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its life, when a feeling quadruped came forward to save it. The dog, having contemplated for some time the scene of inhumanity, and barked his disapprobation of it, rushed forward upon the young assassins, and driving them one by one furiously off the spot, sprang to the rescue of the fainting and bleeding animal; and withdrawing it from the deep ditch, bore it off in triumph to his quarters. There, extending it upon straw, and licking it all over, he saw it begin to revive, and then, laying himself down upon it, restored it to some degree of ease from the warmth imparted to it. After this, the kind and feeling dog fetched provisions to his sick charge; and the people of the house, inspired by the example of the minor animal, gave it warm milk. Day after day did the dog tend the sick object of his care, until it was perfectly recovered, and they are both to be seen, after a long lapse of years, at the Talbot Inn, Liverpool.

IN early English history, there is a circumstance noticed, which seems to prove that one of the landings of the Danes in England was occasioned by the sagacity and affection of a spaniel. Lodebrock, one of the royal family of Denmark, being in a boat with his hawks and his dog, was unexpectedly driven on the coast of England by a storm. Here being discovered and suspected of being a spy, he was brought to King Edmund.

He made himself known to Edmund, who treated him with kindness, and with whom he soon became a great favourite, particularly on account of his skill and dexterity in the chase.

The king's falconer becoming jealous of this attention, waylaid Lodebrock, murdered him, and concealed the body among some bushes. He was very soon missed at court, and the king manifested great impatience to know what had become of him. At last the Dane's dog, who had stayed in the wood by the body of his master, till famine forced him thence, came and fawned on the king, and enticed him to follow him.

The body was found, and the murderer ultimately discovered. As a punishment for so atrocious a crime, he was placed alone in Lodebrock's boat, and committed to the mercy of the sea. But it seems, that the boat bore him to

the very shore which Lodebrock had quitted.

The boat was recognised, and the assassin, to avoid the punishment which awaited him, said that Lodebrock had been put to death by order of Edmund. This false news so exasperated the Danes, that they determined on the invasion of England.

A DOG was once passing through a field near Dartmouth, where a laundress had hung out her linen to dry; he stopped and surveyed one particular shirt with great earnestness, then seized it, and dragged it through the dirt to his master, whose shirt it proved to be.

THE dogs in Madagascar are said to be so sagacious, that when one has occasion to cross a river, he will stand barking on the bank considerably lower down than the point where he means to attempt his passage. When the alligators have been attracted to the former spot, away he runs full speed, plunges into the stream, at a safe distance, and swims over before the enemy can sail back against the current to interrupt him.

A FEW days before the overthrow of the dreadful Robespierre, a revolutionary tribunal in the north of France had condemned to death a Mr. R., an ancient magistrate and most amiable man, on a pretended conspiracy. He had at that time a spaniel about twelve years old, which had been brought up by him, and had scarcely ever quitted his side. The faithful dog was with him when he was first seized, but was refused admittance into the prison. Every day, however, the dog returned to the door of the prison, which was still shut against him. Such ceaseless fidelity at last won the heart of the keeper, and the dog was allowed to enter; his joy at the sight of his master was unbounded, and it became difficult to separate them; but the jailor fearing for himself, carried the dog out of prison, and he returned to his place of retreat. For some weeks his visit was daily repeated, and admission as regularly granted. When the day of receiving sentence arrived, the dog forced his way into the hall, and couched himself between the legs of the

unhappy man, whom he was about to lose for ever. At the fatal hour of execution, this faithful animal alone, dared, even under the eye of a tyrant, to own a dying friend; and when the body was interred, he spread himself upon the grave; on that cold pillow he passed the first two days, but a neighbour of his deceased master's, who had sheltered him during the imprisonment, caressed him, and by kindness induced him to eat; three months passed away, during which the mourner went every morning to the house of his protector, merely to receive his food, and then returned to the grave. Means were at length essayed to wean him; he was first tied, and then chained; but what manacle is there that can ultimately triumph over nature? He escaped from his bonds and returned to the sepulchre, which he never again quitted. It was in vain that all kind measures were used once more to bring him back; he could not even be induced to eat; each day he became more thin and languishing, till at length his attached and generous heart gave way, his whole frame became convulsed, and he breathed out his last gasp upon the grave of his lamented master.

SOME time since, several persons saw a young man approach the river which runs through a city in France, for the purpose of drowning a dog which he had along with him. Having procured a boat, he rowed to the middle of the stream, and threw the poor animal in; but in the exertion fell into the water also, and being unable to swim, could not support himself longer, when the noble animal immediately swam to his assistance, and kept him up until a boat from the shore relieved both of them from the perils of the water.

A GAME-KEEPER was constantly attended by a spaniel which he had reared; and this faithful animal would leave him neither night nor day. Whereever Old Daniel appeared, Dash was sure to be seen; and the dog was of great use to his master in his nocturnal perambulations.

