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of the finny tribe. A few years since, during the passage of the Sarah Wood, West Indiaman from Jamaica, her crew felt a smart shock, as though the ship had struck on a rock, and a leak was in consequence expected. No such accident however occurred, and on the arrival of the vessel in the West India docks her cargo was discharged, and it was found that she had been struck by a sword-fish near the keel. The force with which the fish had struck may be imagined from the fact that its weapon had penetrated through the copper sheathing, and entered three inches into a hogshead of sugar lying at the bottom of the vessel.

FISHING ON THE LAKE OF SCODRA. The manner of fishing in this lake is thus described in Malte Brun. At particular seasons of the year, the lake is visited by vast flocks of a description of crow, which is regarded as sacred. The inhabitants place their nets in the rivers and lakes; the Greek priests and the Turkish Imans come and give their benediction, while the crows remain on the adjacent trees, attentive spectators of the scene. A quantity of corn, previously blessed by the priests, is thrown into the water, and, of course, immediately attracts the fish to the spot; instantly the crows dart down upon them with loud cries, and the fish, terrified at the noise, rush into the nets in great numbers, and become the prey of the fishermen. The crows and the priests receiving a portion of the spoils in return for their assistance.

Table Talk.

APPROPRIATE MUSIC.-There is a set of music bells in the steeple of Saint John's Church, Perth, which plays one of a series of lively Scottish airs every time the clock strikes. It so happened, one Sunday, at twelve o'clock, just as the minister below happened to use, with peculiar emphasis, the striking scripture metaphor, Plough up the fallow ground of your hearts," that the music bells, much after the manner of an orchestra on the discharge of a toast at a public dinner, struck up the appropriate air," Corn riggs are bonnie," to the infinite gratification, and no less amusement, of the audience.

WIVES AND HUSBANDS.--That the prettiest English women marry the ugliest men must have been observed by every one. Who will not speak to the truth of this assertion from experience

in his own circle of acquaintance The women, in consequence, do not often become jealous of their husband's person; and the husbands, in return, are flattered with the compliment of possessing a handsome wife. There are few instances on record of young women, at least, such as possess mere common sense, falling in love with handsome men. Ladies' men, generally, are tolerably well looking-but alas! they seldom get married. Young women, to their honour be it spoken, prefer such countenances as boast no ornament but intelligence. It is, however, the reverse with women of ad vancing life. They would prefer handsome men, though with slender fortunes, because, as they think, it would be proof-positive that their own beauty had not began to wane. A. M.

KEYS.-The invention of keys is at. tributed to the Lacedemonians. They were first made of wood, and the earliest form was that of crook introduced into a hole, to raise a latch or remove a bolt. Such ancient keys as exist are mostly of bronze, and of various shapes; the most remarkable are those which have the shaft terminated on one side by the works, and on the other by a ring. These have been supposed by some to be the keys presented by husbands to their wives, and which were resigned upon divorce or separation. Among the Anglo Saxons, a servant was keeper of the keys. The key of the private scrinium was sometimes suspended from the girdle; that of places where treasure was buried, from the neck. Tradesmen formerly bunches of them at their girdles. Hearne says the figure of the key of the west door of the church was put down in the register, and, in monkish times, a superstitious reverence was associated with them. C. A.

wore

MODERN LITERATURE.-The era of our modern literature, extending from Elizabeth to the close of the Protectorate, was that of nature and romance combined; it might be compared to an illimitable region of mountains, rocks, forests, and rivers-the fairy land of heroic adventure, in which giants, enchanters, and genii, as well as knightserrant, and wandering damsels, guarded by lions, or assailed by fiery flying dragons, were the native and heteroge neous population, where every building was a castle or a palace, an Arcadian cottage, or a hermitage in the wilderness. That from Dryden to Cowper, bore a nearer resemblance to a

nobleman's domain, surrounding his family mansion, where all was taste and elegance and splendour within; painting, sculpture, and literature forming its proudest embellishments; while without, the eye ranged with voluptuous freedom over the paradise of the park, woods, waters, lawns, temples, statues, obelisks, and points of perspective so cunningly contrived as to startle the beholder with unexpected delight; nature and art having changed characters; and each, in masquerade of the other, playing at hide and seek amidst the self-involving labyrinths of landscape gardening.

