The Naturalist.

THE GRAY ICHNEUMON. From the civets, to which it closely approaches in the number, and in some degree also in the form of its teeth, in the asperity of its tongue, and in the semi-retractility of its claws, the Egyptian ichneumon is distinguished by its narrower, and more pointed muzzle, by the shortness of its lower lip, and more especially by the absence of the double cavity beneath the tail, which is replaced by a single pouch of considerable size, but destitute of secreting glands. Their hair is long, crisp, brittle, and always more or less variegated in colour, in consequence of each separate hair being marked by alternate rings of different shades.

The colour of this species, which is a native of India, is a pale grey, the hair being for the most part of a dirty yellowish white, relieved towards their extremities by narrow rings of brown. The head and limbs are darker than the rest of the body.

The habits of the ichneumon are very similar to those of the ferret. In the localities where they abound, their sanguinary disposition and predatory inclinations, render them a real pest to the farm-yard, to which they pay their nocturnal visits, for the purpose of destroying the poultry. They also make war upon rats, birds, and reptiles, and devour the eggs of the latter with the greatest avidity. Endowed with a remarkable degree of courage in proportion to their size, they do not hesitate to attack any animal that is not obviously more than a match for them. Even in captivity, they retain much of their native spirit; and so great is their activity and determination, that the individual now in the Tower actually, on one occasion, killed no fewer than a dozen full grown rats, which were let loose to it in a room sixteen feet square, in less than a minute and a half. They are very easily tamed, become attached to those with whom they are familiar, and to the house in which they live, and will follow their masters about almost like a dog. Tower Menagerie. TREES OF PORTUGAL Vines, olive trees, and cork trees, are the principal objects that attract notice in Portugal. In some places the wild vines, of which a good wine called “Bastardo Puro" is made, are seen in great luxuriance twining around the trees on the road side, and loaded with

clusters of grapes. In other parts scarcely any thing is to be seen but myrtles. They are at present in full blossom, and when they are not kept down by goats, or some other animals, they grow to a large size. Some of them are from fifteen to twenty feet high. Great quantities of cork are produced in the country. Only a small part of the trunk of the tree is stripped of its bark-not more than about three feetand this requires eight or ten years to fill up again. One of the most common trees on the sides of the road is the quince tree, called in Portuguese, Marmelo. Aloes are very common; many of them send out shoots, or rather trees, twenty feet high, resembling, at a distance, a crabbed withered pine, half stripped of its branches.

HABITS OF FISH.-It is a curious fact that the small fish, gudgeons, roach, dace, and perch, of the rivers tributary to the Yare, disappear altogether about the month of October, and are seldom to be seen or to be caught till the May following. They are even then few in number and small in size; about June they increase, and by August the rivers are crowded with full and frequent shoals. Where do these tribes hide themselves during the winter? If it be said in deep holes, this does not appear to be the case, except perhaps with the largest fish. The smaller disappear almost altogether from the sight and the search of man. A second problem is where do those vast beds or tribes of eels inhabit, which from some unexplained cause descend with the floods from July to November? As many as one hundred stones weight have been often caught in nets in one night at a single mill, and half the quantity for one or two succeeding nights, in number probably from 3 to 4000 on the first, and half as many on the subsequent nights. They not only migrate in immense shoals, but at a very swift rate. It was some years ago ascertained by the capture of an eel at one mill, his release (marked) and his recapture at the next, that he traversed about three miles in fifteen minutes. Yet fishermen never either observe or catch any number indicating the presence of such vast abundance. The whole process of the generation of the eel is at present matter of imagination, as the readers of Walton know, nor has any light been, that we are aware of, thrown upon the subject since his time.

Table Talk.

A HINT.-"If," says Mrs. C. Hall, ' a youth is wooingly disposed towards any damsel, as he values his happiness, let him follow my advice; call on the lady when she least expects him, and take note of the appearance of all that is under her controul. Observe if the shoe fits neatly-if the gloves are clean, and the hair well polished. And I would forgive a man for breaking off an engagement, if he discovered a greasy novel hid away under the cushion of a sofa, or a hole in the garniture of the prettiest foot in the world. Slovenliness in a female will ever be avoided by a well-regulated mind, as would a pestilence. A woman cannot always be what is called 'dressed,' particularly one in middling or humble life, where her duty, and it is, consequently, to be hoped her pleasure, lies in superintending and assisting in all domestic matters; but she may be always neat-well appointed. And as certainly as a virtuous woman is a crown of glory to her husband, so surely is a slovenly one a crown of thorns."

