36. Anecdotes.

Expect'ed; looked for. Consist'ing; made of. aged; emboldened.

Remain'der; part left. Plen'ty; abundance. Encour’Allured'; enticed, attracted. Endeavouring; trying. Contents'; that which is enclosed. Approach'ing; coming up. Escape'; get away. Terrible; frightful. Fran'tic; distracted. Imagina'tion; fancy. Convert'ed; changed, turned. Tremen'dous; dreadful. In'stantly; at once. Scaled; climbed over.

1. DURING the late siege of Gibraltar, in the absence of the fleet, and when an attack was daily expected, one dark night, a sentry, whose post was near a tower facing the Spanish lines, was standing at the end of his walk, whistling; looking towards them, his head filled with nothing but fire and sword, mines, breaches, storming, and bloodshed! By the side of his box stood a deep, narrow-necked earthen jug, in which was the remainder of his supper, consisting of boiled peas. A large monkey, of which there are plenty at the top of the rock, encouraged by the man's absence, and allured by the smell of the peas, ventured to the jug; and, in endeavouring to get at its contents, thrust his head so far into the jug," as to be unable to withdraw it. At this instant, the soldier approaching, the monkey started up to escape, with the jug on his head. This terrible monster no sooner saluted the eyes of the sentry, than his frantic imagination converted poor pug into a fine blood-thirsty Spanish grenadier, with a most tremendous cap on his head. Full of this dreadful idea, he instantly fired his piece, roaring out that the enemy had scaled the walls. guards took the alarm; the drums were beat; signal guns fired; and in less than ten minutes,

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the governor and his whole garrison were under arms. The supposed grenadier, being very much incommoded by his cap, and almost blinded by the peas, was soon overtaken and seized; and, by his capture, the tranquillity of the garrison was restored, without that slaughter and bloodshed which every man had prognosticated in the beginning of this direful alarm.-Mirror of Wit.

2. MARGARET LAMBRUN was a Scotswoman, whose husband, as well as herself, was in the retinue of Mary, Queen of Scots, on whose untimely death the husband of Margaret died of grief. She resolved to revenge the death of her husband, and her Queen, on Elizabeth; and to accomplish her purpose, she assumed a man's habit, and repaired to the English court, assuming the name of Anthony Sparke. She carried with her a brace of pistols; one to kill Elizabeth, and the other to shoot herself, to avoid the disgrace of a public execution. But her design happened to miscarry, by an accident which preserved Queen Elizabeth's life. One day as she was pushing through the crowd to come up to her Majesty, who was then walking in her garden, she dropped one of her pistols. This being observed, she was seized, and brought before the Queen, who asked her name, country, and quality. Margaret undauntedly replied, "Madam, though I appear in this habit, I am a woman; my name is Margaret Lambrun; I was several years in the service of Queen Mary, whom you have unjustly put to death; and by her death you have also caused that of my husband, who died of grief to see so innocent a Queen perish so iniquitously. Now, as I had the greatest love and affection for these victims of your cruelty and injustice, I resolved to avenge their death, by kill

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ing you. I acknowledge that I suffered many struggles within my own breast, and have endeavoured to divert my resolution from this design; but all in vain: I found myself compelled to prove by experience, the truth of this maxim, that neither reason nor force can hinder a woman from vengeance, when she is impelled by love." After calmly listening to Margaret's discourse, Elizabeth replied, "You are then persuaded that in this action you have done your duty, and satisfied the demands which your love for your mistress and for your husband required of you: but what think you now it is my duty to do to you?" Madam," said Margaret, with a steady and unembarrassed countenance, "I will tell you plainly my opinion, provided you will let me know whether you put that question in the quality of a Queen, or in that of a judge?" Her Majesty declared that "it was in that of a Queen." "Then," said Margaret, "Your Majesty ought to grant me a pardon." "But what assurance or security can you give me," said Elizabeth, "that you will not make another attempt upon my life." "Madam," replied the spirited Lambrun," a favour given under such restraints is no more a favour ; and in so doing, your Majesty would act against me as a judge." The Queen turning to some of her council, said, "I have been thirty years a Queen, and do not remember ever to have had such a lecture read to me before." She pronounced a free and unqualified pardon, and granted Margaret safe conduct till she got out of the kingdom.-National Anecdotes.

Signs of Rain.

The hollow winds begin to blow,
The clouds look black, the glass is low:
The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
And spiders from their cobwebs peep.
Last night the sun went pale to bed,
The moon in halos hid her head:
The boding shepherd heaves a sigh,
For, see, a rainbow spans the sky.
The walls are damp, the ditches smell,
Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernell.
Hark! how the chairs and tables crack,
Old Betty's joints are on the rack;
Loud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry,
The distant hills are looking nigh.
How restless are the snorting swine?
The busy flies disturb the kine;
Low o'er the grass the swallow wings;
The cricket, too, how sharp he sings.
Puss, on the hearth, with velvet paws,
Sits, wiping o'er her whiskered jaws.
Through the clear stream the fishes rise,
And nimbly catch the incautious flies;
The glow-worms, numerous and bright,
Illumed the dewy dell last night.
At dusk the squalid toad was seen,
Hopping and crawling o'er the green ;
The whirling wind the dust obeys,
And in the rapid eddy plays;

The frog has changed his yellow vest,
And in a russet coat is dressed.
Though June, the air is cold and still;
The mellow blackbird's voice is shrill.
My dog, so altered in his taste,
Quits mutton-bones, on grass to feast;

And see yon rooks, how odd their flight,
They imitate the gliding kite,
And seem precipitate to fall-
As if they felt the piercing ball.
'Twill surely rain;-I see, with sorrow,
Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow.

Dr. Jenner.

37. Hurricane in Jamaica..

Effects'; consequences.

Elo'quently; feelingly. Anticipa'tion; foretaste.

Description; account. Hurricane; storm of wind. Suspend'ed; kept in doubt. Ensue'; follow. Disclose'; reveal. Devasta'tion; desolation. Illu'minated; enlightened. Exhib'ited; shewn. Pros'pect; view. Falla'cious; deceitful. Annihilated; destroyed.. Exten'sive; wide-spread. Expectations; hopes. Augment'ed; increased.

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MR. BECKFORD, in his description of the island of Jamaica, after having dwelt at some length upon the general effects of the hurricane on the third of October 1780, thus eloquently paints its horrors: "When the night was past, and our minds hung suspended between the danger we had escaped, and the anticipation of what we might expect to ensue; when the dawn appeared as if unwilling to disclose the devastation which the night had caused; when the sunbeams peeped above the hills, and illuminated the scene around -what a contrast was there exhibited between that morning and the day before! a day which seemed to smile upon nature, and to take delight in the prospect of plenty that waved around, and which produced, wherever the eye could gaze, the charms of cultivation, and the promise of abundance; but which fallacious appearances, alas!