relieve them, when Sir John Moore, perceiving their and for his jokes and his puns-he was a punster, After the battle of Corunna, the 42d embarked with the rest of the army for England, where it remained till July 1809, when joined the expedition to Walcheren. On its return from this unfortunate enter. prise, it was quartered at Canterbury till July 1810, when it was ordered to Scotland. In the August of the following year, it again returned to England, and in April 1812 was embarked at Plymouth for Portugal. The part which this gallant regiment performed, together with the other Highland corps employed in the Peninsular war, in the series of splendid operations which followed, is too well known to render it neces sary to enter into any details regarding it here. In all they conducted themselves with a steadiness and gallantry which excited equally the admiration of their friends and their enemies; until their fame attained its height, and their military services were brought to a close, on the memorable field of Waterloo. From the period of its first formation, in 1740, 1815, the number of battles, actions, and skirmishes, in which the regiment was engaged, amounts to fortyfive, giving an average of considerably more than one encounter with an enemy every two years. CHARLES LAMB. As, reader, thou hast not seen the living Eliawould that thou hadst, for thou wouldst ever have remembered his sweet smile, and the gentleness of his heart-turn to his books, there thou mayest imagine him, kindlier than he was thou canst not; and he will yet guide thee to old haunts and to familiar faces, which thou wilt hereafter think of with delight. He will conduct thee to the Old South-Sea House-once his own-and to Oxford, where thou wilt meet with George Dyer (George is worthy thy knowing), or he will sit with thee the old year out, and quote the old poets, and that beautiful line in his friend's Ode, "I saw the skirts of the departing year;" or he will introduce thee to Mrs Battle, who, next to her devotions, loved a game at whist; or he will pleatillsantly shake his cap and bells with thee on the first of April; or accompany thee to a Quakers' Meeting, or describe to thee the Old and the New Schoolmaster, or tell thee a delightful story-no fiction-of Valentine's Eve, or take thee with him, Bridget Elia by his side-thou wilt love Bridget-on a visit to his relations, "Through the green plains of pleasant Hertfordshire;" [This very pleasing sketch has reached us in the form of a small or he will discourse to thee on modern gallantry, or pamphlet, printed for private circulation. Believing it to be the composition of an excellent young friend, Mr Lamb's last pub-point out to thee the old Benchers of the Inner Temlisher, we take the liberty of presenting it to more extensive notice.] WITHIN a few months of each other we have lost two remarkable men, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Charles Lamb. They were schoolfellows, read together, first published together, and were undivided even in death! When we last saw the latter sad recollection!-he said he was ever thinking of his friend. He is now with him, and for ever! It is of Charles Lamb only -Elia-that we wish to speak. No man was ever more sincerely regretted, or will be longer remembered by his friends. Happily we see the brighter after our sorrows; and the object of our ple, or describe to thee his first vist to Old Drury, once lent her his poems to read. We often lament that he did not give them to her; but the author of the Vicar of Wakefield was poor. Kind surely must have been the disposition of him who sought out the nurse that attended the last moments of Coleridge (whom living he adored and dead thus honoured), that on her head he might pour out the overflowings of the irresistible goodness of his nature. He gave her five pounds; but this we did not learn from himself. These were but trifles; yet of such was the life of this the most amiable of men made up. His tastes, in many respects, were most singular. He preferred Wardour Street and Seven Dials to fields that were Elysian. The disappearance of the old clock from St Dunstan's Church drew tears from him; nor could he ever pass without emotion the place where Exeter 'Change once stood. The removal had spoiled a reality in Gay. The passer-by, he said, no longer saw "the combs dangle in his face." This almost broke his heart. He had no taste for flowers or green fields; he preferred the high road. The Garden of Eden, he used to say, must have been a dull place. All his books were without portraits; nor did he He had a humorous method of testing the friendship ever preserve, with two exceptions, a single letter. of his visitors; it was, whether in their walks with him they would taste the tap of mine host at the Horse-Shoe, or at the Rose and Crown, or at the Rising Sun! But a member of the temperance society, on these occasions, could not have been more abstemious. A single glass would suffice. We have seen ladies enter with him-the fastidious Barbara S.; and great poets-the author of the Excursion himself! He was no politician, though, in his youth, he once assisted to draw through the streets Charles James Fox! Nor was he a man of business. He could not pack up a trunk, nor tie up a parcel. Yet he was methodical, punctual in his appointments, and an excellent paymaster. A debt haunted him! He could not live in another person's books! He wished to done with the thing," as he said, gave it him beforeleave a friend a small sum of money; but "to have If an acquaintance dropped in of an evening hand! before supper, he would instantly, without saying a word, put on his hat, and go and order an extra supply of porter. He has done this for us a hundred A traveller once brought him some acorns from an ilex that grew over the tomb of Virgil. He threw them at the hackney coachmen as they passed by his window! And there is a story, that he once sat to an artist of his acquaintance for a whole series of the British admirals, but for what publication we never heard! Another sentence, and we have done. Of all the men we ever knew-and we now number thirty summers-Charles Lamb was in every respect the most original, and had the kindest heart. E. M. grief, in a short time, becomes a star that we can gaze Man; or on old China, or on old books-on the lat. times! Relics and keepsakes had no charm for him! at with pleasure. The transformation we dread puri. fies the spirit; and our kindred, or the companions of our choice, though lost to us for ever, appear bright as in a vision. To the imagination they are never lost. We regret their absence, but we also contemplate them in a happier sphere. If they were authors, with what pleasure we recur to their works! It is there that we again see them in their earthly shapes, and listen to their accustomed accents with delight; that we participate in all their feelings, and enjoy the scenes and places they have sanctified and made familiar by their genius. Without this inclination from sorrow, our lives would be but a perpetual weeping; without this sunshine after the storm of death, the heart, even of the most buoyant, would sink under the weight of its afflictions. The grave would be ever wet with tears; nor would the lark sing, or the daisy grow, over those whom we have consigned to the lap of earth. Fair, fair shall be the flowers that spring over thy tomb, dear, gentle Elia! sweet shall be the song-sweet as thine own-that shall lure the wanderer to the spot where thy urn receives the tears of the stranger. Thither my feet shall repair in spring time and in harvest; thither will I lead thy votaries, and there shall they drink of the lucid waters that well from the memory of thy gentle life, thou kindliest of human creatures! Perchance, reader, it was not thy good fortune to know our inimitable friend. Thou hast not been with him in his walks; and to walk with him was to converse with the immortal dead: with Chaucer and with Sidney-with Spenser and with Shakspeare-with Burton and with Sir Thomas Brown-with Fuller and with Jeremy Taylor-and with Milton, and those elder dramatists, who were to him a first love, and, as such, cherished through life. Thou hast not been his guest? nor sat among his books-goodly folios in quaint bindings-in rooms scantily furnished, but rich in the gifts of genius; walls hung round with Raphaels and Da Vincis, with Poussins and Titians, and the works of the incomparable Hogarth? Thou wert not a visitor in the temple, nor an evening lis. tener to choice-hardly choice where all were good -passages from Milton, over the finest of which the worshipping spirit of the reader always wept; but his tears were those of admiration, drops that blotted out, as it were, ages of neglect! On his old favour. ites his eyes rested even in death! Sacred to the owner will be the volume he last bent over, with its page folded down-so ever let it remain-on thy life, all-accomplished Sidney! From thyself, if aught earthly in heaven be permitted, perchance he may learn thy story, and there walk side by side with those whom in idea he lived with while on earth. Nor hast thou seen him a Solitary, wandering among the cloisters of Christ's Hospital-nor in the Quadrangles at Oxford, nor at Twickenham, where he