death by Colonel Church. All the frontier towns of New-England were attacked, and Hadley was then exposed as a place of this description. The time the savages fixed on to make the assault, was while the inhabitants were assembled at the meeting-house to observe a fast day; but fortunately it had been some time a custom for the men to attend public worship armed. Had the town been taken, the discovery of Whalley and Goffe would have been inevitable. The men took up their arms and attempted a defence, but were soon thrown into confusion; when (as it is related to this day) a stranger suddenly appeared among them of venerable aspect, and different in his apparel from the inhabitants, who rallied and disposing them in the best military manner, led them to the charge, routed the Indians, and saved the town. In the moment of victory their deliverer vanished. The inhabitants, unable to ac count for the phenomenon, believed that they had been commanded by an angel sent from heaven for their protection. This supposed angel was Goffe, who never before ventured from his concealment in the cave in the woods nor was it known who had so ably led them against the Indians until after his death. Goffe and Whalley appear to have been much respected on account of their professions of piety, and their grave deportment, by persons who did not approve of their political conduct. Whalley, who became reduced to a a state of second childhood, died about the year 1676 or 1678; and Goffe, it is supposed, did not live beyond 1680; his last letter is dated April 2nd, 1679. Paragraphs. ORIGINAL ANECDOTES-LITERARY NEWS-REMARKABLE INCIDENTS, &c. SPORTING IN INDIA. Turk, who was valet-de-chambre to his majesty, George 1st. This worthy man, whom the sovereign brought from Hanover, was justly esteemed for his amiable manners and general deportment. Although so great a royal favourite, his benevolence was not the least of his many virtues, having, in the space of three years, discharged from the Gate-house in Westminster, the Borough Clink, Ludgate, and other close and filthy prisons, disgraceful to that age, more than three hundred poor with a debtors confined for small sums! This Christian Turk died in 1726. A letter from Ceylon mentions a remarkable fact in Oriental sporting, which recently happened in that island. A party of Europeans, who were out amusing themselves with elephant hunting, came so suddenly on a numerous herd as to be thrown into great confusion. The trampling was terrible and the danger imminent. One of the tame elephants in particular was overthrown, and two of the wild animals rushed for ward to destroy its dismounted driver. At this moment, Capt. coolness almost incredible, interfered and saved his life, by shooting first one and then the other elephant dead, each by a single ball from a barrel of his double-barrelled gun. The mortal mark is on the head, over the eye, and in both instances the ball penetrated the brain. RECOLLECTIONS. Among the groups that decorate the grand staircase at Kensington, painted by the ingenious Kent, who laid out the beautiful gardens for Queen Caroline, is a portrait of Mahomet, the BOHEMIAN PEARLS. A letter from Vienna says, that the pearl fishery in Bohemia and Moravia has been very productive this year. These pearls, known by the name of Bohemian Pearls, are found in the Moldawa from Kruman to below Fruenberg. This river furnishes every year from three to four hundred pearls of the purest water and very well shaped, besides several hundred imperfect pearls. The House of Schwartzen In the reign of Henry the Fourth, when the persecution of the Lollards commenced, an unfortunate man of the name of Badby was sentenced to be burned in Smithfield, for attachment to the principles of Witcliffe, then denounced as a crime by the name of Lollardy. The Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry the Fifth, was present at the execution. When the unhappy sufferer felt the flames, his resolution seemed to forsake him, and his agonizing cries touched the Prince, who gave directions, that the tun in which he had been placed to be burned, should be removed, and Henry then offered him pardon if he would recant. Still farther to tempt him, he would allow him an income of three pence per day. Badby, however, rejected the proffered mercy, was reconducted to the stake, and consumed to ashes.