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and saw him enter the cottage of a peasant, very quietly, where he suffered himself to be re-taken without the least opposition. This docility is not peculiar to some individuals of this species, but is common to all. Barrow informs us, in his voyage to the Cape, that the spotted hyena has been tamed in the district of Schrieuburgh, where it is considered more serviceable for the chase than the dog, and fully equal to that animal in intelligence and fidelity.

CUVIER.

LESSON XVII.

THE THREE BLACK CROWS.

Two honest tradesmen meeting in the Strand,
One took the other briskly by the hand;
"Hark-ye," said he, "'tis an odd story this
About the crows !"-"I don't know what it is,"
Replied his friend.-"No! I'm surprised at that;
Where I come from, it is the common chat;
But you shall hear an odd affair indeed!
And that it happened, they are all agreed:
Not to detain you from a thing so strange,
A gentleman who lives not far from 'Change,
This week, in short, as all the Alley knows,
A vomit took, and threw up three black crows!"
"Impossible !"—" Nay, but 'tis really true;
I had it from good hands, and so may you.”-

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"From whom, I pray?"-So, having named the

man,

Straight to inquire, his curious comrade ran. "Sir, did you tell ?"-relating the affair.

"Yes, sir, I did; and, if 'tis worth your care, " he told it me;

Ask Mr."--such a one

But, by-the-by, 'twas two black crows, not three!" Resolved to trace so wondrous an event,

Quick to the third the virtuoso went.

"Sir," and so forth.-"Why, yes; the thing is fact,

Though in regard to number not exact:

It was not two black crows, 'twas only one; The truth of that you may depend upon; The gentleman himself told me the case.""Where may I find him ?”—“ Why, in”—such a place.

Away he went, and having found him out, "Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt."Then to his last informant he referr'd

And begged to know, if true what he had heard: "Did you, sir, throw up a black crow?"—"Not I!""Bless me! how people propagate a lie!

Black crows have been thrown up, three, two, and

one;

And here, I find, all comes at last to none!

Did you say nothing of a crow at all?".

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"Crow, crow,—perhaps I might; now I recall The matter over.' "And pray, sir, what was't?" "Why, I was horrid sick, and at the last

I did throw up, and told my neighbour so,
Something that was—as black, sir, as a crow."

BYROM.

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GLASS is made of sand or flint, combined with an alkali, by exposure to intense heat, which causes these substances to melt and unite. This mixture is said to have been discovered accidentally in Syria, by some merchants, who were driven by stress of weather upon its shores. They had lighted a fire upon the sands, to cook their food; the fire was made of the plant called kali, which grows on the sea shore; and the sand, mixing with the ashes, became vitrified by the heat. This furnished the merchants with the hint that led to the making of glass, which was first regularly manufactured at Sidon in Syria. England is now much celebrated for its glass. The qualities which render this substance so valuable, are, that it is hard, transparent, incorrosive, not being affected by any substance but fluoric acid; and that, when fused, it becomes so ductile and plastic, that it may be moulded into any form, which it will retain when cool. There are three sorts of furnaces used in making it: one to prepare the frit, a second to work the glass,

and a third to anneal it. After having properly mixed the ashes and sand, they are put into the first furnace, where they are burned or calcined, for a sufficient time, and become what is called frit. This being boiled afterwards in pots or crucibles of pipe-clay, in the second furnace, is fit for the operation of blowing; the annealing furnace is intended to cool the glass very gradually; for if it be exposed to the cold air immediately after being blown, it will fall into a thousand pieces, as if struck by a hammer. Before glass was invented, thin folia of mica were used for windows.

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THE institution of female monasteries, or nunneries, such as, in the fourth century, were established abroad by Melania, and other pious women, was introduced into Ireland, towards the close of the fifth century, by St. Bridget; and so general was the enthusiasm her example excited, that the religious order which she instituted, spread its branches through every part of the country.

Taking the veil herself at a very early age, when, as we are told, she was clothed in the white garment, and the white veil placed upon her head, she was immediately followed, in this step, by seven or eight other young maidens, who, attaching themselves to her fortunes, formed, at the first, her small religious community. The pure sanctity of this virgin's life, and the supernatural gifts attributed to her, spread the fame she had acquired more widely every day, and crowds of young women and widows applied for admission into her institution. At first she contented herself with founding establishments for her followers in the respective districts of which they were natives; and in this task the bishops of the different diocesses appear to have concurred with and assisted her. But the increasing number of those who required her own immediate superintendence, rendered it necessary to form some one great establishment, over which she should herself preside; and the people of Leinster, who claimed to be peculiarly entitled to her presence, from the illustrious family to which she belonged having been natives of their province, sent a deputation to her, to entreat that she would fix among them her residence. To this request the saint assented; and a habitation was immediately provided for herself and her sister nuns, which formed the commencement both of her great monastery, and of the town or city of Kildare. The name of Killdara, or cell of the oak, was given to the monastery, from a very high oak-tree which grew near

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