MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 585, 2 November 1863, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Tae Amir's Artist.—He had not the remotest idea of persjaectiye, and could only draw one kind of nose, ; %bA na& evidently early imbibed a partiality ftpthe exaggerated Roman type of that feature. For hi. each of our portraits this characteristic feature projected very much more like a parrot's beak xlian anything else it could be" compared to, Whislt the rest of the face had tlie appearance of having been flattened! out by. a firm compression, and.is correctly described! by the term " hatchet face." Sflfokir Lumsdeu's favorite spaniel, Dash, had also the honor of being- transferred to card-board, to he banded down'to posterity. It is to be hoped ;h.a.t these precious productions may escape the anticjuar&s of future ages, otherwise they mil probably, g'we rise to curious speculations about a new race of hawk-featured giants who had domesfecatara tbe lion, and thus add to the confusion and mystery- that- enveloped the ancient history of Aflgfcanis-, tan, unless, indeed, a copy of the book is kept; in thelibrary of the society of Antiquarians for a, true ex-. planation of these curious relics of fej"gone days - " Bellew's Mission to Affg-hanistan^"

SONNET.—TEX^K. &OUE.A.GE. These are big times %- courage true and tried1., And glorious, ' i& its evidenca to note, 'Mid scenes where busy 'death on every side Speeds from the cannon's adamantine throat • "£b grand upon the sco, when bent to save The suffering from peril and from wreak,When the fierce wind, aid overwhelming wave v Essay to sweep, the vessel's trembling deck:' But there's a. courage not so often seen, That holds high rank wherever it is known- - It tales'no lofty or pretentious mem, ' * But in extreme humility is shown--. As in Ins case who, calm, unmoved Vy- passionDare wear an old-coat when 'tis $ut of ihshion* CHEAP DEGREES. Oxford, beware of over-cheap, degrees, Nor lower too much sgemmilators' fees - Lest—unlike Goklsmith's ■'■ land to iHs"a prey"— "Men" sh#iM : "accumulate," and *•wealth deosy,^ o.s DR. EVANS,, OP OXFQitD, CUTTING DOWN A ' FINE ROW OF TREES. Indulgent Nature on each kind bestows A secret instinct to discern its foes: Tne gcose, a silly bird, avoids the fox; Lambs fly from wglves, and sailors steer from, rocks; : Evans the gallows as his fate foresees, And bears the like antipathy to trees*. .Treatment of Negroes in ths Fed-sb^h Per* vice. The Morriss Island correspondent of the Neio York Herald gives the followiingaceount of the summary execution of a negro.: -"A day or two since iv Colonel Montgomery's 2nd South Carolina K.e"iment, one of the privates in Company D, a burly nearo, refused feo oboy an order given him by his; office? lh,o officer of the day reported his mutinous; conduct to the colonel, who instructed the oificer toj iutorm the negro that he was not trifling with him | and that if he then refused to obey the order- to go t». , the guard house - an attempt to execute which he* had before resisted—he would be &t once shot downThe officer of the day apya-oaciiecl the negro, warneai him oi the consequen.ee &( Kefus'ng to obey his order and again ordered hipft io the guard house. The negro' did not move, antf- tie officer then informed him that if he did not oi?ey before he counted three he should hre. One, t^'Q, three, were slowly told off: threes [ sevon cte elapsed after the word three was pronounced ; and <;he negro not obeying, the officer shot him down! ; mortally wounding him. ■ This salutary example was not lost upon the . rest of the refriment. Ithadaa, ; excellent effect, and insubordination witt hereafterrarely occur in. the 2nd South Caro'.iaa Volunteers!.. Coloael-Montgomery's style of discipline is regarded! as the only efficacious one f^r tjie. negro regiments* whoss peculiar temperamei\ta require that punishment, to be eifecual, should follow close on the heels or any dereliction of ' The AKTiQcra,Es. of, Mexico.—*' The scientißc commission which accompanies the French expedition^ix Mexico," says the Nation, "will have an opportunity to make some intere ting researches, in i consequence ot the recjs>it discovery in the midst of theiorests of ruins of majestic appearance and great antiquity. Th,c 'ouildings are supposed to have-been erecte;i on a civilised nation, existing at least seven centunp before the discovery cf Christopher Columbia, fhe most urobable suppositions attribute their construction to an emigrant people who, after havinc crossed Behiing'a Straits, occupied Mexico, then aoV vanced asfar as ]?eru, where Cyclopean monuments are still #>und, and afterwards, being driven back iroin the south,, attained their highest degree of cirilaation in the peninsula of Yucatan, where the most remarkable palaces are now seen. Among the French travellers whose relations have tin own light on the past ot the new world, ihemost recent are those of M. Brassear de Bourbourg and M. Desire Cbarney. -.1 he latter * who is a distinguished artist and literary mnn, wasi detertedl by no difficulty. He proceeded to those antiquities buried in the depths of the virgin forests, in contempt of Indian balls, and the thousands of ssrpente which now take shelter among the ruin ß ? tie brought back valuable notes of his journey, and ™w; T\ °f B ho*?g»PMc drawings are now beiag. published under the patronage of the Emperor.