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FRENCH NOVELS.

When last in Paris we were curious to know wherefore M. Jouy had written such exceptionable and abominable stuff as his last novel; and the gentleman to whom we addressed ourselves, answered, in a light lively vein; “Oh!  M. Jouy has a name, and the booksellers pay well; and as they are very stupid, and depend on names for the sale of their books, he wrote down the first matter that came into his head.”—­Foreign Review.

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AMBER.

Polangen, the frontier town of Russia, is famous for its trade in amber.  This substance is found by the inhabitants on the coast, between Polangen and Pillau, either loosely on the shore, on which it has been thrown by the strong north and westerly winds, or in small hillocks of sand near the sea, where it is found in regular strata.  The quantity found yearly in this manner, and on this small extent of coast, besides what little is sometimes discovered in beds of pit coal in the interior of the country, is said to amount to from 150 to 200 tons, yielding a revenue to the government of Prussia of about 100,000 francs.  As amber is much less in vogue in Western Europe than in former times, the best pieces, which are very transparent, and frequently weigh as much as three ounces, are sent to Turkey and Persia, for the heads of their expensive pipes and hookahs.  Very few trinkets are now sold for ornaments to ladies’ dresses; and the great bulk of amber annually found is converted into a species of scented spirits and oil, which are much esteemed for the composition of delicate varnish.  In the rough state, amber is sold by the ton, and forms an object of export trade from Memel and Konigsberg.—­Granville’s Travels in Russia.

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The head of the late Dr. Gall has been taken off agreeably to his wishes, and dissected and dried for the benefit of science.

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MUSICAL TALENT.

All the principal Italian composers were in flower about the age of twenty-five.  There is scarcely an instance of a musician producing his chef-d’oeuvre after the age of thirty.  Rossini was not twenty when he composed his Tancredi, and his Italiana in Algieri.

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The most important principle perhaps in life is to have a pursuit—­a useful one if possible, and at all events an innocent one.  The unripe fruit tree of knowledge is, I believe, always bitter or sour; and scepticism and discontent—­sickness of the mind—­are often the results of devouring it.—­Sir Humphry Davy.

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COFFIN OF KING DUNCAN.