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HIGH PRICE OF COALS IN LONDON.

Much has frequently been said of the monopoly of coal-owners; “but,” observes Mr. Macculloch, “we are satisfied, after a pretty careful investigation of the circumstances, that no such monopoly has ever existed; and that the high price of coal in the metropolis is to be ascribed wholly to the various duties and charges that have been laid upon it, from the time that it has passed from the hands of the owner, to the time that it is lodged in the cellar of the consumer.”—­Dict.  Commerce, &c. 1832.

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ROASTING COFFEE.

Coffee in this country is rarely well roasted; and in this consists its chief excellence.  Dr. Moseley long since observed—­“The roasting of the berry to a proper degree requires great nicety:  the virtue and agreeableness of the drink depend upon it; and both are often injured by the ordinary method.  Bernier says, when he was at Cairo, where coffee is so much used, he was assured by the best judges, that there were only two people in that great city who understood how to prepare it in perfection.  If it be underdone, its virtues will not be imparted, and, in use, it will load and oppress the stomach; if it be overdone, it will yield a flat, burnt, and bitter taste, its virtues will be destroyed, and, in use, it will heat the body, and act as an astringent.”  The desirable colour of roasted coffee is that of cinnamon.  Coffee-berries readily imbibe exhalations from other bodies, and thereby acquire an adventitious and disagreeable flavour.  Sugar placed near coffee will, in a short time, so impregnate the berries as to injure their flavour.  Dr. Moseley mentions, that a few bags of pepper, on board a ship from India, spoiled a whole cargo of coffee.

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THE GATHERER.

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History of “The Merry Devil of Edmonton” and “The Witch of Edmonton.”—­Lysons, in his Environs of London, says, “There is a fable (says Norden) of one Peter Fabell, that lyeth in Edmonton church, who is said to have beguiled the devell by policie for money; but the devell is deceit itselfe, and hardly deceived.”—­“Belike (says Weever) he was some ingenious, conceited gentleman, who did use some sleightie tricks for his own disport.  He lived and died in the reign of Henry the Seventh, says the book of his merry pranks.”  The book Weever refers to is a pamphlet, now very scarce, called “The Life and Death of the Merry Devil of Edmonton, with the Pleasant Pranks of Smug the Smith, &c." These pleasant pranks compose the greater part of the book, which informs us that Peter Fabell was born at Edmonton, and lived and died there in the reign of Henry VII.  He is called “an