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    by the fissures . This curious rock , so nearly akin in composition and aspect to obsidian , a mineral which in its dense form closely resembles the coarse , dark-coloured glass of which common bottles are made , and . in its lighter form exists as pumice , constitutes one of the Iin 3 cs that connect the trap with unequivocably volcanic rocks . . r ™ On Eigg is the too famous " Cavern of Frances" { JJamhZhraing ) . There the Ei""g ians , a few centuries ago , were smoked to death by the clan McLeod , Just as rather more recently , a French marshal—Pelissier—martyred some poor patriots of Algeria in the caves of Dahra . After ticking out from beneath the decayed remnants of a straw bed the handle-stave of a child's porringer , which lay among- the less destructible bones of its little owner , and picking up n coin . of-tlie Scottish Mai-y , a copper sewing needle , and other articles of rude housewifery , they come to a level floor , one hundred yards in extent , resembling a charnel-house . Heaps of human bones lay grouped together like what the Psalmist so impressively describes " as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth . " The McLeod himself landed upon Eigg , driven thither by a sudden storm ; the islanders , at feud with his clan , rose upon him . In the fray bis back was broken and his gart y vorsted ami driven again to sea , bearing off their chief half dead , ome months after , being partially recovered , he returned , crookbacked and infirm , to take vengeance for this wrong . Warned by the sight of his approaching galleys the inhabitants sought refuge in the cave , but the ^ place of their retreat was . ultimately betrayed by the track of footsteps in the snow . The implacable McLeod now gave orders to tear down the houses , to pile up their materials , thatch and wood frames , before the narrow entrance and set the whole in a blaze . There he stood , humpbacked and pale with passion , till the last horrid shriek from within had sunk into silence , and there lived not a . single islander of Eigg , man , woman , or child . The fact of their bones being allowed to nioulder in the cavern is proof enough that none survived to inter the dead . Fe-vr of our fellow citizens as they enjoy the crowning pleasure of ke prime natives" and double stout , after the more intellectual recreation of a dramatic evening , are aware that the whole foundation of their metropolis was originally < me gigantic oyster-bed . In the London Basin , which underlies the city , and in the chalk still lower , the shells are diffused promiscuously through the general mass . These oysters of the oolite once furnished sustenance to myriads of an extinct ovder of fisli , mayhap reptiles , although net never enclosed nor drag uprooted them from their kindred rock- So also the island of Rum is composed almost entirely of oolitic rocks , bearing on top oyster-beds of great antiquity and . depth , but for ages overlaid with a kindly and fertile mould , bearing luxuriant harvests of ' grain . .. ' ¦ ' ¦ . ' /¦ . ¦' ¦¦ . : ¦ ' : ' . ' .. ¦ : . ' '¦ ¦ - ¦'¦ ' ' :

    , . . Holoptychii are abundant at Dura Den , near Oupar . The amount oft design exhibited in these ancient ganoids- —design obvious enough to be clearly read—is very extraordinary . A single scale of H ' oloptychiits Nobilissimits , fast locked up in red sandstone rock , laid by , as it were , for . ever , proves , if we care to unravel its texture , such , a nice adaptation of means to end as might of itself be sufficient to confound the sceptic . Like the human skull , it consists of two well-marked tables of solid bone ^ with a spongy cellular substance interposed between them , termed the dlploc ; the effect of the arrangement being , that the violence which fractures the outer table leaves the inner one . unharmed . To the strengthening principle of the two tables , however , other principles are added . Cromwell , when commissioning for a new helmet , his old one as he expresses it , being " illset , " orders his friend to send him a " ' / luted pol" — -i . e . a helmet ridged and furrowed on the surface , and calculated to break by its protuberant lines the force of a blow , so that the vibrations would reach the body of the metal deadened and flat . Thus , the outer table of the Holoptycluus is a " fluted pot ; " the alternate ridges and furrows which ornament its , surface served a purpose exactly similar to the- ilutes and fillets of the Protector ' s helmet . But here we pause . Intermingled with si large amount of information precious to the geologist , arc numerous anecdotes of men and things amusing to readers of every class . These stories are truly Scotch , and portray an inveterate love of what the Americans call trade , " under nil circumstances , and at all times , not common among the peasantry of other lands . Take one out of many instances . One day , as Hugh Miller approached the FreeChurch , a squat , sunburnt , carnal-minded " old wee wine , " who seemed passing towards the secession place of worship , after looking wistfully at his grey maud , and concluding for certain that he could not be other than a southland drover , came up , asking in a cautious whisper , fct Will ye be wanting a coo ( cow ) V He replied in the negative , and the wee wine , after casting a jealous glance at a group of grave-featured Free Church folk in the immediate neighbourhood , who would scarce have tolerated Sabbath trading in a secedcr , tucked up her little blue cloak over her head , and hied away to the chancl . ' ¦ > ¦ ,

