where

tained an idea that he would have at least the chief direction of the regimen and development through which the horse was to come to the post, the admiration of all beholders. But they had been unfortunate in their last racing venture, and Mrs. P. declared that the mischance was due entirely to Charlie's old-fashioned methods. So when the cultivation of the powers of Young Trumpeter was commenced, she turned and rebelled against her husband's directions, which thing led to strifes and emulations and contrary proceedings, to put an end to which the lady had the horse sent down into the South a part of the Rock outside of the town and towards Europa PointPemberton, whose duties lay in the North, could not well interfere with him, and where they had the racer dealt with according to her discretion. If she wanted advice, she consulted not with Charlie but with the other proprietors. Charlie, however, though he had not energy enough to assert his superiority, knew, I suspect, a good deal more than any of them about training; and when his wife deposed him from the direction, told her they would make a hash of it, to which the lady responded that she would be answerable for not doing anything of the kind. Charlie had not the courage of his opinions.

Well, after a while things seemed to be tending towards the hash which Charlie had predicted. The horse did not improve as he ought; and the more pains they took with him the poorer appearance he made. Pemberton was not allowed to know of this bad beginning; and, to conceal from him that anything was unsatisfactory, Mrs. P. was not in constant personal attendance, but received reports and issued instructions through her aid-de-camp. It was this severe service which, I suspect, wore out the patience of the gallant Bustard, and induced him to resign his distinguished post. Boy Warleigh, after he came “on," did not at all admire the look of the horse, said he might be more amiss than they thought, and that he ought to be watched behaved, in fact, very mysteriously. His lady employer was greatly frightened. "Boy," said she, "you drive me distracted with your exclamations and dark looks; there's nothing in the world the matter except that the system must be modified a little; he must and shall be a success; I'm determined."

And so things went on for a few days until at last Warleigh, who was a good deal of a vet. and saw the patient every day, thought he must make his apprehension known to his principal. Charlie and others were in the drawingroom, so he hadn't opportunity of saying much; he, however, drew Mrs. P. aside and told her he was afraid there was something the matter with Young Trumpeter's heart, at which she started and turned pale. Charlie saw her confusion and was rather exercised by it. There had been a good deal of this whispering and telegraphing lately, and it was quite a new fashion; hitherto Mrs. P.'s proceedings had been very open and frank, whatever else might be said about them. Perhaps his suspicion was not altogether unreasonable. Whether called for or not, it existed, and it was not allayed by a little incident which occurred just before the dressing bugle sounded. Looking through the window, he caught sight of his servant leaving the house; and he called to the man asking whether he had remembered that he was going to dine at the mess of one of the regiments, and whether he had put out his uniform, to which the man replied,

"I was getting the dress ready, sir, when the mistress desired me to take this note to Liftenant Warleigh's quarters immediately. I'll be back in two or three minutes."

Pemberton dressed himself in a very perturbed state of mind; he began to think that something terrible was hanging over him, and that perhaps it might have been better if he had never been born. He went off, however, to his mess engagement, and after he had had a glass or two of wine, found that his mind was a good deal lightened. At the end of the table where he sat they talked of scarcely anything but the races. Opinions were hazarded, bets were laid Charlie's heart warmed to the coming sport: he was getting quite serene. But doesn't it sometimes happen

that all the world seems to be in a conspiracy to bring about an event which, if any one of the agents had failed to do as he did, could never have resulted? I have many times in my life observed how divers people have independently and unconsciously, yet as it were with curious accuracy, worked together for some particular end; and there was this day a decidedly formidable array against Charlie Pemberton's peace of mind. For, soon after the cloth was drawn, and when Charlie was putting aside his care, and fancying that he would have a rubber by and by, and make a jolly evening of it, it entered into the heart of an officer at the Convent to send him a note, altering in some sort a duty arrangement which stood for next day. He uttered an exclamation of annoyance as he read it, for it affected Warleigh as well as himself, and would require to be looked to at once. He made up his mind that his promised pleasant evening should not be spoiled; but that on rising from the table he would just go and see Warleigh, and after settling matters with him, return to the anteroom for cards.