often spent his holidays-red-letter days as he called them-nor at Hampton Court, which he preferred-so truly English was his mind-to Versailles; nor in the India House, where he was loved for his goodness of heart, He always spoke as he wrote, and did both as he most men. He Their minds were congenial, so were their lives, January 27, 1835. MR FERGUSSON'S CANADIAN SETTLEMENT. WE are glad to learn, from a lately published number of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, that Mr Fergusson of Woodhill, who several years ago gave the world some excellent papers on emigration to America, and afterwards proceeded with his family to Upper Canada, has found an advantageous settlement in that promising country, and has the best prospects of success. His communication to the editor of the above journal is described as being "most gratifying and satisfactory." Mr Fergusson, whose principal object is to locate some of the junior branches of his family, has settled himself in the township of Nichol, district of Gore, in a salubrious situation. The Ouse or Grand River, with fine mill-falls of fifteen feet, fronts and partially intersects the block of 8000 acres. The soil and timber both good. Distance from Burlington Bay on Lake Ontario about forty-five miles. A village has been commenced in a delightful situation upon the Grand River, where the foundation-stone of a church and schoolhouse were laid by Mr Fergusson and his friends last St Andrew's day. It is Mr Fergusson's resolution, we are told, to sell no land to settlers of doubtful or indifferent character, for any temptation or price. With this limiting quali fication, in one short season, and under all the disad vantages of a commencement, above 3000 acres have been sold to emigrants of the very first class, combining industry, capital, and skill. "Already (since January 1834) above seventy souls are denizens, with many casual visitors, and all the initiatory processes of chopping, logging, housebuilding, &c. are going briskly forward. Neither have amusements been overlooked. Arrangements have been made to form a library for the winter evenings. Curling-stones are in preparation. It is altogether an interesting scene. To those among us (says the editor) who are looking to the western world, we would say, visit Fergus, and ponder well the advantages of a healthy district, and a respectable social circle, ere you finally decide upon a home." With this sentiment we cordially agree, for there is every reason for believing that Mr Fergusson, with his acknowledged sagacity and integrity, can neither have pitched upon an improper location, nor would be guilty of entrapping settlers, by holding out delusive accounts or expectations. A Page of Comicalities. WE have had several good hearty laughs at the humorous sketches of that singular writer, Thomas Hood, Esquire, in his COMIC ANNUAL for the year 1835, which has just made its appearance. A good deal of the book, we perceive, is occupied with quiz. zical accounts of the "great conflagration"-that is, the burning of the houses of Parliament, which, like every other exciting calamity, no matter what, has been an object of caricature to the dealers in fun throughout the metropolis. Popular ferment is well hit off in the following letter of a member of Parliament to the keeper of his country residence:"To Mr Roger Davis, bailiff, the Shrubbery, near Shrewsbury. DAVIS-I hope to God this will find you at home -I am writing in a state of mind bordering on madness. I can't collect myself to give particulars-you will have a newspaper along with this read that, and your hair will stand on end. Incendiarism has reached its height like the flaming thing on the top of the Monument. Our crisis is come. To my mind -political suicide-is as bad as felo de se. Oh, what have we been brought to! As the Britannic Guardian well says-England is gone to Italy London is at Naples and we are all standing on the top of Vesuvius. I have heard, and I believe it—that an attempt has been made to choke Aldgate Pump. A Waltham Abbey paper says positively that the mills were recently robbed of five hundred and thirteen barrels of powder, the exact number of the members for England and Wales. What a diabolical refinement to blow up a government with its own powder! I can hardly persuade myself I am in England. God knows where it will spread to—I mean the incendiary spirit. The dry season is frightful-I suppose the springs are all dry. Keep the engine locked in the stable, for fear of a cut at the pipes. I'll send you down two more. Let all the labourers take a turn at them, by way of practice. I'm persuaded the Parliament Houses were burnt on purpose. The flue story is ridiculous. Mr Cooper's is a great deal more to the point. I believe every thing I hear. A bunch of matches was found in the Speaker's kitchen. I saw something suspicious myself-some said treacle, but I say tar. Have your eyes about you-lock all the gates, day as well as night-and above all, watch the stacks. One Tiger is not enough-get three or four more, should have said Cæsar, but you know I mean the house-dog. Good mastiffs-the biggest and savagest you can get. The gentry will be attempted first beginning with the M. P's. You and Barnes and Sam must sit up by turns--and let the maids sit up toowomen have sharp ears, and sharp tongues.-If a mouse stirs, I would have them squall-danger or no danger. It's the only way to sleep in security-and comfort. I have read that the common goose is a vigilant creature-and saved Rome. Get a score of them at the next market-don't stand about pricebut choose them with good cackles. Alarm them now and then to keep them watchful. Fire the blunderbuss off every night, and both fowling-pieces, and all the pistols. If all the gentry did as much, it might keep the country quiet. If you were to ring the alarm-bell once or twice in the middle of the night, it would be as well-you would know then what help you have to depend upon. Search the house often from the garret to the cellar, for combustibles-if you could manage to go without candles, or any sort of light, it would be better. I You'd find your way about in the dark after a little practice. Pray don't allow any sweethearts; they may be Swings and Captain Rocks in disguise, and their pretended flames turn out real. I've misgivings about the maids. Tie them up, and taste their liver before they eat it themselves-I mean the house-dogs; but my agitation makes me unconnected. The scoundrels often poison them before they attempt robbery and arson. Keep the cattle in the cowhouse for fear of their being houghed and hamstrung. Surely there were great defects somewhere. The houses could not have been properly protected-if they had been watched as well as they were lighted but it is too late to cast blame on individuals. A paltry spirit of economy has been our bane. A few shillings would have purchased a watch-dog; and one or two geese in each house might have saved the capitol of the constitution! But the incendiary knew how to choose his time-an adjournment when there were none sitting. I say incendiary, because no doubt can exist in any cool mind that enters into the conflagration. I transcribe conclusive extracts from several papers, the editors of which I know to be upright men, and they all write on one side. We are confidently informed,' says the Beacon, 'that a quantity of tar-barrels was purchased at No. 2, High Street, Shadwell, about ten o'clock on the morning of the fire. There was abundant time before six A. M. for removing the combustibles to Westminster. The purchaser was a short, squat, down-looking man, and the name on his cart was I. Burns.' 'Trifling circumstances,' says the Centinel, 'sometimes point to great results. Our own opinion is formed. We have made it our business to examine the Guys in preparation for the impending anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, and we affirm that every one of the effigies bore a striking resemblance to some member or other of assemblies we need not name. These are signs of the times.' 