and
four years were generally consumed in a mission from one capital to
another; and, indeed, it happened more than once, that even after
arriving within the dominions of the Frankish monarchs, the envoys had
still to seek him over a tract nearly as extensive as that which they
had before crossed.

_Parliamentary Debates_.--Originally these debates were given in the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, under the fiction of "Debates in the Senate
of Liliput," and the speakers were disguised under feigned names.
Guthrie, for a time, composed these speeches from such hints as he
could bring away in his memory. Dr. Johnson first assisted in this
department, and then entirely filled it, and the public was highly
gratified with the eloquence displayed in these compositions. P.T.W.

_Steam Carriages_.--By the formation of rail-roads, a loss has
occurred in the revenue from stage coaches, to the amount of 8,384_l_.

_Electro-Magnetism_.--The largest electro-magnet is that constructed
by the American philosophers. It is of a horse-shoe form, and weighs
about 60 lbs.; around it are 26 coils of wire, the united lengths
of which are 800 feet. When excited by about five feet of galvanic
surface, it is said to have supported nearly two tons. We here see
that the exciting cause of magnetism is the action of the galvanic
battery; and a variety of other interesting experiments in
electro-magnetics, tend to the conclusion that the magnetic and
electric fluids are nearly allied.--_Imperial Magazine._

_Salary of the Chancellor, 700 years since_.--The salary of the
Chancellor, as fixed by Henry I., amounted to five shillings per diem,
and a livery of provisions.

_Dibdin_.--On the tombstone of Dibdin, the celebrated song composer,
in St. Martin's, by Pancras New Church, is the first verse of his _Tom
Bowling_:

"His form was of the manliest beauty,
His heart was kind and soft,
Faithful on earth he did his duty,
But now he's gone aloft."

_Studious Printer_.--Morel was an eminent French printer, who
sacrificed every thing to study. On being informed that his wife was
dying, he refused to quit his pen till he had finished what he was
about, and by that time news was brought him that she was dead; to
which he coolly replied, "I am sorry for it--she was a good woman." He
died in 1638, at the age of 78. P.T.W.

_A Painter's Retort, or Dangerous Re-touch_.--Antonio More, the
celebrated painter, was highly favoured by Philip of Spain,