Captain Mills, who, with rare generosity, offered to resign his, on which the rest likewise agreed to make room. He had scarcely begun to recover his senses before an officer, sent by the nabob, came and inquired if the English chief survived; and soon after the same man returned with an order to open the prison. The dead were so thronged, and the survivors had so little strength remaining, that they were employed for nearly half an hour in removing the bodies which lay against the door before they could clear a passage to get out one by one; when, of 146 who went in, no more than twentythree came out alive, the ghastliest forms that ever were seen on the earth! The nabob's troops beheld them and the havoc of death from which they had escaped with perfect indifference, but did not prevent them from removing to a distance, and were immediately obliged, by the intolerable stench, to clear the dungeon, whilst others dug a ditch on the outside of the fort, into which all the dead bodies were promiscuously thrown.'

The success of the barbarian who inflicted these sufferings was short-lived. Calcutta was retaken a year after by Clive and others; and, as above stated, the French power, which had provoked so many disasters, ceased in India in 1761.

WANTS A PLACE,

A FAITHFUL creature, trained to serving,
And certified as well deserving:

No object wages will be thought,
A friendly mistress more is sought-
A house where things go on in quiet,
And not exposed to scolds or riot;
Where currish paws may never smite her,
Nor snappish strangers come to fright her:

She has not been in place before,

Scarce passed, indeed, her mother's door; But skill and care she there has gained,

To all her future duties trained :

Her mother being miller's cat,

Had opportunities for that:

And this advertisement is written

By one who knows and loves the kitten.
Her skipping days of idle fun
Are just at point of being done:
No more she cares a cork to trundle,
Or play with Janet's silver thimble :
No more she seeks a clew to trail,
Or vault athwart her mother's tail:
No more her shadow now she chases,
Or hunts the leaves in windy places:
No more upon the panes she springs,
To catch a fly on buzzing wings.
No: graver grown, on other game
She now has learned to fix her aim:
Already can she mimic sleep,
By pantry-door the guard to keep;
Or watches patient till she sees
The mice appear from hollow cheese,
Where, eating long, they love to dwell
And play within the hollow shell.
And now, with character so proper,
From decent service what can stop her?
She would not wish indeed to wrestle
Amid the farmer's endless bustle;
Where mastiffs, children, pigs, and rats,
Are equal enemies to cats:

Nor would she, high though wages be,
In skipper's cabin go to sea:

She has no skill, nor had her mother,
To jump on ropes, or guess the weather;
But yet (for other service ready)
She'd act, well qualified and steady,
Companion to an ancient lady;

Beside her walks would pace along,
With arching tail and purring song;
Within her bonnet would not sleep,
And awkward hours would seldom keep.
Such place, she thinks, would suit her well;
So, if you know it, come and tell.

Postscriptum.-Would have no objection

To give assistance in the kitchen:

Would look at times into the dairy,
Or tend the lady's aviary.

D. M.

GOSSIP ABOUT ANIMALS.

ONE of the finest traits of human nature is an affection for the lower animals. From the rude and untractable dispositions of certain animals it is scarcely possible, even if it were desirable, to form any attachment to them; yet all are in some way objects of interest, and many are susceptible of reciprocating every attention and kindness that can be bestowed on them. In the dog and horse, for example, there seems to be a wonderful power of adaptation to human society; and it is very certain that these animals, by kindness, may be led to entertain a very keen and abiding affection for their masters. We say abiding, because although other animals-as, for instance, those of the cat tribe-may be trained to obedience and gentleness, they cannot be altogether depended A melancholy instance of this uncertainty occurred in the case of the lady called the Lion-queen: she had to all appearance gained a thorough ascendancy over lions and tigers, and exhibited herself seated on their backs, or with her hand in their mouths, yet in the end the ferocious nature of one of these animals broke suddenly out, and inflicted mortal injuries on the heroic but unfortunate queen.

on.

Certain Indian tribes in North America are said to possess a remarkable power of subduing horses, and attaching them to them by whispering or breathing, as it is said, into their ear-or, as one might almost be tempted to say, by exercising some kind of mesmeric influence over their nervish system. It is at least a well-authenticated fact, that an Irishman, named James Sullivan, possessed this marvellous faculty of taming horses. He exercised no force. His operations, whatever they might be, were of a moral kind. Townsend, in his Survey of the County of Cork,' gives the following account of this celebrated horse-subduer :-James Sullivan was a native of the county of Cork, and an awkward, ignorant rustic of the lowest class, generally known by the appellation of the Whisperer, and his profession was horse-breaking. The credulity of the vulgar bestowed that epithet upon him, from an opinion that he communicated his wishes to the animal by means of a whisper; and the singularity of his method gave some colour to the superstitious belief. As far as the sphere of his control extended, the boast of Veni, vidi, vici, was more justly claimed by James Sullivan than by Cæsar or even Bonaparte himself. How his art was acquired, or in what it consisted, is likely to remain for ever unknown, as he has lately left the world without divulging it. His son, who follows the same occupation, possesses but a small portion of the art, having either never learned its true secret, or being incapable of putting it in practice. The wonder of

his skill consisted in the short time requisite to accomplish his design, which was performed in private, and without any apparent means of coercion. Every description of horse, or even mule, whether previously broke or unhandled, whatever their peculiar vices or ill-habits might have been, submitted without show of resistance to the magical influence of his art, and in the short space of half an hour became gentle and tractable. The effect, though instantaneously produced, was generally durable. Though more submissive to him than to others, yet they seemed to have acquired a docility unknown before.

When sent for to tame a vicious horse, he directed the stable in which he and the object of his experiment were placed to be shut, with orders not to open the door until a signal given. After a tête-à-tête between him and the horse for about half an hour, during which little or no bustle was heard, the signal was made; and upon opening the door the horse was seen lying down, and the man by his side, playing familiarly with him, like a child with a puppy-dog. From that time he was found perfectly willing to submit to discipline, however repugnant to his nature before. Some saw his skill tried on a horse which could never before be brought to stand for a smith to shoe him. The day after Sullivan's half-hour lecture I went, not without some incredulity, to the smith's shop, with many other curious spectators, where we were eye-witnesses of the complete success of his art. This, too, had been a troop-horse; and it was supposed, not without reason, that after regimental discipline had failed no other would be found availing. I observed that the animal seemed afraid whenever Sullivan either spoke or looked at him. How that extraordinary ascendancy could have been obtained it is difficult to conjecture. In common cases, this mysterious preparation was unnecessary. He seemed to possess an instinctive power of inspiring awe, the result, perhaps, of natural intrepidity, in which, I believe, a great part of his art consisted; though the circumstance of the tête-à-tête shews that upon particular occasions something more must have been added to it. A faculty like this would in other hands have made a fortune, and great offers have been made to him for the exercise of his art abroad; but hunting, and attachment to his native soil, were his ruling passions. He lived at home, in the style most agreeable to his disposition, and nothing could induce him to quit Dunhallow and the foxhounds.' What ultimately became of this genius is not mentioned.

Volumes could be filled with anecdotes of the mutual attachment of men and dogs; and we are of opinion that