be wondered at than believed. He that shall view the writings of Macrobius, or Varro, may be confirmed and informed of this, and of the incredible value of their fish and fish ponds.

But, gentlemen, I have almost lost myself, which I confess I may easily do in this philosophical discourse; I met with most of it very lately, and I hope happily, in a conference with a most learned physician, Dr. Wharton, a dear friend, that loves both me and my art of angling. But, however, I will wade no deeper in these mysterious arguments, but pass to such observations as I can manage with more pleasure, and less fear of running into error. But I must not yet forsake the waters, by whose help we have so many known advantages.

And first to pass by the miraculous cures of our known baths, how advantageous is the sea for our daily traffic, without which we could not now subsist! How does it not only furnish us with food and physic for the bodies, but with such observations for the mind as inge. nious persons would not want!

How ignorant had we been of the beauty of Florence, of the monuments, urns, and rarities that yet remain in and near unto old and new Rome, so many as it is said will take up a year's time to view, and afford to each of them but a convenient consideration! And therefore it is not to be wondered at, that so learned and devout a father as St. Jerome, after his wish to have seen Christ in the flesh, and to have heard St. Paul preach, makes his third wish to have seen Rome in her glory; and that glory is not yet all lost, for what pleasure is it to see the monuments of Livy, the choicest of the historians; of Tully, the best of orators; and to see the bay trees that now grow out of the very tomb of Virgil! These, to any that love learning, must be pleasing. But what pleasure is it to a devout Christian to see there the humble house in which St. Paul was content to dwell, and to view the many rich statues that are there made in honor of his memory! nay, to see the very place in which St. Peter and he lie buried together! These are in and near to Rome. And how much more doth it please the pious curiosity of a Christian, to see that place on which the blessed Saviour of the world was pleased to humble himself, and to take our nature upon him, and to converse with men ; to see Mount Sion, Jerusalem, and the very Sepulchre of our Lord Jesus! How may it beget and heighten the zeal of a christian, to see the devotions that are daily paid to him at that place! Gentlemen, lest I forget myself, I will stop here, and remember you, that but for my element of water, the inhabitants of this poor island must remain ignorant that such things ever were, or that any of them have yet a being.

Gentlemen, I might both enlarge and lose myself in such like arguments; I might tell you that Almighty God is said to have spoken to a fish, but never to a beast; that he hath made a whale a ship, to carry and set his

prophet Jonah safe on the appointed shore. Of these I might speak, but I must in manners break off, for I see Theobald's House. I cry you mercy for being so long, and thank you for your patience.

Auc. Sir, my pardon is easily granted you: I except against nothing that you have said: nevertheless, I must part with you at this park-wall, for which I am very sorry; but I assure you, Mr. Piscator, I now part with you full of good thoughts, not only of yourself, but your recreation. And so, Gentlemen, God keep you both.

Pisc. Well, now, Mr. Venator, you shall neither want time, nor my attention to hear you enlarge your discourse concerning hunting.

Ven. Not I, Sir; I remember you said that angling itself was of great antiquity, and a perfect art, and an art not easily attained to; and you have so won upon me in your former discourse, that I am very desirous to hear what you can say further concerning those particulars.

Pisc. Sir, I did say so: and I doubt not but if you and I did converse together but a few hours, to leave you possessed with the same high and happy thoughts that now possess me of it; not only of the antiquity of angling, but that it deserves commendations; and that it is an art, and an art worthy the knowledge and practice of a wise man.

Ven. Pray, Sir, speak of them what you think fit, for we have yet five miles to the Thatch'd House; during which walk, I dare promise you my patience and diligent attention shall not be wanting. And if you shall make that to appear which you have undertaken, first, that it is an art, and an art worth the learning, I shall beg that I may attend you a day or two a fishing, and that I may become your scholar, and be instructed in the art itself which you so much magnify.

The

Pise. O, Sir, doubt not but that angling is an art. Is it not an art to deceive a trout with an artificial fly? a trout! that is more sharp-sighted than any hawk you have named, and more watchful and timorous than your high-mettled Merlin is bold; and yet I doubt not to catch a brace or two to-morrow, for a friend's breakfast; doubt not, therefore, Sir, but that angling is an art, and an art worth your learning. question is rather, whether you be capable of learning it; for angling is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so: I mean with inclinations to it, though both may be heightened by discourse and practice; but he that hopes to be a good angler, must not only bring an inquiring, searching, observing wit, but he must bring a large measure of hope and patience, and a love and propensity to the art itself; but having once got and practised it, then doubt not but angling will prove to be so pleasant, that it will prove to be, like virtue, a reward to itself.

Ven. Sir, I am now become so full of expect. ation, that I long much to have you proceed, and in the order that you propose.—More anon.

