dog, and will play a variety of amus. ing tricks. He may be taught to speak like a parrot, and even to sing like a man. "I have," says Dr. Goldsmith, "heard a raven sing the Black Joke, with great distinctness, truth, and humour.” These speaking ravens were highly valued at Rome, and Pliny has given us a somewhat curious history of one of them. This bird had been kept in the temple of Castor, and flew down into the shop of a shoemaker, who took much delight in the visits of his new acquaintance, and taught him to pronounce the names of the emperor, and other personages of the royal family. This raven would fly every morning to the rostra, and salute Tiberius, then the two Casars, Germanicus, and Drusus; and afterwards the Roman people, as they passed by. The shoemaker was beginning to turn rich by those who came to see this wonderful raven, when an envious neighbour, displeased at the shoemaker's success, killed the bird, and deprived the shoemaker of his future hopes of fortune. The injured shoemaker laid his case before the people, who espoused his cause, punished the man who had done him the injury, and gave the raven all the honours of a magnificent interment. This bird, however, at least in his wild state, has always laboured under the reputation of the worst of qualities. He is accused of a most gross and indelicate voracity, which is allured by every putrid exhalation, and gratified by the foulest carrion. He is represented as the most cowardly, ignoble, and disgusting of all rapacious birds. His ordinary vic. tims are the most feeble and innocent and defenceless animals, such as the lamb and the leveret ; though he will sometimes attack with succes those of larger size; for it is said he will pluck out the eyes of buffaloes, and, fixing on the back, tear off the flesh deliberately. His ferocity is the more odious since it is not incited by the cravings of hunger, but seems to arise from an innate delight in blood and carnage;

VOL. VIII. NO. L.

for he can subsist on fruits, seeds of all kinds, and, indeed, will eat almost any thing. This voracity has procured the raven a different treatment in different countries; for in those which are poor, or thinly peopled, he may prove burthensome and expensive; while in those which are wealthy and populous, he may be found of use to devour various kinds of filth produced in them. Hence it was, perhaps, that in England formerly, accordingly to Belon, who wrote in 1550, it was forbidden to hurt this bird; while in the small islands of Ferro and Malta a reward was given for every one that was killed.

Among the ancients, when the pretended science of augury made a part of religion, the raven, though always, no doubt from his abovementioned habits, his gloomy colour, and his hoarse cry, accounted a bird of ill omen, was a particular object of superstitious attention. All his various motions, and every circumstance of his flight, were carefully observed and studied; and no less than sixty-four different inflections of his voice were distinguished by the priests, to each of which was assigned a determinate signification. Some, it is said, even carried their credulity and extravagant folly so far as to eat the heart and entrails of these birds, with the hope of acquiring, like them, the power of foretelling future

events.

In the wild state, the raven is a very active and greedy plunderer: whether his prey be yet living or has been long dead makes no difference to him; he falls to with the same voracious appetite, and, when he has gorged himself, flies to call his fellows, that they may share in the spoil. If the carcase be already in the possession of some more powerful animal, as a wolf, a fox, or a dog, the raven sits at a little distance, content to continue a humble spectator till they have done. If in his flights he perceives no indication of carrion, and his scent, it is said, is so exquisite that he can

smell it at a vast distance, he satisfies himself with food which it is supposed he relishes less, such as fruits, insects, and whatever a dunghill may present. Buffon, however, tells us that Hebert, who was for a long course of years an attentive observer of ravens, never saw them tear or mangle dead carcasses, or even settle on them: he was therefore of opinion that they prefer insects, and especially earthworms, to every other kind of food. The ravens build their nests on high trees, or old towers; and lay five or six eggs, of a pale green colour, marked with small brownish spots. They usually build about the beginning of March, and sometimes sooner, according as the spring is more or less advanced for the season. The female sits about twenty days, during which the male supplies her with food, of which he commonly provides a very large quantity for the peasants sometimes find in the ravens' nests, or near them, great heaps of grain, nuts, and fruits. It has been indeed conjectured, that these hoards are collected not merely for the female during incubation, but for the support of both through the winter. Whatever may be their motives, it is certain that ravens, as well as jackdaws and other birds of the same tribe, are much addicted to hoarding and concealing, not only provisions, but other things which attract their notice, especially bits of metal, small pieces of money, or any glittering substance.

They often avoid towns, and seek unfrequented places for their nests, from the vicinity of which they drive away all other birds. They will not, according to some accounts, even permit their young to remain in the same district, but drive them from it as soon as they are able to shift for themselves. Martin, in his Description of the Western Isles, avers that there are three small islands among the number, in each of which were a pair of ravens, who drove off all other birds as soon as they made their appear

ance, with loud cries, and great violence. According to Hebert, however, who, as was said above, made, for so long a time, so many observations on the nature and habits of ravens, these birds are particularly attentive to their young during the whole summer after they are hatched, and protract the education of their brood beyond the period when they are able to provide for themselves.

