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THE GATHERER.

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Dramatis Personae.—­The stages and theatres of the Greeks and Romans were so immense, that the actors, to be heard, were obliged to have recourse to metallic masks, contrived with tremendous mouths, in order to augment the natural sound of the voice.  This mask was called by the Latins persona, from personare (to sound through); and delineations of such masks as were used in each piece were generally prefixed to it,(as we now prefix the names of the characters in our modern plays), as appears from the Vatican Terence.  Hence dramatis personae (masks of the drama); which words, after masks ceased to be used, were understood to mean persons of the drama.

J.E.J.

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Punctuality.—­The late hospitable Colonel Bosville had his dinner on the table exactly two minutes before five o’clock, and no guest was admitted after that hour; for he was such a determined observer of punctuality, that when the clock struck five, his porter locked the street-door, and laid the key at the head of the dinner-table.  The time kept by the clock in the kitchen, the parlour, and the drawing-room, and the watch of the master, were minutely the same.  That the dinner was ready, was not announced to the guests in the usual way; but when the clock struck, this superlative time-keeper himself declared to his guests, “Dinner waits.”  Boileau, the French satirist, has a shrewd observation on this subject:  “I have always been punctual at the hour of dinner,” says the bard, “for I knew that all those whom I kept waiting at that provoking interval would employ those unpleasant moments to sum up all my faults.”

THOMAS GILL.

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Volcanoes.—­According to Dr. Ure, there were, in 1830, 205 burning volcanoes on the globe.  Of these, 107 occur in islands, and 98 on continents, but ranged mostly along their shores.

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Former Junction of England and France.—­From the correspondence pointed out by Mr. William Phillips, the geologist, between the strata of Dover and the hills west of Calais; and by M. de la Beche, between the strata of the coast of Dorset and Devon, and those of Normandy, it may be inferred that the English Channel is a submarine valley, which owes its origin in a great measure to diluvial excavation, the opposite sides having as much correspondence as those of ordinary valleys on the land.

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Soldiers.—­English soldiers were at one period distinguished by badges, like those worn by watermen.  The general colour of their dresses appears to have been white; though, in 1544, a part of the forces of Henry VIII. were ordered to be dressed in blue coats, guarded with red, without badges, the right hose red, and the left blue.  In 1584, Elizabeth ordered the cassocks of the soldiers sent to Ireland to be a sad green, or russet; though the cloaks of the cavalry were red.  In 1693, the dresses of the soldiers were grey, and those of the drummers purple; but the red uniform was probably adopted when the House of Hanover acceded to the throne.