Mademoiselle do Brunen took a close and agitated survey of the man who addressed her, and then, starting back as from a noxious reptile, she exclaimed, Begone! touch me not! I know you, wretch," she continued; "you are no servant of the king. Help, friends! leave me not; let me not fall into this man's hands!"

The person of whom she spoke laid hands upon her, nevertheless, to drag her away, and no one would probably have interfered, had not her imploring looks, her youth, and her beauty, stirred the pity of Montlouis. "Let go the lady," cried he, unsheathing his sword, "or, whoever you may be, you shall have to answer to me." No reply was made by the other, who continued his attempts to carry off the lady, until forcibly thrown aside by Montlouis. Before any one could interfere, an active combat had commenced between the pair. Rapid passes were exchanged, and at length Montlouis laid his antagonist at his feet. In an instant afterwards the lights were extinguished, and the young guardsman found himself dragged backwards by unseen arms into the private passage by which the party had previously disappeared. A gentle voice whispered in his car, "Follow me," and he felt the hand of Mademoiselle Brunen grasp his own, and lead him onwards through the darkness. When they stopped, Montlouis looked around him, and found that they had issued into one of the streets of Paris.

Several coaches stood at the spot. Mademoiselle de Brunen left him, and entered one of the vehicles, but immediately afterwards a person came up to the officer and said, "If Monsieur de Montlouis will do Mademoiselle de Brunen the honour of assisting in the completion of the sad ceremony which has been disturbed, she will feel gratified." He at once assented, and was conducted to one of the vehicles. "Forward!" cried a voice, and the whole of the carriages started at a rapid pace along the streets. After passing the barriers of the city, the travellers continued their route for a considerable distance, until they reached a lonely house surrounded by lofty walls. Here the carriages stopped, and the whole party left them. The bier was conveyed silently through the house into a garden, where a grave was found ready prepared. Rapidly and silently the ceremony of in

about their nests :

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL

accuracy Mr Swainson has verified by visiting the toads or frogs, that a careless observer would at first be often found singly. But there can be no doubt of the
same country, assures us that the bees at Surinam at some loss to determine their real nature. The gene- voluntary principle in associations formed for recrea
ing ventral fins they are unable to walk, yet they are
become personally acquainted with those who live rality of the fresh-water eels, although from not possess- tion, as in the case of rabbits, marmots, parrots, &c.
well known to quit the water at certain seasons, and make The meetings of these animals for sport are adverted
their way over the grass to other ponds, at no great dis- to by Mr Swainson; but we must pass on to notice a
tance, for the purpose of seeking fresh habitations or small finch-like bird called the republican gross-beak,
depositing their spawn. Nearly all the Indian Ephioce- found by the late Colonel Patterson in the interior of
phali (fresh-water fishes, not unlike our sea mullet) crawl Africa, which actually combines with those of the
up, to others which, by a wonderful and incomprehen- same species to build aërial cities. Critics have long
from tank to tank, or from ponds that are nearly dried
sible instinct, they seem to know to be full. Such an abused the old Greek comedian Aristophanes for his
unusual circumstance as fish crawling on dry land, has extravagant fiction of a city built in the air by the
naturally excited the superstitious Hindoos to believe
that they fall from heaven. The Peren scandens, which birds, but even his fiction is surpassed by the account
belongs to the same natural tribe as the last (Spirobran- of the winged republicans given by the colonel, which
branches of the mangrove trees, an effort it accomplishes
chida, Sw.), quits the water, and ascends the roots and we extract in his own words.
by using its ventral fins as little feet: it is not clear,
thus quitting an element it is obviously to inhabit; yet
however, what purpose it has particularly in view, in
that these terrestrial expeditions are perfectly natural to
them, is proved by the fact of the whole of this tribe
made for retaining a sufficient quantity of water in the
having a particular organisation. By this a provision is
gills, in order to keep them in a state of moisture while

"The method in which these birds fabricate their

"On one occasion I was visited at my hut by a neighbouring gentleman, whom I conducted up my ladder; but he had no sooner entered my aerial dwelling, than he leaped down from the top to the ground, roaring like a madman with agony and pain, after which he instantly plunged his head into the river. I soon discovered the cause of his distress to be an enormous nest of wild bees, or in the thatch, directly above my head as I wassee-wassee, immediately took to my stood within my door, when heels, as he had done, and ordered the slaves to demolish them without delay. A tar mop was now brought, and the devastation just going to commence, when an old negro stepped up, and offered to receive any punishment I should decree, if ever one of those bees should sting me in person. Massera,' said he, they would have stung you long ago, had you been a stranger to them; but, being your tenants, and allowed to build on your premises, they assuredly know both you and yours, and will never hurt either you or them. I now, at his own desire, caused the old black man to be tied to a tree, and ordered my boy Quaco to ascend the ladder, quite naked, which he did, and was not stung. I then ventured to follow; and I declare, upon my honour, that, even after shaking the nest, which made its inhabitants buzz about my ears, not a single bee attempted to sting me. I next released and rewarded the negro for the discovery. This swarm of bees I afterwards kept unhurt as my body-guard. They have made many overseers take a desperate leap for my amusement, as I generally sent them up my ladder upon some frivolous message, when I wished to punish them for injustice and cruelty to the the choral dances which so many of the Diptera and covered over, it would appear that this really was the

negroes, which was not seldom.

