Constantia is a vast pile, situated on the banks of the Ghoomtee, overlooking a rich well-cultivated country, and in an extensive enclosure, well wooded with mango and other fruittrees. Upon the portico of entrance may be seen the motto of the General, "Patientia et Constantia," to the spirit of which he fully conformed in his life. The building consists of a main body, and two wings rising in many stories of very fanciful architecture to a great height, and diminish ing gradually to a fantastic look-out, resembling, at a distance, the crownlike steeples of some old churches, upon which is erected a flag-staff. The walls of the wings, and of each story in the main building, are balus traded, and surmounted with gigantic statues representing human beings and animals, in such multitudes that they appear to cover the whole upper part of the building with a fringe of filagree work, and thus produce a singular effect. These statues, cast in clay, and painted, mimic almost every living thing to be found on earth. Among them may be discovered copies of the most celebrated statues of antiquity, figures of men and women in the costumes of almost every country, with birds and animals of all sorts and the arrangement of them is at least as bizarre as the quantity is confounding. A Venus de Medicis, an Antinous, or a Mercury, may be seen close to a Dutch dairy-maid churning butter, a burgomaster, or a Swiss peasant; or a French petitmaître, exchanging civilities with a

The ground-floor of this building is calculated for coolness; the apartments are lofty and spacious; the floor is of marble; the high vaulted roof is fretted and adorned with cameo medallions, of white upon a blue ground: the walls are adorned with gold and silver work, mingled with various colours, in a rich and fanciful though somewhat tawdry style. There seems no end to the succession of chambers, small and great, of every form, and as variously fitted up, some with orchestras as for musicians, others with galleries all round. The second story is less lofty, but contains several apartments fitted up with fireplaces or stoves for the cold season, and more calculated for comfort; the major part is, however, divided into a wonderful number of multiform chambers, communicating with each other in extraordinary ways; and all carved, fretted, and painted like those below. The third story, is in the same taste, but contains fewer rooms; and a succession of narrow stair cases and ladders lead first to the balconies and terraced roofs, and thence to the lofty look-out above all.

The whole building is calculated to facilitate defence, and prevent surprises in case of attack in an insecure country, without carrying the appearance of a formal fortification: it is fireproof, not having a piece of wood used in its whole construction; the roofs are all vaulted, and the doors and window shutters are of iron. There is no grand staircase; a defect both in appearance and convenience; but a vast additional means of security, for,

the only means of communicatiou between the stories being by narrow spiral staircases, a single man could defend them against an army. Many of the passages from one apartment to another have been made thus poor and narrow upon the same principle; and there are multitudes of secret places for concealment, formed in the thickness of the walls and in the corners of the house. It is indeed a place quite unique in its kind, and the

grounds, considering the country, are almost as singularly laid out. A large garden in the old French taste, divided into numerous alleys, bordered with trees cut into various fantastic forms, stretches behind it; while in front has been excavated a large oval tank, in the centre of which rises a pillar of more than one hundred feet in height, erected by direction and according to the plan left by the late General Martine, which serves as his monument.

AN auction is no new subject to descant upon. Buyers of bargains were well ridiculed in the Spectator; and the eagerness of ladies (and gentlemen, too, for that matter), at a sale, when anxious to possess themselves of any article on which they had set their hearts, even bidding upon themselves, has before now furnished writers for the public eye with the means of amusement for their readers.

Unquestionably there is considerable pleasure to be derived from attending an auction, by a close observer, who goes there without the intention of purchasing, and who moreover is resolute enough not to be caught with a great bargain. The quick, ready eye of the auctioneer; his wit, if he has any, and for which there is great scope, though some of the present race are dull enough ;-the contrast in the behaviour of his audience :—the cool and and apparently indifferent manner of the old attendants and good judges; -the precipitation of the young and inexperienced ;-the plots, counterplots, and manoeuvres of various parties in the room to outwit each other in bidding for and procuring what they are in want of;-the remarks and opinions, right or wrong, of the talkative portion of the company; the absolute sway of the auctioneer during the period of his exaltation,-are all fraught with much that is interesting and entertaining.

I have often smiled to see the pretty little tricks of some of the thoroughpaced and well-known attendants at sales, to prevent dealers in the same

commodity from knowing when they make a bid. These people seldom bid viva voce: for they will contrive to get between their opponent and the auctioneer, keeping an eye upon each, taking care that the one towards the auctioneer is not out of sight of the other bidder; with this eye they wink their bids most dexterously, while the opposing party will be looking about, and wondering who is bidding against him;-others do the thing with a si lent nod ;—another sort get quite out of sight, behind the pulpit, and tug at the auctioneer's coat-tail at every bid, to the great danger of his skirts, each pull going for sixpence, a shilling, or half-a-crown, as the case may be and others again will get on one side of the hammer-armed gentleman, and poke some part of his body with the end of a pencil, for the same purpose. With these and with sundry other sorts of "inexplicable dumb show," which is explicable enough to the auctioneer, I have seen great quantities of goods bought and sold: but there is still another sort, who go even nearer the wind than all these, and who, after looking at the goods, will leave a list of prices with the salesman or his clerk, who will buy for them, and then declare the name, when the party is not even in the room; but, in this case, they must be well able to trust the auctioneer, who would otherwise run them up to the extent of their price.

My last remark reminds me of a sad trick of very many auctioneersthat of running, as it is called. If they

see a person eager and apparently determined to possess any article, they will run upon them; that is, declare higher biddings, without, in fact, having any-thus urging thern on; and they will do the same, if any thing is likely to go at what they think too low a price. This, they would say, was fair to their employers; but it is hardly fair to the public. I have many times seen an auctioneer caught in his own trap, in this running system, being obliged to knock it down to his own surreptitious bid at last: he then either declares some fictitious name, or, pretending the buyer will not declare himself, puts up the lot again.

