breakfast-room at a funeral pace. Newspapers sent by absent friends-three distinguished families on our visiting list were then enjoying a continental tour-were subjected to the same inspection. Every cast-off envelope was carefully but silently secured, for the sake, as we thought, of studying and comparing the handwriting. We noticed also that, young as he was, more letters arrived for him than for us, the contents of which he never communicated. Strange, and slightly impertinent!

Yesterday, Rebecca's forbearance could hold out no longer. At the postman's rap, Harry jumped up as usual, before Mrs. Price years ago could get to the door; and he -who is not so active as she was twenty returned with two letters, one half hidden in the cuff of his sleeve, while he devoured the direction of the other with his eyes. We had long been expecting that letter. It contained, we knew, an expression of thanks and safe arrival in Queensland, from a penniless but hard-working young woman whom my sister believed she was really patriating, while expatriating her, at her own expense. In truth, the girl's sweetheart had purposely gone out before her, with an understanding, and was ready for the reception of his wellbeloved. We wished this little romance, in which Rebecca was an accomplice, to be kept as snug as possible.

"That is my letter, sir,' observed my sister, sternly; and I should be glad to have it, and others for the future, brought in directly, without being quite so closely examined. In my time, young people did not take such liberties.'

'Because in your timeHarry, not daring to finish.

stammered

'Because why, sir? I insist on knowing.' 'Because in your very, very young time, aunt, there were no such things as postage stamps. They are a magnificent invention of modern times. Here is the letter; but pray do give me the envelope.'

For what? What interest or right, sir, can you possibly have to inspect the postmarks of my correspondence? And, now we talk of correspondence, I should like to be informed what is the nature of yours. It may be all right and proper, and I dare say

it is; but, until you are one-and-twenty, and we are relieved of the responsibility of your guardianship, I may observe that your uncle and myself ought to be made acquainted with its nature, and to have some idea of the persons with whom it takes place.'

Rebecca uttered this little lecture with all the dry decision she could muster, looking at me, at the close of her speech, to second the motion. Then, as she really loved her nephew, and was too kind-hearted to feel easy while administering reproof, she made a retreat and avoided further discussion by breaking the seal of her letter and becoming absorbed in its perusal. I said nothing. Harry blushed, not a guilty blush, but a blush as it were protesting against unjust treatment. He soon left the house-as he afterwards confessed, to make private arrangements with the postman.

During his absence, and while Rebecca was making out her multi-crossed epistle, breathing a satisfactory Ah!' at intervals, I went upstairs to my room, to look out of window with my hands in my pockets, as my wont is when anything occurs to puzzle

me.

His room door stood ajar, suggesting. the possibility of finding a clue to the correspondence of which Rebecca disapproved. In a snug corner of his bookcase was the wellworn ciphering-book, which would not have invited further attention but for its bloated appearance, so to speak. It had grown plethoric, abdominal, and fat. It seemed to have taken in more good things than it could well digest. It was filled to repletion, witness sundry cracks, in spite of the extra binding duly charged in the school bill. I took it down, really hoping to find a further triumph of my nephew's mathematical abilities, and supposing the additional thickness to arise from logarithmic calculations of excessive profundity. The sums, no doubt, would be overlaid with algebraic corollaries and commentaries. I opened the volume, half-fearing to behold an increase of figures, ascending vertically or descending transversely, and garnished with scales of red ruled lines.

Next the cover were loose letters, evidently not, as Rebecca dreaded they were, from any young person of the gentler sex. 'Your last favour duly received,' 'on the 30th ult.

we had the honour to forward,' would hardly be the forms in which a fair one would avow her susceptibilities. There was mention of 'France, 1848,'' France, republic, presidence,' 'private offices,' 'scarce envelopes,' and local correspondence,' which could have reference only to business or politics. Was my nephew in secret training for the foreign secretaryship? But on turning over the once arithmetical pages, a wonderful transformation met my eye, explaining the obese condition of the book. It was not exactly a palimpsest manuscript, but had been effaced by linings of paper mosaic. Each page was neatly ruled with blue ink into small square divisions quite irrespective of the sums upon it, and nearly each division was occupied by a postage stamp of some nation, colony, or community, whose name was hand-printed on a smart label pasted at the top of the page. A few old postage envelopes were honoured with a broad-margined page to themselves.

