HOUSEHOLD TROOPS are those troops whose especial duty it is to attend the sovereign, and toguard the metropolis. These forces comprise three regiments of cavalry—the 1st and 2d life-guards, and the royal horse-guards, and three regiments of foot- guards (which include seven battalions), the Grenadier, Coldstream, and Scots Fusilier guards. The cost of these corps, for pay and allowances only, reaches the sum of £230,000 a year; and they number in all ranks 1302 cavalry and 5,950 infantry, who are justly held to be the flower of the British army.
Sempervivum, a genus of plants of the natural order crassulacece. hav ing a calyx of 6 to 20 sepals. the petals equal in number to the sepals, and inserted into the base of the calyx; the leaves generally very succulent, and forming close rosettes. The COMMON HOUSE-LEEK, or CvmrEL (S. tectorum), called foul or fOltet3 in Scotland, and in some countries Jupiter's beard, grows wild on the rocks of the Alps, but has long been common in almost every part of Europe, planted on walls, roofs of cottages,
etc. It sends up leafy flowering stems of 6 to 12 inches in height, bearing branches of pale-red star-like flowers, equally curious and beautiful. The leaves cut or bruised, and applied to burns, afford immediate relief; as they do also in stings of bees or wasps; and they are a beneficial application to ulcers and inflamed sores. They were formerly in high esteem as a remedy for fevers and other diseases, and an edict of Charlemagne contributed greatly to the extensive distribution of the plant. The edict is in these words: Et habeat quisque supra domum mum Jovis barbam (and let everybody have the Jupiter's beard on his house).—Othor species possess similar properties. S. sobol'iferum, with yellowish-green flowers, is very frequently planted on walls in Germany. Some of the species, natives of the s. of Europe, Canary isles, etc., are shrubby; others are common green-house plants.