The dog did not pay any attention to game during the night, although no spaniel was more active in this respect in the day-time; but at night, if a strange foot

entered any of the covers, Dash, by a significant whine, informed his master of the circumstance, and many poachers were captured in consequence of this species of intelligence.

After some years, Old Daniel was seized by a disorder which produced illness, and ended in death. During the progress of this fatal disorder, while Old Daniel was able to crawl out, Dash regularly attended him; and when at length the old man was confined to his bed, the faithful dog took his station at the foot of it.

When death released the old man from his sufferings, Dash refused to quit the body, but lay on the bed by the side of it. For some time the animal would take no food; and although after the burial he was taken to the hall, and caressed as much as possible, yet he took every opportunity of creeping back to the room in the cottage where his old master breathed his last, and where the dog would continue for hours.

From thence he daily visited the grave, and at the end of fourteen days from the death of his old master, the poor animal died, having absolutely pined away.

A GERMAN almanack contains some details concerning the dog named Barry, one of the predecessors of those who perished a few years since in the snow of the Great Saint Bernard. This intelligent animal served the hospital of that mountain for the space of twelve years, during which time 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 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 Berne, by way of reward. He is now dead, and his body is stuffed and deposited in the Museum

of that town. The little phial, in which he carried a reviving liquor for the distressed travellers whom he found among the mountains, is still suspended from his neck.

Miscellanies.

DUELLING.—A singular mode of determining a point of honour was lately hit upon. A person, who had been a carpenter, having received a challenge from an officer in the army, on account of some imaginary affront, and not attending to it, was waited upon by his antagonist, to know his determination. He observed, that being allowed by the law of chivalry to choose the weapons, he had only waited to avail himself of that privilege. Then taking the challenger into an adjoining apartment, where two large gimblets lay upon the table, "There, Sir," said he, "those are my weapons." "I don't know what you mean, Sir," said the officer. "I mean, Sir," replied he, opening his bosom, "that if you can bore a hole sooner than I can, the matter is settled."

It is

hardly necessary to say, that his proposal

was not accepted.

MATRIMONY.-The following beautiful extract is from " Family Lectures," by Mrs. S. Sproat, of Taunton, Massachusetts:

"A great portion of the wretchedness which has often embittered married life, I am persuaded, has originated in the neglect of trifles. Connubial happiness is a thing of too fine a texture to be handled roughly. It is a plant which will not even bear the touch of unkindness; a delicate flower which indifference will chill, and suspicion blast. It must be watered with the shower of tender affection, expanded with the glow of attention, and guarded with the impregnable barrier of unshaken confidence. Thus nurtured, it will bloom with fragrance in every season of life, and sweeten even the loneliness of declining years."

Music. Dr. Maclaine, who died at a very advanced age, at Bath, in 1804, was one of those who have a fine taste for harmony, and are moved by the concord of sweet sounds.

The first time he ever heard music to perfection was at the Hague, when Handel went thither to attend the Princess of Orange, daughter of George the Second. The celebrated musician performed voluntaries before her, on the organ, at the Great Church, once or twice a week; to which she was accustomed to invite all the noblesse, the foreign ministers, and the clergy. The doctor described himself as perfectly transported at the performance, experiencing sensations of delight, which he had no conception it was in the power of harmony to produce. He was expressing his pleasure one day to Dr. Burney, and added, "Indeed I am always powerfully affected by church music;" to which Dr. Burney immediately replied, "Sir, there is no other music."

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Certainly, madam," replied the doctor, as he looked at the child, and then took a pinch of snuff. "I have not the least hesitation in recommending the springs-and the sooner you apply the remedy, the better."

"You really think it would be good for the dear little thing, don't you?" "Upon my word, it is the best remedy I know of."

"What springs would you recommend, doctor?"

66 Any will do, madam, where you can get plenty of soap and water."

INFECTIOUS DISORDERS. - I have been frequently asked, says the philanthropist Howard, what precautions I use to preserve myself from infection in the prisons and hospitals which I visit. I here answer, once for all, that next to the free goodness and mercy of the Author of my being, temperance and cleanliness are my preservatives. Trusting in Divine Providence, and believing myself in the way of duty, I visit the most noxious cells; and while thus employed, "I fear no evil." I never enter an hospital or prison before breakfast, and in an offensive room I seldom draw my breath deeply.-Brown's Life of Howard.

MEMORY.-The philosophy of memory we leave to other hands. Some of its phenomena, however, may be here stated. Every body knows that men remember some things more readily than others. For instance,

1. They remember affronts and injuries received, while they soon forget injuries done to others.

2. They remember debts due to them, but they forget those they owe to other persons.

3. They remember their good deeds, while they forget their bad ones.

4. They remember the homage they consider due to them from their inferiors, but they forget that which they owe to their superiors.

5. They remember what is connected with their worldly business, while they often complain of a bad memory which forgets a sermon.

It is probable that the art of memory is the art of attention, and that attention is given to that in which we feel interested: if so, these facts of remembering and forgetting give no very flattering testimony to the moral principle of mankind. In truth, they evince the depravity of the heart.

