ally performed the faithful creature's services himself, going his rounds every evening, and barking as well and as loud as he could, in imitation of his deceased friend. "Note. Such is occasionally the eccentricity of character, that I am correct in adding, this man either lent or subscribed a million of rubles to assist the empress in the beginning of the Swedish war, or on some other great national emergency.' * * on a large circular picture for a ceiling, the subject Cupid and Psyche, his imperial majesty entered the room, surrounded by his family, and followed by a numerous train of courtiers of both sexes. He began rallying the painter on the seeming ease with which he painted; and, laughing, told him any body could do that: upon which Doyen begged bis majesty would make the essay, giving him his pallet and brushes. The emperor filled a brush with black paint, and made a long black stroke over the eye, on the face of Psyche, which he was then painting, and asked Doyen, with a smile, whether it was not The painter agreed the touch was vigorous, and said it was the eye-brow of Psyche. In that case, fair ladies, said the emperor, significantly, and bowing to the company, On puit juger du reste,' one may guess at the rest." "Introduction.—Wit admits of being related; humour is better seen than described the following scrap partakes of both :"Scrap. By marriage Admirala spirited touch,' and what it meant. Greig was brother-in-law to a Mr.Cook, a ropemaker at Cronstadt, a very worthy, but rather a formal and eccentric character, He had bad a few friends to pass the day with him from Petersburgh; and for one of them a bed was made up on a sofa, in the same room where he himself slept. The old gentleman had taken a glass or two more than usual, and the conversation, in the course of the evening, had turned on a court-mourning then ordered for the stadtholder of Holland. Cook had been loudly reprobating the idea, that because a great personage chose to slip his cables, and run for the other world, every body should be obliged to put on black. They went to bed; and, a few minutes after, his friend was ready to burst with laughter, to see the little man still sitting up in bed tottering with the extinguisher in his hand, ready to put out the candle, when, on seeing a black beetle running along the floor, he exclaimed in half drunken accents, 'So you! so you ! so you little d- -d black son of a bitch, so you must go in mourning too for the Dutch king, must ye?" Doyen, a French artist at Petersburgh, seems to have possessed the ready wit and happy talent (which is never taken by surprise) so essential to promotion at court. The following anecdotes illustrate this : "In the reign of the Emperor Paul, when Doyen and myself occupied the same apartment in the Hermitage, and were pursuing our respective operations, One day, when Doyen was employed "The emperor one day, puffing and blowing out his cheeks, (as was his custom,) strutted up to Doyen, who was painting a large picture of Cupid and Psyche, and told him he would set to bin for the head of Psyche, which was then wanting. The painter, though taken by surprise, was not thrown off his guard; but, making a very low bow, replied, that had he wanted the head of an emperor, he would not have wanted a better model, but for a Psyche he must beg to be excused. The sprightly monarch, patting him on the shoulder, told him he had acquitted himself better than he expected, and had come off like a true courtier, with flying colours." We now copy more miscellaneous matter :— "Introduction.-Though the Russians had great reason to rejoice when the reign of the Emperor Paul was over, (indeed it was necessary to the welldoing of the empire,) yet much is to be said in his favour. He was an affectionate husband and father, a generous friend, and a liberal sovereign; often extremely amiable, always polite and witty; and though certainly not a handsome man, yet there was in his looks an air of wholesome health and cheerfulness, that impressed every one much in his favour. I think he could not control his errors; as there was evidently a slight approach to insanity in the organization of his mind; in fact, he was not master of himself, or, as a Scotchman would say, he had a bee in bis bonnet." "A little, modest, diffident clergyman, who was chaplain at Cronstadt, was dining one day at Mr. R--'s, a merchant at St. Petersburg, whose lady was somewhat fastidious, formal, and ceremonious, in the arrangement, cleanliness, and etiquette of her table. In endeavouring to help some one to fishsauce, in his fidgetty trembling way, he actually let the butter-boat slip out of his hand, and its contents fell in part on the table. Bad! A part into a lady's wine that sat next to