* * * * * ANCESTRY. It may not be generally known that there is a small town in France which no one can enter without interest, from the consideration that Demetrius Commene once lived there, a man boasting a pedigree that traced him from the line of the Roman emperor Trajan. He was living in the time of Voltaire, and was a captain in the French army. His pedigree was the noblest of any man then living, or that has since lived, for he had twenty-six kings for his ancestors, and eighteen emperors. Of these, six were emperors of Constantinople, ten of Trebizond, and two of Heracleus Pontus; eighteen kings of Colchi, and eight of Lazi. RAMBLER. * * * * * A LITERARY KISS. Alian Chartier was esteemed the father of French eloquence; he spoke as well as he wrote. He flourished about the year 1430. Margaret of Scotland, first wife to the dauphin, afterwards Louis XI, as she passed through the Louvre, observed Alian asleep, and went and kissed him. When her attendants expressed their surprise that she should thus distinguish a man remarkable for his ugliness, she replied--"I do not kiss the man, but the mouth that has uttered so many charming things." P.T.W. * * * * * EPITAPH ON A WATCHMAKER, _Copied from a Tombstone in Lidford Churchyard, Devon_. Here lies, in Horizontal position, The outside case of George Routleigh, Watchmaker, Whose abilities in that line were an honour To his profession; Integrity was the main-Spring, And Prudence the Regulator Of all the actions of his life; Humane, generous, and liberal, His Hand never stopped Till he had relieved distress; Sincerely regulated were all his movements, That he never went wrong, Except when Set a-going By people Who did did not know His Key; Even then, he was easily Set right again: He had the art of disposing his Time So well, That his Hours glided away In one continual round Of Pleasure and Delight, Till an unlucky Moment put a period to His existence; He departed this Life November 14, 1802, Aged 57, Wound up, In hopes of being taken in Hand By his Maker, And of being Thoroughly cleaned, repaired, and set a-going In the world to come. --TIM. * * * * * ANNUAL OF SCIENCE. On March 31, will be published, price 5s. ARCANA of SCIENCE, and ANNUAL REGISTER of the USEFUL ARTS for 1831.