having given way. Croker produced his staff, said he was an officer, and demanded to know of the other man the cause of such conduct; in the mean time the man who had been hanged recovered, got up, and on Croker interfering, gave him a violent blow on the nose, which nearly knocked him backward. The short man was endeavouring to make off; however, the officer procured assistance, and both were brought to the office, when the account they gave was, that they worked on canals. They had been together on Wednesday afternoon, tossed up for money, and afterwards for their clothes, the tall man who was hanged won the other's jacket, trowsers and shoes; they then tossed up which should hang the other, and the short one won the toss. They got upon the wall, the one to submit, and the other to hang him on the lamp-iron, They both agreed in this statement. The tall one who had been hanged. said, if he won the toss, he would have hanged the other. He said, he then felt the effects on his neck at the time he was hanging, and his eyes was so much swelled that he saw double. The magistrates expressed their horror and disgust, and ordered the man who had been hanged to find bail for the violent and unjustifiable assault upon the officer, and the short one for hanging the other. Not having bail, they were committed to Bridewell for trial."

OLD BOOKS.

The Pentateuch and the history of Job are the most ancient books in the world; and in profane literature the works of Homer and Hesiod. The first book known to have been written in our own vernacular was "The Confessions of Richard, Earl of Cambridge," temp. 1415; and the earliest English ballad is supposed to be the "Cuckoo Song," which commences in the following style:

FOSSIL REPTILE; THE PTERODACTYLUS.

The pterodactylus was a flying animal. It had the wings of a bat, and the structure of a reptile; jaws with sharp teeth, and claws with long hooked nails. The power which it had of flying was not by means of its ribs, nor by wings without fingers, as in birds, but by wings supported by one very elongated toe, the others being short and furnished with claws. The remains of this animal were brought under examination by M. Collini, director of the Museum of the Elector Palatine at Manheim. There was at first some discussion as to the actual character of the animal. M. Blumenbach supposed it to be a bird, and M. de Soemmering classed it among the bats. M. Cuvier, however, maintained that it was a reptile, and showed that all its bones, from the teeth to the claws, possessed the characters which distinguish that class of animals. But still it differed from all other reptiles in possessing the capability of flying. It is probable that it could at

pleasure fold up its wings in the same manner as birds, and might sus pend itself on branches of trees by its fore toes, though it possessed the power of sitting upright on its hind feet. This is the most anomalous of all the fossil reptiles.

TIGER CAVE, AT CUTTACK.

The geographical distribution of the rock-cut caves of the Buddhists in India is somewhat singular, more than nine-tenths of those now known being found within the limits of the Bengal Presidency. The remainder consist of two groups, those of Behar and Cuttack, neither of which are important in extent, in Bengal; one only, that of Mahavellipore, in Madras; and two or three not very important groups which have been traced in Afghanistan and the Punjaub.

One of the most remarkable of these caves is that at Cuttack, which is called the Tiger cave-being in fact a large mass of rock, carved into a form intended to represent the head of that animal, whose extended jaws form the verandah leading into a small apartment excavated in the interior of the skull: our engraving is a correct representation of it. Generally speaking, these single

cells have a porch of two pillars to protect the doorway, which leads into a small room, 10 or 12 ft. square, constituting the whole cave. Buildings on precisely the same plan are still very common in India, except that now, instead of being the abode of a hermit, the cell is occupied by an image of some god or other, and is surmounted by a low dome, or pyramidal spire, converting it into a temple of some pretensions. The lower part, however, of these small temples is very similar to the rock-cut hermitages of which we are speaking.

William the Conqueror permitted great numbers of Jews to come over from Rouen, and to settle in England in the last year of his reign. Their number soon increased, and they spread themselves throughout most of the cities and capital towns in England where they built synagogues. There were fifteen hundred at York about the year 1189. At Bury, in Suffolk, is a very complete remain of a Jewish synagogue of stone in the Norman style, large and magnificent. Hence it was that many of the learned English ecclesiastics of those times became acquainted with their books and their language. In the reign of William Rufus, the Jews were remarkably numerous at Oxford, and had acquired

At

considerable property; and some of their Rabbis were permitted to open a school in the university, where they instructed not only their own people, but many Christian students in Hebrew literature, about the year 1094. Within 200 years after their admission or establishment by the Conqueror, they were banished the kingdom. This circumstance was highly favourable to the circulation of their learning in England. The suddenness of their dismission obliged them for present subsistence, and other reasons, to sell their moveable goods of all kinds, among which were large quantities of all Rabbinical books. The monks in various parts availed themselves of the distribution of these treasures. Huntingdon and Stamford there was a prodigious sale of their effects, containing immense stores of Hebrew manuscripts, which were immediately purchased by Gregory of Huntingdon, Prior of the abbey of Ramsey. Gregory speedily became an adept in the Hebrew, by means of these valuable acquisitions, which he bequeathed to his monastery about the year 1250. Other members of the same convent, in consequence of these advantages, are said to have been equal proficients in the same language, soon after the death of Prior Gregory, among whom were Robert Dodford, Librarian of Ramsey, and Laurence Holbech, who compiled a Hebrew Lexicon. At Oxford a great number of their books fell into the hands of Roger Bacon, or were bought by his brethren the Franciscan friars of that university.