him. Worse! And the remainder into her plate, and over her rich dress. Horrible! horrible! horrible! It was too much for the patience of any woman. The hostess, frowning and biting her lips, was about to open upon the unfortunate Clericus, for his blundering unhandiness, when be, all embarrassment, and hot from top to toe, stammered out, How lucky it was it had not happened at Mrs. --, a lady well known in their circle to be much more straight-laced and particular in these things. This well-timed remark smoothed the brow of the lady; dimples and smiles succeeded to angry looks; his wit was admired, and the dreadful hole in his manners darned in a miuute." ANCIENT CONJURING RHIME. If of ill, let the earth swallow thee, If thou'rt of air, let the grey mist fold thee,- If a Nixie, seek thy spring; If on middle earth thou'st been Hast eat the bread of toil and strife, And dree'd the lot which men call life, Begone to thy stone! for thy coffin is scant of thee, The worm, thy play-fellow, wails for the want of thee; Hence, houseless ghost! let the earth hide thee, Till Michael shall blow the blast, see that there thou bide thee!- Hence pass till Hallowmass !-my spell is spoken." THE SYBIL'S SONG. "Champion, famed for warlike toil, But what I seek thou well can'st spare. To shear a merk's weight from thy shroud; To shield thy bones from weather rough. 3C When point and edge were glittering near; Thou wilt not wake-the deed is done,— "Thanks, Ribolt, thanks,-for this the sea "She, the dame of doubt and dread, 1 NORWEGIAN FISHING SONG, A SCENES IN CANADA.* Selection from the contents of this work will exemplify its qualities. On Lake Ontario the author says, "The most remarkable phenomenon which this and the other lakes exhibit, is that increase and rise of their waters which is said to take place at regular periods. It occurs, in a moderate degree, every seven years, and to a very great extent once in thirty or forty. In the year 1816, the waters of Lake Ontario were seven feet and a half perpendicular above their average height, and Lake Erie was affected in a similar way. I have visited the shores of Lake Ontario several times, accompanied by a person who resides upon them, whose intelligence and indisputable veracity made me put full confidence in the information he gave, and from whom I received proofs of the accuracy of what I have now stated. I likewise saw the remains of a large storehouse which had been built a few years before, in a situation that seemed quite inaccessible to the lake, although the waters have sur rounded and nearly demolished it. "This singular phenomenon affords a problem very difficult to solve. The quantity of water that must be required to increase the depth of Lake Ontario, and all the other lakes, seven and a half feet perpendicular, is so vast, that it is impossible to conceive where its source can lie. The height of the waters of the lakes, indeed, varies a few inches almost daily; but this is occasioned by changes in the direction of the wind. When it is east or north-east, the waters are driven back, or at least impeded in their course, and consequently an accumulation takes place, which makes the lakes rise; but if it blows from the south or south-west, the direction in which they flow, their waters are burried towards the St. Lawrence, and, of course, decrease in height in proportion to the strength of the wind. "Sir Alexander Mackenzie, during his voyage to the north-west, observed that the waters of the rivers and lakes which he navigated underwent consid. erable variation in their height, the increase and decrease sometimes amounting to two or three feet; which proves that this phenomenon is not confined to the lower lakes. If this augmentation of the waters took place only at irregular periods, we might suppose that it proceeded from the occasional melting of those immense quantities of ice and snow which are accumulated in the northern regions; but even this would scarcely be adequate to produce the effect which cannot at present be rationally accounted for." Near Lake Erie we have a natural exhibition of another sort :— "Here, (says Mr. H.) for the first time, I was gratified with an opportunity of listening to a frog concert, as I * passed a mill-pond which swarmed with bull-frogs. The noise which these animals make is so disproportioned to their size, that it startles the ear not a little. At first, several of them utter their notes at intervals, like the performers in an orchestra tuning their instruments; then they all join, as if by one impulse, in a chorus, deep, loud, and discordant, beyond any sound I ever heard produced by animals." The following, however, relates to a more remarkable animal phenomenon, which we do not remember to have seen so explicitly noticed before. "Being fatigued with riding," our author begins, " I dismounted, and seated myself at the foot of a large tree that overbung a small stream, in which little trout sported incessantly. Every breeze was loaded with vegetable fragrance; but at intervals I felt a most intoxicating perfume, the source of which I was for some time unable to discover. At last I saw two small snakes creep from under a decayed tree that lay near me, and found, from the momentary increase of the odour, and its diminution as they retired, that it *Sketches of Upper Canada, domestic, local, and characteristic, &c. &c. By John Howison. Edinburgh, Nov. 1821. 