-The three pence per day offered to the sufferer was a very handsome income at that time; from the bill of a dinner given in 1561 to the Duke of Norfolk and others, we find that the price of a leg of mutton was then three pence, and that four pence half-penny would purchase half a bushel of flour. If we may assume the prices of those articles to have advanced one third in the one hundred and sixty years preceding, and measure the value of other commodities by them, it will appear that the three pence per day offered by the Prince of Wales, was equal in value to four or five shillings per day at the present time, an income which to a poor man would certainly appear respectable, and not unworthy the personage who offered it. TYROLESE GIRL. hof, in the Tyrolese war in 1809, a young those nearest her to refresh themselves MRS. PERRY. Died, at Kensington, near London, the widow Perry, æt.102. Her maiden name was Hester Townsend. She was born at Bremof December, 1719,-of course she has lived hill, near Calne, in Wiltshire, the beginning in the reign of all the Georges. She had been well known about Kensington and fore her. She walked upon crutches, and Hyde Park by thousands who are gone besubsisted for many years upon casual charity; but when she attained her century, a subscription of a penny per week was begun and continued by as many individuals every Monday morning, till the day of her as amounted to eight shillings, paid to her death. EDWARD COLSTON. "He feeds yon alms-house, neat but void of state; Where age and want sit smiling at the gate : Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, biest, Pope. The celebrated Edward Colston, who was a native of Bristol, and died in 1821, devoted his life and fortune to the noblest acts of there is recorded a list of the public charichristian benevolence. On his monument ties and benefactions given and founded by him, which amount to £70,695; but his private donations were not less than his public and discharge the debtors in Ludgate, by a ones; he sent at one time £3000, to relieve private hand; and he yearly freed those confined for small debts in Whitechapel prison and the Marshalsea; he sent £1000 twice a week had a quantity of beef and to relieve the poor of Whitechapel; and broth dressed, to distribute to all the poor around him. If any sailor suffered, or was cast away in his employment, his him. family afterwards found a sure asylum in How solicitous he was of doing good, and having his charities answer the design of their institution, appears from a letter of his, to Mr.Mason, Master of the Society of Merchants in Bristol, the trustees of his charity. "Your letter was received by me with great satisfaction, because it informs me, that the Merchants' Hall have made choice of so deserving a gentleman for their master, by whom I cannot in the least think there will be any neglect of their affairs; so neither of want of care, in seeing my trust reposed in them religiously performed; because, thereon depends the welfare or ruin of so many boys, who may in time be made useful, as well to your city as to the nation, by their future honest endeavours; the which that they may be, is what I principally desire and recommend unto you, sir, and the whole society. Edward Colston." During the scarcity of 1795, Mr. Colston, after relieving the wants of his immediate neighbourhood, sent in a cover to the London Committee, with only these words, "To relieve the wants of the poor in the metropolis," and without any signature, the sum of £20,000. A donation almost past belief, but established on the best authority. When some friends urged Mr. Colston to marry, he replied, "Every helpless widow is my wife, and her distressed orphans my children." What adds greatly to his character as a charitable man, is, that he performed all these works of beneficence, great and splendid as they are, in his life-time; he invested revenues for their support in the hands of trustees; he lived to see the trusts justly executed; and perceived with his own eyes the good effects of all his establishments. That his great fortune might the less embarrass him with worldly cares, he placed it out chiefly in government securities; and the estates he bought to endow his hospitals, were chiefly ground rents.And notwithstanding all these public legacies, he provided amply for all his relations and dependents, leaving more than £100,000 amongst them. CENSUS OF PORTUGAL. The Portuguese monarchy has possessions in four parts of the world : In Europe is the kingdom of Portugal, and the Algarves, on a surface of 4630 leagues square, and 3,680,000 inhabitants. In America, Brazil and Guiana, 277,000 leagues square, and 24,000,000 inhabitants. In the Atlantic and Africa, the isles of Madeira and Porto Santo, 50 square leagues, and 91,200 inhabitants. The Azores 147 square leagues, 160,000 inhabitants. Cape Verd Islands, 216 square leagues, 36,000 inhabitants. The islands on the coast of Guinea, 53 square leagues, 35,000 inhabi tants. The government of Angola, 70 square leagues, 75.000 inhabitants. Of Mosambique, 139 square leagues, 60,000 inhabitants. In Asia, Goa, 92 square leagues, 60,000 inhabitants. Timor and Solor, 33 square leagues, 15,060 inhabitants. Macao, 14 square leagues, and 33,800 inhabitants.