearer than standard gold, weight for weight; six steel wire pendulums, weight one grain, to the artists 7s. 6d. each, 2l. 5s.; one grain of gold only 2d. T. GILL. * * * * * SCRAPS.