Miscellany.

Adventures op a Duke in Seakch of a WiFE.—The first appeauanoe of the young Due de O— r-aud r hiB new ■ bride in the drive of the Champs Elyse'e, was; hailed with the most exteaordinaty demonstra* tioft' of- curiosity. -' The circumstances of the young ' Duke's marriage smack of the times so strongly, that it would be a pity not to record them. The poor lion, Kke all the high names in; the country, had been < suffering by straitened means, seeking for a bride all his life long, and finding none, when chance led him not long iftgo to the Gaite to witness one of the representations of Frederic , Lemaitre in l& Dame, , de Saint Trope*. As he considered himself *as a traveller in a barbarous Iftpd, .where no one could by^any possibility have either seen him or heard pf his. ancestors, he ventured into the cheapest places in the house where he lay perdu behind an enormously fat bourgeoise whose portly figure, screened him completely from a.ll danger of repognif tion. . By the side of the fat bourgeoise sat a sweet little, .grisette, whose naif wonder and delight at the performance interested the Uafie, used up young_ roue not a, little. By degrees he was led into conversation with the old lady, and all the while growing m.ore,and more interested in the ljttle grisette ; he even ventured to offer refreshment, which, like all our lion's a.ttemj)S at .e.cqnomy, made his cheap place cost more than double what he would have paid had he taken the very best stalles d f orchestra. However, it was money well laid put, as you will perceive. After the performance the acquaintance had ripened far enough to warrant acceptance of his offer to escort the ladies home. For the first time since he was a student did our hero stoop to fasten on a pair of clogs— for the first time in his life did he offer his arm to a grosse bonne bourgeoise of the Rue St. Denis, for it was in that classical region that the matron resided, He was mortified, however, to find that the little grisette resided likewise at the shop to which he had accompanied the pair. He had hoped that she was one of those little shop girls who have a home of their own, and that having dropped the bourgeoise, he would be allowed to accompany her likewise ; but such was not the case, The "Grand V," the largest needle warehouse in the Rue St. Denis, received them both, and our hero was consequently compelled to go on his way anything but rejoicing. A few days afterwards, however, whether by oisivete or curiosity, 1 or, as he says, by fatality, he was led to the "Grand V," and renewed acquaintance with the bourgeoise, who was mistress of the shop, and mother to the little grisette. Our hero was to old a stager not to discover very soon that the dot of the little grizette was a matter of a hundred thousand pounds and that the bourgeoise was sighing her soul away for destinction. He compared, both the person and the dot to those be met with daily in the world, and decided ta derogate at once. He qffered himself "with real name and address," was accepted with delight by the credulous honest bourgeoise, and on Tuesday he made his reappearance in the- drive with his lovely young wife by his side, and his fat, grinning mother-in -, law staring and nodding from the windows of the beautiful parriage for which she has unconsciously paid. The duke is admired for his strength of nerve in thus braving the critism of his former comrades ; but he knows the world -to well not to be aware tbat there is as much jealously as condemnation in the cold manner in which they bestow their greeting. He knows by experience the bitterness of the struggle they are compelled to ke^ep up, and from which he has freed himself by a bold stroke, and disregard of the shams of social life. The sequal of the tale is good. They say that since the story has got wind, all thp lionism 1 of, Paris has turned , out into the Rue St. Denis, which at four o'clock threatens to rival the Chaussee d' Antin in the' displays of varnished boots, Baudion 'hats, and yellow kid'gloves, which throw its trottoirs land lionage against the dingy windows of the dull and gloomy warehouses which it contains. — Paris correspondent of the Atlas. The Destruction op Pompeii Not Instantaneous.— Pompeii was not completely buried by a single eruption. Eight successive layers have-been traced about its ruins. In the intervals the inhabitants must have returned to secure their more valuable property. Sir 'William Gell mentions that a skeleton of a Pompeian was found, "who apparently for the sake of 60 silver, had remained in his house till it was already half filled with volcanic matter." The position of the skeleton indicated that he had perished apparently in the act of escaping from his window. Other incidents of like character are no less striking. The skeletons of Rbman sentries wore found in more than one instance, at their posts, furnishing a remarkable proof of the stern military discipline of imperial Rome. The skeleton of a priefct was found in one of the rooms of the Temple hi Isis. Near his reI mains lay an axe with" which he had been trying to break- through the'doolv The Hare and t^e'Lion; an- Indian Political Libel.— '•Who knows not this story? Nevertheless "we publish it; for even as 'the hare conquered the lion, so does the Bengalee overcome the Englishman-: — A hare sat in the jungle with his wife, and . he said : 'There is our king, the lio.n, come j into the, woody and he w#l devour our children.' 'No,' said'the little hare, 'for I will go to confront him, and conquer ,the< great lion, the king'of beasts.' 1 - Then, her Wband laughed, and, said: 'Jntellept' is power ; we can, die. but oase.,s let" up see wha,t jpn can $oJ Then the little hire, taking he*, tittle son in her paws,, jumped