The age at which the young ravens have acquired their full growth is not determined; nor is it known how long they will live. Hesiod asserts, that a raven will live nine times as long as a man; and though this is certainly poetical fiction, it is said to be well ascertained that they will live a hundred years or more. Buffon says, "they have been known to attain to that age in several parts of France; and, in all countries and all ages, they have been reckoned as birds extremely long lived."

For the Literary Magazine.

THE ORIGIN OF VILLA VICIOSA.

AT the distance of about fifty miles from Madrid, is a little town, pleasantly situated and neatly built, but distinguished by the reproachful appellation of Villa Viciosa. Various reasons have been assigned for its receiving this name; and the celebrated father Feijoo, whose essays, published under the title of Teatro Critico (The Theatre of Criticism), reflect so much honour on himself and Spain, seldom honoured by literary productions, has written a small tract on this subject, entitled, "The Complaint and Vindication of Villa Viciosa.” In this tract the town is introduced complaining of the topographers and writers of tours, for falsely depreciating its air, its water, and its soil; and seeking even in the bowels of the earth on which it stands for the cause of an opprobrious

In other countries, says father Feijoo, vice alone is branded with the stigma of infamy; but in Spain the same reproach attends on what ever is esteemed meanness. Glory is the passion of the country, and a name and long line of ancestry are respected more than any laws divine or human. All errors are treated with severity, and those especially which appear disgraceful in their consequences. When, therefore, a person of noble and illustrious birth marries one who is greatly in ferior to him in rank, he forfeits the esteem of all his equals, and is treated by them with the utmost contempt. That which in more liberal and enlightened countries is often an effect of prudence, and at the worst a departure from propriety, which may claim forgiveness, is there a more lasting infamy even than depriving a fellow-creature of

life.

In the days when the extravagant punctilios of high birth were scrupulously attended to, and long before Cervantes had laughed them and some others out of fashion, a Spanish nobleman of the first class, whose name the author has suppressed, to avoid giving offence to his family, discovered captivating charms, and the most estimable virtues, in a person greatly his inferior. The Spaniards of those days held gallantry to be honourable, while they treated a disproportionate marriage as the worst of crimes. The nobleman attacked the fair, of whom he had become enamoured. He rode before her window; he procured music to serenade her; he displayed before. her all the splendour of dress and equipage, which was suitable to his distinguished rank and fortune; and invoked her in amorous songs, as the inspiring genius by whose influence he became superior in every manly and liberal exercise.

The lady was less reserved, than, perhaps, she would have been, had

ed. She saw him freely, and he flattered himself that success was certain. When he poured forth all his passion, she owned that she did not view him with indifference. He was in extasies at his conquest: but it was a short-lived glory; for when he spoke of love, she talked of marriage. Having owned her affection for him, she explained the delicate and exalted nature of it; and when he hinted at dishonourable terms, she rejected them with a dignified disdain. He offered her immense sums; but she told him the value of virtue was a thousand times greater. He swore eternal constancy; but she ridiculed his vows, and answered him that there could be no truth in an engagement the foundation of which was in vice. He urged the impossibility of marriage: she told him death was easy. "If you are insincere, my lord," said she, "I ought only to despise you: yet when you leave me, my life must end; and if you love me as you have declared, still less can I consent to live if the irremoveable barrier which rank has placed between us must eternally separate me from you and your love, however ardent and sincere, except on terms which must render all my future life dishonourable and contemptible, not only in my own eyes, but, on reflection, even in yours. No: death is unavoidable, and infinitely preferable to either of these dreadful evils." Thus saying, she drew a dagger, exhibiting it as her determined resource.

The nobleman paused, for love reigned absolute in his heart; and he cast down his eyes that he might not too evidently betray his feelings. He entreated her to desist from, at least to delay the execution of her stern purpose; and she granted him all the time he asked. "My life and death," said she, “are yours; and yesterday, to-day, to-morrow, or hereafter, are all equal. What matters it whether I begin this week or the next to be forgotten ?"

They parted, and, in despite of custom and prejudice, the Spaniard found that his countrymen were focis; that virtue, always, and in all ranks of life, is and must be honour; and that there could be no just infamy but in forsaking one whose soul disdained the meanness of its birth, and who to the Roman spirit, which could brave death, added the christian reverence for virtue. He married her. Long he pleaded in vain with his family and friends for a pardon of what they considered as a crime; and when he found that pride had banished reason and virtue from their hearts, he retired for ever from them, and, fixing on the delightful spot where this town now stands, built the first house, the remains of which are, it is said, still to be seen.

Example can effect much, though it cannot hastily wean a whole na tion from its habitual opinions and deep rooted errors. While the grave folly of the nation maintained the spirit of contempt against this innovator, any one whom love reduced to his condition, when he could not prevail on terms of infamy, consented to retire. The first erect ed edifice had soon its similar companions, and there arose an elegant town on the ruins of what the Spaniards call glory. It hence received the ill-merited name by which it has ever since been called; and when any person was observed to show attention to a female beneath him, it was proverbially said, "Such a one is going to settle at Villa Viciosa."

