to these enormities, the spirit of religious persecution raged throughout the kingdom with unabated fury. The Presbyterians had urged the fall of Rizzio, while the murder of Darnley was planned and perpetrated by the Catholics; both parties seizing their opportunities through the irregularities and unguarded moments of unsuspected security. It was at this time that Mary practised the arts of dissimulation with consummate address. No sooner had Darnley prostituted his honour and health in every species of debauchery, than, to complete his career, he must needs participate in the foul act of the assassination of a supposed rival. His turn, however, came next. Mary put on the shew of reconciliation with her husband, while, if she was not accessary to, she was not altogether ignorant of an intention to rid her and her party of one who was deemed unworthy of so high a station, at a period too, so big with the great events that were about to be established. Darnley was murdered; and Bothwell in a short time after filled his place in the too susceptible bosom of Mary. These circumstances were but too fatally calculated to bring her into disgrace and contempt with her subjects. She was hunted down and her personal liberty disposed of. Bereft of her kingdom, and immured in the solitude of a state prison for eighteen years, through the shameful intrigues of a relative whose true interests should have induced her to reinstate the unfortunate victim in her former greatness, Mary, the once accomplished and loveliest of women, was suffered to languish and expiate her indiscretions in all the anguish of disappointment, regret, and a tender recollection of the earlier part of her existence, during which she placidly glided down the stream of life, its banks being luxuriantly shaded from too intense heat, and sheltered from every casual blast. Such was the retrospect presented to the mind of Mary, and it must have cut to the soul an imagination less lively than she must be supposed to have possessed to have retained to the end of her life. Death, therefore, came, a welcome guest to a much injured captive. But let execration blight the hand that signed the death warrant of one who had suffered a thousand deaths, while eighteen years confinement was not sufficient to quiet the apprehensions of an ambitious and a too jealous rival queen!

SINGULAR GALVANIC EXPERIMENTS.

The term Galvanism is derived from Galvani, a professor of anatomy at Bologna, who, not many years since, discovered a certain influence, or species of electricity, by which animal bodies were strangely affected, by application of metallic substances to particular parts of the nervous system.

The experiments which have hitherto been made by philosophers upon animal bodies may be reduced to a single point; the statement of which will suffice to give the reader a general idea of the subject.

Lay bare any principal nerve, which immediately leads to some great limb or muscle. When this is done, let that part of the nerve which is exposed, and which is farthest from the limb or muscle, be brought in contact with a piece of zinc. While in this state, let the zinc be touched by a piece of silver, while another part of the silver touches the naked nerve, if not dry; or the muscle to which it leads, whether dry or not. In this state, violent contractions will be produced in the limb or muscle, but not in any muscle on the other side of the zinc.

Among the numerous experiments which have lately been made, very

few

have been more singular in their effects, than those which were produced by Dr. Ure, in Glasgow, on the body of a man named Clydesdale, who had been executed for murder. These effects were produced by a Voltaic battery of 270 pair of four-inch plates, of which the results were terrible. In the first experiment, on moving the rod from the thigh to the heel, the leg was thrown forward with such violence, as nearly to overturn one of the assistants. In the second experiment, the rod was applied to the phrenic nerve in the neck, when laborious breathing commenced; the chest heaved and fell; the belly was protruded and relapsed with the relaxing and retiring of the diaphragm; and it was thought that nothing but the loss of blood prevented pulsation from being restored. In the third experiment, the supra orbital nerve was touched, when the muscles of the face were thrown into frightful action and contortions. The scene was hideous; and many spectators left the room; and one gentleman nearly fainted, either from terror, or from the momentary sickness which the scene occasioned. In the fourth experiment, from meeting the electric power from the spinal marrow to the elbow, the fingers were put in motion, and the arm was agitated in such a manner, that it seemed to point to some spectators, who were dreadfully terrified, from an apprehension that the body was actually come to life.

From these experiments, Dr. Ure seemed to be of opinion, that had not incisions been made in the blood-vessels of the neck, and the spinal marrow been lacerated, the body of the criminal might have been restored to life.

MURDER PREVENTED BY THE SAGACITY OF A DOG.