'We should be loth,' says the Detector, 'to impute the late calamity to any particular party: but we may reasonably inquire what relative stake in the country is possessed by the Whigs and the Tories. The English language may be taken as a fair standard. The bob-wig; in short, the whole family of perruques, first may lay claim to peri-wig, scratch-wig, tye.wig, with whigmaleery: the latter, to oratory, history, territory, and victory. Can a man of common patriotism have a doubt which side it is his interest to adhere to ? Take In fancy cradled, like some northern light Which westward gilds an oriental night, Tearing with ruthless hand that sacred root Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit, So waked our bard that histrionic lore Which Siddons suckled, but which Garrick bore. "Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind, Through freedom's mist beholds what's left behind; Whose ebon limbs those gory bonds entwine The heavy shapen equinoctial line, Mutely exclaims, and supplicating bends, The lovely young Lavinia once had friends! "So let our author, whose enamell'd hopes Exfoliate to night such classic tropes, Through this, his tragedy, those laurels share Which Drake and Wicliffe both were proud to wear, And take the chaplet loud from British hands As Cato died, and Trajan's column stands." The writers of tales usually work up their love-plots with catastrophes, such as the hero just saving in the nick of time the heroine from a band of robbersfrom being drowned in floods-from being killed by falls from horses-from being burned to death in the conflagration of houses, and so forth. But our friend Hood beats all such story-tellers hollow. He brings his hero and heroine together through the agency of a bottle of ginger-beer, or, in vulgar language, pop. The story be very appropriately calls POPPING THE QUESTION. That last paragraph, Davis, is what I call sound argument. Indeed, I don't see how it is to be answered. You see they are all nem. con. as to our danger, and decidedly reckon fire an inflammatory agent. care what you read. Very pernicious doctrines are abroad, and especially across the Western Channel. The Irish are really frightful. I'm told they tie the cows' tails together, and then saw off their horns for insurrectionary bugles. The foundations of society are shaken all over the world-the Whiteboys in Ire"My friend Walker is a great storyteller. He reminds land, and the Blacks in the West Indies, all seem to me of the professional tale-bearers in the East, who, fight under the same colours. It's time for honest without being particularly requested by the company, men to rally round themselves; but I'm sorry to say public spirit and love of one's country are at a low begin reciting the adventures of Sinbad, or the life, No ebb. There's too much Americanism. One writer death, and resurrection of Little Hunchback. sooner does conversation flag for a few minutes, than wants us to turn all our English wheat to Indian corn, W. strikes up, with some such prelude as, "I told and to grow no sort of apples but Franklin pippins. you about the flying fish affair before; but as you We want strong measures against associations and wish me to refresh your memory, you shall have it unions. There's demagogues abroad-and they wear again." He then deliberately fills his glass, and furwhite hats. By the bye, I more than half suspect that wishes himself with a cork, a bit of orange-peel, or an fellow Johnson is a delegate. Take him to the ale- apple-paring, to be shredded and sub-shredded during house, and treat him freely-it may warm him to blab the course of narration. Many Scotchmen, by the something. Besides, you will see what sort of papers way, and most Canadians, are given to the same mathe public-houses take in. You may drop a hint about nual propensity. A lady located towards the back their licenses. Give my compliments to Dr Garratt, settlements informed me, that at a party she gave, the and tell him I hope he will preach to the times, and mantelshelf, chairs, and tables, every wooden article take strong texts. I wish I could be down amongst of furniture, was nicked and notched by the knives of you, but I cannot desert my post. You may tell the her guests, like the tallies of our Exchequer. It is tenantry, and electors-I'm burnt out and gutted-most probably an Indian peculiarity, and derived by but my heart's in the right place and devoted to constituents. Come what may, I will be an unshaken pillar on the basis of my circular letter. Don't forget any of my precautions. I am sorry I did not bring all the plate up to town-but at the first alarm bury it. Take in no letters or notices; for what you know they may be threatenings. If any Irishman applies for work, discharge him instantly. All the old springguns had better be set again; they are not now legal, but I am ministerial, and if they did go off, the higher powers would perhaps wink at them. But it's fire that I'm afraid of, fire that destroyed my political roof, and may now assail my paternal one. Walk, as I may say, bucket in hand, and be ready every moment for a break out. You may set fire to the small faggotstack, and try your hands at getting it under-there's nothing worse than being taken by surprise. Read this letter frequently, and impress these charges on your mind. It is a sad change for England to have "The way I came to have ginger-beer in my pocket, become, I may say, this fiery furnace. I have not was this. I don't know whether you are acquainted the least doubt, if properly traced, the burning cliff at with Hopkins, sir, of the Queen's Arms in the PoulWeymouth would be found to be connected with Intry?" The dry salter shook his head. "It's the house cendiarism, and the Earthquakes at Chichester with frequent, and a very civil obliging sort of fellow he is our political convulsions. Thank Providence in your that is to say, was, two summers ago. The season prayers, Davis, that your own station forbids your being an M. P., for a place in Parliament is little better don't keep ginger-pop-it's a refreshing beverage at this was very sultry, and says I, Hopkins, I wonder you than sitting on a barrel of gunpowder. Honour for. season, and particularly wholesome. Well, Hopkins bids to resign, or I should wish I was nothing but a was very thankful for the hint, for he likes to have simple country gentleman. Remember, and be vigi- every thing that can be called for, and he was for sendlant. Once more I cry Watch, Watch, Watch! By ing off an order at once to the ginger-beer manufacadopting the motions I propose, a conflagration may be tory, but I persuaded him better. None of their wholeadjourned sine die, which is a petition perpetually pre-sale trash, said I, but make your own. I'll give you sented by your anxious but uncompromising master, JACOB JUBB, M.P." There are likewise some tolerably smart poetical pieces, embellished with cuts in Hood's usual clever style. Of the rhyming ware, the following, by G. Raymond, Esq., is among the best specimens :— AN OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE. "But mighty Shakspeare, whose salacious fire intercourse or intermixture with the Chipaways. But to return to W. The other day, after dinner, with a select few of my friends, there occurred one of those sudden silences, those verbal armistices, or suspensions of words, which frequently provoke an irresistible allusion to a Quakers' meeting. Of this pause W. of course availed himself. "You were going, sir," addressing the gentleman opposite, "to ask me about the Pop business, but I ought first to tell you how I came to be carrying ginger-b r-beer in my pocket." The gentleman thus appealed to, a straightforward old drysalter, who had never seen W. in his life before, naturally stared at such a bold anticipation of his thoughts; but before he could find words to reply, W. had helped himself to a dozen almonds, which he began mincing, while he set off at a steady pace in his story. I a recipe for it-the best ever bottled. But I couldn't gain my point. Hopkins humm'd and haw'd, and thought nobody could make it but the makers. There was no setting him right, so at last I determined to put him to the proof. I'll tell you what, Hopkins, said I, you don't like the trouble, or I'd soon convince you that a man who isn't a maker can make it as well as any one-perhaps better. You shall have a sample of mine-I've got a few bottles at my counting-house, and it's only a step. Of course, Hopkins was very much obliged, and off I went. In confidence between you and me, sir-though I never had the pleasure of seeing you before-I wanted to introduce ginger-beer at the Queen's Arms as a public benefit." "I'm sure, sir, I'm very much obliged," stammered the drysalter, at a loss what to say. Ginger-beer, I've no doubt, is very efficacious, and particularly af ter fruit or lobsters, for I observe you always see them at the same shops." "The best drink in the dog-days all to nothing,' returned W., "but ought to be amazingly well corked and wired down, and I'll tell you why: it will get vapid, and may-be worse. Well, I'd got it in my coat pocket, and was walking back, just by Bow Church, no more thinking of green silk pelisses than you are, sir, at this moment-upon my honour I wasn't-when something gave a pop and a splash, and I heard a female scream. I was afraid to look round; and when I did, you might have knocked me down with a straw. You know, Tom (addressing me), I'm not made of brass-for the minute I felt more like melted lead-heavy and hot. Two full kettles seemed poured over me-one warm within, and the other cold without. You never saw such an object! There she stood, winking and gasp. ing, and all over froth and foam, like a lady just emerged out of the sea-only they don't bathe in green silk pelisses and satin bonnets. You might have knocked me down with a hair. What I did or said at first I don't know; I only remember that I attempted to wipe her face with my handkerchief, but she preferred her own. To make things worse, the passengers made a ring round us, as if we had been going to fight about it, and a good many of 'm set up a laugh. I would rather have been surrounded by banditti. don't tell a lie if I say I would gladly have been tossed out of the circle by a mad bull. How I longed to jump like a Harlequin into a twopenny-post-box, or to slip down a plug like an eel!" I religious toleration to the prosperity of states; the criminal impolicy of thwarting the kind arrangements of Providence by restraints upon commerce; and the duty of legislators to study the laws of the moral world as the groundwork and standard of their own, appear, to minds unsophisticated by inveterate prejudices, as approaching nearly to the class of axioms. Yet how much ingenious and refined discussion has been employed, even in our own times, to combat the prejudices which every where continue to struggle against them; and how remote does the period yet seem, when there is any probability that these prejudices shall be completely abandoned!”