sination, involving too, as it usually does, some breach of domestic or friendly confidence. We find, by the writings of Grotius and others, that the Romans, on several occasions, scorned to avail themselves of such an engine of destruction, even against the public enemy. In our own, and many other countries, the crime of poisoning was long thought as deserving of severer punishment than ordinary murder, and it was not until the 1st of Edward VI. that the various additional torments were abolished, and the crime declared punishable with simple death, providing the victim died within a year. The Ellenborough Act punishes even the intention with death. Numerous instances might be collected, from the criminal annals of this and other countries, of an extraordinary and interesting character, both as regards the mode in which the crime of poisoning has been accomplished, and the manner in which it has been detected; but our object at present is rather to consider the subject of what has been called secret or slow poisoning. In accordance with the superstition, ignorance, and credulity of former times, the most exaggerated notions prevailed upon this subject. The ancients considered it as undoubted that the assassin could so apportion his poisonous material as to produce death rapidly, or by slow degrees, nay, even at any given hour or day. The writings of Plutarch, Quintilian, and Livy, as well as of authors of comparatively modern times, abound with instances of occult poisoning, most of which, however, bear internal evidence of their fallacy. Even in our own days several continental physicians have believed to some extent in these doctrines; and the crown prince of Sweden, the predecessor of the present king, was supposed to have thus perished. The slightest acquaintance with history will show how prone the populace have always been to attribute deaths in the higher ranks, especially when these were sudden, to the influence of poison. The deficiency in the means of detection formerly offered great temptation to the commission of the crime, while, for a like reason, the charge falsely made could not be easily disproved. Several persons, by the magnitude of their crimes, have gained themselves an unenviable historical celebrity as poisoners; and, strange to say, the most famous among these are females: we will allude to a few of the principal. During an epidemic, which prevailed in Rome about three centuries before the Christian era, great numbers of the Roman ladies became widows. This, supposed at first to be the effects of the disease, was, by the confession of a slave, found to result from the administration of poison to their husbands. She denounced a patrician lady, named Cornelia, and about twenty others, and eventually the number accused amounted to 170, or, according to some, to 370. The chief persons, in despair at the discovery, committed suicide with their own poison. It is right, however, to observe that Livy allows his statement to be doubtful, as the existence of these poisoners is not mentioned by several cotemporary historians. The existence and crimes of Locusta are but too certain. Condemned to die on account of her crimes, she was reserved to perpetrate her iniquities for the tyrant Nero. He loaded her with favours, and it is even said supplied her with pupils, to acquire the art in which she herself had attained so great a perfection. Among her victims was Britanicus, son of Agrippina; but the poison only producing in him serious illness, Nero compelled his tool by threats and blows to prepare a stronger. Britanicus having called for a cup of wine, it was presented to him purposely too hot: he desired cold water might be added, and this oppor tunity was taken to infuse the poison, which immediately killed him. Detected in an attempt upon the life of Nero himself, this infamous woman was executed. Italy has also in more modern times produced wretches of a like character. Thus, in 1659, under the pontificate of Alexander the Seventh, the clergy having announced to their superiors that many confessions of poisoning had been made to them, and an unusual proportion of widows being observed in the city, inquiries were set on foot, and a society of young wives, presided over by an old Sicilian woman, named Spara, was discovered, and their having administered poison being proved, many were tortured or executed. The celebrated Toffana lived at Naples in the seventeenth century. She sold the poison which has since acquired the name of "Acqua della Toffana," in little phials, labelled "Manna of St. Nicholas de Bari," pretending it was a distillation of a holy fluid from the tomb of that saint. To wives who wished to get rid of their husbands she even presented it gratuitously. The exact period of her commencing her career is not known; but Labat states that while he was at Civita Vecchia, in 1709, she was taken at Naples, tortured, and executed; but Keysler says that he saw her alive in the prison in 1730, then a decrepit old woman. Gmelin declares more deaths resulted from her practices than from a plague which had devastated the city some time prior; and Gorelli, physician to the emperor, says that she confessed, while under torture, to having destroyed 600 persons. Her poison was said to be so strong that a very few drops would kill a man, while it might be so modified that death could be induced at a remote and determinate period. Many of the symptoms it produced being those which attend several diseases, improper remedies were frequently employed, until accident discovered that lemon-juice was very useful. It is supposed that from want of caution on the part of her judges, the composition of this poison became known, and that this was the cause of the numerous sudden deaths which occurred in Italy at that epoch; and Keysler says, when he visited the country twenty years after, poisoning was still very common. PASSION AND SELF-LOVE.