end of a house. The gutta-percha paper
confines the damp within the wall, at least,
and compels it to evaporate externally, if at
all. It thoroughly intercepts, if it cannot
cure, a very great evil; and it will, no doubt,
be in extensive use till all men are too sensible
to have any damp corners in their houses
at all.

CHIPS.

AN EQUESTRIAN MIRACLE.

THE following passage is quoted from the
account of an unsuccessful search for Choughs
in Cornwall, in an article headed "If this
should meet his Eye." *

"A cavalier, after dinner, one day, betted that he
would ride to the Land's End next morning. So,
he mounted and got thus far. The shuddering
horse turned and backed. The rider just saw the
horse's hind feet going over the brink, threw himself
off in agony, and escaped. The animal perished,
and the last print of the clinging hoof is kept fresh
by the guides. What an act of horsemanship to
witness! This happened not many years ago, though
the biped performer is since dead."

We have great pleasure in contradicting,
on the unquestionable authority of General
Sir Robert Arbuthnot, the courageous
equestrian himself, the statement conveyed in the
Iast period of this paragraph. That
distinguished gentleman has been good enough
to give us his own version of his performance.

"Having read in various publications
erroneous statements of my miraculous escape at
"the Land's End," when the horse I was
riding fell over a cliff upwards of four
hundred feet high, I have put on paper, at
the request of a few friends, a true account of
the transaction.

"In June 1804, when captain in a dragoon
regiment and aide de camp to General Wilford,
who was stationed at Falmouth, I attended
him on an inspection of a yeomanry corps at
Penzance. The day after the inspection, the
general with a party proceeded to the Land's
End on an excursion of pleasure; and, after
taking refreshment at a house known by
the name of "The First and Last House in
England," three of the party, consisting of
myself, Lieutenant Cubit of the Royal Artillery,
and a clergyman who resided at Mazarion,
preceded the others; and, on arriving at the
top of the slope reaching down to the
extremity of the Land's End—on each side of
which was a steep precipice—I perceived that
the grass was short and slippery; and, although
a dragoon officer, I did not think it prudent
to ride down; but my two companions being
of a different opinion, did so, while I followed
them leading my horse. After remaining a
short time at the bottom, we mounted to
rejoin the general; who had, with his party,
reached the spot whence we had started,
and were astonished—especially the general—
at seeing me at the bottom of the hill
and terrified at what afterwards occurred.
Although I did not think it prudent to ride
down, I fancied there could be no danger in
riding up, and accordingly I mounted; but
we had not proceeded far when my mare—
a very spirited animal—became unruly,
in consequence of the girths of the saddle
going back, and she began to kick and plunge,
inclining to the precipice on the right.
Although in imminent danger, I did not happily
lose my presence of mind, and I threw myself
off when not more than four feet from the
edge of the cliff. Mine was a hussar saddle, and
the bridle having a whip at the end of it, I
threw it over the mare's head, and was able
to keep hold of it and to check her so as to
prevent her kicking me. When she turned
with her back to the cliff I let go, and she fell
down and was dashed to pieces, leaving me
on the ground close to the edge of the cliff.
A person went down in a basket and brought
up the shattered saddle and bridle, which a
saddler at Penzance begged me to give him
that he might hang it a the door of his
shop.

"Many accounts of the event were circulated,
but this is the true one."

* Vol. IV. page 600.

SOMETHING NEW.

"BE careful to ask for the Universal
Magazine!" Thus, in 1747, was announced the
first appearance of a new and startling
publication, "price sixpence, to be published
monthly by Act of Parliament,"

The title page alone, not to speak of the
elaborate frontispiece, was well worth the
money. The former set forth, in three
very long rows, what the Universal Magazine
of Knowledge and Pleasure contained;
beginning with News and ending with
Architecture. Moreover the author, as the worthy
superintendent called himself, kept his word;
was not this as much as man could desire,
upwards of a century ago? Have we, more
now, in these days of cheap serials? And can
we produce such a picture to seduce and
encourage the reader as that which adorns
the volume now lying before us, on this
rainy day in June, in an antique library, the
shelves of which groan with a rich collection
of this evidently highly successful Universal?
There sits the author at his writing table,
with long slender crooked legs; books to be
reviewed; foolscap paper, ink and pens are
under his hand. An attendant stands—
accurately in the third position—offering him
a volume; while another reaches one from a
bookcase. But he heeds not the invitation;
his thoughts, as well as his eyes, are bent
upon a descending genius in the shape of
Mercury, from whose caduceus flies a flag,
inscribed with the name of the new periodical.