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BREAKING ON THE WHEEL. Some have supposed that this dreadful punishment was first used in the reign of Francis the First, but it was known as early as the time of the sanguinary Queen Tredegonde, and horrible to relate, applied to the sex. This cruel woman had several ladies of high rank broken on the wheel, having accused them of magic.

C.

THE MINES OF POTOSI.-The discovery of these mines was purely accidental. In the year 1545, a Peruvian, being in pursuit of a lama up the steep of the acclivity, to save himself from falling, caught hold of a shrub, which, giving way, brought up with its roots a mass of solid silver.

C.

HAYTIAN MOURNING.-The people of Hayti prescribe the various terms of mourning thus: for a husband one year and six weeks; for a wife six months; three weeks for an uncle or aunt; and a fortnight for a cousin.What a pity that some such rule has not been laid down in England. THE DRAMA UNDER THE COMMONDuring the Protectorate,

WEALTH.

A. M.

when stage-plays' were prohibited in public, there were, besides the entertainments set on foot by Sir W. Davenant, occasional representations of plays at the houses of the nobility.The receipts from these performances, which were clandestine, or, at least, connived at by the ruling powers, were appropriated to the relief of the unemployed players who performed upon these occasions.

C.

NELL GWYN.-"October 4, 1678.— Following his Majesty this morning," say, Evlyn, "through the gallery, I went with the few who attended him into the Duchess of Portsmouth's dressing room

within her bed-chamber, where she was in her morning loose garment, her maids combing her, newly out of her bed. But that which engaged my curiosity, was the rich and splendid furniture of this woman's apartment, now twice or thrice pulled down and rebuilt to satisfy her prodigal and expensive pleasures, whilst her Majesty's does not exceed some gentlemen's ladies in furniture and accommodation."

Varieties.

NOTION OF HONOUR.-M. de Vauban once sent a common soldier to examine the outposts of the enemy. The man cheerfully obeyed the order, and though exposed to a sharp fire, remained until he received a ball in his body. He returned to make his report with a calm air and aspect, although the blood was streaming from his wound. Vauban praised his courage and offered him money, which the soldier refused. "No, general," said he, "it would spoil the credit of the action."

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Our correspondent will see that we have availed ourselves of a portion of his favours; gallantry forbids our making use of all of them. There have been false fair ones since the Blood, or history belies them; but we hope he will soon have occasion to alter his opinlon.

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Illustrated Article.

THE PRIEST'S HORSE. Proficies nihil hoc, cædas licet usque flagello, Si tibi purpureo de grege currit equus,

Martial. Lib. xiv. Epig. 55.

Ir is not many weeks since I dined with a Roman Catholic family in the neighbourhood of Dublin. I had been but a few minutes in the dining-room, when I found that the centre of attraction, "the observved of all observers," was a very old gentleman, whose dress, appearance, and demeanour, at once betrayed him to me as one of the old Catholic Clergymen of Ireland. Father, or, as he was most generally termed, Doctor Reilly, seemed to be in age not less than seventy years; and the abstraction of his manner, before dinner, as to every thing passing around him, would induce the belief that he had already attained his second childhood. His face was that of pure, rich, bright scarlet, which can neither be imparted to the countenance by the consumption of an extra-quantity of whisky punch, nor its still more VOL. IX.

See page 467.

vulgar and stupifying predecessor, portwine. No, it was a tint "more exquisite still," which claret, that sober, alone communicate to "the human face sedate, cool and delicious liquid, can divine." The dress of the clergyman was evidently as antiquated as his complexion. The head was surmounted by a little, close, brown wig, divided by a single curl, and which appeared to be pasted to the pericranium on which it was fixed. Around his neck was a neat, black silk stock, over which a milkwhite muslin band was turned. His black coat was cut in the manner of the primitive quakers; his dark silk waistcoat had large flaps which nearly covered the whole of his "nether garment," and that was fastened at the knees by large silver clasps, while thick silk stockings embraced his plump little legs; and then, his square-toed shoes were nearly concealed from the view by the enormous silver buckles placed upon them. I was assured by several, that the little old gentleman, whom I had not heard give utterance to a single word, was one of the most