The same negro assured me, that on his master's estate was an ancient tree in which had been lodged, ever since he could remember, a society of birds, and another of bees, who lived in the greatest harmony together. But should any strange birds come to disturb or feed upon the bees, they were instantly repulsed by their feathered allies; and if strange bees dared to venture near the birds' nests, the native swarm attacked the invaders, and stung them to death. He added, that his master's family had so much respect for the above association, that the tree was considered as sacred."

The senses of animals vary in acuteness; they are providentially adapted to the natural modes of obtain ing existence. But it is not generally known that animals enjoy the pleasures of certain senses not less keenly than human beings. The fondness of the serpent for music has been celebrated and doubted from the earliest ages, but the snake-charmers of India have now verified the fact. Mr Swainson has himself proved that the lizards are eminent for their love of music:

the fish is out of water."

These motions are connected with the safety of the animal, but there are others indicating sport and enjoyment, which go far to rescue the account of "the butterfly's ball," which amused our childhood, from the regions of fable.

"Insects have also their notions of gaiety or sport; among these none seem to vie in their singularity with some of the Neuroptera maintain in the air, in which, however, it has been observed that males alone are engaged.

These dances are kept up at all seasons of the year, only that in winter they are confined to the robust Tipulide or gnats, which, however small, are often seen in a sunny day of December, when snow is on the ground, sporting as merrily as in the spring. Sometimes these insects look like moving columns, each individual rising and falling, in a vertical line, a certain space, and which will follow the passing traveller often intent upon other business, and all unconscious of his aerial companions for a considerable distance.' Mr Kirby further remarks, that the smallest Tipulida will fly unwetted in a heavy shower of rain, as I have often observed. How keen must be their sight, and how rapid their motions, to own bodies, which, if they fell upon them, must dash enable them to steer between drops bigger than their them to the ground!"

The attitudes which insects assume to screen themselves from observation, are very remarkable. We shall quote a few of the less known instances.

The little water beetles of the genus Gyrinus, so frequently seen on the surface of fresh-water ponds in a the gnats. The rapidity with which they skim in undubright summer's day, are as joyous a race as their brethren latory circles is not less admirable than the precision with which they tread the mazes of the aquatic dance, so as never to encounter and seldom to touch each other. "The elegant little species commonly called the La-Their flattened and oar-shaped hind feet are peculiarly certa agilis, although rare in Britain, is found in such adapted for these exercises, and they continue their diversion for hours with unwearied gaiety." abundance in the south of Europe, that hundreds on a fine sunny day may be seen in a single walk, basking on the stones and walls, or pursuing their search after insects. In Sicily and Malta they are particularly numerous, and very beautiful. The habit they have of turning the head on one side, and some vague recollection of a story in the Arabian Nights about an attentive lizard, first induced us to try what effect the humming of a song would have upon these creatures, and it was really most entertaining. The little reptile, instead of running away with its usual swiftness, would remain perfectly still, inclining its head on one side, as if to drink in every intonation. The softer and more plaintive was the tune, the more intense was the attention it evinced; and if a whistle was substituted for a hum, it would suffer itself to be approached so near, that any one unacquainted with its astonishing swiftness would fancy he could capture it with his hand. This curious fact, once discovered, -often proved a source of much amusement. Often, after a long ramble spent in sketching or botanising, we used to repose in a shady spot among the rocks, and charm those pretty little creatures so successfully, that we have known them even to come out of their holes, and thus for a little audience. On such occasions they sometimes stand remarkably upright on their fore-legs, the hinder ones lying almost flat upon the ground; the same attitude they also assume when reconnoitring, but then the head is never turned on one side as if for the purpose of accurately hearing. The same experiments were frequently made upon the smaller lizards of Brazil, which more or less exhibited the same fondness for tunes."

In no part of natural history are mistakes more common than in what relates to the motions of animals. As we generally see them in one element, we are led to believe that they are confined to it. Indeed, "a fish out of water" has become quite a proverb. Mr Swainson has, however, collected some observations, which will require the aphorism to be received for the future with considerable limitations.

"To include walking on land and climbing up trees as among the actual motions of this class of animals [fishes], will no doubt surprise many of our readers; yet there are not wanting several fishes which perform these apparently unnatural feats. The frog fishes of the Asiatic islands and the southern hemisphere can not only live several days out of the water, but can crawl about the room in which they are confined; this latter facility originates from the great strength and the peculiar position of their pectoral fins, which thus perform the office of feet. The whole aspect of these grotesque-looking creatures, particularly in a walking position, is so much like that of

"Many of the weevil beetles (Circulesnidos), particularly those with short thick bodies, on the least appearance of danger gather themselves into a heap, bend their snout under the thorax, and fall to the ground from the plants on which they happen to be feeding. It is then vain to search for them, for the colours being perfectly matched to those of the ground, the keenest eye will be completely baffled. There is a genus of this family found in the sandy tracts of Africa and of Sicily, which, although large, is so exactly coloured like the sand, that few entomologists would distinguish the insect from the surrounding soil.

call it a roof, a thousand residing under the same roof. nests, is highly curious. In that of which I have given a plate, there could be no less than from eight hundred to because it perfectly resembles that of a thatched house, and the ridge forms an angle so acute and so smooth, impossible for any reptile to approach them. Their inprojecting over the entrance of the nest below, that it is the day they appear to be busily employed in carrying dustry seems almost equal to that of the bee; throughout a fine species of grass, which is the principal material they employ for the purpose of erecting this extraordinary work, as well as for additions and repairs. Though annually increased in numbers, still from the many trees my short stay in the country was not sufficient to satisfy which I have seen borne down by their weight, and others me by ocular proof that they added to their nest as they which I have observed with their boughs completely

case.

