people by the hand, who cannot help following them in all their movements; and when the spirits have made them dance as long as they please, they trip up their heels, leave them sprawling on the ground, and go laughing away. There are in more than one place near the western coast stones set up in the same manner as those at Stonehenge. A species of genii, called Gaurics, are supposed to dance among them; and the stones are called, in general, Chior-gaur, or "The giants' dance." In one of the places where some of these stones are to be seen, the people of the neighbourhood, if asked what they mean, say that it was a procession to a wedding which was all in a moment changed into stone for some crime, but they do not know what. In another place they are reputed to be the funeral procession of a miser, who received this punishment because in his lifetime he had never given any thing to the poor. These are only a few out of the innumerable superstitions which prevail throughout Bretagne, but they are sufficient to give a perfect idea of the power which imagination has over the minds of these people.* 'NATURALISTS' CALENDAR. Mean Temperature . . . 63. 30. July 15. ST. SWITHIN. For this saint, and his supposed miraculous power over the weather, see vol. i. p. 953. On this day in the year 1743 died, "in earnest," the wife of one Kirkeen, who was twice at Dublin ready to be buried; but came to life to her loving husband's great disappointment, who fearing the like accident immediately put her into a coffin, had it nailed up, and buried her the next day. As wrapp'd in death-like sleep Xantippe lay, 'Twas thought her soul had gently stole away; Th' officious husband, with a pious care, Made no delay her funeral pile to rear: Miss Plumptre. July 16. SILENCE OF THE BIRDS. Dr. Forster observes, there is one circumstance that will always render the country in July and August less pleasing than in the other summer and spring months, namely, that the birds do not sing. Aves mutae might be regularly entered into the calendar for these two months. Silence girt the woods; no warbling tongue Dry summer's dust, in fearefull whisperings stirred, As loth to waken any singing bird. punishment is not very common, we subjoin, as a matter of curiosity to some of our readers, the Form of Penance. "Whereas, I, good people, forgetting my duty to Almighty God, have committed the detestable sin of incest, by contracting marriage, or rather the show or effigy of marriage, with Mary Ann Taylor, the sister of my late wife, and thereby have justly provoked the heavy wrath of God against me, to the great danger of my own soul, and the evil example of others; I do earnestly repent, and am heartily sorry for the same, desiring Almighty God, for the merits of Jesus Christ, to forgive me both this and all other offences, and also hereafter so to assist me with his Holy Spirit, that I never fall into the like offence again; and for that end and purpose I desire you all here present to pray with me, and for me, say ing, "Our father,' &c.-Westmoreland Chronicle. NINEPENNY MARL. To the Editor of the Every-Day Book. Sir,―There is an ancient game, played by the "shepherds of Salisbury Plain," and "village rustics" in that part of the country, called "Ninepenny Marl." Not having read any account of it in print, I hasten to describe it on your historical and curious pages. Decyphering and drawing lines on the sand and ground are of great antiquity; and where education has failed to instruct, nature has supplied amusement. The scheme, which affords the game of "Ninepenny Marl," is cut in the clay, viz. :— or it might be drawn upon the crown of a hat with chalk. In cottages and public houses, it is marked on the side of a pair of bellows, or upon a table, and, in short, any plain surface. "Marl" is played, like cards, by two persons; each person has nine bits of pipe, or stick, so as to distinguish it from those of the opponent. Each puts the pipe or stick upon one of the points or corners of the line, alternately, till they are all filled. There is much caution required in this, or your opponent will avail himself of your error, by placing his man on the very point which it is necessary you should occupy; the chief object being to make a perfect line of three, either way, and also to prevent the other player doing so. Every man that is taken is put into the square till no further move can be made. But if the vanquished be reduced to only three, he can hop and skip into any vacant place, that he may, if possible, even at the last, form a line, which is sometimes done by very wary manœuvres. However simple Ninepenny Marl" may appear, much skill is required, particularly in the choice of the first places, so as to form the lines as perfectly and quickly as possible. This the above imperfectly described way is game, like cards, has its variations. But that to which I was accustomed when a boy. I have no doubt, Mr. Editor, many of your country readers are not wholly ignorant of the innocent occupation which Ninepenny Marl" has afforded in the retirement of leisure; and with trong recollections of its attractions, I am, Sir, The last place wherein the Leverian collection was exhibited, was in a handsome building on the Surrey side of the Thames, near Blackfriars-bridge, consisting of seventeen different apartments, Occupying nearly one thousand square yards. In these rooms were assembled the rarest productions in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, with inimitable works of art, and the various dresses, manufactures, implements of war, &c. of the Indian nations in North and South America, Otaheite, Botany-bay and other foreign parts, collected by the late captain Cook and other navigators. The preceding engraving represents the rotunda of