likely thing in every way, that the man was dead, made no scruple to put his fork under the piper's belt, and with some assistance hoisted him into his vehicle, which was nearly full, with the charitable intention that our Scotch musician should share the usual brief ceremonies of interment. The piper's faithful dog protested against the seizure of his master, and attempted to prevent the unceremonious removal; but failing of success, he fairly jumped into the cart after him, to the no small annoyance of the men, whom he would not suffer to come near the body; he further took upon himself the office of chief mourner, by setting up the most lamentable howling as they passed along.

The streets and roads by which they had to go being very rough, the jolting of the cart, added to the howling of the dog, had soon the effect of wakening our drunken musician from his trance. It was dark; and the piper, when he first recovered himself, could form no idea either of his numerous companions or his conductors. Instinctively, however, he felt about for his pipes, and playing up a merry Scotch tune, terrified in no small measure the carters, who were utterly at a loss to guess what they had got in their conveyance. A little time, however, put all to rights: lights were got; and it turned out that the noisy corpse was the well-known living piper, who was joyfully released from his awful and perilous situation. The poor man fell very ill after this unpleasant excur sion, and was relieved, during his malady, by his former benefactor, who, to perpetuate the remembrance of so wonderful an escape, resolved, as soon as his patient had recovered, to employ a sculptor to execute him in stone; not omitting his faithful dog and keg of liquor.

The famous Caius Gabriel Cibber, father to Colley Cibber the comedian, was then in high repute, from the circumstance of his having executed the beautiful figures which originally were placed over the entrance-gate of Old Bethlehem Hospital; and the statue in question of the Highland bagpiper, remains an additional specimen of the merits of this great artist as a statuary.

The figure of the bagpiper was long afterwards purchased by John, the great Duke of Argyle, and came from his collection, at his demise, into the possession of the present proprietor,

THE STRAYED CHILD.

ON a Wednesday in the month of October 1823, John Higgens, farm-servant, Anibagleish, in the parish of Glenluce, Wigtonshire, went with his cart to the potatofield, to work. A little daughter, three years old, accompanied him, and was allowed to amuse herself on the ground till the evening, at which time she was observed to be very near at hand. The amusement of the child consisted in plucking wild-flowers, which were rife enough at that season, and, allured perhaps by a few tufts of unfaded heather, she strolled unnoticed into a contiguous moor, of at least a thousand acres in extent. When the

labourers were about to quit the field, the child was called and looked for in vain; and though the shades of night were closing in, a diligent search was immediately instituted, in which all the neighbours joined. At a late hour, the afflicted relatives were constrained by their friends to return home, where they passed a most anxious and sleepless night. Early next morning the search was renewed, and continued for two successive days, but still with little hope of success. It was not till Saturday morning, at ten o'clock, that she was discovered by her grandfather, lying on a small heap of stones. The air during the first night was cold and frosty; on the second, it rained without intermission; and on the third, it blew keenly from the east; and during the whole of that long period, the little sufferer had remained alone in the open wild, without food or shelter of any kind. Her grandfather was aware of these circumstances, and when he lifted his little favourite in his arms, he expected to find

her a stiffened corpse. The reader may judge, then, of his feelings, when she opened her mild blue eyes, smiled in his face, and, in accents scarcely articulate, inquired : 'Where's my father and Uncle Sandy?' So tender an appeal, made under such circumstances, was too much for the old man's fortitude: his own words in describing the scene were: 'I tried to thank my Maker aloud, but words I had nane; my hair, I am sure, stood on end, and my heart was sae grit,* that I sat mysel' down wi' Nanny in my arms, and cried, and better cried, till the wee thing asked what ailed me, and I was brought to mysel' by thinking that I had turned the greatest bairn o' the twa.' By proper nursing, says the Dumfries Courier, in noticing the event some months afterwards, 'Nanny soon recovered, and still lives, a comfort to her parents, and a singular proof of the power and goodness of that Providence which tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.'

TRIFLES TO SMILE AT.