-It is of the nature of passion to seize upon the present gratification, utterly irrespective of consequences, and utterly regardless of other or more excellent gratifications, which may be obtained by selfdenial. He whose passions are inflamed looks at nothing beyond the present gratification. Hence, he is liable to seize upon a present enjoyment, to the exclusion of a much more valuable one in future, and even in such a manner as to entail upon himself poignant and remediless misery. And hence, in order to be enabled to enjoy all the happiness of which his present state is capable, the sensitive part of man needs to be combined with another, which, upon a comparison of the present with the future, shall impel him towards that mode either of gratification or of self-denial, which shall most promote his happiness upon the whole. Such is self-love. We give this name to that part of our constitution by which we are incited to do or to forbear, to gratify or to deny our desires, simply on the ground of obtaining the greatest amount of happiness for ourselves, taking into view a limited future, or else our entire future existence. When we act from simple respect to present gratification, we act from passion. When we act from a respect to our whole individual happiness, without regard to the present, only as it is a part of the whole, and without any regard to the happiness of others, only as it will contribute to our own, we are then said to act from self-love.-WAYLAND's Elements of Moral Science. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONY PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTI PRICE SIXPENCE. | Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom, WITHOU KNOWLED SOUL BE THE BUSHMEN HOTTENTOTS. Lo! there he crouches by the kloof's dark side, Between the black-skinned bandit and the white." A heathen?-Teach him, then, thy better creed, tion, the thorn and the thistle soon spring up in the place of the corn;-if we rob a pastoral people of their flocks and herds the injury is yet greater-they have no further means of subsistence-they must either perish or become robbers. So in the case of many of the Hottentot tribes in the seventeenth century. The Dutch colonists seized upon their country, deprived them of their usual means of subsistence, and drove them into those hiding places, from whence they afterwards issued, to wreak vengeance on their oppressors by continued acts of robbery and slaughter, and at the same time to satisfy those pressing necessities which the loss of their country had induced. ONE of the darkest stains on the character of civilized Such is a very brief account of the origin of the nations, has arisen from the cruel treatment which Bosjesmen, or Bushmen Hottentots of Southern Africa, almost every new colony has bestowed upon the a race of men who are described by most travellers aborigines of the country in which they settle. The as the lowest and most miserable of human beings. man whom we first call a savage, and then treat with One of them, with whom Barrow conversed, repreall the indignity of a beast of the earth, has his cha-sented the condition of his countrymen as truly deracter most foully misrepresented when we describe him in this state of suffering such as we have conferred, and repudiate that malice and revenge which we have provoked. If we rob a commercial people of their commerce, we drive many of them to piracy ;if the agriculturist lose all stimulus to honest exerVOL. XVII. plorable. That for several months of the year, when the frost and snow prevented them from making their excursions against the farmers, their sufferings from cold and want of food were indescribable: that they frequently beheld their wives and children perishing with hunger, without being able to give them any 523 These people occasionally attain a great age, and what is very remarkable they seldom lose any of their teeth, though some of them are worn down, from use and age, to mere stumps. Numbers of their race were observed to be blind of an eye, which was said to be chiefly owing to sparks flying from fires when they were children. Many of them also had the first joint of the little finger wanting, which had been purposely taken off when young, either as a charm against misfortune, or as a preventive against disease. relief. The good season even brought little allevi- | exceeds four feet three inches, and the women are ation to their misery. They knew themselves to be still shorter. The men, though small and delicately hated by all mankind, and that every nation around formed, appear firm and hardy. The young women them was an enemy planning their destruction. Not have many