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    MAUD SKILLlCORNJil'S PENANCE . Maud SkiUicarm ' s Penance : a Tale in Two Parts . By Mary Catherine . Jackson . Smith niul KUler . Thk title of this novel is apparently a mistake , for we have gone through the two volumes without being able to discover why our heroine did " penance . " The fault , perhaps , lies in our own want of sagacity , but Maud has coinmitted jio outrage ; she has no serious faults to redeem , and no " Scarlet Letter" to pluck from her bosom . She i = i a perfectly respectable , beautiful , unimpulsivc lady , whose misfortunes arise from her sacrifices to the wishes of others , Of course she Uud a " first Iotc ; " what life is complete without treading through tliis fiery furnace , and who amongst us is really man or woman until the sw « et excess has been tasted ? We should not , have such a press of novels if the course of true love could run smooth . When Maud was a girl , she was in love with Arthur Sefton ; but her sweet drenm soon came to a close ; for one day , tutting up a newspaper—our authoress brings her catastrophes about by newspaper paragraphs- the first thing which caught her roving eye" was an " alarming accident" which occurred to her lover while hunting . The " latest particulars" announced his death . Uur authoress docs not dwell on any other emotion : she deals in events

    which follow each other thick " as motes in the suhnes beanie's . " " ^ A selfish worldly , father persuades poor Maud to fill up the void in her existence "by a marriage with a wealthy widower . She gives her hand to Mr , Job Skillicorne , who is considerate enough to die , leaving to his young wife all his money and the care of a little son . The money Maud lends to her father , who invests and loses it in the " Metropolitan , Provincial , and jGeneral-Steam-for-Domestic-Purposes-Supplying-Company ; " and our heroine , who bitterly reproaches herself for risking hex child ' s fortune , turns artist , and seeks her own livelihood . She is the victim of an unscrupulous speculator , who ought to have bee n made to do " penance" himself , in a white sheet ; but Miss Jackson , like Fate , prefers that the innocent should suffer ; so all through the pei'iod of the tale Maud is toiling and labouring to repair , not her fault , but her indiscretion . It is her misfortune to be generous to an unworthy object , but the difficulty in such cases is to know who is deserving and who is not , and where our good offices ought to end ? Ought we , for instance , to draw the line at fathers ? The heroine brings up her son as an artist ; and this , of course , occasions some lively dialogues on art . Arthur Sefton comes to life at the end of the second volume under a different name ; and the heroine , who never abandons what John Buncle calls an elegant softness of propriety , is rewarded for her industry and patience by a second marriage . After a separation , of twenty years , Arthur Sefton is announced : — He bowed on entering , and said that he called with reference to a portrait . Maud requested him to be seated , and the stranger took a chair at the further end of the room , where the light was somewhat indistinct and gloomy , and proceeded to make inquiries relative to the artist ' s charges for portrait-painting . " I am desirous of having a likeness taken , " he said , " and from some of yours which I hare seen , I think I should prefer your style to that of any other artist . May I ask your terms ?" " They vary according to the size of picture , and the amount of detail involved by the subject—the style of dress for instance , and the flesh-painting required ; also the - finish . " . / ¦ . ¦ ' ¦ ; - ' ¦ ¦ . - ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ' ' ¦ ' "• ¦ ' . - .: : - ' ' ¦ ¦ . ' ¦ . . ¦ ; ¦ ¦ ¦• ¦ ' .. - " Might I be permitted to se « a few specimens ? I should then be enabled to form , a better opinion of the style in which I should like mine painted . " Maud rose , and drew her visitor ' s attention to a screen on which several drawings were hung , and also opened a few cases that were lying on the table ; and the one which she had been regarding with such deep emotion prior to the entrance of the stranger she also placed before him . " That is one of nay most highly finished , " she said , as she did so ; " but the amount of labour requisite to produce this effect would make such a painting very expensive . " . " Was this painted from the life ?" " No—no , " and Maud sighed involuntarily ; " it is from memory . " " May I ask if tliis is one of your recent paintings ?" " It is only just finished ; but I may say that it has been the work of years . It is the portrait from , recollection of— a friend , and it has , employed me in my leisure hours at variQus , tiinegi It 5 s rarely that I finish a work so highly . I hare a fewmove in another room , " she added presently , while" the gentleman was occupied examining the painting , " and I ¦ w ill ' . fetch , them for your inspection . " She proceeded on her errand , wondering- at the fluttering at her heart , and the strange nervousness which she experienced . ; In a few minutes , Maud re-entered the roam : she cast a glance at her visitor , who was now standing in the full light by the window , and she started : she looked again — -he was advancing towards her . In her agitation , ¦ -she dropped . the drawing she was carrying ; and Maud—the calm , the self-possessed Maud—screamed , scarcely knowing why ! The gentleman drew nearer to Maud ; came close to her , gazed into her eyes one moment with a look in which the feelings and thoughts of yeaTs were concentrated , clasped both her hands in his , and murmured tenderly , " Maud !" A little hysterical sob was her reply , while her eyes , gleaming with tears , sought his . She could not speak . Was she in a dream—or the delirium of fever ? What did it all mean ? "Oh , Arthur ! she cried at length— " speak tome ! Am I in my senses ? Tell me ! Explain this mystery . " " What shall I say ? That I have found thee at length , my lost love ! Idol of my soul ! long , long , have the cruel fates severed us j but wa have met at last , beloved one : and I fondly trust—nevor to part !" Silence followed : their hearts were too full for their feelings to be expressed in language ; and a half-utter « cl exclamation , a deep sigh , or hysterical sob from Maud , told the agitation of the moment .

