deprive you of your life, yet, sir, permit me to assure you, that I am equally thankful to the Almighty Being, for mercifully bestowing on me sufficient resolution, if attacked, to defend my own." It had the effect; it brought the madman back again to reason, friends intervened, and the affair was compromised. THE manner of duelling in Japan is singular, and, to our European prejudices, may appear absurd and barbarous but the philosophical observer will, perhaps, consider it as rational as an appeal to the sword or the pistol. When two men of honour quarrel in that country, the party who conceives himself injured, rips up his own entrails with a large knife, and presenting the instrument to his adversary, invites him to follow his example. No Japanese gentleman can decline such an invitation; for if he does not instantly plunge the knife into his own bowels, he is dishonoured for life, (Davy's "Ceylon.") On the wall of the Parthenon at Athens, beneath a variety of names, are inscribed the following lines: "Fair Albion, smiling, sees her son deTo trace the birth and nursery of Art; part Noble his object, glorious is his name, He comes to Athens, and he writeshis name." UNDER this, Lord Byron wrote the following Epigram, during his stay at Athens, in 1810: "This modest bard, like many a bard unknown, Rhymes on our names, but wisely hides his own; But, yet, whoe'er he be, to say no worse, His name would sound much better than his verse." to MATRIMONY. [The contemplated repeal of the late Marriage-Suspension-Act seems have given a fresh stimulus to bachelors' longings after matrimony, for numberless are the communications which the article inserted under this head in our last has called forth, all of which we shall carefully forward to their destination, and faithfully report the result. In the mean time, without intending to damp those expectations of wedded bliss which the young lady doubtless indulges, we insert the fol of an amiable widow of our acquain lowing lines at the particular request tance.] TO MISS A. B. WHEN on these lines you turn your gaze, No, fair one! I'm a matron grave, In courtship we are all divine, And vows and pray'rs pursue us, Darts, flames, and tears,adorn our shrine, And artfully men woo us. But, marriage lets the vizard fall, Then cease they to adore us; The goddess sinks to housewife Moll, And they reign tyrants o'er us. Then let no man impression make Lead apes in hell there's no such Those tales are made to fool us; Yet there we'd better hold a string, Than here let monkeys rule us. HENRIETTA. Ar the siege of Turin, by the French army in 1640, a serjeant in the Piedmontese guards gave this singular instance of patriotism. He was on duty with a few soldiers, at the under-works of the citadel; a mine was filled, there wanted but a saucisse, in order to blow up several grenadier-companies, who had rendered themselves masters of the work, and made a lodgment on it. The loss of this work would have hastened the surrender of the place. This serjeant, with resolution, ordered the men he commanded to retreat; enjoined them to beseech, in his name, ROLANDO. In marble walls, as white as milk, No doors there are to this strong hold, Two sisters on one day were born, True as a sailor to his lass, Yet words between them often pass. SOLUTIONS TO ARTICLES IN NO. I. OF THE SPHINX. THE LOVER'S ADDRESS.-" Oh! you have two eyes beyond comparison." FIRST AND SECOND CHARADEs,"Blunderbuss." FIRST ENIGMA,- -"The apparent contradiction arises from a quibble be-s Correct Solutions to several of the above have been forwarded by S. B., A., J. W., F. B, and E. S. C. The latter gentleman thus solves the first Enigma: Most certainly mortals are given to BLUNDER,' And a Buss from the fair is unwelcome to few': When both are united, without any won- The various communications we have received for the SPHINX shall be duly attended to. The Wit's Nunchian. A BAR ONET, a great amateur of the' His Grace the Duke of Wellington, during the last Peninsular campaign, is said to have highly praised a regiment of cavalry. which he had at that moment ordered to a service of the utmost danger. ""Advance, colonel," cried his lordship, and cut off the guns of the enemy, which are now dealing such destruction among our infantry: charge with that noble regiment, the first in the world!" "I will, general," replied the colonel, advancing; and before the enterprize is accomplished, I have no doubt of their being the FIRST in the NEXT!" THE beautiful and accomplished Miss B. on being uncourteously and rudely urged to dance, by an officer in the Guards, very neatly remarked, that the ladies, as well as the country, had seriously to deplore the state of the times, which was not civil, but military! VERRES being accused of having plundered the provinces under his administration, sent to the orator Hortensius an ivory Sphinx, a very precious piece of sculpture. Cicero, in his pleading, having said somewhat mysterious against the conduct of Hortensius, the latter answered him, that he did not know how to explain enigmas: upon which Cicero immediately replied, "You have the Sphinx at home." A RICH farmer of Devonshire made a will, in which the following article was found:-"I bequeath to John Wilkes, late member of Parliament for Aylesbury, five thousand pounds sterling, as a grateful return for the courage with which he defended the liberty of his country, and opposed the dangerous progress of arbitrary power." TO CORRESPONDENTS. from Alvar, S T. F., Abbastanza, Timon, Communications have been received C. P., Justus, Amicus, J. P... Curiosus, H. O. and Sewell, J. S. and George protest against our "Ghost-Stories," whilst Reuben, H. S-t, and several other correspondents call for à continuation of them. We suppose we must bow to the wishes of the majority. In future we shall seldom be without a Cut. All our deficient numbers are reprinting. Several promised articles shall appear in No. 19. Printed and Published by T WALL 18, Camden Town; and Sold by all Booksellers and