of them a pleasing and innocent cast of a breath of wind rustled through the leaves, not a countenance, and, as well as the men, are remarkable bird screamed that was not supposed to announce for their well-proportioned hands and feet. They are danger. Hunted thus like beasts of prey, and ill-fond of decking their hair with cowrie shells, and with treated in the service of the farmers, they were driven old brass buttons, though some of them wear high to desperation, and the burden of their song was leather caps. Their infants have such exceedingly vengeance against the Dutch. They neither till the diminutive features as to excite the particular attention ground nor breed cattle, but subsist from day to day of strangers. on the precarious spoils of the chase, the stolen cattle of the colonists, or on lizards, and snakes, white ants, wild honey, caterpillars, and locusts; and when these all fail, they have recourse to the roots of vegetables. They are in short represented as low, brutal, ignorant savages; void of intellect and those feelings of humanity which lead them to civilization when opportunity offers. But let us not be misled by this low estimate of the poor Bushman into an unjust view of his character, or into a feeling of forgetfulness of his many wrongs. The Rev. J. Philip, D.D., who lived among this tribe, and made himself well acquainted with their nature and capabilities, remarks thus:Many of the accounts which have been published in England respecting the savage, ferocious, and untameable character of the Bushmen, can scarcely be read in Africa without a smile. The civilization of that degraded people is not only practicable, but might be easily attained: while they are by no means deficient in intellect, they are susceptible of kindness; grateful for favours; faithful in the execution of a trust committed to them; disposed to receive instruction; and by the use of proper means, could be easily brought to exchange their barbarous manner of life for one that would afford more comfort. We must however describe the Bushmen, not such as we hope them to become, but such as they are, and trust to that Providence who cares even for the sparrows, to ameliorate the condition of the Bushman, who is of "more value than many sparrows." We may first remark that the country of the Bushmen, as it appeared to an experienced traveller on the entrance from Cape Colony, presented an even, bare, and open surface, relieved here and there by a broad and far-extended undulation. This wide desert was void of all vegetation, and creation seemed nought but earth and sky. After two or three days' journey, a little variety occurred in the landscape, but all was desolate, wild, and singular. A belt of mountains of from five to ten miles in breadth, crossed the country, stretching out of sight on either side, and exhibiting a vast assemblage of rocks and stones, without any tint of verdure to enliven them. In this dry and unpromising district the traveller occasionally arrives at some friendly nook or dell, where springs a refreshing fountain, and in such situations a few plants and reeds are also met with; but these are generally concealed, and form no part of the general landscape. Comparatively fertile tracts of country are met with further in the interior; but even in these, from the termination of Cape Colony to the river Gariep, a distance of 360 miles, nothing deserving the name of a tree, not even an acacia, is to be seen in all the Bushman's country. Near the Gariep, indeed, the scene suddenly changes. Bending willows ornament the banks of that beautiful stream, and other trees form groves, whence the cooing of doves and the notes of other birds fall most harmoniously on the ear of one accustomed to the loneliness of the desert. The Bushmen are distinguished by the same characteristic features as the Hottentots, but their eyes are more wild, and suspicion and mistrust are strongly marked on their countenances. Their stature is remarkably low: the height of a full-grown man seldom Their means of subsistence being very precarious, they have recourse to poisoned arrows, in the use of which they are very expert. The effect of the poison is so rapid that the animal touched with it soon dies, or becomes stunned and powerless, in which latter case it is killed, the poisoned part cut out, and the prey devoured, nor is the spot quitted until the whole is consumed. Those animals whose thick hides resist the poisoned arrows of the Bushmen are not less the victims of their cunning. The sea-cow is entrapped in pit-falls, which are large and deep, with a sharp-pointed stake planted in the midst, and ingeniously covered over with twigs, leaves, and herbage. When the animal falls into the pit, it is wounded by the stake entering deep into its body, and thus it dies a cruel, lingering death. Even the sagacious elephant is thus sometimes caught. The Bushmen too are equally subtle in ensharing fish: they construct a sort of pointed basket of the twigs of trees, somewhat like our eelbaskets, and used in the same manner; or if they expect a swelling of the stream, they form upon the strand a large cistern, enclosed by stones, and as the water subsides, a quantity of fish is often found deposited. The Bushmen also spy about for the nests of the wily