experiments at different times; which I must therefore recommend to other naturalists who may have an opportunity of visiting Sierra Leone, requesting that they would inquire particularly into this curious circumstance.

This insect is described as being of a light chesnut colour, and very glossy all over. The head is larger than that of Linnæus' species. It is furnished with a little horn in the middle between the eyes, which is straight, and tipped with a tuft of cartilaginous hairs. The eyes are very large and evident, those of the male black, though in a certain light appearing greenish; but those of the female like pearls, or as if they were covered with a crystalline membrane. The upper joint of the antennæ is quite globular and resembles an inflated bladder, being almost pellucid and of a light flesh colour. The elytra or wing-cases are shorter than the abdomen, and minutely punctured. The under wings are shining, and of a changeable violet colour. The feet are all of equal length.

Another beautiful genus of luminous insects, is that called Elater, of which one of the most remarkable species is Elater noctilucus. The organs for the production of light in this genus are situate in the corselet. They likewise consist of a peculiar yellow substance placed behind transparent parts of the shell, which parts are sufficiently thin and transparent to allow the natural colour of the substance to be seen by day, and also to give passage to the light when the insect becomes illuminated. The corselet in the Elater noctilucus is remarkably thin at particular spots, and in the concavity of these spots is lodged the soft yellow substance whence the light is emitted. The organs of light have been made the subject of minute dissection by several naturalists; and the substance just spoken of is described as being so close in its texture as to resemble an inorganic mass, but when magnified it presents to view an infinite number of very minute parts or lobules closely pressed together. Around these yellow masses, which are of an oval form, the corselet is arranged in a radiated manner, and the whole is covered with a portion of shell, nearly transparent in that part which covers the radiated substance, but more perfectly so, immediately over the yellow mass.

The masses of luminous substance are described as being extremely irregular in their figure in Elater ignitus: they are situate near the posterior angles of the corselet, and are more loose in their texture than the oval masses in the preceding species. The shell of the corselet is somewhat thinner and more transparent along both sides of the margin than in other places, but it has no particular spots from which light is emitted. There appears to be a general diffusion of the luminous substance beneath the corselet of this species; but, as the shell is only semi-transparent, the light can be by no means brilliant.

*

(Elater ignitus.)

This genus is rather extensive, but the European species are generally small, and not to be compared with those which are natives of tropical regions. The destructive grub known in this country by the name of wire-worm is an elater in its early state.

Elater noctilucus is the "fire-fly" of South America,

called in that country Cocujas, or, by the French colonists, Mouche lumineuse. The light which it diffuses from its thoracic spots is sufficiently strong to enable one to read the smallest print, if the insect be held between the fingers, and moved along the lines; and if eight or ten be put into a glass vessel they will afford a light equal to that of a common candle. By means of this natural illumination, the women of the country are said to pursue their work, and ladies are likewise accustomed to adorn themselves by placing the insects among the tresses of their hair. We know not the method by which they contrive to secure the insect in the desired situation; but the fact of their appearing decked with this kind of jewellery in their evening promenades is noticed by South American

travellers.

These beautiful insects illuminate both forest and savannah. Humboldt describes the innumerable torrid zone, as seeming to repeat on earth along the scattered lights which embellish the nights of the vast extent of the savannahs the spectacle of the starry vault of heaven. Mr. Southey describes the effect of a first view of this scene, on the early visitors of the New World, in the following lines:

Sorrowing we beheld

The night come on; but soon did night display
More wonders than it veiled; innumerous tribes
From the wood-cover swarmed, and darkness made
Their beauties visible: one while they streamed
A bright blue radiance upon flowers that closed
Their gorgeous radiance from the eye of day;
Now motionless, and dark, eluded search,
Self-shrouded; and anon, starring the sky,
Rose like a shower of fire.

Mouffat informs us that when Sir Thomas Cavendish and Sir Robert Dudley, son to the Earl of Leicester, first landed in the West Indies, and during the twilight of the same evening observed a vast number of moving lights in the contiguous woods, they became so much alarmed, under the idea that that they betook themselves to their ships immediately. the Spaniards were advancing upon them unawares,

It has been said that the inhabitants of the WestIndia Islands, previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, made use of no other light than that afforded by the insect we have been describing.

When the fire-fly settles on the ground, it is eagerly caught at and devoured by the bull-frog: this has given rise to a curious but most cruel method of coal are thrown towards the frogs in the dusk of the destroying these creatures. Red-hot pieces of charevening, which they leap at, and, eagerly swallowing, are burnt to death.

