Commons seemed to forget her infamy in her wit," and the other was not a singularly defenceless woman. She did not fail to give a picture of her adversary sufficiently repulsive. His mind and his person she treated with equal severity,-his pen she likened to a stiletto.

But even what has been already quoted and remarked upon was not sufficient, Mr. D'Israeli proceeds to show the noble and humane occupations of the character he has thus unsparingly visited:

"Mr. Rigby had been shut up much at his villa of late. He was concocting, you could not term it composing, "a very slashing article," which was to prove that the penny postage must be the destruction of the aristocracy. It was a grand subject treated in his highest style. His parallel portraits of Rowland Hill, the conqueror of Almarez, and Rowland Hill, the deviser of the cheap postage, was enormously fine. It was full of passages in italics; little words in great capitals; and almost drew tears. The statistical details also were highly interesting and novel. Several of the old postmen, both twopenny and general, who had been in office with himself, and who were inspired with an equal zeal against that spirit of reform of which they had alike been victims, supplied him with information which nothing but a breach of ministerial duty could have furnished. The prophetic peroration as to the irresistible progress of democracy was almost as powerful as one of Rigby's speeches on Aldborough or Amersham. There never was a fellow for giving a good hearty kick to the people like Rigby. Himself sprung from the dregs of the populace, this was disinterested. What could be more patriotic and magnanimous than his Jeremiads over the fall of the Montmorencis and the Crillons, or the possible catastrophe of the Percys and the Manners. The truth of all this hullaballoo was that Rigby had a sly pension, which by an inevitable association of ideas he always connected with a maintenance of an aristocracy. All his rigmarole dissertations on the French Revolution were impelled by this secret influence: and when he wailed over 'la guerre aux châteaux,' and moaned like a mandrake over Nottingham Castle in flames, the rogue had an eye all the while to quarterday."

The importance of "Coningsby" mainly consists in its powerful advocacy and promulgation of a new political creed. It treats with like scorn the Whigs, who as sailed the ancient constitution of England, and the old Tories who failed successfully to defend it. The exclusive constitution, "for which our forefathers fought and bled," was no more. After the changes made between 1827 and 1882, the Whigs

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

We have heard a great deal about New Zealand, and South Australia, and Sydney, but there is a colony in their immediate vicinity of which we have been long in the dark. Some fifteen years ago, and in the early days of Australian colonisation, a spot on the western coast of the great continent of New Holland, called Swan River, was the favoured resort of emigrants, and for two or three years continued so. Then we were suddenly told it was a complete failure, and from that time until very recently we have heard nothing more of the place, and been left uninformed whether the settlers who had proceeded thither had returned in disappointment and disgust, remained in bankruptcy and ruin, or died by starvation or the spears of the natives. After this long interval of uncertainty, it has afforded us much pleasure to perceive of late in several of the papers, accounts of the progress of the colony (which has extended itself, and is now known as Western Australia) very different to what we had been led to expect to find, in short, that instead of being a miserable failure, it is the most prosperous and solvent of the Australian colonies: and its settlers, instead of having returned or been ruined, or starved, or eaten by cannibals, are pushing on, with industry and perseverance, to wealth and prosperity. The question then arises, what has been the cause of this long silence? Perhaps "Deeds, not Words," have been their motto; and while their neighbours at New Zealand and

South Australia were calling upon the public to see how rapidly they were getting on, the enterprising settlers in the west were quietly outstripping them; or, at least, silently, and without empty boasting, were laying that sure foundation for national prosperity which others, intent only on making present appearance, overlooked. Be it as it may, Western Australia has, it cannot be denied, been a silent colony: and although her silence did not invite any great influx of emigrants, and consequently, in that respect, retarded her progress, it is now beginning to become apparent that the settlers have spent their time in a more useful course than inviting others to assist them, by doing their work-and doing it well-themselves. Wool, oil, and whalebone-the staple products of all Australia-are also, at present, the principal exports of her Western colony; but, besides these, wine, olive oil, timber, and dried fruits are talked of. The former seems likely to be exported without much delay, as the vine is already under very systematic and increasing cultivation, and is particularly favoured by the soil and climate. The supply of native mahogany, possessing the rare recommendations for ship-building purposes, of not corroding, and of rejecting barnacles, is declared to be inexhaustible, and the colonists are making preparations to ship an experimental cargo. The Zante currant is also under preparation to a considerable extent, and some valuable varieties which are found in only one or two of the Greek islands flourish luxuriantly in this colony. Of the branches of agriculture, grain and green crops are very prolific, and the climate is favourable to the breed of horses and of cattle. Of the former, an export is shortly expected to take place for the supply of the Indian cavalry; of the latter an export has already been commenced to the Mauritius. China clay, lime-stone, and iron ore are all found in large quantities in the soil, but at present have not been exported.