When the tree which is the support of this aërial is they are no longer protected, and are under the necessity obliged to give way to the increase of weight, it is obvious of rebuilding in other trees. One of these deserted nests of its internal structure, and I found it equally ingenious I had the curiosity to break down so as to inform myself with that of the external. There are many entrances, each of which forms a separate street, with nests on both sides, at about two inches distant from each other. The grass of which it is built is called the Boshman's grass, and I believe the seed of it to be their principal food, though on examining their nests I found the legs and wings of different insects. From every appearance, the nest which I dissected had been inhabited for many years, and some parts of it were much more complete than a proof that they added to it at different times as they others. This, therefore, I conceive nearly to amount to found necessary for the increase of the nation or community."

The gross-beaks associate for defence, but we find so long deemed the proud prerogative of man, a luxury that the ants associate for war. This is too bad; war, worthy of being purchased by everlasting debt, is enJoyed by the ants without any compensating burthen of taxation. They actually anticipated the most celea commissariat, and make the war pay its own exbrated contrivance of Napoleon, for they dispense with penses. The history of one of their battles is to the leon, or any dispatch published in a London Gazette full as interesting as any bulletin ever issued by NapoExtraordinary.

"Figure to yourself two or three of these ant cities, equal in size and population, and situated at about a hundred paces from each other; observe their countless numbers, equal to the population of two mighty empires; the whole space which separates them for the space of twenty-four inches, appears alive with prodigious crowds sands of champions, mounted on more elevated spots, of their inhabitants. The armies meet midway between their respective habitations, and there join battle: thoupowerful jaws; a still greater number are engaged on engage in single combat, and seize each other with their both sides taking prisoners, which make vain efforts to when arrived at the hostile formicary. escape, conscious of the cruel fate which awaits them

One of the most singular attitudes of this sort is that
The spot where the battle most rages, is about two or
assumed by nearly all the onisciform types of annulose
animals, and by many of those in the vertebrated circle;
it is that of rolling themselves up in a perfectly spherical
ball, like the common wood-louse. In this attitude, the three square feet in dimensions; a penetrating odour ex-
legs, and all the softer parts of the body on the under hales on all sides; numbers of ants are lying dead covered
side, are entirely covered and defended by the hard crust with venom; others, composing groups and chains, are
which forms the upper surface of the animal. Other hooked together by their legs or jaws, and drag each
each other, and rearing upon their hind legs, mutually
insects endeavour to protect themselves from danger by other alternately in opposite directions. These groups
feigning death. The common dung chafer (Geotrupis are formed gradually: at first a pair of combatants seize
stercorarius), when touched, or in fear, sets out its legs as
stiff as if they were made of iron wire-which is their squirt their acid; then closing, they fall, and wrestle in
position when dead-and remain perfectly motionless. the dust: again recovering their feet, each endeavours to
The tree chafers elevate their posterior legs into the air, drag off his antagonist. If their strength be equal, they
probably with the same view; while the Scarabocus sacer, remain immovcable till the arrival of a third gives one
and its allies, if our memory serves us right, pack their the advantage. Both, however, are often succoured at
The same author others take part on each side till chains are formed of six,
Byrrhii mentioned by Mr Kirby.
legs close to their bodies in the same manner as do the the same time, and the battle still continues undecided;
relates, from the scarce volumes of De Gier, the extra-eight, or sometimes ten, all hooked together, and perti-
ordinary perseverance with which the little beetle, named naciously struggling for the mastery: the equilibrium
Anobium pertinax by Fabricius, persists in counterfeiting remains unbroken, till a number of champions from the
same nest arrive at once, compel them to let go their
death. All that has been related of the heroic con-
stancy of American savages, when taken and tortured by hold, and the single combat recommences.
their enemies, scarcely comes up to that which these little
creatures exhibit. You may maim them, pull them limb
from limb, roast them alive over a slow fire, but you will
not gain your end-not a joint will they move, nor show
by the least symptom that they suffer pain.' Many
Tenthredine, or saw-flies, pack their antennæ and legs
close together; and every one has witnessed the same
remarkable habit in the majority of spiders."

Societies and associations of animals are not always the result of blind impulse; jackals unite to hunt in packs; birds form flocks to migrate ; and in both cases the union is voluntary, for the jackals and birds are

At the approach of night, each party gradually retreats to its own city; but before the following dawn, the combat is renewed with redoubled fury, and occupies a greater extent of ground. These daily fights continue ments the combatants exhibit the greatest fury, being fill, violent rains separating the combatants, they forget absorbed by one sole object, that of finding an enemy to their quarrel, and peace is restored. In these engageattack. What is most wonderful in this history-though seems to know those of its own party; and if by mistake one was attacked, it was immediately discovered by the all are of the same make, colour, and scent-every ant assailant, and caresses succeeded blows,

Though all was fury and carnage in the space between pearance so singular, yet so distinguished, that he
the two nests, on the other side the paths were full of would have attracted and fixed my attention had I
ants going to and fro on the ordinary business of the
society as in times of peace, and the whole formicary ex-known nothing of his previous character.
hibited an appearance of order and tranquillity, except
that on the quarter leading to the field of battle; crowds
might always be seen either marching to reinforce the
army of their compatriots, or returning home with the
prisoners they had taken, which, it is to be feared, are

have shown great mildness and moderation while he head, and leaned his elbow on his other hand-thus, from any intercourse with their distant friends. It is not

