could not live, unless her leg was amputated above the knee: the operation was performed before she recovered her senses. When she came to herself, it was thought advisable not to acquaint her with the loss of her leg, lest her grief at the circumstance might prevent that repose which was so necessary for her recovery; and the fever continuing, she remained in a state of ignorance for nearly two months. During that time, she frequently complained of painful shootings which she felt in her legs; and sometimes in the foot which in fact she had lost. This illusion in the sense of pain is easily accounted for. Sensation is in the nerves; the extremities of which were formerly in the foot, but since her loss, they terminated above the knee; and the miud, accustomed to refer pain to different parts of the nerves, and ignorant of any part being taken away, continued to think that the pain, which was felt at the extremities, proceeded from the leg or the foot. To deceive Miss Molesworth, her other leg was wrapped up in pasteboard and bandages, and a second wrapper of a similar kind served to conceal from her the loss she had sustained. A lady, one of her relations, who was always with her, and who was appointed to acquaint her with her loss, at a suitable opportunity, was more than fifteen days in devising different plans of informing her of her condition, so as to prevent such unexpected tidings from being fatal to her health. For this purpose, she told her by degrees that the wound grew worse, and that it was probable she might be obliged to have her leg amputated. At last, she brought her to express a wish that the operation had been performed while she was insensible, and she seized that moment to tell her that it was already done. When she heard this, she turned pale, was silent for a minute or two, and then raising her eyes to her friend, "Well," said she, "I am very glad that the operation is not now to be performed."

During six months that she remained in the house of Lady Grosvenor, Lord G. omittted no attention which might contribute to sooth her misfortunes. When she was in a state to receive him, he passed the greatest part of his time with her, and exerted himself to amuse her; sometimes by a select company which was agreeable to her, and sometimes by little concerts; and such was his assiduous attention, that there was some mixture of love in it. In fact, he was in love, but the delicacy and generosity of his conduct were not affected by his passion; his love was confined within the strictest bounds of compassion and respect, and he took every possible precaution to conceal even the effects of it. Among other things, he went to Miss Molesworth's guardian, and gave him a considerable sum, which he begged him to dispose of in favour of his ward, in case the accident that had happened should have injured her fortune by destroying the family papers; recommending to him, at the same time, the most rigorous secrecy and it was not till some years afterwards, that Miss Molesworth, having occasion for the assistance, was informed of this.

Young Lord Molesworth was then at Westminster school: his mother had sent for him on the evening of the accident, to pass some days with her; but, by some mistake, he never received the message, or he would in all probability have perished.

Two children, of eight or nine years old, were burnt in their beds, no one being able to rescue them from their beds.

Two other of her daughters, twelve or thirteen years old, went up to the top of the house with their governess. The crowd, assembled in the street, had placed mattresses and feather beds upon the pavement, and called out to them to throw themselves down. The governess threw herself off first: she

fell upon the pavement, and was shockingly mangled by the fall, before the eyes of her pupils. The eldest, frightened at the height she had to leap, said to the other: "" Sister, there is no way of saving ourselves but by throwing ourselves down, yet I have not courage to do it: pray push me off, and jump after me.” The youngest, without waiting any longer, pushed her sister, and jumped after her, and fortunately they both fell upon the feather beds which had been spread out to receive them, and were saved.

We pass over in silence the grief of these young ladies for the loss of their mother, but we cannot help relating a very singular instance of the misfortune that pursued Miss Molesworth.

Some years after this accident, a young nobleman, who was both rich and amiable, became enamoured of that lady. She consented to become his wife; the marriage articles were drawn, and the wedding-day fixed; when, as they were riding together on horseback, the lover was thrown from his horse and killed on the spot, before the eyes of his mistress. She, however, married afterwards, and had several children.

One of the two youngest sisters, who had thrown herself from the top of the house, afterwards married Mr. Ponsonby, son of the speaker of the House of Commons.

AFRICAN FEROCITY."

Bosman relates of the Adomese negroes and others inhabiting the banks of the river Praâ or Chamah river, at its outlet in the gulf, a fair specimen of what they would be, in common with the Ashantees, and Dahomans at least, if they had the same power as those nations.

"Anqua, the king," he says, "having, in an engagement, taken five of his principal Anteese enemies prisoners, he wounded them all over, after which, with a more than brutal fury, he satiated, though not tired himself, by sucking their blood at their gaping wounds; but bearing a more than ordinary grudge against one of them, he caused him to be laid bound at his feet, and his body to be pierced with hot irons, gathering the blood that issued from him in a vessel, one half of which he drank, and offered up the rest unto his god." On another occasion he put to death one of his wives and a slave, drinking their blood also, as was his usual practice with his enemies."

