Ir was in the island of Hayti, that the Spaniards originally made use of those fierce mastiff-dogs, who cruelly aided them against the Indians, by mangling their naked bodies. And it reflects eternal shame upon these ferocious conquerors, and a shame peculiar to them, that Spanish writers of no small repute, should have celebrated the prowess of one of these dogs, called Bezzerillo. The Spaniards had trained them in such a manner that they did better service, either in battles upon a fair field, or in standing sentinel during the night, or in guarding prisoners, or in watching against unexpected attacks, than men themselves. And so habituated were they to track the scent of the Indians and of their blood, that none could escape their ferocity. And Bezzerillo enriched his master, who drew for him a day's pay and a half, as ranking with cross-bow men. His custom was, when despatched in pursuit of an Indian, to rush upon him, and drag him by the arm to the camp or entrenchments; and to rend him into pieces on the instant if he offered any show of resistance. Such, indeed, in a good measure, were the ferocity and the habits of the other mastiffs, whom the miserable Indians justly dreaded more than the Spaniards themselves, because from the latter there was some chance of escape, but from the former none. The race of Bezzerillo was propagated from the islands to the continent, for the destruction of the inhabitants of the main.-Storia dell' Amer. vol. iii. p. 164. part of the day, especially on Sunday, it is filled with crowds of well-dressed, comfortable-looking people, streaming merrily along in both directions, or, with an ice in their hands, laughing at the heat, on the benches which are ranged along beneath the shade of the lime-trees. Now and then, the king comes lounging up the alley, attended, if attended at all, by a single servant in a very sober livery, his hands behind his back, and his eyes commonly turned towards the ground, enjoying the shade with as much plain heartiness as the meanest of his subjects. The loungers rise from their benches as he passes; the gentlemen take off their hats; the ladies make their best curtesy; the Strassenjungen, a class for whom Frederick entertained greater respect than for an Austrian army, do all they can to make a bow. The king has a nod or a smile for every body, and passes on in the wellgrounded assurance, that every one he sees would shed his blood for him to-morrow. Royalty, in Germany, from the Emperor of Austria down to the Prince of Nassau, is accustomed to appear among its subjects with much less of majesty and reserve about it than is common among ourselves. What a bustle would be created if our king should House to the Bank, accompanied by a solitake a walk, some forenoon, from Carlton tary and panting beef-eater! The Germans political clubs would vote that the Bank was would find nothing remarkable in it; our insolvent, and that his majesty had been attending a meeting of creditors.-Constable's Miscellany. ROYALTY IN GERMANY. THE LEVEL OF THE SEA. UNTER den Linden is the scene of all the bustle of Berlin, but not the bustle of business; if there be any of that, it is confined to the old or eastern part of the city; it is THERE is, perhaps, nothing which illusthe bustle of idle persons amusing and en- trates in a more striking manner, the exact joying themselves, and of lovely women accordance of nature's phenomena with the seeking admiration. During the greater few general expressions or laws which de 64 scribe them all, than the perfect level of the man. ENGLAND. In an oration before the Pilgrim Society mitre, and the coronet, stars, garters, and MY FATHER'S NAME. IN earthly youth I left my home, I reached the distant shore at last; To greet me in my Father's name. How oft since that eventful hour, My young and doubtful steps to guide And when in future years I see me, VARIETIES. Origin of Black-balling.-The Thracians had a custom of marking all their happy days with white stones or calculi, and their unhappy days with black ones; which they cast, at the close of each day, into an urn. At the person's death the stones were taken out; and from a comparison of the numbers of each complexion, a judgment was made of the felicity or infelicity of his course of life. The Romans had their atra dies, which denotes a fatal day whereon they received some memorable defeat. (The word literally imports a black day; a denomination taken from the colour.) The dies atræ, or atri, were afterwards denominated nefasti and posteri. Such in particular was the day when the tribunes were defeated by the Gauls at the river Allia, and lost the city; also whereon the battle of Canne was fought, and several others marked in the Roman calendar, as atræ, or unfortunate. From these customs is most probably derived the present mode of ballotting with black and white balls, and wherein the candidate, who is so unfortunate as not to succeed, is said to