As he was supposed by many to have been the plead where he was subjected to insult, but would seek a wider author of the Letters of Junius, no mean opinion could field for his professional exertions. He accordingly removed to have been entertained of his abilities, as it was a comLondon, and enrolled himself a member of the Inner Temple."-pliment to the head of any man to be supposed capable George III. the courageous advice to call in the troops for the of writing so well, though it was any thing but a comsuppression of the London riots of 1780.-ED.] pliment to his heart. But I believe there is no te

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL.

ing its appearance less miserable and disgusting. The child was in consequence admitted into the hospital, where, under the most discouraging circumstances, an operation was planned and performed by its distinguished chief surgeon, Mr Ferrall. We are of course unable to give any professional detail of the proceeding, but, incredible as it may appear, all the natural deficiencies of feature were under this gentleman's skilful manage

ment supplied from the flesh of the adjacent parts, and

at least over it, and which were intended to bow down scended to the vessel. On the 19th of June, at four to the vessel at a very gentle slope, as the column dethe column. Ten capstans, placed on the transverse in the morning, all was ready for the embarkment of mole already spoken of, began, at a given signal, to were placed at the cables which aided in the operation, act upon the massive freight; while sixty workmen was set in motion; every thing went on well and and also in keeping the ship in its place. The column securely; it had just touched the sides of the vessel, little more than a year old, already exhibited the appear when, in a moment, an accident occurred which threw ance of perfect health and of a well-formed face. When all into consternation. The beams upon which the the child was first seen by the parents after the decided column rested in its passage, cracked; the alarmed success of the operation, it would, as we were assured, workmen fled; and the column, breaking at once be quite impossible to describe the excessive joy of the through the whole of the supporting beams, fell with a terrible crash among their fragments, having one poor mother, as on her knees she presented to the anxious father the altered infant, now become a really well-look-end in the boat and the other sunk deep in the bed of the sea.

the infant, at the time to which we refer, when it was

ing and comely child. Such, we repeat, are among the best and noblest triumphs of the profession."-Leinster Independent.

THE ALEXANDRINE COLUMN OF ST

PETERSBURGH.

replacing it, previously to the final attempt at fixing
it in its site."

The architect, in the beginning of September,
on its pedestal amid the acclamations of the Russian
brought his work safely to a conclusion, placing it
people. A statue was afterwards placed on the top
northern capital, a credit to the nation and to its erec-
of it, and the Alexandrine Column now stands in the
the erections of modern times.
tors. As a monolithic pillar, it has no equal among

LETTER OF AN AUSTRALIAN SETTLER.

see for the first time, never fails to make a permanent ANY thing beyond common experiences which children stand that one of the editors of this paper now speaks impression upon them. I [the reader must underin his proper person] can never forget the first time I beheld a scientific instrument used. It was a theodolite belonging to a gentleman who was taking levels along the vale of Tweed, with a view to the construction of a railway between Glasgow and Berwick-a work which never was commenced. This was in the

THE Alexandrine Column, or monumental pillar consequence of the weight falling obliquely on it, the early days of railways, about the year 1810 or 1811,

erected by the Russian czar, Nicholas, in honour of his brother Alexander, is one of the most magnificent objects of its kind in modern times. Like the power and empire of Russia itself, the Alexandrine column is, in conception and execution, massive and colossal, and impressive to the mind and eye from mere material bulk. The various processes attending its erection form a very remarkable history, interesting from the difficulties, foreseen and unforeseen, which stood in the way, and which were successively overcome by the patience and skill of the architect and his assistants. The architect himself, M. de Montferrand, a Frenchman by birth, has left such a history behind him. We translate, for the entertainment of our readers, some of the most important passages in this narrative.

The Alexandrine Column is a monolithe, or formed of a single stone. It is a fine species of granite, capable of taking on a beautiful polish, and of a red colour, being also exceedingly durable. The column, which is circular, and sculptured, generally speaking, after the Doric style, measures twelve feet in its greatest diameter, and eighty-four feet in height. It is thus twelve feet higher than the obelisk of Luxor, one of the finest ancient erections of this character, and it weighs thrice as much as the same Egyptian pillar. The Alexandrine Column was cut from the quarries of Pytterlaxe, in the neighbourhood of St Petersburgh, in the year 1831. These quarries are situated no great way from the shores of the waters enveloping that region and the Russian capital. While the stone was in the course of being excavated, a vessel was also in preparation for the conveyance of its enormous mass from its native site to that chosen for it in St Petersburgh. This vessel was broad and flat-bottomed, one hundred and forty-seven feet long, and calculated to draw only about seven feet of water under a weight of two million six hundred thousand pounds, a weight considerably exceeding that of the monolithic shaft. With a greater draught, it could not have traversed the numerous shallows in the line of its intended course. On the 5th of June 1832, this vessel, in itself a work of huge bulk, was brought to anchor near to the quarries of Pytterlaxe.

of which were filled with stones.