Accordingly, about the time when he calculated that Warleigh would be leaving mess, he went to that officer's quarters, where he found Boy's servant M'Evoy putting the apartment in order for his master, who was coming in to do a "grate writing." He had not dined at mess, but was away elsewhere. "Will I light the candles, your honor?" demanded gunner M'Evoy; and as it was of no use seeking Warleigh at mess, and as he was expected in his own room, Charlie desired that the latter should be illuminated. He desired it in an unlucky moment, for, as soon as the lights began to burn, poor Charlie saw lying open on the table a billet in his wife's handwriting, — unmistakably his wife's. All his miseries came rushing back; he did not pause to think, but caught up the unlucky document, and read to the following effect:

:

а

"DEAR BOY,- Nonsense about heart. I don't believe in it, or won't believe in it. When I am able to judge for myself I shall know how far you are to be depended on. Be very careful, and above all things don't let a breath of the matter get near Charlie. He will know all soon enough, if it must come out. He dines at some mess tonight, and I shall be down in the South. You will meet me if you are at the barrier soon after seven. If we are to be ruined we are, but I hope this will pass over and nobody be wiser. C. P."

He did not

Charlie read this document over only once. attempt to analyze it, or to see in it any meaning except what was prompted by his previous suspicions. Crushing up the mischievous paper in his hand he rushed away homewards, found his wife absent, and went to his bedroom in terrible agony. Everything had at last proved to be as bad as it could be. The poor fellow returned to the opinion that it had been better for him had he never been born; then he thought that the next best thing to not having come into the world was to get speedily out of it. Such thoughts, unhappily, had entered his head before to-day, but he never felt his misery so insupportable as now. There was no escape but through the gates of death.

Our usual judgment of suicides is, I think, harsh. We accuse them of want of religious faith, or of want of courage to face the turns of fortune, as if they had calmly balanced the losses of life and death, and finding the account in favor of the latter, quietly adopted it. We take no note of the agony which has shut out all prospects save of blank despair; the sense of present misery which has taken away all power of judging or reflecting, even all power of choosing; the horror which can regard death as the sole remedy, and a welcome relief. The moral suffering which can overcome the natural love of life must be fearful. Say that Pemberton wanted sense, or courage, or strength of mind, or anything else, ought that to deprive him of our pity? Only so much the worse for him, I say! Charlie went again into his own room, seated himself at a writing-table, and traced some lines upon a paper which

he afterwards tore up. The fragments of it were found strewed on the blotting-book. Then he went to a cupboard, took out a phial labelled Laudanum - Poison, and proceeded to pour the contents into a wineglass of water. This he took again into his bedroom, and placed it, with the note which he had found, on a chair by the bedside, then he stretched himself upon the bed, and, as he did so, he heard his wife's step upon the stair. She had no idea that he was at home, and came in to take off her outdoor dress. As she entered, Charlie called to her "Look here; I have read this, and know everything; and now look here," and he lifted the glass to his lips and swallowed the whole of the contents, afterwards throwing back his head upon the pillow.

Mrs. Pemberton soon understood what had occurred. Shocked as she was at first, she was not one to lose her head and waste time in emotional infirmity or extravagance. She summoned a servant to remain with her husband, and then herself set off to get assistance.

Warleigh had got home, put himself into dressing-gown and slippers, and settled himself to work away at some committee business. He had had no dinner, but intended to refresh before he went to bed, wishing to get his writing done first, and so he was in his quarters when somebody, coming along the verandah, tapped briskly at the glass. The door, I presume, was not easily distinguishable in the darkness, but the light coming through the window-blind attracted the disturber.

"You had better be off, I can tell you," called out Boy Warleigh. "I'm not going to stand any noise here." The rattling was redoubled, while a voice shrieked “Boy, Boy."

"Go to the devil," shouted Boy; but the person outside, having felt the sash to be loose while tapping at it, began to raise it from the outside. Warleigh picked up one of his boots which lay near him, and swore an oath of mickle might that he would send it at the head of his unwelcome visitor if the said head were not withdrawn on the instant, and the window closed.

"Good God! Boy, come and speak to me," said a voice which he at length recognized. "Charlie has poi

Boned himself."

After the first exclamations of surprise, and after finding that he had heard aright, Warleigh bade the lady go below and summon M'Evoy, and desire him to get together one or two other servants, and said he would join her as soon as he had his boots and jacket on. She did as he directed, and when he descended, he found his own and two other servants, whom he dispatched in three different directions to beat up doctors and bring them to Pemberton's house. Now, I'll go myself for Saltz" (their own surgeon)," and, if possible, take him back with us.”

