in Moscow, he took the opportunity of seeing the Kremlin, the old fortress, and to visit its venerable cathedrals. There, from some passers-by, he heard of the fire, and hastened to the spot, where he so nobly distinguished himself.

At three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day he took his seat in a railway carriage. On the 13th of the same month he reached St. Petersburg, and again enlisted himself in the number of workmen at Kolpino. In two days after, he was summoned to the office of the general police-master of the capital, where he was told that the Emperor desired to see him. He was accordingly taken to the palace. His Imperial Majesty received Marrin in his cabinet, and was pleased to say to him when he entered, "I thank you for a good action. Embrace me, and relate how you did it." In simple words Marrin told his story; and, when he finished, the Emperor dismissed him, saying, "Now you may go; but in case of need come to me at any time." Soon afterwards Marrin was rewarded with a medal and a sum of 150 roubles silver.

A SEA MONSTER.

"WHILE upon the Bonin Islands, searching for shells on the rocks, I was much astonished at seeing at my feet a most extraordinary-looking animal, crawling towards the surf, which had only just left it. I had never seen one like it under such circumstances before. It was creeping on its eight legs, which, from their soft and flexible nature, bent considerably under the weight of its body, so that it was lifted by the efforts of its tentacula only a small distance from the rocks. It appeared much alarmed at seeing me, and made every effort to escape, while I was not much in the humour to endeavour to capture so ugly a customer, whose appearance excited a feeling of disgust, not unmixed with fear. I, however endeavoured to prevent its career, by pressing on one of its legs with

my foot; but although I made use of considerable force for that purpose, its strength was so great that it several times quickly liberated its member, in spite of all the efforts I could employ in this way on wet, slippery rocks. I now laid hold of one of the tentacles with my hand, and held it firmly, so that the limb appeared as if it would be torn asunder by our united strength. I soon gave it a powerful jerk, wishing to disengage it from the the rocks to which it clung so forcibly by its suckers, which it effectually resisted; but the moment after, the apparently enraged animal lifted its head with its large eyes projecting from the middle of its body, and letting go its hold of the rocks, suddenly sprang upon my arm, which I had previously bared to my shoulder, for the purpose of thrusting it into holes in the rocks to discover shells, and clung with its suckers to it with great power, endeavouring to get its beak, which I could now see, between the roots of its arms, in a position to bite!

"A sensation of horror pervaded my whole frame when I found this monstrous animal had affixed itself so firmly upon my arm. Its cold slimy grasp was extremely sickening; and I immediately called aloud to the captain, who was also searching for shells at some distance, to come and release me from my disgusting assailant. He quickly arrived, and taking me down to the boat, during which time I was employed in keeping the beak away from my hand, quickly released me by destroying my tormentor with the boat-knife, when I disengaged it by portions at a time. This animal must have measured across its expanded arms about four feet, while its body was not larger than a large clenched band. It was that species of sepia which is called by whalers rock-squid.'"From Beale's History of the Sperm Whale:

SEPTEMBER.

21. St. Matthew.

29. St. Michael.

John and Charles Mozley, Printers, Derby.

You say your little nephews and nieces would like to have some account of what I saw this summer at the Camp at Chobham. I wish they could have seen it themselves, but as they could not, I will send them as good a description as I can.

Long ago, the French Revolution, and the warlike doings of the first Napoleon Bonaparte, warned all Englishmen to be upon the alert to defend themselves. Then indeed the danger seemed very near, for French armies were reviewed, and vessels prepared for invading England, and for many years the alarm continued. Our elders OCTOBER, 1853.

VOL. XII.

L

can tell us of the arrangements that were made in case the enemy should come; how, in all the villages near the coast, the men were enrolled ready for action, arms kept at the nearest town where they were to assemble, and places marked out whither the cattle, and the women and children, were to be conducted, under the care of the clergyman of each parish. The seats with which the wagons were to be fitted to convey them were cut out, and I know of a farm where they are still kept. Some people had all their money in the house, in guineas, so as to be able to take it away with them; and there is even a story of a lady who carried her fears so far that she had the whole of her furniture packed up, even to the poker, and stirred the fire with a stick all the winter. The most peaceable people learnt to act as soldiers, and there are more droll stories than I can stop to write about the mistakes these new Volunteers made, and the false alarms that the French were come. In those days there was an encampment of troops upon Bagshot heath, where George III. and Queen Charlotte went to see and review them.

After the battle of Trafalgar had ruined the French fleet, we had no more fears of being invaded. The mercy of God has been a hedge about us, and kept us from "fleeing before the enemy," or from seeing our homes laid

waste.

However, while we own His Providence, which has peaceably ordered the course of this world, as far as we are concerned, and while we daily pray, "Give peace in our time, O Lord; because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only

Thou, O God," we know that God works through human means. He gave victory to our ships and armies, and taught our soldiers' 'hands to war, and their fingers to fight,' to assert His power, and shield us from harm. But we know He helps those who help themselves, trusting to Him all the time.

So our rulers think the right way, under Providence, of keeping off war, is to be ready for it, that when other countries find their armies strong, they may not be tempted to make a prey of us; and so, though all the world is at peace just at present, it has been judged best to give our soldiers a little practice in encamping, and their officers in such movements as they might. have to direct on a battle field. It is wisest to do this, while we have still some of the generals alive who served in the last great war, and know what a battle with European troops is really like.

For all these reasons the camp was established on Chobham Common, not very far from where George III's old camp had been.

I saw very nearly the beginning of the camp, -the marching in of the troops, on June 14th. The place is a wide common, then thickly covered with short heath, and rising up here and there into low round mounds or ridges, one or two of them bearing clumps of scraggy fir trees, and ponds in some of the hollows. There are woods and plantations on most of the bounds of the common, so that it is not a dreary place, though there was plenty of room.

Twenty men and two officers had been sent beforehand from each regiment to mark out the ground