scarce read. Being to read a bill for naturalizing Jemima, Duchess of Kent, he called her Jeremiah, Duchess of Kent.---Having heard south walls commended for ripening fruit, he showed all the four sides of his garden for south walls.---A gentleman writing to desire a fine horse he had, offered him any equivalent; Lord William replied, that the horse was at his service, but he did not know what to do with an elephant.---A pamphlet, called The Snake in the Grass, being reported (probably in joke) to be written by this Lord William Poulet, a gentleman, abused in it, sent him a challenge. Lord William professed his innocence, and that he was not the author; but the gentleman would not be satisfied without a denial under his hand. Lord William took a pen, and began, 66 This is to scratify, that the buk called the Snak"---" Oh, my Lord," said the person, "I am satisfied; your Lordship has already convinced me you did not write the book."

VARIETIES.

MODERN ENJOYMENTS.

"Ah, if you did but know the pain and fatigue of assembling such a party, you would pity the fate of the master of the house." Such was the remark made to me by my friend Mr. B-, who the evening before had given a ball, or rather a soiree dansante, as it is agreed to use that term, although any thing but good French.---" It is thirty years,' added Mr. B, "since I began to entertain friends at my own house. At that period nothing was easier. A single violin was enough for the dance; and the neighbouring tavern-keeper was happy to assist my cook in preparing supper. But how different now-a-days! A ball is a state affair. Two or three days are scarcely sufficient for the preparations. The workmen are all artists, and Heaven only knows the deference which it is necessary to pay to these gentlemen! They turn the house out of windows. First comes the upholsterer, attended by five or six assistants. He takes my doors off their hinges; removes my furniture in order to substitute couches, garlands of flowers, and card-tables; pierces all my curtains with hooks; displaces the portrait of my aunt, which for forty years had never been touched; and despatches

my poor library into the garret. The professor of culinary chemistry, vulgarly called the cook, haughtily declares to me that he cannot operate in my kitchen, which is much too small; and I am compelled to construct a pantry in my coachhouse. The director of the orchestra, who no longer plays country dances, but who executes solos, assures me that he should be disgraced if it were known that he consented to be placed on the ground, between two doors; and requires me to build a gallery in my saloon. Finally, at six o'clock in the morning, when all is over, and I want to go to bed, I can find neither my bed, nor my night-cap, and am obliged to bivouac in an arm-chair, on the field of battle, among the fragments of supper, the expiring lamps, and the cards with which the floor is strewed.

SHORT HISTORY OF DUELLING IN IRELAND.

66

MACKLIN once undertook in a lecture, at his school of oratory, to show the cause of duelling in Ireland; and why it was much more the practice of that nation than any other. In order to do this in his own way, he began with the earliest history of the Irish, as it respected the customs, the education, and the animal spirits of the inhabitants; and after getting as far as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, he was again proceeding, when Foote, who was present, spoke to order. ---" Well, sir; what have you to say upon this subject?" Only to crave a little attention, sir, (says Foote, with much seeming modesty,) when I think I can settle this point in a few words.". 66 Well, sir, go on." 66 Why, then, sir," says Foote, "to begin, What o'clock is it?"-" O'clock !" says Macklin, "what has the clock to do with a dissertation on duelling? Pray, sir," says Foote," be pleased to answer my question. "Macklin, on this, pulled out his watch, and reported the hour to be half past ten. Very well," says Foote; about this time of the night, every gentleman in Ireland, that can possibly afford it, is in his third bottle of claret, consequently is in a fair way of getting drunk; from drunkenness proceeds quarrelling, and from quarrelling duelling; and so there's an end of the chapter.' The company seemed fully satisfied with this abridgment; and Macklin shut up his lecture for that evening in great dudgeon.