NAPOLEON'S EXPOSURE TO ASSASSINATION.

I was almost always, says Las Cases, present at the Emperor's toilette : sometimes I remained after having finished my writing, and sometimes the Emperor desired me to come and chat with him. One day, I was looking stedfastly at him as he put on his flannel waistcoat. My countenance, I suppose, expressed something particular, for he said, in his good humoured way of addressing me: "Well, what does your excellency smile at? What are you thinking of at this moment?"-Sire, in a pamphlet which I lately read, I found it stated that your majesty was shielded by a coat of mail for the security of your person. A report of the same kind was circulated among certain classes in Paris; and in support of the assertion, allusion was made to your majesty's sudden embonpoint, which was said to be quite unnatural. I was just now thinking that I could bear positive evidence to the contrary, and that at St. Helena, at least, all precaution for personal safety have been

laid aside." This is one of the thousand absurdities that have been pubJished respecting me," said he. "But the story you have just mentioned is the more ridiculous, since every individual about me well knows how careless I am in regard to self-preservation. Accustomed, from the age of eighteen, to lie exposed to the cannon-ball, and knowing the inutility of precautions, I abandoned myself to my fate. When I came to the head of affairs, I might still have fancied myself surrounded by the danger of the field of battle; and I might have regarded the conspiracies that were formed against me as so many bomb-shells. But I followed my old course; I trusted to my lucky star; and I left all precautions to the police. I was perhaps the only sovereign in Europe who dispensed with a body guard. Every one could freely approach me without having, as it were, to pass through military barracks; the sentinels at the outer gates being passed, all had free access to every part of my palace. Maria Louisa was much astonished to see me so poorly guarded; and she often remarked, that her father was surrounded by bayonets. For my part, I had no better defence at the Tuileries than I have here; I don't even know where to find my sword; do you see it?" said he, looking about for it......" I have, to be sure," he continued, "incurred great dangers. Upwards of thirty plots were formed against me: these have been proved by authentic testimony, without mentioning many that never came to light. Some sovereigns invent conspiracies against themselves; for my part, I made it a rule carefully to conceal them whenever I could. The crisis most serious to me, was during the interval from the battle of Marengo, to the attempt of Georges, and the affair of the Duke d'Enghien."

Napoleon related, that about a week before the arrest of Georges, a petition had been delivered into his own hands on the parade, by one of the most determined of the conspirators. Others insinuated themselves among the household at St. Cloud or Malmaison; finally Georges himself seems to have been so near his person, as to be in the same apartment.

Independently of good fortune, the emperor attributes his safety, in a great measure, to certain circumstances peculiar to himself. That which had doubtless, he said, contributed to preserve him, was his having lived after his own fancy, without any regular habits or fixed plan. His vast occupations kept him much at home, and almost constantly confined him to his closet. He never dined abroad, seldom visited the theatres, and never appeared but at those times and places at which he was not expected.

As we were descending to the garden, after the emperor had finished dressing, he observed to me, that the two designs on his life which had placed him in the most imminent danger, were those of Cerachi the sculptor, and the fanatic Schoenbrunn. Cerachi and some other desperate wretches had laid a plan for assassinating the first consul. They agreed to carry their design into execution at the moment of his withdrawing from his box at the theatre. Napoleon, who got intimation of the plot, nevertheless proceeded to the theatre, and fearlessly passed by the conspirators, who had shewn themselves most eager to occupy their respective stations. They were not arrested until about the middle or near the close of the performance.

Cerachi, said the emperor, had formerly adored the first consul; but he vowed to sacrifice him, when, as he pretended, he proved himself a tyrant. This artist had been loaded with favours by General Bonaparte, whose bust he had executed; and when he entered into the plot against his benefactor, he endeavoured by every possible means to procure another sitting, under pretence of making an essential improvement on the bust. Fortunately, at

that time the emperor had not a single moment's leisure, and thinking that want was the real cause of the urgent solicitations of the sculptor, he sent him six thousand franes. But how was he mistaken! Cerachi's real motive was to stab him at the sitting.

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The conspiracy was disclosed by a captain of the line, who was himself an accomplice. "This," said Napoleon, was a proof of the strange modifications of which the human mind is susceptible, and shews to what lengths the combinations of folly and stupidity may be carried! This officer regarded me with horror as first consul, though he had adored me as general. He wished to see me driven from my post, but he rejected the idea of any attempt upon my life. He wished that I should be secured, but would not have me injured in any way; and he proposed that I should be sent back to the army to face the enemy, and defend the glory of France. The rest of the conspirators laughed at these notions; but when he found they were distributing poniards, and going far beyond his intentions, he then came and disclosed'all

to the consul.”