This is a very satisfactory and pleasing prospect; the colony appears to possess intrinsically the means of wealth: and when we glance upon the mass, we can readily appreciate the facilities which its geographical situation affords for the full development of those means. In close proximity to the other Australian colonieswithin about three weeks' sail of India, China, and the Mauritius, and a month's of the Cape of Good Hope-the nearest to England of all the sister settlements-Western Australia certainly enjoys a most eligible situation; the centre port of our Indian and Australasian possessions, and an excellent half-way depôt of the projected line of steamers between Anglo-India and

Australasia. But perhaps its greatest recommendation is its genial climate. Epidemics are declared by Drs. Crichton, the colonial surgeon, and Johnson, of Her Majesty's ship "Sulphur," to be unknown; and Drs. Milligen of the 6th Dragoons, and Ferguson, of Australind, and Messrs W. H. Sholl and W. P. Dineley--all surgeons of varied experience-concur in stating that "the climate is unequalled for salubrity." In Western Australia soil and climate appear to have combined to give facilities for the cultivation by Europeans of the vine, currant, and olive, the manufacture of wool, the pursuits of agriculture, and the breeding of stock; and in no other part of our foreign possessions, we believe, does such a combination exist. Where the climate is favourable to Englishmen, the soil rejects cultivation, and where the soil is productive, the climate is found injurious to the cultivator, The emigrants who plant the cane in our West India colonies, and add to our national wealth by the manufacture of sugar, constantly fall victims to the terrible climate, and our countrymen in the East engaged in the Indian, indigo, and other trades, are subject to the same destroyer of their constitutions. New Zealand is capable of yielding flax and other products, but its raw atmosphere is most distressing to Europeans. South Australia and Sydney could be made to export wool in great quantities were not the droughts with which those colonies are so often visited, most destructive and fatal to the sheep. British North America would be a most valuable and productive dependency, but the rigours of its climate prevent Europeans from turning its resources to account. On the other hand, the climates of Guernsey and Jersey are said to be favourable to Englishmen, but what do these islands produce? Nothing! the soil is miserably barren. In fact, we are not aware even of any foreign country, distinguished alike for a prolific soil and a genial climate, but, if there be, Englishmen generally prefer emigrating to a dependency of their own government, where they are subject to English law, where the English language is spoken, and where they are surrounded by English faces; and, therefore, it is a happy combination which Western Australia so exclusively enjoys, and one which cannot fail, ere long, to consummate her prosperity, that soil and climate should contribute to her colonisation, and favour both the cultivators and the cultivation.

We hope to hear a continuation of the favourable accounts which have been received from this colony, and we shall not fail to communicate to our readers their principal points of interest; at all events, what we have already stated will, no doubt,

disabuse a large portion of the public mind, as the general impression appears long to have been that Swan River or Western Australia was a total failure.

HENRY DE LORRAINE, THE LAST DUKE OF GUISE.

"If the history of the Duke of Guise be true, he hazarded more, and performed not less, than Almaneo is feigned to have done in Grenada." Dryden.

"The Duke's life needs few additions from invention to make it resemble a romance."- Bayle.

To separate the history of the Duke of Guise from the politics of his day is impossible. It will be attempted, however, to give more of his personal adventures in his political enterprises, than has appeared in most of the notices of that extraordinary

man.