ostrich, and find wholesome food in the stolen eggs. They catch numerous snakes, which supply their arrows with poison: after biting off the head, and taking out the bag of poison, the animal is eaten as food; for they are well acquainted with the fact, that these serpents may be eaten with perfect safety, the poison being inactive except when mixed with the blood. Locusts also form part of the food of this people: long and deep trenches are prepared by the bushmen, into which these insects fall, and cannot easily rise and fly away. Another favourite species of food consists of white ants and their eggs; not the species of ant which raises large heaps or hillocks, but another kind, whose nests are formed beneath the level surface of the ground, spreading over a large space. The Bushman makes a hole in the centre of the nest, rather deeper than the nest itself, and the insects, in running from one part of their habitation to the other, are sure to fall into it. The necessities of the Bushman have likewise taught him to use as food many plants and bulbs which are despised in more abundant countries. The bulbous roots of several of the lily tribe are roasted in the embers, and are not unpalatable, having something the flavour of a roasted chesnut: inexperienced persons, however, have need of caution in tasting them, for there are several sorts which are pernicious, and | to their respective duties. The husband has no power occasion sickness. There are also many sorts of mesembryanthemum, bearing a pleasant acid kind of fruit, which is eaten by the Bushmen. By these various means the Bushmen are able at some seasons of the year to obtain a sufficient supply; but at other seasons, and in districts which are deficient in game, ants, locusts, and bulbs, these poor creatures are often in the most deplorable situation. Their bodies, naturally small and slender, dwindle away under this privation to the leanest and most miserable proportions. Can we wonder that in this extremity of suffering they eagerly embrace any opportunity of plunder which presents itself to them? Is it matter of surprise that they take the readiest mode of relieving their pressing hunger, and, instead of journeying towards a more fertile region, occupy themselves in laying snares for the traveller, and carrying off cattle, whenever they can do so with impunity? While this state of things is almost inevitable, under the present circumstances of this unfortunate race, it is nevertheless deeply to be deplored, as raising an effectual barrier against the civilisation and improvement of the Bushman, by fostering in his mind habits of cunning, treachery, and violence, and by rendering him the object of hatred and distrust to all surrounding nations. Uncertain as are the resources of the Bushman, his life is necessarily a wandering one. He scarcely ever passes two nights in the same spot, except after the capture of a booty, and the inordinate feasting subsequent to it. At such times, having eaten to excess, his character seems changed, and he will pass a long period in sleep and indolence, not removing from his hiding-place, unless necessity impels him to do so, for weeks together. His retreat is often in caverns or recesses of the rocks; but when traversing the plains, he makes a hole in the ground, or gets into the midst of a bush, where, bending the boughs around him, he finds shelter from the weather, and from the attacks of his enemies. A bush which has often served as a hiding-place for these people is said to have just the appearance of an immense bird's nest; for the interior is not only shaped like a nest, but also lined in a similar manner with hay, leaves, and wool. From this custom arises the name by which these savages are known. The holes in the ground, which sometimes answer the purpose of beds to these people, are only a few inches deep, of a longish round form, and not more than five or six feet wide. Owing to their diminutive size, two grown persons and several children can be accommodated in such a hole as this. They roll themselves up each in a single sheep-skin, and effectually secure themselves against the cold by the compact manner in which they pack themselves. In very cold weather they heap up twigs and earth on the windward side of the hole: in summer they prefer the beds of rivers, and lie there beneath the shade of the mimosas, drawing down the branches to screen them from the sun. The shells of tortoises, or of ostrich eggs, or gourds, form their household utensils. Knives would be of very little use to them, for they eat the flesh of animals raw, and chew it but very little. They drink from the rivers and streamlets, lying down flat on the banks, even when these are extremely steep, and supporting themselves with their hands. A horde of Bushmen generally consists of the members of one family only, and every différence among them is decided, not by age or authority, but by mere superiority of strength. The ties of father, son, mother, daughter, &c., are little felt as binding them to retain his wife if a stronger man choose to take her from him; the father has no authority over his son if he prefer to attach himself to another horde; each one, in fact, lives entirely at his own pleasure, and secures to himself as large a portion as he possibly