66

This

PERFIDY PUNISHED. Among the lives of female heroines, lately published at Paris, it appears, that in 1722, a IM d'Estache, formerly a cornet in the French dragoons, having seduced a young woman, of the name of St. Cheron, the daughter of a brother officer, and by whom she became pregnant, he at length carried the insult so far as to refuse to marry her under the shameful pretence of having been intimate with her mother in the early part of his life! The abused damsel had two brothers, lieutenants of horse in the regiments of Brisac, who would have compelled the sieur d'Estache to marry their sister, to retrieve her honour, and vindicate their calumniated mother; but d'Estache wounded the eldest in the face with a pistol, and shot the youngest with a gun out of a window. injured family had a sister, who for some time abandoned herself to grief and rage, but the last of those passions at length prevailing, prompted her to a revenge above the daring of her sex; this young gentlewoman being informed that her sister's ravisher and brother's murderer was at Montpellier, went thither from Gignac, where she lived, and arrived there on the 5th of March, in the evening. She found means on the 7th to be introduced to the guilty author of her family's disgrace, and without any ceremony shot him dead with a pistol. Having done the deed, she wrote the next day to the regent, and to M. le Blanc, secretary at war, owning the fact but denying it to be an offence, and, justifying her innocence by the provocation, yet at the same time humbly imploring for mercy. Her letters were received on the 16th, in the morning, and his royal highness the duke regent immediately dispatched an express to the lieutenant criminal of Montpellier, to send the information against her to M. le Blanc, and not to give judgement till farther orders. The ladies of Montpellier, one and all, declared their approbation of the action, and two of them even made themselves prisoners to bear her company in her confinement, which was not of long continuance; for, notwithstanding that she had acted the heroine's part, rather than that of the Christian, she soon obtained her pardon.

Some one writing against gravity, says the gravest beast is an ass; the gravest bird is an owl; the gravest fish is an oyster; and the gravest man is a fool.

LINES

On seeing the Tomb of a Statesman surrounded by the humble graves of the peasants in a lovely Village Church-yard.

Within this tranquil place of rest,

Should warning passions ne'er invade, Here should Ambition's voice be hushed, And low each thought of pride be laid.

For see within how near a space,

The statesman and the peasant lie, Tho' es ever d once hy rank or wealth, Each shared the human lot-to die.

His constant toil, his lowly lot,

Were vain the peasant's life to save,
Nor pomp, nor power, nor rank availed,
To snatch the statesman from the grave.

The streamlet softly murmuring near,
Is nature's requiem o'er the dead,
The mournful yew its branches wave,
And flowers adorn each lowly bed.

"Tis here, methinks, would I be laid,
Within this lovely peaceful spot,
And o'er my grave an urn should bear
These simple words-" Forget me not." M.

TO MY SOFA.

Written by an Invalid, during a temporary amendment.

Dear sofa, where so long I've lain.
Confined by weakness or by pain,
I'm glad to quit thee;

Releas'd at length from draught and pill
I'm free to wander where I will

If health permit me..

And see the blooming month of May
Appears to bid me haste away,

To cull her flowers.-
Ungrateful I may seem, 'tis true,
For all the ease bestowed by you,
In pain's long hours.

I'm like the rest of human kind,
Whom benefits can never bind,
Who still deceive us ;

They seek our aid when in distress,
Eternal gratitude profess,

And then they leave us.

They leave us, and forget us too,
But so I shall not do by you,

Too much I owe thee;

Each act of kind attention lent

By those who o'er my couch have bent,
Endears thee to me.

A father's hand thy cushions spread,
A mother's care sustained my head
With thy soft pillows;

And every care of love bestowed,
When o'er my drooping spirits flowed
Affliction's billows.

Thus wilt thou constantly recal
My parents' love, dearer than all
The gold of Ophir;

And if once more attacked by pain,
I'll patiently return again
To my good Sofa,

THE majestic Etna, which the ancients considered, not unreasonably, as one of the highest mountains in the world, and on the summit of which they believed that Deucalion and Pyrrha sought refuge, to save themselves from the universal deluge, is situated on the plain of Catania, in Sicily.

Its elevation above the level of the sea has been estimated at 10,963 feet, upwards of two miles. On clear days it is distinctly seen from Valetta, the capital of Malta, a distance of 150 miles. It is incomparably the largest burning mountain in Europe. From its sides other mountains arise, which, in different ages, have been ejected in single masses from its enormous crater. The most extensive lavas of Vesuvius do not exceed seven miles in length, while those VOL. III,

of Etna extend to fifteen, twenty, and some even to thirty miles. The crater of Etna is seldom less than a mile in circuit, and sometimes is two or three miles; but the circumference of the Vesuvian crater is never more than half a mile, even when widely distended, in its most destructive conflagrations. Lastly, the earthquakes occasioned by these adjacent volcanoes, their eruptions, their showers of ignited stones, and the destruction and desolation which they create, are severally proportionate to their respective dimensions.