—Encyclopædia Britannica. BIRDS-WILD AND IN CAGE. DOES there live a human being who is not fond of birds? Can any one behold these gentle denizens of our woods and glades, hopping from spray to spray, and awakening the echoes of the groves with their innocent song and cheerful chirp-their wood-notes wild, and not be delighted? Casting our recollections back a distance of thirty summers, we at this moment hear the clear note of the blackbird as it darts from "Very distressing indeed," said the drysalter. "I don't think," resumed W., "I felt as much when my poor mother died-I don't, upon my soul! bough to bough, the whistle of the mavis perched She was expected for years, but the lady in green came near its nestling-place in the heart of a leafy beech or like a thunderbolt! When I saw the ginger-beer wel- oak, and the coo-cooing of the cushat-the cushie doo tering down her, I would almost as soon have seen of the bird-nesting schoolboy-as we have seen it a blood. I felt little short of a murderer. How I got her into Tweedie's shop, heaven knows! I suppose hundred times walking to and fro, and lovingly geck. I pulled her in, for I cannot remember one word of ing at its mate on one of the bare gnarled branches persuasion. However, I got her into Tweedie's, and of a lofty pine. Who is there, we would say, who had just sense enough to seat her in a chair, and to beg has experienced the pleasures derived in youth from for a few dry cloths. To do the dear creature justice, she bore it all angelically-but every smile, every sylwandering amidst rural scenery, and does not retain lable making light of her calamity, went to my heart. grateful recollections, such as these, of the beautiful You don't know my original old friend, Charles Ma- feathered tribes of creation? We pity the individual thews, do you, sir?" who declares he does not love birds. They are for the most part so attractive to the eye, so harmless, so innocent in their habits, so grateful for kindness-repaying the gift of a few easily spared crumbs with a song, which is all they can give in return-that they must be real churls who dislike them. The drysalter signified dissent. "No matter his theory is right all over-it is as true as gospel!" exclaimed W., with an asseverating thump upon the table. "There is an infernal, malicious, aggravating, little demon, hovers up aloft about us, wherever we go, ready to magnify any mischief, and deepen every disaster. Sure I am he hovered Perhaps it is wrong to hazard the supposition that about me! The cloths came-but as soon as I began any body really dislikes these sprightly creaturesto wipe briskly, bang again went 't'other bottle,' and except, by the way, the gardener, who has an eye to uncorked itself before it was called for. I shall never the safety of his peas and cherries-for in all quarters forget the sound! Pop, whiz, tiz, whish-ish-slish are to be found not only lovers of one or other of the slosh-slush-guggle, guggle, guggle: I'd rather various kinds of these animals, but absolute enthusiasts have been at the exploding of the Dartford powder-keen ornithologists-bird fanciers, as they are called, mills! At the first report I turned hastily round, but, by so doing, I only diverted the jet from the open cases on the counter, to the show-trays in the shop window, filled with Tweedie's choicest cutlery; and as I completed the pirouette, I favoured Tweedie himself with the tail of the spout!" "Very unpleasant indeed," said the drysalter, with a hard wink, as if the fussy fluid had flown in his own face. individuals who rejoice in nurturing and cultivating those happy creatures as companions, giving their cages the most favoured place on the sunny sides of their drawing-rooms and parlours. Many there are no doubt who would take pleasure in the society of birds-small song birds in particular-if they knew how to manage them, to make their lives a state of pleasure instead of pain, or, as it may be, to render their existence in captivity a blessing instead of the "Unpleasant!" ejaculated W., "it was unendur- reverse. To those who are actuated by such feelings, able! I could have cut my throat with one of the wet and to all bird fanciers in general, we are glad to be razors I could have stabbed myself with a pair of the able to recommend a book to their notice, which will splashed scissors! The mess was frightful-bright tell them a thousand particulars, give them a world of steel buckles, buttons, clasps, rings, all cut and po- useful information, on the very matters with which they lished I saw Tweedie himself shake his head as he would like to be acquainted. The work forms a very looked at the chains and some of the delicate articles. pretty duodecimo volume, has recently been published, It wasn't a time to stand upon words, and I believe I and is entitled "CAGE BIRDS." In this production, cursed and swore like a trooper. I know I stamped which will even furnish amusement to those who do about, for I went on the lady's foot, and that made me not take the trouble to keep birds, we have-let us see worse than ever. Tweedie says I raved; and I do re-all about owls, parrots, and other beaky faced birds, member I cursed myself for talking of ginger-beer, as native and foreign; then comes the nuthatch, the well as Hopkins for not keeping it in his house. At chaffinch, the goldfinch, and all other kinds of finches, last I got so rampant, that even the lady began to con- it is impossible to say how many; next we have linsole me; and as she had a particularly sweet voice and nets, canaries, starlings, larks, thrushes, blackbirds, manner, and Tweedie, too, trying to make things com- nightingales, wrens, tomtits, siskins, and fifty more fortable, I began to hear reason: but if ever I carry kinds of warblers; besides all about how each and ginger-beer again in my pocket, along Cheapside"- every one of them should be fed, and lodged, and so "Till you're a widower," said I. on. It should be mentioned that the book was originally written by a German, named Bechstein, but is now translated into English, and apparently improved and adapted for use in the British islands. Gentle reader, if you can spare money, buy a copy of "CAGE BIRDS," and lay it on the parlour table, where your children may see it, and thence perhaps acquire a love of that most interesting of all departments of natural history-ornithology. "I was coming to that, sir," continued W., still addressing the drysalter. "I insisted on putting the lady into a coach, and by that means obtained her address, and as common politeness dictated, I afterwards called and was well received. A new green silk dress was graciously accepted, and a white one afterwards met with the same kind indulgence, when the lady condescended to be Mrs Walker. Our fortunes, sir, in this world, hinge frequently on trifles. Through an explosion of pop I thus popped into a partner with a pretty fortune; but for all that, I would not have any man, like the Persian in Hajji Baba, mistake a mere accident for the custom of the country. For Celebs in Search of a Wife to walk up and down Cheapside with a bottle of ginger-beer in his pocket, would be Quixotic in the extreme." SIMPLICITY OF GREAT AND USEFUL IDEAS. Dugald Stewart, in describing Fenelon's Telemachus as the best manual extant for impressing on the minds of youth the leading truths both of practical morals and of political economy, says very beautifully, "Nor ought it to be concluded, because these truths appear to lie so near the surface, and command so immediately the cordial assent of the understanding, that they are therefore obvious or trite; for the case is the same with all the truths most essential to human happiness. The importance of agriculture and of One of the most agreeable chapters of the work is on the nightingale the melodious Philomel of the groves-a bird upon which there is seemingly not much accurately known. We take the liberty of condensing the account of this delightful warbler. "The nightingale, whose plumage is very ordinary, is scarcely five inches long, two and a half of which belong to the tail. But in confinement, when it is well fed, and especially when it has been bred from the nest, it is commonly larger, reaching sometimes the size of a lark. When wild, nightingales are found throughout Europe, as far as the north of England, and the middle of Sweden; in all Asia, as far as the temperate regions of Siberia; and in Africa, on the banks of the Nile. They every where choose for their residence places which are shady, cool, but not cold, such as woods, thickets, and even mere hedges in the fields. Groves, thick brambles, tufted bushes near fields and meadows, are their favourite