can of the general possessions. The booty secured by one of these hordes is kept carefully concealed from the rest, lest they should be deprived of a portion of it. From their constant fear of discovery arises much of the rapacity and unnatural eagerness they display on these occasions. Each one devours as much food as he possibly can, and eats as rapidly as he can, that he may satisfy his appetite while the means are in his power, and while he is free from the interference of his fellows. This envious and jealous disposition leads to some of the most revolting parts of their character. They care not to receive presents of living animals, beyond what their own immediate wants require, and hence no sort of commerce can be established with them. They know not anything of the pleasure of distributing their abundance among their starving brethren. Self alone is thought of in these matters; and so anxious do they appear to prevent the other hordes from participating in any good fortune they may chance to meet with, that they invariably destroy a whole herd of cattle, when it is in their power to do so, although two or three will suffice for their own consumption. The rest are thus left to putrefy on the plains, and the injured farmer has the misery of seeing the property, which perhaps constituted his whole dependence, wantonly destroyed, to gratify the malignant passions of this unhappy race. Taking these circumstances into consideration, we shall be disposed to make allowance for the bitter enmity with which the Bushmen are looked upon by the great proportion of the colonists. What can be more distressing, or more capable of exciting emotions of anger and revenge in their minds, than the wholesale slaughter of some cherished flock, or of a herd which had been the pride and dependence of the grazier? It is little consolation for them to reflect that the Bushman knows nothing of the rights of property, and is bound by none of those laws which regulate civilized society; that he thinks of nothing but the supply of his own necessities, and is quite independent of all rules, as to the method in which this is to be done. In thus placing before our readers the darkest features of the Bushman's character, we would again remind them that oppression, misery, and want, have largely contributed to make them what they are. Poisoned arrows are used, as we have said, for the destruction of their enemies, and the Bushmen are exceedingly anxious to keep the secret as to the nature of the poison employed. It is well known, however, that the bulb of a plant called by the colonists and Hottentots Gift-bol, (poison-bulb,) is made use of for that purpose. The milky juice of the root is inspissated, either by the heat of the sun, or by boiling, and mingled with the venom of snakes, forming a gummy compound. This is spread on the heads of their arrows, and when used in a fresh state is so virulent in its effects, as to leave no chance of escape. The ingredients of the arrow-poison are not the same in every district, but the venom of serpents always constitutes an essential part. The only chance of cure for the unfortunate person who has received one of those poisoned wounds, lies in having the flesh instantly cut out from the surrounding parts. It is possible that the poison may not have been made with the best materials, or that it may have lost some of its virtue by being kept a long time; therefore every 523-2 exertion should be made without delay, in behalf of the sufferer. It is this deadly mode of warfare that creates such fear of the Bushmen among the inhabitants of Southern Africa. The diminutive size of this race enables them to conceal themselves in many a situation which would afford no shelter for a person of the ordinary stature, and thus they may be lurking in the most unsuspected corners, and aiming unawares their fatal stroke. When setting out in search of some new prey, these people carry with them their whole property, which consists of a bow and numerous arrows, some of which they wear fantastically arranged round their heads. The real condition, civil as well as moral, of this troglodytish race, (says a recent writer), is truly deplorable. We cannot contemplate their circumstances, or even look upon their withered countenances without inexpressible pain of heart. Hunted for generations back, like partridges upon the mountains, they have become desperate; their hand is uplifted against every one, and every one's hand against them. Robbed of their country, and driven beyond the ordinary range of men, they have been compelled to seek refuge and dwelling-places in the glens of the desert, the thickets of the jungle, or the clefts of the precipice. There it is that we must in general look for them, on the points of projecting crags, or upon the summits of the highest rocks, watchfully surveying all beneath. With eagle-eyed fierceness, with bows fully bent, darts deeply poisoned, and an air that betrays less fear than hostility, they stand prepared to take fatal aim at all who may have temerity enough to approach their rampart. The Bushman's bow is generally formed of assagai wood: the string, three feet long, is composed of fibres of the dorsal muscle of the spring-buck, twisted into a cord. The stem of an aloe forms the quiver. The