THE WORN-OUT BOXER.

Air, "Erin go bragh."

There came to the tap a disciple of milling,
And threadbare and patch'd were the garments he

wore :

He said, with an oath, he had spent his last shilling,
And that days of fair fighting, alas! were no more.
But a gin cask attracted his eyes' sad devotion,
And he asked for a dram of his favorite potion;
But the landlord, refusing to second his motion,
Requested him first to pay off his old score.
Ah! he exclaimed, in the days of my glory,

Ere the clouds of mishap had obscur'd my bright

star;

You told me at all times a different story,

"Twas "welcome, my cock, to the best in the bar." Then I sported new togs, and I sported a ticker ; But the storms cf distress gathered thicker and thicker; And now, when I beg for a mouthful of liquor,

You refuse, like a niggardly cove, as you are. Few of my pals of past days now will know me, They eye me askance, with a cold-hearted shrug, And seeing me down on my luck they cry "blow me, We never again wish to look at his mug." Shame be your portion for conduct so hateful, Fair weather fellows, both base and ungrateful! Of grub may you soon know the want of a plate ́ full, And the lean arms of Poverty give you a hug.

HOW TO CATCH, COOK, AND EAT A LION. Wonders will never cease! On approaching pretty near to the marsh, we discovered, to our infinite delight, a considerable quantity of rain water, among the rushes, and were on the point of dismounting, to partake of it, when suddenly a large Puma, or South American lion, sprung from a rushy lair where he had been couched, and instantly fled across the plain. This somewhat startling appearance dispersed our thirst, or the sense of it, for the moment, and we all turned our horses in pursuit of the fugitive. I have elsewhere described the extraordinary skill of the Gauchos with their lazo. On this occasion I had to witness a new instance of it in the Cordovese scout, who, presently coming up with the lion, cast his lazo over its head in an instant, and brought it to the ground, almost choked by the running noose. On recovering himself a little the lion seemed disposed to turn on his assailants and defend himself; but, before he could rise, the lazo of the capataz was dexterously cast round his hinder legs, and, the holder of it riding on, the lion was stretched on the plain, by the tightened cords, without the power of moving! With the rapidity of lightning the Cordovese now dismounted, and the blood of the animal was the next instant gushing from beneath his knife. After satisfying our thirst, by returning to the marshy pool, the carcase of the lion was dragged to the carts, where the skin was taken off, and the flesh cut into small pieces, roasted, and eaten within an hour of our first sight of the living animal. The flesh, which I tasted, was very white, and resembling veal, but of a fishy flavour; but certainly it was much preferable to that of a newly-slain buck, which was roasted at the same time. The flesh of the lion is esteemed a great delicacy by the Gauchos, and consequently a feast on one is looked upon as a treat of no ordinary kind.

The next day we arrived at Melinquecito, where a lioness with two cubs was taken-the mother was killed and eaten, and the two cubs were put into one of the carts, with the intention of conveying them alive to Buenos Ayres; but for want of proper food they soon died.

SINGULAR AFFECTION DISPLAYED BY A
GREYHOUND.

Some time since, Mr. Smith's men, of Rose Cottage, near Ashbourne, turned up a rabbit's nest with the plough, containing four young ones. Being too young to stand the least chance of surviving, in their exposed situation, they took them home as a treat for a greyhound bitch that was suckling a litter of six puppies. To their surprise, instead of greedily devouring the rabbits, as they expected, she carried them tenderly and carefully in her mouth to her nest, and seemed to consider them a most welcome addition to her family, bestowing upon them the same fondling caresses, and offering them a share of the same support which nature had furnished for her own offspring. This the poor rabbits did not refuse, and there appeared to be no doubt of their doing well. Unfortunately, however, they were doomed to suffer death from their young companions, though not exactly in the manner that greyhounds generally kill rabbits. One after another got overlaid by its rude and robust foster-brother and sister, and the poor mother, with evident reluctance and regret, saw them carried away, and did not part them, even when dead, without remonstrating against it as much as she durst.

ACCOUNT OF A MERMAID.

There appears in a late number of the Edinburgh Magazine a curious communication on this subject, from Mr. Lawrence Edmonstone, surgeon, Zetland. He says, that an animal answering to the following description, so far as the account of the six fishermen who captured it can be depended on, was actually in their possession for three hours, but unluckily, from some superstitious dread of injuring it, they returned it to its native element, and thus prevented the scientific identifications of an animal which appears to have very nearly resembled what has been generally regarded as a merely fabulous creation. Length of the animal, three feet; body without scales or hair; silver grey above, whitish below like the human skin; no gills were observed, no fins on the back or belly; tail like that of a dog-fish; body very thick over the breast; by the eye the girth might be between two and three feet; the neck short, very distinct from the head and shoulders; the body rather depressed; the anterior extremities very like the human hand, about the length of a seal's paw, webbed to about an inch of the ends of the fingers; mammæ as large as those of a woman; mouth and lips very distinct, and resembling the human.

