I caused to be weighed and numbered, we found upwards of 1600. Now, suppose each of these burns, one with another, only half an hour, then a poor man will purchase eight hundred hours of light, a time exceeding thirty-three entire days, for three shillings. According to this account, each rush, before dipping, costs one-thirty-third of a farthing, and one-eleventh afterwards. Thus a poor family will enjoy five and a half hours of comfortable light for a farthing. An experienced old housekeeper assures me, that one pound and a half of rushes completely supplies her family the year round, since working people burn no candle in the long days, because they rise and go to bed by day-light.

Little farmers use rushes much in the short days, both morning and evening, in the dairy and kitchen; but the very poor, who are always the worst economists, and therefore must continue very poor, buy a halfpenny candle every evening, which, in their blowing open rooms, does not burn much more than two hours. Thus have they only two hours' light for their money instead of eleven.-WHITE's His tory of Selborne.

THE VILLAGE CHURCH.

DEAR IS the ancient village church, which rears
By the lone yew, on lime or elm-girt mound,
Its modest fabric: dear, 'mic pleasant sound
Of bells, the gray embattled tow'r, that wears,
Of changeful hue, the marks of by-gone years;
Buttress, and porch, and arch with mazy round
Of curious fret or shapes fantastic crown'd;
Tall pinnacles, and mingled window-tiers,
Norman, or misnamed Gothic. Fairer spot
Thou givest not, England, to the tasteful eye,
Nor to the heart more soothing. Blest their lot,
Knew they their bliss, who own, their dwelling nigh,
Such resting-place; there, by the world forgot,

In life to worship, and, when dead, to lie!D. C.

with its bulky body, is itself a prey to the diminutive Onisci, and is obliged to have recourse to the seabirds, who, sitting on its back. free it from these vermin.

We are as much amazed at the prodigious strength of the elephant and rhinoceros, as we are pleased with the slender deer of Guinea, which is, in all its parts, like our deer, but scarcely so large as the smallest lap-dog. Nature has, however, in the nimbleness of its feet, abundantly compensated this animal for the smallness of its size.

The Great Ostriches of Arabia, whose wings are insufficient to raise their bulky body from the ground, excite no less admiration than the little hummingbirds of India, hardly bigger than beetles, which feed on the honey of flowers, like bees and flies, and, like those insects, are the prey of ordinary spiders; between which, and the large spider of Brazil, there is as much difference in size, as between the humming-bird and the ostrich. This great spider often attacks the largest birds, dropping on their backs, by means of its web, from the branches of trees; and while they vainly seek for security in flight, it bites them in such a manner that they not unfrequently fall lifeless to the ground.

The singular figures of some animals cannot fail to attract our notice. We wonder, with reason, at the angular appendage to the nose of the American bat: nor is the short and slender upper mandible, or jaw, of the Indian woodpecker less remarkable; the form of the latter being as unusual among birds, as is among fishes the figure of the American fishing-frog, which is furnished with feet, but cannot walk; while another kind of fish, when the rivulet which it inhabits becomes dry, has a power of travelling over land, till it finds more copious streams.

The plaice, the sole, and many other fishes, although the only animals which have both eyes on the same side of the head, do not, perhaps, astonish us so much, being common fishes, as the horned frog of

BY LINNEUS.

I KNOW not what to think of those people who can, without emotion, hear or read the accounts of the many wonderful animals which inhabit foreign countries.

What principally strikes us agreeably at first sight, is colour; of which the good and great Creator has given to some animals a rich variety, far beyond the reach of human art. Scarcely any thing can equal the beauty of birds in general; particularly the splendour of the Peacock.

India boasts a number of fishes, whose painted scales almost equal the plumage of birds in beauty; the sword-fish, whose sparkling white colour excels the purest and most polished silver or the goldfish of the Chinese, which shines with such golden splendour.

The Author of Nature has frequently decorated even the minutest insects, and worms themselves, which inhabit the bottom of the sea, in so exquisite a manner, that the most polished metal looks dull beside them. The great golden beetle of the Indies has its head studded with ornaments like precious stones, brilliant as the finest gold; and the Aphrodita Aculeata, reflecting the sunbeams from the depths of the sea, exhibits as vivid colours as the peacock itself, when spreading its jewelled train.

