evident, they say, that as the colours appear
different at the same time, they do not belong to
the moon herself, but are occasioned by an
atmosphere around her, variously disposed in this
and that place, for refracting these or those
coloured rays.

Lord Rosse's telescope has stripped the moon
of her atmosphere, leaving us still enveloped in
ours; and we have only to observe what is
daily passing before our eyes to understand the
changes which the atmosphere has produced on
the solid crust of our globe. The hollows are
filled up and smoothed over by sedimentary
deposits brought down by rains; the relief of our
surface is gradually worn down. The moon is as
a medal fresh from the mint; the earth is as a
shilling which has sustained the effects of passing
for years and years from pocket to pocket.

SOMETHING LEFT.

"GONE, gone, the freshness of my youthful prime;
Gone my illusions, tender or sublime;
Gone is the thought that wealth is worth its cost,
Or aught I hold so good as what I've lost;
Gone are the beauty and the nameless grace
That once I worshipp'd in clear Nature's face;
Gone is the mighty music that of yore
Swept through the woods or roll'd upon the shore;
Gone the desire of glory in men's breath,
To waft my name beyond the deeps of death;
Gone is the hope that in the darkest day
Saw bright To-morrow with empurpling ray;
Gone, gone—all gone, on which my heart was cast;
Gone, gone for ever, to the awful Past;
All gone—but LOVE!"
                             Oh, coward to repine!
Thou hast all else, if Love indeed be thine!

TELEGRAPHS UNDER GOVERNMENT.

THAT there is at the present moment a
proposal before the House of Commons for the
transference of the telegraphs in the United
Kingdom from private control to the control of
the State—that is to say, for the purchase
by Government of the existing telegraphic
lines and appliances, and the placing of them
under the direction of the Post-office—is
generally well known. But, although the question
is one of great national importance, and one
directly affecting private convenience, the bulk
of the public know nothing of the details of this
scheme, nothing of the advantages proposed
to be placed at the public disposal, nothing of
the comparatively degraded position,
telegraphically speaking, which the British public holds
in regard to other European publics, and from
which it will—should the proposal become law
—be emancipated. We, therefore, purpose
briefly to recount the details of a scheme
which, in future times, may rank next to the
penny postage.

In the first place, let us see what the
Post-office proposes to do for the public if the
telegraphic system of the United Kingdom be
placed under its control. It proposes: To
open a central telegraphic office at each of the
ten district post-offices in London. To open
subordinate telegraph offices at the sorting
offices and receiving offices in each district.
To connect the subordinate telegraphic offices
of each district with the central telegraphic
office of that district. To establish direct
communication between each central telegraphic
office, and each other central telegraphic office
in London. To establish central telegraphic
offices at the post-offices of the principal towns
in the kingdom, and to establish direct
communication between all such central telegraphic
offices and the central telegraphic office in the
east central district of London. To establish
direct communication between the more
important of the central telegraphic offices in the
provinces, and the central telegraphic offices in
the west central, western, and south-western,
districts of London. To establish a direct
communication between each central telegraphic
office in the provinces, and such of the
other central telegraphic offices in the
provinces as it may be desirable to connect with
it. To open subordinate telegraphic offices at
the district offices, sorting offices, and certain
of the receiving offices in Liverpool, and to
connect them with the central office in Liverpool;
in like manner to open subordinate
telegraphic offices at the principal receiving
offices in such towns as Edinburgh, Dublin,
Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol, Sheffield,
Bradford, and to connect each group of such
subordinate offices with its central telegraphic
office. To open in the first instance subordinate
offices, connected in like manner with
central offices, at the money-order offices of all
places having a population of two thousand
persons and upwards. To open deposit offices,
that is, offices at which messages may be
deposited, and the charge thereon paid, at every post-
office in the United Kingdom at which no
telegraphic office is established. To permit the
pillar-boxes throughout the kingdom to be places of
deposit for messages, provided such messages
be written on stamped paper. To require payment
for messages to be made in stamps, or by
writing them on stamped paper, and to issue
special stamps for that purpose. To make the
charge for transmission from any one part to any
other part of the United Kingdom, uniformly
and without regard to distance, one shilling for
the first twenty words, with an addition of
sixpence for every addition of ten words or part
of ten words: such charge to include free delivery
by special messenger at any place within
the town delivery of the terminal office, when
that office is a head post-office; and within one
mile of the terminal office when that office is
not a head post-office; and to include free
transmission by post from a deposit office to the
nearest telegraphic office, when the message is
so left for transmission, or free delivery by
post when the addressee resides out of the
limits of the terminal office, and the sender
does not desire to pay for a special messenger.
To fix the rate for conveyance by special