A journey up Etna is considered as an enterprise of importance, as well from the difficulty of the route, as from the distance, it being thirty miles from Catania to the summit of the mountain.

No, 66.

EXTRACTS FROM NEW
BOOKS.

HALL ON SOUTH AMERICA. THE only preface we need to the following paper, is that of noticing that the author is in Lima after its conquest by San Martin and Lord Cochrane :"Being desirous (says Capt. H.) of ascertaining, by every means, the real state of popular feeling, which generally developes itself at public meetings, I went to one of the bull-fights, given in honour of the new Viceroy's installation. It took place in an immense wooden amphitheatre, capable of holding, it was said, twenty thousand people. As we had been disappointed at Valparaiso by a sham bull-fight, we hoped here to witness an exhibition worthy of the mother country. But the resemblance was not less faulty, though in the opposite extreme, for the bulls were here put to death with so many unusual circumstances of cruelty, as not only to make it unlike the proper bull-fights, but take away all pleasure in the spectacle from persons not habituated to the sight. These exhibitions have been described by so many travellers, that it is needless here to do more than advert to some circumstances peculiar to those of Lima.

"After the bull had been repeatedly speared, and tormented by darts and fireworks, and was all streaming with blood, the matador, on a signal from the Viceroy, proceeded to dispatch him. Not being, however, sufficiently expert, he merely sheathed his sword in the animal's neck without effect. The bull instantly took his revenge, by tossing the matador to a great height in the air, and he fell apparently dead in the area. The audience applauded the bull, while the attendants carried off the matador. The bull next attacked a horseman, dismounted him, ripped up the horse's belly, and bored him to the ground, where he was not suffered to die in peace, but was raised on his legs, and urged, by whipping and goading, to move round the ring in a state too horrible to be described, but which afforded the spectators the greatest delight. The noble bull had thus succeeded in baffling his tormentors as long as fair means were used, when a cruel device was thought of to subdue him. A large curved instrument called a Luna was thrown at him from behind, in such a way as to divide the hamstrings of the hind legs; such, however, were his

strength and spirit, that he did not fall, but actually travelled along at a tolerable pace on his stumps, a most horrible sight! This was not all, for a man armed with a dagger now mounted the bull's back, and rode about for some minutes to the infinite delight of the spectators, who were thrown into ecstasies, and laughed and clapped their hands at every stab given to the miserable animal, not to kill him, but to stimulate him to accelerate his pace; at length, the poor beast exhausted by loss of blood, fell down and died.

"The greater number of the company, although females, seemed so enchanted with the brutal scene passing under their eyes, that I looked round, in vain, for a single face that looked grave; every individual seeming quite delighted; and it was melancholy to observe a great proportion of children amongst the spectators, from one of whom, a little girl, only eight years old, I learned that she had already seen three bull-fights; the details of which shegave with great animation and pleasure, dwelling especially on those horrid circumstances I have described. It would shock and disgust to no purpose to give a minute account of other instances of wanton cruelty, which, however, appeared to be the principal recommendation of these exhibitions.

"The reflections which force themselves on the mind, on contemplating a whole population frequently engaged in such scenes, are of a painful nature; for it seems impossible to conceive, that, where the taste is so thoroughly corrupted there can be left any groundwork of right feelings upon which to raise a superstructure of principle, of knowledge, or of just sentiment."

Connected with these struggles of man against animals, we have some extraordinary details of the skill and prowess of the guassos :--

"When a wild horse is to be taken, the lasso is always placed round the two hind legs, and, as the guasso rides a little on one side, the jerk pulls the entangled horse's feet laterally, so as to throw him on his side, without endangering his knees or his face. Before the horse can recover the shock, the rider dismounts, and snatching his poucho or cloak from his shoulders, wraps it round the prostrate animal's head; he then forces into his mouth one of the powerful bridles of the country, straps a saddle on his back, and, bestriding him, removes the poucho; upon which the