which, on inquiry being made, proved to be these faithful, yet desperate friends.

Such was the attachment, even in death, of mortals, formed like ourselves, with souls informed with every noble, generous sentiment, and capable of cultivation like our own; but whom, with the most barbarous oppression, we at our pleasure deprive of liberty, of life, and even of those advantages, which common humanity induces us to bestow upon the mere domestic brutes, the horse and the ox.

DESPERATE COURAGE.

The late internal dissentions in the United Provinces, renders every trait in their history particularly interesting. During the memorable Siege of Leyden, in 1574, the inhabitants of that city displayed a spirit of liberty that was unconquerable. Philip II. of Spain, who knew that there was no garrison in the invested place, caused letters to be thrown over the walls, to induce the inhabitants to surrender. The latter answered from the walls, that they knew it was the intention of the Spaniards to reduce them by famine, but that they might depend upon being disappointed, so long as they should hear the barking of the dogs; that when that and every other kind of nutriment failed, they would then eat their left arms, and defend themselves with their right; and that, when deprived of that resource, they would perish by famine, before they would surrender to such a barbarous enemy. The Spaniards soon found that they could make no impression upon such zealots for liberty, and they, therefore, raised the siege, after the brave inhabitants had endured incredible hardships and calamities.

DRINKING TO EXCESS.

Kamhi, Emperor of China, was always careful to have his table served with European wines. Having one day ordered a Mandarin, his most faithful favorite, to drink with him, the Prince got drunk, and afterwards fell into a profound sleep. The Mandarin, who dreaded the consequences of this intemperance, passed into the eunuch's lodge, and told them that the emperor was drunk; that wine would still more irritate his humour, which was already too violent; and that, in this state, he would not even spare his dearest favorites. To remedy so great an evil, he proposed for them to load him (the Mandarin) and put him into a dungeon, as if the order came from the Emperor. This was accordingly done. On waking, the Prince was surprised to find himself alone, and asked what was become of his table-companion. He was answered, that, having displeased his Majesty, he was led by his orders into a close prison, where he was to be put to death. The Prince appeared for some time lost in thought and at length gave orders for the Mandarin to be brought before him. He appeared loaded with irons, and fell at his master's feet as a criminal waiting for the sentence of death. The Prince asked him what brought him into that condition, and what crime he had committed? "I am ignorant of my crime," answered the Mandarin ; "but your Majesty ordered me to be thrown into a dark prison, and there to be executed." The Emperor imputed to the fumes of drunkenness a violence which he did not remember, and had the Mandarin's irons struck off, and it was observed that he ever after avoided an excess of wine.

THE following remarkable account of the sufferings of Lieutenant George Spearing, who lived seven days in a coal-pit, without any sustenance, except some rain-water, was related by himself in a letter to the public Journals of the time, and may be relied on as authentic.

"On Wednesday, September 13th, 1769, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, I went into a little wood called Northwoodside (situated between two and three miles to the N. W. of Glasgow), with a design to gather a few hazel-nuts. I think that I could not have been, in the wood more than a quarter of an hour, nor have gathered more than ten nuts, before I unfortunately fell into an old coal-pit, exactly seventeen yards deep, which had been made through a solid rock. I was some little time insensible. Upon recovering my recollection, I found myself sitting nearly as a tailor does at his work, the blood flowing pretty fast from my mouth; and I thought that I had broken a blood-vessel, and consequently had not long to live; but, to my great comfort, I soon discovered that the blood proceeded from a wound in my tongue, which I suppose I had bitten in my fall. Looking at my watch (it was ten minutes past four), and getting up, I surveyed my limbs, and to my inexpressible joy found that not one was broken. I was soon reconciled to my situation, having from my childhood thought that something very extraordinary was to happen to me in the course of my life; and I had not the least doubt of being relieved in the morning; for the wood being but small and situated near a populous city, it is much frequented, especially in the nutting season, and there are several foot-paths leading through it.

