Sauce for .............. 203 Cleaning, Drying, Corking, ....... 139 Anemone, Cultivation of the...... 348 Gladiolus, Cultivation of the .... 297 Lily Tribe, Cultivation of the 178, 237 Pansy, Cultivation of the ...... 59, 88 Tulip, Cultivation of the ........ 114 HISTORY-AUNT MARY'S CABI- 68 126 Picture XXIII. - Steam Navi- ........ Arabesques..................................................... Borders............................................................ CEMENTS- Fruits, Cake of Mixed .......... 295 Artificial Flowers, Group of...... 19 Animals, Kindness to............ 180 Envy, On...................................................... 126 Epitaph on a Miser.............. 351 Family Festivities ......... 164 Florists, Results of the Art of the 312 Gardener's Privileges.......... Puzzles.............................................. 51, 91, 181 Riddles..... As a general rule the Answers to Enigmas, &c., upon any given page will 21 201 ........... 111 Happiness 339 290 Death's Final Conquest.......... 342 81 50 ........ 286 Marble, To take Iron Stains out of 327 Meat, To Restore Tainted........ 112 Muffs and Tippets, On the Method Falling Leaf, The................ 293 Plate, To remove Black Spots from 327 ................................ 177 Saline Draughts, Effervescing.... 112 .................................. 202 Irish Girl, The .................. 175 Silk, To Wash Memory Steam, Condensed History of.... 324 Statistics, Interesting........ 176, 247 Retrospection.................... 342 Treasures.......... 210, 234, 294, 326 177 83 20 Hour in La Salpetriere 130 Two Legacies, The .............. 213 Watch-pocket.................... 107 THE EDITOR AND HIS FRIENDS.—[APPENDIX.] Bristol .. The Nos. refer to the paragraphs.] 79 Advertisements, Removing Pave- men! 81 Deformities ...................... 103 Freezing Preparations, The New.. 95 ........... 109 French Polish, Recipe for ........ 185 Friend, Testimony from a ........ 93 ... 114 Fruits and Flowers .................... 253 37. ....... 133 Heat of the Globe ............... 254 Our Office........................ 44 Statuettes, Cleaning Plaster of Heraldry .............. 130 Paint Spots..................... 51 Paris..... lierbarium ...................... 26 Pantomime...................... 171 Stockings, Mending............................ Hotchpot... .......... 134 Parental Restraint Impositions .............................................. 10, 115 Indigo ........................ 237 Influenza.... 55 Insects for Cabinets, Killing.... 92 ............ 143 Storm-Glasses Parthenon ................................................... 220 Straw Bonnets, Brown Dye for 33 87 213 268 194 Penshurst Park....... ......................... 193; Sunlight, Talbotype, &c. ....... 273 61 Perspirations of the Feet ........ 235 97! Taffety ..... 201 | Teeth, Care of the ............ Plants, Anatomy of.............. 249 233 14 196 Invalids, Clothing for............ 82 Leeches Letters Cheap .... • 50, 203 .... 78, 108 Potatoes Used in Washing........ 210 Linen, To Extract Grease Spots Poultry and Game.......................................... 200 from........................ 50 Preserves.......... 16 Prize Conundrums .............. 63 Loam.......... A........................................ 163 Rice, Mother-of-pearl from...... 126 Weather Prophets, Animal. 48 ...... 187 276 150 Salt and Salt Mines.......... 159, 190 Lucifer Matches, without Sulphur 195 Scarlet Dye for Ivory, &c......... FOR THE ACCUMULATED CONTENTS OF THE FIRST FOUR VOLUMES, REFER TO THE THE SIMPLE HISTORY OF A FAMILY FRIEND. I BELIEVE that, generally speaking, it is customary when penning the biographies of illustrious individuals, to commence with their birth; but in the simple memoir that I am about to chronicle, the subject of which possessed accomplishments and virtues that deserved to be known beyond the narrow circle in which it was his fate to move, no such important record will be found. The fact is, I know not where he was born. A mystery-an impenetrable mystery, enshrouds his earlier days; and though I would gladly take up my staff and make a pilgrimage to the place of his nativity-if the locality of that sacred spot could be identified-I fear that I must content myself with calling in the aid of fancy, and satisfy the reader's curiosity and my own enthusiasm with an ideal portrait. Imagination depicts that unknown spot, hallowed by the companionship of youthful genius, as a silent, shadowy forest. Huge trees, whose rugged trunks, furrowed by the waves of Time, were thickly draped in veils of velvet moss, and pale feathery lichen threw their restless shadows far along the brown paths. Round their twisted and gnarled roots, that writhed into the ground like snakes at play, whole sheets of bluebells waved their slender stems, and drooped their heads sorrowfully, like a crowd of captive fairies, over whom the giant trees kept watch and ward. Tall ferns were there, tossing their delicate plumes at every breath of air, as if they were coquetting with the wind, ere they granted it a kiss; while through the waving canopy of foliage overhead shot some stray beams of sunlight, that, like the elfin forester of the legend, turned into evanescent gold the withered leaves that lay below. All was dim, shadowy, and full of that solemn mystery that dwells in woodland solitudes; VOL. V,-NO. XLIX. scarce a sound broke the stillness. A falling leaf-a goid-crowned wren, snapping up an adventurous fly-a hare rushing across some distant vista in the trees, were all the indications that Nature gave of her active existence; and were it not for these, one might have deemed that the denizens of that silent forest had been bound by the spell of dreamless slumber that held the beautiful maiden, chained in her enchanted palace. This spot hath Fancy chosen as the birthplace of my hero. "But his name?" cries the impatient reader. Patience, hasty mortal, and I will give you a formal introduction. Do Look up there, where that slender bough has interlaced his slender offshoots until they have formed a leafy cradle! you not see a small round object, clasped as it were in the amorous embrace of the young tendrils of that stout old tree? You do! Excellent! Now look close, you perceive that it is a tiny vase-a cup-a chalice of such delicate workmanship, that Benvenuto the Mad never wrought anything so exquisite. Slender fibres of pliant plants are woven and interlaced together, in an inextricable web, modelled and rounded into a species of inverted dome. A border of green moss, cemented wonderfully to the edge, forms a charming frosted emerald rim around this beautiful chalice. "Stay!" cries this eternally interrupting reader, why this is only a bird's nest." Wonderful sagacity! singular penetration! May your shadow never be less, my friend! You have discovered it-it is only a bird's nest! Climb on one of those thick boughs, and just peep into this little habitation. You will see there, comfortably reclining in the white wool and B |