MISCELLANEOUS.

Review or the Pensioners in Hyde Park. — A review of the Pensioners took place yesterday (Friday) morning, in Hyde Park, in order that medals might be presented to a great many of the Peninsular veterans. About 2000 of the veterans entered the park aboct ten o'clock. At half-past tea the Duke of Wellington, who was in plain clothes, left Apsley House, accompanied by the Marchioness of Douro, who, with other ladies, were in a carriage. The noble Duke, upon entering Hyde-park gate, was joined by General Lord Hardinge, Colonel Anson, Captain Fitzroy, and other officers ; and during the review be was joined by Marshal the Marquis of Anglesea, his Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, the Right Hon. Fox Maule, Secretary at War, and. several military officers. We also saw on the ground the Right Hon. 3VT r. Sidney Herbert, late Secretary at War, When the men had v marched several times round the ground, they performed various evolutions ; after which the medals were distributed by the Commander-in-Cbief and the Secretary at War ; and many an old and feeble veteran, as he placed the honorary distinction upon his breast, felt something of the ardour and vigour which animated him in many a well fought field. After the distribution of the medals, three cheers for the Queen were given by the veterans, who immediately marched off the ground, preceded by the Prince, the Duke, and other distinguished personages. From the fineness of the weather, there was an immense concourse of persons on the ground. — June 2. In the Court of Queen's Bench, sentence had been passed on Captain Charretie, for the offence of which he was lately convicted — that of selling an East Indian cadetship. He was found guilty on two counts. On the first be was sentenced to be imprisoned one year in the Queen's Prison, and on the second count to be imprisoned for the same year ; and in addition he is to pay £800 to the Queen, and be imprisoned so long as he does not pay it. He is to be placed among misdemeanants of tb,e first class. The venerable Dupont de l'Eure died on Thursday night, May 3, of a rapid disease resembling cholera.

Racing Cups. — Three superb silver, cups, modelled by Mr. Cotterill, are exhibited at the shop of Mr. Gerrard. The first is the Emperor of Russia's Ascot Vase, representing the fate of Hippolytus, in which the sea monsters are twined about the stem so as to produce a most ingenious variety of aspect,

and the dropping of the water from the mouth of the cup is introduced so as to give a marine character to the whole. The second is the Queen's Ascot Cup, representing a spirited fight between a Spanish picador and a bull. The third is the Goodwood Cup, representing a chase of the bison by North American Indians. The difference of these cups, boih in subject and in style, and the animation which is common to all, prove great versatility in the modeller.

