In Northleach church, Gloucestershire, on a person of the

name of Stone.

Jerusalem's curse was ne'er fulfill'd in me,
For here a stone upon a Stone you see.
On a Bailiff.

Here lies a bailiff who oft arrested men,
And for large bribes did let them go again;
Now seiz'd by Death no gold can set him free,
For Death's a catchpole proof against a fee.

THE CRESCENT AS A SYMBOL.

THE crescent was the symbol of the city of Byzantium, now Constantinople, which the Turks have adopted. This device of the Ottoman empire is of great antiquity, as appears from several medals, and took its rise from an event related by Stevens, the geographer, a native of Byzantium. He tells us that Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, meeting with mighty difficulties in carrying on the siege of that city, set the workmen in a very dark night to undermine the walls, that his troops might enter the place without being perceived; but, luckily for the besieged, the moon appearing, discovered the design, which accordingly miscarried. In acknowledgment of this deliverance,' says he, the Byzantines erected a statue to Diana, and thus the crescent became their symbol.'

THE SUBLIME PORTE.

I do not remember to have any where seen an allusion to the coincidence between this title of the Grand Seignior, or rather the Turkish government, and the constant application of the term gate, throughout the sacred writings. The Baba Hoomajun, the Sublime Porte, is one of the gates of the Seraglio, and from it the Ottoman emperor derives his singular appellation. In the same manner, the word 'gate' in its various applications throughout the Scriptures, signifies power, as in the instance when God promises Abraham that his posterity should possess the gates of their enemies,' Gen. xxii. v. 17. And the gates of hell (shall not prevail against the church), Matt. xvi. v. 18; the gates of death (Psalm ix. v. 13); the gates of the grave (Isaiah

xxxviii. v. 10); the gates of righteousness (Psalm cxviii. v. 19); and various other passages, convey the same import. Again gate signifies, in another sense, justice and judicature, or the place of assembly where judg ment is pronounced; for example,-the gate of Bethlehem, where judgment was given between Boaz and Naomi's relation, in the matter of Ruth's marriage (Ruth iv. v. 1). And in Lamentation v. v. 14, it is mentioned thus: the elders have ceased from the gate,' that is, from frequenting the council-chamber. Another, amongst many significations, is a multitude or a family; thus when Boaz tells Ruth (chap. iii. v. 11) that all the gate of his house know she is virtuous; it means, literally, the persons of his household. Influenced by that unchanging tone of habit and feeling which characterizes the Orientals, it is easy to account for the assumption of this poetical and patriarchal epithet by the Sultan; and the passages I have quoted, assigning to it power, justice, and multitude, render it expressive, as well as tasteful and magnificent.-See Emerson's Letters from the Egean.

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GIVING THE LIE.

The great affront of giving the lie arose from the phrase thou liest,' in the oath taken by the defendant in judicial combats, before engaging, when charged with any crime by the plaintiff; and Francis the First, of France, to make current his giving the lie to the emperor, Charles the Fifth, first atamped it with infamy, by saying, in a solemn assembly, that he was no honest man that would bear the lie.

THE RULING PASSION STRONG IN DEATH.

The favourite studies and amusements of the learned La Mothe le Vayer consisted in accounts of the most distant countries. He gave a striking proof of the influence of this master-passion, when death hung upon his lips. Bernier, the celebrated traveller, entering, and drawing the curtains of his bed to take his eternal farewell, the dying man turning to him, with a faint voice, inquired, Well, my friend, what news from the Great Mogul?'