Tyranny had goaded the people of Naples to madness, and in their delirium they rose against their oppressors, but, unhappily, chose for their leader Massaniello, a fisherman, who appeared to have been as mad as themselves. The aristocracy were assailed, and many lives were lost. Don Caraffa, the brother of the Duke de Matalone, made an attempt at the head of a lawless band, to put down the insurrection and shoot its chief. It failed, and Don Joseph being seized, was being dragged before Massaniello when a butcher named Michael de Santis struck off his head with a cleaver, Thirty of his companions had been slain, and a scaffold being erected in the market place, and the heads of the dead bandits elevated on pikes were made to encircle it. On this scaffold, dressed as a sailor, Massaniello appeared. He ordered the head of the unfortunate Caraffa to be brought to him, and accosted it in the language of brutal mockery, whilst the infuriated crowd applauded the performance from below.

This is but a faint sample of the horrors witnessed in Naples during the brief day of Massaniello's authority. He was at best but a poor ignorant wretch, and, beyond all doubt, he was insane. "I feel," said this miserable being, "a weight like boiling lead in my head, but the Virgin and saints appear to me every night, and promise me their protection. I have assured the people that I will give them freedom, and they shall be free." On the tenth day of his strange exaltation he was killed in the cloisters of the Church del Cannine. All his ill-chosen ruffianly officers proved faithless to him. Looking at the extravagances he committed, it could hardly have been otherwise, and he was shot like a mad dog.

The death of this maniac did but restore momentarily tranquillity to the excited

Neapolitans. Four days after his exit from the stage, a new insurrection broke out, and a leader still more contemptible than the illiterate fisherman was found in Germano Aunese, the gunsmith. The populace felt that their cause could not triumph without foreign aid, and envoys were sent to Rome, and France, and other countries, craving immediate aid. In this state of things Henry de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, thought the troubles of Naples opened a field for him, in which he might act a splendid part, and probably raise himself to a throne. He was the representative of a daring race, who had often been found most formidable to the peace of France. Young, handsome, and brave-renowned as a favourite with the ladies, he had, besides, the gift of eloquence and a noble bearing, which seemed to fit him for the highest flights to which measureless ambition urge a daring mind. In early life he was destined for the church, and at the age of fifteen promoted to the archbishopric of Rheims; but on the death of his brother, the Prince de Joinville, in 1639, he hastened to throw off his ecclesiastical character, to pursue a course better suited to an ardent and daring mind, and when his father died in the following year, he succeeded to the peerage. His joy at having escaped from a monastery would seem to have more than outweighed his grief for the death of such near relatives, and few have attained high rank and large possessions with a keener relish for the enjoyments which these offer than Henry de Lorraine.

He was not long before he deemed it essential to the dignity of his character to become a lover. The Duke saw Anne de Gonzogne, daughter to the Duke of Nevers and Mantua, and became deeply enamoured of her beauty. He gained the affection of the lady.

"She drank delicious poison from his eye;" Poison to her happiness, at least for a time, for the ever active intriguing spirit of Henry having led him to join a conspiracy formed against Richelieu by the Count de Soissons, the Duke de Bouillon, and others, which was supported and fomented by agents from Spain; on a discovery taking place in 1641, he was forced to seek safety in flight. Then was the generous devotion of Anne made conspicuous, but only to meet with a most unworthy reward. She gave up her friends and country to share the wanderings and perils of her lover. She followed him in male attire. Arriving in Flanders, Anne hastened to seek him, affectionately eager to console him under the disgrace and sorrow which had come over him, for he had been doomed to death for treason, and his property was confiscated. Mighty love regarded not these matters. To her he was all the world, and she believed herself

preferred by him to every breathing mortal. What was the grief and mortification of Anne at the close of her toilsome journey, to find not merely that he was wooing but that he was actually married to another. Shocked and disgusted at his falsehood, indignation enabled her to act with becoming resolution. She immediately withdrew from the ingrate, and returned to France.

(To be continued.)

CULTIVATION OF THE TEA-PLANT

BY THE ENGLISH.