The difference of size, in different animals, must strike us with no less astonishment; especially if we compare the huge whale with the almost invisible mite; the former, whilst it shakes the largest ships

:

at the extremities of which its eyes are placed; its stern aspect cannot fail to strike with horror all who behold it. This frog is unable, however, to move its eyes in different directions at the same time, like the chameleon, which appears to have a power of contemplating at once many distant objects, and of attending equally to all for this animal certainly does not live on air, as many have reported, but on flies, which it follows with its piercing and sparkling eyes, till it has got so near them, that by darting forth its long tongue, they are instantly caught and swallowed. While the slender ant-bear, which has no teeth, and which the Creator has appointed to live on ants alone, by coiling up its tongue like a serpent, and laying it near an ant hill, collects the little animals, and devours them entire.

He who has given life to animals, has given them all different means of supporting it: for, if all birds were to fly in the same manner, all fishes to swim with the same velocity, and all quadrupeds to run with equal swiftness, there would soon be an end of the weaker ones.

That wisdom which deliberates on all future events, has covered the porcupine-fish, like the hedgehog, on every side with a strong guard of thorns; has bestowed on the armadillo, as on the tortoise, a hard shell, in which it rolls itself up, and bids defiance to its enemies; and has enveloped the Canada pike with a coat of mail.

The same Almighty artist has given the flying squirrel a power of extending its skin on each side of its body, in such a manner, that, being enabled to

descend by a precipitate flight from one branch to another, it easily avoids its enemies. He has fixed wings to the sides of the little dragon, with which, by the help of its feet, it supports itself in the air, in the manner of a bat. Thus also has he lengthened out the fin on the breast of the flying-fish, that it might seek for safety in the air, when pursued by its enemies in the water: and he has likewise formed an appendage to the tail of the great cuttle-fish, by means of which it springs out of the sea at the same time being furnished with a bladder, full of a sort of ink, with which it darkens the water, and eludes the sight of its pursuers.

Other animals are preserved by means of their dismal cries, as the capuchin-monkey, whose horrid yellings are intolerable to the ears; and the sloth, whose piercing voice puts all the wild beasts to flight: the slow-paced maucauco is supplied with double ears, that he may betake himself to the trees in time to avoid danger; there he gathers the fruit in safety, always first tasting what he presents to his mate. The Creator has indulged the opossum with a retreat for her young in her own body, to which they betake

themselves in case of an alarm.

The torpedo, of all animals the most tender and slow-paced, and therefore most obnoxious to the attacks of others, has received from its Maker a power denied to other creatures, of giving those who approach it a shock, of such a nature that none of its enemies can bear it.

Truly formidable are the arms which the Lord of Nature has given to some animals. Though he has left serpents destitute of feet, wings, and fins, and has ordered them to crawl on the ground, exposed to all kinds of injuries, yet he has armed them with dreadful envenomed weapons: but, that they may not do immoderate mischief, he has only given these arms to about a tenth part of the various species; at the same time arraying them in such habits that they are not easily distinguishable from one another; so that men and other creatures, while they cannot well distinguish the noxious ones from those which are innocent, shun them all with equal care. We shudder with horror, when we think of these cruel weapons. Whoever is wounded by the hooded serpent expires in a few minutes; nor can he escape with life, who is bitten by the rattlesnake in any part near a great

vein.

But the merciful God has distinguished these pests by peculiar signs, and has created them most inveterate enemies; for, as he has appointed cats to destroy mice, so he has provided the ichneumon against the former serpent, and the hog to persecute the latter. He has, moreover, given the rattlesnake a very slow motion, and has annexed a kind of rattle to its tail, by the shaking of which it gives notice of its approach.

The ravages of the crocodiles are restrained within very narrow limits; not only by means of the cruelty with which it devours its own young, and of the bird which destroys its eggs; but also by the striped lizard, which informs men of the approach of the crocodile. Just in the same manner the human race are preserved from lions and tigers, by means of the little lizard called gecko; which being alarmed for its own safety, runs hastily to man, and acquaints him with his danger.

Man, ever desirous of knowledge, has already explored many things; but more and greater still remain concealed; for I cannot avoid thinking that those which we know of the Divine works, are much fewer than those of which we are ignorant.

