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New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 899, 1 October 1866, Page 5

! Ancient Manner, and Customs.—ln Quaen Elizabeth's reign there is a report for the year 1580, in which it is stated 11 that the maids of honor desired to have their chambers oeiled, and the partition that is of boards to be made higher, for that the servants looked over." And about the same time it is said that certain young noblemen and gentlemen wer» guilty of similar indecorous behaviour, being fond of peeping over these boards, to the gk-eat annoyance of the ladies when at their toilette, whereat her Majesty was highly displeased, and severely reproved them. Moreover, it seems that the chamber for the squires of the body was " ruinous and cole," and required to bo " celled overhead, and boarded underfoot," and that some part of the oastle was so much out of repair that the rain beat in! It is not more curious than instructive to note the states of things in. Scotland about the same period. There was even a greater lack of personal comfort among the nobility in that country than in England, '.Chelate Earl of Buehan in his " Antiquarian Researches," gives the following rare piece of information, which at least shows liuon to have been a scarce commodity in the days of James VI. In the arohives of the Mar family, under a section dedicated to antique costume it is stilted that'' the Royal charge (James) continuing under the nurture of his Governante, the Dowager Countess of Mar (aj towards his mouth and otdering of his person), had, in the dead of night, been seized with a colic. The ladies of honor were all summoned from their warm beds to aitend his heeniss; when, as was remarked, none of the ladies had thy Bhifts, exrept the auid Countess of Mar, her ladyship being tender (Bickly)." Alongside of this fact, this other fact is not without interest. When our gracious Sovereign is at Windsor, twenty-four baskets, averaging 1501b. weight each, or something like a ton and a half of solid linen, are sent daily " to the wash," the which operation is performed by a steamengine, and thirty-four servants, with a manager at their head Builder.

Convict Lim ih Fbance.—The SentinelU Toulonnaise relates that a man has justleft the hulks of Toulon after passing 35 years. He was condemned for homicide to hard labourer life in March, 1831, by the Court of ABsize of the Cataldos, and entered tho hulks the sdme month. Different commutations of punishment which he obtained have reduced hia captivity to 35 years. He is the last convict that was branded on the shoulder with the letters T. P. (travaupublict,) as since the Revolution of Juijr thftt portion of the pwuahment has been abolished.