66

Saltz was in bed, but soon aroused and informed of the case; and in a very short time after Charlie's rash act, Warleigh, with the doctor and lady had reached the house. Saltz had brought with him such instruments as he thought might be required. Directly he saw the patient he thought the case not desperate, and was proceeding to remove the poison, when another doctor, summoned by one of the servants, came in, and after him another, and another. Besides the doctors, there were half a dozen officers who had come to ascertain what had happened. All this assemblage mustered in Mrs. Pemberton's bedroom where poor Charlie was lying. The officers were whispering in knots, examining the phial, and trying to guess how much laudanum had been swallowed; asking whether anybody could explain the cause of his acting so; and recalling sayings and doings of his which, by the light of this last eccentricity, seemed to indicate loss of mental equilibrium. Mrs. P., although she certainly was much subdued, found herself able to make it generally known that Charlie had found a note, and taken some absurd 'fancy into his head about her and Boy Warleigh. After this, she called one of the doctors— a rather rough, outspoken fellow - up to the window where she stood, and asked him whether the case was really serious; to which he replied, "Very serious ndeed."

"What is likely to be the end of it?" she continued. "Convulsions and death."

Hereupon she uttered a low cry, threw herself upon a chair, buried her face in her hands, and commenced rocking herself to and fro in terrible grief. She did not change this position while the doctors remained in the room except once, when she rose for a moment, her eyes streaming with tears, and, going up to Warleigh, said, "Boy, did you tell them to give Trumpeter the drench? " After receiving a satisfactory answer to this inquiry, she resumed the attitude which I have described.

Having done what they could to get the laudanum away from Pemberton, the doctors remained some little while in consultation. In the mean time, everything was being prepared for a sensational account of the whole occurrence through the men's rooms in the morning. Gunners M'Evoy, Braithwaite, and Moffat, the servants who had found the doctors, walked back to barracks discussing the case. They rather inclined to the opinion that Charlie had been poisoned by his wife; and while they were at the house, Pemberton's own groom gave them a few facts and fictions in support of this idea.

"The Jezebel!" said Moffat-"no to give the puir man time to ask the Lord's mercy before he was ca'd!"

If he'd been of the thrue religion," answered M'Evoy, "the priest 'ud have helped him there."

"The priest couldn't say his prayers for him," Braithwaite objected.

Could he not, though?" replied M'Evoy; "sure he'd have made his sowl complate, and put a wafer on his tongue, and sint him away with joy unspakable."

"Probably to wauk in toarments," added Moffat, with a

groan.

Thus did the three decide on the Captain's death, and determine the cause of it.

About the time when this discussion was terminated by arrival at the barrack gate, the doctors, who had been attentively observing the patient, and who saw but too plainly that the influence of the laudanum had not been removed, decided that he must be kept in motion, as the only chance of averting the coma which they too surely saw overcoming him. Soldiers were sent for to move him about, but, until they should arrive, two officers, lifting up Charlie, who seemed to have no more volition than a log, got their arms under his, and dragged him, rolling and staggering, out of the house. He stumbled along the streets to the barrackyard, and there commenced a regular beat to and fro, two orderlies having come to relieve the officers. Saltz watched the proceedings, administering from time to time such antidotes as he thought necessary, but insisting that the stupefied man should not be allowed a moment's rest. Mrs. Pemberton also came down to the barracks, and several officers with her. As the hours of the night rolled on, Charlie showed that he had still some life in him, although his power of motion was exceedingly feeble. When the day broke, the sight presented itself of the patient, still very helpless, supported across the parade by two stout gunners, while his wife, looking very anxious, followed close behind. As she had, from habit, picked up a riding-whip when she came out, and as she still bore it, the appearance was very much as if she were driving on her recusant husband.

We know that the ancient Athenians spent their time in nothing else but to tell or to hear some new thing. People in Gibraltar have plenty besides news to occupy them; but still, when a bit of news does get about, I think they enjoy it with quite an Athenian relish. How it flies! and what strength it acquires in going! I was awaked in the morning by my servant, who immediately informed me that Captain Pemberton, R. A., was dead, and that Mrs. P. and Boy Warleigh were in custody for murdering him. I knew the Rock too well to take this for simple truth; yet I feared that something disagreeable was the matter, and dressed myself hastily 'with the intention of finding out the real facts; but just as I was about to sally forth, a bag full of letters was brought in. An English mail had arrived, and here was any quantity of communications, official and pri

