observations gave it a velocity of seventy
thousand nine hundred and forty-eight leagues—of
twenty-five to a degree—in a second of time.

Subsequently, Arago's project, which had
gone no further, in consequence of his failing
sight, was. with his permission, realised by
Messieurs Fizeau and Bréguet, and also by M.
Foucault, with complete success. Their
observations confirmed the Undulatory, and were
opposed to the Corpuscular, theory of light.
M. Foucault also ascertained that light travels
less quickly through water than it does through
air. The intelligence and skill applied to these
experiments (especially through the agency of
M. Foucault's apparatus) have led to almost
incredible results. They have rendered sensible—
measurable—even the time employed by light to
traverse a distance of twenty metres (something
more than twenty yards), although that time
barely reaches one fifteen-millionth part of a
second!

A VERY GRAND DUCHY.

SCHWEINFETT, capital of the Grand-Duchy of
Würstenberg, is a small town lying out of the
usual track of our travelling countrymen, and
offering no possible attraction to sight-seers.
The only Englishmen who visit it are Queen's
messengers and private friends of the British
minister. Politically, it is an important nucleus
of intrigues and movements; the Schweinfetter
Weekly Journal is the organ of the genuine
German party: at Schweinfelt are constant
meetings of that party, attended by Prussian
and Austrian emissaries, who take down the
proceedings in short-hand, and telegraph them
to their governments. Much pressure is
excercised on the Grand-Duke of Würstenberg to
make him withdraw his protection from the
newspaper and its party. But the grand-duke,
eccentric in other ways, is doubly so in the eyes
of his fellow-princes as an advocate of perfect
liberty. The result is, that the very name of
Schweinfett communicates an odour like that of
lucifer-matches, to the nostrils of neighbouring
potentates. The people of Würstenberg care little
either way. So long as the opera goes on, and
the military bands perform in front of the
palace, they of the capital are contented. The
square in front of the palace is kept free, by
general consent, from political manifestations,
and the inhabitants of it cause the obnoxious
papers to be delivered at their back doors.
What happens in the market-place is indifferent
to the grand-duke.

Nothing happens there in the way of
commerce. The town is supported by the court,
and does not seek more vulgar customers. The
sleepy streets only wake up when carriages
of the aristocracy drive through them, and
certain shops do not open their doors to any
customers who are not provided with a regular
introduction. As the whole town consists of
the palace square and five or six streets
besides the market-place, there is no difficulty
in finding your way; but the loyal inhabitants
have stuck up at every corner a hand
pointing "To the Palace," with much the same
aspirations as the Empress Catherine when she
planted her guide-post labelled "The Way to
Constantinople." Of course the simple citizens
are not admitted to the exclusive privileges.
But at every ball and every grand dinner there
is a gallery for lookers-on, and tickets may be
had for asking.

"The society here," said Sir Hercules Fitzgig,
BritishEnvoy Extraordinary to the Court of
Würstenberg, on the first day of my visit to him, "is
considered very good, and is fenced about with
many restrictions. No family is admitted without
due proofs of its pedigree, which must be
examined and reported on by the crown lawyers.
No family, any member of which has been in any
profession but the army, or has made money in
any way that can be called legitimate trading,
can be admitted without long formalities and a
perfect process of purification. Every family
must have had at least one duel in the last two
generations. No one may have his teeth drawn
by any but the court dentist. I spare you the
further recital. You will find a copy of the
laws, as approved by the grand-duke, in one of
my private despatches at the Foreign Office."

"When we're in," I said, "I shall ask our
foreign secretary to let me see them."

"Well, you see that we are very exclusive, and
we pride ourselves on the purity of our blood.
This, however, has not prevented many great
scandals. At the present moment the very core
of society is split up into two camps;—the Wasch-
Mugdorff faction and the Perkenstein faction. The
origin of the quarrel is very trivial, but the two
factions hate each other to the death. Anything
you can say to a lady of one faction against the
ladies of the other, is the surest road to that lady's
favour. I will tell you the histories of the ladies."

"Let me get well up in their names."

"You will have no difficulty in doing that.
You are to hand the Countess Perkenstein to
dinner to-day, therefore you must avoid all
mention of the bath you have just come from,
as her husband lost all her money there, and
didn't shoot himself. The factions hang
together like clans, and so you must not talk of
English politics, because that might be a reflection
on the young Baroness Hohlezahn, who
took a violent fit of Anglomania in order to catch
one of my attachés, and failed. You must not
breathe a syllable about the clause of legitimate
trading, as that would be fatal to M. de Pott,
who made money in business, and was only
admitted to this court because he proved that his
trading had been not legitimate. You must avoid
these things particularly. On the other hand, you
may cut the whole Wasch-Mugdorff faction to
shreds; beginning with the chief of it. Every
sarcasm you can expend on her will be delicious
to the Perkenstein. You may have heard of
Madame Wasch-Mugdorff; she is the original of
that story of the lady who, having been divorced
three times, was put down to whist with her
three former husbands. Here you have a capital