and his men made a boat, and went to sea in it, and were cast upon the shore of Africa, without sail or oars. The Moors were infinitely surprised at the sight of them, and presented Macham to their king, who sent him and his companions to the king of Castile, as a prodigy or miracle. In 1395, Henry III. of Castile, by the information of Macham, persuaded some of his mariners to go in search of this island, and of the Canaries. In 1417, king John II. of Castile, his mother Catherine being then regent, one M. Ruben, of Bracamont, admiral of France, having demanded and obtained of the queen the conquest of the Canaries, with the title of king for a kinsman of his, named M. John Betancourt, he departed from Seville with a good army. And it is affirmed, that the principal motive that engaged him in this enterprise was, to discover the island of Madeira, which Macham had found. TOMB OF MACHAM'S ANNA. The following elegiac stanzas are founded on the preceding historical fact. Macham, having consigned the body of his beloved mistress to the solitary grave, is supposed to have inscribed on it the following pathetic lines: O'er my poor ANNA's lowly grave No dirge shall sound, no knell shall ring; No flow'rs of transient bloom at eve, But in this wilderness profound, O'er her the dove shall build her nest; Ah! when shall I as quiet be, When not a friend or human eye To kiss her name on this cold stone, Health. GOOD EATING. That "a sharp stomach is the best sauce," is a saying as true as it is common. In Ulrick Hutton's book on the virtues of guaiacum, there is a very singular story on this subject. The relations of a rich German ecclesiastic, carrying him to drink the waters for the recovery of his health, and passing by the house of a famous quack, he inquired what was the reverend gentleman's distemper? They told him a total debility, loss of appetite, and a great decay in his senses. The empiric, after viewing his enormous chin, and bodily bulk, guessed rightly at the cause of his distemper, and proposed, for a certain sum, to bring him home, on a day fixed, perfectly cured. The patient was put into his hands, and the doctor treated him in the following manner :-He furnished him every day with half a pound of excellent dry biscuit; to moisten this, he allowed him three pints of very good spring water; and he suffered him to sleep but a few hours out of the twenty-four. When he had brought him within the just proportion of a man, he obliged him to ring a bell, or work in the garden, with a rollingstone, an hour before breakfast, and four hours in the afternoon. At the stated day the doctor produced him, perfectly re stored. Nice eating destroys the health, let it be ever so moderate; for the stomach, as every man's experience must inform him, finds greater difficulty in digesting rich dishes than meats plainly dressed. To a sound man sauces are needless; to one who is diseased, they nourish not him, but his distemper; and the intemperance of his taste betrays him into the hands of death, which could not, perhaps, have mastered his constitution. Lewis Cornaro brought himself into a wretched condition, while a young man, by indulging his taste; yet, when he had once taken a resolution of restraining it, nature did that which physic could not; it restored him to perfect health of body, and serenity of mind, both of which he enjoyed to extreme old age. Books. READING ALOUD. BY MARGARET DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE. 1671. To read lamely or crookedly, and not evenly, smoothly, and thoroughly, entangles the sense. Nay, the very sound of the voice will seem to alter the sense of the theme; and though the sense will be there in despite of the ill voice, or ill reading, yet it will be concealed, or discovered to 279 its disadvantages. As an ill musician, (or indeed one that cannot play at all,) instead of playing, puts the fiddle out of tune, (and causeth a discord,) which, if well played upon, would sound harmoniously; or if he can play but one tune, plays it on all sorts of instruments; so, some will read with one tone or sound of voice, though the passions and numbers are different; and some again, in reading, wind up their voices to such a passionate screw, that they whine or squeal, rather than speak or read: others fold up their voices with such distinctions, that they make that triangular which is four-square; and that narrow, which should be broad; and that high, which should be low; and low, that should be high and some again read so fast, that the sense is lost in the race. ings sound good or bad, as the readers, So that writ and not as their authors are: and, indeed, such advantage a good or ill reader hath, that those that read well shall give a grace to a foolish author; and those that read ill, do disgrace a wise and a witty one. there are two sorts of readers; the one that But reads to himself, and for his own benefit; the other, to benefit another by hearing it : in the first, there is required a good judgment, and a ready understanding in the other, a good voice and a graceful delivery: so that a writer must have a double desire ; the one, that he may write well; the other, that he may be read well. Aphorisms. BY LAVATER. Who in the same given time can produce more than many others, has vigour; who can produce more and better, has talents; who can produce what none else can, has genius. Who, without pressing temptation, tells a lie, will, without pressing temptation, act ignobly and meanly. Who, under pressing temptations to lie, adheres to truth, nor to the profane betrays aught of a sacred trust, is near the summit of wisdom and virtue. All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich. Who has no friend and no enemy, is one of the vulgar; and without talents, powers, or energy. The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint-the affectation of sanctity is a blot on the face of piety. 