vate. So I sat down to learn at least the heads of intelligence, and found in a letter from my sister answers to the questions which I had put regarding the widow Vallance's very straitened means. "You must not," she wrote, "take all she says on this head au pied de la lettre; her husband's death, of course, reduced their means considerably, but there is not at all that lack which her anxiety would indicate. The idea that they are paupers has taken possession of her, and is a sort of mania. I know well what I am saying, for my husband is an executor of Bertie Vallance's will. The girls are tolerably well provided for ;" so on. Regarded in connection with the local news of the morning, it seemed like the mocking of a fiend. What did it matter now what their means or their prospects might be? A few weeks ago this knowledge might possibly have enabled me to avert a great calamity. It seemed to have waited until it was just too late.

and

I soon heard, when I went abroad, that Charlie Pemberton was not dead, and that the doctors had some slight hope of his getting over the shock which his constitution had received. I understood, too, that Charlie had made an attempt on his own life, but could not learn anything to be relied on about his provocation. Anyhow, Boy Warleigh was scandalously implicated in the affair, and there was an end of any hope that he or the Vallances might have formed about all coming right. It was a plaguy business altogether.

As I sat in my office about noon, a note was handed to me. It was from the widow, written in evident haste and perturbation, and saying she would be very glad if I could go and see her the sooner the better. So, of course, I went to her as soon as I could. Great was the affliction in which I found her. The news of the murder, circumstantially detailed, had been taken to the house by the milkman or some such functionary, and duly repeated by the servants. Webster, the maid, carried it round to all the ladies, and unfortunately to the young ladies first, so that the mother had not the opportunity of warding off the blow. Amy, after an attempt at stoicism, had quite broken down, was alarmingly ill and hardly sensible. Since the first report, different versions had been circulated. Could I tell her what really had happened?

Well, I could tell her that the story of Boy and Mrs. P. having designed Charlie's death was utterly untrue: yet that his poisoning himself was nevertheless due to some conduct of theirs which, to judge by its effects, must be bad enough. The quick-witted widow, however, brightened a little soon after I told her this, and said

"Doesn't he take queer fancies about her into his head?” "He does," I replied; “but I can't imagine a man carrying things to this length on mere fancy."

"We all know," she replied, " about one who, though not easily jealous, was, being wrought, perplexed in the extreme. I don't believe that any one had the wickedness to work upon Captain Pemberton, but think it very likely that he may have deluded himself, as I have before heard of his doing.'

"Impossible," I said; "but I'll go and find out exactly what the grievance was, and return with the further information."

And I walked out and found another staff-officer, of whom I inquired whether there was yet any credible account of the cause of Pemberton's act.

Well, for my part," he said, "I think the whole thing has been a mistake arising out of that extraordinary wom an's ways; but you will hear the story better from herself than from me. She's holding a levee down there, and giving a full account to all comers. You had better go down, if you care about particulars."

I did go down, inquired for Captain Pemberton, and was told he was still very ill. Then, on inquiry for Mrs. Pemberton, the servant said I might walk up, which I did. Mrs. P. had half a dozen officers in the room, with whom she was conversing very earnestly. She told me that Charlie was out of immediate danger; that he had taken some nourishment, and that the doctors thought he might possibly get over the shock in a little time.

"Poor Charlie," continued she, "he's decidedly weak in the head. I should say it's a monomania that he's got. He found this note, I suppose, on Warleigh's table" (offering me the crumpled document to peruse), "and fancied it meant something wrong. Did you ever hear anything so absurd? Boy thought Trumpeter's heart affected, and frightened me dreadfully. I was afraid to say anything to Charlie, because he foretold that we should mismanage the training; and so I thought I would go quietly down with Boy while Charlie was at mess, and look at the horse. 'Tisn't heart, I'm sure; and Trumpeter will win yet. Then, you see, if Charlie doesn't get better, we may have to go home, or something of that sort, before the races come off, Before, in one of his freaks, he said he would shoot himself or something, but I never believed he would really do anything so ridiculous."

I could not complain of want of information such as Mrs. Pemberton could give, and I hastened back to tell what I had learnt to the widow, and to assure her that I saw the strongest ground for hoping that, after all, there was nothing very wrong. And that comfort, I knew, she would convey to Amy without loss of time. But it was not until evening that I became thoroughly reassured about this matter. Then Warleigh came to see me, as I rather expected he would, and fully corroborated all that Mrs. P. had said about the horse and the note.