Gkand Ball at the Turkish Embassy. — The Turkish Embassy was on Monday evening the scene of very magnificent festivities, his Excellency Mehmed Pasha, the newly accredited Ambassador from the Ottoman Porte, having first entertained her Majesty's Ministers at a grand banquet, aud subsequently opened his saloons for the reception of about 600 leading members of the aristocracy. The novelty of a ball under a Mussulman's roof naturally excited very considerable interest in the fashionable world, and since the first announcement of his Excellency's intention the projected festivities formed a fruitful subject of aristocratic gossip. Every one was, of course, anxious to be present ; •and there is some reason to fear that the comparatively small size of the residence of the Embassy may have occasioned some disappointment by rendering it absolutely necessary to limit the number of invitations. The ball, however, which took place on Monday night is only the first of a series which it is his Excellency's intention to give during the present season. The entrance-hall and staircase, as well as all the corridors of the mansion, weje festooned with red and white drapery, and over the door of the reception saloon was suspended the Turkish national flag. Another great feature in the internal arrangements of the mansion was the " divan," a somewhat small, but very beautiful apartment, communicating with the dining-room, partaking in its general character of the form of a tent. This apartment presented a scene of almost Eastern magnificence. The walls were covered with splendid mirrors, and hung with " hookahs" of the most superb description, the mouthpieces being studded with diamonds and rich precious storifs. On one side a portrait of the present Sultan was suspended, and on the opposite side the monogram of the Sultan, beautifully emblazoned, was displayed I in a handsome frame festooned with the national colours. Around the apartments were ottomans of the richest description, and in the centre a very beautiful fountain. The banquet was originally intended to have included all the Cabinet ministers, but unfortunately the members of the Upper House were prevented from attending in consequence of the debate on the Navigation Laws. His Excellency was, bowevsr, honoured with the presence of the First Lord of the Treasury and several other ministers, the party including Lord John Russell, Viscount Palmerston, the Marquis of Breadalbane, Sir Francis Baring, Sir John Cam Hobhouss, Mr Labouchere, and Mr. Addington. Cobouly Effendi, first Secretary to the Embassy ; Sadik Bey, second Secretary ; M. Zohrab, first attachi; Zaber Effendi, second attache ; and Captain John Ford, of the Ottoman navy, had the honour of joining the party. The dinner was magnificently served, and at its conclusion the guests retired with their host to the divan, where tea and coffee were served, and pipes offered to the company. Half-an-hour having been passed very agreeably in this beautiful apartment, his Excellency conducted his guests to the drawing room, where they had scarcely arrived when the company invited to the ball began to sit down. His Excellency did the honours of the reception himself. — May 26. "In the church of Santa Maria Novella of Florence, when we were looking for the greatest picture of Cimabue, people came flocking in, the silver bell rang, and mass commenced in two or three parts of the church. Not to offend any religious feeling, we gave up our search, and walked out into the nearest of the several cloistered squares of the monastery. But we -had. been there a very few seconds ere we were startled by a loud rattle of drums, which must have been nearly as audible to those who remained at the mass as to us, for a side door of the church was wide open, ami so were some of the windows. One of ihe Dominican monks passed hurriedly through the cloisters. We asked what that noise meant, but he Mas gloomy and taciturn, and would give us no answer. The tinkle of the mass bell was heard upon one side and the loud drumming on the other. We walked out of those cloisters and through a long passage and other cloisters (where some of the monks were chanting the offices), and came upon a more spacious quadrangle, on the four sides of which were other cloisters, and over the cloisters the cells of the monks. In the open space there *were between fifty and sixty " hopes of the country" learning to march to the sound of the drum. The greater part of these hopefuls were mere children, but they had two solemnly bearded men acting as in-

structors, and they had two of the most strenuous and loudest of drummers. The exercise consisted solely in marching or moving and trying to keep step, the last being something which very few of the little urchins could do at all, having never practised their " goose-step." Formation*, or even a plain single line, were out of the question : yet this child's play was the only species of military exercise we ever witnessed among the citizen soldiers. One would have thought that they might have played at soldiers elsewhere and at a diffeient time from, that of mass and on a Sabbath morning. One would have fancied that they would have been altogether ashamed of such a caricature of the art military, but such exhi 1 itions were warmly promoted by the patriots, and the journalists quoted them as knock down proof's of the martial ardour which was pervading the Tuscan people. In the midst of the area round which these "little boys were moving, there was a. fine statue of II Beato Giovanni, or John the Beatified, the founder of the bouse, whose arm was outstretched as if in the act of preaching. That solemn figure and outstretched arm seemed to reproach the authors of this profanation, and to warn back the childish actors in it. But rat-a-tat-tat went the drums, and away went the urchins treading on one another's heels and laughing. A sombre old Dominican, in his white robe and cowl, came down from his cell, probably being unable to bear the noise and clatter auy longer. As he passed us in the cloisters we spoke to him, but he scarcely made a reply, and glided on and vanished. There came down another monk, but he was still more surly or discomposed. In the Spezzieria or Farmacia, a very important anil widely famed part of this ancient monastic establishment, we found two of the Dominicans who were somewhat less desperate or more self-possessed. " This," said I, "is a strange place to choose for thosa exerotHes." — " Ah," said one of the friars, " you see to what we an 1 this ancient and holy house are reduced ! But these are strange times." We asked whether, among all the many piazze and other open places in Florence, they could not find some more suitable place for exercising ? " They could find plenty," said the monk, " but they like better to disturb us! They give a preference to our cloisters and j courts— they do as they like— this is an awful sign of the times !" — " And ours is not the only quiet monastery that is thus invaded," said the other monk ; "every Sunday morning several religious houses in the city are subject to the same annoyance — the same profanaiion ! Dove vajinirei Chi lo sal" — M'Farlane's Revolutionized Italy.