Mr. Johnson, a traveller from Manchester, on his route from Scotland, on horseback, was benighted, and passing a small public-house on the road, he thought it better to take up his lodgings there, if possible, than to proceed farther that night. On entering the house, he found only an old woman, who, said she could accommodate him with a bed, and provide for the horse in a small shed, if he would assist her in giving him some hay, as there was no other person then in the house. This was agreed to by Mr. Johnson, who, after taking a little refreshment, was shewn by the old woman to his bed-room.

A large Dane dog, which accompanied him on his journey, offered to go up to the room along with him, which the old woman strongly objected to; but Mr. Johnson firmly persisted in having him admitted. The dog, on his entrance, began to growl, and was very unruly. His master attempted to quiet him in vain he kept growling and looking angrily under the bed, which induced Mr. Johnson to look there likewise; when, to his very great astonishment, he saw a man concealed at the farther end. On encouraging the dog, he sprang immediately at the man, whilst Mr. Johnson seized his pistols, and presenting one to the man, who had a large knife in his hand, and was struggling with the dog, swore he would instantly shoot him, if he made further resistance. The man then submitted to be bound, and acknowledged his intention to rob and murder Mr. Johnson, which was thus providentially prevented by the wonderful sagacity of his faithful dog. Mr. Johnson, after properly fastening the man, and securing the door, went, accompanied by his dog, to the shed where his horse was left, which he instantly mounted, and escaped without injury to the next town, where he gave the magistrate a full account of the horrid attempt, who had the culprit taken up, and punished for the villany.

AVARICE is a vice of all others the most detestable. The avaricious man knows no bounds to his ambition, no summit to his grasping wishes; his life is one continued line of misery and wretchedness-he is the slave of suspicion, always mistrustful, always discontented; he, obtains but to desire more; his wishes succeed each other as billow succeeds billow, and lead him on from possession to expectation, until the grasp of death seizes him, and his hopes and his desires lay buried together in the sepulchre. It appears to us that a truly sordid mind is devoid of all religion-his only god is pelfand is therefore not only an object of the most pitiable scorn, but also of disgust and detestation. The miser is unworthy of the land he lives in, he is unworthy to mix in the society of other men-he is unworthy to live, and unfit to die. A perusal of the lives of the most noted misers present us with such a picture of the debasement of the human mind, that we feel ourselves nauseated at the view; and we shall generally find that their last hours have been visited by the judgment of the Almighty, in some shape or other. The late noted Mr. Elves, who carried this strange passion almost to madness, died in a state of utter starvation, although he was possessed of thousands! The author of the beautiful romance of Kenilworth' has also noticed the horrible death of Antony Foster, the miser, and the following instance of the just judgment of God upon avarice, which occurred in late years, does not yield to any former circumstances of the kind, in point of frightful

interest.

Monsieur Foscue, one of the farmers-general of the province of Languedoc, in France, who had amassed considerable wealth in grinding the faces of the poor within his province, by which he rendered himself universally hated, was one day ordered by the government to raise a considerable sum; upon

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which, as an excuse for not complying with the demand, he pleaded extreme poverty; but, fearing lest some of the inhabitants of Languedoc should give information to the contrary, and his house should in consequence be searched, he resolved on hiding his treasure in such a manner as to escape the most strict examination.

He built a kind of cave in his wine cellar, which he made so large and deep, that he used to go down to it with a ladder; at the entrance was a door with a spring lock on it, which on shutting would close of itself. Some time after, Monsieur Foscue being missing, diligent search was made after him in every place; the ponds were drawn, and every method which human imagination could suggest was taken for finding him, but all in vain.

eaten;

In a short time after his death his house was sold, and the purchaser beginning either to rebuild it, or make some alterations in it, the workmen discovered a door in the cellar, with a key in the lock, which he ordered to be opened, and on going down they found Monsieur Foscue lying dead on the ground, with a candlestick near him, but no candle in it, which he had doubtless and on searching farther they found the vast treasure he had amassed, It is supposed, that when Monsieur Foscue went into his cave, the door by some accident shut after him, and being out of the call of any person, he perished for want of food. He had gnawed the flesh off both his arms and shoulders, for subsistence; and the other parts of his body were shrivelled up to that degree, that every bone protruded some distance beyond the thin covering of the skin. Thus did this miser die in the midst of his treasure, to the scandal of himself, and the prejudice of the state.

FEMALE FORTITUDE.

