Our Weekly Budget.

ceremony , which interrupted their journey to the Highlands , passed off most satisfactorily , Edinburgh , of course , being en fete for tho day . Saturday was the first day of grouse-shooting , and to judge from the reports we have read in the daily and other

papers , there seems every prospect that this particular sport will be productive of heavier bags this year than last . Less than a fortnight hence and we shall be reading of partridges , and yet another interval and the " long-tails " will be seen in our market places . When our own time comes for

a stroll , gun-in-hand , over the moors or through the stubble , we shall act on the advice considerately proffered to Mr . Winkle on a certain memorable occasion by the " long gamekeeper . " We shall give due notice , or the birds may fight shy of us .

More than once have we felt it our duty to apologise for our comments on the weather , and the irregular conduct of the clerk in charge . The excuse for our present reference we know is a poor one , none other , in fact , than the excuse the venerable Dr . Watts offered for the barking and biting

propensities of the canine race—It is our nature to . It is in tho nature of every Briton , too , to grumble at all times , and with the very stones at blood-heat—which ought to show , by the way , that blood can be got out of stones—we know of nothing more appropriate or more seasonable than

a good outburst of grumbling . We have not the honour of being acquainted with the oldest inhabitant of these islands , or possibly we might a tale unfold to our readers , showing how the heat of the last few weeks has far exceeded the average heat during the same period of the last

hundred years . Under these circumstances we content ourselves with announcing that the present temperature , if not favourable to the growth of vegetables , is excellently well calculated to develope all the hot-tempered and

hotblooded propensities of all the hot-headed people in Christendom . One thing we should like to see—Mr . Chas . Matthews play in Goal as a Guctmber . His performance would be cool and refreshing , as well as artistic .

Cavill ' s attempt to rival the channel swim of Bro . Captain Webb has proved , a failure . He started on Tuesday morning , a little before 2 a . m ., and after having been in the water about twelve hours was lifted into one of the

attendant luggers in a state of insensibility . From the accounts we have read , Cavill , contrary to the advice of his medical attendant , appears to have taken too much stimulant . His condition , according to the Standard reporter , was very queer ; but late on Tuesday night he was enjoying a good

sound sleep . It seems that he has no recollection of being taken into the boat , Pamplin having dived in just in the nick of time , and held him up . Captain Webb and some

of his friends , in a lugger , accompanied the party , our gallant brother being genuinely anxious for the success of Cavill , who has proved himself a swimmer of great power , if not the equal of Webb .

The Canterbury week closed with the most brilliant batting feat on record , Mr . W . G . Grace having scored 344 , the greatest total ever achieved in a first-class match . Since then at Clifton , in the return match between Gloucestershire and Notts , he has made 177 , so that with his other

brilliant scores this season , we see every chance of his maintaining , if not surpassing , his average of previous years . Other important matches have been played during the week just ended , but none of them excite the same

degree of interest as those in which the champion takes part . One unusual occurrence deserves mention . The match between Surrey and Middlesex ended in a tie , each having scored as a result of their two innings the respectable total of 460 runs .

Tho Thames Regatta closed on Friday last , nil the preliminary heats having been rowed the day previous . H . Clasper—this name is familiar in the rowing worldwon the coat , badge , and freedom ; the Thames crew , stroked by T . Green , won the Champion fours ; T .

Blackman of Dnlwich the sculls , open to thoso only who have never sculled for £ 100 ; and T . Green and H . Thomas ( Thames ) the Champion pairs . A sad accident marred the success of the day ' s sport , two men fell from ono of the

accompanying steamers , and only one was saved . Other coast regattas have followed those of Dover and Shorehani , the spore , being of the ordinary character and generally attractive .

We generally expect to hear , during the excursion season , of one or more severe railway accidents , but those that have occurred latterly have befallen the regular , not the extraordinary , traius . The other day it waa the Flying

Our Weekly Budget.

