Shadows On The Stream.

As we stood together , Whispering soft and low , Flinging harebell blossoms On the waves below . Laurel leaves were gleaming Round his shaded hair

, While the rocks were frowning O'er mine cold and bare ! Flowing like those waters , . Life's rough pathway down ; Bringing fame's fresh leaflets From his laurel crown !

By the grey old buttress Lonely now I dream ; Shortly sadly watching Shadows on the stream .

Meetings Of The Scientific And Learned Societies For The Week Ending December 16th.

MEETINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND LEARNED SOCIETIES FOR THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 16 TH .

Monday , December 11 th . ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY , at S . 30 . 1 . "On Aukova , the Central Province of Madagascar , and the Royal or Sacred City . " By the Rev . W . Ellis . 2 . "A Boat Journey along the Coast Lakes of East Madagascar . " B y Capt . W . Noake , R . N . Tuesday , December 12 th . INSTITUTION OP CIVIL ENGINEERS , at 8 . Wednesday , December 13 th , SOCIETY OP ARTS , at 8 . " On London Milk . " By J . Chalmers Morton , Esq .

The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —The Prince and Princess of Prussia left Windsor Castle for the Continent on Saturday last . The Queen , with their Royn . 1 Highnesses Princess Helena , Princess Louise , Prince Arthur , their Serene Highnesses Princess Hohenloheand Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein , and the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting , attended Divine service on Sunday

morning in the private chapel . The Rev . Stopford A . Brookes , M . A ., late Chaplain to the Embassy at Berlin , preached the sermon . Her Majesty held a Council on Tuesday at one o ' clock , at which were present Earl Granville , the Lord Chancellor , the Earl of Clarendon , the Right Hon . Sir George Grey , and the Right Hon . W . E . Gladstone .

GENERAL HOME NEWS . —The birthday of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales was celebrated with all loyal demonstrations in Loudon and its neighbourhood , Windsor , and elsewhere . Flags were flying through the day , and royal salutes were fired at the usual places . In Windsor every house in the principal streets was gay with flags and

decorations . At Sandringham the Prince and Princess kept the day with much state : a ball took place in the evening , to which the rank and fashion of the neighbourhood were invited , and the tenantry and servants on the estate were not forgotten . Lnby , the Fenian , has been found guilty of all the counts charged against him . He addressed the Court , indignantly

denying the charges of assassination or rapine . The judge sentenced him to 20 years' transportation , and he was immediately removed under a strong guard to Mountjoy prison . At the Marlborough-street Police court , on Monday , one Timoth y Hegarty was broughtup on a warrant , charging him with making pikes for a Fenian society in Cork . The prisoner was handed over to the proper officers for conveyance to his own country . Mrs . Jane Woodward , a resnectable married woman , was

put upon her trial on Monday , at the Surrey Sessions , on a charge of shoplifting . It was alleged that she had endeavoured to steal a velvet mantle from a draper's shop in New ' mgton , Causeway , and that being detected she dropped it on the floor . The defence was that the mantle was accidentally knocked down . The jury returned'a verdict of not guilty . A fellow named William Singer was charged at Middlesex

Sessions on Monday with brutally ill-treating a horse . He was driving the animal , which was overweighted , and as ths poor beast could not get on Singer drove a bar of red hot irom into its body . The brutal fellow whined out that he was drunk when be committed the offence . This , however , was disproved . He pleaded guilty , and the Court sentenced him to

five years' penal servitude . Tuesday night ' s Gazette contains an official notice proroguing Parliament to the 1 st of February , then to meet for the despatch of business . More Fenian leaders are being captured . The last to fall into the hands of the police is one Alfred iylward , clerk to the Sessional Crown Prosecutor for Tipperary . Aylward , it seems , was foolish enough to appear drunk in the public streets , and at tbe same time to carry about with him documents which established his connection with the movement . When his office was searched ,

of course all sorts of things tending to inculpate him were discovered . The fraternity save the police a great deal of trouble by taking care to put themselves in the way of capture , and by furnishing all the evidence which their prosecutors could possibly require to ensure their conviction . ——An action for libel , Brown v . Richardson , was tried in the

Court of Exchequer on Tuesday . The defendant is the proprietor of local papers at Croydon and Sydenham , and in these a paragraph was inserted in which the plaintiff Brown and his wife were charged with gross cruelty to a little boy the son of Mrs . Brown . The defendant , on learning that the story was untrue , inserted an apology , and offered to pay the plaintiff

£ 3 for damages . The plaintiff , however , refused this , and the jury gave a verdict against the defendant with £ 100 damages . Great meetings on the Jamaica question have been held in Leeds and Bradford . At both the most influential persons in the respective localities took part in the proceedings ' and memorials praying for inquiry were adopted . —¦—The case

of Mrs . Longworth Yelverton against the Saturday Review for libel was brought to a close on Wednesday at Edinburgh . The jury , after 'three hours' deliberation , were equally divided

in opinion . After five hours they returned a verdict for the defendants by a majority of nine to three . The verdict was received with hisses . George Cole , the man charged with the abduction of a little girl named Mary Ann Humphreys , was re-examined at the Mansion House on Wednesday . He appears to have walked about with the child all day , giving

her little or nothing to eat ; and she owed her ultimate escape to the suspicious and generous indignation of a low lodginghouse keeper . When she got into tbe hands of the police she was in a complete state of stupor . The prisoner was again remanded that the contents ' of her stomach might be analysed . In tbe Court of Queen ' s Bench on Wednesday , a special jury

was called upon to assess the damages claimed by a French gentleman , named Landour , who was injured by the Staplehurst accident . The South Eastern Railway Company admitted their liability , the only question being as to the amount . The case was one of considerable public interest . The jury finally awarded Mr . Landour £ 1 , 500 .

A Middlesex jury delivered themselves of a singular verdict on Wednesday . They found one prisoner " guilty " and another " not guilty" of a charge of stealing , but they wished his lordship to " caution " the man they had acquitted . The fore-