occasion to go into the back-kitchen effect; at last the white gander with a light, observed that the lap- was worsted, overthrown, and malwing always uttered his cry of pee-treated by the other. I parted them, wit' to obtain admittance. He soon happily for the white one, as he grew more familiar: as the winter would otherwise have lost his life. advanced, he approached as far as Then the grey gander began screamthe kitchen, but with much caution, ing, and gabbling, and clapping his as that part of the house was gene- wings, and ran to join his mistresses, rally occupied by a dog and a cat, giving each a noisy salute, to which whose friendship the lapwing at length the three dames replied, ranging conciliated so entirely, that it was his themselves at the same time round regular custom to resort to the fire-side him. Meanwhile poor Jacquot was as soon as it grew dark, and spend in a pitiable condition, and, retirthe evening and night with his two ing, sadly vented at a distance associates, sitting close by them, and his doleful cries. It was several partaking of the comforts of a warm days before he recovered from his fire-side. As soon as spring appeared, dejection, during which time I had he left off coming to the house and sometimes occasion to pass through betook himself to the garden; but the court where he stayed. I saw on the approach of winter he had re- him always thrust out from society, course to his old shelter and friends, and each time I passed he came who received him very cordially. gabbling to me. One day he apSecurity was productive of insolence; proached so near me, and shewed what was at first obtained with cau- so much friendship, that I could not tion, was afterwards taken without 'help caressing him, by stroking with reserve: he frequently amused him- my hand his back and neck, to which self with washing in the bowl which he seemed so sensible, as to follow was set for the dog to drink out of; me into the entrance of the court. and while he was thus employed, he Next day, as I again passed, he ran shewed marks of the greatest indig- 'to me, and I gave him the same canation if either of his companionsresses, with which alone he was not presumed to interrupt him. He died in the asylum he had chosen, being choaked with something that he pick ed up from the floor." p. 493-495. We finish our extracts from this volume with the following instance of warm affection in a goose, which was communicated to the Comte de Buffon by a man both of veracity and information. The following are nearly his own words :-There were two ganders, a grey and white one (the latter named Jacquot) with three females. The two males were • perpetually contending for the company of these three dames. When one or the other prevailed, it as•sumed the direction of them, and satisfied, but seemed, by his gestures, to desire that I should lead him to his mates. 1 accordingly did lead him to their quarter, and upon his arrival, he began his vociferations, and directly addressed the three dames, who failed not to answer him. Immediately the grey victor sprung upon Jacquot, I left them for a moment; he was always the stronger; I took part with my Jacquot, who was under; I set him over his rival; he was thrown under; I set him up again. In this way they fought eleven minutes, and by the assistance which I gave, he obtained the advantage over the grey gander, and got possession of ⚫ hindered the other from approach-the three dames. When my friend ing. He who was the master during the night, would not yield in the ⚫ morning, aud the two gallants fought so furiously, that it was necessary to run and part them. It happened one day, that being drawn to the bottom of the garden by their *cries, I found them with their necks ⚫ entwined, striking their wings with rapidity and astonishing force; the three females turned round, as wish ing to separate them, but without Jacquot saw himself master, he would not venture to leave his females, and therefore no longer came to me when I passed: he only gave me at a distance many tokens of friendship, shouting and clapping his wings, but would not quit his companions, lest, perhaps, the other should take possession. Things went on in this way till the breeding season, and he never gabbled to me but at a distance. When his females, 708 Bingley's Animal Biography. • however, began to sit, he left them, and redoubled his friendship to me. One day, having followed me as far as the ice-house, at the top of the park, the place where I must necessarily part with him, in pursuing my way to a wood at half a league distance, I shut him in the park. He no sooner saw himself separated from me, than he vented strange ⚫ cries. However, I went on my road, and had advanced about a third of the way, when the noise of a heavy flight made me turn round my head: I saw my Jacquot four paces from me. He followed me all the way, partly on foot, partly on wing, getting before me, and stopping at the cross paths to see • what way I should take. Our expedition lasted from ten o'clock in morning till eight in the evening, and yet my companion followed me through all