abodes. They also like gardens planted with untrimmed elmhedges, which are consequently thick and bushy down to the ground. Their principal food is insects, especially green caterpillars, of which they clear the bushes and trees, butterflies, flies, and beetles, and the grubs of insects hid among moss or in the earth. At their departure, towards the end of summer, they also eat elderberries and currants. They build their nests in a grove or orchard, among a heap of branches, or in a thorn bush, or the trunk of tree surrounded by briars. They are easily caught with limed twigs, or nooses and springs. When allowed to fly freely in rooms, they do not sing so well as in cages, which should be of an ordinary size, and formed of osiers. The first good quality of a nightingale is undoubtedly its fine voice, and notes which I shall endeavour to describe. The nightingale expresses his different emotions by suitable and particular tones. The most unmeaning cry when he is alone appears to be a simple whistle fitt, but if the syllable crr is added, it is then the call of the male to the female. The sign of displeasure or fear is fitt repeated rapidly and loudly before adding the terminating err; whilst that of satisfaction and pleasure, such, for example, as conjugal endearments, or, on the occasion of finding a delicate morsel, is a deep tack, which may be imitated by smacking the tongue. In anger, jealousy, rivalry, or any extraordinary event, he utters hoarse disagree able sounds, somewhat like a jay or a cat. Lastly, in the season of pairing, when the male and female entice and pursue each other, from the top of a trẻe to its base, and thence again to the top, a gentle subdued warbling is all that is heard. Nature has granted these tones to both sexes; but the male is particularly endowed with so very strik. ing a musical talent, that in this respect he surpasses all birds, and has acquired the name of the king of songsters. The strength of his vocal organ is indeed wonderful; and it has been found that the muscles of his larynx are much more powerful than those of any other bird. But it is less the strength than the compass, flexibility, prodigious variety, and harmony of his voice, which make it so admired by all lovers of the beautiful. Sometimes dwelling for minutes on a strain composed of only two or three melancholy tones, he begins in an under voice, and swelling it gradually by the most superb crescendo to the highest point of strength, he ends it by a dying cadence; or it consists of a rapid succession of more brilliant sounds, terminated, like many other strains of his four different strains or couplets may be reckoned in song, by some detached ascending notes. Twentythe song of a fine nightingale, without including its delicate little variations; for among these, as among other musicians, there are some great performers and many middling ones. This song is so articulate, so speaking, that it may be very well written. The following is a trial which I have made on that of a night. ingale in my neighbourhood, which passes for a very capital singer : Tzatu, tzatu, tzatu, tzatu, tzatu, tzatu, tzatu, dzi. Lu, lu, lu, lu, ly, lỵ, ly, lỵ, liê, liê, liê, liê. Hagurr, gurr quipio! Coui, coui, coui, coui, qui, qui, qui, qui, gai, gui, gui, gui. Goll goll goll goll guia hadadoi. Couigui, horr, ha diadia dill si! Hezexezezezezezezezezezezezezezeze couar ho døe hei, Lu ly li le lai la leu lo, didl io quia. Kigaigaigaigaigaigaigai guiagaigaigai couior dzio dɛio pi. If we could understand the sense of these words, we should doubtless discover the expression of the sensations of this delightful songster. It is true that the nightingales of all countries, the south as well as the north, appear to sing in the same manner; there is, however, as has been already observed, so great a difference in the degree of perfection, that we cannot help acknowledging that one has a great superiority over another. On points of beauty, however, where the senses are the judges, each has his peculiar taste. If one nightingale has the talent of dwelling agreeably on his notes, another utters his with peculiar brilliancy, a third lengthens out his strain in a particular manner, and a fourth excels in the silveriness of his voice. All four may excel in their style, and each will find his admirer; and, truly, it is very difficult to decide which merits the palm of victory. There are, however, individuals so very superior as to unite all the beauties of power and melody; these are gene. rally birds of the first breed, which, having been hatched with the necessary powers, in a district well peopled with nightingales, appropriate what is most striking in the song of each, whence results this perfect compound, so worthy of our admiration. As the return of the males in spring always precedes that of the females by seven or eight days, they are constantly heard to sing before and after midnight, in order to attract their companions on their journey during the fine nights. If their wishes are accomplished, they then keep silence during the night, and salute the dawn with their first accents, which are continued through the day. Some persist in their first season in singing before and after midnight, whence they have obtained the name of nocturnal nightingales; but they cannot be distinguished till after some time, when they are established in their district, and have the society of their females. After repeated experiments for many successive years, I think I am authorised in affirming that the nocturnal and diurnal nightingales form distinct varieties, which propagate regularly: for if a young bird is taken from the nest of a night singer, he in his turn will sing at the same hours as his father, not the first year, but certainly in the fol. lowing; while, on the other hand, the young of a day nightingale will never sing in the night, even when it is surrounded by nocturnal nightingales. It is a pity that the time for this delightful bird's song should be so short, that is to say, when wild. It endures hardly three months; and during this short interval it is not maintained with equal power. At its first arrival it is the most beautiful, continued, and impassioned; when the young are hatched, it becomes more rare; the attentions which they require occu pying considerable time. If from time to time the nightingale's song is heard, it is evident that the fire which animated it is much weakened. After midsummer all is ended, nothing is heard but the warbling of the young, which seem to study their father's song, and try to imitate it. The nightingale sings much longer in confinement: birds which are caught full grown sometimes sing from November to Easter; those which are bred from the nest sing much longer, sometimes as long as seven months; but in order that they may sing well, they must be put under the instruction of an old nightingale which is a good singer, otherwise they will be only stammerers, mutilating their natural song, and inserting in a confused manner tones and passages which they have caught from other birds. If, however, they have a good instructor, and a good memory, they imitate perfectly, and often add to their instructor's song some beauties of their own, as is usual among young birds. Independent of these talents, the nightingale possesses a quality very likely to augment the number of his friends; he is capable, after some time, of forming attachments. When once he has made acquaintance with the person who takes care of him, he distinguishes his step before seeing him; he welcomes him by a cry of joy; and, during the moulting season, he is seen making vain efforts to sing, and supplying, by the gaiety of his movements, and the expression of his looks, the demonstrations of joy which his throat refuses to utter. When he loses his benefactor, he sometimes pines to death; if he survives, it is long before he is accustomed to another. His attachments are long, because they are not hasty, as is the case with all wild and timid dispositions.' which otherwise would be mere matter of conjecture. It is scarcely more than half a century since Avenbrugger suggested the probability of ascertaining the state of the organs within the thorax, more perfectly, by percussing the chest with the points of the fingers. M. Corvisart translated Avenbrugger's Treatise into French, and subsequently brought the practice of percussion into general use and great repute. be confessed, however, that percussion is a much less satisfactory practice than auscultation, either with or without the stethoscope, which instrument is the invention of Laennec. THE STETHOSCOPIC ART. WITHIN these few years a very extraordinary improvement has been effected in a department of the practice of medicine, by the invention and introduction into use of the stethoscope-an instrument differing very little in its construction from a boy's ruler, by which, when applied to the chest, the practitioner is enabled to judge, from the sound it carries to his ear, whether the action of the lungs and heart be healthy or otherwise. Some practitioners, with a keen perception of sound, can discover the character of the action of these organs simply by applying the ear to the outside of the chest; but this cannot in general be done so