"I'm sure you didn't misjudge me," said Boy, "before this unlucky scandal came up. You understood why I struck up an intimacy with Mrs. P., and pretended to be absorbed in the training. I may put myself right with you, but I fear that others will never acquit me."

"Others," I replied, "is a comprehensive term, and includes hundreds for whose opinion you do not, I fancy, care a straw. Some others I think I can answer for as already excusing you. Mrs. Vallance, for instance, guessed at the truth of this matter before I could fathom it."

"Really?" said Boy, brightening up. "Do they think it possible that I may be exculpated?

"I can say nothing about any besides the widow. Warleigh, Miss Vallance is, I regret to say, seriously ill; and her sister I have not seen since this rash act of Pemberton's."

"I feared it! I feared it!" cried Warleigh, burying his face in his hands. "God help me! what shall I do? This trial, this miserable scandal, has only convinced me how unalterably I am attached to her. Upon my honor, Colonel, my whole anxiety in the matter has arisen from the thought of what she would think of me - that she would believe me unworthy of her regard."

"Let me ask you, Warleigh," I said,

-

"I have a mo

tive for asking, which may concern you very closely, does nothing but the prospect of poverty prevent you from asking Amy Vallance's hand?"

Nothing, upon my soul! Neither shall that prevent me longer: I will try my luck, by heavens! and if she accept me, be happier than I ever was in my life."

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"This is your abiding sentiment? You are not speaking hastily under the influence of recent excitement ? I am not I mean every word of what I say." The fellow was thoroughly honest, and wild to be off and tell his story at once, which course I thought most unadvis able under the circumstances. Amy, I knew, was too ill to see him, and the whole house so upset, that his appearance there unheralded was by no means desirable. I offered, however, to prepare the way for him; and, after making a long fight to indulge his impatience, he accepted my services. The widow, as you have seen, was quite prepared to receive evidence in extenuation of his conduct; and she did not conceal her delight when I showed her that not only were Charlie Pemberton's recent suspicions unfounded, but that admiration of Mrs. P. had nothing whatever to do with Warleigh's behavior. Then I went on to explain how Boy's affections had previously been fixed elsewhere, and how, impressed by a sense of his unworthiness, he had, when he found where his heart was leading him, withdrawn from the temptation and endeavored to distract his mind; how the attempt to subdue his feelings had been all in vain,

and how I believed he was dying to come and tell his story himself.

Mrs. Vallance replied like a prudent matron. Such a thing could not be thought of at the present moment; Amy was in such a condition that it could not even be mentioned to her; it would be time enough when she should get stronger to hear Mr. Warleigh's exculpation. But I suggested that at the least, as she had heard the scandalous reports, she should be told of their untruth; and the widow promised that this should be done as early as possible. I had no doubt that it would be done quickly, and was sanguine as to the good result of the communication. In the mean time, Boy Warleigh had to season his impatience as best he might. But, whether it was the doctor's skill, or the healing effect of time, or the unexpected news which her mother had to communicate, something exercised a salutary effect on the young lady. The bulletins very soon began to be favorable; Amy was reported to be sitting up, then to be dressed; at length, in three or four days, I saw her in the boudoir looking pale and wasted, but remarkably fair and lovely; and two days after that I was permitted to say to Boy that, the great anxiety of the house having passed away, there remained no reason for sending friends away from the door. Upon this he and I waited on Mrs. Vallance together for Boy thought that this first visit would be less awkward if I were present. We tided over the first meeting without any stiffness, and then Warleigh, insinuating in the broadest manner the hopes which were buoying him up, was very particular in his inquiries as to when he might have the happiness of seeing Amy himself.

"From what you have said," answered Mrs. Vallance, "it is desirable, I think, that you should see her as soon as possible. I will go and ascertain when she will receive you."

And soon returning, she announced that Amy was in the boudoir, and, provided that the interview were short, she thought Mr. Warleigh might be admitted at once. Whereupon Boy sprang to his feet, and the widow, going with him to the door of the room, just introduced him without entering herself. While I was saying something to her about indifferent matters, and watching the pleased expression of her face, Kate came in from the boudoir laughing consciously, and so amused that she would not come up to speak to me, but ran into the window and hid herself behind the curtain, laughing still. Then I laughed, and the widow laughed, each, I presume, knowing pretty well what the other was laughing about; but we went on talking about flowers and new books, and I know not what besides. After no very long interval Mr. Warleigh reentered, his radiant face telling his story; and I, to put an end to the further veiling of a subject which was occupying everybody's mind, spoke out:

Why, Warleigh, such a look as that can be worn by none but an accepted lover; tell us at once that you are one."