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pleasant men I could meet with; and that after dinner, he would amuse me extremely. I could perceive no outward mark of genius about the Reverend -Doctor; he took no notice of the conversation that was going on around him; and the only demonstration of intelligence I could discover in him, was the somewhat hasty glance he occasionally turned to the door, (as each new visiter was announced), as if he expected that the welcome news of "Dinner on the table" was about being proclaimed to him. To me he appeared like the canon in Gil Blas, as one disposed to partake of the good things that might be laid before him at the festive board, but neither inclined nor capacitated to increase their pleasures by any contribution of wit or fancy.

Dinner, that grand epoch in the history of the day, was at last announced; ladies, even in an Irish assembly, were forgotten, and twenty hands were stretched out to the Doctor to conduct him to the dining-room. At dinner, I heard nothing of the Doctor until the first flask of Champaigne was uncorked; and then there broke upon the ear a mellow, little voice, in which the polished broque of the Irish gentleman, softened down by the peculiarity of a French accent, could be distinguished. The voice, I was told, belonged to the Doctor, who was just then asking Mrs.

our hostess, to take wine with him. At each remove the voice became stronger; and by the time that the dessert was on the table, the tones of the Doctor's voice were full, loud, and strong, and it was soon permitted to sweep, uncontrolled, over the entire range of the society. The puny punsters became dumb, the small talkers were silent; and no man, 66 nor woman either," presumed to open their mouths except to laugh at his Reverence's anecdotes, or to imbibe the good things which my worthy friend L had set before them.

I have heard story-tellers, in my time, but never felt the pleasure in listening to them, that I did in attending to the anecdotes of the Reverend Doctor Reilly. The manner, the look, and the tone, added, I know, considerably to the

effect; but such are the gifts of a good story-teller, and they can neither be transferred to paper, nor communicated by an oral retailer. One great charm, too, for me, in all these stories, was, that the narrator was, in some way or another, concerned in them. There was, to be sure, egotism in this; but

then, it was an egotism that gave a verisimilitude to every thing he told, and you believed that he was not mentioning any thing which he did not know to be a fact, however strange, extraordinary, or improbable it might seem to be. Amongst the other stories told by Doctor Reilly was the following, which I have endeavoured to report verbatim et literatim, as I heard it.

"Never, my children, never borrow a priest's horse-it's an unlucky thing to do, for many reasons. First, if the priest's horse is a good one, he does not like to lend it. Next, if it is a bad one, and the priest says he will lend it, the moment you ask for it, you may happen to break your neck, or your leg, or may-be your nose, and thereby spoil your beauty. And, lastly, a priest's horse has so many friends, that if you are in a hurry, it will be shorter for you to walk than to wait for the horse to pay its visits. It is now more than fifty years since I gave the very counsel, that I am now administering to you, to Kit M'Gowran, one of my parishioners; but he thought, as may-be many of you think, that the priest was a fool, but he found the difference in a short time, as may-be most of you will before you die.

"As well as I recollect, it was in the year 1789, that I was parish priest of Leixlip, and at that time Kit M'Gowran was, of a farmer lad, one of my wealthiest parishioners. He had land on an old lease, and might have been a grand juror now, if he had minded the potatoes growing; but instead of that, Kit was always up in Dublin, playing rackets and balls, and drinking as much whisky in a week, as would float a canal boat through a lock. For two or three years, Kit was but little seen in the parish, though I must say to his credit, he always sent me my dues regularly, so that you perceive he was not a reprobate entirely. I was sorry to hear the neighbours talking bad of him, and was thinking of looking after him some time or another, when I would have nothing else to do; when one day, Kit came into my house dressed out in the pink of the fashion of that time. He was then what they called, I believe, a macaroni, and was the same sort of animal, that is now termed a dandy. He had a little hat, that would not go on a good ploughman's fist; his hair was streeling down his back and over his shoulders; the buttons on his coat were the size of saucepans, and the skirts of the coat hung down behind to the small of his leg; he had two watches, one on