well or so delicately as by the use of the instrument. By observations thus made, medical men are now enabled to form a correct diagnosis—that is, to draw true deductions from symptoms -regarding diseases of the heart and lungs, which they could never do by the old modes of practice; in fact, by this practice of auscultation, as it is called, an intelligent and acute physician knows almost as well the state of the lungs, in supposed cases of consump tion, and of the heart, in supposed cases of disease of that organ, as if there were a window in the breast through which he might look with his visual organs. Valuable as this discovery must prove to mankind, it has, like all other great improvements in science, met with no small share of ridicule and opposition. With the view of illustrating our observations on the difficulties which improvements in the arts and sciences have frequently to contend with, as well as informing our readers with respect to an exceedingly important subject, we shall here quote, in a condensed form, the account given by Dr Mackintosh of the stethoscopic art, in his very valuable work, "Principles of Pathology, and Practice of Physic," 3d edition, 1832. "The diseases of the chest (says this intelligent writer) were once the opprobrium of medicine; and although we are still liable to be mistaken, yet, by percussion and auscultation, we are enabled to judge correctly of the nature and seat of some affections, It must A great deal of opposition has been made, and many frivolous objections have been urged against the employment of auscultation, principally by three classes of practitioners. 1st, Those who are too well employed, and who have not time to learn any thing new. 2dly, Those who are dull of hearing, or devoid of the power of discriminating between sounds which have some resemblance to each other. 3dly, Those who are too indolent or too old. With respect to the first class, I need not say much, as no observations of mine will improve such medical men, by inducing them to pay more regard to the science than to the trade of the profession. But as to the second class, I have only to observe, that it is too bad for men who are deaf, to decry the employment of a means which is found to be so advantageous in prac tice, and the only method by which they can be silenced, is for others to state their defect a task which, though ungracious, I shall not shrink from performing in respect to those whose statements are likely to influence the too numerous herd of imitators' in the profession. In this class there are some who can hear perfectly well, but who, from the want of what is called a musical ear, are incapable of discriminating sounds, in the same manner as some are soft pulse, or a full and a sharp pulse; or as others, who, from a defect in the organs of vision, cannot see any thing twenty yards distant. Such individuals, then, will never be capable of availing themselves of this additional means of investigating diseases of the chest; but they have no right to prejudice others in the profession, who are perhaps too happy to avail themselves of any excuse which is likely to save trouble. In the third class of objectors, I have placed the indolent and the aged. With respect to the first of these, I have to remark, that the public have not so much to complain of the ignorance of medical men, as their indolence and want of zeal; and it is as difficult for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, as to make an indolent physician active and zealous; there fore it is not to be wondered at, that they should advocate the advantages of remaining ignorant. As for many of the aged opponents, they act no doubt upon the principle which is observed in old dogs, of not learning new tricks. unable to detect the difference between a hard and a Some individuals have stated objections against the use of the stethoscope; they say it requires a life. time to arrive at any thing like perfection. I have already shown that it requires great patience and good ears to learn it at all, and that those who possess neither the one nor the other will never be able to use it advantageously. But if the difficulties of any task were allowed as an argument against making attempts to overcome them, it may be asked, what would become of all the sciences? tion. covered that the man coughed a little in the morning, but not so much as to attract even his own attention; upon dissection, some months afterwards, our diag. nosis was fully verified. Dr Henry of Manchester, and others, will not forget the case I had occasion once to examine with him, in which we discovered empyema (a collection of puriform matter) in the left side of the thorax, which had been treated for disease of the heart, be cause the pulsations were felt to the right of the sternum, instead of the left. By auscultation and percussion, we were enabled to state most confidently that there was extensive effusion, which pushed the heart to the other side of the chest. The patient did not survive above a fortnight afterwards, and the correctness of our opinion was fully proved, by the existence of an immense effusion in the left side of the thorax, amounting, I believe, to twenty or twenty. six pounds of fluid, with large masses of lymph. Liver complaints are often confounded with disease of the lungs, in which it is of the greatest consequence to the patient, that the physician should be able to form a proper diagnosis, which he cannot do in many cases without the assistance of auscultation and percussion. I have seen many remarkable cases of chronic inflammation, and I believe extensive ulceration in the windpipe, which the ordinary symp. toms announced to be the most hopeless cases of consumption; there was cough, expectoration tinged with blood, emaciation, debility, rapid pulse, with bad feverish nights, attended by profuse perspiration. By the sound of the respiration, and the resonance of the voice, I was enabled to assure myself that the lungs were as yet sound, and they were all cured by means which I afterwards adopted. Every year Í see several cases of chronic bronchitis, which have been mistaken for consumption, many of which were cured or relieved by the appropriate remedies, which must have terminated fatally if managed as cases of phthisis. In the treatment of inflammation of the substance of the lungs, it is of the utmost consequence to be able to tell whether the disease be extensive or not; whether it be in the first stage, that of active sanguineous engorgement; or in the second, that of solidification; whether the disease is advanc ing or declining, which can be done by no other means than auscultation and percussion. It has already been attempted to be shown of how much advantage it is to sound the chest in cases of fever. Much injury, it is to be apprehended, will result for some years to come, from individuals pretending to use this instrument, and pronouncing confident opinions as to the nature and seat of diseases, who are unacquainted even with the natural sounds of respiration, and who, as I have often seen, do not really know how to hold the stethoscope. Few individuals can acquire the power of using the instrument advantageously from books, without the personal assistance of some one already instructed; and I have known several gentlemen give up the task as hopeless, because they could hear nothing at all, but who resumed it, upon being properly assisted and instructed. On the other hand, candour compels me to men. tion that much mischief has been done by some able stethoscopists pretending to do too much; according to them, auscultation is infallible; but that this is not to be expected from any human invention applied for I shall now turn to a more agreeable part of the the purpose of investigating or curing diseases, I need subject, by shortly stating a few cases, showing the not waste time to prove. That it is a great assistadvantages derived in actual practice from ausculta-ance, as an additional means of diagnosis in diseases A few years ago, I was requested to see a pa. of the chest, no man possessed of the spirit of truth, tient who had been under the care of several medical who has fairly given it a trial, or who has followed men and by way of giving me every necessary infor- the practice of those who can avail themselves of aus. mation, his friends put me in possession of all the cultation, will deny. I maintain, without the fear of recipes which had been recommended; they would contradiction, that perhaps one of the greatest advan have made a moderately sized quarto volume. At tages to be derived from auscultation, is that which one time it was supposed that he had stomach com- enables us to obtain negative proof, in cases where we plaint, and all known tonics were prescribed; at an. have failed in discovering positively the seat of the other it was supposed to be scrofula, for which he disease. For example, if a medical man be called to a took large quantities of the muriate of lime; at last case which has either been pronounced to be consump he was suspected to have diseased liver, and he got tive, or in which a doubtful opinion has been given, large quantities of mercury, and was several times it is truly delightful for all parties, if he be