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    LATTER-DAY POETRY . The Age of Lead : a Satire ( delivered under the Similitude of a Dream ) in Two Book 3 . By Adolphus Pasquin . With an Introduction by the ltev . Gcoi-go Gilfillan . ( Jmld and Glass . )—There is no more dreary reading than the would-be satire of n foolish , self-conceited person who conceives he has a mission to reprove the age and cnll existing celebrities to an account . The author of the book bofore us , while thinking he has written a new Duuciad , lias only proved his fitness to be placed among the heroes of that immortal poem . If a union of spite and nuukcyism were sufficient to make a satirist , " Pasquin" would be one of the highest order ; but ho has no other qualifications . He luia apparently hunted up a lew numbers of Jliackicootfs Kaycczinc of forty years ago , and , having collected some venomous and venerable absurdities about " cockneys" and middle-class scribblers , and sonic decayed Toryisms ( now forsworn by all but ivhite-waistcoated old gentlemen ) about tlio degeneracy of the times and the evil effects of " worshipping the democracy , " thinks he has suflicicnb materials for setting up iiy a censor-general . So , while bestowing fulsome ndulntiou on a fewwriters of " family , " he is very severe and unmerciful on sucli low-born people as Mr . Dickens , Mr . Thackeray , Mr . Douglas Jerrold , Mr . Leigh Hunt , Mr . Charles Muckay , Mrs . Browning , Mr . i ' rocter , Mr . Alexander Smith , and others whom the world lias been accustomed to regard with some satisfaction . Ilia chief indignation is hurled against Mr . Dickons , apparently because ho has had ( he shocking bad taste to write about low people instead of taking nil his diameters from the drawiug-room circles allected by " Pnsquin . " Yet he is so ignorant of what ho professes Lo write about , that ho thinks Mr . Diekens ' s curlier works were illustrated by llablot Browne , and hia later by George Cruikshank ! Of Jerrold wo are told that ho " made all

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    No . 427 , May 29 , 1858 . 1 THE LEADER . 521

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 29, 1858, page 521, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2244/page/17/