The

THE study of natural history, fortunately for the progress of that delightful and useful science, has recently become fashionable amongst us. The Zoological gardens are frequented by the frivolous and the fair, as well as by cultivated and inquiring minds; and, in a short time, it is to be hoped that a knowledge of animated nature will be considered essentially necessary in those who claim to be persons of education. exertions of the Zoological Society are likely to produce so desirable a result, and the volume before us is admirably calculated to second their efforts. It is one of those works which, while they advance the interests of science, do honour to the arts; and which, to the credit of the present age, have recently become somewhat numerous. The illustrations, one hundred and thirtyeight in all, are from designs by Mr. Harvey; and the man of taste will, on inspecting them, be pleasingly struck with the amazing progress which the art of engraving on wood has made since the time that Bewick

The Tower Menagerie; comprising the Natural History of the Animals contained in that Establishment, with Anecdotes of their Characters and History. Illustrated with Portraits taken from Life, by William Harvey; and engraved on Wood by Branston and Wright. Svo. London, 1829. Jennings. VOL. 1. April, 1829.

published his Birds.' In the vignettes we have accurate portraits of the different animals in the Tower Menagerie; and in the tail-pieces, which bear reference to the articles which precede them, the artist has given no contemptible proofs of his creative talents. They are so many little pictures, illustrative of animal biography; and to Mr. Harvey's designs Messrs. Branston and Wright have done ample justice.

The literary department has been executed by Mr. E. T. Bennet, member of the Zoological Society; and, though the letter-press was evidently the silken cord on which the pearls of the artists were to be strung, the different articles possess considerable literary merit. They are elegantly written, and the author evinces, throughout the work, a perfect acquaintance with the subject. He has pointed out many of those errors into which preceding naturalists, amongst others Buffon, have fallen.

The origin of menageries dates from the remotest antiquity; and it is probable that the first collection of animals was made for religious purposes. Aristotle was provided, by the munificence of Alexander, with subjects of study; but that the Romans did not regard animals in any other light than as objects of brutal pastime, may be inferred from the inaccuracies of Pliny. The popularity of his work, for the first fifteen centuries of our era, shows that the science of natural history was treated with neglect; and the first mention of a menagerie occurs during the reign of Louis XIV. It is to this institution that we owe the natural history of Buffon.

The Tower Menagerie was originally intended,' says Mr. Bennet, merely for the safe keeping of those ferocious beasts, which were, until within the last century, considered as appertaining exclusively to the royal prerogative; it has occasionally been converted into a theatre for their contests, and has terminated by adapting itself to the present condition of society as a source of rational amusement and a school of zoological science.

The first notice of a royal menagerie in England places this establishment at Woodstock, where King Henry the First had a collection of lions, leopards, and other strange beasts. Three leopards were presented to Henry the Third by the Emperor Frederic the Second, himself a zoologist of no mean rank. From Woodstock they were transferred to the Tower; and numerous orders, issued in this and the succeeding reigns to the sheriffs of London and of the counties of Bedford and Buckingham, to provide for the maintenance of the ani. mals and their keepers, are extant among the records. Thus, in the year 1252, the sheriffs of London were commanded to pay four-pence a day for the maintenance of a white bear; and, in the following year, to provide a muzzle and chain to hold the said bear while fishing, or washing himself, in the river Thames. In 1255 they were directed to build a house in the Tower for an elephant which had been presented to the king by Louis King of France; and a second writ occurs in which they were ordered to provide necessaries for him and his keepers.

From various orders during the reigns of Edward the First, Second, and Third, we learn that the allowance for each lion or leopard was six-pence a day, and the wages of their keeper three halfpence. At later periods the office of keeper of the lions was held by some person of quality about the king, with a fee of sixpence a day for himself, and the same for every lion or leopard under his charge. On these terms it was granted by King Henry the Sixth, first to Robert Mansfield, Esq. marshal of his hall, and afterwards to Thomas Rookes, his dapifer. It was not unfrequently held by the lieutenant or constable of the Tower himself, on the condition of his providing a sufficient deputy. There was also another office in the royal household somewhat resembling this in name, that of master, guider, and ruler of the king's bears and apes; but the latter animals appear to have been kept solely for the royal "game and pleasure."

During all this period, and even almost down to our