ANECDOTE OF EDWARD THE SIXTH.

THE genuine goodness of heart, and the mild and amiable manners of King Edward the Sixth, both before and after his accession to the throne, have been a theme of praise with historians, not less than his extraordinary desire and capacity for the acquirement of learning, and the exemplary performance of all his duties. The generosity of his disposition is shown in the following anecdote, which, though relating a childish adventure, is nevertheless interesting, as it serves to illustrate the noble qualities of a prince who conferred additional dignity on his high station by the virtues of his mind, and the propriety of his conduct.

When he was five years old, his godfather, the celebrated Archbishop Cranmer, made him a present of a bureau of elaborate workmanship, containing a costly service of silver plate, consisting of dishes, plates, forks, spoons, and covers. The child was overjoyed at the gift: the various articles being new and polished, looked very splendid, and he testified his satisfaction by repeated exclamations of delight. His valet, to impress him with the value and importance of the gift, observed: "Your highness will be pleased to remember, that although this beautiful plate is yours, it must be kept entirely to yourself; for if others are allowed to touch

me?"

it, it will be entirely spoiled." "My good Hinbrook," replied the prince mildly, "if no one can touch these things without spoiling them, how happens it that they have been given to The prince, as if to show his disregard of the lesson of his domestic, caused a party of his young friends to be invited the next day to a feast which was set before them on the service of plate just presented to him. When the time came for their departure, he directed their attention to the plate which had all been replaced in the bureau, and which had from the first excited the admiration of his young companions; requesting each of his companions to take whatever article pleased him best, and to retain it as a mark of regard from himself. Some of his visitors, who were a few years older than he, were unwilling to take advantage of his munificent disposition; but he enforced his request with such earnestness, that they could not refuse. "You know," said he to them with a smile, "I am the king's son, and can replace them at any time I please."

REFLECTIONS IN A CHURCH-YARD

WHEN in my travels I pass through a town or village which I have not seen, if I have sufficient leisure, the first place which I visit is uniformly the church-yard. The feeling that I am a stranger, that I know not the scenery, and that it knows not me, naturally induces a sort of pensive meditation, which disposes me for that sojourn. I form certain estimates of the taste and moral feeling of the people from the forms and devices of the slabs and monuments, and the order in which the consecrated ground is kept. The inscriptions are ordinarily in too bad taste to claim much interest, though there are few church-yards that cannot show some monuments which, by their eccentric variation from the rest, mark individuality of character. But this is a matter of trifling interest compared with the throng of remembrances and anticipations that naturally crowd upon the spirit of a stranger in such a place. Youth with its rainbow and its fresh affections; mature age with its ambitious projects; old age in the midst of children; death in the natal spot, or in the house of the stranger; eternity with its dim and illimitable mysteriousness;-these shadowy images, with their associated thoughts, pass through the mind, and return like the guests at an inn. While I look up towards the rolling clouds, and the sun walking his unvarying path along the firmament, how natural the reflection, that they will present the same aspect, and suggest the same reflections-that the trees will stand forth in their foliage, and the hills in their verdure, to him who comes after me, when I shall have taken my place with the unconscious sleepers about me! Here is the place to reflect upon the folly and the guilt of human hatred and revenge, ambition and avarice, and the million puerile projects and cares that are incessantly overclouding the sunshine of existence. The heart cannot but be made better by occasional communion with these tenants of the narrow house, where

Each waits the other's license to disturb
The deep, unbroken silence.---FLINT,

THE QUAGGA. (Equus quagga.]

Afar in the desert I love to ride
With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side,
Away, away from the dwellings of men,

By the wild deer's haunt and the buffalo's glen
By valleys remote where the oribi plays;
Where the gnoo, the gazelle, and the hartebeest graze;
And the gemsbok and gland unhunted recline

By the skirts of gray forests o'ergrown with wild vine;
And the elephant browses at peace in his wood;
And the river-horse gambols unscared in the flood;
And the mighty rhinoceros wallows at will

In the vley, where the wild ass is drinking his fill.

PRINGLE.

THE Quagga, or Quakkah, is an animal inhabiting the extensive plains of Southern Africa, and bearing a considerable resemblance to the zebra. There is another animal found in the same region, called by the Dutch the wilde paard, and by the Hottentots dauw; and Mr. Burchell has given the following distinctive characters to know one from another of four animals, bearing some resemblance to each other, and belonging to the horse genus:-the ass has generally a single stripe across the shoulders; the quagga has many

such marks on the head and forepart of the body; the zebra is covered with stripes over the head and the whole of the body except the legs; and the wilde paard (wild horse), is striped over every part, even down to the feet.