be blackballed. ably to the impending changes of the atmosphere, is simply this :-If the weather is likely to become rainy, windy, or in other respects disagreeable, they fix the terminating filaments on which the whole web is suspended unusually short, and in this state they await the influence of a temperature which is remarkably variable. On the contrary, if the terminating filaments are made commonly long, we may, in proportion to their length, conclude that the weather will be serene, and continue so for ten or twelve days. But if the spiders be totally indolent, rain generally succeeds; though on the other hand, their activity during rain is the most certain proof that it will only be of short duration, and followed with fair and very constant weather. According to further observations, the spiders regularly make some alterations in their webs or nets every twenty-four hours; if these changes take place between the hours of six and seven in the evening, they indicate a clear and pleasant night.-Atlas. Drowning.-Persons diving to bring up a body, should know that they can see under water, and therefore not keep their eyes shut. A respectable person in the north of England, dived for a body several times without effect: at last he opened his eyes whilst under water, and saw the body at a little distance: the consequence was, a fine boy was recovered and restored to life. Astronomy,-Of all the sciences, astronomy is the most elevated and sublime, as it is the most ancient, and the most perfect. It is susceptible of most numerous and important practical applications. It is the highest triumph of human intellect, and is calculated to give us the most exalted idea In China, where they live much on and of the intelligence and penetration of man; near the great rivers, the children have a while on the other hand, this intelligence and calibash tied about their necks, so that when penetration sink into insignificance, when they fall into the water, the natural buoyancy compared with the wisdom and power of the of the human body, and the confined air in great framer of the celestial machinery. It the calibash, cause them to float. This idea is, in truth, from astronomical studies, that may be successfully acted upon in England. we can more readily, than from any other branch of human learning, reach a knowledge of the attributes of the Deity of his goodness in the nice adaptation of all the parts of the universe, to our own comfort and happiness; of his wisdom in the perfect organization and machinery of the system, in which the most exact calculus can detect no flaw; of his power, in the enormous masses of the bodies of our system, and in the vast space it occupies; a space, however, that dwindles to a point, when compared with the extent peopled by other planets, and other suns; of eternal duration, in those motions that have for ages remained without change, and must so for ever remain, unless a power be interposed to stay them, equal to that which originally called them into existence. The Weather. The manner in which the spiders carry on their operations, conform Covering for the Head.-Some persons complain of the useless caps not worn by the Blue-coat youths, and say that they are liable to colds from the want of an effectual covering for the head. We are not of this opinion. Montaigne touches on this subject in his article "Of the Custom of Wearing Clothes." He mentions many illustrious men who always went, whatever the weather, with their heads bare-among them, King Massinissa, Cæsar, the Emperor Severus, and Hannibal : and adds, "Plato earnestly advises, for the health of the whole body, to give the head and the feet no other covering than what nature has bestowed." Locke (if we recollect rightly) recommends much the same thing for children. Arsenic. It is a singular fact, that arsenic, which is one of the most potent destroyers of life, possesses, at the same time, the property of preserving, for unusually long periods, the bodies of persons poisoned by it. The stomach and intestines of individuals killed by arsenic have been found entire and firm, at the distance of five, six, or fourteen months, and even of two years after death. Mechanics' Mag. Destruction of Grasshoppers' Eggs.-Last year the Pacha of Egypt offered a reward, for all the grasshoppers' eggs that should be delivered to him, of 17 piastres per measure. By a letter from Acre, it appeared that in October last 40 garavas of 72 measures each had been sent in. The total quantity of eggs, estimated as above, would be worth 46,000 piastres to those who collected them, or about 40,000l.—Asiatic Journal, 1827, p. 480. ditto. ditto 4 lb. 4 lb. 4 lb. of mutton 4 lb. 4 lb. Loss in weight of Meat during cooking.4 lb. of beef lost by boiling 1 lb. roasting 1 lb. 5 oz. : baking 1 h. 3 oz. boiling 14 oz. ditto roasting 1 lb. 6 oz. ditto baking 1 lb. 4 oz. Jour. des Conn. usuelles, 1828, p. 256. Living Giraffes in Europe.