tor's window, he heard me talking in the room; and, as he found the door open, he entered, climbed up stairs, and marching in, gave a loud burst of joy, to the no small affright of the family. "I am sorry, in relating such pleasing traits of my good and faithful friend Jacquot, when I reflect that it was myself that first dissolved the sweet friendship; but it was necessary that I should separate him by force. Poor Jacquot fancied himself as free in the best apartments as in his own, and after several accidents of that kind, he was shut up, and I saw him no more. etude lasted above a year, and he His inquidied from vexation. come as dry as a bit of wood, as I He was beam told, for I would not see him, and his death was concealed from me for more than two months after the event. Were I to recount all the friendly incidents between me and poor Jacquot, I should not, in four days, have done writing. He died in the third year of the reign of friendship, aged seven years and two months." ACCOUNT OF THE BURYING- THIS account of the burying-bettle is taken from M. Gleditch, a wellknown writer on natural history. This gentlemen had at different times observed, that moles which had been left upon the ground after they had been killed, very unaccountably disappeared. He therefore was determined to ascertain by experiment, if possible, what could be the cause of this singular occurrence. On the twenty-fifth of May, he accordingly obtained a dead mole, which he placed on the moist soft earth of his garden, and in two days he found it sunk to the depth of four fingers' breadth into the earth: it was in the same position in which he had placed it, and its grave corresponded exactly with the length and breadth of its body. The day 63 following this grave was half filled up; and he drew out the whole cautiously, which exhaled a horrible stench, and found, directly under it, little holes in which were four covering at this time nothing but beetles of the present species. Disthese beetles, he put them into the hollow, and they quickly hid themselves among the earth. He then replaced the mole as he found it, and having spread a little soft earth again for the space of six days. On over it, left it without looking at it the same carcase, which he found the 12th of June he again took up swarming with small, thick, whitish in the highest state of corruption, mily of the beetles. These circumworms, that appeared to be the fastances induced him to suppose that it was the beetles that had thus buried the mole, and that they had done this for the sake of lodging in it their offspring. and half filled it with moist earth; Mr. G. then took a glass cucurbit, into this he put the four beetles with their young, and they immediately concealed themselves. This cucurbit, covered with a cloth, was placed on the open ground, and in the course of fifty days the four beetles interred the bodies of four frogs, three small birds, two grasshoppers, and one mole, besides the en trails of of an ox. a fish, and two morsels of the lungs formed this very singular operation, Of the mode in which they perthe following is an account. A linnet that had been dead six hours was placed in the middle of the cucurquitted their holes and traversed the bit; in a few moments the beetles body. After a few hours, one pair the bird, the largest of which was of the beetles only was seen about gan their work in hollowing out the suspected to be the male. They beearth from under the bird. They arranged a cavity the size of the bird, by pushing all around the body the earth which they removed. To themselves strongly upon their colsucceed in these efforts, they leaned lars, and, bending down their heads, forced out the earth around the bird like a kind of rampart. The work being finished, and the bird having fallen into the hollow, they covered it, and thus closed the grave. It appeared as if the bird moved alternately its head, its tail, its wings, or feet. Every time that any of these movements were observed, the efforts that the beetles made to draw the body into the grave, which was now nearly completed, might be remarked: in effecting this, they jointly drew it by its feathers below. This operation lasted full two hours, when the smallest or male beetle, drove away the female from the grave, and would not allow her to return, forcing her to enter the hole as often as she attempted to come out of it. This beetle continued the work alone for at least five hours, and it was truly astonishing to observe the great quantity of earth that he removed in that time: but the surprize of Mr. G. was much augmented, when he saw the little animal, stiffening its collar, and exerting all its strength, lift up the bird, make it change its place, turn, and in some measure arrange it in the grave that it had prepared, which was so spacious, and so far cleared, that he could perceive exactly under the bird all the movements and all the actions of the beetle. From time to time the beetle, coming out of its hole, mounted upon the bird, and appeared to tread it down; then returning to the charge, it drew the bird more and more into the earth, till it was sunk to a considerable depth. The beetle, in consequence of this uninterrupted labour, appeared to be tired; leaning its head upon the earth, it continued in that position near an hour, without motion, and it then retired completely under ground. Early in the morning, the body was drawn entirely under ground to the depth of two fingers' breadth, in the same position that it had when laid on the earth; so that this little corpse seemed as if it were laid out on a bier, with a small mount or rampart all round, for the purpose of covering. In the evening, the bird was sunk about half a finger's breadth deeper into the earth; and the operation was continued for near two days more, when the work obtained its final completion. A single beetle was put into the glass cucurbit with the body of a mole, and covered, as before, with a fine linen cloth. About seven o'clock in the morning, the beetle had drawn the head of the mole below; and, in pushing the earth backward, had formed a pretty high rampart around it. The interment was completed, in this instance, by four o'clock in the afternoon, a space of time so short, that one could scarcely have imagined possible by so small a