The Originals of the Raven inßarnaby Rtjdge. — Dickens in his new issue of Barnaby Ruiige thus describes the originals of the Raven, a very important and surprising actor among the " characters." " The raven (he says) in this story is a compound of two great originals, of whom 1 have been, at different times, the proud possessor. The first was in the bloom of his youth, when be was discovered in a modest retirement in London, by a friend of mine, and given to me. He had from the first, as Sir Hugh Evans said of Anne Page, 'good gifts,' which he improved by study and atten1 iion in a most exemplary manner. He slept in a stable — generally on horseback, — and so terrified a Newfoundland dog by his prei^rnatural sagacity, that he has been known, by the mere superiority of his genius, to walk off unmolested with the dog's dinner, from before his face. He was rapidly rising in acquirements and virtues, when, in an evil hour, his stable was newly pointed. He observed the workmen closely, >aw that they were careful of the pauu, and immediately burned to ( possess it. Ou their going to dinner he atp ii]> ill they hid left heiiind them, consisting of a pound or two of w bite lead ; and this youthful indiscretion rermin-tred in death. While I was yet inconsolable for his loss, another friend of mine in Yorkshire discovered an older and more t>i('ted aveii at a village pub-lic-house, which he prevailed upon the landlord to part with, lor a consideration, and sent up to me. The first act of this sage was, to administer to the effects of his predecessor, by disinterring all the cheese and half-pence, he had buried in the garden — a work of immense labour and research, to which he devoted all the energies of his mind. When he had achieved this task, he applied himself to the acquisition of stable language, in which he soon became such an adept, that he would perch outside my window and' drive imaginary horses with great skill, all day. Perhaps even I nevet saw him at his best, for his former master sent his duty with him, ' and if I wished the bud to come out very strong, would I be so good as show him a drunken man,' — which I never did, having (unfortunately) none but sober people at hand, But I could hardly have respected him more, whatever the stimulating influences of this sight might have been. He had not the least respect, I am sorry to say, for me in return, or for anybody but the cook ; to whom lie

