''K-n-o-w? !!' said his interlocutor; KNOW?' I should think he did! All I have got to say is, that I never know'd a man as knows as much as what he knows!' "But,' continued the Judge, these membranes become impaired, and even Reason, Gentlemen, REASON reels, and totters on her throne!

The most prevalent species of intellectual wandering, however, is denominated 'Homicidal Insanity,' the prominent symptom of which is a desire to take away human life. Such, I doubt not, is the case with the prisoner.'

May it please your Honor,' interposed the District Attorney, 'do n't you think that the jury might pronounce this a case of malicious prosecution?'

"Perhaps not, Mr. District Attorney,' responded the Judge. 'I honor your humanity, Sir; I am rejoiced to see that you can rise superior to the feelings which, I am compelled to say, too often prompt public prosecutors. But, Sir, I think, as a man has really been killed, it might be considered a bad precedent to declare this prosecution a malicious one!''

Is there a particle of exaggeration in this, aside from the (perhaps) exaggerated charge of the Judge? Certain it is, that the foregoing is from the pen of an eminent Judge at the South, (now, alas! deceased,) who saw what he here describes. WHOEVER has been in Edinburgh, the noble capital of Scotland, cannot fail to have remarked the immense height of the houses in what are called the 'closes' of that romantic and picturesque town. All the artisans to be found in a common village are often This multifariousness of avocation in the same building gave rise to the following lines from a stranger, who was struck by this peculiarity in the Scottish metropolis:

congregated together under one roof.

'You may call on a friend of note, and discover him
With a shoe-maker over and a stay-maker under him:
My dwelling begins with a periwig-maker;
I'm under a corn-cutter, over a baker;

Above, the chiropodist; cookery too:

O'er that is a laundress o'er her is a Jew;

A painter and tailor divide the eighth flat,
And a dancing-academy thrives over that!'

Is the republic of letters we sometimes meet with some specimens of the Scientific Burlesque so grotesquely amusing, that the wisest heads can hardly help laughing at them. The London Punch has had many examples in this kind, some of which gave grave offence to learned professors, and other officers of learned societies. The following is good:

'IF twenty-seven inches of snow give three inches of water, how much milk will a cow give when fed on Ruta-Baga turnips?

ANSWER: Multiply the flakes of snow by the hairs in the cow's tail-- then divide the product by a turnip; add a pound of chalk, and the sum will be the answer!'

PROFESSOR JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, of Cambridge, Mass., now absent in Germany, to perfect himself in studies which he will be called upon to supervise in others, in the exercise of the new office which he has been unanimously chosen to fill in Harvard University, has the clearest Yankee Thoughts and the most felicitous skill and tact in expressing the same in flowing Down-East Yankee verse. Here is a little specimen from a piece of his called 'A Courtin' Scene.' Observe how naturally the 'courtin'-room'

and its accessories are described:

'AG'IN the walls the crook-necks hung,
And in among 'em, rusted,

The old Queen's-arm, that Gran'ther Young
Brought back from Concord, bu'sted.

'The very room, 'cause she was in 't,
Looked warm, from floor to ceilin',
And she looked full as sweet ag'in
As the apples she was peelin'.

'She heard a foot, an' knowed it tew,
A-raspin' on the scraper;
All ways to once her feelin's flew,
Like sparks in burnt-up paper.

'He kin' o' listened on the mat,
Sum doubtful of the sekel,
His heart kept goin' pitty-pat,
But her'n went pity-ZEKIEL :'

which same ZEKIEL was, of course, the name of the lov'yer aforesaid.

Apropos of 'courtin':' that was a 'cool' man who, after having given over a marriage which it had been currently reported was about to take place, on being asked the reason, said: 'I had been with her, you know, a good while, and noticed that she was rather cool in her remarks, and hinted that she would rather go home alone than have me with her; but I did n't mind that, you know. Well, one night when we got to the door, says she: 'Mr. I do not wish your company any longer, and I'll thank you to keep in your place, and away from me.' That was a little too hard, and I would n't stand it. I sacked her that very night !' WHEN hear a you man, swelling with self-importance, derived solely from the accidental possession of mere money; without intellect, without sentiment, without feeling, read to him the following: 'Our minds are like ill-hung vehicles: when they have little to carry, they raise a prodigious clatter: when heavily laden, they neither creak nor rumble.' 'Is it true,' writes a friend, that

the KNICKERBOCKER 'crowd' have for several years had up a standing reward of a brass quarter, to be awarded to the first man who rhymes to window? Here goes! Exchanges please credit:

of Troy, of seeing in print the following, which occurred in one of our Sabbath-schools. I send it to you, because I think it too good to be lost: A teacher who had seven or eight urchins under his charge, on a certain Sabbath asked one of them the question which is found in one of the 'Union Sabbath-School Question Books,' which is as follows: 'What is a vision?' None of the boys promptly answering, the teacher asked whether any one of the scholars could refer to an apt illustration from the Bible. The boys could not think of any. The teacher then called their attention to the vision which is related in the tenth chapter of Acts from the ninth to the nineteenth verse, inclusive; in which PETER witnesses a vision, which was a sheet let down from Heaven, and on it were beasts, fowls, etc.; and PETER was commanded to kill and eat. One of the boys, who seemed to feel a greater interest in the bodily wants of our nature than the spiritual, looked up into the face of the teacher, and wanted to know, if that was a vision? 'Why,' says he, 'how can it be? was it not provision instead of a vision?' The teacher nodded an assent, satisfied that it was really both a vision and a provision.' We do not know that we shall be able to make a 'permanent engagement' with the 'author' of the 'Verses on the Death of Mr. Thompson's Child.' Our port-folios are full. But we are willing that he should 'show what he can do;' and therefore present a specimen of the Elegiac Poem in question: Scene, Rock-Island, Mississippi:

'THE solemn news I now relate,

Twas in Rockisland in this state,
A Boy was drowned in the Stream,
the Son of Mr. THOMPSON.

'Away from home this child did go,
it was on one holy Sabbath day,
he went on the Ice to wash his Sled
where he was numbered with the dead.

'the ice give way, this Boy Sunk down,
this little Son of high Renown.
the news quick to his Parents flew
they for their Son then did pesue.'

We forbear to harrow up the feelings of our readers with farther details of the catastrophe hinted at above.

WE very often receive articles, both in prose and verse, which as a whole are imperfect, but parts of which are striking and original. Of such is the following, from an effusion entitled, 'Shadows:'

'Ir is an awful sorrow, when the Heart

Hath memories in it brighter than its hopes;

When Life's lone march is westward, and the light

Is evermore behind. Love is Life's light.

Love, spring-like, breathes upon the tree of joy,
And all its branches blossom, gush to fruit!
'Tis but for once: exhausted by the one
Full answer which it gives unto the call
Of its first season, it can bear no more,
And barren mocks the eye.'

In the pages of the KNICKERBOCKER we have often spoken of 'The Southern Literary Messenger,' and always in the terms of praise which its

merits demand. It deserves the liberal patronage of the South, which we hope and trust it receives. Its capable editor, recently returned from Europe has written for his magazine many interesting letters, from one of which we take a passage describing the great Cathedral of Cologne, which gives us the best idea of that wonderful structure that we remember to have seen:

'Or the Cathedral of Cologne, I scarcely know how to state my impressions, so marvellously unreal did it seem to me in its unspeakable beauty. The tracery of the frostrime on the window-pane, in the drear December, is not more delicate than its rich details of sculpture; and as one gazes upon the exquisite creation, he half-fears that, like the frost-rime, it will melt into nothingness before him. The loveliest objects in nature are the most transient; the meteor, the rainbow, the sunset-cloud, the early bloom of womanhood, endure but for a brief season, and the brightness, the glory, the lumen purpureum, is gone for ever. And so of this Cathedral, as the visitor lingers in its long-drawn aisles, and drinks in the delight of its purpled atmosphere, a sort of appre hension oppresses him that it will presently fade away as a dream. Begun at a period so remote that the very name of the architect is lost, and never yet completed except in fragments; half a ruin and half perfection; with the moss of centuries clinging to its defaced and mouldering towers, and the hammers of a hundred workmen clanking on the splendid gable; its pavements irised with hues which the sun of the middle-ages first shed through the stained oriels; and the superstitions of a long period of mental debasement yet mingling with the gloom of its cloisters, it stands the most interesting link that connects our own time with one long gone by, and the best symbol, perhaps, of the mediaval idea of religion. It is wonderful how that idea worked itself out, in these enduring and graceful forms, gradually advancing from the grove in which the earliest Christians worshipped God, and borrowing from the lofty arch of interlacing branches the vaulted ceiling, until the temples of the true faith became only the temples the beautiful, and the spiritual part of devotion was lost in the sensuous.'

