tocracy: enquire of the people, and they will one and all cry up a democracy: as for royalty, it is, for the most part, kings only who will prefer it. How, then, comes it to pass, the whole earth is governed by monarchs? Ask the rats, who propose to hang a bell about the cat's neck!-But the true reason is, that men very rarely deserve to be their own governors. Europe had eight republics without monarchs-Venice, Holland, Switzerland, Genoa, Lucca, Ragusa, Geneva, St. Marino. Events have proved that the system of republics is an unsafe one: even America and Switzerland will yet become monarchical. But let us turn our attention to a republic not much known, exceedingly safe, and as eminently useful; we mean that of the

REPUBLIC OF BABINE.-There was a very extensive lordship, near Lublin, in Poland, which has been long in the possession of the house of Psamka, the eldest branches of which are called Lords of Babine, the name of the estate. There was, at the court of Sigismund, Augustus, a gentleman of the family of Psamka, who, in concert with Peter Cassovius, bailiff of Lublin, formed a society, which the Polish writers call 'The Republic of Babine;' and which the Germans denominate 'The Society of Fools.' This society was instituted upon the model of the republic of Poland; it has its king, its chancellor, its counsellors, its archbishops, bishops, judges, and other officers. In this republic, Psamka had the title of captain, and Cassovius that of chancellor. When any of the members did or said any thing at their meetings, which was unbecoming or ill-timed, they immediately gave him a place, of which he was required to perform the duties, till another was appointed in his stead: for example, if any one spoke too much, so as to engross the conversation, he was appointed orator of the republic: if he spoke improperly, occasion was taken from his subject to appoint him a suitable employment; if, for instance, he talked about dogs, he was made master of the buck-hounds; if he boasted of his courage, he was made a knight, or perhaps a field-marshal; and if he expressed a bigotted zeal for any speculative opinion in religion, he was made an inquisitor. The offenders being thus distinguished for their follies, and not their wisdom, gave occasion to the Germans to call the republic The Society of Fools;' which, though a satire on the individuals, was by no means so on the institution. It happened that the King of Poland, one day, asked Psamka, if they had chosen a king in their republic? To which he replied, God forbid that we should think of electing a king while your majesty lives: your majesty will always be king of Babine, as well as Poland.' The king was not displeased with

6

、

this sally of humour; and inquired farther to what extent their republic reached? Over the whole world,' says Psamka ; 'for we are told, by David, that all men are liars.' This society very soon increased so much, that there was scarce any person at court who was not honoured with some post in it; and its chiefs were also in high favour with the king. The view of this society was to teach the young nobility a propriety of behaviour, and the arts of conversation and it was a fundamental law, that no slanderer should be received into it. The regiment of the Calot, which was many years since established in the court of France, was very similar to the republic of Babine.

We sadly want an institution of this sort near this court: it would, perhaps, be as good a school for future statesmen, as a board of admiralty and, as we have union-clubs of all sorts now upon the tapis, who knows but we shall yet see a British Babine Republic?

JONAH.

WILLIAM ALABASTER, a learned but eccentric English divine, in the days of Elizabeth, commented upon Jonah in a way Father Garasse complains of. "Alabaster's exposition (says Garasse) is far from common sense; for he patches up some rabinnical fancies, that are indeed pleasant, if they were as solidly grounded as they are subtilely invented. He avers, (in his Apparatus, printed 1607,) that Jonas remained punctually three days and three nights in the whale's belly, in the following manner:-Jonas, says he, was carried to the very centre of the world, as he himself acknowledges. Now, being in that place, he had both day and night at one time; for, looking towards our hemisphere, he had the day before, and the night behind, him; and then, the next day, quite contrary; so that, having remained there but one day and a half, he remained there three whole days; forasmuch as the space must be doubled, because he had all at once what we have successively."

The Rabbins also give another idle story. They say that the fish which swallowed Jonah had seven eyes, which served as so many windows for the prophet to see all that was in the sea; and, amongst other things, the way which the Israelites took in crossing the Red Sea.

But Jonah's whale has been found!-Strange as it may appear, yet at Joppa itself, the skeleton of a whale, thrown inland, had been preserved, and was brought from thence to Rome in the Edileship of M. Scaurus. This curious fact is detailed

from Pliny; and the skeleton, as Mr. Jacob Bryant is persuaded, from its antiquity and situation, was that of the very cetus (or fish) to which the history of Jonah refers. He supports his opinion by the consideration of its size, and the nature of the coast being such as to admit the ejection of a monster from the deep far in upon the land;-a circumstance which powerfully corroborates the history.

We are reminded, while on this subject, of the Rev. Zachary Boyd's poem-" Jonah." It is most probable that he adapted his verse to the intellects of his hearers, which can be the only excuse for the variety of gross imagery, of which part of the soliloquy of Jonah in the fish's belly will be thought a sufficient specimen.

I and my table are both here within,

Where day ne'er dawn'd, where sun did never shine.
The like of this on earth, man never saw,

A living man within a monster's maw!

Buried under mountains, which are high and steep!
Plunged under waters hundred fathoms deep!

Not so was Noah, in his house of tree,

For through a window he the light did see ;
He sailed above the highest waves, a wonder,

I and my boat are all the waters under!
He and his ark might go and also come;

But I sit still in such a straighten'd room

As is most uncouth; head and feet together,

Among such grease as would a thousand smother; &c.

