Notes On Literature, Science, And Art.

of Shan-tung , were in the habit of removing their limbs for the purpose of exciting sympathy , and that the operation was performed by a beggar who made it his profession . He ties a piece of thin string as tightly as possible round the middle of the calf , drawing it closer from time to time until mortification ensues . AVhen the soft parts are separated the bone is sawn through , and in time the stump is covered with skin . This operation causes great suffering , and many die in the process ; but those who survive the

amputation are congratulated by their friends , as having gained the loss of their limbs and an increase of fortune , from the contributions of the benevolent . " Nor is fortune-telling less practised than mendicity : — " These men cany on their profession in the streets of the city also , where there is space available . A mat is spread on the ground , with a stick fixed at each corner , around which a strip of cloth is cast to form an inclcsure for the fortune-teller and his hen , which is in a small bamboo cage . By his side is an open

box containing a number of very small rolls of paper with sentences or single characters written on them . In front of him is a long row of fifty or sixty small pasteboard envelopes , which also hold single characters , or the divination sentences . A little board painted white , for writing on , and the 'inkstone' and pencil are at hand ready for use . An inquirer who wishes to consult him , squats down on his heels outside the inclosure , pays three cash , ( half a farthing ) and tells his storystating what hewishes to

, . know . He is told to pick out a roll from the box , which having done , he hands it to the man , who unrolls it , and writes its contents on the board . He then opens the door of the cage , and the hen marches forward to the row of envelopes ; after peering over them inquisitively , she picks out one and lets it fall to the ground . A few grains of rice are thrown into the cage , and she returns . The envelope is opened , and the characters inside it also written on the board , from the two inscriptions on which the consulter ' s prospects

are announced . The hen is regarded as the arbiter of fate ,- incapable of moral motive in the selection ofthe roll ; and is therefore supposed to give the decree of fate , without the possiblity of collusion or misinterpretation of any kind . " Miss Agnes Strickland , in her Lives of the Bachelor Kings of TEngland , has the following notice of Nicholas Throckmorton , the

favourite of Edward the Sixth : — " On Edward ' s accession to the throne , Henry Sidney being about nineteen years of age , was appointed first gentleman of the household to his young royal friend , who subsequently knighted him . Edward appears to have taken especial pleasure in exercising this chivalric function of his regal office . Once , when in his privy chamber , unfettered by the restraining presence of his uncle , the protector , Craniner , or any other grave member of his councilhe offered to kniht his new

, g favourite Nicholas Throckmorton ; but Throckmorton , being more experienced in the stately etiquettes of a court than his juvenile sovereign , and probably apprehending that he should be brought into trouble if ho . availed himself without express leave from the protector or the council , of the proffered honour his majesty desired to confer upon him , treated " the matter as a joke , ran off into the back stairs lobby , and hid himself behind a piece of furniture there . The young king gave chase with a drawn sword

in his hand . Plato , Aristotle , Socrates , and all the philosophers of old , and , move than that , the grave theologians , pedants , and pedagogues of his schoolroom , were forgotten in the moment of mirthful excitement , when he tracked Trockmorton to his hiding place , and strove to pull him out . A romp-royal ensued , for a hoy in his tenth year , even if subjected to regal fetters , will sometimes act according to nature . Finding he could not succeed in dragging -the military courtierivho had so well earned his spurs at Pinkie

, field , from his entrenchment , the young king , who , Tudor like , was bent on accomplishing his royal will , bestowed the accolade of honour upon him then and there , to the scandal of some who were present , and murmured . The incident is thus quaintly versified in the Throckmorton MSS . -.