DOGS AND RATS.

THE following curious anecdote is sent to us on such unquestionable authority, as to leave no doubt of its authenticity.

dogs, who belong to nobody, and live upon the quay of the At Bishop's Stortford, in Hertfordshire, there are two river or canal there. These dogs take the greatest delight in rat-hunting; and, when the maltsters go about at night, to see that all is safe, these dogs invariably follow at their heels.

Their mode of proceeding is very ingenious. As soon as the door is unlocked, one rushes in, and courses round pursuing his way among the malt. The other stands at the warehouse, not chasing any rat which may start, but the door, and snaps at the rats as they endeavour to escape. The one standing at the door has been known to kill six rats, all of which rushed to the door at the same time. The next room they come to, they have been known to change posts; the one which hunted before, standing at the door and seizing the prey. By this means, these two dogs have killed, in the malting-houses of one maltster, upwards of 2000 rats in the course of a year! One of them once killed sixty-seven rats in less than five minutes! They seem to pursue the sport simply for their own amusement; but of course they are welcome companions to the workmen.

INSTANCE OF CONFIDENCE IN BRITISH HUMANITY.Frazer, in his account of the war between the British and the Ghoorkha nation, in the Nepal country in India, during the year 1814, gives an interesting account of the confidence which even an enemy placed in the humanity of the British character. During the attack of the British on the fort of Kalunga, the Ghoorkha garrison solicited, and obtained, of the besiegers, surgical aid for their wounded. On one occasion this gave rise to a singular and interesting scene. While the batteries were playing, a man was per ceived on the beach, advancing and waving his hand. The guns ceased firing for a while, and the man came to the batteries: he proved to be a Ghoorkha, whose lower jaw had been shattered by a cannon-shot, and who came thus frankly to solicit assistance from his enemy. It is unne cessary to add, that it was instantly afforded. He reco vered, and when discharged from the hospital, signified his desire to return to his corps to combat us again; exhibiting thus, through the whole, a strong sense of the value of generosity and courtesy in warfare, and also of his duty to his country, separating completely, in his own mind, private and national feelings from each other, and his frank confidence in the individuals of our nation from the duty he owed his own, to fight against us collectively. -FRAZER'S Journal.

UPON OCCASION OF A REDBREAST COMING INTO HIS CHAMBER.-Pretty bird, how cheerfully dost thou sit and sing, and yet knowest not where thou art, nor where thou shalt make thy next meal; and, at night, must shroud thyself in a bush for lodging! What a shame is it for me, that see before me so liberal provisions of my God, and find myself sit warm under my own roof, yet am ready to droop under a distrustful and unthankful dulness. Had I so little certainty of my harbour and purveyance, how heartless should I be, how careful, how little list should I have hither without a Providence. God sent thee not so much to make music to thee or myself! Surely thou comest not to delight as to shame me; who, under more apparent means, am less cheerful and confident: reason and faith have not done so much in me, as in thee mere instinct of nature; want of foresight makes thee more merry, if not more happy here, than the foresight of better things maketh

me.

O God, thy providence is not impaired by those powers thou hast given me above these brute things: let not my greater helps hinder me from an holy security, and com fortable reliance upon thee.-BISHOP HALL.

The Cuttle Fish, figured in the above print, is furnished in front with eight arms or feelers, with which it grapples with its enemy, or conveys its prey to its mouth. These arms are most curiously constructed, and afford the animal ample means of defence; they possess in themselves a strong muscular power, and this is materially assisted by numerous cups or suckers, placed along the whole of their inner surface, with which they fasten themselves to any object they come in contact with. These feelers appear to be also endued with some peculiar power, of a galvanic nature; since the pain which they inflict does not cease for a long time after the removal of the animal, leaving a kind of stinging sensation, like that produced by nettles, which remains for many hours, and is followed by a troublesome irritation and itching.