Newsmen, in Town and Country Price One l'euny Published also by Fairburn, Broad way, Ludgatê lill OR, LE yowajubingORACLE OF KNOWLEDGE. zod sup bits t THE PALACE, AT BRIGHTON. SOME recent Parliamentary Discussions having directed the public attention to this remarkable edifice, we have been induced to present our readers with a view of it. the negociations extremely protracted and tedious. The town of Brighton has long been peculiarly distinguished by marks of his majesty's favour, and on the site of the present palace he caused to be erected in 1784 a simple unostentatious building, which was called the Marine Pavilion, and inhabited by him during his occasional visits to the sea coast. It was, however, rather adapted for the pleasant retreat of a private gentleman, than for the Court of a Sovereign, and therefore plans for its extension have been gradually developing for some years past; but as it stands amongst buildings in the very heart of Brighton, where ground is particularly valuable, vast sums were unavoidably expended in procuring the necessary space, and the obstinacy of some of the proprietors of tenements rendered Most of these difficulties, however, having at length been overcome, the present building was commenced early in the year 1817; and though the design is not even yet completed, the appearance of the exterior is extremely grand and striking. It will be seen that the style is Oriental; and the first view of the fabric reminds the spectator of the fairy palaces of Hindostan, or the Moorish structures in Spain, particularly the Alhambra, near Granada. Through a mistaken idea that it is a copy of the Kremlin at Moscow, it is very frequently named after that edifice. The principal front, with the wings, will occupy about 200 yards: the pinnacles of the highest domes are from 90 to 100 feet high. The whole expense of the alterations, &c., it is supposed, will not fall far short of one million. The walls are brick, covered with mastic; and the U cupolas and minarets are iron. The premises altogether consist of about seven acres. The interior is thus disposed:-At the southern extremity is the Royal Banquetting Room, a miagnificent apartment, 60 feet long, and 42 wide, surmounted by a dome, painted to represent a sky. The decorations are most splendid, and the mode of lighting has a magical effect. The ornaments are in the Chinese style, and some jars of blue porcelain, of the manufacture of Staffordshire, are said to excel in richness, brillianey, and elegance, every thing of the kind that has been witnessed. The rich carpet, too, is of native produce, having been made at Axminster. The centre of the palace contains three grand draw. ing-rooms; and at the northern end is the Music Saloon, in which his Majesty, who is himself a very scientific performer, frequently enjoys vocal and instrumental concerts of the finest deseription. The decorations of these apartments are every thing that the arts of painting, gilding, carving, and sculpture, could render them by their combined efforts. The stables attached to the Palace were built in 1805, upon a remarkably grand scale, containing superb stalls for 68 horses, within a circular area, surmounted by a dome of nearly 100 feet diameter (only 20 feet less than the span of that of St. Paul's), which forms a conspicuous object. The expense was 200,0001. The residence of Royalty at Brighton has been of essential service to the town, which, fifty years ago, was a comparatively obscure and paltry place. In the second edition of Brookes's Gazetteer," printed in 1766, it is thus slightingly and concisely described:"An indifferent town, ill-built, and inhabited chiefly by fishermen." It now ranks amongst the largest in the kingdom. The houses, upon an average, have increased 150 annually. In 1801, the number of residents was 7339; in 1810, it was 12012, and the recent Population Return exhibits a corresponding increase. During the height of the season, the population is sometimes doubled by the immense influx of visiters, for whose accommo dation between twenty and thirty stagecoaches leave and enter Brighton every day. The distance from London was formerly computed to be 56 miles, but by turning the road at various places, and making several short cuts, it has been reduced to little more than 50. " We close this article with Cobbett's burlesque description of the Palace, which that singular writer inserted in bis "Register" of January 19, 1822. "The Kremlin, the very name of which has so long been a subject of laughter all over the country, lies in the gorge of the valley, and amongst the old houses of the town. The grounds, which cannot, I think, exceed a couple or three acres, are surrounded by a wall neither lofty nor good-looking. Above this rise some trees, bad in sorts, stunted in growth, and dirty with smoke. As to the "Palace," as the Brighton newspapers call it, the apartments appear to be all upon the ground-floor; and, when you see the thing from a distance, you think you see a parcel of cradle-spits, of various dimensions, sticking up out of the mouths of so many enormous squat decanters. Take a square box, the sides of which are three feet and a half, and the height a foot and a half. Take a large Norfolk turnip, cut off the green of the leaves, leave the stalks 9 inches long, tie these round with a string 3 inches from the top, and put the turnip on the middle of the top of the box. Then take 4 turnips of halfthe size, treat them in the same way, and put them on the corners of the box. Then take a considerable number of buibs of the crown-imperial, the narcissus, the hyacinth, the tulip, the crocus, and others; let the leaves of each have sprouted to about an inch, more or less according to the size of the bulb; put all these, pretty promiscuously, but pretty thickly, on the top of the box. Then stand off and look at your architecture. There! That's " a Kremlin!" MARVELLOUS TALES. THE three following old women's stories are copied from an evening paper of the year 1805:-"A few months |