-Besides the two living giraffes at present in Europe, in London and Paris, a third has been sent by the Pacha of Egypt to the Emperor of Austria, and arrived some time since at Venice, accompanied by Arabs as keepers, and cows to provide its food. It was to pass the last winter in Padua, and then proceed in the fine weather to Vienna.-Quarterly Journal of Science. Wonderful Eye-At a place called Buch, near Versailles, lives a woman, the iris of whose eyes is divided into twelve sections, forming an exact dial, the figures resembling those on the small watches that are encircled in rings to wear on the finger. She was born with this peculiarity, and yet has the perfect use of her sight.-Vide Dod. An. Reg. vol. 7, p. 54. Invention of Balloons.-Montgolfier, besides being the inventor of ærostatic balloons, was the first who manufactured vellum paper in France. The accident which led him to the formation of balloons was curious enough. One day, in his paper-manufactory, he was boiling some wafers in a coffee-pot, which happened to be covered with a piece of paper in the form of a sphere, and this paper becoming full of steam, swelled and detached itself from the pot. Montgolfier was surprised, and repeating the experiment, the paper again ascended; this led him to calculate the effect of rarified air, which should be lighter than the atmospheric air and hence the invention of ærostation. Destroying Insects by Quicksilver.-The first notice on record of the practicability of banishing insects from fruit trees, by inserting half an ounce of quicksilver in a gimblethole bored into the stem, occurs in the fourth edition of " Bradley's New Improvements of Gardening," published in 1724. Bradley, it seems, was not the inventor of this exploded nostrum, but believed in its efficacy. In the same work (p. 66) is a drawing of a machine, with angular glasses for reflecting colours into regular forms; the origin pro→ bably of those kaleidoscopic toys sold at country fairs for these sixty years past, and also of the famous modern machine of Dr. Brewster.-Gardener's Mag. Rossini's Moise.-Dr. Cottugno, the principal physician at Naples, told me, at the time of the extraordinary success of Rossini's Moïse, that he had more than forty cases of brain fever, or of violent convulsions, with which young females dotingly fond of music were seized, chiefly caused by the superb change of tone in the prayer of the Hebrews in the third act.-Stendhal, Vie de Rossini. Archbishop Laud.-For this individual we entertain a more unmitigated contempt than for any other character in our history. The fondness with which a portion of the Church regards his memory, can be compared only to that perversity of affection, which sometimes leads a mother to select the monster or the idiot of the family as the object of her especial favour-The severest punishment which the two Houses could have inflicted on him, would have been to set him at liberty, and sent him to Oxford. There he might have staid, tortured by his own diabolical temper, hungering for Puritans to pillory and mangle; plaguing the cavaliers, for want of somebody else to plague, with his peevishness and absurdity; performing grimaces and antics in the cathedral; continuing that incomparable Diary, which we never see without forgetting the vices of his heart in the abject imbecility of his intellect, minuting down his dreams, counting the drops of blood which fell from his nose, watching the direction of the salt, and listening to the note of the screech owl! Contemptuous mercy was the only vengeance which it became the Parliament to take on such a ridiculous old bigot.—Edinburgh Review. American Theory of Happiness.-There are two ways of being happy. We may either diminish our wants, or augment our means. Either will do the result is the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that which may happen to be the easiest. If you are idle, or sick, or poor, however hard it may be to diminish your wants, it will be easier than to augment your means. If you are active and prosperous, or young and in good health, it may be easier for you to augment your means, than to diminish your wants. But if you are wise, you will do both at the same time, young or old, sick or well, rich or poor; and if you are very wise, you will do both in such a way as to augment the general happiness of society.The Yankee. Excellent Fuel.-The Arabs who inhabit the neighbourhood of the cemeteries of Upper Egypt have a strange mode of cooking their victuals. Whenever fuel is wanting, they descend into the tombs and dislodge a mummy, and, throwing it on their shoulders, return to their tent.