— Total 282,444 square leagues, and 6,649,200 inhabitants: among the latter are two millions of slaves. The political importance equal to that of the Belgic provinces, and superior to that of Sweden. The crown revenues from eighty to ninety millions of francs. The armed force consists in Europe of 25,000 militia. In Brazils the troops of the line and militia about 50,000. Their marine has not above eight ships of the line and sixteen frigates. A curious phenomenon now stands on the road-side to Brighton, on the estate of Mr. Sewell it is a very large tree, half of which is oak, and the other half beech. LITERARY. Shortly will be published, Practical Observations on Paralytic Affections, St. Vitus' Dance, Distortions of the Spine, and Deformities of the Chest and Limbs, arising from Chronic Rheumatism, Rickets, Gout, &c illustrative of the beneficial effects of Muscular Action, with Cases, by W. Tilleard Ward, F.L.S. Our medical readers will be entertained and interested by the perusal of a Treatise on Acupuncturation, by JAMES MORSS CHURCHILL, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London. This operation, as the name imports, consists in inserting a needle into the muscular parts of the body, to the depth, sometimes, of an inch. The instantaneous effect of this singular remedy in alleviating pains of a rheumatic nature, is truly surprising and unaccountable; but the facts, as exhibited in many cases, are sufficiently strong to command our assent. In attacks of a nervous nature, the happy influence of this process is equally undeniable. This remedy has long been in use amongst the Japanese and Chinese, and is now making its way into European practice, with results which at least demand the earnest attention and scrutiny of the physiologist. The author of the Treatise in question abstains altogether from the dubious enquiry into the origin of these singular effects; and we think that, in this stage of the business, he does well to confine himself to the establishment of facts. He must expect to find no little scepticism, on a subject so much at variance with the common apprehensions of the public; but, as far as we can yet judge, we think he is proceeding on solid ground, and will, in the end, do considerable service to the cause of surgical science and humanity. SPIRIT OF THE ENGLISH MAGAZINES. BOSTON, APRIL 15, 1822. (From the English Magazines, Feb. 1822.) A DECEMBER TALE. A T the latter end of the year 1819, I accepted an invitation to pass a week at the habitation of a friend in Scotland, and accordingly made all due preparations for the journey, and took my place in the vehicle, which commences its periodical excursions from the small town containing the residence of your Correspondent. It is not needful to describe the busy preparation for the event, the fidgetting of my aunts, for I am blessed with three! the rising at four o'clock to set off at seven, and the endless train of etceteras which every traveller is well acquainted with. I departed in the Velocity, for so the vehicle was named, locus a non lucendo I presume, in company with a French dancing-master, a Scotch merchant, and the wife of a Welsh curate. Nothing remarkable happened during the journey, which was performed in mute silence, except when an extraordinary jolt of the carriage drew forth an occasional ejaculation from my fellow travellers; and I at last arrived at the place of my destination. My friend's house a marvellous ill-fashioned edifice, stood upon the top of an eminence, at the foot of which a muddy pool, passing by the name of a pond, served as a school to initiate some young of the duck tribe in the art and mystery of swimming. The house itself, though completely void of all shape, was 7 ATHENEUM VOL. 11. large, and the hospitable reception within made ample recompense for the uncouthiness of the exterior. was ushered by a servant in ancient livery into a parlour; where, seated around the fire, I found the Laird, Mr. M'Tarragon, his wife, and only daughter; two neighbouring gentlemen, Mr. Whappledoun and Mr. Baldermere; a young English lady, Miss Somerset, with her brother; and an elderly dame, Mrs. Tiverton; all of whom were, like myself, visitors. Being somewhat tired with my journey, and the evening far advanced, I retired early to rest, to sleep off the fatigues of the day. The next morning I took a survey of my friend's