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The late illness of the Emperor NICHOLAS is now currently

ascribed to a fit of fear, to which he was subjected by the falling of a vase during the night, in a closet adjoining his bedroom. Such a circumstance is associated, it seems, in Russian imaginations, with plot and murder. The Emperor rushed towards the point whence the sound proceeded- fell—fainted, we suppose, and became delirious. This rumour may " require confirmation." It does seem odd that the man who is or was the terror of one half of Europe, should himself be so accessible to fear —should nearly die of a noise. " The world's victor stood subdued by sound" once before ; and this incident furnishes a new reading of the passage..

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