"Night now approached, when it began to rain, not in gentle showers, but in torrents of water, such as is generally experienced at the autumnal equinox. The pit I had fallen into was about five feet in diameter; but, not having been worked for several years, the subterranean passages were choked up, so that I was exposed to the rain, which continued with very small in

VOL. II.

termissions, till the day of my release; and, indeed, in a very short time, I was completely wet through. In this comfortless condition I endeavoured to take some repose. A forked stick that I found in the pit, and which I placed diagonally to the side of it, served alternately to support my head as a pillow, and my body occasionally, which was much bruised; but in the whole time I remained here, I do not think that I ever slept one hour together. Having passed a very disagreeable and tedious night, I was somewhat cheered by the appearance of day-light, and the melody of a robin redbreast that had perched directly over the mouth of the pit; and this pretty little warbler continued to visit my quarters every morning during my confinement; which I construed into a happy omen of my future deliverance; and I sincerely believe the trust I had in Providence, and the company of this little bird, contributed much to that serenity of mind I constantly enjoyed to the last. At the distance of about a hundred yards, in a direct line from the pit, there was a watermill. The miller's house was nearer to me, and the road to the mill still nearer. I could frequently hear the horses going this road to and from the mill; frequently I heard human voices; and I could distinctly hear the ducks and hens about the mill. I made the best use of my voice on every occasion; but it was to no purpose; for the wind, which was constantly high, blew in a direct line from the mill to the pit, which easily accounts for what I heard ; and at the same time my voice was carried the contrary way. I cannot say I suffered much from hunger. After two or three days that appetite ceased; but my thirst was intolerable: and, though it almost constantly rained, yet I could not till the third or fourth day preserve a drop of it, as the earth at the bottom of the pit sucked it up as fast as it ran down. In this distress I sucked my clothes; but from them I could extract but little moisture. The shock I received in the fall, together with the dislocation of one of my ribs, kept me, I imagine, in a continual fever; I cannot otherwise account for my suffering so much more from thirst than I did from hunger. At last I discovered the thighbone of a bull (which, I afterwards heard had fallen into the pit about eighteen years before me), almost covered with the earth. I dug it up; and the large end of it left a cavity that, I suppose, might contain a quart. This the water drained into, but so very slowly, that it was a considerable time before I could dip a nut-shell full at a time; which I emptied into the palm of my hand, and so drank it. The water now began to increase pretty fast, so that I was glad to increase my reservoir, insomuch, that on the fourth or fifth day, I had a sufficient supply; and this water was certainly the preservation of my life.

"At the bottom of the pit there were great quantities of reptiles, such as frogs, toads, large black snail, or slugs, &c. These noxious creatures would frequently crawl about me, and often got into my reservoir; nevertheless I thought it the sweetest water I had ever tasted. I have frequently taken both frogs and toads out of my neck, where I suppose they took shelter while I slept. The toads I always destroyed, but the frogs I carefully preserved, as I did not know but I might be under the necessity of eating them, which I should not have scrupled to have done had I been very hungry.

Saturday the 16th, there fell but little rain, and I had the satisfaction to hear the voices of some boys in the wood. Immediately I called out with all my might, but it was all in vain, though I afterwards learned that they actually heard me; but, being prepossessed with an idle story of a wild man being in the wood, they ran away affrighted.

Sunday, the 17th, was my birth-day, when I completed my forty-first year

and I think it was the next day some of my acquaintance, having accidentally heard that I had gone the way I did, sent two or three porters out purposely to search the pits for me. These men went to the miller's house, and made inquiry for me; but, on account of the very great rain at the time, they never entered the wood, but cruelly returned to their employers, telling them they had searched the pit, and that I was not to be found. Many people in my dismal situation would, no doubt, have died with despair; but, I thank God, I enjoyed a perfect serenity of mind; so much so, that on Tuesday afternoon, and when I had been six nights in the pit, I very composedly, by way of amusement, combed my wig on my knee, humming a tune, and thinking of Archer in the "Beaux Stratagem."

At length the morning (Sept. 20), the happy morning for my deliverance came. Through the brambles and bushes that covered the mouth of the pit, I could discover the sun shining bright, and my pretty warbler was chanting his melodious strains, when my attention was roused by a confused noise of human voices, which seemed to be approaching fast towards the pit ; imme diately I called out, and most agreeably surprised several of my acquaintance, who were in search of me. They told me that they had not the most distant hope of finding me alive; but wished to give my body a decent burial, should they be so fortunate as to find it. As soon as they heard my voice, they all ran towards the pit, and I could distinguish a well-known voice exclaim, "Good God! he is still living!" Another of them, though a very honest North Briton, betwixt his surprise and joy, could not help asking me, in the Hibernian style, if I were still alive? I told him I was, and hearty too; and then gave them particular directions how to proceed in getting me out. Fortunately at that juncture a collier, from a working pit in the neighbourhood, was passing along the road, and hearing an unusual noise in the wood, his curiosity prompted him to learn the occasion. By his assistance, and a rope from the mill, I was soon safely landed on terra firma. The miller's wife had very kindly brought some milk warm from the cow; but, on my coming into the fresh air, I grew rather faint and could not taste it. Need I be ashamed to acknowledge, that the first dictates of my heart prompted me to fall on my knees, and ejaculate a silent thanksgiving to the God of my deliverance.

