lowed the lower spirits, arranged in squadrons, with cats' ears, claws, twisted limbs, &c.; whether they shut their eyes, or kept them open, the appearances were equally distinct; for we saw,' says the master-spirit Pordage, with the eyes of the mind, not with those of the body.'

And shapes hat come not at a mortal call
Will not depart when mortal voices bid.
Lords of the visionary eye, whose lid
Once raised remains aghast, and will not fall.
Wordsworth's Dion.

Thus, while phenomena which experience has since shown to be perfectly natural, were universally attributed to supernatural causes, men had come to be on the most familiar footing with spiritual beings of all kinds. In the close of the sixteenth century, Dr. Dee was, according to his own account, and we verily believe his own conviction, on terms of intimacy with most of the angels. His brother physician, Dr. Richard Napier, a relation of the inventor of the logarithms, got almost all his medical prescriptions from the angel Raphael. Elias Ashmole had a MS. volume of these receipts, filling about a quire and a half of paper. In fact, one would almost suppose that few persons at that time condescended to perform a cure by natural means. Witness the sympathetic nostrums of Valentine Greatrakes and Sir Kenelm Digby; or the case of Arise Evans, reported by Aubrey, who had a fungous nose, and to whom it was revealed that the king's hand would cure him, and at the first coming of King Charles II. into St. James's Park, he kissed the king's hand, and rubbed his nose with it, which troubled the king, but cured him.' In Aubrey's time, too, the visits of ghosts had become so frequent, that they had their exits and their entrances without exciting the least sensation. Aubrey makes an entry in his journal of the appearance of a ghost as coolly as a merchant now-adays makes an entry in his ledger.Anno 1670. Not far from Cirencester was an apparition. Being demanded whether good spirit or bad, returned no answer, but disappeared, with a curious perfume and a melodious twang.'"

Foreign Quarterly Review.

The history of Witchcraft in Scotland is still more tragical, but must stand over for the present.

We cannot help thinking that the prefixed characters which Ashmole interprets, to mean Responsum, Raphaelis, seem remarkably to résemble that cabalistic looking initial which in medical prescriptions is commonly interpreted "Recipe."

The Gatherer.

A snapper up of unconsidered trifles. SHAKSPEARE.

LOVE, SWEET LOVE.

A DUMFRIES poet of the last age, thus celebrated the charms of his mistress :

O, honey it is very sweet,
But sugar it is sweeter,
And my love as far excels sugar
As sugar does saltpetre.

"AS LAME AS ST. GILES', CRIPPLEGATE."

THE origin of this old saying is derived

from Saint Giles's voluntary lameness, which perhaps is no bad type of that of numerous of his followers, and from Cripplegate, in London, where even before the Conquest, cripples used to assemble to solicit charity, at that entrance of the city. H. B. A.

DIMENSIONS OF THE NELSON, 120 GUNS. LENGTH from the figure to the end of the tafferail, 241 ft. 6 in.; length on the gun deck, 205 ft. 10 in.; length of the keel for tonnage, 190 ft. 10 in.; breadth extreme, 53 ft. 6 in.; depth in the hold, 24 ft; burthen, 2,061 tons, 4 cwt. 3 qrs.; height from the keel to the tafferail, 58 ft. 6 in.

ODD EPITAPHS.

On Teague O'Brian, in Ballypsoreen · Churchyard.

Written by himself a short time before his death, with the smoke of the candle, and which he called a “wicked pace” of writing.

HERE I at length repose,

My spirit now at AISE is,
With the tips of my toes
And the point of my nose,
Turned up to the roots of the daisies.

In West Grinstead Churchyard, Sussex.
VAST Strong was I, but yet did die,
And in my grave asleep I lie,
My grave is stoned round about,
Yet I hope the Lord will find me out,

LIMBIRD'S BRITISH NOVELIST.

This day, price 3d, No. 10, of
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Completing the Work:

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Printed and Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) London; sold by ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic; and by all Newsmen and Booksellers.

EVERY reader of Nature-in book or bower-folio or field-must have heard of Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne. Few works have been more frequently quoted by writers on the natural history of our country, and fewer still have enjoyed so well-earned a reputation as the above. The birthplace of its author is, therefore, a place of no common interest, and well deserves to rank among the original houses of native genius and philosophy.