an^Jflmped/tin dfe^me ; ta^hetJion. < , ,Tben ; she put • d^jwnt Her son before '.his.face,, and n.nt her, twp paws together in all humiljty, and said^;, , ,'Lo! king qf kings,, ,£ liave brO|Ugbt;jyoi; a nuzzuran^j pbl|ge me jby jeatfag i^ .A%> thaxe^ some "news ,to?giye jou.' Then ibe Jion Ippked ,^,r^be hare's bat%.and saw it was. soft and juicy,, anfljjras .pleased in soul and laughed^ an^ his laugh was as the" ,r,oar of the thunder of ,Indro. Then he asked her news, and the, little/hare replied : 'You are the soyerign of, the forest but} another has come who calls;himseli] jcing of the beasts, and demands tribute.' Then the roar of the Jlion shook the forest, and the little hare nearly died with fear as he asked: 'Where is the scoundrel? , Can you shew, him pp me. ?' Then, the little hare leaped along with the lion tilj she came.io an old well. The well was nearly full, but had no wall. And she said : '&ook, he is hiding there in fear.' Then the lion, craning his neck, .looked and saw his own shadow and with a fearful roar leaped into the well. So the little hare,' with a, glad heart, took up her son, and went to her husband and said : 'Lo ! intellect is power : I have killed, the lion, the king of the beasts.' HO.W THEY PTJNISH TREASON US' PERSIA. — We mentioned a&wdays since the attempt against, the {Shah of Persia. We learn that Hajee Suleiman Khan, accused as the instigator of the crime was seized, ' his body Carefully drilled with a ' knife' in parts which would not at the moment cause death : pieces of lighted candle were then introduced into the holes, and, thus illuminated,' "carried in procession through the bazaar, and finally conveyed to the town gates, and there cleft in twain like a fat ram. The Kurret il Am, batter known as Bab's Lieutenant, or the Fair Prophetess of Kozoeen, who since the late religious outbreak, had been kept a close prisoner at the capital, has been .executed with some dozen others. His Majesty received three slug wounds in the shoulder, but all of a very slight nature, The French Jack Shepparb. — We do not wish to be disrespectful .to the French nation, but Louis Napoleon puts us strongly in mind of Jack Sheppaid. He has been in prison — perhaps not so often as his prototype ; but still he has had his full 'share of imprisonments, and like Jack he has always been successful in escaping. Then again, the coup d'etat of December the 2nd might pass almost for one of the Sheppardian exploits, with the exception that Jack never perpetrated a burglary on so large a scale At the utmost he broke into a private dwelling, when all the inmates were in bed, and stole the plate. He had never an.opportunity of breaking into a nation, and robbing it of all its liberties in the dead of the night. That was a burglary reserved for the nephew of the Emperor, to lend a hand and crowbar to. But Jack's crowbar was innocent enough : it had no 'stain of . blood upon it. ' . There the comparison between him and .the prison-escaping burglarious President of France ends. To push it any further would be injurious 1 to our favourite Adelphi hero. Beyond a certain point, his dark lantern is completely put out by the superior darkness of his rival's. In humiliating impartiality we are pained io confess that France boasts of a greater Jack Sheppard than we do. - Louis Napoleon is by the whole length of the' Boulevards the greater man of the two. In the perfection of cool, reckless burglary, Mrs. Keeley's beau ideal is no match for him ! At the present the French Jack Sheppard is 'busy oarving his name on the beam which holds the future scales of France. That name, we need not say, is Empereur. A nation must be blind indeed, to keep' any such beam in its eyes ! — Punch. The Liverpool Sailor and the Actress.—" When I was a poor girl." writes the Duchess of St. Albans, " working for my thirty shillings a week, I went down to Liverpool during the holidays, where I was always kindly received. I was to perform a new piece, something like those petty dramas they get up now at our minor theatres ; and in my character I represented a poor friendless orphan girl reduced to the, most wretched poverty, A heartless tradesman prosecutes the sad heroine for a debt, and insists on putting her in prison, unless some one will be bail for her. The girl replies, 'That I have no hope : I have not a friend in the world.' 'What! will nQ one be bail you to save you from prison V asks the stern creditor. 'I have told you, I have not a friend on earth,' was the r.eply. But just as I was uttering the word 3 I saw a sailor in the upper gallery springing over the railing, letting himself down from one tier to another, .until he bounded clear over the orchestra . and foot lights, and placed himself beside me in a mpment. 'Yes, you shall have one friend, at least, my poor young woman,' sajd jie, with the greatest expression in his honest sunburnt countenance ; * I will, go bail for you to any amount ; and as fqr $pif (turning to the actor), if you dont bear a J hand and shift your moorings, you lubber, it will' be worse for you when I come athwart your 'bows.' Every person in the, house rose, the uproar was indescribable ; peals of laughter, screams of terror, cheers from his ta'wriey messmates in tke gallery, pr,eparatdry scrapings of violins from the orchestra, and: amidst the^din, there stood the unconscious cause of it, sheltering me, 'the .poor distressed young girl/ and declaring destruction 1 upon my mimic prosecutor. H#was only 'persuaded '"to reliridjnisn his care of me by the f manager happening to arrive, to rescue 'me wifih a 1 profusion of theatrical banknotes." "' "'•