GAME PRESERVES AT CHANTILLY.

The establishment at Chantilly, which formerly belonged to the great family of Condé, included 21 miles of park, and 48 miles of forest. The horses, when the family were at that place, were above 500. The dogs, 60 to 80 couple: the servants, above 500. The stables the finest and best in Europe. We shall now present to the sporting and un-sporting reader, for both will lift up their eyes, a list of game killed, year by year, through a series of thirty-two years-beginning with the year 1748, ending with the year 1779:—

Now let us give (of birds and beasts) their bill of mortality; that is the numbers, in detail, of each specific description, registered as below, and detailed to have been killed at Chantilly, in the above-mentioned series of years. Hares, 77,750; rabbits, 587,470; partridges, 117,574; red ditto, 12,426; pheasants, 86,193; quails, 19,696; rattles (the male quail), 449; woodcocks, 2,164; snipes, 2,856; ducks, 1,353; wordpiquers, 317; lapwings, 720; becfique (small birds like our wheatear), 67;

ourlews, 32; oyes d'Egypte, 3; oyes sauvage, 14; bustards, 2; larks, 106; tudells, 2; fox, 1; crapeaux, 8; thrushes, 1,313; guynard, 4; stags, 1712; hinds, 1,682; facons, 519; does, 1,921; young does, 135; roebucks, 4,669; young ditto, 810; wild boars, 1,942; marcassins (young boars), 818. A magnificent list of animal slaughter, carefully and systematically recorded as achievements.

BRITISH PEARLS.

The river Conway, in North Wales, was of considerable importance, even before the Roman invasion, for the pearl mussel (the Mya Margaritifera of Linnæus) and Suetonius acknowledged that one of his inducements for undertaking the subjugation of Wales was the pearl fishery carried forward in that river. According to Pliny, the mussels, called by the natives Kregindilin, were sought for with avidity by the Romans, and the pearls found within them were highly valued; in proof of which it is asserted that Julius Cæsar dedicated a breastplate set with British pearls to Venus Genetrix, and placed it in her temple at Rome. A fine specimen from the Conway is said to have been presented to Catherine, consort of Charles II., by Sir Richard Wynne, of Gwydir; and it is further said that it has since contributed to adorn the regal crown of England. Lady Newborough possessed a good collection of the Conway pearls, which she purchased of those who were fortunate enough to find them, as there is no regular fishery at present. late Sir Robert Vaughan had obtained a sufficient number to appear at Court with a button and loop to his hat, formed of these beautiful productions, about the year 1780.

FUNERAL ORATION OF FRANCIS THE FIRST.

The

Pierre Duchatel, in a funeral oration on the death of Francis I., published 1547, took upon himself to affirm, that the soul of the king had gone direct to Paradise. This passing over of purgatory gave offence to the doctors of the Sorbonne, who sent a deputation to warn him of his error. The prelate being absent, one of his friends received them, and, in reply, gaily said "Be not uneasy, gentlemen, every one knows that the late king, my master, never stopped long in any one place, however agreeable. Supposing, then, that he went to purgatory, be assured that his stay would be very short." This pleasantry disarmed the severity of the doctors, and the affair went no farther.

GRAVES OF THE STONE PERIOD.

Stone Chambers, which once formed places of interment, are frequently discovered within large barrows of earth raised by the hands of man. They are to be referred to the period of the Danish Invasion, which is generally termed among antiquaries the "Stone Period," because the use of metals was then in a great measure unknown; and while a few are to be found in Great Britain, there are many more of them in Denmark. These tombs, which are covered with earth, have most probably contained the remains of the powerful and the rich. They are almost all provided with long entrances, which lead from the exterior of the mound of earth

to the east or south side of the chambers. The entrances, like the cham hers, are formed of large stones, smooth on the side which is turned inwards, on which very large roof-stones are placed. The chambers, and even the entrances, which are from sixteen to twenty feet in length, are filled with trodden earth and pebbles, the object of which, doubtless, was to protect the repose of the dead in their graves, and the contents which are found in them consist of unburnt human skeletons (which were occasionally placed on a pavement of flat or round stones), together with implements and weapons, and tools of flint or bone, ornaments, pieces of amber, and urns of clay. In some cases smaller chambers have been

discovered, annexed to one side of the passage which leads to the larger chamber, and one of these smaller chambers we have engraved as a specimen of the sort of tombs we are now describing.

The above sketch represents a chamber which was discovered in a barrow, situated near Paradis, in the parish of the Vale, in the island of Guernsey. On digging into the mound, a large flat stone was soon discovered; this formed the top, or cap-stone, of the tomb, and on removing it, the upper part of two human skulls were exposed to view. One was facing the north, the other the south, but both disposed in a line from east to west. The chamber was filled up with earth mixed with limpetshells, and as it was gradually removed, while the examination was proceeding downwards into the interior, the bones of the extremities cocame exposed to view, and were seen to greater advantage. They were