Thus you see that the reign of Edward the Third is what is called a glorious one, and has brought great honour to the name of England.

But warlike glory will not give happiness, nor ward off afflictions. The Black Prince, you may be sure, was the joy of his father, and the delight of the nation;-but his race of glory was soon run:-his health began to fail him; and he was wasting away by a consumption. During this time the possessions which had been gained in France were lost, both for want of a supply of men from England, and on account of the Prince's illness which prevented him from carrying on the war with spirit. Soon after this, the Prince died,-to the great grief of his father and of all the English people. The poor King, they say, never looked up any more. He could not go on with public business, but gave it all up, and left the cares of the state to a set of people who conducted matters in a miserable manner, and laid aside all reverence for their king. He died at Shene, (now called Richmond), in Surry, deserted by all his courtiers, and by those who had grown rich in his service. He died in the year 1377 after a long reign of 50 years. There are very few kings who have reigned so long. I have mentioned them before to you *. I hope you take my advice, and try to remember the dates;-I suppose you make a sort of table of kings, according to the plan that I mentioned to you before †. You can write the dates against every one of them, as I have done below. There is a poor man here, a neighbour of mine, who knows every king of England, and every date; and I expect that you will do the same. Knowledge is no burden.

I am, your affectionate Father,
J. S.

* See page 515, vol. 2.

† See page 272, vol. 2.

William 1st, 1066.

William 2nd, 1087.-Henry 1st, 1100.-(Adela.)

Stephen, 1135.

Richard 1st, 1189.-John, 1199.

Henry 3rd, 1216.

Edward 1st, 1272.

Edward 2nd, 1307.

Edward 3rd, 1327.

Character of Edward III. as given by Smollett.

Edward's constitution had been injured by the fatigues of his youth; so that he began to feel the infirmities of old age before the usual time ; and now he was seized with a malignant fever attended with eruptions that soon put a period to his life. When his distemper became so violent that no hope of his recovery remained, all his attendants forsook him, as a bankrupt no longer able to requite their services. He was left without one domestic to close his eyes, and do the last offices to his breathless corpse. In this deplorable condition, bereft of comfort and assistance, the mighty Edward lay expiring; when a priest, not quite so savage as the rest of his domestics, approached his bed ; and, finding him still breathing, began to administer some comfort to his soul. Edward had not yet lost all perception, when he found himself thus abandoned and forlorn in the last moments of his life. He was just able to express a deep sense of sorrow and contrition for the errors of his conduct, and died pronouncing the name of JESUS.

Such was the obscure end of Edward the Third, undoubtedly one of the greatest princes that ever

swayed the sceptre of England; whether we respect him as a warrior, a lawgiver, a monarch, or a man. **** He was tall, majestic, finely shaped, with a piercing eye, and aquiline visage. He excelled all the people of his time in feats of arms, and personal address. He was courteous, affable, and eloquent, of a free deportment, and agreeable conversation, and had the art of commanding the affections of his subjects without seeming to solicit popularity. The love of glory was certainly the ruling passion of Edward, for the sake of which he did not scruple to sacrifice the feelings of humanity, the lives of his subjects, and the interests of his country. And nothing could have induced or enabled his people to bear the load of taxes with which they were incumbered in his reign, but the love and admiration of his person, the fame of his victories, and the excellent laws and regulations which the parliament enacted with his advice and concurrence.

NATURAL HISTORY.

THE EARWIG.

THIS is not the time of year for Earwigs, but when summer comes and earwigs are to be found, some of my readers may see what perhaps they did not expect, that the earwig is a winged insect. He has indeed very fine, beautiful, large wings.-These wings are folded up very closely, and very neatly under a little case which does not extend over the whole body, but only over the breast. It is by the very beautiful manner in which this wing is folded up that it is able to lie protected under so very small a case. By taking a pin and lifting up the little wing-case, you may see this delicate wing under, and may spread it out; but take care, and do this very gently indeed that you may not hurt the poor

animal. It is very desirable to inform ourselves of the works of creation, but some naturalists, to gain knowledge, use such dreadful barbarity to poor animals, that I think it would be better to remain ignorant than to be so cruel. Treat this poor animal then very tenderly whilst you examine him ; and then let him go again, as well as ever.

his ear.

Some people tell you that the Earwig gets into people's ears. I dont believe a word of it. I have heard of this, ever since I was born, but I never yet saw any body that had ever had an Earwig in But this notion, has got the creature a very bad character, and cost many an earwig his life. Earwigs have something else to do than to crawl into people's ears;-and if they were to attempt it, they would soon be glad to get back again. The human ear is formed in a most wonderful and curious manner, and is so well guarded with wax and membranes that there is no fear of Earwigs getting in to hurt us.

Most insects leave their eggs to be hatched by the sun. But the Earwig is quite different. The eggs are hatched and the young ones are fostered by the parent. At the beginning of the month of June, M. de Geer found, under a stone, a female Earwig accompanied by many little insects, which evidently appeared to be her own young. They continued close to her, and often placed themselves under her, as chickens do under a hen. He put the whole into a box of fresh earth: they did not enter the earth, but it was pleasing to see how they thrust themselves under the mother, who remained very quiet and suffered them to continue there sometimes for an hour or two together. To feed them this gentleman gave them a piece of a very ripe apple in an instant the old one ran upon it and ate with a good appetite; the young ones alsoseemed to eat a little, but apparently with much less relish. On the eighth of June he remarked that

the young earwigs had changed their skins, and he found also the sloughs that they had quitted. This moulting produced only a slight change in their figure, yet it evidently brought them nearer to perfect insects.

At another time, about the beginning of April, he found a female Earwig under some stones placed over a heap of eggs, of which she took all the care imaginable, without ever forsaking them. He took both the female and her eggs, placed her in a box half filled with fresh earth, and dispersed the eggs пр and down in it. She, however, soon removed them, one after another, carrying them between her jaws, and at the end of a few days, he saw that she had collected them all into one place upon the surface of the earth, and remained constantly upon the heap without quitting it for a moment; so that she seemed truly to sit for the purpose of hatching her eggs. The young ones were produced about the thirteenth of May. In figure they were like those before mentioned; but, at their birth, they were all white, except towards the tail, where a yellow matter was observable through the skin, and the eyes and teeth, which were reddish. He kept them in the box with their mother feeding them from time totime, with bits of apple, and saw them grow every day and change their skins more than once.

The little grub earwigs are not very different in their appearance from the complete insects, except that they have neither wings nor wing-cases. In this state they are very lively little animals, running about with great quickness and activity, even from the instant they leave the egg. When they change to a perfect insect, part of their body seems to burst open, and to give full play to their wings.

The Earwig is a very harmless animal except to fruits and vegetables, and we sometimes find him eating the hearts of our choice pinks and carnations, and therefore we gardeners have no great No. 27. VOL. III. G