—'And on a time when I should knighted be , The king said ' Kneel , ' ' yet then I went my way ; But straight himself ran forth and spied me Behind a chest , in lobby where I lay , And there against my will he dubbed me knight , AA'hich was an eyesore unto some men's sight . ' The new knight had been for some time a married man , but having

no living , kept his wife in retirement , till encouraged by the favour of his young royal master , he confided the fact to him , and received his commands to present Lady Throckmorton to him . The result is thus related in the metrical chronicle of Throckmorton ' s life : —¦ ' When to the king my wife was showed , new brought To court , who for the nonce was meanly clad , lie told hev , ' that I was a husband naught , Because he saw her courtly robes so bad ;'

But she excused the fault , with 'poverty , AVhich me enforced to keep her beggarly / ' And I replied , Eor her it was no way , To bear the merchant's stock upon her hack , Unless I knew some means it to repay , Or ns to save from ruin , or from rack . '

He answered , ' Dost thou want , and blush to crave Of right the tongue-tied man should nothing have . '' But we are well contented for to give Something of profit , which thou shalt espy , AVhereby thou shalt be able for to live , If that before some further help we die . Rightly of us thou never shalt complain ,

That travail was thy sole reward for pain . '' " Mr . Edwin Forrest , the American actor , has commenced an action against Mr . G . H . Parker , of the Boston Courier , for certain theatrical criticisms . The following verses by the celebrated Charles James Fox appear in the new Life of Mrs . Piozzi , where they are said to be printed for the first time : —•

"Where the loveliest expression to features is joined , By nature's most delicate pencil designed ; AA'here blushes unbidden , and smiles without art , Speak the softness and feeling that dwell in the heart ; AA'heie in manners enchanting no blemish we trace , But the soul keeps the promise we had from the face ; Sure philosophy , reason and coldness must prove Defences unequal to shield us from love .

Then tell me , mysterious enchantress , oh tell , By what wonderful heart , by what magical spell My heart is so fenced , that for once I am wise , And gaze without rapture on Amoret's eyes ; That my wishes , which never were bounded before , Are here hounded hy friendship and ask for no more ?' Is't Reason ? No , that my whole life will belie , For who so at variance as Reason and I ?

Is't Ambition that fills up each chink of my heart , Nor allows any softer sensation a part ? Oh , no ! for in this all the world must agree One folly was never sufficient for me . Is my mind by distress too intensely employed , By pleasure relaxed , or by vanity cloyed ? For alike in this only enjoyment and pain Both slacken the springs of those nerves which they strain

That I've felt each reverse that from fortune can flow , That I've tasted each bliss that the happiest know , Has still been the whimsical fate of my life , AA'here Anguish aud Joy have been ever at strife . But tho' versed in th' extremes both of pleasure and pain , I am still but too ready to feel them again . If , then , for this once in my life I am free , And escape from a snare miht catch wiser than me

g , 'Tis that beauty alone but imperfectly charms , For tho' brightness may dazzle , 'tis kindness that warms ; As on suns in the winter with pleasure we gaze , But feel not their warmth tho' their splendour we praise : So beauty our just admiration may claim , But Love , and Love only , the heart can inflame . "

Mr . AA'alter Thornbury , in his newly-published Life of J . M . W . Turner , ___ . ___ ., relates the following anecdote illustrative of the doings of the artists : — "Turner ' s fun was often professional .. His detractors have mads mischief of even the following instance of his good-humouved raillery -. —In 1 S 2 G , that great ruler of 'the sea , Stansfield , painted a picture of a calm , which he named ' throwing the Painter . ' Unfortunatelhe was unable to get it finished in

y time for the exhibition , aud Calcott hearing of it , painted a picture whicli for fun he called ' Butch Fishing Boat missing the Painter . " Turner would chuckle rarely over these studio jokes , and quietly determing to cap them all , he came out next year with a work named , ' Now for the Painter , ' with all the laughing triumph of a boy who at leapfrog takes the last and highest back . "

Mr . . 1 . T . Burgess ( the editor ofthe Burg Guardian ) , has in the press a volume entitled L ' fe Scenes and Social Sketches , the profits from the sale of which are to be given in aid of the building fund of the new church of St . Thomas , at Radclifi ' e Bridge , iu Lancashire . In the recently-published memoir of the late Rev . John Clay , the well known prison chaplain of Preston , we are told that