"Oh, my dear Colonel, yes - - that is, of course I believe but really, upon my word, I can't say positively that there has been any distinct proposal or acceptance."

A suppressed laugh from behind the window-curtain succeeded this little speech, and the noise didn't seem to compose Boy Warleigh, who went on stammering and looking embarrassed, and who at length said he had better return into the boudoir and obtain a distinct

I

But hereupon Kate came running up to him, saying, "Oh, no, no-you mustn't go back to Amy just now. dare say mamma can act for her in what seems to be a matter of form." And Kate laughed again, and turned away her head. This put an end to all embarrassment. Warleigh told out his tale, and, as you may have expected, did not get a very chilling answer. Later in the day I told Warleigh why I had pressed him so as to any other hindrance except the want of money having induced him to smother his affection. It turned out on settling Bertie Vallance's affairs (which it had taken a long while to do) that he had died in much better circumstances than was at first understood. The girls had each a little fortune of her

own, and after their mother's death they would be rather well off; so things looked bright again in every way. Amy and Kate were seen on horseback, and Warleigh rode with them; and the gossips talked now and nobody interfered with their communications.

Boy did get his leave in April, as he had said he would; but he turned it to a very different account to what he had at first intended. He went home; and Mrs. Vallance and family went home a week or two later.

The Pembertons, when Captain P. got better, went home too; for they found, after the éclat of Charlie's suicidal attempt, that it was impossible to remain on the Rock, and absolutely necessary to change to another station. They went on much in the old style until the Crimean war, when Mrs. P. accompanied her husband to the camp. There, one day, poor Charlie's body, mangled by a shell, was brought in to her; and this sad event terminated her military career. A baronet who met her in her widowhood thought her the most spirited woman he had ever known, and that she had no nonsense about her. In that opinion he married her; but soon after their union he took to drinking and to beating his wife, who, up to the last advices that I heard of her, was leading a most miserable life with him.

The Vallance family did not return to the Rock. After Warleigh's marriage he continued to be quite as popular in the service as he had been before: and when the wars came he distinguished himself as I always expected that he would. He holds a high command now. His wife still lives, and is still handsome. Their daughter is the Miss Warleigh whose marriage to an Indian official of rank was lately announced. She is my goddaughter, too, I beg to say. Kate Vallance married, like her sister, into the service; and finally the widow obtained a very good husband, but I am not the fortunate man.

ABOUT AMBER.

ORNAMENTAL objects, such as beads, made of amber, were at one time held in popular veneration throughout Europe, and till the present day such objects are in great request in Mohammedan countries. Two hundred years ago in Scotland, “Lammer Beads," as they were originally called, were esteemed with a kind of superstitious reverence. The mystery as to the nature and origin of amber was enhanced by its electric properties, and we cannot wonder that this bright yellow and transparent substance inspired a certain degree of awe. We now know all about amber. It is a resinous gum, which, originally in a liquid state, has hardened to the appearance of a precious stone. Amber, however, belongs to a geological period anterior to what now exists, and is found on the shores of the Baltic, in Spain, Africa, and some other quarters. Occasionally pieces are washed up by storms on the eastern coast of England.

A remarkable thing about amber is, that many pieces of it contain a variety of beautifully preserved insects, among which are many entire Diptera (common flies and gnats), Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and cockroaches), Hymenoptera (saw and turnip flies, bees, wasps, and ants), one Lepidoptera (butterfly), and several Coleoptera (beetles). Leaves and stems of plants, and a small shell, are also preserved. All such objects, animal and vegetable, were of course incorporated with the substance when it was in a liquid jelly state. The flies and other creatures had stuck, and could not get away.

When the amber is first found, it is in a very rough state, and can only be detected by a practised eye, and requires to be rubbed down and polished before the curious and beautiful fossils it contains can be seen. Although the communication between the Baltic and the German Ocean is broken by the land of Denmark, and only exists through the island of Zealand, and others which lie between Denmark and Sweden, it is quite possible, and by no means improbable, that currents may have conveyed pieces of