Forty-four years before the birth of Christ, Decimus Brutus became the founder of the Roman liberty. He married his first cousin, Portia, the daughter of Cato. Brutus was the avowed enemy of Pompey, the murderer of his father, yet Brutus attached himself to his party, when he found that Cæsar was aiming at universal sway.-Bound by the strongest ties of friendship to Cassius, he conspired with him against Cæsar's tyranny, and both uniting their prudence and courage, made choice of sixty colleagues, who were capable of undertaking the bold enterprise they conceived.

Portia, worthy of being the daughter of Cato, no less worthy of being the wife of Brutus, soon discovered their designs and only drew from them an avowal of their projects, in order to second them. Brutus become the chief of so dangerous an enterprise, and to whom the destiny of so many illustrious Romans was attached, still preserved a calm and undisturbed demeanour. But when at home, with only his wife, he sought, in vain, to quiet the agitation of his perturbed spirits: she soon perceived that he was occupied with some grand design, which he wished to conceal from her. Portia, who loved him tenderly, had no other motive for wishing to be acquainted with his secrets, than that which proceeded from her ardent desire of sharing with, and lessening the weight of all his troubles.-Nevertheless, before she urged him to repose this confidence in her, she first essayed how far she could rely on her own fortitude, and she gave herself a deep wound with a poniard. A copious loss of blood, and severe pain, brought on a fever. This accident filled the heart of Brutus with the most anxious fear and sorrow; but when he was about o call in medical aid, Portia prevented him, and, in the midst of her severest

anguish, she said, "Brutus, remember I am Cato's daughter, and that I am your wife: it was not only to preside at your table, and share the nuptial couch, that my father gave me to you, but to take my part in all your sorrows, as I have hitherto done in your pleasures; and, by alleviating the former, and encountering every danger for your sake, to prove myself the daughter of Cato: women are described as weak and wavering, but the example of such a father, and such a husband, is the rule of my conduct, and my manners and character are formed from it. Before, however, I would totally depend on myself, I was resolved to try how to vanquish bodily pain. Now I am certain," added she, shewing her husband the wound she had herself inflicted, "I can, without being imprudent, interrogate you on the secret you have so long, and so carefully concealed within your own breast."

Brutus, penetrated with love and admiration, raised his hands to heaven, and supplicated the Gods that they would render him worthy of being the husband of Portia. He then revealed to her, not concealing the minutest circumstance, the whole plan of the conspiracy against Cæsar.

At the moment this design was about to be put in execution, Brutus had a dreadful trial to undergo: his wife fell so dangerously ill, that it seemed next an impossibility that she could live. The idea of the peril attached to her beloved Brutus in carrying on this hazardous project, had dreadfully alarmed her the least noise augmented her terrors: she inquired of every creature she saw after Brutus, and in her impatience to be informed of his welfare, she sent every moment one messenger after another to bring her news of the state of his health, to the very place where the senate was then held. At length, sinking under the weight of the most cruel suspense, she entirely lost her reason; and her women fancying her life in danger, took care to inform Brutus of their fears. The situation of his beloved Portia cruelly distressed him ; yet the interests of the public prevented him from yielding to the impulse of his heart; and he would have regarded himself as a coward, if he had not been the first to expose his own person in that dangerous enterprise, of which he was the chief.

After Cæsar had fallen under the hands of his assassins, Portia took leave of her husband at Velie, where she bade him a last farewell. Although ́assured of his ill success, she concealed the anguish of her mind: but a picture she chanced to cast her eyes upon, betrayed her emotions and alarm to Brutus. This painting represented the parting of Hectar and Andromache; and this separation, so similar to her own situation, caused the tears to gush from her eyes she hastily dried them, returned to Rome, and Brutus embarked for Athens.

After the death of Brutus, which happened soon after, Portia made a vow that she would not survive him. Historians do not agree after the manner of self-immolation. Some say she swallowed burning coals; others, that she starved herself.

TRUE GREATNESS OF SOUL.

A grenadier in the Duke of Berwick's army being taken marauding, was sentenced to die. His officers went in a body to the Duke, and represented to him, that the unhappy man was one of the bravest soldiers in the army. The duke, however, ordered the provost to do his duty. The grenadier was conducted to the place of punishment; but in the instant they were about to tie his hands, he found means to slip away, and concealed himself in the