each side of his stomach, a waistcoat that did not cover his breast, and light leather small-clothes that came down below the calf, and were fastened there with bunches of ribbons, that were each as big as cauliflowers. Kit I saw was in great spirits, and had evidently some mad project in his head; but that, you know, was none of my business, if he did not choose to tell me of it. I had not, however, to ask him; for he mentioned at once what brought him to his parish priest. Poor Kit laboured under a great defect, for he stuttered so dreadfully, that you should know him for seven years before you could understand a word he said to you. He had a tongue that was exactly like a one-nibbed pen, -which will splutter and splash, and tease, and vex you, and do every thing but express the sentiments of your mind. "Kit told me, in his own way, that he was going to be married the next day to a Miss Nelly Brangan, a rich huckster's daughter in Dublin, who was bringing him a large fortune, and that he had accordingly, as in duty bound, come to me for his sar-tifi-cat; and as a propitiation to me for the bad life he had led, he gave me a golden guinea, and a very neat miniature of the same coin. I could not refuse my certificate to such a worthy parishioner; and after wishing him long life and happiness, and plenty of boys and girls, I thought Kit would be after bidding me good morning. Kit, I found, had still something upon his mind. I asked him if I could oblige him farther. 'Why, Father Reilly,' says Kit, that is a mighty purty little black horse of yours." It is indeed, child,' I answered; ' but it is very apt to go astray; for it left me for a week, and only returned to me last night.' "Ah! then, Father Reilly,' says he, it would be mighty respectable to see me riding up to-morrow morning to Miss Nelly Brangan's shopdoor with such an elegant black horse under me. May-be you'd lend me a loan of it?' 'Indeed, child, I will,' I replied, but I would not advise you to take it; for my horse has a way of its own and I have many friends between this and Dublin, that may-be it would sooner see than go to your wedding.' 'Oh! as to that,' answered Kit, if it was the devil himself, begging your Reverence's pardon, I'd make him trot; -so lend me the horse and I'll send it back to you to-morrow evening.'"Take it then, Kit,' said I; ' but I warn you that it is an uneasy beast.'

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"It was not until eight o'clock the

next morning that Kit M'Gowran came for the horse, and, in addition to his dress the day before, he had a pair of spurs on him that would do for a fighting cock, they were so long and so sharp; and a whip that was like a fishing-rod.

"Well, Kit,' says I, when are you to be married?"

"Atten, your Reverence,' answered Kit, at ten to the minute.'

666 Then, Kit, my boy,' said I, 'you should have been here at six to be in time, since you intend to ride the black horse.'

"Oh! bother,' said Kit; 'sure I am only six miles from town, and it's hard if I don't ride that in an hour, so that in fact I'll be before any time, and that wont be genteel; for may-be I'd catch Nelly Brangan with her hair in papers; and she wont look lovely that way, know, whatever charms there may be in the butter-cool of gold guineas that the darling is going to give me.'

"Well, mount at once,' I observed, though I would advise you, if you are in a hurry-to walk.'

"I had hardly said the word, when Kit jumped into the saddle, and gave his horse a whip and a spur-and off it cantered, as if it were in as great a hurry to be married as Kit himself. I followed them as fast as I could to the top of the hill, and there was Kit cutting the figure of six like any cavalry officer with his whip, and now and again plunging his heels into the horse's sides, and it kicking the stones before and behind it, and tattering over the road like lightning. In half a minute they were both out of my sight, and I thought that if any one could get to Dublin with the horse in an hour, Kit M'Gowran was the man to do it.

"For two miles of the road Kit went on gallantly. He was laughing and joking, and thinking to himself that I was only humbugging him in what I said about the horse, when in the very middle of a hard gallop, it stopped as if it had been shot, and up went Kit M'Gowran in the air, his long whip firmly fixed in his hand, and his long coat flying like a kite's tail after him, and the words, 'Who had the luck to see Donnybrook fair,' in his mouth; and he had not time to cease saying them when he was landed head over heels in a meadow, seven or eight yards from the centre of the road! Kit was completely puzzled by the fall, he could not tell how he got there, or what caused it, or why he should be there at

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