burns with ardour to develope the natural resources of the country-
to promote the cause of social, moral, physical, religious, and every
other kind of progress to foster liberty that shall not degenerate into
license--and, in short, with undivided heart and passionate earnest-in
ness, to devote all his soul and all his strength to promoting the
welfare of "this great and rising country."

THE LATEST RUSH,

(FROM OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER.)

Flagstaff Hill, August 10, 1 p.m.

N conformity with your instructions I hastened hither and found the whole neighbourhood raving with excitement. Gold was being picked up in all directions, in specks large enough to be visible by the aid of an ordinary magnifying glass. Claims (eight inches by four) were being marked out in the various gutters meandering from the crown of the hill; and washing stuff being conveyed (in pocket handkerchiefs) to the nearest water-cask. Clasp knives, bisected clothes-pegs, table-spoons, fragments of iron hoop, and metallic pocket combs were in great demand for digging purposes, and your informant heard as much as a "nobbler" offered for a tin shavingdish, to be converted into a bucket.

3 p.m.

was

The excitement is increasing. A nodule, or, let me call it, a "nugget" has been discovered, weighing one-sixteenth and four hundred and twenty-three thousandths of a pennyweight. The finder has become delirious, and the police have taken him into custody. 4 p.m. Several finds nearly as heavy as the one already reported have taken place; and a meeting has been held at the top of the principal gully to consider the propriety of petitioning the Government to establish a Camp, appoint a Warden, and make arrangements for an Escort.

SOMETHING BRILLIANT FROM BELFAST. nectar'd sweets, "where no crude surfeit reigns." Punch invites his readers to an intellectual banquet ;-a feast of Belfast; and one of the local journals--the Banner-enjoys the disA poet has arisen tinguished honor of having ushered into existence the first born of this poet's muse. Listen to the magnificent burst of melodious music with which the bard of Belfast preludes his immortal song (modestly entitled "An Acrostic," by the way) :

5 p.m. Shepherding has already commenced upon an extensive scale; and the richer claims are watched with jealous vigilance. Prospecting parties are scouring the neighbourhood; and a rush or two has taken place in the direction of Chetwynd-street: the inhabitants of which, or, at least, the female portion of them, have made an imposing demonstration, with American brooms and fire-shovels, against the mining on private lands movement. I have heard of one or two cases of sticking-up, but I must defer particulars until I am fully acquainted

with the details.

5.30 p.m.

Bright is the standard which wafts through the breeze,
And on its fair surface kind nature decrees,
No tyrant, nor despot, nor faction, nor clique,
Nor envious partizans with ideas oblique
Ever shall witness such misrule as the past,
Re-echoes the BANNER, in the town of Belfast.

Now prejudiced critics and the ignorant vulgar may cavil at the attribution to a standard of a capacity to waft anything through a breeze ;may sneer at the possibility of despots or partizans, with oblique ideas, witnessing the perpetration of misrule upon the folds of a flag; and may profess to be unable to trace any connection between the last line and the preceding five; but Punch begs to remind all such sneering and hypercritical cavillers, that most of the great geniuses of modern times involve their meaning in this sort of obscurity; whereof notable instances may be found in the writings of Robert Browning, Philip Bailey, and the author of Balder(dash.)

Over the shades of corruption this emblem doth fly,
From the portals of truth it soars to the sky,
Behold how it flutters amidst the wild foam,
Escaping the arrows proud mortals have thrown,
Like the brave sons of Mars its foes doth defy
Fearless of any one to conquer or die.

Punch boldly asserts that for playfulness of fancy and variety of metaphor, this strophe is without a parallel. In the first line, the Banner is a volatile gas, evolved from the "shades of corruption "; in the second it is an eagle escaping from the "portals of truth to heaven; in the third it is either an albatross, or a Cape pigeon; in the fourth it is anything vulnerable; in the fifth it is a defiant hero;

"

and in the sixth it (the Banner) is aggressively pugnacious, and prepared for mortal combat.

A glance at its columns will sternly tell,

She nipped off the Flower and thrashed the poor swell,
Think you but there is logic within her domain,
Embellished with reason our wrongs doth proclaim,
Denouncing the tyrant she marshals her quills,
Insisting on freedom her pages she fills.

female, embellished with reason, and habited like a porcupine, ("she
By a daring prosopopoeia, the poet here converts the Banner into a
marshals her quills.") She cultivates logic "within her domain,"
just as other people cultivate apple trees; and diversifies her botani-
cal recreations by "thrashing" a
minded woman, moreover, she denounces tyranny, and gives "her
"poor swell." Being a liberal
pages" plenty to eat.

Thanks to the Editor and may he reign long,
Each heart must feel merry and haste to the throng,
Down by the woodlands a sale doth appear,
Brought on by the BANNER, its voice, and Its fear,
You who have money may hasten to buy,
Methinks its announced for the end of July.

Poets are benevolent mortals, and the author of "An Acrostic," you will observe, is grateful as well as benevolent; and having unburthened his heart of its load of thanks and good wishes, he makes a lively digression, and, forsaking the ideal for the actual, advertises a sale "in numerous verse." The digression is only momentary, however;-his "soul wanders," but he "demands it back ; and back it instantly returns to the beloved Banner :

On the banks of the Moyne this standard doth wave.
Rebuked by the tyrant, beloved by the slave.
Incline then you freemen our standard to raise,
Encourage its valor and wish it long days,
Lay down the hard cash and for it subscribe,
You will keep this brave beacon afloat on the tide.

O. F.

As it is too dark to prosecute operations the assembled diggers have held conferences for the purpose of concerting what steps should be taken to develop the resources of this promising gold-field: but nothing definite has been decided upon, up to the time at which I write. Speculators have been actively engaged in the selection of a Though prostrate, the standard still waves. The tyrants who reside tavern, a theatre, a segar-shop, and a bowling alley; and there is some upon the banks of the Moyne, rebuke the innocent flag, but its silken talk of starting a bi-weekly newspaper to be entitled "A Streamer folds are beloved by the slave; (slavery being one of the institutions from the Flag-Staff." I saw the rough draft of the prospectus, in of Belfast). Freemen are invited to encourage the valour of the which great stress is laid upon "the importance of this splendid gold-standard, and to pray for its longevity; and this remarkable poem field, and the necessity of supplying its daily increasing population concludes, in an eminently practical vein, by intimating that if a cerwith an organ, &c., &c." The population, by the way, is roughly tain amount of hard cash be subscribed, the flag may be converted estimated at 3934. With regard to the price of gold, I am unable to into a floating light-ship. Punch being also of an eminently practical specify any quotations, as there are no buyers in the field. turn of mind, begs "O. F." to communicate the probable cost of The Conferences have broken up, and those who took part in them the success of the experiment at Belfast, will be most thankfully transforming banners into beacons. Any information with regard to have arrived at the unanimous determination to return home.

6.0 p.m.

received.

YOUNG LADY: See Papa, what pretty things we've got for the Benevolent Asylum. STERN PARIENT: Humph! It would have been a good deal more to the purpose if you'd for posterity? or does the notice not refer to made some towels for the poor people. They've got none now. But perhaps that doesn't matter the able, &c. journal of that name? much, as I suppose they're not allowed water to wash with.

AS the honor to inform his friends and the public, that he has on and invite inspection of his stock. hand the