average weight of a man's heart. Master M'Grath's running weight was 54 lbs., from which it appears that the celebrated "black" possessed three times the heart-force of a man. Professor Haughton believes that this was the real cause of his extraordinary running powers.

24. TERRIFIC GALE IN THE METROPOLIS.-This morning London was visited by the heaviest gale that has occurred in the south of England for many years. Its force was greatest between four and six o'clock in the morning. In all parts of London houses have been unroofed and chimneys and garden-walls blown down, but no fatal accidents are reported. At half-past five o'clock one of the pinnacles of the buttress of the central tower of the Houses of Parliament, weighing two tons, fell with a tremendous crash, carrying away with it a large portion of the roof, and breaking down the iron girders. A large piece of stone, weighing several hundredweight, bounded off and dashed through the roof of the telegraph office in the central hall. Fortunately no one was there, or there must have been loss of life. The damage done amounted to several hundred pounds. On the Thames several casualties occurred through vessels breaking from their moorings, and some barges and other small craft sank.

28. DESTRUCTIVE FLOODS.-During yesterday and to-day the waters of the Thames at Windsor and Eton rose rapidly. The view of the inundated country from the viaduct of the Great Western Railway is very striking. The western suburb of Eton is inundated. On the south side of the Thames the water has covered the roadway and penetrated some of the houses, a punt having to be used to reach the flooded domiciles.

In the neighbourhood of Reading the ordinary route between the town and Lower Caversham is quite impassable; and the Kennett Valley presents a vast lake.

On the Weymouth and Portland Railway, near the Old Castle, abot 100 yards of the bank sank entirely below the level, and for a considerable distance the rails, with the sleepers attached, were suspended in mid-air.

The Severn has overflowed its banks from Montgomeryshire to the Bristol Channel. Yesterday the river had fallen about eight inches at Worcester. It had reached a height only about four feet below the highest point of the memorable flood of 1795.

Late last night, as a luggage-train from the Midland Station, Northampton, was passing over the Nene-bridge, near Castle Ashby, the bridge gave way, owing to the floods, and the tender and a number of carriages, some laden with timber, fell into the river, others across the line, and the traffic generally was stopped.

On the 29th an extensive landslip occurred on the Great Western Railway near the Victoria and Paddington Junction, by which upwards of fifty tons of earth were displaced. The embankment, which is here about thirty feet above the level of the surrounding land, gave way, completely destroying the down metals, and forcing

the earth and large blocks of timber used in the construction of the bridges into the adjoining meadow.

The floods in the valleys around Oxford have not been so high since the great one some twenty years ago. The banks of the Isis and Cherwell, as well as the adjoining villages, are in many places so swamped that the occupiers of houses are precluded from living on the ground floor.

All the low-lying parts of the county of Surrey, it was stated a few days later, are much flooded, especially along the valley of the Wey. Pedestrians, to get from Godalming to Shalford, require to pass through Guildford, and thus go four or five miles round. At Esher several cottages are completely surrounded by water, and the only access to them is by boat, while the inmates have had to take refuge in the upper stories.

31. RAILWAY ACCIDENT NEAR NICE.-The Nice correspondent of the Swiss Times says, "The omnibus train for Grasse left Nice at 5.50. The bridge over the Brague measures 105 feet in length, having a span of three arches and piers on either side. The swelling of the torrent by six days of incessant rain had flooded the ground near the bridge, so when the tide rose to high-water mark the bridge was submerged. At the turn of the tide the current was so great that the central arches and the pier on the Nice side of the river were carried away-in fact, the whole of the bridge except the pier near Antibes. Towards this dreadful chasm the ill-fated train came dashing along at a fearful rate, the engine, tender, a luggage car, and two of the carriages leaping down the precipice into the torrent, left the rest of the train upon the bank, one of the carriages, held by the coupling chain, hanging over the abyss. Of the carriages which fell over, only one was seen floating out to sea with a woman therein; the rest were crushed to atoms or covered by the waters at the bottom of the ravine. The engine has never since been seen. Twelve persons perished upon the spot."

FEBRUARY.