the windings of the wood, without seeming to be tired. After this he followed and attended me every where, so as to become troublesome, I not being able to go to any place without his tracing my steps, so that one day he even came to find me in the church. Another time, as he was passing by the rec⚫tor's window, he heard me talking in the room; and, as he found the door open, he entered, climbed up stairs, and marching in, gave a loud burst of joy, to the no small ⚫ affright of the family. I am sorry, in relating such pleasing traits of my good and faithful friend Jacquot, when I reflect that it was myself that first dissolved ⚫ the sweet friendship; but it was necessary that I should separate him by force. Poor Jacquot fancied him⚫self as free in the best apartments as in his own, and after several ac⚫cidents of that kind, he was shut up, and I saw him no more. His inquietude lasted above a year, and he O died from vexation. He was become as dry as a bit of wood, as I am told, for I would not see him, and his death was concealed from me for more than two months after the event. Were I to recount all the friendly incidents between me and poor Jacquot, I should not, in four days, have done writing. He died in the third year of the reign of friendship, aged seven years and two months"," p. 514-517. count is intended to prove the deleVolume III. -The following acterious effects of the poison of the rattle-snake. American writer, that a farmer was "We are told by an intelligent one day mowing with his negroes, when he by chance trod on a rattlesnake, that immediately turned upon him, and bit his boot. At night, when he went to bed, he was attacked with physician could be called in he died. a sickness; he swelled, and before a All his neighbours were surprised at his sudden death, but the corpse was few days after one of the sons put on interred without examination. his father's boots, and at night when A he pulled them off he was seized with following morning. The doctor arthe same symptoms, and died on the rived, but, unable to divine the cause of so singular a disorder, seriously pronounced both the father and the sale of the effects a neighbour purson to have been bewitched. At the chased the boots, and on putting them on experienced the like dreadful symptoms with the father and being sent for, who had heard of the preceding affair, suspected the cause, a skilful physician, however, and, by applying proper remedies, recovered his patient. boots were now carefully examined, The fatal discovered to have been left in the and the two fangs of the snake were hering to them. They had peneleather with the poison-bladders adtrated entirely through, and both the father and son had imperceptibly scratched themselves with their points in pulling off the boots." p.73, 74. son: rel is thus exemplified: "Mackrel are said to be fond of The subjoined manners of the burying-beetle is taken from M. Gleditch, a well known writer on natural history. "This gentleman had at different times observed, that moles which had been left upon the ground after they had been killed, very unaccount ably disappeared. He therefore was determined to ascertain by experiment, if possible, what could be the cause of this singular occurrence. "On the twenty-fifth of May, he accordingly obtained a dead mole, which he placed on the moist soft earth of his garden, and in two days he found it sunk to the depth of four, fingers' breadth into the earth; it was in the same position in which he had placed it, and its grave corresponded exactly with the length and breadth of its body. The day following this grave was half filled up; and he drew out the whole cautiously, which exhaled a horrible stench, and found, directly under it, little holes in which were four beetles of the present species. Discovering at this time nothing but these beetles, he put them into the hollow, and they quickly hid themselves among the earth. He then replaced the mole as he found it, and having spread a little soft earth over it, lett it without looking at it again for the space of six days. On the 12th of June he again took up the same carcase, which he found in the highest state of corruption, swarming with small, thick, whitish worms, that appeared to be the family of the beetles. These circumstances induced him to suppose that it was the beetles that had thus buried the mole, and that they had done this for the sake of lodging in it their offspring. "Mr. G. then took a glass cucurbit, and half filled it with moist earth, into this he put the four beetles with their young, and they immediately concealed themselves. This cucurbit, covered with a cloth, was placed on the open ground, and in the course of fifty days the four beetles interred the bodies of four frogs, three small birds, two grasshoppers, and one mole, besides the entrails of a fish, and two morsels of the lungs of an ox. "Of the mode in which they performed this very singular operation, the following is an account. A linnet that had been dead six hours was placed in the middle of the cucur bit; in a few moments the beetles quitted their holes and traversed