ALEXANDER THE THIRD OF SCOTLAND. This Prince has been termed the Scottish Alfred, and in some respect he appears not undeserving of the appellation. It was his custom, says Fordice, that he might put down all violence and disorder, to make an annual progress through the kingdom, attended by a select but powerful body of his knights and nobles. In this manner he took up a temporary residence in each quarter of his dominions, having along with him his great justiciar, so that no complaint which was then made should be overlooked, but justice promptly and impartially administered to all. The oldest song now known, says Mr. Tytler, is a species of lyric elegy upon the death of this monarch, lamenting the sorrowful changes which took place upon his death.

Books. It is uncertain (says an American writer) what is the number of books now extant in all languages. I have used a library of 250,000 volumes, which contained no duplicate, and it was so perfect, that it was difficult to ask for an author not to be found in it. The largest library in Europe contains near 400,000 volumes, duplicates not included; and perhaps it may be about right to estimate the whole number of printed books in the world at 500,000. This being the case, Ame

rica furnishes about one-seventeenth of the means necessary for extending learning to the utmost, and about onethirteenth of what the city of Paris alone affords. Another comparison will shew her poverty in a manner equally striking. Germany contains 30,000,000 of people, who have 2,000,000 of books in public libraries for their instruction, exclusive of those of the sovereign princes, which are always accessible to scholars.-America contains 10,000,000 of people, who have 150,000 books for the same purpose: but the two million in Germany are more read than the 150,000 in America.

DRINKING. An inhabitant of the

United States, in his notes, of a recent trip through New England, says-" Although it was a rare thing twelve years go to see a native American drunk, it is not so now. It is a very common thing, and that, I believe, throughout Indeed, if you take us altogether, I am New England, the land of steady habits.

inclined to believe that there are no

people on earth so intemperate as we are, either in eating or drinking. Though not huge eaters, we waste at our tables, every day, about enough to feed another nation as large as our own; and we consume-as may be seen by published official accountsmore liquor every year than would be thought possible by the greatest drinkers of Europe."

PLEASURE OF STUDY.-Hencius, the keeper of the library at Leyden, was mewed up in it all the year long; and that which in some might have bred a loathing, caused in him a liking.—“I no sooner," says he, come to the library, but I bolt the door to me, excluding lust, ambition, avarice, and all such vices, whose nurse is idleness, the mother of ignorance, and melancholy herself; and in the very lap of eternity amongst so many divine souls, I take my seat, with so lofty a spirit and sweet content, that I pity all our great ones and rich men, that know not this happiness."

ESTIMATION OF PAINTINGS. — Dr. Newton, of whom the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds is deemed one of his best, was a lover of the arts, and had collected many valuable pictures. He suggested to Reynolds and West his wish that his Cathedral should be decorated with paintings, and they promised each to contribute one, with a view to call forth contributions from other art

ists.

An unexpected opposition was made to this proposal by Terrick, Bishop of London, and Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury, as guardians of the fabric; and it was so powerful as entirely to defeat the scheme, notwithstanding that the Royal Academy, by their President, made an application to Dr. Newton, in 1773, that "the art of painting would never grow up to maturity and perfection, unless it were introduced into churches as in foreign countries." And six of them offered to contribute pictures.

PARADISE LOST.-Milton did not begin to write "Paradise Lost" until he was 47 years of age. He sold it for 5. to Samuel Simmons, April 27, 1677. In two years more, he had 5/. for the second edition. In 1680, Mrs. Milton sold all her right for 81. Simmons then sold the copywright for 251. It is an extraordinary fact, that Milton had great difficulty in getting the book licensed. Dr. Bentley, the first editor of the "Paradise Lost," got 100 guineas for his edition. Dr. Newton, the next editor, got 6301. for the "Paradise Lost," and 100 guineas for the "Regained." It was an extraordinary misjudgment of the celebrated Waller, who speaks thus of the first appearance of "Paradise Lost:"-" The old blind schoolmaster, John Milton, hath published a tedious Poem on the Fall of Man; if its length be not considered a merit, it has no other."