The quagga is that species to which the present paper will chiefly refer. A full-grown quagga is generally about four feet high at the withers. The head and neck are deep blackish-brown, striped with grayish-white lines, transverse upon the cheeks, but longitudinal on the temples and forehead, and forming triangles between the mouth and eyes: the other parts of the body are of a clearer brown, paler beneath, and almost white upon the belly. There are so many points of resemblance between the quagga and the zebra, that the earlier travellers in Africa confounded one with the other, and even considered them to be identical; but later observers have seen sufficient reason for considering them as different species; for, besides the difference in the stripes with which they are marked, the quagga is inferior in size to the zebra. There is a very marked difference between the colour of the two sexes among the quaggas, that of the male being far more vivid than of the female.

The more solitary regions in the southern parts of Africa are the haunts of this beautiful animal. They are of a sociable disposition, and, in a state of wildness, herd in troops of a hundred or more together; and it is observed that though they inhabit the same deserts as the zebra, they never associate with that species. When Mr. Burchell was travelling over the wild wastes of Africa, his stock of provisions being rather low, he ordered one of his servants to go out and endeavour to capture some animal that might be fit for food. The man returned after having shot a quagga; and as the Hottentots praised its excellence as meat, Burchell ordered a steak to be broiled for his dinner. Novelty and the curiosity attending the event tended to influence the opinion formed on the occasion, for Mr. Burchell considered it, at the time, as being good and palatable, as being tender, and possessing a taste midway between that of beef and mutton. He made several meals from the same quagga, but never afterwards, from choice, partook of the flesh of this animal when other food was near. Mr. Burchell well observes, that it was the misleading influence of prejudice and habit, that prevented him from afterwards considering this as a regular article of food; allowing himself, merely because he viewed this meat as horseflesh, to reject food which was really good and wholesome. To persons accustomed to the flesh of oxen and sheep, that of the quagga possesses this disadvantage, that the fat is rather yellow and oily and has a very strong smell. The flesh is, however, highly esteemed by the Hottentots, whose tastes are by no means delicate.

The quaggas are very bold and determined, when roaming over their native plains. One traveller tells us that, towards the latter part of a day's journey, he met a troop of quaggas, one of which was hit in the haunch by a shot from one of the party. The animal nevertheless attempted to flee, and bit violently when they went up to secure him. Although they were desirous to spare their powder and shot as much as possible, yet, in order to secure him, they were obliged to fire at him a second time; for all attempts to come near him were vain, and manifestly not to be made without danger. When killed, he was immediately cut up by the Hottentots who accompanied the party, and stowed away in the travelling waggons as a store of provisions for future days.

Travellers have more than once had opportunities of observing, that the quagga and the ostrich are

frequently to be found in company, or at least at no great distance apart. While Professor Lichtenstein was journeying over the African plains, he perceived a narrow path which seemed to have been trodden by ostriches. This path he followed for some time, and on turning the angle of a neighbouring hill, he espied a flock of about thirty of these gigantic birds, and behind them a troop of quaggas amounting to not less than eighty or a hundred. As he approached them the ostriches caught sight of him and immediately took to flight, and were followed instinctively by the quaggas. He remarks, that however different these animals may be in their habits, they have a great attachment to each other, which seems to arise from this circumstance, that the quaggas follow the ostriches because the latter, by being able to see to a great distance, can more readily detect the approach of danger or the proximity of food; and, on the other hand, the smell of the quagga attracts great numbers of large beetles of a peculiar kind, which are a dainty food to the ostriches. Burchell had also opportunities of observing the tendency which these animals have to associate together, as if for mutual assistance. Some few instances have been known of the possibility of domesticating the quagga. Lichtenstein saw one feeding in a meadow in company with several horses: he suffered himself readily to be stroked and caressed by the people about him; but his spirit of freedom was not yet so far subdued as to suffer them to ride him. Another traveller, while riding on horseback, saw a young quagga foal coming towards him, having just lost its mother. The little animal suffered itself to be led to a cattle-pound, where it remained as quiet and tame as a common foal; the presence of men seeming to give it no uneasiness. Hopes were entertained of bringing it up tame; and it was accordingly suckled by a mare; but the poor little thing died in about ten days, owing, as some of the Hottentots said, to its pining for the loss of its mother; but, as others thought, to the disinclination of the mare to afford it sufficient milk, or to the milk being unwholesome for it. It is the opinion of competent persons, however, that many wild animals, if taken very young, may be reared by suckling them under

such domestic animals as belong to the same genus, or even to the same order; and although the natural wildness or ferocity of their nature cannot be wholly subdued by such nurture; yet they would become accustomed to confinement and to the presence of men; by which means an opportunity would be afforded for discovering many particulars of their history, which can never be known by merely viewing them in their wild state. That the quagga is capable of being brought to a docile state is proved by the fact, that a few years ago a curricle drawn by a pair of these animals was frequently seen during the gay season in Hyde Park.

