was a youth about twenty years of age, the son of a banker, and the prisoner a stout athletic man of fifty. The prosecutor had transacted his business as usual at the market town; he had received several sums of money in the presence of the prisoner; had dined, and about five o'clock had set out on his return home. It was a fine summer evening, and he rode gently on: in a solitary lane he was overtaken by the prisoner, who seized him and demanded his pocket-book: in the first agony of surprise and fear, the prosecutor struck him a violent blow with his whip; but the prisoner, who was a very powerful man, dragged him from his horse, knelt down upon him, and took from him his money and account books. In this situation, the prosecutor begged very earnestly for his life. As he lay under the prisoner, he watched his countenance, and saw that he was much agitated; the robber desisted, arose, mounted his horse, and rode away. It was then about seven o'clock in the evening; but the young man was so much exhausted, that he did not reach home till late at night. He immediately stated these circumstances; but the improbability of his having been robbed in open daylight, on a public road, and of his having lost various memorandums, which a robber would scarcely have taken, excited some suspicion respecting the truth of this statement.

As the jury were leaving the box, the young man who had been robbed begged to be heard. He was so much agitated, that he could scarcely speak: when he recovered himself, he said, "I stand here to plead for your mercy towards a man who listened to my voice when I begged for mercy from him. If he had been deaf to my cry, I should now have been in my grave, and he in the bosom of a respectable family, with the wife who believed him virtuous, and the children who loved him. It has been proved to you

that his connexions, his character, his religious persuasion, would all have united to shelter him from suspicion; it has also been proved that I was lame from my birth; that I am feeble; that I had exasperated him by a blow; and that he knew I could identify him; but the kindness of his nature preponderated, it overcame the fear of disgrace; and he suffered me to depart, although I might be the cause of his death. If you do not pity his momentary lapse, if you do not respect his return to virtue, it would have been well for me if I had died! It is me that you will condemn; I shall be the victim of the law, and he gave me my life in vain!" He was frequently interrupted during this affecting appeal by the tears of the jury, and the general distress of the court. The prisoner was

found guilty, and was executed.

CRITICISM.

A journeyman hatter, a companion of Dr. Franklin, on commencing business for himself, was anxious to get a handsome signboard, with a proper inscription. This he composed himself, as follows: John Thompson, hatter, makes and sells hats for ready-money," with the figure of a hat subjoined. But he thought he would submit it to his friends for their amendments. The first he showed it to, thought the word hatter tautologous, because followed by the words, "makes hats," which showed he was a hatter. It was struck out. The next observed, that the word "makes" might as well be omitted, because his customers would not care who made the hats; if good, and to their mind, they would buy, by whomsoever made. He struck that out also. A third said, he thought the words "for ready-money” were useless as it was not the custom of the place to sell on credit, every one who purchased, expected to pay. These

;

too were parted with, and the inscription then stood, "John Thompson sells hats." "Sells hats!" says his next friend;

away?

66

why who expects you to give them What then is the use of the word?" It was struck out, and hats was all that remained attached to the name of John Thompson. Even this inscription, brief as it was, was reduced ultimately to "John Thompson," with the figure of a hat subjoined.

ANCIENT NOBILITY.

It is a fact but little regarded, that the first noble family in England was that of Lord Courtenay, who descended from those Earls of Devonshire that often intermarried, with the blood-royal of France and England, as may be found at the commencement of Sully's memoirs.

The Duke of Beaufort is descended from Geoffrey Plantaganet, Earl of Anjou, son of Foulk, King of Jerusalem, and grandson to the Empress Maud, daughter to Henry the First; consequently this family has flourished as dukes, marquisses, and earls, without once descending to a lower degree, for full seven hundred years.

The Duke of Montague traces his descent by the female line from Charlemagne.

The nobility that makes the most splendid figure from greatness of estate, are the Spencers, Cavendishes, and Russels, yet, compared with the families above-mentioned, they may be styled but young nobility.

Great and gallant actions are, however, the true source of nobility, and when ancientry of descent is added, they raise a family beyond comparison. The Earl of Shrewsbury's family is derived from the famous Talbot, who was the terror of France. Hence they have been peers for five hundred years.

PUBLIC BATHS AT CONSTANTINOPLE.

The very frequent recurrence of ablutions, enjoined by Mohammed, to preserve his followers from the disorders produced in a warm climate by an accumulation of dirt on the skin, has caused various individuals to erect fountains in almost every street of the Turkish cities, and even on the border of the roads, far distant from any town: the tomb of the founder is generally placed in the neighbourhood, and is surrounded with trees, which offer a delightful shade to the wearied traveller. These fountains are generally built in the Moorish style, and adorned with Arabic inscriptions.

To the same precept of cleanliness we may attribute the number of warm baths seen in Turkey: every village has its hamman or public bath, and every large house is provided with the same convenience. These thermæ are heated by a subterraneous vault, which serves as a furnace, and is filled with logs of wood, above which, and immediately below the marble pavement of the building, is a large cauldron of water, which is kept in a constant state of ebullition; tubes placed in the interior of the walls carry off the steam, while others furnish the interior with hot water from the cauldron, and with cold water from a contiguous cistern. The bather, having paid to the keeper of the bath the price of entrance, is shewn into a square room, along the walls of which runs a wide seat, covered with cushions; he here leaves his clothes, and girding round his body a wide piece of cotton, which hangs from his waist to his ancles, and placing his feet in a pair of wooden clogs, to preserve them from the burning heat of the floor, he proceeds through several rooms successively increasing in warmth, to the interior chamber. This

chamber is built in a circular shape, and covered by a cupola, in which there are many openings covered with very thick glass, which gives a free passage to the light, but not to the visual rays of the curious; a circular dais on the pavement indicates the position of the cauldron, which is immediately underneath; small fountains and marble basins are seen at equal distances round the wall.

CURE FOR SUPERSTITION.

Their

Miners are known to be a superstitious race. superstition, however, is sometimes made a pretext for idleness. There is a recipe for curing this species of disorder. In some extensive mines in Wales, the men frequently saw the devil, and when once he had been seen, the men would work no more that day. This evil became serious, for Old Beelzebub repeated his visits as often as if he had a design to injure the proprietor. That gentleman at last called his men together, told them that it was very certain that the devil never appeared to any body who had not deserved to be so terrified, and that as he was determined to keep no rogues about him, he was resolved to discharge the first man that saw the devil again. The remedy was as efficient as if he had turned a stream of holy water into the mines.

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.

An Englishman, who, attracted by the density of the climate, wished to fix his residence in Naples, desired his banker to look out for a villa for him, which was done, and the gentleman regularly installed in his purchase; the next day, however, he came in much hurry and alarm to his banker, to say, he was determined to be off, for a fellow had assailed him with a claim for 12,000 crowns, which he had left half-a-dozen