arrow is of reed, and is not quite two feet long. In one extremity of it is inserted a piece of solid bone, rounded and polished to give weight and strength to the arrow. To the end of the bone is affixed a small sharp piece of iron, and the same string of sinews which binds the iron to the bone likewise contains the poison. The string likewise fastens a small piece of quill, pointed towards the opposite end of the dart, which increases the difficulty of drawing it out, and likewise tears the flesh, and brings the poison more completely in contact with the blood. The most effectual antidote to arrow-poison, or to the bite of venomous creatures, is said to be the root of a plant growing spontaneously in South Africa, and called by the inhabitants slang-wortel (snake-root). THE secret of happiness does not consist in avoiding all evils; for in that case we must learn to love nothing. If there be a lot on earth worthy of envy, it is that of a man good and tender-hearted, who beholds his own creation in the happiness of all those who surround him. Let him who would be happy strive to encircle himself with happy beings. Let the happiness of his family be the incessant objects of his thoughts. Let him divine the sorrows, and anticipate the wishes of his friends. Let him inspire the fidelity of affection in his domestics, by pledging to them a comfortable and pleasant old age. Let him, as far as may be, preserve the same servants, and give them all needed succour and counsel. In fine, let the inmates and dependants of the house all respire a calm and regulated happiness. Let even the domestic animals know that humanity presides over their condition. Entertaining such views, it will be easy to see in what light I contemplate those men who take pleasure in witnessing the combats of animals. What man who has a heart, can see spectacles, equally barbarous and detestable, with satisfaction; such as dogs tearing to pieces a bull, cocks mangling each other, the encounter of brutal boxers, or of bad boys in the streets, encouraged to the diabolical sport of fighting? These are the true schools of cowardly and savage ferocity, and not of manly courage, as too many have supposed, QUEEN ANNE'S FARTHINGS. Ir should be the high and peculiar province of periodical literature to dispel, not to augment, popular illusions; and as it is the object of this work to disseminate truth and useful knowledge, we cannot enter upon a more fitting task than to examine into the reputed merits of the FARTHINGS of QUEEN ANNE. It oftens comes to pass that an article which is not in itself essentially valuable, acquires a value on the ground of its scarcity. Hence the high esteem and the immense value, in which these farthings have been held in every part of the United Kingdom and the colonies. The popular belief has been for many years that there were only three of them struck, and that the die broke on striking the third. Two of these, it is further said, are in the British Museum; and an immense fortune would be acquired by him who should discover the third. We are told that the origin of this fabulous creed is this ;-that, many years ago, a lady of Yorkshire having accidentally lost a Queen Anne's farthing, which from some circumstance or other had become valuable to her, offered a large reward for its recovery, and thereby imparted to it a fallacious and ridiculous value. To come now to the actual fact respecting these farthings, we must state that there are in the British Museum six, or we may say eight, distinct varieties of them; but only one of these varieties was circulated. Of this variety we have given at the head of this article, a cut of the obverse and reverse sides. Mr. Till, a distinguished medallist, says that he has in his cabinet eighteen of them!-that he has seen thirtyeight of them at one time !-and that, though Queen Anne's farthings are not so numerous as others, yet that hundreds of them must have been issued, as they are by no means rare. The other five specimens were only patterns, and were never regarded but as medals; as from some reason not now to be explained, they were not struck for currency. The obverse side, that is, the side containing the head, of these five specimens, is very similiar to that of the once-current farthing. Three of them have the same superscription as that on the obverse of the real farthing: of the two others, one has ANNA AVGVSTA, and the other ANNA REGINA. The reverse side of the last-mentioned medal is precisely the same as that of the real farthing. One other is similiar; and, of the remaining three, one has the figure of peace with the olive-branch, drawn in a chariot by two horses, with the superscription PAX MISSA PER ORBEM (peace is sent through the world). Another has Britannia sitting as usual, but in a porch; and the remaining one has the figure of Britannia standing, instead of sitting, with the superscription BELLO ET PACE (in War and Peace). This last-mentioned pattern is very rare, and is remarkable prominent. A specimen of this has not been long for having the letters sunk or cut in, instead of in the British Museum: it is in a defective state; and only two more of this variety are known. A fine specimen of this sort would fetchmore than 10%. The average value of the different varieties is from |