Mr. Burchell once observed the beautiful skin of one of these animals, which had been formed into a tanning-vat, supported by four stakes on a frame, to which its edges were bound by thongs in such a manner, that the middle, hanging down, formed a capacious basin. It was filled with a liquid, in which lay a quantity of the bark of karro-thorn, and together with it a number of sheep-skins, first deprived of the hair, were placed to steep: this bark contains a considerable portion of the tanning principle, and imparts a reddish colour to the leather. The sheepleather, thus tanned, is made use of in many parts of the Hottentot country for the fabrication of trousers and other articles of dress.

We cannot, in the present article, enter into a description of the zebra: this we shall do at some future period; but we may just mention one or two points of difference between that animal and the quagga, in addition to those relating to colour, which we have before detailed. The true zebra is exclusively confined to mountainous regions, from which it rarely if ever descends; but the quagga and the wilde paard are found in the extensive plains with which Southern Africa abounds. The two last-named animals have ears and tails resembling those of the horse, while the zebra is in those respects more like the ass. The quagga is stronger than the mule, lives hardily, and is seldom out of flesh; but the zebra has much more of the meagre and bony appearance of the ass. The cut which illustrates this article certainly conveys the idea of a stout-built and muscular animal.

CHRIST-CHURCH is situated on the southern coast of Hampshire, near the head of the bay, or haven of Christ-church, which opens to the sea about a mile and a half below the town. This bay is formed by the junction of two considerable rivers, the Avon and the Stour, which, deriving their origin from different parts of Wiltshire and Somersetshire, flow in a devious course to Christ-church, and include all the ancient parts of the town within their point of confluence. Hence, in the Saxon times, this district was named Tweon-ea, or the peninsulated district between the two streams: afterwards it was called Twynham-bourne, and in Doomsday Book it is found written Thuinam. The place had the name of Christ-church bestowed upon it at a subsequent period, after the dedication of the Priory-church to Christ the Saviour.

Some traces of a Roman occupation have been VOL. XVII.

found in the vicinity of Christ-church; and it is thought to have been the site of a marine villa of some Roman officer, when the small exploratory camp at St. Catherine's Hill, near the town, was garrisoned by Roman soldiers.

A charter was granted to the town of TWYNHAM by King Athelstan, about A.D. 930; and the old Priory-church was originally dedicated to the Holy Trinity: but this latter, having been consecrated to Christ, after it was rebuilt in the Anglo-Norman age, was then styled "Christ-church at Twynham," or more briefly "Christ-church," by which name the town likewise then became generally known.

This place is first mentioned in history, in the account, given by the Saxon chronicler, of the contest for the crown between Edward the Elder and his kinsman, Ethelwald. in 901. This latter captured,

532

and for some little time held possession of, Tweonea, or Twynham.

Before the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the burgesses of Christ-church seldom answered the writ of summons for sending members to parliament, on account of the expense attendant thereon. Between the 13th year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the reign of William the Fourth, two members were regularly returned; but now only one member is sent to serve in parliament.

The manor and estates of Christ-church have been in different hands at different times;-at one time with the crown, at other times in the possession of its favourites; but the origin and early history of the PRIORY OF CHRIST-CHURCH are entirely unknown; and although it may be reasonably presumed that it was founded by the West Saxons in the seventh century, soon after the introduction of the order of St. Augustine into this kingdom, yet there are no records of the Saxon times extant, relating to its establishment. The earliest documentary evidence concerning it, is con. tained in the Doomsday-Book. In the reign of King Stephen, the canons of the priory, twenty in number, were transmuted from secular to regular canons; the former being priests who were not bound by monastic rules; and the latter being monks of the order of St. Augustine.