was attached — but only, I fear, as a policeman might have been. Once I met him unexpectedly, about half-a-mile off, walking down the middle of the public street, attended by a pretty large crowd, and spontaneously exhibiting the whole of his accomplishments. His gravity under these trying circumstances, I never can forget, nor the extraordinary gallantry with which, refusing to be brought home, he defended himself behind a pump, until overpowered by numbers. Jt may have been that he was too bright a genius to live long, or it may have been that he took some pernicious substance into bis bill, and thence in>o his maw — which is not improbable, seeing that he new- pointed the greater part of the garden wall by Egging out the mortir, broke countless tquares of glass by scraping away the putty all round the frames, and tore up and swallowed, in splinters, the greater part of a wooden staircase of six steps and a landing — but after some three years he too was taken ill, and died before the kitchen fire. He kept his eye to the last upon the meat as it roasted, and suddenly turned over on his back with a sepulchral cry of 'Cuckoo!' Since then I have been ravenless." The Jews of Jerusalem.' The Jews — the "child r enol the kingdom" — have been cast out, and many have come from the east and the west to occupy their place in the desolate land promised to their fathers. Their quarter is in the narrow valley between the Temple and the foot of Mount Zion. Many are rich, but they are careful to conceal their | wealth from the jealous eyes of their Mahoraedan rulers, lest they should be subjected to extortion. ' It is remarkable that the Jews who are born in Jerusalem are jof a totally differe-nt caste from those we see in Europe, Here they are a fair race, very lightly made, and particularly effeminate in manner ; the young men wear a lock of long hair on each side of the face, which, with their flowing silk robes, gives" them the appearance of women. The Jews of both sexes are exceedingly fond of dress; and, although they assume a dirty and squalid appearance when they walk abroad, in their houses they are to be seen clothed in costly furs and t\\p richest silks of Damascus. The women are covered with gold, and dressed in brocades stiff with embroidery. Some of them are beautiful; and a girl of about twelve years old, who was betrothed to the son of aiich old rabbi, was the prettiest little creature I ever saw ; her skin was whiter than ivory, and her hair, which was as black as jet, and was plated with - strings of sequins, fell in trusses nearly to the' ground. She was of a Spanish family/ and the language usually spoken by the "Jews 'imong themselves is Spanish, The house of Rabbi A , with whom I was acquainted, answered exactly to Walter Scott's description of thedwellingof Isaac ofTork. The outside and the court-yard indicated nothing but poverty and neglect; but on entering I. was surprised at the magnificence of the fur-, niture. One room had a silver chandelier, . and a great' quantity of embossed plate was displayed on the top of the polished cupboards. Some of the windows w^re filled with painted glass ; and the members of the family, covered with gold and jewels, were seated on divans of Damascus brocade. The Rat>bi*s little ton was so covered with charms in gold cases to keep off the evil eye, that he jingled like a chime of bells, when he walked along. ' The Jewish religion is now so much encumbered with superstition and the extraordinary explanations of the Bible in the Tal-» mud, that little of the original creed remains. They interpret all the words of Scripture literally, and this leads them into most absurd mistakes. On the morning of the day of the Passover I went into the synagogue under the wd\h of the Temple, and found it crowded to the very door ; all the congregation were standing up, with large white shawls over their heads, wth the fringes which they were commanded to wear by the Jewish law. They were reading the Psalms, and after I had been there a short time all the people began to hop about and to shake their heads and limbs in a most extraordinary manner ; the whole congregation was in motion, from the priest, who was dancing in the reading desk, to the porter who capered at the door. All this was in consequeuce of a verse in the 35th Psalm, which says-, "VAII" V A11 my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee ?'* — Curzon, The Ragged School meeting, at Exeter Hall, is stated to have been "the most numerously attended of all the May meetings ;" the room was too small for those who came, diid great numbers were turned from the crowded dooi. Lord Ashley stated, that four years ago they numbered their schools by tens and their scholars by ; now, they have eighty-two schools, and nearly fifteen thousand of the most destitute and forgotten children uuder their daily influence. If the friends of these children would enable them to fight the battle of life, they must enable them to be placed in some kind of honest employment ; and be read some affecting letters

from boys and girls enabled to emigrate to South Australia at the public expense. Father Matthew left Cork fo*» America, on Saturday last, May 12. An immense concourse of the lower orders gathered to bid him an affectionate farewell; fearing the scene would overcome his feelings, he left Cork privately ; and the crowd wailed at the announcement', as if it were that of his death. Father Matthew's life was insured some years since, as a security for the expenses of his Temperance movement and the insurance- office demanded a heavy fine for extra risk on his leaving the country, Mr. William Rathbone, of Liverpool, heard of the good man's difficulty, and sent him a present of £500, with * letter announcing that " the friends of Temperance will be responsible for the debts contracted by its apostle."

Debut of Mr. Frederick Peel. — Mr. Peel's maiden speech was one of the most promising ever delivered in Parliament. It took a comprehensive, judicious, and practical view of the subject ; it was singularly like his father's speeches in manner, and like them also in distinctness of purpose and in solidity, — Spectator. Wooden Bread. — Dr. P«rcy does not specify distinctly the class of cases for which this new article of belly timber is suitable ; hut we should think it especially adapted to .parties on board wages. — Punch,