8. ASSASSINATION OF LORD MAYO.-This day the GovernorGeneral of India was assassinated by a convict at Port Blair, in the Andaman Islands. The Viceroy, on his way in H.M.S. "Glasgow," arrived at Port Blair at nine o'clock in the morning, and inspected the whole of Ross Island. A strong guard of native infantry and police accompanied the Viceroy, who even objected to their care as being excessive. He returned on board ship at two o'clock. At half-past two o'clock the Viceroy returned on shore with the Superintendent, Mr. Ellis; Major Burne, private secretary; Captains Lockwood and Gregory, aides-de-camp; Colonel Jervois, Count

Waldstein, and Mr. Allen, and also a native body-servant. The precautions for guarding the Viceroy were greater than before, when he visited Viper Island and Chatham. Till five o'clock nothing of moment occurred to give cause for fear. The programme ended here; but the Viceroy proposed a visit to Hope Town and Mount Harriet. Mr. Ellis, being lame, remained behind; also Captain Gregory, on business. All the others, and some of the armed escort, accompanied the Viceroy. The Viceroy rode and walked up the hill, the others on foot close round. They reached the top near sunset, and stayed ten minutes.

The following account is from one of the party of eight who ascended Mount Harriet ::

"As we commenced the return journey, two or three convicts attempted to address the Viceroy with petitions, but were told to submit them on the morrow, through the Superintendent. Lord Mayo had always liked the people to approach him, and was in the habit of inquiring personally into their appeals. I remember an old crone falling at his feet, outside the Rangoon gaol, not many days before, and hugging him round the ankles with such vehemence as almost to topple him over. Descending the hill we kept close order, more, however, from necessity than design; the guards and freelabour escort, twelve or fourteen in all, pressing so close on our heels and around us as more than once to provoke our protest.

"Watching our approach from the head of the pier sit Captain Lockwood and Count Waldstein; they see a small working party carrying water to the launch, but no sign of any loiterer sneaking

near.

At last we have reached the journey's end; the party breaks into somewhat looser order; the Viceroy, a conspicuous mark from his commanding figure and light coat-the glare of the torches throwing every other object into dense gloom-quickens his pace towards the boat, now but a few yards distant, thus spreading the escort, when, with extraordinary rapidity, a native, who had either been crouching amidst a heap of stones hard by, or insidiously mingled with the following, at those last moments hustles aside the nearest guard, leaps upon the Viceroy from behind, throwing his left arm round him, and stabs him twice. It is the work of one brief moment. Colonel Jervois sees the blow struck; Lieutenant Hawkins half draws his sword upon the striker; a convict chuprassi seizes the assassin red-handed, who is instantly, amid shouts of "Kill him! kill him!" (Maro, maro) pinned to the earth. He would be torn to pieces but for the multitude of his struggling assailants, and in the wild tumult the torches are almost extinguished. The Viceroy staggers beneath the force of the blow down the sloping side of the jetty into the shallow water below, and then, with a little help, totters, faint and bleeding, to a truck on the other side of the pier, saying to the secretary, They've hit me, Burne.' We gather round him bewildered, and for the moment utterly unnerved, and strive in vain to stanch the only wound visible. He sits, supported for one or two minutes, quite un

conscious, gasps a few half-articulate words, falls rigidly backwards, swoons, and dies.

"The sailors of the Glasgow' carried him on board the launch, and we seated him on the bench, one of the party pressing close against him as supports on either side. Whilst this was being done Captain Lockwood runs back to secure the prisoner, who was pitched into the farther end of the launch, bound hand and foot, just as she was pushing off. With him we brought away the weapon, a common native domestic knife, in shape very much like a gamecarver, but rudely sharpened at both edges."

A funeral service over the body of Lord Mayo took place in Calcutta. The remains were conveyed on board H.M.S." Daphne," all classes of the population being present along the line of route. The Calcutta Volunteers, numbering 500 men, formed the escort. After the body came the chief mourners, followed by the personal staff of the Viceroy, the Acting Viceroy, and members of the civil and military services, deputations from all the public bodies, and an immense number of the general community, all on foot. From the "Daphne" the corpse was transferred to the steamer "Glasgow."