403 proceeded from them. These animals his eyes to wander from his prey, otherwise the charm would have been instantaneously dissolved. But I determined to effect this, and accordingly threw a large chip of wood into the pond. It fell between the two animals-tbe snake started back, while the frog darted under water, and concealed itself among the mud. (as I was afterwards informed,) while basking in the sun, emit a delightful fragrance; but they are destitute of this peculiarity when dead. I followed the snakes for a little way, and for the first time learned that such animals had the power of fuscinating men. Whenever I advanced within a certain distance of them, they turned round and coiled up, and heavenly fragrance fill'd The circuit wide." He proceeds to state instances of the fascinations of these creatures, (attributable to fear, as be thinks,) and certainly goes farther than we can well credit on hearsay testimony. "Upper Canada is not infested with any snakes of a dangerous kind, except the rattlesnake, which, however, is very rare in the cultivated parts of the country. Garter snakes and black snakes are to be met with every where, but they seem quite harmless. 66 "In Upper Canada, it is almost universally believed, that snakes possess that power of fascination which has so often been denied to them by naturalists. Many people have had the fact demonstrated to them by being witnesses of it, and this was the case with me. One summer day, when strolling through the woods, came to the edge of a small pond of water, on the surface of which floated a frog in a state of motionless repose, as if basking in the sun. I carelessly touched his back with a stick, but contrary to my expectation, he did not move; and, on viewing him more closely, I perceived that he gasped in a convulsive manner, and was affected with a tremor in his hind legs. I soon discovered a black snake coiled up, lying near the edge of the pond, and holding the frog in thraldom by the magic of his eyes. Whenever he moved his head from one side to the other, his destined victim followed it, as if under the influence of magnetic attraction; sometimes, however, recoiling feebly, but soon springing forward again, as if he felt "A strong desire with loathing mixed." The snake lay with his mouth half open, and never for a moment allowed "It is asserted by some that snakes occasionally exert their powers of fascination upon human beings, and I see no reason to doubt the truth of this. An old Dutch woman, who lives at the Twelve Mile Creek in the Niagara district, sometimes gives a minute account of the manner in which she was charmed by a serpent; and a farmer told me that a similar circumstance once occurred to his daughter. It was on a warm summer day, that she was sent to spread wet clothes upon some shrubbery near the house. Her mother conceived that she remained longer than was necessary, and seeing her standing unoccupied at some distance, she called to her several times, but no answer was returned. On approaching, she found her daughter pale, motionless, and fixed in an erect posture. The sweat rolled down her brow, and her hands were clenched convulsively. A large rattlesnake lay on a log opposite the girl, waving his head from side to side, and kept his eyes stedfastly fastened upon her. The mother instantly struck him with a stick, and the moment he made off, the girl recovered herself and burst into tears, but was for some time so weak and agitated, that she could not walk home." Without looking for connexion, we will now copy a pathetic Indian story from the shores of Lake Erie : the top "An Indian woman, and her child, who was about seven years old, were travelling along the beach to a camp a few miles distant. The boy observed some wild grapes growing upon of the bank, and expressed such a strong desire to obtain them, that his mother, seeing a ravine at a little distance, by which she thought she could gain the edge of the precipice, resolved to gratify him. Having desired him to remain where he was, she ascended the steep, and was allured much farther into th |