asses; and this being intended
expressly for the ladies, they were expected to go and help themselves
when they pleased; but a fresh bottle of wine was brought when the first
was exhausted."

FRENCH COUNTRY LIFE.

"The dinner-hour in the country," said a relation of the writer, who
spends a great deal of time in France, "is generally two o'clock, even
when company are invited to partake of the dinner; in which case, the
whole party has quitted the house by six or seven in the evening,--a
custom which ill accords with _English_ ideas of sociability. Three
table-cloths are usually laid upon the table, the first and second of
which are, or may be, removed during the repast; but the third is _never_
drawn off, except to be changed for a clean one. In England, we pride
ourselves upon the fine mahogany of which our dinner-tables are made; we
endeavour to obtain, in the first instance, an excellent piece of wood,
and to improve it by assiduous rubbing and polishing. In France, it
matters not of what material the table is framed; a cloth is always upon
it; and I have seen the hospitable _board_ of many families of rank
literally formed of _deal_."

A DIFFERENCE.

"In this part of the world," says a private letter from India,
(Hyderabad,) "we do not talk of striking gongs for dinner, but
_ghuzzies_,--ghong meaning a horse or mare."

BOARDING.

In Ireland, when a man marries, who cannot afford to treat his friends to
whiskey upon the occasion, they take the door of his house off the hinges,
lay him upon it, and carry him thus upon their shoulders all day. In the
evening he is allowed to return to his deserted bride. This custom is
called "boarding," and is so frequent, as I myself can attest from
personal observation, as to attract but little attention from the
commonalty, and nothing like a mob.

M.L.B.

* * * * *

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

* * * * *

THE MAN-MOUNTAIN.

We were all--Julia, her aunt, and myself, seated at a comfortable fire on
a December evening. The night was dark, starless, and rainy, while the
drops pattered upon the windows, and the wind howled at intervals along
the house-tops. In a word, it was as gloomy a night as one would wish to
see in this, the most dismal season of the year. Strictly speaking, I
should have been at home, for it was Sunday; and my own habitation was at
too great a distance to justif