It was some time before the architect and his work. men could look about them. When they did so, it was gratifying to discover that not one life had been lost, notwithstanding the numbers about the spot at the moment. Without delay, the superintendant of the embarkation commenced to remedy the evil. In vessel was turned over sideways, and partly forced into the clayey bed of the sea. The whole power of the machinery was applied to raise the column to a fair and proper position on the vessel. The 400 fatigued labourers could not have accomplished this alone, but it chanced that some visitors of distinction had arrived from St Petersburgh to witness the operations, and one of these took it upon him to order in the immediate assistance of 600 soldiers from a garrison near the spot. With this reinforcement, after forty-eight hours of almost incredible toil, the column was safely raised, and laid straight upon the vessel. The latter machine, to the delight of all, floated lightly and easily with its burden.

On the 1st of July, after four days' slow sail in the Gulf of Finland, the vessel was safely towed into the required place in the harbour of St Petersburgh. The column and its vessel were now visited by immense crowds, the grandees and royal family of the country among the number.

to

The next operation was
convey the stone to land. For this purpose, a new
work of great strength, inclined in its shape, had to
be constructed, into the particulars of which it is need-
less to enter. Suffice it to say, that on the 12th of
July the debarkation of the monolithe took place. A
great crowd had assembled to witness it. The empe-
ror and empress appeared on the scene. The signal
was given, and the importance of the operation may
be guessed by the fact that all the workmen fell in-
voluntarily and simultaneously on their knees before
venturing on the task, and prayed for its success. Four-
teen capstans were set in action to move the column,
while six were devoted to the keeping of the vessel,
otherwise bound also, in its place. The result was
fortunate. Slowly, and amid profound silence, the
column began to move, and in ten minutes, without
window of the palace, whence the empress had beheld
accident, it was safely brought to a spot beneath the
the scene.

An inclined plane was now to be made, to bring it erected, in the centre of a square; and 600 carpenup to the level of the spot, where its pedestal was Preparations on a vast scale had been previously ters addressed themselves to this task. The inclined made for the embarkation of the columnar shaft. A plane was 490 feet long, and 100 feet in breadth, and, mole or causeway had been carried into the sea to the at its greatest elevation, rose to thirty-five feet. The length of thirty fathoms, forming in itself a goodly same difficulty which obstructed the rolling of the pier, and requiring considerable labour. It was raised column to the water, impeded its progress up this plane. upon stakes, driven into the sea-bed, and consisted of This was the inequality in thickness, and it was always strong interlaced or crossing beams, the interspaces necessary, when the thick end of the column got in adAt the end of this vance, to make it pause and revolve upon itself till the mole, a transverse embankment was formed, and by lesser end was brought forward also. After a time, the the side of this, or rather inside of it, the vessel was inclination was safely surmounted, without any accident moored. It was necessary, however, first to deepen happening to the wood-work. Before the passage of the the channel by two feet, in order to admit of the free inclined plane, it ought to be mentioned, workmen, to the number of 150, were busied in giving the finish to passage of the vessel. On the transverse mole were placed the capstans by which the embarkation was to the figure of the column. When he had brought it be effected. By land, preparations on an equally large to the top of the plane, the architect then prepared a car for its transportation along the horizontal space scale were made in the meantime. In order to advance the column from the spot where it had been which still lay between it and the proposed site. This car was in two pieces, and in all eighty-two feet long It had seventy-two cast-iron formed, it was necessary to clear the intermediate ground, about a hundred yards in extent, and very by eleven in breadth. rocky and uneven. The exploding, cutting, and smooth-wheels, and was composed of metal-bound beams. By ing required for this purpose, was in itself a great work. When a pathway had thus been made, the stone was slowly raised by the action of eight powerful capstans, and propelled a little way, rolling over and over breadthways. The greater diameter of one end made this a difficult process, for the narrow end, rolling over less space, necessarily fell behind. A peculiar application of the capstans, with the assistance of strong iron wedges, was required to bring it forward to a straight line. After four hundred men had laboured at the task for fifteen days, without any intermission, the column was at length placed at the end of the mole, in a direction parallel with the sides of tlie vessel upon which it was to be lodged.

The column now lay transversely upon twenty-eight beams, thirty-five feet long, and two feet square, the end of which passed from the mole to the vessel, or

* As this is translated from the French, it is probable that the weights and measures mentioned are French, which differ a little from the British.

means of this machine, the column was securely moved
to the necessary spot.

Perhaps the hardest task of all now commenced.
This was the conception and erection of the great
scaffolding by means of which this immense mass of
stone was to be safely lodged on its pedestal, there to
remain till time should work its fall. This scaffold-
ing, we shall only say, was 154 feet high, and partly
composed of mason-work, and partly of wood. The
mason-work formed an inferior platform, and on this
sixty capstans of great power were placed for the
raising of the column. Each of these machines, with
the appendages belonging to it, was first tried, and
found to resist a weight of 60,000 pounds. The corre-
spondent ropes were made by machinery, each rope
containing 522 threads of hemp, so strong that every
thread sustained singly a weight of 180 pounds. With
such preparations, the placing of the column could
not fail to be successful. Yet the architect took the
raising the column twenty feet in the air, and then
precaution to try all his apparatus more fully, by

