H.-Nor how often the army rifle threw its belted ball wide of the mark. No person was appointed to keep an exact account, and I speak from the recollection of what I saw. As I approached Colonel Chalmer and saw that he was deserted by his friends, I entertained the worst apprehensions and suspected the old gun had burst, and that the gallant Colonel had been assisted from the spot, as he was nowhere to be seen. When I came nearer and saw the tranquil expression of Colonel Chalmer, all these horrible visions melted away. Still I was convinced something serious had occurred, and though the Colonel did not explain and the soldiers might not

Mr. Buck.- Permit me to ask a delicate question. Were you all this time in the wind without getting hungry?'

H.No wolf upon the mountain-tops-

Mr. Buck.-'I thought so. Do you fancy nobody is ever hungry but yourself? If you do, just look at these empty dishes. How many of you were left on the ground?'

H.-Colonel Chalmer, three soldiers, and your humble servant. The Colonel requested me to go on shooting, so I let off one final triumphant salvo in honor of the old gun and in spite of its tricks. I believe a ship in the river had the benefit of the bullet. The Colonel then requested me to go on shooting, and said he would wait for me as long as I liked. I looked at the chilly and pinched features around me, and my heart was touched with compassion. ، Sir, I replied, I could not think of keeping you here any longer in the cold,' and embellished this speech with my politest bow. He seemed to appreciate my consideration, and as we left the shooting-ground invited me to come another day to Woolwich and try once more before the Committee made their report.

Why this is not the way to make experiments,' said Mr. Gill; they should have tried the new shot against the old shot, all other things being equal. Here they have tried a new gun against an old gun, a student against one of their best marksmen, and a light shot against a heavy shot. This is too extensive an experiment and embraces too many subjects at once, but go on.

،

H.-As I returned with Colonel Chalmer towards the buildings and the room where I first saw the three officers, we met a gentleman who enquired, What have you been doing to-day?'Trying a new shot,' replied Colonel Chalmer, and at parting a few moments after the Colonel advised me to get a better gun. That may be a very good barrel,' said he, but you should get rid of all that,' pointing to the flint and steel lock.

'I hope you never will.'

He offered to have the target set up for

H.-Certainly not. me any day within the following fortnight.

'Where was the trial at one hundred and fifty, two hundred, and three hundred yards?'

H.-Nowhere, and I do not intend to join in any desultory shooting which by trying everything tries nothing. The Government have been put to great expense in supplying new rifles to the army, and on this account I will leave the question of the rifle ball, and propose a trial for the smooth bore which was mentioned in the letter to the Master-General.

'Before you think of any such thing pray have the table cleared.' This was soon done, and bottles and glasses circulated and were in great demand. Mr. Buck mixed a large bowl of punch which he benevolently designed for his friends as well as himself, but as nobody would join him in so insinuating and deceitful a beverage, he devoted his energies to the bowl with fixed and resolute purpose, depositing his heels comfortably on the mantel-piece, rocking himself on the hind legs of his chair, and making himself perfectly happy.

It is now your turn to propose a trial,' said Colonel De Beaufort; they have made theirs, such as it is. When they threw down the gauntlet you did not refuse their own trial in their own way. Now it is your turn to propose a trial of their shot against yours. Let it be done with all courtesy, but let the trial be severe and just. If they have any confidence in the ball used in the service, they will gladly give you the trial you

demand,'

Listen, then,' replied H., ' to this letter to Colonel Chalmer.' Sir, Since I had the honor of waiting upon you at the Practice Ground an experiment has been suggested for the musquet-ball. If the musquet may be supposed to carry a ball fifteen hundred yards, as the ball is nearly true for about eighty yards and deflects during the remaining fourteen hundred and twenty yards, if any means can be adopted for lessening this deflection, the ball may be kept true for more than eighty yards even if the means adopted should lower the extreme range from fifteen hundred to thirteen hundred yards, or less. What is lost in range may be gained in accuracy of fire. I beg therefore to propose the following experiments :-I have about two dozen of winged shot which were made for my rifle; these may be forwarded to Woolwich, and a smooth bore of the proper calibre may be provided by Government, and made fast to a block at about one hundred and twenty yards from the target. 2. This barrel may be fitted with a round ball of the same windage as the winged ball. 3. A patch of greased linen, or brown paper, or cartridge paper may be provided for both the kinds of shot. 4. Careful trials may be made to discover the precise charge of powder that will lift each kind of bullet to the level of the bull's-eye. 5. These preparations having been accurately made, the round shot and the winged shot may be fired alternately. 6. The deflection of each shot may be measured as soon as it is fired, by a person stationed at the target, and the perpendicular deflection written down in inches in one

column and the lateral deflection in another column. 7. The gun may not be cleaned in any way until all the shots are fired. 8. An equal number of shots having thus been fired alternately, the deflections may be compared.

I submit it, Sir, to your judgment and the opinion of the Select Committee whether an experiment like this might not supply data for a tolerably true estimate of the accuracy of each kind of shot, and awaiting the favor of your reply, I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient and humble servant,

April 28th, 1843.

C. A. H.

That will try the shots and the men also,' said De Beaufort; 'a gun-barrel costs less than ten shillings, and twenty to the pound is a common calibre; if they intend to make a report to the Master-General founded upon strict trial they have now an opportunity of doing so.'

Buck. They must suspect that the army ball may be beaten in such a trial; it deflects at eighty yards; and the new winged shot has a means of correcting the deflection, because the wings make it spin like a rifle ball. What do you think, De Beaufort? -will they venture to make this trial?"

Really, Buck, for their own credit they ought. I do not think they can refuse.'