the body. After a few hours, one pair of the beetles only was seen about the bird, the largest of which was suspected to be the male. They began their work in hollowing out the earth from under the bird. They arranged a cavity the size of the bird, by pushing all around the body the earth which they removed. To succeed in these efforts, they leaned themselves strongly upon their collars, and, bend ing down their heads, forced out the earth around the bird like a kind of rampart. The work being finished, and the bird having fallen into the hollow, they covered it, and thus closed the grave. "It appeared as if the bird moved alternately its head, its tail, its wings, or feet. Every time that any of these movements were observed, the efforts that the beetles made to draw the body into the grave, which was now nearly completed, might be remarked: in effecting this, they jointly drew it by its feathers below. This operation lasted full two hours, when the smallest or male beetle, drove away the female from the grave, and would not allow her to return, forcing her to enter the hole as often as she attempted to come out of it. "This beetle continued the work alone for at least five hours: and it was truly astonishing to observe the great quantity of earth that he removed in that time: but the surprise of Mr. G. was much augmented when he saw the little animal, stiffening its collar, and exerting all its strength, lift up the bird, make it change its place, turn, and in some measure arrange it in the grave that it had prepared; which was so spacious, and so far cleared, that he could perceive exactly under the bird all the movements and all the actions of the beetle. "From time to time the beetle, coming out of its hole, mounted upon the bird, and appeared to tread it down; then returning to the charge, it drew the bird more and more into the earth till it was sunk to a considerable depth. The beetle, in consequence of this uninterrupted labour, appeared to be tired; leaning its head upon the earth, it continued in that position near an hour, without "Early in the morning the body was drawn entirely under ground, to the depth of two fingers' breadth, in the same position that it had when laid on the earth; so that this little corpse seemed as if it were laid out on a bier, with a small mount or rampart all round, for the purpose of covering it. In the evening the bird was sunk about half a finger's breadth deeper into the earth; and the operation was continued for near two days more, when the work obtained its final completion. "A single beetle was put into the glass cucurbit with the body of a mole, and covered, as before, with a fine linen cloth. About seven o'clock in the morning, the beetle had drawn the head of the mole below; and, in pushing the earth backward, had formed a pretty high rampart around it. The interment was completed in this instance by four o'clock in the afternoon, a space of time so short, that one could scarcely have imagined possible by so small a creature, without any assistance, considering that the body of the mole must have exceeded it in bulk and weight at least thirty times. "While engaged in these experiments, a friend who wished to dry a toad in the shade, fixed it to a stick which he stuck into the ground. When it began to putrefy, the beetles, allured by the smell, having loosened the end of the stick that was fixed in the earth, brought it to the ground, and they then interred both the toad and the stick together." p. 211–215. To those who have a taste for the study of natural history, we consider this will be found a very acceptable work. CLXXI. THE SUBSTANCE of the Scriptures, methodized and divided into Lessons for the Use of Families, on a Plan not hitherto attempted. By the Rev. EDMUND BUTCHER. 410. IN order to give our readers a full view of the author's plan, it will be necessary to transcribe his preface. PREFACE. "It will naturally be expected at the beginning of such a work as the present, that an account of the intention with which it has been drawn up, and the plan upon which it has been executed, should be laid before its readers. My grand object has been, to provide materials for a more profitable and pleasing perusal of our Sacred Books, particularly in the family, than it is possible to attain by reading them in the divisions into which they are at present thrown, These divisions, it should always be remembered, rest wholly upon human authority, and therefore no fair objection can lie against any new arrangement, by which it is probable the edification of christian families may be promoted. Not the smallest reflection is intended upon the labours of those excellent men who put the scriptures into the form in which we now find them; but a humble attempt is here made, by placing the same divine materials in a new, and with respect to families, in a more convenient form, to promote the great end they had in view-a sincere and ardent love for the word of God. them us; "The basis of this work is a regular perusal of the Holy Scriptures every day in the family, a practice which I hope will not only be