READER, if you wish to escape the warm weather, and see some of the most bold and picturesque scenery on this continent, we commend to you the following excursion, to wit: take one of the splendid North-River boats for Albany or Troy, then by rail-road to Whitehall, up Lake Champlain to ROUSE'S Point, then to Ogdensburg, where you should remain all night. Then take the morning boat for Montreal, which will give you a fine opportunity to see the noble St. Lawrence: passing through the Thousand Islands and over the rapids, you will arrive at Montreal in time for tea. Go to the 'Montreal House,' where one of the great COLEMAN family will receive you and take great pleasure in showing you the lions of the place. When you tire of staying here, after supper, you can go on board the 'JOHN MUNN,' or any of the fine boats that run to Quebec, which city you will reach in time for breakfast, and where you may spend some time with great pleasure and profit. Then take a trip to the great Saguenay River, where you will find such scenery as you must see to get any true idea of; then, if you choose to return as you went, you can vary the trip by going into Lake GEORGE at Ticonderoga, where you will find the neatest, cleanest little fairy-like steamer to be found on any lake or river in the world. A sail of three hours through the finest lake scenery in the world will bring you to the large hotels at the head of the Lake, where you can spend all the time you can spare most delightfully. Such a tour can be performed comfortably in ten days or two weeks, and will form an era in your life, a joy that will not pass while memory lasts. Now is just the time to go.

TWENTY YEARS' experience as Piano-Forte manufacturers, with the thousands of our pianos scattered throughout the United States, Canadas, South America, Mexico and Europe, gives us confidence to believe it unnecessary for us to speak of their superiority.

We therefore confidently refer to the following distinguished musicians, who have cheerfully added their written testimony, in their favor, to that of hundreds of others:

From the numerous notices we have received, we select the following:

James G Maeder,
Wm R. Dempster,
Marotzek.

PROF. H. S. COLEMAN, the distinguished Pianist and Tuner, writes as follows: "I consider Messrs. Boardman & Gray's Pianos as brilliant and as powerful in tone as any Pianos I have ever mer with: and I beg to say, in justice to those gentlemen, that thir Pianos possess a quality which is very rarely found in those of other manufacturers, vis. I remain, &c.,

THAT OF KEEPING IN TUNE FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY LENGTH OF TIME. WILMINGTON, DEL. H. S. COLEMAN." "It gives me much pleasure to speak in favor of your Piano-fortes, which have been used by me at different times, during my stay in this country. JENNY LIND." "It is my opinion, after six years' experience with them as a Tuner, that they uniformly stand in tune BETTER than those of any other manufacturer. A. S. GOODRICH, BURLINGTON, VT.. October 10, 1854. Professor of Music and Piano-forte Tuner."

"The Piano-fortes from the manufactory of Messrs. BOARDMAN & GRAY. Albany, NY.. which I have been using for a number of years, in hoarding schools and private families, are most admirable instruments, pleasant in quality of Love, and excellent in touch. They cannot be surpassed as regards their keeping in tune, and they can, in al. points, compete successfully with any other manufacturers in the country. Yours, &c.. WILMINGTON, DEL.. September 9 1854.

CHARLES GROBE."

REV. E J. HALLOCK 2orites us as follows:-"I must say, in justice to you, that your Pianos are WORTH ONE-THIRD MORE than any I have used from other manufactories. This is my lust and most honest enlightened conviction. Yours will be used in this region for the future. &c. Yours very truly. CASTLETON (VT) SEMINARY, July 25, 1854.

E. J. HALLOCK." L. MOREAU GOTTS HALK'S OPINION." He again and again expressed his delight at the firmness, sweetness and tone of the trument and seemed to take pleasure in sweeping its beautiful responsive keys."-[Extract from a letter of A. M.Makin, Editor of the American Courier, Philadelphia, Pa.

"We know the instruments, and can recommend them There is no firm engaged in the manufacture of Pianos upon whom more rehance can be placed than upon the gentlemen who are the subject of these remarks. We have been strumental in selling a number of these instruments, and we have yet to hear the first complain; on the contrary, we have been thanked for our recommendation of the house of BOARDMAN & GRAY."-Godey's Lady's Book, May, 184. We continue to manufacture our celebrated

DOLCE CAMPANA ATTACHMENT PIANO-FORTES.

ALL OUR PIANO FORTES ARE WARRANTED TO PROVE SATISFACTORY. WAREROOMS, 79 STATE,

END 4 AND 6 NORTH PEARL STREETS, "Old Elm Tree Corner," Albany, N. Y.

WM. G. BOARDMAN,

JAMES A. GRAY,

SIBERIA OTT.

BOARDMAN, GRAY & Co.,