' The
offer is to be kept open for five years, to allow full time for
experiment, and people of all nations have leave to compete. One of
the electric telegraph companies intends to ask parliament to abolish
the present monopoly as regards the despatch of messages; in another
quarter, an under-sea telegraph to Ostend is talked about, with a view
to communicate with Belgium independently of France; and there is no
reason why it should not be laid down, for the Dover and Calais line
is paying satisfactorily. And, finally, another ship-load of 'marbles'
and sculptures has just arrived from Nineveh; and the appointment of
Mr Layard as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (though now but
temporary) is regarded as a praiseworthy recognition of his merits and
services; and now that we have a government which combines a few
_litterateurs_ among its members, it is thought that literature will
be relieved of some of its trammels.
CHILDREN'S JOYS AND SORROWS.
I can endure a melancholy man, but not a melancholy child; the former,
in whatever slough he may sink, can raise his eyes either to the
kingdom of reason or of hope; but the little child is entirely
absorbed and weighed down by one black poison-drop of the present.
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