FRENCH SPORTING DUKE IN ENGLAND. The late duke de Berri, who was devoted to field sports, and an excellent shot, while upon a visit to a distinguished commoner in England, was accompanied to the field by his own maitre de chasse, and an old grey-headed game-keeper of his host's. The latter had resided many years upon the estate, and could scarcely repress his dissatisfaction at the number of victims to the Duke's skill. Repeatedly in the course of the day, upon springing a pheasant, the maitre de chasse, as is usual with the French, would call out Poule! (hen) and the Duke, as a fair sportsman, of course restrained his fire. On the return of the party, the worthy host inquired of "Old John" what kind of shot his illustrious visitor was; to which the following reply was grumbled out: "By the Lord he never misses, and, if he had pulled half as often as t'other Monsieur wanted him to do, your honor would have hardly had a bird next year."

APPEARANCE OF THE LATE QUEEN OF FRANCE, (MARIE ANTOINETTE) AT A BOAR HUNT.

66 It was in the forest of St. Germain en Laye, that I first saw Marie Antoinette d'Autriche. This splendid sovereign was indeed an Imperial model of female beauty: rich and royal were her charms, despotic and commanding her lovely form and imposing figure. If a man had but one drop of chivalrous blood in his veins, it would swell in his heart and mantle at the sight of this great and unfortunate woman. She at once struck, captivated,and interested you. Her stately demeanour was all the queen-her soft large blue eye was all the woman. Respect was inspired by the former, zealous devotion was enkindled by the latter, with a kind of a feeling as if a man wished to have peril to brave for such a princess, and arduous enterprise to undertake for the reward of her smile.

"If Agamemnon ever deserved the title of Anax Andron (the King of Men), or Ney merited the nom de guerre of un brave parmi les braves, Marie Antoinette of Austria was entitled to the epithet of the Queen of Women, and une belle parmi les belles.

"My reader must pardon me for this long digression from the subject of sporting; a true sportsman is always a man of gallantry : and he who boldly risks his neck at a desperate fence, or a blind leap, will be very likely to brave every danger for the Lady of his Love, and to stick at nothing in following the Blind God's chase in pursuit of beauty. To such a one his flame may fairly address the words of the Italian Bard, Deh! non seguir damna fugace,' etc.

6

Follow a nobler chase, and spare the deer, Hunted by cruelty, run down by fear : I am thy captive, Sylvio, follow meAlready ta'en and bound by love to thee.' "But to the Boar-hunt.-The field was numerous and brilliant. The hounds and

whole turn-out belonged to the present Charles the Tenth, Ex-King of France, then second brother to Louis the Sixteenth. It was what was called l'equipage de Monseigneur le Comte d'Artois carriages, horses, et cetera. By the way, there were then in France a number of what was termed voitures de chasse, hunting carriages, very fancifully constructed, resembling our caravans, and having sometimes a stag's head and fore quarters in front; over which a coachman, all gold or silver lace, and his hair highly dressed, used to take his seat, driving either four-in-hand, the horses all too far from their work, the leaders with very long traces, seldom tight (for these dressy coachmen did not know how to keep the tits up to their traces), or with four horses, the leaders having a postilion with cocked hat and jack boots. Sometimes also the voitures de chasse had three horses abreast; and once I saw one with four, which was very like the engravings of the Roman cars. The nobility mostly went to covert in close carriages, the horses being led, as those of the Royal Hunt of Louis the Sixteenth were, each led-horse being covered with a rich cloth, corresponding with the livery of the owner, and with the family arms, or cipher and coronet, at each corner. The Comte d'Artois's was dark-green with splendid gold lace; the livery being that colour and crimson, laced richly with gold. It had a fine effect in the field, although an unsporting appearance, being more militarylooking than any thing else. The Prince of Cunde's trappings were buff and crimson velvet, with silk embroidery of the latter colour, in portraiture of the Knights in leathern doublets with the crimson favors.