At the general dissolution of the monasteries, the priory was surrendered to the king's commissioners in the year 1539; when pensions for life were assigned to the prior and his brethren. Soon after, Henry the Eighth granted the immediate site of the priory and its precinct, to certain persons for a consideration; since which time the priory-estate has had various possessors. Fragments of the priory-walls are still standing, and of the castle-keep, which are more than ten-feet thick, and in the Norman style.

In the year 1540, the site and entire fabric of the priory church, with all its appurtenances, together with the church-yard, were, at the intercession of the wardens and other persons, granted by the king to the wardens and inhabitants of Christ-church, for ever; to be occupied and used as the parish-church of all the parishioners. By the same grant, which has undoubtedly been the means of preserving the church from the destruction that has befallen the other buildings of the priory, the wardens and inhabitants of the town were constituted "one body, to have a perpetuall succession, and to be able and capable in law." This constitution was afterwards confirmed by James the First.

The nave, or body, of the priory-church had been appropriated for the purpose of parochial worship for many centuries before the Reformation, as was customary in most of the large religious foundations; whilst the choir, or chancel, was preserved for the prior and canons. Great attention and care were in former ages lavished upon the architectural beauties of the priory-church.

This edifice, which, equally in its extent and arrangement, as in its principal details, exhibits all the magnificence of a cathedral, stands on a pleasant, slightlyelevated spot, near the south-western extremity of the town, at the head of Christ-church Bay. From the leads, both of the tower and roof, it commands a most beautiful prospect, seaward, over the bay, Hengistbury Head, the English Channel, and the western parts of the Isle of Wight; and on the land-side, of the rich meadows surrounding the town, watered by the sinuous streams of the Avon and the Stour; of St. Catherine's Hill, and of a widely-spread reach of country, extending over great part of the New Forest.

In its general design this church comprehends a

nave and aisles; a transept, represented in our frontispiece, with chapels projecting eastward; a choir and its aisles; a Lady-chapel; a western tower, and a capacious north porch. Much variety and grandeur, intelligence and taste, are displayed in its architecture; the Norman part being the undoubted work of Bishop Flambard (who lived in the time of William Rufus,) and his successsors in the deanery. For a very long period this church, notwithstanding the highly interesting character of its architecture, underwent great dilapidation, and suffered from extreme neglect; scarcely anything being done to it, except obliterating its sculpture by thick coatings of whitewash, and blocking up the windows, instead of repairing them. But during the course of the present century the church has been cleansed and greatly repaired; being thus brought back more to its original character. So much white-wash had been laid upon the interior of the church that, in the year 1810, the scrapings of it alone were sold for five guineas, to be used as manure!

Within an embellished niche, over the window of the tower, is a full-sized effigy of our Saviour, his brow being encircled with a crown of thorns, and his right side marked by a triangular dent, representing the spear-wound; the right hand sustains a cross, and the left hand is upraised as in the act of benediction.

The present site of the church, and its dedication to Christ, resulted, according to an old monkish legend, from the personal interference of the Saviour. The foundations of this church were originally laid on an adjacent eminence, called St. Catherine's Hill; but all the labour was in vain; for whatever materials had been placed there during the day, were found next morning removed to the present situation. Perseverance was useless, and it was, therefore, determined to erect the church upon the spot which had been thus supernaturally indicated. The building was proceeded with: but it was noticed that its progress was furthered by the labours of one workman more than the number engaged,-and that this workman never appeared at the times of refreshment and receipt of wages! By his assistance, everything prospered until the fabric was nearly completed; when, on raising a large beam to a particular situation in the roof, where it was intended to be fixed, it was found to be too short by a foot; no remedy appearing, and the night coming on, the embarrassed workmen retired to their dwellings. On returning to the church the ensuing morning, they became speechless with surprise, on discovering that the beam had not only been placed in its right position, but was actually a foot longer than was requisite ! On recovering the use of their tongues, it was agreed, that no other than our Saviour could have thus assisted them ;-and hence the edifice was dedicated to Christ. The miraculous beam was long pointed out as an object of wonder to occasional visitants; but, during the late alterations, the opening through which it could be seen, was closed up.

We quote the following architectural description of the NORTH TRANSEPT, which is the subject of our frontispiece, from Mr. Ferrey's "Antiquities of ChristChurch," to which work we have been considerably indebted for this article. The description may be taken as a little supplement to the "Brief History of Architecture," given in some recent numbers of this work*.

Although many alterations have been made in the original masonry of the north division of the transept, it must still be regarded as a very curious, and probably unique, example of Norman architectural decoration. On the west side there are remains of semi-circular arches, with the

See Saturday Magazine, Nos. 497, 508, 13.