Beside the volume were three or four pamphlets, in French and in English, of Parisian, Belgian, and British publication, the happy authors of which could boast their second editions, revised, corrected, and enlarged, with reproduction forbidden and every right reserved. I beheld Aids to Stamp Collectors; being a list of English and Foreign Postage Stamps in circulation since 1840. I beheld Catalogue des Timbres-Poste, créés dans les divers Etats du Globe. Further, I saw Manuel du Collectionneur de TimbresPoste, ou Nomenclature générale de tous les timbres adoptés dans les divers pays de l'Univers; as if the author, Monsieur J. B. Moens, were on intimate terms with postmasters residing in the planets Venus and Jupiter. He assures us that the stamp-collector may apply to him in all confidence; for the correspondence which he has with the stranger enables him continually to supply the generality of all the stamps (of the universe ?). And then there was a severe libellus, of ninety-seven pages, Timbres Poste, without preface, commentary, or peroration, but an index only, 'on sale chez Lapante, Dealer in Postage Stamps for Collections, 1, Rue Christine, 1, Paris.' This last looked about as light reading as a list of fixed stars, or the

astronomical portions of Dietrichsen's Almanack. Besides, and on the same shelf, were ranged grammars and dictionaries of foreign tongues, picked up at book-stalls; tables of European coins, weights, and measures, and, backing and supporting all, like a substantial buttress, a solid tome, entitled Manuel du Négotiant, Traite, théorique et pratique des Sciences Commerciales. For this learned treatise the name of the author, L. Rothschild, inspired me with a certain awe. I left it untouched, and turned over with bewilderment the pages of the metamorphosed arithmetical record.

While so doing, a light step bounded upstairs. It was Harry, who thus caught me in his sanctum, rummaging his private shelves, and surrounded by his precious documents tossed about in disorder.

The

boy looked astonished, but not in the least abashed or ashamed. He stood his ground like a man. After the first surprise at seeing me there, he seemed flattered rather than otherwise by the curiosity I was manifesting.

And how did you come by all this rubbish?' I asked.

'By exchanges with correspondents, uncle,' was his reply, in justification, and also with my pocket-money.'

'You were at liberty, certainly, to spend it on this, as well as on any other harmless nonsense; still it is a pity to throw money into the street.'

'I beg your pardon, uncle; it is not thrown away at all. I have made a good investment. My stamp album is worth twenty pounds, if it is worth a single shilling.'

'When you have proved that it is worth a shilling, I will believe that it will fetch twenty pounds.'

"That is easily done. You know, uncle, there are two sorts of collections of stamps, the maculate and the immaculate. Maculate stamps, or such as have passed through the post, are marked, to prevent their being used again. I do not claim any value for those, because you, perhaps, will not admit that they have any value.'

I nodded my perfect assent to this.

'And yet I have a Neapolitan stamphere it is of the late King Bomba, which I

would not part with, for five shillings. Besides, as each country has different postage stamps, so has each a different mode of defacing them. Just look, uncle. England does it by black bars, Hesse Darmstadt by concentric circles, France by a number of little black spots. Now, as it is possible that the rarity of certain discontinued stamps will tempt forgers to imitate them, if they commit any error in the mode of defacement, they will be caught most assuredly. Therefore an authentic postmark on a stamp confirms its genuineness and increases its worth

"Which I ignore.'

'I must tell you a true story, which I heard at the lycée. A maid-servant, who made use of a postage stamp for the first time in her life, had noticed that all the letters she took in for her master were dotted with black over the stamp, like this head of the Republic. She supposed it was done to make the stamps stick better, and imitated it as well as she could with a pen. At the post office, it was at first suspected that some one had used an old stamp, to cheat the government. Inquiries were made, and learned "experts" set to work, who proved the girl's innocence of intentional wrong. She got off with an admonition, lucky enough to escape further trouble.'

'Is it possible she could have been so stupid?'

There are more stupid things done than that. Among the curiosities found in letterboxes are unstamped letters in considerable quantities, and mingled with them, though not exactly in the same proportion, single loose postage stamps. There are people ignorant enough, after they have written and directed their letter, to buy a stamp at the office, and then, instead of sticking it on the letter, to throw it into the box at the same time with the letter, supposing that to be the mode of prepayment. The clerks do the best they can to distribute justice, in the shape of stamps, amongst the unprovided letters; but their utmost impartiality may not prevent some letter writers from reaping what they have not sown.'