In the last edition of his works we have the following biographical sketch of his life, perhaps the only one extant: "Gilbert White was the eldest son of John White of Selborne, Esq., and of Anne, the daughter of Thomas Holt, rector of Streatham, in Surrey. He was born at Selborne, on July 18, 1720, and received his school education at Basingstoke, under the Rev. Thomas Warton, vicar of that place, and father of those two distinguished literary characters, Dr. Joseph Warton, master of Winchester school, and Mr. Thomas Warton, poetry professor at Oxford. He was VOL. XVI.

Y

admitted at Oriel College, Oxford, in December, 1739, and took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1743. In March, 1744, he was elected Fellow of his College. He became Master of Arts in October, 1746, and was admitted one of the senior Proctors of the University in April, 1752. Being of an unambitious temper, and strongly attached to the charms of rural scenery, he early fixed his residence in his native village, where he spent the greater part of his life in literary occupations, and especially in the study of Nature. This he followed with patient assiduity, and a mind ever open to the lessons of piety and benevolence, which such a study is so well calculated to afford. Though several occasions offered of settling upon a college living, he could never persuade himself to quit the beloved spot, which was indeed a peculiarly happy situation for an observer. Thus his days passed tranquil and serene, with scarcely any other vicissitudes than those of the seasons, till they closed at a mature age on June 26, 1793."

457

Mr. White was, as the reader will perceive, a home-philosopher. His life was one of useful retirement. His pursuits were a refinement of the shepherd's philosophy in As you like it, whose greatest pride was to see his ewes graze, and his lambs suck. He might, too, say with the Duke in the Forest of Arden

-this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running

brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.

We could stray into a rhapsody, long and loud, on these intellectual pursuits, this philosophic ease, of rural retirement; but we must proceed to give the reader some account of the work by which Mr. White was principally known in the literary world, and which renders the rustic abode at Selborne of such peculiar interest.

Mr. White appears to have written the Natural History of Selborne at the suggestion of Mr. Pennant, the Hon. Daines Barrington, and several distinguished contemporary naturalists, with whom Mr. White was in frequent correspondence. "The work consists of a series of letters, addressed to these gentlemen, written in a clear and elegant, yet somewhat popular, style; containing very varied information upon most subjects connected with the Natural History of the age, and is rather the description of an extensive district than of a particular spot or village. It was first printed in 1789, four years previous to the author's death, in a quarto volume, containing besides an account of the antiquities of Selborne. Copies of the work becoming scarce and expensive, it was reprinted, in two octavo volumes, in 1802, chiefly under the superintendence of Dr. Aikin, and some of Mr. White's friends. It was again reprinted in 1825." In the later editions, the "Antiquities" are omitted, and their place is supplied by "The Naturalist's Calendar, and Miscellaneous Observations," which had been originally published in a small volume after the author's death. These, with some papers on subjects connected with natural history, and published in various transactions of learned societies, with some poems, are all his writings that have ever been printed.

The Natural History of Selborne has, however, been till very recently only suited to the pockets of liberal book buyers, the cheapest edition having hitherto been sold at 16s. or 18s. Towards the close of last year, however, another reprint appeared (at 3s. 6d.) as

a volume of Constable's Miscellany, with the advantages of the editorship of Sir William Jardine, Bart. F. R. S. &c. who has included extracts from the author's Miscellaneous Observations, which are occasionally given as notes, with such additional Memoranda as modern discoveries and the advanced state of knowledge rendered necessary.*

As the Natural History of Selborne + is now purchaseable at so easy a price, we need not say more to recommend it to our readers. Nevertheless, it is somewhat extraordinary that its literary reputation and success from its first appearance have not stimulated the production of similar descriptions of other districts. The example has, however, lately been followed, though not closely, in the Journal of a Naturalist, by an ingenious gentleman named Knapp, who has thus produced a history of the natural year in a pleasant village in the west of England, where he resides. This work has already passed into a third edition. In the preface the author with an amiable modesty, says

"Many years have now passed away since we were presented with that very interesting and amusing book, the "Natural History of Selborne:" nor do I recollect any publication at all resembling it having since appeared. It early impressed on my mind an ardent love for all the ways and economy of nature, and I was thereby led to the constant observance of the rural objects around me. Accordingly, reflections have arisen, and notes been made, such as the reader will find them. The two works do not, I apprehend, interfere with each other. The meditations of separate naturalists in fields, in wilds, in woods, may yield a similarity of ideas; yet the different aspects under which the same things are viewed, and characters considered, af ford infinite variety of description and narrative: mine I confess are but brief and slight sketches; plain observations of nature, the produce often of intervals of leisure and shattered health, affording no history of the country; a mere outline of rural things; the jour nal of a traveller through the inex haustible regions of nature."