creature, without any assistance, considering that the body of the mole must have exceeded it in bulk and weight at least thirty times. While engaged in these experiments, a friend who wished to dry a toad in the shade, fixed it to a stick which he stuck into the ground. When it began to putrify, the beetles, allured by the smell, having loosened the end of the stick that was fixed in the earth, brought it to the ground, and they then interred both the toad and the stick together. ACCOUNT OF ROSLIN CASTLE. By a Lady. ROSLIN! sweet Roslin!....even though on a gloomy afternoon, and a good deal of rain, I was charmed, I was enchanted, with its beauties. The chapel was the first thing seen, being very near the inn. Its outside appeared to me like a common looking kirk, with a tiny side door for an entrance. Certainly a larger one, at the end, must have once existed, though now walled up. At present, there are only two small Gothic doors, opposite each other. No sooner had I passed the threshold, and entered the side aisle, than I was struck with astonish ment, at the beautiful structure and workmanship of the cieling and pillars; which, I suppose, were originally of a reddish stone, which time and weather have changed and softened to a variety of most beautiful tints. This chapel was built in the purest age of Gothic architecture, by a Sinclair of Caithness, who married the daughter of Robert Bruce, king of Scotland. The chapel is a good way from the castle that was Sinclair's residence; which in its time must have been'a place of great strength from its situation, on a point of a rock, inaccessible on every side but one, and that so narrow, that it is probable it was only a gateway and drawbridge. The chapel of Roslin has been the burying-place of the Sinclairs of Caithness for ages; but at present they have no property at Roslin. As one generally learns the legend of the spot one visits, from some garrulous guide, that of Roslin chapel must not be forgotten; but it was told in language so unintelligible, by the good wife who showed it, that I fear my tale will be but imperfect. An abridgment, how ever, may not be amiss. I shall, therefore, only take up her tale from the apprentice's pillar, which is certainly very different from all the others. The architect employed to build this chapel could not discover the intent of the plan given him; he was therefore obliged to go to Rome to learn his lesson. In the mean time his apprentice, having more penetration than his master, discovered the design; and in the absence of the architect, wrought the pillar that goes by his name. When the master returned, and found that his lad had more skill than himself, he struck him a violent blow upon his temple, which instantly killed him. Over what I suppose to have been the great door, opposite the four windows over the altar-piece, is carved the broken head of the poor apprentice, and his mother weeping for his untimely end. After all his trouble, the architect did not succeed, if the apprentice's pillar was conformable to the original plan of the edifice; for no other part of the work in the chapel resembles it; or the employer did not like the richer and more complicated style of the apprentice's pillar, so well as the more simple workmanship of the rest of the chapel. Roslin chapel is not large, but is reckoned to be a specimen of a very chaste and elegant piece of Gothic architecture. It is a ruin, but the most perfect ruin that can be seen. From the chapel to the ruined castle is a short quarter of a mile, down a very steep hill. There is but a very small part of the castle standing; a middling modern house being erected on a part of its wall........ It is situated, as I have before mentioned, upon a small peninsulated promontory of an immense rock, high above the surrounding river, North Esk, which winds round the castle, rushing hoarsely over its rocky bed, imprisoned by perpendicular sides of towering rocks, finely covered with wood; its noise, and its romantic beauties increase as it rolls down towards Hawthorndean, and forms a most picturesque view from the turning at the entrance to the castle. The walks by the river's side, cut through the rocks and woods of Roslin, are enchanting beyond description. It is impossible to do justice to the romantic charms of either Roslin or Hawthorndean; whose ancient walls rise amidst rocks and wood, hanging over the opposite side of the river, within sight of the walks of Roslin. Hawthorndean belongs to bishop Abernethy Drummond, and was once the habitation of a [the] poet of the name of Drummond. In going through Leswade, from Dalkeith to Roslin, we met a country wedding; it was then a very fine day, and the parties had just quitted the kirk, and mounted their horses. The bride and bridegroom were on the first horse, and a long cavalcade followed them; some double on a horse, some single, all trotting after the happy pair. As soon as they got down the steep hill from the kirk, they scampered through the town as fast as they could, in order to escape, as quickly as possible, the gaping curiosity of the town's-folks, who all came crowding to their doors. This, probably, was a penny wedding. In former times, when money was of far greater value than it is at present, it was the custom, in some parts of Scotland, when a bridegroom was not in circumstances to treat the guests at his marriage, for all who were invited to the wedding to pay each one penny, for dinner, dancing, &c. And although a shilling, or more, be now paid on such occasions, still they are called penny weddings. It is no very uncommon thing for the meeting at such weddings to be so numerous, as from the profits of it to enable the new married pair to furnish their house, or take a small farm. ON THE PROPENSITY OF SEVERAL NATIONS TO HARD DRINKING. IT is in general with whole nations as with individuals. The more noble and generous they are, so much the more moderate are they in the enjoyments of sense; and, on the contrary, the more base and ignoble, so much the more preponderant and unconquerable is their propensity to sensual pleasures of the grosser kinds. One main branch of sensuality is an inclination to intoxicating or stupefying liquors and drugs; and this inclination augments, in whole nations, allowing for some particular exceptions, the causes