to no fewer than thirty-one thousand and seventyeight. An enterprising English party, consisting of men and women, took shelter in the convent of St. Bernard, during a fall of snow. The monks fed them and their horses as long as they could, giving up their bread to the beasts, when they had no more crude grain to bestow on them. The guests had no other alternative but that of departing; but how were they to get the horses over the snow, which was yet too soft to support them? The ingenuity and activity of the monks found an expedient. They turned out with their servants, and placing blankets before the animals, which were carried forward and extended afresh, as soon as passed over, conducted men, women, and beasts, in safety over their mountains! The breed of dogs kept by the monks to assist them in their labours of love, has been long celebrated for its sagacity and fidelity. All the oldest and most tried of them were lately buried along with some unfortunate travellers, under one of those tremendous snowfalls, so common in the Alps; three or four hopeful puppies were left at home in the convent, and still survive. The most celebrated of those which are no more, was a dog called Barry. This animal served the hospital for the space of twelve years, during which he saved the lives of forty individuals. His zeal was indefatigable. Whenever the mountain was enveloped in fogs and snow, he set out in search of lost travellers. He was accustomed to run barking until he lost his breath, and would frequently venture on the most perilous places. When he found his strength was insufficient to draw from the snow a traveller benumbed with cold, he would run back to the hospital in search of the monks. One day this interesting animal found a child in a frozen state between the bridge of Dronaz and the ice-house of Balsora; he immediately began to lick him, and having succeeded in restoring animation by means of his caresses, he induced the child to tie himself round his body. In this way, he carried the poor little creature, as if in triumph, to the hospital. When old age deprived him of strength, the prior of the convent pensioned him at Berney, by way of reward. After his death his hide was stuffed and deposited in the museum of that town. The little phial in which he carried a reviving liquor, to the distressed travellers whom he found among the mountains, is still suspended from his neck. THE ICELANDERS. SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE and Dr. Holland, who visited Iceland in the year 1810, give an interesting narrative of their journey. "At the present time," Dr. Holland remarks, "there are many individuals living on this remote spot, and from their situation exposed to innumerable privations, whose talents and acquirements would grace the most refined circles of civilized society. The business of education is systematically carried on among all classes of the inhabitants; and the degree of information existing even among the lower classes, is probably greater than in almost any part of continental Europe. The instruction of his children forms one of the Icelander's stated occupa→ tions; and while the little earthen hut which he inhabits is almost buried in the snow, and while darkness and desolation are universally spreading around, the light of an oil lamp illumines the page from which he reads to his family lessons of knowledge, religion, and virtue. The attainments of the Icelanders with respect to languages, are very wonderful, and are among the cir cumstances which most forcibly attract the attention of a stranger, "He sees men whose habitations bespeak a condition little removed from the savage state; men who are deprived of almost every comfort, and who amid the storms of the surrounding ocean, seek in their little boats the scanty provisions on which their families depend. Among these very men, he finds an acquaintance with the classical writings of antiquity, a taste formed on the models of Greece and Rome, and a susceptibility to all the beauties which these models THE ICELANDERS. 49 disclose. While traversing the country, he is often attended by guides who can communicate with him in Latin; and arriving at his place of rest for the night, he not unfrequently draws forth from his little smithy, a man who addresses him in Latin with great fluency and elegance." The importance that is attached to knowledge by all ranks, is attested by a very singular article in the ecclesiastical code of this country, which grants to bishops, or even to the inferior clergy, the power of preventing any marriage where the woman is unable to read. The books in possession of the lower classes are chiefly of a religious nature. In many parishes, there is a small library belonging to the church, from which, under the superintendence of the minister, every family in the district may derive some little addition to its means of instruction and improvement. How wonderful is all this, in a country where nature, aided by the utmost efforts of human industry, seems hardly adequate to provide for the articles of first necessity! GOOD FEELING.-It was some time after the battle of Waterloo, when so many maimed and wounded officers were to be seen in the streets, that a gentleman passing along Bond street, was somewhat forcibly pushed against the wall by a porter. In the irritation of the moment, he raised a small cane he had in his hand, and gave the porter a smart cut across the shoulders. The man instantly turned round, and threw himself in an attitude of attack; but perceiving his adversary had recently lost his right arm, he took off his hat, and without saying a word, passed on his way. E RESIGNATION. My path, O Lord! is clouded o'er, For oh! this contrite, broken heart, Then let my path be clouded o'er, And though I mourn, must murmur not. Yes, all thy "waves have o'er me gone ;" "The weeds are wrapped about my head;" 66 'Thy water floods" are rolling on, Thy thickest night is round me spread. But still, Great God! in this dread hour, Thy justice own, my sins deplore, |