"The Queen of France wore the uniform of the Hunt, with a profusion of gold lace, and as great a profusion of fine white ostrich feathers in her riding-hat. She was in one of these voitures de chasse, drawn by eight fine English bay horses, driven by a giant of a charioteer of most uncoachman-like appearance-a desperate driver, but a bad whip. The animals went at a furious rate, and her Most Christian Majesty had much the appearance of a Sovereign of ancient times, making a triumphal entry into some conquered state."

the Peloponnesian war. They had likewise a breed of hens at Alexandria in Egypt, which produced the best fighting cocks; but though it is certain that these fowls, at first, fought full feathered, it was not long before feeders were made use of, as in the modern mode. But, at Athens, COCK-FIGHTING was partly a political, and partly a religious institution, and was there continued for the purpose of improving the valour of their youth, and by degrees became a common pastime, as well as in all other parts of Greece.

On the other hand, the Romans paired quails, as well as cocks; and, according to Herodian, the first quarrel between Bassianus and Geta arose about the fighting of their quails and cocks; notwithstanding this, the Romans did not match the latter till the commencement of the decline of the empire.

It is not positively known when the pitched battle was first introduced into England; we have no notice of cock-fighting earlier than the reign of Henry II. William Fitz-Stephen describes it then as the sport of school boys on Shrove Tuesday: the theatre was the school; and the school-master, it seems, was the comptroller and director of the sport. The practice was prohibited in the 39th of Edward III.; but became general under Henry VIII., who was personally attached to it, and established the cock-pit at Whitehall, to bring it more into credit. James the First was so remarkably fond of it, that, according to Monsieur de la Bodenie, who was the ambassador from Henry IV. to this king, he constantly amused himself with it twice a week. Under Elizabeth, it was not less in vogue; and the learned Roger Ascham then favored the world with a treatise on the subject. There was then a pit in Drury and Gray's Inn lanes, and another in Jewin-street; but the practice was a second time prohibited by an act under the Protectorship in 1654.

It has a strange quick jar upon the ear,
That COCKING-

Such were the words of the late Lord BYRON; therefore, the inference to be drawn from them perhaps is, that the fancy of his lordship was not attached to COCK FIGHTING; but, nevertheless, as the saying is, Lord Byron (it was well known to his most intimate friends) was "fond of seeing every thing that was to be met with in life." His lord

ship, it is presumed, did not wish to plead ignorance upon any subject as a man of the world; neither that such a feature had escaped his notice as a person of observation. This, in some degree, may account for his lordship's "dropping in," as Paul Pry would observe, into a cockpit-rather to be a 'looker-on,' as a matter of curiosity, than to partake of it as a diversion. However, be that as it may, we are well assured that sports of all kinds are mere matters of taste, and "one man's meat is another man's poison." The subject of COCK-FIGHTING has been too

long before the public to require any defence of it from our hands, we shall, therefore, merely use his lordship's words as the best answer we can give to those persons who are inclined to be a little too fastidious respecting the above sport :

Some talk of an appeal unto some passion;

Some to men's feelings, others to their reason; The last of these was never much the fashion, For REASON thinks all reasoning out of season.

A Cockpit, like a race course, in a sporting point of view, is free for every person; and selection of company is entirely out of the question. The noble lord, and the needy commoner, are both at home, after they have paid their tip for admission; and persons who enter the pit to sport a crown, bet a sovereign, or to put down their pounds, are too much interested upon the Main, to consider who they may chance to rub against' for the time being. Etiquette has nothing to do with a Cockpit; and a master of the ceremonies would have a troublesome time of it—to keep any thing like order; yet, nevertheless, persons of the first rank in society are to be met with in a cockpit. During the intervals, which occur between the battles, the M. P. may be seen conversing with his friend respecting the success of the Reform Bill in the House of Lords on the preceding evening; and, on the other side of the pit, the commoner may be viewed equally as happy, amusing his pals with a bit of a flash chant just to fill up the leisure time :

A saucy rolling blade am I,
I keep a donkee Dick;
Through London streets my wares I cry,
Up peck and booze to pick.

In Black-boy alley I've a ken,
A tyke and fighting cock;
A saucy, tip-slang, moon-eyed, hen,
Who oft' mills doll at block.

I'm known by all the deep ones well,
About Salt-petre Bank,
And always ready, prigs can tell,
To gig a Smithfield hank.

I'll race my Jack, or bait a bull,
Or fight my doodle-doo;
I'll flash a quid with any cull;
And fly a pigeon-blue.

I'll back my ginger to make a hit,
My fine-my true GAME COCK:
The Swells can't do me in the pit;
I'm down to ev'ry lock!

I'm up to all your knowing rigs,
Ye biddies queer and flash;
I'm company for scamps and prigs,
Sometimes for men of cash.

My moll oft' tips the knowing dive
When sea-crabs gang the stroll;
Unless she did how could we thrive,

And in warm flannel roll ? ̧

COCKING, at the present period, is kept up with great spirit at Newcastle, and the recent meeting of Cockers at the above place, in point of extent, exceeds every thing of the kind ever known in this country. Upwards