the museum, from a print published about twenty years before the sale took place. It is an accurate record of the appearance of that part of the edifice, until the auction, which was held on the premises, finally broke up the rare assemblage of objects exhibited. After the sale the premises were occupied for many years by the library, apparatus, and other uses of the Surrey Institution. They are now, in 1826, used for recreation of another kind. On the exterior of the building is inscribed "Rotunda Wine Rooms." It is resorted to by lovers of "a good glass of wine" and "a cigar," and there is professional singing and music in "the Rotunda" every Tuesday and Thursday evening. The last editor of Mr. Pennant's "London," in a note on his author's mention of the Leverian Museum, remarks its dispersion, by observing that "this noble collection, which it is said was offered to the British Museum for a moderate sum, was sold by auction in 1806. The sale lasted thirty-four days. The number of lots, many containing several articles, amounted to four thousand one hundred and ninety-four." This statement is somewhat erroneous. An entire copy of the "Catalogue of the Leverian Museum," which was drawn up by Edward Donavan, Esq. the eminent naturalist, is now before the editor of the Every-Day Book, with the prices annexed. It forms an octavo volume of four hundred and ten pages, and from thence it appears that the sale lasted sixty-five days, instead of thirty-four, and that the lots amounted to 7879, instead of 4194, as stated by Mr. Pennant's editor The first exhibition of the Leverian Museum in London, was at "Leicester house," Leicester-square. "This house was founded," Mr. Pennant says, "by one of the Sydnies, earls of Leicester. It was for a short time the residence of Elizabeth, daughter of James I., the titular queen of Bohemia, who, on February 13, 1661, here ended her unfortunate life. It was successively the pouting-place of princes. The late king (George II.) when prince of Wales, after he had quarrelled with his father, lived here several years. His son, Frederick, followed his example, succeeded him in his house, and in it finished his days." Mr. Pennant then proceeds, more immediately to our purpose, to observe, "No one is ignorant of the magnificent and instructive museum, exhibited in this house by the late sir Ashton Lever. It was the most astonishing collection of the subjects of natural history ever collected, in so short a space, by any individual. To the disgrace of our kingdom, after the first burst of wonder was over, it became neglected; and when it was offered to the public, by the chance of a guinea lottery, only eight thousand out of thirty-six thousand tickets were sold. Finally, the capricious goddess frowned on the spirited proprietor of such a number of tickets, and transferred the treasure to the possessor of only two, Mr. Parkinson." Further on, Mr. Pennant says, "I must not omit reminding the reader, that the celebrated museum collected by the late sir Ashton Lever, is transported to the southern end of Blackfriars-bridge by Mr. Parkinson, whom fortune favoured with it in the Leverian lottery. That gentleman built a place expressly for its reception, and disposed the rooms with so much judgment, as to give a most advantageous view of the innumerable curiosities. The spirit of the late worthy owner seems to have been transfused into the present. He spares no pains or expense to augment a collection, before equally elegant and instructive." Mr. Pennant, in his "History of Quadrupeds," likewise makes mention of the Leverian Museum, as "a liberal fund of inexhaustible knowledge in most branches of natural history," and he especially names "the matchless collection of animals" there exhibited, to which he had recourse while correcting the descriptions for the last edition of his work. We have gathered from Mr. Pennant, that the Leverian Museum was disposed of by lottery, and his own opinion, as a naturalist, of its merit. The evidence whereon the committee of the house of commons founded its report in behalf of the bill, which afterwards passed and enabled sir Ashton Lever to dispose of his museum in that manner, amply testifies the opinion conceived of it by individuals fully alified to decide on its importance. Mr. Tennant who had been upwards of twenty years a collector of subjects of natural history, and had seen all the cabinets of curiosities, both public and private, of any note in Holland, France, and Portugal, and those at Brussels, Dresden, Brunswick, and Vienna, and had also seen the Spanish cabinet while collecting in Holland, said, that he had never seen any collection more rare, more curious, or more instructive than sir Ashton Lever's, nor any that could be compared with it; that it exceeded all others in the beauty and preservation of the numerous articles it contained, which were better selected than any he had seen elsewhere; and that it contained many specimens that could not be procured at any expense. Sir William Hamilton gave similar testimony. Having a particular love for natural history, in different journeys to and from Naples, where he was ambassador from Great Britain, he had seen every public and private museum in Hol. land, France, Germany, Italy, and Sicily, and he thought sir Ashton Lever's collection was in every respect the finest. Baron Dimsdale said he had seen the cabinets of curiosities at Moscow and St. Petersburgh, and also those at Paris and Dresden, which are esteemed very curious and vaiuable, and that they were not, all If I had Virgil's judgment, Homer's fire, Savage they look, and seem to pant for blood. And curious fossils rang'd in order stand. Now turn your eyes from them, and quick survey, Spars, diamonds, crystals, dart a golden ray deer. |