Segowald came near with his Mercians on the right-hand : and the great Sigebert led the Saxons round the thick wood.

The Danes rage like the tempest of winter; bu the Mercians stand firm as the grove of oaks on the plains of Ambroisburgh§: great is the. strength of the swift warriors of the north; but their troops are broken, and out of the order of battle.

The Saxons, with the great Sigebert, have encircled the wood; they rage in the fight like wolves. The Danes are pressed on all sides; they fly like the leaves in autumn before the strong wind.

Gorthmund scorns to fly. He is descended from the son of battle, L'achollan; whose sword put to flight the armies of Moeric, when the sun was covered with a mantle of blood, and darkness descended upon the earth at noon-day. He bears upon his arm the shield of Lofgar, the keeper of the castle at Teigne. Lofgar never fled, though the lances of the foe flew about him numerous as the winged ants in summer; Lofgar never fled, though the warriors of the mountains hurled the rocks upon him in the valley, when he fought for the shield of Penda and should Gorthmund fly! Gorthmund, whose sword was his law, who held justice in his banner.

Segowald sought Gorthmund: he found him singly encountering

an army.

Turn to me, son of Lofgar! I am Segowald of the Lake; hast thou not heard of my fame in battle? when the army of Hengist panted on the dark brown heath. I cheered them to the war; and the banner of victory waved over my head. Turn thy arms upon me, Gorthmund; I am worthy thy strength.'

The son of Lofgar rushed to the son of Alderwold: they fought like the children of destruction on the plain of Marocan. Gorthmund fell. He fell, like the mountain boar beneath the arrow of the hunter.

As the shades of death danced before his eyes, he heard the yell of Hubba, and the shrill shriek of Locabara: thou art fallen, thou son of injustice; thou art fallen! Thy shield is degraded in the dust; and thy banner will be honoured no more! Thy swift warriors are fled over the plain, as the driving sheep before the wolf! Think, Gorthmund,. think on Hubba, the son of Crinewalch of the green hill think on Locabara, whom thy sword sent to the regions of death. Remember thy injustice, and die.'

§ Ambresbury, in Wiltshire; where Alfritha, wife to King Edgar, built a nunnery to atone for the murder of her son-in-law, Edward, In this place, Eleanor, queen to Henry the Third, lived a nun.

ON THE BEING OF A GOD.

ROBINSON.

SEE

EE here, I hold a Bible in my hand, and you see the cover, the leaves, the letters, the words; but you do not see the writers, or the printer, the letter-founder, the ink-maker, the paper-maker, or the binder. You never did see them, you never will see them, and yet there is not one of you who will think of disputing or denying the being of these men. I go farther; I affirm that you see the very souls of these men, in seeing this book, and you feel yourselves obliged to allow that they had skill, contrivance, design, memory, fancy, reason, and so on. In the same manner, if you see a picture, you judge there was a painter; if you see a house you judge there was a builder of it; and if you see one room contrived for this purpose, and another for that, a door to enter, a window to admit light, a chimney to hold fire, you conclude the builder was a person of skill and forecast, who formed the house with a view to the accommodation of its inhabitants. In this manner examine the world, and pity the man who, when he sees the sign of the wheat-sheaf, hath sense enough to know that there is a joiner, and somewhere a painter; but who, when he sees the wheatsheat itself is so stupid as not to say to himself, this had a wise and good Creator.

ANECDOTE OF LEWIS XIV.

This famous Monarch was once approached by a woman of low condition, who complained that some of his soldiers had entered her field in the night, and taken away her cattle, in which her whole wealth consisted. "You must then," said the King," have been in a very deep sleep, that you did not hear the robbers."..." Yes, Sire," replied she," I slept soundly, but it was in confidence that your Majesty watched for your people's safety." The King, though absolute and ambitious, had an elevated mind. He approved of her answer, bold as it was, and ordered her to receive ample satisfaction for the loss she had sustained.

LAW ANECDOTE.

The Emperor of Morocco's Ambassador, in the reign of Charles the Second, visiting, among other places, Westminster-Hall, asked his interpreter, "What was the profession of the gentlemen walking up and down in it?" who replied," the Law." The Ambassador seemed to be alarmed at the reply, and shaking his head, at the vast multitude of professors," said, that in his master's dominions, although infinitely more extensive, there were but two of that profession allowed, one of whom the Emperor had been obliged lately to hang, to preserve peace and good humour amongst his people; and the other he always kept chained up, to prevent his doing mischief." What would have been the sentiments of that Ambassador in these times, when for every single lawyer then, there are now at least thirty?

TEN SINGULAR ANECDOTES

OF

VARIOUS ANIMALS, &c.

"While man, in the fulness of his pride looks for every virtue in his own race, and haughtily despises or discredits the genuine emotions of unsophisticated nature in the bosoms of animals; he reads either with astonishment or scepticism, the well accredited facts which are daily commemorated, relative to the power of instinct (if not ratiocination) displayed among the brute creation. It is, however, pretty generally acknowledged, that the Dog often reaches the point of human sagacity;" ten remarkable instances of which, we inserted in a former Number; and we doubt not but the following Anecdotes of other Animals, &c. will claim an equal share of our readers' attention.

I.

THE CORDIALITY OF A BEAR.