able to give completely salivated. Upon applying the stethoscope, a positive assurance that the lungs are not affected, I discovered a cavern in the superior lobe of the right although he may not be able to tell exactly the seat of lung, and was doubtful whether another did not exist the disease. in the left. Next day I had the advantage of a con- Some medical men allege that they can discover sultation with Dr Scott, whose superior knowledge of every condition of the lungs, quite well enough for diseases of the chest and stethoscopic tact, I am happy all practical purposes, by ordinary symptoms; thereto have this public opportunity of acknowledging. He fore I shall now take a view of these symptoms, for was merely asked to see a patient with me, without the purpose of showing the fallacy of this statement. knowing the result of my previous examination, which The following symptoms are supposed to denote inhe confirmed, with this addition, that he had also no flammation of the lungs, in the most satisfactory doubt of the existence of a cavern in the left lung manner: cough, dyspnoea, pain in the thorax, quick and it was afterwards proved to be correct. A reand strong pulse, being softer, however, when the markable case occurred to me some years ago, at a bronchial membrane and substance of the lungs are time when I was only beginning to make some pro-inflamed, than the pleura. When these symptoms gress in the use of the stethoscope. A man presented exist, they are supposed to be peculiar to inflamma. himself, with many of the ordinary symptoms of in- tion of the lungs; that is to say, when they exist, digestion, and without a single sign indicative of dis- inflammation is present; and when they do not exist, ease of the lungs. I examined him carefully with my the disease is absent. Experience enables me to state ear, with a view of perfecting myself in the natural that not one of these symptoms, or all taken together, sounds elicited by respiration, and the tones of the indicate inflammation of the lungs in any of its texvoice, when, to my astonishment, I thought I disco- tures, and that inflammation may exist without any vered a small cavern in the superior lobe of one of the of them being well marked; hence it is, that phy lungs. At that time, Dr Wavel, an excellent stetho- sicians who follow the ordinary method of investi scopist, was a pupil at my Dispensary. He was re-gating are so often astounded with the appearances quested to examine the man, without being made acquainted with my suspicions. Upon comparing notes, he was of the same opinion. It was subsequently dis on dissection, which they did not anticipate from the mildness of the symptoms. All Cullen's definitions, in the sixth chapter, which treats of pneumonic inflammation, are therefore er- half a dozen of them in taking up the mats in our roneous, as well as the following paragraph (p. 335.) tents, and had great difficulty in killing them. Any 'Pneumonic inflammation, however various in its part which chanced to be separated from the rest of seat, seems to me to be always known and distin- the body would continue to run about as if nothing guished by the following symptoms: pyrexia (fever), had happened; and were the reptile even divided in difficult breathing, cough, and pain in some part of the twenty pieces, each part would travel about as if in thorax.' It will be admitted that Cullen was at least search of the others, without any of them seeming to s wise, talented, and observant as any of his symp-be the worse. The only mode by which we could kill tomatical brethren of the present day; yet he con- them at once was by crushing the head, which effectufesses that he could not ascertain the seat of the disease ally destroyed life in every other part instantaneously. by the ordinary symptoms; proving that he must have been an indifferent practitioner, as the inflammatory affections of the lungs require a different treatment in each stage; bronchit's demands a different plan from pleuritis, and pneumonia from either of the others. I venture therefore to predict, that in a few years, practitioners, even those who now ridicule auscultation, will be compelled, in self-defence, to have recourse to this additional means of diagnosis, or they will lose their practice." ODDS AND ENDS. INGENIOUS MODE OF DESTROYING A BEAR. During our halt (in the Hymalaya mountains) a circumstance occurred which I confess I feel no little pleasure at having the opportunity of recording, as it is highly characteristic of the skill of the mountaineers in baffling the ferocious propensities of those animals by which they are so perpetually threatened with mischief. I had entered a deep dell with my gun, accompanied by two hill-men, in order to try if I could not succeed in killing some jungle-fowl, which are here tolerably abundant, though so wild as to render it a matter of no common difficulty to get near them. After a long and fatiguing walk, we ascended with some toil a very sudden abruption of the mountain, when AN OLD JOE. An honest farmer was asked why he did not subscribe for a newspaper? 66 "Because," said he, my father, when he died, left me a good many papers, and I haven't read them through yet." STANZAS. The fountaines smoake, and yet no flames they shewe, The stillest streames descrie the greatest deepe, VALUE OF EARLY RISING. The difference between rising every morning at six and at eight, in the course of forty years, supposing a man to go to bed at the same time he otherwise would, amounts to 29,000 hours, or 3 years, 121 days, and 16 hours, which will afford eight hours a-day for exactly ten years; so that it is the same as if ten years of life were added a weighty consideration, in which we could command eight hours every day for the culti vation of our minds or the dispatch of business. FISHING FOR SWORD-FISH AT MESSINA. A more attractive sport, however, is the fishing for the pesce-spada, which begins about the middle of April, and continues to the middle of September. From the commencement of this fishery till the end of June, it is carried on upon the shore of Cala. bria; and from this latter period till the middle of September, on that of Sicily. The reason is, that, sake of food, or from some other unascertained cause from April till June, the sword-fish-either for the entering by the Faro, keeps along the shore of from the end of June to the middle of September, it Calabria without approaching that of Sicily; while, takes the opposite side. The sword-fish weighs generally from one to two hundred pounds. The formidable weapon to which it owes its name varies from three to four feet in length, projecting from the end pesce-spada is taken either with the palimadaru, a of the upper jaw, and terminating in a point. The kind of net with very close meshes, or with the harpoon. upon gaining the summit, which overhung a precipice, a bear started from a recess in the neighbouring covert, and advanced evidently with sinister intentions towards us. I was about to fire, though my gun was only loaded with large shot, when one of my highland guides motioned to me to desist, giving me to understand, by significant gesticulations (for I understood his language but very indifferently) that he would attack the enemy unarmed; and from the coolness and dexterity with which he commenced operations, I confess I could not persuade myself to doubt of a favour. able result, in spite of the difficulties which seemed to defy its accomplishment. Almost upon the extreme edge of the precipice stood a tall tree with strong vertical branches, apparently of the character though not the form of the mountain-ash, being very tough and elastic. The hill-man approached the bear, and by exciting it withdrew its attention from me towards himself. The exasperated beast immediately made him the object of attack, when the man adroitly sprang on the tree, as nimbly followed by the bear. The former having reached the upper branches, he quickly slipped a strong cord over the top of the limb upon which he stood, at the same time dropping the reverse end upon the ground. This was instantly seized by his compa. nion, who, pulling with all his strength, drew the point of the bough downward until the branch pro- of a boat called luntre, from the Latin word linter, a jected nearly in a horizontal line from the stem: vessel about eighteen feet in length by seven or eight there were no intervening branches betwixt this and the precipice, the edge of which it nearly overhung order to give the harpooner more room. in width-the prow being wider than the stern, in The boat is when in its natural position. As soon as the bough furnished with a mast, called gariere or fariere, about was warped to the necessary degree of tension, the eighteen feet in length, on the round top of which is mountaineer crept cautiously as near the extremity as he could with safety, followed as cautiously by the the fish and watch its motions. The mast, near the placed one of the crew, whose business it is to descry bear; but, the moment he saw his angry foe upon bottom, is crossed at right angles by a yard called la the bent branch, he dexterously let himself down by croce, to the extremities of which the oars are attached the cord to the ground. The bear, thus