CANT.-"Should the time ever arrive," says the Morning Herald, "when common sense should again triumph, and dispel the illusions which fashion and falsehood have united to spread around us, it will be scarcely possible to gain credit for some of the instances of inconsistency and absurdity of these days, particularly in matters of religion. Will it be believed that well-educated women, professing piety, and denomi

nated evangelical, should send out invitations for the purpose of social meetings, and actually inscribe on their notes, or cards, Tea and Bible? Such, however, is literally the case, at this time, in some places; and, according to all former conceptions of propriety, good sense, and good taste, a more absurd and mischievous combination cannot well be imagined. Charity itself can scarcely repress contempt at such a wanton outrage of all genuine respect and decent propriety."

THE PEOPLE.-Under whatever idea of inconstancy and consideration some persons may choose to represent the people, I have found by experience that they frequently embrace certain views which, it must be confessed, they pursue hotly, or rather, perhaps, with fury; but that those views have always for their object a common interest, or one of a certain generality at least, and never an interest purely private, like those interests which engage the passions, and towards the ad

vancement of which the exertions of an individual, or of a small number of individuls, are directed. I will even make bold to say that, upon this point, "the least fallible judge is the voice of the people." Mem. de Sully.

ECCENTRICITY AND IMPUDENCE.Mortimer was employed by Lord Melbourne to paint a ceiling at his seat of Brocket-hall, Herts, and taking advantage of permission to angle in the fishpond, he rose from a carousal at midnight, and seeking a net, and calling on an assistant painter for help, dragged the preserve, and left the whole fish gasping on the bank in rows. this the worst; when reproved mildly, and with smiles, by Lady Melbourne, he had the audacity to declare that her beauty had so bewitched him he knew not what he was about.

Saturday, June 30.

1747-June 30-About this period the discovery

of the ancient City of Herculaneum took place, Various accounts have appeared of this city, of the destruction of which Pliny speaks in his letters. Herculaneum, or Heraclea, was destroyed by an irruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79.

Sunday, July 1.

1747-July 1-On this day the king of France having been compelled to take up his quarters in the house of a priest of St. Iron, which had been entirely gutted by the Austrian Hussars, the bed

Nor was

Lives of the Painters.

Illustrated Article.

WINNIFRED BURBAGE.

FOR THE OLIO.

Charmi. The injuries you have sustained appeare

So worthy of the mercy of the court,

That notwithstanding you have gone beyond The letter of the law, they yet acquit you.

MASSINGER'S FATAL DOWRY, 1st EDIT.

"OH, my dear mistress, the troopers are coming here; the captain is pointing this way."

"Hold thy tongue for a silly wench; if they see thy top-knot at the lattice, they will indeed come. Keep out of sight, and they will pass. God wot they had no need come here, and none but weak women to welcome them. I would give my best kirtle to have Frank and William at home."

This dialogue passed between the inmates of a small house, which stood on the banks of the stream that runs through the retired village of Chilworth. It was the residence of the children, two sons and a daughter, of a gentleman who had fallen on the side of the Parliament at Edge Hill. FranVOL. IX.

cis, the eldest son, had served on the same side; not that he had imbibed the starched principles of the puritans ;like his father, he desired to see the extinction of the Stuart dynasty; and with that feeling had joined the republican army at the age of nineteen, leaving his sister and a younger brother, as he supposed, secure from insult or annoyance in this sequestered village, the few inhabitants of which were too humble to tempt the cupidity of the lawless and mercenary at that distracted period.