This, and the system of rigging, are the bane of sales, and are known to be detested by the honourable members of the trade. To many this rigging will want a little explanation:It is when one man, or a set of men, make up an entire sale, or part of one; for all sales nearly are, more or less, mixed in this way: but in some it is carried to a shameful length. The goods, where there is a rig, whether furniture or otherwise, are generally either damaged, or got up on purpose, in a shabby but showy way; and the owners of them, or their puffers (persons sent to keep up the price), are mingled with the company, watching and seeking whom they may devour; and, unfortunately, they are often respectable-looking persons, and have even females amongst them; for, alas! females are their principal prey on these occasions. If the lady seems desirous of any lot, she is marked down as a sportsman marks his game; and one will insinuate that the article is cheap at such or such a price, while another will keep bidding upon the lady. They will sometimes even affect to be generous, and tell the dupe, after having got a good price, that if she wants the lot, they will give it up to her, and so forth. It is incalculable how much is done in this way, especially at the west end of the town, and principally in furniture, as could be avowed by numberless sufferers. One caution I can give persons against these sham sales, if they happen to 60

ATHENEUM VOL. 2. 2d series.

read the advertisements in the papers; which is, that such advertisements are generally more flowery than others, though most of them are flowery enough; and you are invariably told, that you may have catalogues at the place of sale, and at the auctioneer's; but where these auctioneers reside is never stated. Whenever this is the case, that sale is a rig, depend on it.

It is

When there is a genuine sale, whether of furniture or other goods, the dealers in the article, whatever it may be, generally join together to purchase, making, in fact, a sort of combination among themselves to keep the prices down; and this is, perhaps, the only good reason that can be given in defence of an auctioneer's running, as mentioned before. But it is not always that he is aware of the existence of the combination, for each of the parties will in turn bid for the lots; but then he will never be opposed by the rest of his associates: of course, by this means they frequently get articles much cheaper than if they were in opposition to each other. technically called being in the cab: and after the sale is over the whole party will retire to a tavern, and proceed to knock out-another technical term for putting up the lots again among themselves, for they all mark their catalogues; and in this way many a poor Jew and Gentile will get their pound or two in a day without, in fact, really purchasing any thing. They are admitted into the cab by the large buyers, upon the same principle that the Indians are said to worship the devil-that of fear; for these men possess judgment, if not money, and would, therefore, if not admitted, make the others pay larger prices. When the knock out or second sale is over, the increase given upon the whole of the lots are collected, cast up, and equally divided amongst the whole of the party.

It is hardly worth mentioning the mock auctions of glass, china, tea-caddies, &c. which are held in shops in our most public streets; for almost every child is aware of the gross and barefaced impositions practised at these

places, where the public is cheated out of its money, and government of its duty.

A very curious sort of sale, common in the metropolis, is that of pawnbrokers' pledges, though even into these other property is often introduced; this sort of sale is principally curious from the very odd mixture of articles in a lot, which having been pawned together to raise money, are obliged by act of parliament to be sold together; take for instance the following lots from a catalogue which is laying by

me :

"A patch-work quilt, a coat, and two bibles.

· A pair of trousers, a set of fire-irons, and a petticoat.

A pair of boots, a table-cloth, and a necklace.
A shirt, a table-spoon, and an opera-glass.
A silk scarf, and a drawing in a gilt frame.
A Dutch clock, a rug, and two snuff-boxes."

And these are but a few strange mix tures; for much stranger medleys

than these might be easily picked out, ad infinitum, from the catalogue of Eddes, Robins, and Machin. Many of the attendants at these sales are the children of Israel, who are dealers in every thing, from the most costly watch or article of jewelry, to the very lowest and most worthless description of cast-off clothing; all of which, the very best and the very worst, may be seen at pledge sales. At these sales the king's duty of five per cent. is paid by the buyer; and I have often thought that the clerk's perquisites, at the end of a large sale, arising from the fractions of duty, must be considerable.

In winding up these desultory remarks on auctions, &c. I can only say that whoever ventures into a sale-room should not only have money in their pockets, but judgment in their heads, or they must infallibly run a great risk of being cheated either by others or themselves.

CERTAINLY England is the land for competition. The worst of schemes and the most ridiculous of follies never want their votaries; and when any thing good is started and succeeds, it is no wonder that there should soon be plenty of rivalry and emulation. Thus it has been with Annuals, if we may so designate publications of the kind now before us. The date is not very distant when a few silly almanacks, Moore's, the Belfast, the Aberdeen, and such like trumpery, were all the productions which a coming year required or obtained. Neater Diaries, with blank leaves for memoranda, were then sparingly introduced and these paved the way for a number of Pocket Books, with useful lists, &c. suited to the wants of persons in various ranks of life. And here improvement paused for a long time, till Mr. Ackerman followed the example of the Continent, and set the example to our island, of combining graceful literature with the New Year's Gift, and rendering it wor

thy of the mind, while the Fine Arts were employed to render it pleasing to the eye. Original genius was called into effort where before nothing but the phases of the moon were noted; a pretty tale usurped the place of a senseless hieroglyphic, and a sweet poem deposed the ancient Twelve Signs of the Zodiac with the bellman lines which told of their divine dominion over the parts of the human body. The public was much gratified with the exchange of pleasure and rationality for mummery and nonsense; and the 'Forget me not' was as popular as it deserved to be.

The natural consequence of this popularity in a country abounding in capital and enterprize, was, that many other works of the same character should spring up and advance their pretensions to a share of public favour. We have already mentioned

one,

Friendship's Offering,' in addition to the Forget me not,' for the ensuing year; and we have now to notice in the forthcoming Literary Souvenir,'