I have offered such interpretations of the mysteries
that confound you, as appear to me authorised
by physiological science. Should you adduce
other facts which physiological science wants the
data to resolve into phenomena always natural,
however rare, still hold fast to that simple saying
of Goethe's,—'Mysteries are not necessarily
miracles.' And, if all which physiological
science comprehends in its experience wholly
fails us, I may then hazard certain conjectures
which, by acknowledging ignorance, is compelled
to recognise the marvellous—- (for, as
where knowledge enters the marvellous recedes,
so where knowledge falters the marvellous
advances)—-  yet still, even in those conjectures, I
will distinguish the marvellous from the supernatural.
But, for the present, I advise you to
accept the guess that may best quiet the fevered
imagination which any bolder guess would only
yet more excite."

"You are right," said I, rising proudly to the
full height of my stature, my head erect and my
heart defying. " And so, let this subject be
renewed no more between us. I will brood
over it no more myself. I regain the
unclouded realm of my human intelligence; and,
in that intelligence, I mock the sorcerer and
disdain the spectre."

ENGLISH LIFE ABROAD.

How I wish somebody would write an honest
faithful book, with the title Where to Live,
and How to Live There. The most passing
glance at any House of Commons' report on
the salaries of officials abroad, will show that
what was deemed once a fair competence, has
now, by the increased cost of every article of
daily use, become a mere pittance. Some five-
and-twenty or thirty years back, the disproportion
between living in England and living on
the Continent was considerable. The operation
of free trade, however, went very far
towards diminishing this interval, and of late the
cities of the Continent have gradually but steadily
grown more costly as residences. I am a sorry
political economist, and will not pretend to
discuss how far the influx of gold from
California and Australia have tended to this
increased cost of life. As little am I tempted by
the inquiry as to whether this result cannot be
traced to an ever increasing prosperity, which
has placed luxuries within the reach of a class
hitherto denied their enjoyment. I am satisfied
to state the fact, and leave its explanation to—-
what is not difficult to find—- heads wiser and
deeper than mine.

I have known the Continent for something
more than a quarter of a century, have lived
in many of its cities, and sojourned in some
of its little visited tracts. I have learned, as
any man may in that time, to form some estimate
of the relative advantages and disadvantages
of different countries—I mean for quiet English
tastes and habits. Had any friend asked me,
for instance—- say in eighteen hundred and thirty-
five or six—- to select for him the city in which
to reside with his family, with a little knowledge
of his object in coming abroad, whether for
economy, pleasure, educational facilities, or that
wider range of view which new scenes, new
people, and a new language unquestionably
present, I could, without difficulty, have indicated
to him the suitable locality. In the cities
of France, Germany, and Italy, there was always
a wide choice, and the greatest votary of amusement,
the most zealous searcher after improvement,
or the most eager in pursuit of economy,
must have found somewhere what he sought for.

Directing myself in the present paper to one
single category—that of those who are financially
interested in the choice of a residence—I