It is well for the celestial empire that the trade carried on with England is of such trifling importance to China as not to weigh in the estimation of the emperor and his sage advisers “the down of a fea. ther," as we deem it more than probable that ere long we shall be able to treat the people of the flowery empire with as good a cup of tea as they can grow for themselves. This will no doubt surprise the mandarins of all sorts of buttons, though in the matter of war they have no longer to learn that English barbarians can "give them as good as they can send."

Dr. Royle has recently laid before the Royal Asiatic Society an important exposition of what may be expected from an attempt to raise tea in England. He has shown that "in ascending from the forestclad bases of the Himalaya, to their summits covered with eternal snows, we meet with almost every variety of climate that is encountered in proceeding from the equator to the poles, so there would appear to be no difficulty in finding congenial climates for the tea-plant, especially as in these mountains are found genera such as camellia, eurya, and cleyera, allied to the teas, as well as other Chinese genera, such as Deutzia, Houttuynia, Stauntonia, Kadsura, Hovenia

On these grounds Dr. Royle in 1827, and again in 1831, recommended to the East India Company the cultivation of the tea plant; and in the latter year," the India Government, with the sanction of the Court of Directors, determined upon attempting the cultivation of tea in India. A committee was formed, and reports called for. Dr. Falconer, in reply, recommended the same tract of country as Dr. Royle had done, in a report which is remarkable for coincidence in argument and opinion with that at the same time published by Dr. Royle, though the two must have crossed each other in their passage to and from India. Mr. Gordon was sent with Mr. Gutzlaff to obtain seeds, and as much information as possible from the tea districts of China, together with some tea manufacturers. They visited the Ankoy Tea Hills,

obtained a considerable quantity of seeds, and made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Bohea Tea Hills, when they were recalled in consequence of the discovery of the tea-plant of Assam.

"The seeds obtained by Mr. Gordon having been sent to Calcutta, and sown in the Botanic Garden, numbers vegetated, though many failed. Nurseries having been established both in Assam and in Kemaon and Sirmore, at elevations of from 2000 to 7500 feet, seedlings were sent, but of 12,000 sent to Assam, only 500 arrived alive, and of 10,000 sent to N. W. India, only 1326 reached the hills in the beginning of the year 1836. In December, 1838, Dr. Falconer wrote to Dr. R. that the tea-plant was thriving vigorously in two, and had flowered in three, of the above nurseries. On the 21st April, 1841, Dr. Falconer reported that from the 500 plants originally introduced into the Kemaon nurseries, 5000 had been produced from layers, and from the seeds ripened. Many of them had grown to the size of bushy shrubs, about five feet high.

"In 1842, nine Chinese tea-manufacturers who had been in Assam, were sent to the tea-nurseries of Kemaon and Gurhwal. They united in declaring that the tea-plants of the Kemaon plantations were the genuine cultivated Chinese plant, and far superior to that grown in Assam, but that they required cutting down before they would be in the best state for yielding good tealeaves. On the 12th Oct., Dr. Jameson, who succeeded to the charge on Dr. Falconer having been obliged to leave from ill health, wrote, "The tea-plantations in the Deyrah Doon and in Kemaon are thriving admirably.'

"In the early part of last year some tea was prepared from the above plants by the Chinamen. On 20th Jan., a portion was sent to Calcutta, and a small canister to Dr. Royle at the India House. The former was reported on, on the 11th of May, by members of the Chamber of Commerce, and stated to be a very good marketable article, and valued in London at about 2s. 6d. per lb.; and the specimen sent to London, was, on the 23rd May, 1843, reported on by Messrs. Thompson, and pronounced to be of the Oolong Souchong kind, fine flavoured and strong, equal to the superior black teas generally sent as presents, and better, for the most part, than the China teas imported for mercantile purposes.

"Dr. Falconer having brought a specimen of tea from Kemaon, submitted it to Messrs. Ewart, Maccaughey, and Co., of Copthall-court, who report, 8th Sept., 1843, that it resembles most nearly the description occasionally imported from China under the name of Oolong; it is not so high flavoured as the fine Oolong tea; it has been