280 hated, is a maxim of detested prudence in Love as if you could hate and might be real friendship, the bane of all tenderness, the death of all familiarity. Consider the fool who follows it as nothing inferior to him who at every bit of bread trembles at the thought of its being poisoned. I call rulers over the minds and destinies of your door, flattered you as you opened it- rise before him who, from motives of hu- Manners. THE PARLIAMENT CLUBS. for gentlemen of the House of Commons Before the year 1736, it had been usual to dine together at the Crown-tavern in Palace-yard, in order to be in readiness to attend the service of the house. This club amounted to one hundred and twenty, besides thirty of their friends coming out of the country. In January, 1736, sir Robert Walpole and his friends began to dine in King-street, Westminster, and their club the same manner, at the Bell and Sun in members. was one hundred and fifty, besides absent been the origin of Brookes's and White's These parties seem to have clubs. RIGHT AND LEFT HAND. Dr. Zinchinelli, of Padua, in an essay "On the Reasons why People use the Right Hand in preference to the Left," will not allow custom or imitation to be the cause. He affirms, that the left arm cannot causing pain in the left side, because there be in violent and continued motion without system; and that, therefore, Nature herself is the seat of the heart and of the arterial compels man to make use of the right hand. THE DEATH OF LEILA. For the Table Book. 'Twas moonlight-LEILA sat retir'd Watching the waves, " like one inspir'd" There was a calmness on the water The stars were shedding far and wide The breeze on balmy pinions flew ;` I watch'd the pale, heart-broken girl, Her shatter'd form, her look insane,- With moisture from the peaceful main: Slowly I sought the cheerless spot Yet there were motion, sense, and life, Of feelings none but Love can name ! I spoke, she answer'd not-I took Her languid eyes I gaz'd upon, Islington, 1827. Omniana. RATTING. B. W. R. There are three methods proposed for lessening the number of rats. I. Introduce them at table as a delicacy. They would probably be savoury food, and if nature has not made them so, the cook may. Rat pie would be as good as rook pie; and four tails intertwisted like the serpents of the delphic tripod, and rising into a spiral obelisk, would crest the crust more fantastically than pigeon's feet. After a while they might be declared game by the legislature, which would materially expedite their extirpation. II. Make use of their fur. Rat-skin robes for the ladies would be beautiful, warm, costly, and new. Fashion requires only the two last qualities; it is hoped the two former would not be objectionable. III. Inoculate some subjects with the small-pox, or any other infectious disease, and turn them loose. Experiments should first be made, lest the disease should assume in them so new a form as to be capable of being returned to us with interest. If it succeeded, man has means in his hand which would thin the hyenas, wolves, jackals, and all gregarious beasts of prey. N. B. If any of our patriotic societies should think proper to award a gold medal, silver cup, or other remuneration to either of these methods, the projector has left his address with the editor.* NOMINATIVE CASE. Sancho, prince of Castile, being present at a papal consistory at Rome, wherein the proceedings were conducted in Latin, which he did not understand, and hearing loud applause, inquired of his interpreter what caused it: "My lord," replied the interpreter, "the pope has caused you to be proclaimed king of Egypt." "It does not become us," said the grave Spaniard, " to be wanting in gratitude; rise up, and proclaim his holiness caliph of Bagdad." Dr. Aikin's Athenæum. DISCOUNT FOR CASH. The following anecdote is related in a journal of the year 1789: A service of plate was delivered at the duke of Clarence's house, by his order, accompanied by the bill, amounting to 1500l., which his royal highness deeming exorbitant, sent back, remarking, that he conceived the overcharge to be occasioned by the apprehension that the tradesman might be kept long out of his money. He added, that so far from its being his intention to pay by tedious instalments, or otherwise distress those with whom he dealt, he had laid it down as an invariable principle, to discharge every account the moment it became due. The account was returned to his royal highness the next morning, with three hundred pounds taken off, and it was instantly paid. The perfume and the bloom Of their subterranean bower; And the juices meant to feed Trees, vegetables, fruits, Unerringly proceed To their preappointed roots. How awful the thought Of the wonders under ground, Of the mystic changes wrought In the silent, dark profound; How each thing upwards tends By necessity decreed, And a world's support depends On the shooting of a seed! The Summer's in her ark, And this sunny-pinion'd day Thou hast fann'd the sleeping Earth For the rustle of its leaves, Thy vivifying spell Has been felt beneath the wave, By the dormouse in its cell, And the mole within its cave; And the summer tribes that creep, Or in air expand their wing, Have started from their sleep, At the summons of the Spring. The cattle lift their voices From the valleys and the hills, And the feather'd race rejoices With a gush of tuneful bills; And if this cloudless arch Fills the poet's song with glee, O thou sunny first of March, Be it dedicate to thee! 284 This beautiful poem has afforded me exquisite gratification. Till I saw it printed in Mr. Dyce's "Specimens of British Poetesses," I was ignorant that a living lady had written so delightfully. Without a friend at my elbow to instruct me whether I should prefix "Miss" or "Mrs." to her felicitous name, I transcribe--as I find it in Mr. Dyce's volume-FELICIA HEMANS. For the Table Book. ་་ Upon my soul it's a fact." "Is the master at home, sir?" said a broad-shouldered Scotchman (wearing a regimental coat of the regiment, and with his bonnet in his hand) to myself, who had answered a ring at the office-bell. I replied that he was not. "Weel, that's onlucky, sir," said he, "for ye see, sir, a hae goten a pertection here, an' a hae been till a' the Scotchmen that a can hear ony thing o', but they hae a' signed for the month; an' a hae a shorteness o' brith, that wunna lat me wurk or du ony thing; an' a'd be vary glaid gin a cud git doon to Scoteland i' the nixt vaissel, for a hanna' a baubee; an', as a sid afore, a canna wurk, an' gin maister B. wud jist sign ma pertecVol. I.-10. MATTHEWS and Self. tion, a hae twa seagnatures, an' a'd git awa' the morn." For once I had told no lie in denying Mr. B. to his visitor, and, therefore, in no dread of detection from cough, or other vivâ voce evidence, I ushered the "valiant Scot" into the sanctum of a lawyer's clerk. There is a very laudable benevolent institution in London, called the "Scottish Hospital," which, on proper representations made to it, signed by three of its members, (forms whereof are annexed, in blank, to the printed petition, which is given gratuitously to applicants,) will pass poor natives of Scotland to such parts of their father-land as they wish, free of expense, and will otherwise relieve their wants; but each member is only allowed |