continued, but greatly increased amongst my countrymen. God, who has condescended to give We owe this to and we owe it to ourselves, our children, and dependants; as nothing will so effectually guard them and us from the snares of life, or communicate such support under its afflictions and troubles, as the precepts of the divine word, impressed upon our memories, and made the constant rule of our actions: this cannot be expected, if we are not regular and constant in our perusal of the Scriptures. The best forgotten: the deepest impressions rules, seldom consulted, are soon made upon the heart, if they are not frequently renewed, will be speedily effaced. "It is chiefly the pure word of God which is here offered to the christian. Many commentaries upon it are already in the world, and some of them have, doubtless, proved of great use. It is not by this publica there are numbers of serious and judicious christians who think it best, in their families at least, to read only the scriptures themselves, and of them, only such parts as tend more directly to practical edification. To such persons the present attempt is peculiarly dedicated; and from such I shall hope for a large and candid indulgence, both as to portions omitted, and as to the arrangement of those which are retained. Far the greater part of the Bible will appear in these pages indeed every part of it which is not more directly of a temporary nature, and which does not require an elaborate comment to explain and render practically useful. "A great part of both the Old and New Testaments being historical, the narratives they contain form the basis of the first and second parts of this work; and instead of any improve'ment' or 'reflections' upon the several lessons into which it is divided, passages selected from the other parts of the sacred writings are brought together, and so placed as to be read in connection with them; and thus the scriptures are, in a way not hitherto attempted, made their own commentators. The third part of the work is collected from the prophetic, preceptive, consolatory, and doctrinal parts of scripture. These are classed under distinct heads, and form nearly one hundred lessons of the same length in general with those in the historical department. This part of the work will, I flatter myself, be very acceptable. A scriptural system of doctrines and ethics will thus be formed, which, besides being read in due course with the other lessons in the family, may greatly assist the private meditations of the closet. The lessons contained in the second and third parts will probably be considered as most proper to be read in a family on the Lord's day. "The books of Kings and Chronicles I have blended in one narrative. The books of Jonah and Daniel being more historical and prophetic, I have placed in their chronological order; and for the same reason, some parts of the book of Jeremiah. Modern expressions have, in some instances, been substituted for obsolete ones, and by this a difVOL. I. up. A number of brief notes are also introduced, sometimes of a critical, but more frequently of an explanatory kind. The gospels I have given in the form of an harmony; by this method, while every thing which each Evangelist has recorded is faithfully preserved, a more striking general view is communicated of the whole history of the great Redeemer than can be derived from the perusal of four separate narrations. At the same time we ought to be thankful, that the original history was given in the form it bears in the New Testament, as the evidence of the truth of christianity is very essentially established by the diversified, yet consistent, testimony of different witnesses. "The beauties of the sacred volume are very numerous merely to collect passages as such, is totally foreign from the plan of this work, which is devoted to family religion and improvement; but it will be remarked with pleasure, by such as add to the devotional sentiment, a delicate taste, and a perception of the various excellencies of biblical literature, that a multitude of those beauties will be found in the supplemental verses in general, and particularly in the third part of the work. "It is much to be wished, that wherever it can be done, singing might make a part of our daily devotional services. The charms of poetry are never better employed than in raising devout emotions, and in celebrating the majesty, wisdom, love, and other perfections of the Almighty. Young people especially have, in general, a relish for its beauties; and it is an apostolic direction, is any cheerful, let him sing psalms.' It is certain we never honour religion or God more than when we are virtuously and innocently cheerful. To assist in this pleasant and christian practice, I have taken no small pains in selecting, from a variety of sources hymns which, I hope, will, in general, be found suitable to the main subject of the lesson to which they are subjoined. This is a brief outline of the present work, and I hope it will be found to possess the following advantages. The scriptures will thus be read in convenient, and I think, for a fat 4 X |