Every morning while I was in the pit, I tied a knot in the corner of my handkerchief, supposing that, if I died there, and my body should be afterwards found, the number of knots would certify how many days I had lived. Almost the first question my friends asked me was, how long I had been in the pit? Immediately I drew my handkerchief from my pocket, and bade them count the knots. They found seven, the exact number of nights I had been there. We now hastened out of the wood. I could walk without support; but that was not allowed, each person present striving to shew me how much they were rejoiced that they had found me alive and so well. They led me to the miller's house, where a great number of people were collected to see me. A gentleman, who had a country house just by, very kindly, at my request, sent for a glass of white wine. I ordered a piece of bread to be toasted, which I soaked in the wine, and ate. I now desired the miller's wife to make me up a bed, fondly thinking that nothing more was wanting than a little refreshing to terminate my misfortune. But, alas! I was still to undergo greater sufferings than I had yet endured. By the almost continual rains, together with the cold damp arising from the wet ground on which I laid, and not being able to take the least exercise to keep up a proper circulation of the blood, my legs were much swelled and benumbed. Some of my friends,

observing this, proposed to send to Glasgow for medical advice. I at first declined it, and happy had it been for me had I pursued my own inclinations; but unfortunately for me a physician and surgeon were employed, both of them ignorant of what ought to have been done. Instead of ordering my legs into cold water, or rubbing them with a coarse towel, to bring on a gradual circulation, they applied hot bricks and large poultices to my feet. This by expanding the blood-vessels too suddenly, put me to much greater torture than I ever endured in my life, and not only prevented me enjoying that refreshing sleep I so much wanted, but actually produced a mortification in both my feet. I do not mean, by relating this circumstance, to reflect on the faculty in general at Glasgow; for I was afterwards attended by gentlemen who are an honor to the profession. The same method was pursued for several days, without even giving me bark till I mentioned it myself. This happily stopped the progress of the mortification, which the doctors did not know had taken place till the miller's wife shewed them a black spot, about as broad as a shilling, at the bottom of my left heel. In a day or two more the whole skin, together with all the nails of my left foot, and three from my right, came off like the fingers of a glove..

"Opposite the river, on which the mill stood, there was a bleach-field.

It

is customary for the watchman in the night to blow a horn to frighten thieves. This I frequently heard when I was in the pit; and very often, when I was in a sound sleep at the miller's I have been awakened by it in the greatest horrors, still thinking myself in the pit; so that, in fact, I suffered as much by imagination as from reality.

"I continued six weeks at the miller's, when the roads became too bad for the doctors to visit me, so that I was under the necessity of being carried in a sedan chair to my lodgings in Glasgow. By this time my right foot was quite well; but in my left, where the above-mentioned black spot appeared, there was a large wound, and it too plainly appeared that the os calcis was nearly all decayed; for the surgeon could put his probe through the centre of it. The flesh too at the bottom of my foot was quite separated from the bones and tendons, so that I was forced to submit to have it cut off. In this painful state I lay several months, reduced to a mere skeleton, taking thirty drops of laudanum every night; and though it somewhat eased the pain in my foot, it was generally three or four in the morning before I got any rest. My situation now became truly alarming: I had a consultation of surgeons, who advised me to wait with patience for an exfoliation, when they had not the least doubt but they should soon cure my foot. At the same time they candidly acknowledged that it was impossible to ascertain the precise time when that would happen, as it might be six or even twelve months, before it came to pass. In my emaciated condition I was certain that it was not possible for me to hold out half the time; and knowing that I must be a very great cripple with the loss of my heel-bone, I came to a determined resolution to have my leg taken off, and appointed the very next day for the operation; but no surgeon came near me. I sincerely believe they wished to perform a cure; but being, as I thought, the best judge of my own feelings, I was resolved this time to be guided by my own opinion; accordingly, on the 2nd of May, 1770, my leg was taken off a little below the knee. Yet, notwithstanding I had so long endured the rod of affliction, misfortunes still followed me. About three hours after the amputation had been performed, and when I was quiet in bed, I found myself nearly fainting with the loss of blood; the ligatures had all given way, and the arteries had bled a considerable time before it was dis