EOPOLD, Duke of Lorraine, had a Bear, called Marco, of the sagacity and sensibility of which, we have the following example:

During the winter of 1709, a Savoyard boy, ready to perish with cold in a barn, in which he had been put by a good woman, with some more of his companions, thought proper to enter Marco's hut, without reflecting on the danger which he ran in exposing himself to the mercy of the animal which occupied it. Marco, however, instead of doing any injury to the child, took him between his paws, and warmed him by squeezing him to his breast, until the next morning, when he suffered him to depart, and ramble about the city. The Savoyard returned in the evening to the hut, and was received with the same affection. For the following day he had no other retreat; but what added much to his joy, was to perceive that the Bear had reserved part of his food for him. Several days passed in this manner.

One day, when one of them came to bring his master his supper, rather later than ordinary, he was astonished to see the animal roll his eyes in a furious manner, and seeming as if he wished to make as little

noise as possible, for fear of awaking the child, whom he had clasped to his breast. The animal, though ravenous, did not appear in the least moved with the food which was set before him. The report of this extraordinary circumstance was soon spread at Court, and reached the ears of Leopold, who, with part of his Courtiers, was desirous of being satisfied of the truth of Marco's generosity. Several of them passed the night near his hut, and beheld with astonishment, that the Bear never stirred as long as his guest shewed any inclination to sleep.

At break of day, the child awoke, was very much ashamed to find himself discovered, and fearing that he would be punished for his rashness, begged for pardon. The Bear, however, caressed him, and endeavoured to prevail on him to eat what had been brought him the evening before; which he did, at the request of the spectators, who conducted him to the Prince. Having learned the whole story of this singular alliance, and the time of its continuance, the Prince ordered care to be taken of the little Savoyard, who, without doubt, would have soon made his fortune, had he not died a short time after.

II

AFFECTION IN A BADGER.

This circumstance is related in a letter to a friend from Chateu de Venours.

"Two persons were on a short journey, and passing through a hollow way, a Dog, which was with them started a Badger, which he attacked and pursued, till he took shelter in a burrow under a tree. With some pains they hunted him out and killed him. Being a very few miles from a village, called Chapellatiere, they agreed to drag him there, as the Commune gave a reward for every one that was destroyed; besides, they purposed selling the skin, as Badgers' hair furnishes excellent brushes for painters. Not having a rope, they twisted some twigs, and drew him along the road by turns. They had not proceeded far, when they heard a cry of an animal in seeming distress, and stopping to observe from whence it proceeded, another Badger approached them slowly. They, at first, threw stones at it, notwithstanding which it drew near, came up to the dead animal, began to lick it, and continued its mournful cry. The men, surprised at this desisted from offering any further injury to it, and again drew the dead one along, as before? when the living Badger, determining not to quit its dead companion, lay down on it, taking it gently by one ear, and in that manner, was drawn into the midst of the village; nor could dogs, boys, or men, induce it to quit its situation by any means; and to their shame be it said, they had the inhumanity to kill it, and afterwards to burn it, declaring it could be no other than a witch.”

III.

JEALOUSY AND REVENGE IN A COCK.

The habitudes of the domestic breed of poultry cannot, possibly, escape observation; and every one must have noticed the fierce jealousy of the Cock. It should seem that this jealousy is not confined to his rivals, but may sometimes extend to his beloved female; and that he is capable of being actuated by revenge, founded on some degree of reasoning concerning her conjugal infidelity. An incident which happened at the seat of Mr. B......, near Berwick, justifies this remark. "My mowers (says he) cut a Partridge in her nest, and immediately brought the eggs (fourteen) to the house. I ordered them to be put under a very beautiful Hen, and her own to be taken away. They were hatched in two days, and the hen brought them up perfectly well, till they were five or six weeks old. During that time, they were constantly kept confined in an out-house, without having been seen by any of the other poultry. The door happened to be left open, and the Cock got in. My housekeeper, hearing her Hen in distress, ran to her assistance, but did not arrive in time to save her life; the Cock finding her with the brood of Partridges, fell upon her with the utmost fury, and put her to death. The housekeeper found him tearing her both with his beak and spurs, although she was in the last agony, and incapable of resistance. This Hen had been, formerly, the Cock's greatest favourite.

IV.

STRATAGEM OF A FOX.

Some gentlemen being a hunting in Derbyshire, found a Fox in good style, went away with him, and had a severe run of two hours and a half, when the Hounds came to a sudden check. After trying for a quarter of an hour to no purpose, one of the old Hounds ran up to a dead Sheep (which appeared to have been recently killed) and could not be prevented smelling about, and sometimes biting it. Every one was surprised at this, till the Dog absolutely gave tongue, and the whole pack came up, and tore the Sheep to pieces in a moment. But what was their astonishment, when Reynard himself appeared, covered with the blood and entrails of the Sheep! He was of course killed.

It seems that running through a flock of Sheep, and finding himself very hard pushed, and unable to go much farther, he had killed one, ripped open its belly, and secreted himself within, as the only means of saving his life.

V.

ASTONISHING STORY OF A HORSE.

One of the Oxford Dragoon Horses, quartered at Leominster, in the neighbourhood of Ludlow, Shropshire, having got loose in the stable,