Buck. You Frenchmen do not entertain the same notions of British officers that we have in America. We have shot too many of them with our rifles. Do you recollect that we shot General Braddock, and defeated his army, and afterwards we shot General Pakenham, and defeated his army, and we'

De Beaufort. Excuse me, Buck, remember that English

men are here.'

Buck. Well, they know it: and whole armies of the British laid down their arms, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. You Frenchmen know nothing of the rifle, for Napoleon had not a French rifleman in his service. You lost men by thousands in Spain from the fire of the Spanish and British rifles, and General Marceau and thousands more in Germany by the German rifles, and yet you never learned the value of that kind of gun even by experience, which makes some people wise. Your officers might have learned something when they served in America in the War of Independence.'

Pray, Jonathan, take your heels off the mantel-piece, and mix yourself another bowl of punch,' said H. wishing to turn this very unpleasant conversation; but Mr. Jonathan Buck was thoroughly animated, and not to be checked so easily.

Buck. Did not the British armies lay down their arms while the American bands played Yankee Doodle? and did not three million of us beat sixteen millions of Britishers? Now we can count as many people as you, and more riflemen than you by tens of

thousands. We can occupy Canada whenever we please, and the West Indies when it suits us. You boast of beating the French, do you? I tell you, if the British whop the world we whop the British; and as to Ireland, we can-’

Just as Mr. Buck had come to this climax of his harangue, the chair on which he had been so delicately poised suddenly overbalanced itself and fell backwards, carrying Mr. Buck's heels from the mantel-piece over his head upon the table lamp. At this visitation the table overset, carrying away bottles, glasses, punch-bowl, and everything else to the floor with an astounding crash. The room was plunged in darkness, and after order was restored, one of the company insinuated that a light but unnoticed touch by Colonel de Beaufort had assisted in throwing the chair of Mr. Buck off its equilibrium, but every one had so high an opinion of the politeness of the gallant Frenchman, that the idea was rejected as improbable. On making diligent search for Mr. Buck, he was nowhere to be found, and the company broke up.

As the sun declined on a sultry day in the ensuing summer, its rays fell upon the bank of a river where a boat was moored, and where three men, after the exertions of the morning, were calmly seated round a stone bottle amidst the scattered remains of a feast. After emptying a little horn cup, Mr. Walter, for it was no less a person, began to enquire if H. had ever received an answer from the Select Committee to the trial he had proposed. Call to him,' said Gill; he is in the boat, but he will hear you.' The reply consisted of a pocket-book which fell through the bottom of a dish which had contained a fruit pie. It was opened and read aloud:

Woolwich, May 23, 1843.

Sir, I have submitted your letter of April 28th and 8th May on the subject of trials with your winged shot to the Select Committee at their late meeting. I am directed to acquaint you that the Committee do not consider themselves authorized to enter upon such trials as you propose. Without questioning the correctness of your theories, the Committee feel satisfied that a rifle with shot such as you propose, would not be so suitable for all military purposes as the one lately adopted into the service, and which continues to be most favourably reported on. I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,

J. W. CHALMER, Lt.-Col. R. A. Office of Ordnance, 26th May, 1843. Sir, I am directed by the Master-General to acquaint you that the Select Committee at Woolwich, in reporting upon your 6 new rifle ball,' have stated that from the numerous experiments which the Committee have of late witnessed, they are satisfied that the belted ball is far preferable to your proposed projectile, and that your invention does not promise any practical advantage to the service.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

F. W. TRENCH.

While these letters were read, H. was watching a barbel that was swimming near the shore. Mr. Walter called to him, You have published the paper, of course, which you sent to the Committee?'

H.-Look in the pocket-book.

A number of the Mechanic's Magazine dated Saturday, July 15, 1843, was found.

Mr. Gill. Now the young gentlemen of Sandhurst and Woolwich will have an opportunity of revising the opinions of the chief professor in the Royal Military Academy, and I doubt if those intelligent gentlemen will be satisfied until they have examined the profound dynamic difficulties that reduced the secretary of the Royal Society to confine his observations to a single supposition. And do you stop there?'

H.-Certainly not. The projectile for the two-grooved gun of Mr. Moore is nearly finished. Since that paper was published, new principles have been developed and new conditions are required.

Mr. Gill. And yet it is the fate of every inventor to suffer neglect, insult, and persecution until he is understood. Faust narrowly escaped the flames when he appeared at Paris with the art of printing; and the inventor of steam-boats was laughed at. Did the man who lighted our cities with gas receive any other reward than poverty and ill-usage? The officers at Woolwich have behaved better than the men in authority who burnt Sir John Oldcastle and John Huss for telling them the truth. I honour them for their military courtesy. Gentlemen! three cheers for Tinderbox!'

CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS.-Two arguments may be urged in favour of the retention of death-punishment for extreme offences. First, it is the most terrible of all criminal adjudications. Death is unquestionably the king of terrors,' and there is certainly no kind of infliction that men dread so much as hanging or beheading. It must, in consequence, operate more strongly than any secondary punishment for which it can be commuted to deter from atrocious crimes. Not only, however, is it more protective of the community, but it also inflicts less suffering on the culprit himself. Human nature is such, that there are few criminals who would not prefer life on any terms to immediate execution-who would not prefer perpetual imprisonment in the dungeons of Spielberg, solitary confinement to the end of their days on bread and water, or the frightful labours of the worst of our penal settlements. In lieu of such dreadful sentences, death would be mercy to the offender, but he would not choose it—he would cling to that in which there was at least hope. His punishment, however, would be still capital-a death-punishment by protracted torture. His own sufferings would be infinitely greater, while society would benefit less by the example of them than if he had undergone the extreme penalty of the law, because less appalling to the imagination.