are now. Mr K———, a land-surveyor settled in Rox-
when they were not so readily entered upon as they
burghshire, had been employed to make the necessary
surveys through Peeblesshire, and when he came, in
the course of his operations, to the little sequestered
town in which I spent my first years, he became
acquainted with my father, who was then almost
singular in the place for a love of science; a feeling
which he early imparted to myself, along with much
valuable instruction. At his request, our surveying
finite pleasure, and with the effect of awakening in
friend erected his theodolite in the street, and ex-
our minds a reverence for the instruments of exact
plained its uses to my brother and myself, to our in-
I am tempted to mention these circumstances, in
order to give the greater assurance of the genuineness
science, and indelibly impressing upon us a pleasing
recollection of the kind demonstrator himself.
worth while to communicate to the public in this
of a very interesting letter, which it has been thought
emigrated in 1824, with a
sheet. Having lost much capital in farming in his
native county, Mr K
him to the friendship of the governor, Sir Thomas
number of sons and daughters, to New South Wales,
where, his scientific acquirements having recommended
Brisbane, he very quickly found himself settled in an
agreeable and lucrative situation on the Emu Plains.
The letter in question is one written by Mr K-
at his settlement of Cardross, Goulburn, on the 5th of
for publication; but as it possesses a general interest,
July 1839; the object of which was to acquaint one
as an account of the career and present situation of a
of his sons, who still resides in this country, with his
present circumstances. It was of course not meant
his friends, laid before the public :-
prosperous emigrant, it is here, with the permission of

"We [Mr K and one of his sons named James] have been striving very hard for the last twelve years, and vesting what money we could realise in the purchase of land and live stock. We have now as much stock as is required for the foundation of a splendid fortune for those I leave behind; and in regard to land, we have abundance, and I only wish to obtain 850 acres more, to render my establishment on the sea-coast one of the most perfect in the colony: this must fetch a high price at auction, still it is worth double to me that it would be to any other purchaser.

Our different estates at present stand as follow:to wit, 1st, Cardross, where I now reside, contains 2000 acres, with 200 acres in cultivation; my grant.-2d, on opposite side of Wolondilly, contains 2000 acres, with Cardross Grange, adjoining the above, contains 1000 acres, with 100 acres in cultivation; a purchase.-3d, Maxton, with 150 acres in cultivation; a purchase, 1000 guineas.200 acres in cultivation; grant to James.-4th, Strathallen, adjoining on east, late Howey's, contains 960 acres, 2000 acres, with 200 acres in cultivation; a purchase.--5th, Raine Ville, on Fish River, near Bathurst, contains 6th, St Boswell's adjoining, and east from the last lot, contains 1221 acres, with 70 acres in cultivation; a purchase.-7th, Mount Jervis, on Jervis's Bay, twelve hours' sail from Sydney, contains 2560 acres; just commenced the scenery and surface soft and undulating and 800 improvements. Total, 11,741 acres. On Cardross we have a post wind-mill, fine garden and vineyard of 2 acres, acres of rich land might be cultivated without removing

a tree.

I intend making Mount Jervis my principal residence. James and the captain [another son] have been there since February, busy in clearing and inclosing a fine park and policy of 150 acres, with vineyards and orangery of 5 acres, paddocks for tobacco, maize, hops, &c. &c., and laying the foundation of an observatory on the exact parallel of 35 degrees south latitude, and 150 degrees 50 on the Pacific Ocean, and fifteen miles on Jervis's Bay, minutes of longitude east from Greenwich. This estate which is perhaps the finest harbour in her majesty's docommands thirty miles of sea-coast, namely, fifteen miles minions, where the whole British navy may find anchorage and ride in safety from every wind. The site of the saw. There is a natural port, called Bunda by the natives, mansion cannot be excelled in grandeur by any place I ever just under my windows, at a quarter of a mile's distance, where vessels of 200 tons anchor within a cable's fish of every delicacy and variety-oysters, both rock length of the shore. The bay and coast abound with

Though all was fury and carnage in the space between the two nests, on the other side the paths were full of ants going to and fro on the ordinary business of the society as in times of peace, and the whole formicary exhibited an appearance of order and tranquillity, except that on the quarter leading to the field of battle; crowds might always be seen either marching to reinforce the army of their compatriots, or returning home with the prisoners they had taken, which, it is to be feared, are

the devoted victims to a cannibal feast."

We might extend our views to the systems of emigration and colonisation adopted by the ants, and show that, like higher animals, they evince a haughty disregard for the rights of the aborigines; but we have given sufficient instances to show that animals the most mean and contemptible in vulgar eyes are endowed with qualities which have every semblance of reason. It remains only to point out the important distinction, which is at once most obvious and most satisfactory: there is no progress and no improvement in animals; a limit is set to the exercise of their faculties; nature has said to each, "thus far shalt thou go, and no farther;" but man has received from his Crea

tor an impulse to an advancement whose final goal is placed beyond our ken; continued improvement is the law of his existence; the perfection of the animal is attained in this present life, but man presses forward to a higher destiny, feeling that intellectually and morally there is something beyond, higher and better than any thing which he has yet attained; that the full developement of his powers is not possible in time, but demands eternity.

RECOLLECTIONS OF AN AUTHORESS.
BY A. OPIE.

ALEXANDER WEDDERBURNE,
BARON LOUGHBOROUGH AND EARL OF ROSSLYN.

As I have alluded to this nobleman in my recollections
of Lady Rosslyn, the wife of his successor, I am inclined
to follow up that allusion by some reminiscences of the
judge himself. I find, in a slight sketch of his life,
that he was born in Scotland in 1733, educated at the
University of Edinburgh, and called to the Scotch
bar in 1754.* The next year he was entered at the
Inner Temple. He began his public career as member
for Richmond in Yorkshire, was made Solicitor-Gene-
ral in 1771, Attorney-General in 1778, created Baron
Loughborough in 1780, and then raised to the bench as
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.

pearance so singular, yet so distinguished, that he
would have attracted and fixed my attention had I
known nothing of his previous character.

