who galloped their steeds about, for our approval.
Being a heavy weight, my first selection was
a very handsome bay Persian, which seemed
suited to me in every way, and was so quiet
that I put a saddle on him, and rode him
in the evening through the different streets of
the fair. As we rode quietly along, we came
upon Sheik Abdool, the Arab dealer, with his
string of sons of the desert, picketed in line, all
too slight for me, and moreover too heavily
priced, a hundred and fifty pounds being a common
limit for a little animal standing only fourteen,
hands one inch. These horses are,
however, wonderful for their pluck and hardiness,
and will carry a great deal more weight than
they seem equal to. Here, are two gigantic
Persian horses, iron grey, and a perfect pair,
with silver bracelets or bangles on their legs,
which jingle musically at every movement; they
are covered over with trappings of velvet and
silver, and will make glorious chargers for some
pageant-loving native prince. Way there, for
the Rajah of Doulutpore! He comes seated on
his tusker elephant, with silver howdah (or
castle), preceded by footmen and outriders
dressed in their holiday best. We have to get
under the lee of some tents, to allow his highness
to pass, and he looks down with supreme contempt
on Europeans. In different parts of the
fair we made fresh purchases, and great was
our satisfaction for the time present; but, on
my return to the hills, I found that horse-jockeying
was not confined to Yorkshire. My
beautiful Persian dwindled down to half his size, and
fell lame on all four legs, and I was glad to sell
for about two pounds, he having cost me thirty.

The fair generally lasts about ten days, but
on the occasion of my visit the cholera broke
out, and suddenly scattered the pilgrims to the
four winds. It was reported by the government
officials that about a million of people had
assembled on this anniversary, and, seeing that
not the slightest attempt at any sanitary
precautions had been made, the outbreak of a
pestilence was not much to be wondered at.

THE BIRDS' PETITION.

SIR ROBIN REDBREAST, K.G. (Knight of the
Garden), having taken, by acclamation of wings,
the chair, Mr. Secretary Screech-Owl opened
the meeting by putting on a pair of blue
spectacles to soften the garish light of day. He
then shook from his pinion a quill, which furnished
the pen wherewith to report the proceedings;
which proceedings proved unanimous,
although some of the votes were given by proxy,
as several members were unavoidably absent.

Mr. Tawny Owl (cousin-germain to the
secretary) happened to be in deep affliction at the
tragical fate of his missing wife, whose remains
he had only that morning recognised nailed
against a stable door. Indignant at the cruelty,
he was quite unfitted for calm deliberation; he
did nothing but frantically exclaim, "What fools
men are! What ignorant asses! They might
just as well gibbet every one of their cats, as
gibbet myself or my innocent partner!" His
friends, therefore, advised him to remain at home
and attend to the wants of his four half-fledged
motherless owlets. Their cupboard now will be
scantily furnished; "but," as he wisely remarked,
"half a mouse is better than no meat."

Cock Sparrow, Esq., could not leave The
Eaves (his ancestral residence, commanding a
fine view from an airy situation), because the
interesting situation of the Hon. Mrs. Sparrow
would not admit of an hour's delay in the
construction of their second nest; but he forwarded
for inspection, as his testimonial, the wing-cases
of seven hundred cockchafers, which, besides
numberless larvae and caterpillars, had been
consumed in the rearing of his first spring brood.

The manifestation agreed to was this:

"We, certain small and middle-sized birds,
some of us permanent residents, others of us
alternately domiciled in Europe and Africa, and
now in open-air public meeting assembled, without
the permission of the Right Worshipful the
Mayor, do hereby present our humble petition
to the High and Mighty Senate of the Empire
of France:

"We beg to inform you, Messieurs les
Sénateurs, that there exist in France several thousand
species of insects, all endowed with frightful
fecundity, and almost all living exclusively at
the expense of valuable vegetable productions.
The sturdy oak, the ornamental elm, the fir, the
pine, the precious olive, and the still more
precious vine, languish when they do not die
outright—from the attacks of hosts whose legions are
marshalled under standards inscribed LUCANUS,
CERAMBYX, SCOTYLUS, SCARABÆUS,
PHILÆOTRIBUS, DACUS, PYRALUS, PHALÆNA, and other
barbaric mottoes, which the most voluble starling
amongst us cannot pronounce.

"Wheat and other corn plants are ravaged at
the root by the grub of the cockchafer; in the bud,
by the cecidomyx; in the grain, by the weevil.
Cruciferous plants, such as colza and turnips,
are destroyed as soon as they are out of the
ground, by one set of parasites, while other insect
foes await the formation of the pod to take up
their lodging in it, and feed on its contents.
Peas, beans, and lentils, are like the candle which
an unthrifty housekeeper burns at both ends; at
top their fruit is cleaned out by grubs; at bottom
the vital sap is intercepted by underground and
burrowing insects. Your petitioners do not go
so far as to say that, in every field, the insects
eat everything; but, after the insects have taken
their tithe, the farmer has still a further tithe to
pay to mice, rats, and the innumerable small
extortioners who, after a joyous summer in the
field, take up their winter quarters in the barn.

"The loss occasioned to the wheat, in one
single year, in one department of the east of
France, by one sole species of larvae, is estimated
at one hundred and sixty thousand pounds, at
the very least. To this insect, are attributed
the scanty harvests of the three years which
preceded 1856. In certain fields, the loss
amounted to nearly half the crop. Out of
twenty pods of colza, taken at hazard, and