-Then taking a hatchet, and seizing the mummy by one leg, they hew the body into two at a blow; and, after cutting it into smaller pieces, make use of a leg or an arm, or a part of the trunk, as it may happen, to boil their kettle. As the ancient Egyptians always enclosed their dead in resinous substances, the mummies are easily combustible, and make most excellent fuel. White Cats. It is stated in the Magazine of Natural History, that white cats with blue eyes are always deaf. A gentleman had a white Persian cat; she produced various litters, and of her offspring some were entirely white, and these were invariably deaf; but others were mottled, and all those which had the least speck of colour had the faculty of hearing as usual. Cobbett on Early Education.—I have just now put my French Grammar into the hands of my youngest son, who is fourteen years and a half old-that being about the age that I think it best for boys to begin to read books; and, as to girls, they will always begin soon enough if you suffer any books to be in the house. I have no notion of setting little creatures down to pore over printed letters, before it is possible for them to understand any reason which you give for any thing. The first thing, in my mind, is to do your best to cause them to have healthy bodies; then, as soon as they can reason, they will have sound minds, learn anything you put before them; and they will, in a trice, overtake the little masters that have been perched upon a form from three years old to fourteen. How to make the Demand equal to the Supply. An unprofitable consignment of spectacles lying upon a merchant's hands at Lima under the old Spanish regime, a corregidor was applied to, who gave an order that no Indian should appear at divine service unless ornamented with spectacles: the cargo was of course instantly sold at an enormous profit.-Spectator. At one time, in the territories of Buenos Ayres, cattle was so plentiful and wood so scarce, that sheep used to be driven alive into the furnaces of the limekilns, to serve for fuel. A decree of the King of Spain forbidding this barbarous practice is still preserved in the archives of Buenos Ayres.-Ibid. Accidental Discovery.- A chymist at Brussels, who was recently washing his hands, which were stained with walnuts, in some water which was impregnated with chorulite of lime, found to his surprise that the water became beautifully red. He repeated the experiment, and concludes from it, that the colour produced by the mixture of the rind of the walnut with the chorulite may be rendered very useful in the arts. Oriental Rhodomontade.-When his innumerable armies marched, the heavens were so filled with the dust of their feet, that the birds of the air could rest thereupon. His elephants moved like walking mountains; and the earth, oppressed by their weight, mouldered into dust, and found refuge in the peaceful heaven.-Indian grant of Land, Asiatic Register. Portrait of Mr. Robert Montgomery.—If this portrait has already found its way into every female boarding-school in the United Empire, and if, consequently, our poor work is late in describing its beauties, we are not to blame; for Weekly Journals, like facts, are stubborn things, and will not enlarge their dimensions even to admit a notice of Mr. Robert Montgomery. The merits of the painter and the engraver are so absorbed in the interest of the subject, that we shall be excused from wasting our time in compliments to them. It is far more important that we should inform our readers that the author of "The Omnipresence of the Deity" wears his hair parted in the middle, and gently curled at the extremities; that his eyes roll in a fine frenzy, northwards, to meet those curls; that he has a respectable whisker, which terminates within about an inch and a quarter of the base of his chin; that the collar of his shirt falls negligently over the collar of his coat, disclosing his neck, and slightly—that is, about as much as the shirt collar of one man of genius will recal that of another-reminding us of the portraits of Raphael and Lord Byron; that he wears a frock-coat close at the top, but which, opening at the third button, discovers part of (we believe) a kerseymere waistcoat, and which, again closing at the last button, leaves us in painful doubt as to the remaining part of the figure of Mr. Montgomery. We had very nearly forgotten to mention the hand and arm, which, though very striking, being nevertheless attached to his left shoulder, and therefore, not concerned with "The Omnipresence of the Deity," and "The Universal Prayer," do not excite that interest which must belong, in so eminent a degree, to those corresponding parts of this great author's person, to which he is indebted for his immortality.-Athenæum. A Welsh parson, describing the cause of the "fall of mankind," and the introduction of sin to the world, thus descanted on the merits of our first parents :--" Our great grandfather Adam was a very good old man, and a very good old man he was; but as for Eve, she was one devil of a woman. She must needs go and rob an orchard; and not satisfied with eating herself, she tempted our good father Adam to eat too, and thus brought a curse upon all the earth, confound her." |