in pursuit. Artillery are usually employed
opposite artillery, cavalry against cavalry,
and so on, according to circumstances. It
is only "devils dressed in red and white"
who go up—as the gallant light division of
infantry at the Alma did—and, contrary to all
the rules of strategy, take a battery of artillery
in the face of an astonished foe.

CHIP.

DURING HER MAJESTY'S PLEASURE.

AMONGST the many things not generally
known, I have no hesitation in placing the
number of insane criminals of this country.
I do not allude to those convicted criminals
who become insane whilst serving out their
term of punishment, but to a class of persons
whose existence is not known beyond the
limits of jails and lunatic asylums. Dr. Hood,
a writer on criminal lunacy, tells us that
during the fifteen years ending with eighteen
hundred and fifty-two, there were not less
than four hundred and forty-one prisoners at
various assizes who were either found insane
on arraignment, or were acquitted on the plea
of insanity. Of these, above one-half were
indicted for offences against the person, the
other half for offences against property.

It is a merciful provision of our laws that
no insane person or idiot can be held accountable
for his acts, and cannot therefore be
tried for any offences committed whilst in
that state. The same laws empower the
sovereign to interfere in all such cases; and,
by royal warrant, to order insane offenders
into safe custody in jails or asylums during
her Majesty's pleasure. This royal warrant
is an irrevocable instrument. Few committed
under it are ever liberated, no matter what
their after condition may be; and thus it
happens that persons indicted for such
offences as manslaughter or ordinary offences
against property, though acquitted as insane,
are in reality placed in a worse position than
if found guilty.

This state of things arises from defective
legislation. The laws provide for the
temporary custody of insane offenders, and
declare that they shall be so retained until
her Majesty's pleasure be made known. It
happens, however, very unfortunately for those
persons, that her Majesty never does declare
any pleasure or wish on the subject of their
custody. The royal warrant is traced in the
waters of Lethe, and thus it happens that
four hundred and forty-one persons are lost
sight of; an average of thirty annually being
handed over to the custody of county jails
and lunatic asylums for the remainder of
their natural lives. Many of these, as may
be imagined, are persons of education, station,
and refinement, who have, whilst labouring
under the influence of a disordered intellect,
committed offences against the laws of their
country. Yet these persons are shut up, with
no hope of release from their bondage.
Acquitted by a jury, they are punished by laws
which leave them without any protection.
Her Majesty's pleasure, in this instance, is a
fiction, and the legislature cannot interfere
too soon for the relief of the four hundred
and odd unfortunates who have been so long
waiting her Majesty's pleasure.

RAG FAIR IN PARIS.

THE Parisians have a notion that the art of
dressing well is attainable only in their own
capital. This may be true enough with
regard to ladies; but as far as the male sex are
concerned, I scarcely agree with them. The
question, however, is so entirely a matter of
taste, that it is not worth discussing; and,
save that the Parisians make more of
themselves externally than we do—a thing easily
accomplished—there is not much difference
now-a-days between us. Clifford Street or
the Rue de Choiseul turn out very nearly the
same sort of made-up man. Of course, if you
choose to go to the Palais Royal, and suffer
yourself to be guided by what you see there,
in the windows of the ready-made establishments,
you may procure a costume infinitely
more striking than you are likely to find in
Oxford Street or the Strand, but I do not
exactly know the place, not a lunatic asylum,
where you could safely wear it. For instance,
it was only last week, that I paused admiringly
at the tailor's shop close to the Frères
Provençaux, my attention being riveted on
a suit of male attire, to array oneself in which
would, I think, have been as severe a test of
moral courage as any that could possibly be
devised. The gentleman who exposed it for
sale said it was très simple, and so, in one
respect it was; for the pantalon and gilet were
all of a piece, and might be indued in a
moment; in point of construction, therefore,
he was right. But on the score of decoration
it could scarcely be praised for its simplicity,
and when I rather shrugged my shoulders at
the term he made use of, he instantly met the
objection by asserting that the style was
tout à fait nouveau. Here, too, he was right
again. It was quite new, as you shall judge.
The combined garments of which I have
spoken presented the semblance of a very
tight, headless, armless man, without his coat.
They were made of cashmere, of a bright,
butter-cup yellow, and were profusely
embroidered with scarlet braid, of a wormy
pattern, which climbed up the legs of the
pantalon, and spread itself all over the breast
of the gilet. "And what kind of coat," I
asked, when I had gazed my fill at these
astounding continuations, "what kind of coat
do you recommend to go with these?"
"Voila, monsieur," replied the tailor,
triumphantly, making a dart at a redingote, which
stood by itself, "ça ira à merveille!" He
evidently thought he had got a customer. It
was a short frock, of a chasseur-like cut,
expanding immoderately at the bosom and