The size to which this creature grows has been variously stated; and, although evidently exaggerated by some authors, there can be no doubt that it attains to a very considerable magnitude. When attacked in its own element, it has been known capable of overcoming a powerful mastiff. Its jaws are, likewise, extremely strong, formed like the beak of a parrot, and very hard. In addition to these means of defence, it possesses within its body a bladder, containing an inky-coloured fluid, which it has the power of throwing out at will, and by thus discolouring the water, escapes the pursuit of its enemies. This inky

liquid, when dried, forms a very valuable colour, used by artists, and called, after the animal, Sepia. The eggs of the female are of an oval form, and joined to each other in clusters. They are of the size of filberts, of a black colour, and commonly known by the name of Sea Grapes: they are found attached to sea-weed, rocks, and other marine substances.

The Cuttle Fish generally remains with its body in some hole in a rock, while its arms are extended in every direction, to seize the wanderer that may chance to pass its place of ambush. Its appetite is voracious, and it seizes as its prey every living thing that it has the power to conquer.

One species-the Sepia Officinalis-is very common on the English coasts, and the bone which is enclosed in its body is frequently found on the sands: it is a well-known substance, and is much employed in the manufacture of tooth-powder. This bone, which, with the exception of the jaws, is the only solid part in the Sepia, differs in shape in the different species; but is always somewhat oval in its shape, though differing considerably in texture.

SATURDAY EVENING.

THE week is past, the Sabbath-dawn comes on.
Rest-rest in peace-thy daily toil is done;
And standing, as thou standest on the brink
Of a new scene of being, calmly think
Of what is gone, is now, and soon shall be
As one that trembles on Eternity.
For, sure as this now closing week is past,
So sure advancing Time will close my last;
Sure as to-morrow, shall the awful light
Of the eternal morning hail my sight.

Spirit of good! on this week's verge I stand,
Tracing the guiding influence of thy hand;
That hand, which leads me gently, kindly still,
Up life's dark, stony, tiresome, thorny hill;
Thou, thou, in every storm hast sheltered me
Beneath the wing of thy benignity
A thousand graves my footsteps circumvent,
And I exist-thy mercies' monument!
A thousand writhe upon the bed of pain-

I live-and pleasure flows through ev'ry vein. Want o'er a thousand wretches waves her wand

I, circled by ten thousand mercies, stand. How can I praise thee, Father! how express My debt of reverence and of thankfulness! A debt that no intelligence can count, While every moment swells the vast amount. For the week's duties thou hast given me strength, And brought me to its peaceful close at length; And here, my grateful bosom fain would raise, A fresh memorial to thy glorious praise.-BOWRING. HE that never changed any of his opinions, never corrected any of his mistakes; and he, who was never wise enough to find out any mistakes in himself, will not be charitable enough to excuse what he reckons mistakes in others.DR. WHICHCOTE.

ST. PAUL'S CROSS AND OLD ST. PAUL'S. THE above engraving represents a scene in Old ST. PAUL'S church-yard, as it appeared in the year 1620. In the foreground is the famous ST. PAUL'S CROSS, which was a pulpit of wood, mounted upon stone steps, and covered with lead, situated on the north side of the cathedral, and towards the east end. In it, is seen the then Bishop of London, preaching before King James the First, who, with his Queen, and Prince Charles, are placed in a covered gallery adjoining the cathedral. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen are also present, but the greater part of the congregation are sitting in the air. open A short account of the cross and of the old church, as they stand in the print, will best explain the particular occasion of this sermon being preached.

The age of the first Paul's-cross is unknown: but we read of its existence in the year 1259, in the reign of King Henry the Third, and of its having been rebuilt in the 15th century, after being defaced by a storm of thunder and lightning. The chief purpose for which it was used, was as a place for the delivery of sermons every Sunday, in the forenoon, by clergymen appointed by the Bishop of London. For keeping up these, many liberal benefactions were bestowed; and, as some of the clergy had to travel from the Universities, or elsewhere, the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen ordered, in the year 1607, that every one that should preach there, should" at his pleasure, be freely entertained for five days' space, with sweet and convenient lodging."

Various sermons, preached upon this spot, by eminent men, during the stirring times of English history, are on record. Here, in 1547, Bishop Latimer preached three Sundays following. Here, on the 16th July, 1553, Ridley, Bishop of London, preached; and here, in 1588, Queen Elizabeth caused a sermon of thanksgiving to be delivered for the preservation of her subjects from the Invincible Armada. We are informed, too, that, on the 17th of November, 1595, (her Majesty's birthday,) "The Pulpit Cross, in St. Paul's Church-yard, was new repaired, painted, and partly enclosed with a wall of brick. Doctor Fletcher, Bishop of London, preached there in praise of the Queen, and prayed for her Majesty, before the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens, in their best liveries. Which sermon being ended, upon the church-leades the trumpets sounded, the cornets winded, and the quiristers sung an antheme. On the steeple many lights were burned, the Tower shot off her ordinance, the bels were rung, bone-fires made, &c."