MINUTE descriptions of the external appearance of noted men are much desired by the world; but we question if, in any country except one, it could have occurred that the weight of great men was a point of importance. In the Salem Gazette of August 19, 1783, the weights of the principal American revolutionary commanders were given, as weighed in the scales at West Point.' The following is the list as there published :-General Washington, 209 lbs. ; General Lincoln, 224; General Knox, 280; General Huntington, 132; General Greaton, 166; Colonel Swift, 219; Colonel Michael Jackson, 252; Colonel Henry Jackson, 238; Lieutenant-colonel Huntington, 232; Lieutenant-colonel Cobb, 182; Lieutenant-colonel Humphreys, 221. The average, 214 lbs., may be considered high,

*Thick-expanded with passionate feeling.

At Kubberpore na Jeal, in India, there is a cannon 213 inches long, 66 inches round the muzzle, and 18 inches round the calibre. It has five, and had originally six equidistant rings, by which it was lifted up. This gun is called by the natives Jaun Kushall, or the destroyer of life, and its casting and position are attributed to the doetas or divinities, though its almost obliterated Persian inscriptions declare its formation by human means. But what is most extraordinary about it is, that two peepultrees have grown both cannon and carriage into themselves. Fragments of the iron, a spring, one of the linches, and part of the wood-work, protrude from between the roots and bodies of these trees, but the trees alone entirely support the gun, one of the rings of which, and half of its whole length, are completely hid between and inside their bark and trunks. A more curious sight, or a cannon more firmly fixed, though by the mere gradual growth of two trees, cannot well be imagined. The Indians assert, that it was only once fired, and sent the ball twenty-four miles!-Asiatic Journal.

A traveller once shewed Lavater, the physiognomist, two portraits the one of a highwayman, who had been broken upon the wheel; the other was the portrait of Kant the philosopher. He was desired to distinguish between them. Lavater took up that of the highwayman: after attentively considering it for some time, 'Here,' said he, we have the true philosopher; here is penetration in the eye, and reflection in the forehead; here is cause, and there is effect; here is combination, there is distinction; synthetic lips! and analytic nose.' Then turning to the portrait of the philosopher, he exclaimed: 'The calm thinking villain is so well expressed, and so strongly marked in his countenance, that it needs no comment!' This anecdote Kant used to tell with great glee.

The province of Ait, in Lower Suse, Africa, is considered as an independent state, and it pays no tribute. They have a great dislike to kadies, talbs, and attorneys, alleging that they only increase disputes

between man and man, which is not at all necessary; ail disputes are therefore decided by the sheik, who is not a logical wrangler, but determines according to the simplest manner. The following decree of their sheik is on record :-Four men who, for elucidation, we will call A, B, C, and D, conjointly bought a mule; each claimed a leg. D's leg was the off-hind one. In a few days, this leg began to swell; it was agreed to cure it by burning it with a hot iron, which is a common remedy in this country. This done, the mule was turned out, and went into a field of barley. Some spark was attached to the hoof, and set fire to the corn, which was consumed. The proprietors of the barley applied to the sheik for justice; and A, B, C, and D, the owners of the mule, were summoned to appear. The sheik, finding the leg which caused the barley to be burned belonged to D, ordered him to pay the value of the barley. D expostulated, and maintained that he had no right to pay for if it had not been for A, B, and C's portions of the mule, the barley would have remained. How so?' replied the sheik. "Because,' quoth D, the leg which belongs to me cannot touch the ground; but it was brought to the corn-field by the legs of A, B, and C, which were the efficient cause of the ignition of the barley. The sheik reversed his decree, and ordered A, B, and C to pay the damage, and D got off without expense.

Huber thus describes, in Homeric style, that burlesque of human warfare, a battle of ants:-Figure to yourself two of these cities equal in size and population, and situated about 100 paces from each other; observe their countless numbers, equal to the population of two mighty empires. The whole space which separates them, for the breadth of twenty-four inches, appears alive with prodigious crowds of their inhabitants. Thousands of champions, mounted on more elevated spots, engage in single-combat, and seize each other with their powerful jaws; a still greater number are engaged on both sides in taking prisoners, who make vain efforts to escape, conscious of the cruel fate which awaits them