Bergues, has just produced a master-piece in this branch of the useful arts; it is a watch, which in size does not exceed in dimenrions a five

sous piece of France. This minute production is the result of seven years' application, and goes as correctly and as long as an ordinary watch. Even at the present day we cannot comprehend how the Egyptians were enabled to move, raise, and place the enormous blocks of stone of which the pyramids are constructed. Will it be more easily comprehended how so many microscopic pieces have been so put together as to mark the time with a precision equal to the most complete and finished watch ?-Living Age.

Miscellany.

SELF-CULTURE.

WEEDS, PLANTS AND FLOWERS.

A gardener who would keep his garden in good order must be able to distinguish well and readily between weeds, and plants, and flowers. He must extirpate the weeds with diligence, tend the plants with care, and trim the flowers with taste. So shall his garden become both useful and agreeable, and amply reward his toil.

In like manner, a man who would cultivate his mind with advantage, must learn to discriminate judiciously between the evil propensities he finds in it, the spontaneous growth of our fallen and depraved nature; and the moral feelings, precious relics of our primitive humanity, with the fine natural sensibilities which, prompt the flowering fancies of the sublime and beautiful, for ornament and pleasure; and he must labor with all his assiduity to eradicate the evil, to improve the good, and to refine the coarse, until his mental field becomes as a lovely vision, and he reaps the golden fruits of his industry in overflowing measures of profit and delight.

C.

MR. WIRT'S IMPROMPTU.

MR. EDITOR,-I send you an Impromptu which was thrown off some years ago by Mr. Wirt, while he was a member of the bar in this city, on the following occasion: He was sitting one day in the Court of Appeals, listening to an argument which Mr. Wickham was making in answer to Mr. Hay on the other side, just as that wily pleader had fairly got his gentleman on the horns of a dilemma, and was playing with him in his own peculiar way, to the great amusement of all present and especially of Mr. Warden, (an old Scotch lawyer well known at the time,) who was evidently enjoying the sport with great gusto; when, observing that wight's expressive countenance, he wrote the following lines on a small slip of paper, and handed them to him.

Wickham toss'd Hay in open Court,

On a dilemma's horns for sport,
Jock, full of mirth and humor too,

Cries, "habet fænum in cornu."

Upon which, we are told the said Jock could contain himself no longer, but burst out into a loud laugh that made the room ring. This roused the court who seemed disposed to complain of the breach of order, but Mr. Warden, rising to apologize, gravely presented the billet to the judges who, reading it seriatim, readily comprehended the case, and very good humoredly accepted the excuse.

R.

THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

The stock of materials by which any country is rendered flourishing and prosperous, is its industry, its knowledge or skill, its morals, its execution of justice, its courage, and the national union in directing those powers to one point, and making them all centre in the public benefit. Edmund Burke.

REMEMBERED JOYS.

Bliss in possession will not last,
Remember'd joys are never past;
At once the fountain, stream, and sea,
They were, they are, and yet shall be.

We return our due acknowledgments to Mrs. B, of Warrenton, for her obliging courtesy in allowing us to take copies of some original letters from General Washington to Colonel Baylor, which have never been published, and which we shall lay before our readers hereafter with great pleasure.

We have several valuable communications on hand, from our friend C. C. and others, which shall appear in due time.

THE

VIRGINIA HISTORICAL REGISTER,

AND

LITERARY ADVERTISER.

EDITED BY

WILLIAM MAXWELL.

VOL. II.

FOR THE YEAR 1849.

RICHMOND:

PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETOR,

BY MACFARLANE & FERGUSSON.

1849.