As we were discoursing on this subject, some one present mentioned having witnessed at the threatre Feydau, a circumstance which threw a part of the audience into the greatest consternation. The emperor entered the empress Josephine's box, and had scarcely taken his seat, when a young man hastily jumped upon the bench immediately below the box, and placed his hand upon his breast. The spectators on the other side were filled with alarm. Fortunately the young man was merely presenting a petition, which the emperor received and read with the utmost coolness.

The emperor described the fanatic Schoenbrunn, as the son of a protestant minister of Erfurt, who, about the time of the battle of Wagram, had laid a plan for the assassination of Napoleon, with all due parade. He had passed the sentinels at some distance from the emperor, and had twice or thrice been driven back, when General Rapp, in the act of pushing him aside with his hand, felt something concealed under his coat. This proved to be a knife, about a foot and a half long, pointed, and sharp at both edges. "I shuddered to look at it," said the emperor; " it was merely rolled up in a piece of newspaper."

Napoleon ordered the assassin to be brought into his closet. He called Corvisart, and directed him to feel the criminal's pulse while he spoke to him. The assassin stood unmoved, confessing his crime, and frequently making quotations from the Bible." What was your purpose here?" inquired the emperor."To kill you." "What have I done to offend you? By whose authority do you constitute yourself my judge?"-"I wish to put an end to the war." "And why not address yourself to the emperor Francis?" "To him!" said the assassin," and wherefore? he is a mere cipher. And besides, if he were dead, another would succeed him; but when you are gone, the French will immediately return from Germany."-The emperor vainly endeavoured to move him. "Do you repent?" said he. "No." "Would you again attempt the perpetration of your intended crime ?" "Yes."

What, if I were to pardon you?" Here, said the emperor, nature for an instant resumed her sway; the man's countenance and voice underwent a momentary change. "Even though you do," said he, "God will not forgive me." But he immediately resumed his ferocious expression. He was kept in solitary confinement and without food for four and twenty hours. The doctor examined him once more. He was again questioned, but all was unavailing; he still remained the same man, or, to speak more properly, the same ferocious brute. He was at length abandoned to his fate.

CANADIAN POISON TREE.

"Another species of the sumach, called by the Americans the poisontree,' is found in low swampy lands in Upper Canada and in the United States. The effluvia of the noxious shrub affects some people to such a degree, that they cannot approach towards the places where it grows, without sustaining a very sensible injury from its poisonous exhalations. On touching it, and even when they are not in immediate contact with it, their hands, face, and legs, become swelled to an alarming extent, and are soon covered with blisters, Their eyes also suffer very materially from the violent humours which it creates. But what makes the matter still more wonderful, is the fact, that, while these effects are produced on some persons, there are others who can handle the branches of the tree with perfect impunity, and may even rub it over their bodies without enduring the slightest visible inconvenience.

"A creeping shrub, called by the Canadians the poison ivy,' although it resembles the ivy only in its parasitical character, is also a very offensive plant. It is called by the French herbe aux puces,' (flea-bane,) and possesses nearly the same deleterious qualities as the poisonous sumach. Mr. Lambert says, that wherever this plant is found, there is always a great number of lady-flies, which, as long as they continue on the leaves, are covered with a brilliant gold; but when taken from the tree, they lose this brilliant hue, and become exactly similar to the insect which is known by that appellation in England. Whether the name which the French have conferred on the plant has any relation to this circumstance, I know not; but there appears to be some affinity between them. I have seen several persons who were poisoned by the herbe aux puces: they suffered the most excruciating pains, until relieved by the internal application of turpentine, or some other strong spirit. Soap and sour cream are also said to be very efficacious in expelling the poison and reducing the swellings."-Talbot's America.

INFECTION STRANGELY COMMUNICATED.

In the year 1751, the grave-digger at Chelwood in Somersetshire opened a grave, wherein a man who had died of the small-pox had been interred about thirty years before. By the deceased's desire he had been buried in an oak coffin, which was so firm that it might have been taken out whole, but the gravedigger not choosing that, forced the spade through the lid, when there came forth such a stench, that he never smelt the like before. It being a person of credit who was to be buried in the grave, the whole village attended the funeral, as well as many people from the neighbouring villages; and a few days after, about fourteen persons were seized in one day with the usual symptoms of the small-pox, and in three days more, every soul, but two, in the whole village, who had not had it, were seized in the like manner. Their disorder proved to be so favourable, that no more than two persons died of the whole number, which was about thirty, and one of them was a woman who came down stairs when the pock was at the height, and died the same night. The same disorder was carried all round the villages, by the country people who attended the funeral, and proved very favourable every where.

ROYALTY FORGED.

After the death of Peter III. several impostors started up in the distant egions of the Russian empire, and passed for that unfortunate monarch. The