I never saw a human face so much resembling a
parrot as his was. The nose appeared to me like a
beak, and the nostril was cut up like the beak of a
parrot. The ball of the eye was very large and pro-
minent, but the eyes themselves were so dark, bright,
expressive, and intellectual, that I soon ceased to
remember or notice any other of the features.

nable ground for supposing that he wrote these celebrated letters.

He certainly wrote, in 1793, a pamphlet on the state of prisons in England, and the means of improving them-a proof that he was anxious to mitigate the sufferings even of his erring fellow-creatures, and was therefore more deserving of esteem than if he had

been the writer of a political work as much distinguished for bitterness of invective as for brilliancy of wit, and with this observation I shall conclude my recollections of the Earl of Rosslyn.

ANNALS OF THE POOR.

HOW CAPITAL IS FORMED.

It was not long before I procured a seat on the bench beside the judge; and in the course of the morning I had the pleasure of hearing him converse, STORY OF AN OLD WIFIE-MERCANTILE INGENUITY— for Windham of Tulbrigg, who was then member for N, came to pay his respects to him; and I was much gratified in remaking the flashing of their fine intelligent eyes, as, leaning across me, they talked together on interesting subjects.

This was a higher gratification to me than any thing I had as yet heard that morning; for it was always one of my greatest pleasures to see and hear Mr Windham, and now I was certainly hearing him to peculiar advantage. I was therefore sorry when he withdrew, and left the judge to resume his legal duties; but those duties soon became so interesting to me, that I had no remaining regret.

A young clergyman in the county had allowed passion, and a supposed sense of injury, to master him so completely, that in a public ball-room he pulled a gentleman by the nose; and the person assaulted was now about to seek legal reparation, and the moment was arrived. I was very attentive to what passed below me, but equally engaged in watching its effect on the speaking countenance of the judge, in which I fancied that I saw condemnation of the folly of bring ing such an action. At length a witness was called to prove the assault. He was a tall, thin, sallow man, much respected in his neighbourhood, but he had a precise, slow, formal manner of speaking, very trying in a witness-box. However, the judge was patient, and evidently much diverted by the manner and matter of the witness. "But to the point, sir," cried the less patient examiner. "Did you see the assault This distinguished man soon paid the usual penalty "Yes, I did,” he replied; “ I was standing exacted from the prosperous, as he became a mark for by the dance when Mr Bdrew near. He placed satire and detraction; and though he was reputed to himself opposite to Mr L, at perhaps twelve paces, or so, distant from him. He then put his hand to his have shown great mildness and moderation while he head, and leaned his elbow on his other hand—thus. held the difficult and invidious office of Attorney- He seemed for some minutes, but I cannot say how General, he was charged with being fond of convict-many, absorbed in thought; I might say, in intense ing capitally when he became a judge. Whether this charge was true or not, I am not able to decide, but I trust that there are few judges of the present day who can be said with truth to delight in inflicting capital punishment. But the severest blow to his character was inflicted by Churchill in his poem of the Rosciad-as by

"A pert, prim prater of the Northern race,

Guill in his heart, and famine in his face,"

he meant to designate Alexander Wedderburne. I conclude, that, when Attorney-General, he had been

concerned in the prosecution of Wilkes, the friend of Churchill, and thence the bitter animosity which these lines portray. But whether the poet had just ground or not for thus attacking Lord Loughborough, I was particularly desirous to see him when I heard he was come to N-to preside at our assizes, and with Churchill's portrait of him "in my mind's eye," I eagerly repaired to the Nisi Prius Court, to compare it with the original. But I saw neither "pertness," "primness," nor "famine," in the face before me. Of what "guilt" might lie in the heart of the accused, I could not judge; but now, when I daily see that even good men are led by political differences, and their result, personal hatred, to accuse and vilify their fellow creatures, I am inclined to hope

that the guilt imputed to Lord Loughborough was the creature of the poet's rancorous revenge and his political dislike. However, I soon forgot Churchill's opinion in my eagerness to form my own of the interesting man I came to see; and I thought his ap

*["He was rapidly gaining ground as a junior counsel, when an accident put a sudden stop to his practice in his native courts. He had gained the cause of a client in opposition to the celebrated

or not?"

thinking; when, suddenly, he sprang forward, and
pulled Mr L- - by the nose."

Universal laughter followed this testimony, which,
though checked immediately by the call of silence,
was renewed, when the judge, casting a satirical
glance around, observed, in a loud voice, "The most
singular result of intense thinking that I ever re-
member!" and the corner of his mouth still moved
with internal laughter, even when he had resumed the
listening attitude of the judge. In the meanwhile, I
was delighted to find that a judge could laugh, in direct
Little did I then foresee that in after years from that
contradiction to the old saying "as grave as a judge."
period, the same judge would have been led to excite
as universal a laugh in the Court of Chancery, of
which I was the original cause. Soon after these
assizes he was made Lord Chancellor, and an appli-
cation came before him, in which I was interested.
A little ballad of mine, called "the Orphan Boy,"
which I had written for one composer, and therefore
had made it his sole property, was set to music and
published by another; and my friend applied to the
Chancellor to grant an injunction, to forbid the rival
composer from selling what he had set. The counsel
for the contending parties had been warm and long in
debate, when the Chancellor, assuming, I doubt not,
the meaning satirical look which I had seen and en-

joyed on another occasion, begged leave to ask whether
it would not be better, and certainly it would be more
amusing, if each composer was to sing his own song in
court! This proposal excited a general burst of
laughter; and as it was deemed an evidence that the
judge was fatigued, it brought the business to a
speedier decision, which was in favour of my friend,
and the injunction was granted.