whereof I have elsewhere endeavoured to ascertain, in equal proportion with the decline of superior mental powers, and the disposition to great virtues and signal exploits. Accordingly, all Sclavonian nations have ever been, as in general more sensual, so also more intemperate in the use of strong liquors, than the not-Sclavonian; and the former are again, in regard to gluttony, beyond all comparison exceeded by the Mongolian nations. I here pass by the oriental nations, having already taken notice of them in another dissertation. Neither shall I collect together the universal testimony of travellers concerning the gluttony of each particular Sclavonian nation, the Poles, the Illyrians, Moldavians, and Vallachians. I confine myself principally to the Russians, because I find the most express and accurate accounts of them in writers of the highest credit sufficient to convince every one, that the gluttony of the other not-Sclavonian nations was never so great as among the common Russians. When the elder Gmelin was on his travels through Siberia, between the years 1733 and 1743, there happened no religious festival, no civil anniversary, no family entertainment, which was not celebrated by all who assisted at them by a general intoxication. This rage for drinking in the Russians of Siberia, Gmelin knew not how to compare to any thing but a contagious burning fever that attacked every age and rank and sex, which, though it had its intervals, soon returned, at stated periods, with equal or increased fury. This drinking fever always broke out more violently and universally on the high festivals, and therefore also in the Christmas week. From Christmas to the Epiphany, and frequently for a week longer, it was extremely rare to see a sober person. The Siberians were not satisfied with being intoxicated once a day, but the drinking and the riot continued night and day almost incessantly. During all this time it was not possible, either by intreaties or bribes, or any other means but open violence, to induce artificers and labourers to work, and when the travellers arrived at any place on this or any the like drinking-festival, their soldiers and the rest of their attendants, notwithstanding all the threats they could employ, got drunk as immoderately and continually as the inhabitants of the place, and they had nothing to do but to wait there in patience till the paroxysm was over. Not only men, but women likewise, frequently drink themselves to death; and it is affirmed by Bruce, that, in what is called the Butter-week, seldom a morning passes in Mosco, but from ten to twelve persons are found dead in the streets, who have fallen down in the night, and been frozen. Of such mortal intoxications we can the less doubt, on reading that a single boor will frequently drink in one day brandy to the amount of five rubles. Not less licentious than the Christmas week, were the Butter-week, as it is called, or the week before Lent, the Easter week, every saint's day, every harvest or threshing feast, every consecration of a church, and all other solemn occasions. Such festivals and solemnities often followed so close on each other, that they were drunk for a whole month together, particularly in October, from one festival to another. At these times, when the Russians of Siberia were once fallen into this rage, it cost them inexpressible efforts to return to their usual way of life, and to be completely drunk only ence in about every four days. The ordinary liquor for this purpose used by the Russians of Siberia is bad brandy, and when this is wanting, a sort of beer, which they frequently render more inebriating by infusing a handful of the ephedra monostachya. This herb has the peculiar property of producing such a surprising intoxication, that those who are drunk with it continue singing and capering till they fall down to the ground. When the brandy or the beer is all out, they then guzzle down the dregs, as every thing is of a good taste to them that does but fill. The viceroy and governor in great towns, and, after their example, the sub-governor and secretary, let no court-holiday, and no names-day and birth-day in their own family, pass unsolemnized. To such festivities, not only the officers, and the higher and lower orders of the clergy, but likewise the most considerable persons in trade are invited. To the 67 are served in abundance; but to the former the most choice foreign wines latter only mead is presented instead of wine, and yet no merchant goes away from table without leaving uphonour of having been feasted at so on it a half ruble or a ruble for the noble a board, by which custom the expences of the entertainment are greatly diminished. At the tables of the inferior voivodes the brandy glasses, but large stochans or tumis drunk not out of common wine has been the most beastly in his blers, and whoever at such banquets drinking and in his behaviour, has a rich present sent him the following day. Drunkenness there, at this present day, is so little disgraceful, that the best breeding. It is not long ago, it is not taken amiss even in ladies of that not only the common people, but princes and ladies of quality, lets of brandy instead of the water when sick, would drink whole gob prescribed them by the physician. would scarcely believe that the RusThe generality of our readers sians can be outdone in drinking by other nations. But they will think quite otherwise when they shall have read the following accounts of the excesses of the Negroes and Ameri cans. rum, are that, among the Negroes, not only All travellers are agreed herein, men, but also women and children, to strong liquors. In Africa palmhave an unsurmountable propensity wine, and especially European brandy, and in the West-Indies their favourite drinks. For procuring European brandy, kings sell their subjects, husbands their wives, and parents their children for slaves to the Europeans. When they have water, as they call it, they seldom obtained this water of life, or fireleave it till they have seen the end ed uninterruptedly drinking for six of it. Thus, a Negro-king continudays and nights, without taking any the least food. The Negroes usually assemble every afternoon in certain public buildings appropriated to either in brandy, or for want of it, that purpose, and fuddle themselves |