'Beautiful simplicity! But you were to prove that your album is worth a shilling.'

'Instantly, uncle. My collection is, for the most part, maculate, consisting of old stamps. I am not rich enough to procure unused stamps of all the countries in Europe -not to speak of the colonies-nevertheless I have a few. Now you must acknowledge, uncle, that unused stamps are worth their cost price. Here is a Würtemburg stamp for six kreuzers; here, a Swiss one for forty rappen, a Belgian one for forty centimes, a Norwegian one for eight skilling, and a Prussian one for four silbergroschen, all unused. Their joint value is more than a shilling English.'

I don't know,' I demurred, speaking the truth.

'Again, here are French immaculates for eighty, forty, twenty, ten, five, and one centime, respectively; that's more than a shilling. And here are English ones for sixpence, fourpence, threepence, twopence, and one penny. Do they make a shilling? Eh, uncle ? '

'I suppose they do, and that you have the best of the argument.'

'Yes. And I am in hopes, uncle, that I shall be able to make you entertain a higher opinion of postage stamps. They are a great discovery; and if so their history is well worth studying. The man who invented them deserves as much honour as he who invented coin for cash transactions. By sticking a bit of paper, with a government mark, on a letter, you command its delivery, as soon as may be, at any place you choose to name. All the formalities and delays of money payments are avoided, including those connected with the money exchange of the foreign countries which a letter may have to traverse.'

"That is you mean to say that postage stamps are a simple and convenient form of paper money ?'

I beg your pardon. Postage stamps are not paper money; they are much more than, and superior to, paper money. Paper money supposes moneyed capital of the precious metals, and, to have any worth, must be backed by a bank with bullion in it sufficient to pay them off whenever required. bullion may run short, be spent, or stolen; the bank may fail, and the paper be good for

The

nothing but to light a cigar with. Postage stamps represent not cash to be paid but a service to be rendered; the only capital they suppose is the existence of human limbs and brains and the continuance of civilised society. So long as European nations endure, and people have a mutual interest in knowing what is going on in other places, a postage stamp can never fall to the level of a bank note issued by a broken bank. Perhaps even, one of these days, we shall have stamps to prepay other services besides the lettercarrying.'

"Your imagination is running along, my boy, faster than I can follow it.'

Not at all, uncle; for the scheme is already put in practice to a limited extent. Did you ever hear of a ticket for soup?'

'I think, Harry, I have. that to do with it?

But what has

'A ticket for soup (about which so many jokes have been made) is a promise, by charitable persons, of a gift to be made. The

soup received is the fulfilment of the promise, is it not? Applying the same principle to business, there are restaurants in Paris who sell you packets of dinners. Instead of paying for your board by the month (and paying for nothing whenever you are asked out to dinner), you keep the tickets in your pocket-book, and, whenever you want to dine, you present one; exactly as, when you want to send a letter, you stick upon it the proper stamp, and put it into the letter-box. The restaurant's ticket is a dinner stamp; it prepays the butcher, the cook, the wine-merchant, the rent of the dining room, and the use of the dinner things, all through the agency of the head of the establishment, who is always there to supply the meal contracted for whenever called upon to do so. scription to the opera is something of the same kind. All I say is that we may carry the stamp system further, applying it perhaps to medical attendance.'

Sub

6 We will ask the doctor what he has to say to it. Meanwhile, I begin to think that your time and money may not have been spent on mere unmeaning bits of coloured paper. To convince me thoroughly, can you stand an examination in the contents of your own stamp-book?'

'I believe so, uncle. Please begin wherever you like.'

'How does a native Hanoverian spell the name of his country?

'With two ns; HI, a, double n.'
'What does Sverige mean?'
'Sverige is Sweden.'

'What is a Freimarke? '

'A Swedish Freimarke, an Austrian Poststompel, a Hanoverian Bestellgeld-frei, a Dutch Post-zegel, a French Timbre-poste, an Italian Francobollo, a Hamburg or Lubeck Postmarke, are all and equally postage stamps.'

'What is the shape of a Cape of Good Hope stamp?'