For the Literary Magazine.

ALUM WORKS.

The following is an account of a singular and extensive alum mine near Glasgow:

At Hurlett, near Glasgow, a spacious excavation remains of nearly a mile in length and breadth, and about five feet in height, in an ancient coal work, which was of

A

considerable extent in 1620: it consists of the vacancies left by the parts of a stratum of coals five feet thick, which have been removed, and of which there remain pillars 18 feet in diameter, to support the roof; the dip is just sufficient to keep the cavity dry, the coal is now taken up from thirty fathoms depth, and it lies at all depths from that to the surface. Just over this immense cavity, and forming its roof, lies a stratum of aluminous schistus, ten inches thick, that is found over the whole of the bed of coal, which being exposed thus to the atmospheric air, is in a gradual state of decomposition. This process is so slow that, in the long period mentioned, the whole of the ten inches thickness of the roof is in no other place gone. It flakes off by oxigenation and falls down, in which situation the oxigenation continues on the dry floor, and swells up in a fine spicular efflorescence to the height of three, four, and sometimes even the whole five feet of the excavation. greater number than usual of the pits are left open, which occasions a circulation of the air, that much promotes the oxigenation and efflorescence. In one part of these works is found an efflorescence of sulphate of magnesia in spicula, of about a foot in length, covering a space of about 50 yards square. A bed of lime-stone lies over the schistus, about three feet thick. Among the decomposed schistus beautiful effloresced pyrites are found, and are worked with the other pyrites for copperas. The schistus, in its first stage of decomposition, is of a dirty light brown colour, and gradually becomes whiter as it advances to the last stage, in which it is a light white, or very pale greenish white mass, with much silky or fine fibrous effloresced salt interspersed. This alum work is the largest in Great Britain, and probably in the world; it is the property of Messrs. Mackintosh, Knox, & Co. The alum is equal in quality to that of Italy, and large quantities of it are now exported.

For the Literary Magazine.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FALLS OF

NIAGARA.

Extracted from the Journal of a Gentleman who visited them a few years since.

THE falls are formed by a general descent of the country between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, of about 300 feet, the slope of which is generally very steep, and in many places almost perpendicular. This general descent of the country is observable for 100 miles to the east, and above 200 miles to the west, or rather north-west of the falls.

The slope is formed by horizontal strata of stone, great part of which is lime-stone. At fort Erie, which is twenty miles above the cataract, the current is sometimes so strong, that it is impossible to cross the river in the ferry-boat. Proceeding downwards, the rapidity of the stream increases, It may, how ever, generally be crossed by hard rowing in a boat, opposite to the mouth of Chippewa creek. As we rode along the St. Lawrence (viz., from fort Erie, on the Canada side), we heard the sound of the falls, at the distance of ten miles. The wind was north-east, and the air clear: had it been north-west, we should have heard it at a much greater distance. In heavy weather, and with a fair wind, the sound is sometimes heard forty or fifty miles.

The rapids, or first falls, begin about half a mile above the great cataract. In one instance has a man been saved, who had been car ried down to them. His canoe was overturned: he retained fast hold of it, and it very providentially fastened itself to the uppermost rock. Some people on shore, seeing this, ventured to his assistance, and saved his life, at the risk of their own. As we approached the falls the first time, the sun was low in the west, which gave us an opportunity of viewing the beautiful rainbow, which is occasioned by the refraction of his rays on the cloud or fog

The

that is perpetually arising from them. We afterwards found that the whole phenomenon is never viewed to so much advantage, from the Canada side, as in a clear evening. vast fog ascending from the grand cataract, being in constant agitation, appears like the steam of an immense boiling cauldron. In summer it moistens the neighbouring meadows, and in winter, falling upon the trees, it congeals, and produces a most beautiful crystaline appearance. The view of this fog at a distance, which, when the cause of it is known, is in itself a singular phenomenon, fills the mind with awful expectation, which, on a nearer approach, can never end in disappointment.

The first sight of the falls arrests the senses in silent admiration. Their various hues, arising from the depth, the descent, and the agitation of the water, and the reflection of the sun-beams upon them; their great height; their position between lofty rocks, and their roaring noise, altogether render them an unparalleled display of nature's grandeur. But what chiefly distinguishes them, and gives them a majesty incomparably superior to any thing of the kind in the known world, is the vast body of water which they precipitate into an immense abyss.

The St. Lawrence is one of the greatest rivers of America. It is very deep, and about 742 yards wide at the falls. The perpendicular descent there is about 140 feet, down to the level of the water below. How far the water rushes downwards, still further within the chasm underneath, is uncertain. It falls fifty-eight feet within the last half mile above the falls, which adds to the force and velocity of the cataract. The sound occasioned by the great and precipitate fall of such a vast body of water has the most grand effect that can be conceived, It far exceeds in solemnity any other sound produced by the operations of nature. It is only at the Niagara falls that the force of that figure made use of in the book of Revela