Domestic and Foreign Entelligence.

LONDON AND MIDDLESEX.

DESTRUCTION OF BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.-Although we suppose that every family in the land has by this time heard the full particulars of this calamitous event, we feel it our duty to place upon record a few of the leading facts in reference to it, as briefly as possible. An event so sudden, so striking, and so awful, could not fail to produce an extraordinary sensation, and it can be no matter of surprise that in the metropolis especially, it has absorbed attention almost to the exclusion of every other topic of public intelligence.

It appears that the alarm of fire was, for the first time, given about half-past six o'clock on Thursday evening, the 16th ult. About seven o'clock the House of Lords was one body of flame, and at the same moment the fire was raging with great fury in another quarter of the building near the great window, at the south end of Westminster Hall. The most indefatigable efforts were used to arrest the progress of the devouring element. A large detachment of the Guards was almost immediately marched to the spot, and in a very short

period, about 2,000 of the New Police were also engaged either in assisting in the removal of the records and other valuable property, or in endeavouring to arrest the progress of the devouring element. Of course some confusion, delay, and mismanagement were unavoidable on the occurrence of such an unexpected emergency; but, considering the peculiar circumstances of the case, the violence of the fire raging amidst the ancient oaken panellings, rushing through the flues used for heating the two Houses, and urged onward in its destructive career by a strong south-west wind; considering also that the river was unusually low, and the facilities for procuring water limited, it is, on the whole, a matter of congratulation that the united efforts of the firemen, the soldiers, and the police were, through the providence of God, successful in saving the Abbey and the Hall from the destruction with which they were menaced.

The conflagration was one of the grandest and most impressive sights that can easily be imagined. It was generally imagined by persons at a dis

tance, that both the Abbey and the Hall were given up to the devouring flame. There was an immense pillar of bright clear fire rising up behind Westminster Hall, while a cloud of white, yet dazzling smoke was careering above it. Through a vista of flaming walls the Abbey was seen from the river illuminated with the blaze, and apparently about to share the fate of the neighbouring pile.

We have heard of some remarkable preservations of life, indicative of the kindness of Divine Providence, amidst this affecting calamity.

THAMES TUNNEL.-We are glad to learn that the Government have consented to advance money for the completion of this vast undertaking. Such conduct tends to encourage ingenuity and industry, while it will prove a great accommodation to the vicinity of London.

THE COINAGE. The extreme exactness required and attained in the weight of coins at the Royal Mint, by means of the sizing machinery, has been often mentioned. On a recent examination, when sovereigns were put to the test as to their weight, it was found that out of 1000, 500 were quite correct, 200 varied only by half a grain, 200 more three quarters of a grain, and the remaining 100 varied, altogether, a grain. This is an instance of surprising accuracy, especially when the various processes through which every single coin passes are taken into consideration.

MORTALITY OF AGED PERSONS.Parliamentary returns state, that out of 3,938,496 persons buried from 1811 to 1831, 1,900 were above 100 years of age, 637 males, 1,263 females. Eighteen attained 111 years. And yet they all died!

NEW METHODIST COLLEGE.- The premises so long occupied by the Independents, under the name of "Hoxton Academy," have been taken for the proposed college for the education of young Wesleyan ministers. The Rev. Jabez Bunting, D.D. is to be visitor and general superintendent; the Rev. J. Entwisle,

sen., governor of the Institution; and the Rev. John Hannah, sen., theological tutor and teacher of mathematics.

We have observed that a great deal of opposition has been manifested against this institution, but we see no reason for it, and entirely agree with an old puritan writer, who remarks, "that there is so much of God in sound learning, that no good man will despise it, who has enjoyed its possession."

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.-By an act of Parliament passed last session, the use of heaped measures is abolished from the 1st of January next; and all bargains, sales, and contracts, made by the heaped measure after that time, are to be null and void. After that time, also, no weight made of lead or of pewter is to be used. In the same act there is a clause enacting that from the 1st of January the weight denominated a stone, shall, in all cases, consist of 14 pounds avoirdupoise, and that the weight denominated an hundred weight shall consist of eight such stones, and a ton of twenty such hundred weights; and all contracts made by any other stone, hundred weight, or ton, shall, from the 1st of January, be null and void. This is important to most people in trade, as it prevents them from making contracts by customary weights, declaring them void altogether. The magistrates in quarter sessions are to provide imperial standards, and to appoint inspectors. All articles, except gold, silver, platina, diamonds, and drugs, by retail, are to be sold by avoirdupoise weight.

SLATE. The Architectural Magazine informs us, that slate has lately been used as flooring for shops in London; and that a trial is now being made in the Strand of its suitability for foot pavement. It is said to be strong enough for flooring; and that if put on iron joists, it would make fire-proof rooms. These hints may be found worthy of attention. Why should not professional gentlemen have closets thus constructed for the preservation of their papers ?

OATHS.-A return laid before the House of Commons, states the number of oaths taken before the Board of

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