Nor was St. Paul's Cross set apart for the uses of instruction alone. It was made to answer the ambi

tious ends of Richard the Third, in seeking his bad eminence. In it Jane Shore did penance; there the cause of Henry the Eighth's first Queen was assailed, and the titles of Mary and Elizabeth were disputed. The last sermon said to have been preached at this Cross, was before James the First, who came on horseback, in great state, from Whitehall, on Mid-Lent Sunday, 1620. He was met, at his entrance into the city, by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, who presented him with a purse of gold. At St. Paul's, he was received by the clergy, in their robes. Divine service was performed, accompanied with an organ, cornets, and sackbuts; after which, his Majesty went to a place prepared for his reception, where Dr. John King, Bishop of London, preached a most excellent and learned sermon, upon a text given him by the King,-Psalm cii. 13, 14: Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion: for it is time that Thou have mercy upon her; yea, the time is come. And why? Thy servants think upon her stones: and it pitieth them to see her in the dust.

The object of the sermon was the repairing of the Cathedral; and, at the conclusion of the discourse, the king and the principal persons retired to the bishop's palace to consult on the matter.

It seems that, at that time, ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL had fallen into great decay. It was an extremely ancient structure, having been commenced by Maurice, a Bishop of London, whom William the ConIt met with many queror nominated to that see. difficulties before its completion, and suffered much from fire and other injuries; but in 1312, when a measure was taken of that stately and magnificent church, the length was about 700 feet, and the height, including the tower and spire, upwards of 520 feet. The church was in the form of a long cross. greatest calamity which befel it, previous to its entire destruction at the Fire of London, was on the 4th of June, 1561, when the great spire was struck by lightning, which broke out a little below the cross at the top, and burnt downwards to the battlements, stone-work, and rafters with such fury, that, in four hours, the whole roof was consumed.

The

Although something was done towards covering in the building, the restoration of the steeple continued to be neglected until the reign of James the First, when, in order to promote the repair of the decayed fabric, that monarch paid the visit to the church, which is referred to in the plate. The result was, that the king issued a commission for a general benevolence throughout the kingdom; but the collection advanced slowly until about the year 1631, soon after which (in 1633), Inigo Jones began the work.

However beautiful may have been the portion of building, considered in itself, which was added by this great architect, he has been blamed for having grafted a Grecian portico on a Gothic structure. But it was not doomed to survive long. The great Fire of London, in 1666, reduced the whole to ashes. It had previously undergone considerable injury in the times of the civil discord; and ST. PAUL'S CROSS had, during the mayoralty of Sir Isaac Pennington, been pulled down.

Notwithstanding many discouragements, the commencement of a new and splendid cathedral was soon undertaken. King Charles the Second issued a commission, and contributed £1000. per annum towards this good object. Aid was granted by parliament, by means of a duty laid, from time to time, on all coals imported at the port of London; part of the amount going towards the building of St. Paul's, the remainder towards that of the other churches which had been similarly destroyed.

The first stone of the present noble pile was laid in 1675, and it was finished in 1710. It is worthy of remark that, although it was thirty-five years in building, it was begun and completed by one architect, Sir Christopher Wren, and under one prelate, Henry Compton, Bishop of London. It is also said that the same stone-mason (whose name was Strong) saw the laying of the first and last stone.

More than five hundred workmen were frequently employed in it at the same time.

ST. PAUL'S was built according to a third design of the architect, the two former having been declined. A singular circumstance is mentioned relative to the beginning of the work: while Sir Christopher was setting out the dimensions of the dome, he ordered a common labourer to bring him a flat stone; he happened to bring a broken piece of a grave-stone, on which was the word RESurgam. This was not lost on the great architect: he caught the idea of the Phoenix, rising from its ashes, which he placed on the south portico, with that word cut beneath.