Mr. Boyd, who (Mr. Pennant says) was a worthy, learned, and pious divine, of Glasgow, lived above a century and a half ago; and, when he died, bequeathed his fortune and manuscripts to the College;-a rare and muuificent bequest, judging by this extract.

ASSIZES HELD BY CROWS.

As

EDMONSTON, in his Account of Zetland, gravely informs us, that the crows seldom associate there, unless for the "purpose of holding what is called The Crows' Court."—"This institution exhibits a curious fact in their history. Numbers of crows are seen to assemble, on a particular hill or field, from many different points. On some occasions, the meeting does not appear to be complete before the expiration of a day or two. soon as all the deputies have arrived, a very general noise and croaking ensue; and shortly after, the whole fall upon one or two individuals, whom they persecute and beat until they kill them. When this has been accomplished, they quietly disperse." At what particular term or season of the year these crows-courts are held, he does not tell; probably between Hilary and Easter.

But, is it not more likely that the object of these assizes is the making up of matches, (in the Moravian manner,) rather than a grand jury, finding bills of indictment and then trying and punishing delinquents?

But LANDT, in his Description of the Feroe Islands, corroborates these extraordinary assemblies, which may be called crow-courts. They collect in great numbers, as if they had been all summoned for the occasion. A few of the flock sit with drooping heads, says Landt; others seem as grave as if they were on the woolsack; and some are exceedingly active and noisy. In the course of about an hour, the assembly disperse; and it is not uncommon to find one or two left dead on the spot.

The ancient French fixed upon two ravens, to put an end to a tedious and expensive law-suit. The parties placed two cakes, made of flour diluted in oil and wine, upon a board, which was carried to the side of a lake. Two ravens would presently light upon this board, and would break and scatter about one of the cakes, whilst they devoured the other entirely. That party, whose cake was only scattered about, gained his cause ;-a very cheap way of going to law!

THE ROSARY.

THIS is a religious implement of universal vogue. There is a picturesqueness in the bead-string, with its appendant cross or crucifix, when hanging round the neck of the young female devotee, or even in the hands of the trembling aged. It is strange, that Mr. Price, Mr. Repton, and others, who contemplate beauty in effect, should have dwelt more on pigsties and donkies than on these beads, which are also of the class utile. In former days, before this useful arithmetical invention to measure out prayer was discovered, people used to offer their devotions without any regularity as to length. By this ingenious contrivance, however, the exact scale or tally is estimated; for it appears that a full rosary consists of one hundred and sixty-five beads, (or pepper-corns, or cornelians, or nutmegs, or any thing that can be strung, will do,) that is, of fifteen decades, with a bead of larger magnitude at the end of each, which is for the Pater Noster; the rest, i. e. the smaller ones, for the Ave Marias. Now, by this happy discovery, the devout memory may be jogged, should it stick too much to the Ave Maria instead of the Pater Noster, and vice versa. The current number of prayers may also be kept up by this tarif, with the help of the mere fingers and the lips, and without troubling

the heart or the understanding, both of which may be allowed to make their excursions during this act of efficient devotion. Finally, the machine is of small expense, and very portable; it may be used standing, sitting, lying, walking, kneeling. The world is indebted to the fruitfulness of St. Dominic's brain for the Rosary and the Inquisition. We quote a miracle to shew the efficaciousness of the Rosary.-"A damsel, whose name was Alexandra, induced by St. Dominic's preaching, used the Rosary; but her heart followed too much after the things of this world. Two young men, who were rivals for her, fought, and both fell in the combat; and their relations, in revenge, cut off her head, and threw it into a well. The devil immediately seized her soul, to which it seems he had a clear title; but, for the sake of the Rosary, the Virgin interfered, rescued the soul out of his hands, and gave it permission to remain in the head, at the bottom of the well, till it should have an opportunity of confessing, and being absolved. After some days, this was revealed to St. Dominic, who went to the well, and told Alexandra, in God's name, to come up the bloody head obeyed, perched on the well-side, confessed its sins, received absolution, took the wafer, and continued to edify the people for two days, when the soul departed, to pass a fortnight in purgatory, on its way to heaven."-(Quarterly Review.) After all, this small and picturesque engine is preferable to praying by machinery; for Mr. Moorcroft informs us, in his Journey to Lake Manasawara, in Undés, a province in Little Thibet,' that the inhabitants use the following most extraordinary way of saying their prayers :-It is done by motion, which may be effected by the powers of steam, wind, or water. A large hollow cylinder, like a drum, is erected, within which is inclosed all the written prayers the people choose to offer, and then it is set going, by being whirled round its own axis; thus saving the trouble of repeating them. Mr. Turner, whose Travels in Thibet are before the public, corroborates the account of these whirligigs. They are common, also, among the Monguls, the Calmucks, and the Kalkas; so that the engineers for these pious wheels must have a tolerably extensive trade, as this national mode of worship is naturally liable to wear out. But even this mode is innocence itself, compared with that of a set of savages, who pray people to death; for Lisiansky, in his Voyage round the World, gives us an account of an extra-religious sect, in the Sandwich Islands, who arrogate to themselves the power of praying people to death. Whosoever incurs their displeasure, receives notice that the homicide-litany is about to begin; and such are the effects of imagination, that the very notice is frequently sufficient, with these weak people, to produce the effect, or to drive them to acts of suicide. But we