castle. It was, as I have before said, not remarkable for its elegance, or the harmonious proportion of its parts. The body of the building had been originally of a square shape, but it abounded with wings which had been appended to it by succeeding occupiers: and was accommodated with numerous high and narrow apertures, filled with minute panes of glass, which served as an apology for windows: though the Architect seemed to have been perfectly ignorant of any such thing as regularity in their dispositions. roof was adorned with towers of all descriptions, some round, some square, and some of a shape which would have The baffled the skill of the most experienced professor of octahedrons and polygons to give a name to, and which sprouted out in beautiful confusion, like the horns of the beast in the Revela tions. The day passed pleasantly in conversation and various amusements, for the weather prohibited all excursion beyond the walls, and in the evening we told stories; the first of which, related by Henry Somerset, the young Englishman, I here enclose. "It was on the close of a fine day in July, that I walked out to enjoy an evening ramble. The day had been warm, and the breeze that rustled among the leaves with "cooling melody" was inexpressibly grateful. The sun was just sinking behind the mountain whose dark masses bounded the view on the west,and lighted up the clouds that gathered round him with a blaze of glory, which glittered through the trees with the most delightful splendour. The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages had retired to rest, and no sound interrupted the silence which brooded over the scene, save the gentle murmurs of the wind, and the occasional bark of the distant watch-dog. "It is sweet to walk in places and at times like these; when the mind, loosened from the weight of subjects which have oppressed it during the busy day, springs with renovated buoyancy to commune with the spirit of nature when shaking off the cumbrous load of earthly inquietude, she roams in freedom through her boundless expanse nor fettered to the present, Memory kindly lends her aid to conjure up the past, and Fancy leads her on to contemplate the future. "I arrived in my ramble at a spot which Nature seemed to have chosen to blend all her powers of charming. The dark foliage which grew around threw a soft and melancholy shade upon the scene; the beautiful wild flowers loaded the air with their simple perfume; while the wind, which here sighed with a deeper murmur, accorded well with the rippling of a brook that rolled over the white and shining pebbles, winding along in in tricate mazes, till the eye lost its track among the thick under-wood, which flourished on its margin. It was a spot which a poet would have hung over with rapture, a painter would have loved to delineate on his canvas, and which an angel might have lingered to gaze upon, and thought it Eden. "So intent was I in admiring this natural garden, that it was some time before I perceived a cottage which reared its thatched roof under the shade of a venerable chesnut, that spread its giant arms far abroad on every side. I wished to know who were the inhabitants of this terrestrial paradise; and therefore approached, and knocked gently at the door; the threshold of which was embroidered by honeysuckles, that twined around it, and kissed the projecting cottage roof. It was opened by an elderly woman, the very personification of hospitality. She invited me to enter; which I did, after apologizing for my intrusion, and offering my long walk as an excuse for resting myself. I had now an opportunity of observing the interior of the dwelling, or at least of the part where I sat. It was a small low apartment, but the white-washed walls, the clean windows, whose small panes of glass were partly obscured by the shrubs which climbed around them, and the bright rows of well-polished pot-lids, and other culinary utensils, gave an air of neatness and industry to the room. Near the fire-place sat an old man, seemingly much oppressed by age and pain, but his welcome was hearty though unpolished, and his furrowed cheeks and snowy locks gave him a reverend and pleasing appearance. My hostess seemed about fifty; her features were rather of a melancholy cast; a clean cap restrained her grey hair, which time had much thinned; and from her waist hung a pincushion and pair of scissars. She placed refreshments before me, of which I partook most heartily, and answeredmy questions with civility, and even politeness. After recompensing the aged couple for my entertainment, I at length departed, with many thanks and renewed apologies for my intrusion. |