unexpectedly by means of loops, to enable the rowers to turn the deprived of its victim, attempted to turn, in order to boat with the greater ease and celerity. The har. retrace its steps; no sooner, however, had it relaxed its poon, which is about twelve feet long, is made fast to grasp of the bough for this purpose, than the hill-man a rope something more than half an inch in diameter suddenly cut the cord, which had been securely tied and two hundred yards in length. While the fish to the stump of a tree, and the depressed branch incoast along the Calabrian shore, two men are placed on stantly gained its original position with an irresistible the rock or cliffs to give notice of their approach. A si. momentum. The suddenness and vigour of the recoil milar practice is adopted on the Sicilian side; but there, shook the bear from its hold, elancing it, like the fragas the shore is less precipitous, two vessels are moored ment of a rock from a catapult, into the empty air; near it, at the distance of a stone's throw from each uttering a stifled yell, it was hurled over the precipice, other, and on the masts of these the men are stationed. and, falling with a dull crash upon the rocks beneath, Ou the approach of a fish, which is said to be indi. no doubt soon became s prey to the vultures and jackals.cated by a change of colour in the water, the signal is The address with which the bold highlander accomplished this dangerous exploit was as astonishing as it was novel.-Oriental Annual. WINE AFTER DINNER. In a book called the Art of Invigorating Life, there are some wholesome truths, and among these the fol. lowing:-"We deprecate the custom of sitting for hours after dinner, and keeping the stomach in an incessant state of irritation by sipping wine-nothing is more prejudicial to digestion, nothing more fevering and enfeebling to the whole system. Immediately after dinner, drink as much as is necessary to excite that degree of action in the system without which you feel uncomfortable, and then stop." It is recommended that no man should habitually take wine as food till he is past thirty years of age. Many persons will find it more salutary to take a glass of sherry about half an hour after dinner than to take it immediately following the food. CENTIPEDES. The grass land at Cyrene (says Captain Beechey) is much infested by a dark-coloured centipede, almost black, with red feelers and legs. We usually found In the latter case the fishermen make use given by the men stationed at the mast-head, or on the cliffs, as the cas, may be, and the foremost luntre then bears down upon it in the direction pointed out, till the spy on the round top of the luntre itself has also descried it. The vessel is then steered to one side or the other according to his direction, while the harpooner stands ready at the prow, anxiously watching an opportunity to hurl his weapon, which he does with almost unerring aim; taking care at the same time to let the fish have rope enough to run. row with all their might, following the track of the wounded fish, till at length, exhausted with the loss of blood, he rises to the surface of the water, and is easily dragged into the boat. It must not be supposed, however, that this sport is altogether without danger; for sometimes the pesce-spada, when of large size, has been known to turn upon his pursuers, to pierce the side of the boat with his weapon, and even to upset it. -Evans' Italy and Sicily. BREST. The men now This was my third visit to France, and I thought that certainly Brest was one of the best specimens of a French town I had seen: it is remarkably clean and regular, the people respectably dressed, and very few beggars, though in this part of Brittany labourers in the country sometimes work for fourpence a-day. And such a dinner as we had at the table d'hôte of the Hôtel de Provence! such exquisite cookery! Ve. getables so well done, that they were eaten by themselves; whilst a grandmother of ninety winters, in a nicely crimped cap, went round kindly, and gave us snuff out of a massive silver tabatière. The price of provisions this summer is as follows:-Eggs, 3d. per dozen; cauliflowers, 1d. per head; artichokes, d. ditto; asparagus, d. per bundle; butter, 64d. per lb.; straw. berries, 1 franc per basket; meat, 31d. per lb.; fish, various prices, but very cheap; hares, in winter, with out skin, 8d.; partridges, a brace, 10d; woodeocks, ditto; chickens, four for three francs. The British consul, Mr Perrier, one of the most active, intelligent, and obliging of men, purchased for our vessel, for sixteen shillings, ten pounds of butter, four chickens, twelve artichokes, six cauliflowers, twelve bundles of asparagus, three baskets of strawberries, and a sack of peas a load for a man. The consul's delightful residence, where we spent a day, one league from Brest, and in the midst of a garden overlooking the sea, he rented for eight pounds a-year. The market was admirably regulated, and (what we require par ticularly at Covent Garden) an officer in cocked hat and cane walked continually about, to see that the lines of baskets were dressed, and that no leaves or refuse were thrown about. Peasants with long and sun-bleached hair floating about their shoulders, and in canvass frocks with hoods, stood behind fruit and vegetable baskets; whilst women, diligently knitting, in white caps and red petticoats, sat beside their country produce.-Alexander's Portugal. CONVICTS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. the best shepherds in the colony, as it suits their naThe London pick pockets are considered to make turally idle habits; the industrious labourer cannot endure the very wearisome and lazy employment of looking after sheep; the petty larcener soon gets attached to his woolly charge, and the sheep, no doubt, by a natural instinct, to him; and thus the animals are tended with some degree of care; but the regular workman, detesting the occupation (unless incapaci tated from a more active employment, by age or acci. dent), seldom takes any interest in the valuable property entrusted to his care; the former are therefore to be preferred. The shepherds, when tending their flocks in the pasturage, while away their leisure time by manufacturing coarse but durable straw hats. It those banished for trivial offences, and those who is to be regretted that no distinction is made between have committed deeper crimes. Many atrocious characters are assigned to persons of the highest respectability, well clothed and fed; and from them often have I witnessed most unbounded insolence: so that gations to the servant, and would be astonished when a stranger would imagine the master to be under oblitold that the servant was a convicted felon.-Bennet's Wanderings in New South Wales. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT'S DRAWING-ROOM. In the middle of the saloon stood General Jackson, surrounded by Van Buren, the vice-president, Wash. ington Irving, and some of the secretaries of state. The president is an elderly man, of middle size, with an expressive countenance, and a sharp eye, indicative of that firmness of character which he has evinced period of his military career, the laurels of which, it upon so many occasions, and particularly during the may be said, he chiefly gathered at New Orleans. His hair is perfectly white, combed upwards from his forehead, which gives his face a long and narrow appearance. His manners are extremely condescending and polite, without derogating from the rank which he holds as the first man in America. Republican custom obliges him to shake hands with his visitors; General Jackson performs this part of the ceremony without losing any of his dignity, without appearing cold or distant. I observed his actions for a long while, to see if he made any particular distinctions between those that presented themselves; but, to his honour, as president of a republic, be it said, he continued the same the whole evening, polite and affable to every one, and friendly to those whom he knew personally, particularly the fair sex.-The United States and Canada. JOHNSON'S OPINION OF ECONOMY. All to whom want is terrible, upon whatever principle, ought to think themselves obliged to learn the sage maxims of our parsimonious ancestors, and attain the salutary arts of contracting expense; for without economy, none can be rich, and with it few can be poor. The mere power of saving what is already in our hands, must be of easy acquisition to every mind; and as the example of Lord Bacon may show that the highest intellect cannot safely neglect it, a thousand instances every day prove that the humblest may practise it with success.— -Rambler. LONDON: Published, with Permission of the Proprietors, by ORB & SMITH, Paternoster Row; G. BERGKR, Holywell Street, Strand: BANCKS & Co., Manchester: WRIGHTSON & WERB, Birmingham; WILLMER & SMITH, Liverpool; W. E. SOMERSCALE, Leeds; C. N. WRIGHT, Nottingham; WESTLEY & Co. Bristol; S. SIMMS, Bath; J. JOHNSON, Cambridge; W. GAIN, Exeter; J. PERDON, Huil; G. RIDGE, Sheffield; H. BELLERBY, York: J. TAYLOR, Brighton; and sold by all Booksellers, Newsmen, &c. in town and country. Stereotyped by A. Kirkwood, Edinburgh. Printed by Bradbury and Evans (late T. Davison). Whitefriars. |