'Triangular. The French fellows at our lycée, when I showed them the beginning of my collection, were struck most of all with the number and extent of the British possessions. I told them they might have the same, if they only had the perseverance to go and settle in foreign lands. But they are a too stay-at-home people for that. Wherever they go, they are always thinking of their village steeple.'

'What are the stamps with a crowned lion holding a shield, marked nine grazie and six grazie ?'

'Ah! those are Tuscan, beginning to be rare and valuable. A collector sets a value on a postage stamp in inverse proportion to the stability and prosperity of the state by which it is issued. Those of the overthrown Italian Duchies, Tuscany, Parma, and Modena, never very numerous, are now scarce, and will soon be priceless. The stamps of transitional governments, like the last French Republic, are eagerly sought, for the same reason. I am thinking of investing a trifle in Roman Pontifical stamps. When the temporal power has come to an end, those stamps will command anything in the way of exchange.'

'What are-I can't make them out myself those very pretty stamps, with oval medallions, green, red, and blue, in the midst of drapery of a different colour?

"Those are Russian, for thirty, twenty, and ten copecks each. I cannot read the legend or inscription, because I have not yet been able to set myself up with a Russian

alphabet, and a grammar and dictionary to follow.'

'Your aunt and myself will manage that between us. Let us now go and see whether she has finished her letter.'

'You have been a long while up-stairs,' observed Rebecca, as we entered, returning her spectacles to their case, and handing me her Australian epistle to read. 'She is quite well and happy. She has had a little boy, and is expecting another. She sends her duty and some Queensland bird-skins by the next mail, hoping that you and I are the

same.'

'I am glad of it, though the news is a little confused. Harry has been showing me his correspondence. You may give him the envelope, or he will be content with the stamp alone.'-All the Year Round.

NEWLY-ISSUED STAMPS.

NoT always does reality answer expectation; but the long-desired stamps of Hong Kong (one of which we engrave) were well worth waiting for, as faultless in design and execution. They are of seven values:-2 c., brown; 8 c., buff; 12 c., blue; 18 c., lilac; 24 c., green; 48 c., rose; and 96 c., black. In the four corners they bear the Egyptian (miscalled the Grecian) pattern; the name Hong Kong at the top, and the value below; on the right and left Chinese characters,-from which we may treat our young readers to a gratuitous lesson in the difficult language of China. It is pretty generally known that Chinese is written neither from the left to right, like European, nor from right to left, like most of the Eastern languages; but in perpendicular columns, as is well exemplified in the specimens before us. On the right side stands the Chinese words, Hong Kong, and on the left the numerical value of the stamp. In that of the lowest denomination, the top characters stand for two, and the middle and undermost are the equivalent for cents. In the next there is a character for In the eight, and the same two for cents. blue will be noticed, a cross standing for ten,

a couple of strokes for two, making twelve, and cents as before. In the lilac, the cross again for ten, the same characters as on the buff for eight, making eighteen, and cents again. In the green, the pair of strokes for two, the cross for ten, meaning twice ten, and a very curious character for four, twenty-four. The rose-colour sports the same queer mark for four, the cross for ten,-four times ten, and the sign for eight, forty-eight. The highest denomination has a character for nine, the cross again, and a mark for six,ninety-six, followed by cents as before. will also be remarked that the characters for two on the 2 c. are more complicated there than the two in the 12 c.; which would make them appear rather the equivalent of a pair or a couple, than the simple word, two.

It

The Turkish stamps of which there are four, printed in black, on coloured paper, are noticeable rather for singularity than beauty. They bear the sign-manual of the Sultan, above the crescent, the Koran forbidding the representation of the 'human face divine.' On the rose-coloured one, from which the engraving is taken, will be seen the character for five, in a circle below the crescent; and in the top corners and underneath, we cannot help imagining that the artist was thinking of the Turkish bow-string when he designed the ornamentation.

We can scarcely expect ever again to note the first issues of two countries in the same number; and now proceed to instance a few additions to existing stamps, as the red Antigua penny, which we engrave;-and the 1 c. of Luxembourg, orangecoloured. There is also a local stamp for Italy, started on new-year's day, similar in purport to the Baden Landpost, of delicate design, yellow on white, inscribed, 10 c. Segna Tassa.

We have

never seen but one, and intend giving an engraving of it in our next, together with the forthcoming envelopes of Norway. We hear of, but have not yet seen, a new green Russian stamp. We purchased, a few days