The news was received in London, on February 12, with a thrill of horror and astonishment. In the House of Commons, where for twenty years, as Lord Naas, he occupied a seat, Mr. Gladstone, in announcing the sad event, paid an emphatic tribute to his memory; and Mr. Disraeli, who spoke with some emotion, remarked that the country had lost a faithful servant, and those who had enjoyed the noble Lord's friendship might be pardoned for being silent under this overwhelming calamity. In the House of Lords, too, the Duke of Argyll and the Duke of Richmond each spoke of the great loss both to India and this country, and paid high tribute to his personal and official character.

In Ireland the news was received with deep and very wide-spread regret. The deceased was widely known and highly esteemed in that country, where his aptitude and capacity for business had secured for him, during his official career there, the highest respect.

The assassin's name is Shere Ali, a resident in foreign territory beyond the Peshawur frontier. He was convicted of murder by the Commissioner of Peshawur in 1867, and sentenced to transportation for life. He was received in the settlement in May, 1869. The connexion of the assassin with the murderer of Justice Norman and the sect called "Wahabees" was strongly suspected, and as strongly denied. In any case no proof of it could be obtained, and Shere Ali died without implicating any one. Asked if he had plice, he said that he had none but God. His trial took place on the 9th March, on board H.M.S. "Glasgow."

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DANGEROUS PASSAGE.-News has been received of the arrival at New York of the "Britannia," one of the Anchor line of steamers, after a voyage of thirty-two days. It is generally conceded by nautical men that the passage is the longest on record from port to port. On the 23rd of December the steamer left Glasgow with a

full cargo and ninety passengers, and encountered such terrible weather, that she did not reach New York till the 23rd of the next month.

17. MURDER IN LAMBETH.-A shocking crime was perpetrated in the Belvidere-road, Lambeth, between one and two o'clock this morning. The victim was George Merritt, a stoker, employed at the Lion brewery. He was stopped by a man whom he did not know, and fired at with a revolver twice, the second shot taking effect in the back of his neck, and proving fatal. The murderer is an American physician named William Chester Minor, thirty-seven years of age. A police-constable heard the shots fired, and, making his way in the direction of the report, met Minor. He went over to him and asked him who it was that had fired. He said he had; and asking him whom he had fired at, he said, “A man. I should not be such a coward as to shoot a woman." The constable seized hold of him, and took a revolver from his right hand. He then took him to the station, where a bowie-knife was found concealed under his coat. The prisoner was very cool and collected. He had been a surgeon in America, serving in that capacity in the army during the war. On being brought to trial he was proved to be hopelessly insane.

A VERY EXTRAORDINARY STORY.-Messrs. W. Blews and Son, of Birmingham, write as follows:-" On the 18th of January we received a letter written at Riga, dated the 12th of that month, from the manager of our magazine at Moscow, Mr. L. R. Bauer, stating that he desired to see us personally on business affairs, and that he would leave for England on the 14th of January. He was a passenger on board the Libra,' from Hamburg, on the 23rd of January, reaching London on Thursday, the 25th. He stayed at the Charingcross Hotel, and on the following morning had an interview with the managing director of the City of Moscow Gas Works, who was on a brief visit to England from Moscow. He telegraphed us at 10.20 he would leave Euston-square for Birmingham by the noon train. At 12.5 a telegram was sent us from the office at Eustonsquare, stating that he had missed the noon train, but would leave at three. From that time to the present moment nothing has been seen of him. The only information we have received is contained in this letter, dated the 27th of January, addressed to the senior of our firm :

:

"DEAR SIR,—As a special grace permission has been granted to me to address these lines to you; they will be the last, because in a few hours I shall be dead. In good faith of doing a good deed I joined some people a few years ago. Alas! it was a sad error into which my youth and want of experience had led me. About a year since I discovered my great mistake, because I was not bad enough to carry out some consequences of my vow-the very point of my misunderstanding, and ever since I lived in dread, although I was not prepared for this when one of these devils in the shape of men peremptorily stopped me from leaving London yesterday noon.

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