The selection of this work is highly complimentary to the judgment of the editor of Con stable's Miscellany; but it has been matched by the Family Library editor reprinting Southey's Life of Nelson in his series.

t" The parish of Selborne lies in the extreme eastern corner of the county of Hampshire, bordering on the county of Sussex, and not far from the county of Surrey; is about fifty miles midway between the towns of Alton and Peters. south west of London, in latitude 51, and near

field." Part I. Letter 1.

possessed; at this the old lady "pricked up her ears" and desired him to endeavour to purloin some of the bowls, and bring with him on his next visit; in obedience to the maternal injunction, he seized the first opportunity, and was just approaching his mother's door with his unlawful treasure, when two of the Lilliputians overtook him, and deprived him of them. This caused him considerable uneasiness, when thinking to crave their pardon, he proceeded to the opening which led to this "delightful land of fairy," but alas! he could not discover it, for it was closed upon him for

ever!

TRADITION.

IN Pembrokeshire there is a famous tradition, of which Giraldus speaks in his work, respecting a stone which was supposed to be miraculous, and denominated Lechlaver, or the speaking stone. It is a fine marble stone, under which the river Alyn runs, and is used as a substitute for a bridge; it was said that whenever a dead body was borne over it, it invariably spoke, and that in one of its efforts by overstraining, it cracked, which crevice is still to be seen. It is also related that when Henry II. after his return from Ireland, was proceeding to pay his devotions at the shrine of St. David, a Welsh woman fell down at his feet, and complained of a Bishop of St. David's ; but his majesty not paying much attention to her, she exclaimed with vehement gesticulations, "Avenge us this day, Lechlaver, avenge us and the nation in this man," referring to a prediction of Merlin's, that a King of England and conqueror of Ireland, should be wounded by a person with a red hand, and die upon Lechlaver, on his return through St David's. It is needless to add, the event did not occur.

CORPSE CANDLES.

ALMOST every nation has its peculiar superstitions, and as regards corpse candles, they are universally known to be indigenous to Cambria. As may be supposed, there are many fictitious tales respecting them, for doubtless were a Will o' the Wisp seen, it would be instantly set down for a corpse candle. It appears that these lights are always observed to veer their course towards the churchyard, which they enter, and after hovering over the spot where the destined victim of death is to be buried, disappear; the light varies in brilliancy and size according to the person whose doom it is to leave the world thus an infant's would not be

larger than a candle, whilst a child's "of the larger growth" would be of a proportionate size. The colour is said to be a sulphureous blue, and sometimes red. If two are seen to meet each other, the corpses at the burials will do the same, and if seen to stay a short time, the funeral will do so; and should any persons meet one of these supernatural lights, it is said that if they do not turn aside they will be struck down by its force. The reason of their appearing in Wales, report says, is because a Bishop of St. David's, in days of yore, prayed that they might be seen before a person's death, in order to impress the minds of people that they might be fitted to depart to another world.

KING RICHARD the First, A. D. 1189, first changed the bailiffs of London into mayors.

The first maior (says Stowe,) was Henry Fitz-Alwyn, draper, who continued maior for 24 yeares and somewhat more. In the yeere 1208, the king, by his letters patent, granted to the citizens of London liberty and authority, yeerely to chuse themselves a maior.

In 1241, Gerard Bat was againe elected maior for that yeere to come, but the king would not admit him, being charged with taking money of the victuallers in the precedent yeere.

In 1251, the king granted that the maior should be presented to the barons of the Exchequer, and they should admit him.

In 1357, Henry Picard, maior, feasted the kings of England, of France, Cyprus, and Scots, with other great estates, all in one day. Stowe tells us in his Annals, "The King of Cyprus playing with Picard, in his hall, did winne of him fiftie markes; but Henry being very skilful in that arte, altering his hand, did after winne of the same king the same fiftie markes, which when the same king began to take in ill part, although he dissembled the same, Henry sayd unto him, My lord and king, be not agreeved, I covet not your gold but your play; for I have not bid you hither that I might greeve you, but that amongst other things, I might trie your play;' and gave him his money