Soon after, Lord Loughborough was created Earl
of Rosslyn, but his infirmities increased so rapidly,
that he died suddenly of apoplexy in 1805, and was
buried in St Paul's Cathedral.

Lockhart, when the defeated veteran, unable to conceal his
chagrin, took occasion from something in the manner of Mr
Wedderburne to call him a presumptuous boy.' The sarcastic
severity of the young barrister's reply drew upon him so illiberal
a rebuke from one of the judges, that he immediately unrobed, As he was supposed by many to have been the
and, bowing to the court, declared that he would never more
author of the Letters of Junius, no mean opinion could
plead where he was subjected to insult, but would seek a wider
field for his professional exertions. He accordingly removed to have been entertained of his abilities, as it was a com-
London, and enrolled himself a member of the Inner Temple."-pliment to the head of any man to be supposed capable
Scottish Biographical Dictionary. It was Wedderburne who gave
George III. the courageous advice to call in the troops for the of writing so well, though it was any thing but a com-
suppression of the London riots of 1780.-ED.]
pliment to his heart. But I believe there is no te-

What follows is an extract from a letter addressed by a lady, now residing in a large provincial town in Scot

land, to her niece in Edinburgh, the latter being merely a child. Though intended only to amuse a little girl and her young companions, it seems to us calculated to give pleasure, and convey instruction, to a wider circle. The simple language of the original is retained, as the best that could be employed on the occasion:

"Mr. -, who takes charge of the savings' bank here, was very much pleased with an old wifie, who came re

gularly every Saturday night and deposited a little sum. This careful decent wifie earned her bread by making jib, or what is sometimes called black man, but is here called toffy:* so her name was Toffy Betty. Well, Betty came regularly till she had fifty pounds in the bank, so that Mr was quite pleased with her, and one night he inquired how she contrived to save so much money. Betty told him that she made toffy, and sold it to the school-boys, and she always tried to save a little every week. At one time she got a rival in her business. Another woman, who saw that she was thriving in trade, opened a shop for jib just opposite to her; and she thought that she would have been ruined. But what do you think poor old Betty did? She bought a hobbyhorse at a sale; and every boy who came to buy, got a upon the hobby-horse, and Betty's door was always crowded when the schools came out; and she made be tween four and five hundred pounds, and built a house,

ride

and now lives in it, and keeps a grocer's shop."

THE CHEAP POSTAGE.

A letter which one of the editors of this paper received from a gentleman who resides in the Highlands, soon after the commencement of the fourpenny post, contained :-"I quite enter into your feelings the following passage :with regard to the great boon granted in the reduction of postage. It is a blessing which we can hardly conceive to the thousands who, till now, have been totally excluded from any intercourse with their distant friends. It is not ask for some means of buying a letter out of the post-office," at all unfrequent for the poor people in this country to which has been waiting there perhaps for weeks. The cost of a letter from England or elsewhere (one shilling or one and sixpence), from some of the friends of the labouring classes, has acted as an absolute prohibition of all intercourse between them." An illustration like thisis fit to downweigh whole articles in wrong-headed reviews, written by gentlemen skilled to "make the worse appear the better reason."

WHAT IS THE PRACTICAL GOOD OF SCIENCE? The common mind is little qualified to trace science to its results in the promotion of human happiness. In the following case, however, the benefit is so direct, that the simplest may comprehend :

(Dublin), we had an opportunity of seeing and learning "On the occasion of a recent visit to the metropolis the particulars of one of those extraordinary proofs of the resources of medical, or rather surgical science, which, both in these countries and on the continent, have of late years surprised and gratified mankind, and which are among the best and noblest triumphs of the art. The case to which we refer is that of a child then, and probably still, in St Vincent's Hospital, Stephen's Green; and the particulars, as stated to us by a non-professional gentleman, by whom we were accompanied, and who had taken great interest in the case from the commencement, were as follow:-The wretched infant, the child of poor parents in the neighbourhood of Cabinteely, was the subject of one of those hideous malformations with which it occasionally pleases Providence to afflict and disfigure humanity, and which in

the present case was what is usually termed pig's-face."

In this instance nature had failed to make either a front

to the mouth or a bottom to the nose, and in the stead there projected a kind of proboscis or snout, like that of a pig, with two teeth pointing outwards from its end. The wretched child, as soon as it was able to make an effort to feed itself (for it never sucked), was in the habit of thrusting its arm, up to the elbow, into the hideous cavity in the lower part of the face, in order to place its food within the passage to the stomach. The feelings of aversion with which the miserable creature was regarded by their neighbours rendered the condition of the unfortunate parents most wretched, until at length the poor mother, sick of its constant presence and monstrous appearance, brought it to the hospital, declaring she would hazardous to its life, if there were any chance of renderbe quite resigned to the result of any operation, however * [A kind of tablet made by boiling treacle or coarse sugar.]