Winnifred Burbage was one of those girls in whose features nature makes atonement for the lack of downright beauty, by an expression of good-nature and sincerity. Her eyes were grey, but their lashes were of a darker hue; and her mouth, though it did not boast the most perfect proportion, was set off by teeth of surpassing whiteness; her hair-but why should we dwell upon a description of that face in which was all that can make a woman engaging, and without which, mere regularity of feature is but a tame picture.Winnifred saw with surprise and alarm the approach of the troop, and when they halted at the gate and a

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party dismounted, she made up her mind to be the hearer of unpleasant tidings. Her forebodings were realized: the captain throwing himself from his horse, entered the house with a military swaggering air, and enquired for Francis Burbage, stating that he had authority from the Lord Fairfax, then quartered at Guilford, to search the premises, and secure the person of the elder brother. The captain was a man whom the beholder might easily perceive had once been eminently handsome, but dissipation had defaced his once comely features, disfigured also by three or four large wounds, the tint of whose unsightly seams was rendered still brighter by intemperance; his figure, though somewhat spare, was tall and elegant, and there was an air of good breeding in his manner and tone, which shewed that, spite of the camp, he had once been accustomed to good society; indeed, Jeffery Baskerville, profligate as he was, piqued himself on his birth, and held in contempt the men who, from the lower walks of life, had risen to high office under the commonwealth. He had been a daring Buccanier, and was now as daring a soldier as ever charged a battalion or stormed a town; this, and this alone, had recommended him to Cromwell; he was no puritan; his religion was that of the wild and lawless ruffians he had once commanded; mercy he considered a bye-word for fools-justice, a nonentity. He had that morning commission given him to search the houses of persons suspected to be inimical to the form of government then existing, and it will not be wondered at when we say that he had in many cases exceeded his directions, and acted with great cruelty to those who had been so unfortunate as to receive his visits.

Winnifred, as she scanned the bold sun-burnt and scarred countenance of this man, felt that she was about to undergo a severe trial; his looks boded mischief, and she inwardly prayed that she might have fortitude enough to encounter him. The captain, after stating the subject of his visit, paused for a reply, and played with the spanner or windlass of his holster-pistols, which hung by a blue ribbon round his neck. Winnifred made several attempts to speak, but her emotion choked her utterance; at length, she enquired, in a faltering tone, the nature f the charge against her brother.

"I wot not, fair lady," replied Baskerville, "it is enough for a soldier to

do the bidding of his commander; if I do wrong, my betters" (this he uttered in a sneering tone) "will answer for it. Your keys, madam, I must search for your brother's papers."

A slight noise behind him interrupted the remainder of his speech, and William Burbage, a lad of sixteen, entered with a fowling-piece in his hand; while the dog which followed him began to sniff at the heels of the officer, growling dissatisfaction.

"You can have no papers here, Sir Captain," said the boy; "my sister and her maid are not hatchers of plots, and my brother Frank is in London."

"How now, young Cockerell," cried the captain, turning hastily round, and scowling on the youth, "what have you to say?"

"That you shall have no papers from us," said William firmly.

"Ha! ha!" laughed the captain,— "why, d me, boy, you have so frightened the sparrows with your birding-piece, that you must risk a shot at his Excellency's dragoons. Now, harkee, young sir, if I have not a plain and straight-forward answer anon, my men shall tie you to your own gate, and give you a taste of their bandalier belts.What say you to that?"

"They shall lose their captain first, though," said William, stepping quietly to the other side of the room, and hastily cocking his fowling-piece. "Advance one step, villain, and I will blow your head from your shoulders."

"Why, you young fool," said Burbage, his features losing on a sudden their sneering expression, and assuming a more determined air, "should you murder me in your mad resistance, what can save you from the next tree?"

Winnifred here interposed, and entreated her brother not to offer further impediments to their rude visitors, and William, feeling for the distress of his sister, and aware that he had acted rashly, was about to reply, when the captain, who had taken the opportunity to approach nearer to his menacer, suddenly sprung upon him, and attempted to wrench the gun from his hand. The struggle was violent; William was a sturdy youth, but Baskerville, whose thick boots protected his legs from the attack of his antagonist's dog, succeeded in turning the muzzle upwards, and the contents of the piece were lodged in the ceiling, at the same time several of the troop, alarmed by the report, rushed into the house with their swords drawn.