Dutchman which came to grief . This week the Scotch mail , running over the Midland system , fell into difficulties , and one of the guards was seriously injured , while two of the passengers were hurt . The cause of this accident waa the breaking into two sections of a goods train , the second

part of which , when the engine driver pulled up , dashed into the first , scattering the waggons right and left . The express came up at tho moment , with the result we havo already mentioned . A firo of such magnitude as that which last week

destroyed the premises of Messrs . Grant and Co ., printers and publishers , oi Turnmill Street , happens , fortunately , but seldom . The amount of damage is very great , but Messrs . Grant , wo believe , are insured . The misfortune , however , attending these catastrophes is , that so many

hands are thrown out of work . In this instance , some 300 or 400 people are suddenly left unemployed . Messrs . Grant wero the printers and publishers of the Gentleman ' s Magazine , and of the School Hoard Chronicle . Of the large premises

they occupied , but little apparently remains beyond tho walls . Booth ' s distillery , which is hard by , had a narrow escape , and passengers from the Farringdon Street Station of the Metropolitan Railway , felt just a wee bit nervous about making the journey .

Cornwall has been selected this year as the scene of its labours by the Archaeological Association of Great Britain , and , on Monday , at the invitation of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe , our respected P . G . M . of Cornwall , a visit was paid to the house of Cothele , a very ancient structure ,

which has been in the possession of the noble Earl ' s family since the reign of Henry VII ., the property , of which it forms part , having belonged to the Edgcumbes from an earlier date still . This house is in admirable preservation , and both itself and its fittings' & c , & c , enable us to form

a very capital idea how people lived and fared in the good old times , but few changes having been made by successive owners . The Earl was himself present , and read an account of tho builder of the house and its principal inhabitants , while Mr . Loftus Broeck , one of the honorary secretaries

of the Association , read a highly interesting paper , in which was described the building itself . Having completed their inspection of the place , the Archaeologists returned to Saltash , and went thence by rail to Bodmin . As a consequence of the verdict at the Bravo inquest , Government has offered a reward of £ 250 to whoever will

divulge the secret of this very mysterious case , and a free pardon , if he has taken any part in the crime short of that of principal . Without annoying our readers with any comments on this very nasty case , we cannot avoid expressing the pleasure we feel , that all the respectable daily and

weekly journals we have yet seen condemn in the strongest possible terms the very brutal cross-examination to which Mrs . Bravo was subjected . The Times , indeed , speaks of it as a kind of mental vivisection , and suggests that those who practise this kind of torture should be permitted to do

so only under the most stringent regulations . The ends of justice were in no wise promoted by the exposure of Mrs . Bravo ' s frailties . To again and again force a most unhappy woman to admit that she had sinned was simple cowardice . Mr . Richard Banner Oakley will be able during the next

five years to reflect on the very important question , how a Co-operative Bank should not be managed . Mr . Oakley , after a most patient trial has been found guilty of sundry of the charges brought against him , and the sentence passed by the Recorder is one of five years' penal servitude .

He will be a bold man , indeed , who shall essay to follow the convict ' s example as manager of a co-operative bank . Mr . Oakley had a deep interest in the success of his

project , bnt he started his bank without principal and conducted it without principle , nor in estimating his liabilities had he made any provision for a term of penal servitude at Millbank or in Dartmoor . Thus in more senses than ono

did he fall into the very vulgar error of preparing a falso balance sheet . Ex-Queen Isabella has not been long in Spain ore wo hear of a ministerial crisis being imminent . It is said thoso members of the ministry who took part against her

ex-Majesty in 1869 are to be expelled from office . If Isabella remained in Paris , where she was a few weeks ago , and tho ministers in office , Spain , we think , would be the gainer . ' There was quite enough of intrigue before 1869 for people

to wish for its renewal now , when tho prospects of the country are brighter than they have been for many a long year . We imagine King Alphonso will find his mother by no means a safe guide—except in the art of misgoverament ,