Enteresting Varieties.

ROSSEAU was invited by Hume, under peculiar circumstances, to seek an asylum in England, and the invitation was accepted. Hume, in a letter to the Countess de Boufflers, dated April 3, 1766, thus describes the retreat he had provided for the eccentric philosopher, which was at Wootton, in the Moorlands of Staffordshire:

"I have now settled him in a manner entirely to my satisfaction and to his own. There is one Mr. Davenport, a worthy man, a man of letters, sense, and humanity, of an ample fortune, about 6 or 7,0001. a year, an elderly man, and a widower. Ainong several country seats, he has one in the county of Derby (Stafford), situated amid rocks and mountains, and rivulets and forests, and surrounded with the most beautiful savage country in Eugland. As he seldom lives there, he proposed to me to give an apartment to our friend; and as he has there a gardener and other servants, for whom he must keep a table, he could easily supply him with his diet, and all other conveniences. I accepted of the offer.-I must add that Davenport told me he intended to leave our friend, by will, the life-rent of the house in which he lives, if he finds that his attachment to it continues."

This was in March 1766; and Rosseau, whose feelings knew no medium, was for some time in an ecstacy of delight at his retreat; but his perverse and fickle disposition soon converted the fancied scenes of paradise into regions of despair, and the two doating friends wound drama with, "Voues ètes un traitre," on the part of Rosseau," Jean Jacques es un scelerat," on that of Hume.("European Magazine," Sept. 1825.)

large eels were found in the mud, the stomachs of many of which contained, undigested, the heads and parts of the bodies of their victims.-(See Plat's Staffordshire, p. 245.)

FLATTERY.-It seems very singular that men should debase their personal characters by servility, at the very time in which they wish most particularly to recommend themselves. Yet such is the conduct of many interested lovers; and their mien, and gestures, and language, on these occasions, are unmanly, bombastical, and ridiculous, in the eyes of any sensible woman. Butler has most excellently quizzed these hyperbolical and mercenary orators, in the answer of the sage widow to Hudibras in his epistle to her :

""Tis not those oriental pearls, our teeth,

That you are so transported with,
But those we wear about our necks
Produce those amorous effects;
Nor is't those threads of gold, our hair,
The perriwigs you make us wear;
But those bright guineas in our chests,
That light the wildfire in your breasts.
These love-tricks I have been vers'd
in so,

That all their sly intrigues I know,
And can unriddle by their tones
Their mystical cabals and jargons."

THE CLOSE OF DAY.

THE Sun, in mild effulgence drest,
Now sheds his glory in the West;
Around his beams resplendent flow,
And bid the sky with beauty glow;
But soon, too soon, his parting ray
Will, trembling, gild the close of day.

Now, freshest verdure decks the ground,
And all is peace and joy around;
Glad Nature smiles, with cheering pow'r,
On this, her calmest, fairest hour;
Yet soon the prospect, now so gay,
Will vanish with the close of day.

And, hark! the tuneful feather'd throng
Are warbling forth their evening song:
Now sinking low, now rising high,
In ever changeful melody;
But, ah! how soon their pleasing lay
Will cease to cheer the close of day!

mal and actually devour it alive, wool, skin, flesh, and entrails! Lady Anstruther has a set of drawings, by a native, which contain the whole process, from the first seizure of the miserable animal, till it is completely devoured.

THE WRETCHEDNESS OF A
VILE CAST.

The Pooleahs of Malabar, a country where monkeys are worshipped and pampered with sacrifices, are so completely banished from human society, that they have neither houses nor lands, but, retiring into solitary places, hide themselves in ditches, and climb into trees for shelter. They are not permitted to breathe the same air with the other casts, nor travel on the public road: if by accident they should be there, and perceive a Brahmin or Nair at a distance, they

If a Nair

must howl aloud to warn him from approaching till they have retired, or climbed the nearest tree. meets a Pooleah upon the highway, he cuts him down like a noxious animal. When hunger compels them to approach the villages to exchange what they may have collected for grain, they call out to the peasants, tell what they want, leave their articles of barter on the ground, and then return to take what the villagers may please to deposit in exchange for them! Constant fear and misery have given them a squalid and savage appearance, and entirely debased the

human form!

UNNATURAL PARENts.

The Malabars, who were often driven by hunger, during those dearths which the government more frequently than the season occasions, to sell their children for sustenance, carry on the same trade when not compelled to it by necessity. A boy and a girl at Anjengo, of about eight or nine years old, were bought by Mr. Forbes for less than two pigs would have cost in England,-and truly says, that it was a happy purchase for the children. He refused another child which the mother, a young fisherwoman, offered for sale

with a basket of mullets. He hinted at her want of affection; and her reply was, that she expected another child in a few weeks, and, as she could not manage two, she would part with this for a rupee. The Portuguese linguist of the place beat her down to half the price, and the young woman, without remorse, disposed of an only child for fifteen pence!

HORRIBLE DELUSIONS.

A short time before Mr. Forbes was appointed to fix his situation at Baroche, through a village where a family of some Musselmen, walking Raghpoots resided, accidentally looked into a room where an elderly woman was eating; no insult was intended, they merely saw her at her this was a disgrace for which there ineal, and immediately retired; but could be no expiation. She lived with her grandson, a high-minded young man; he happened to be absent on his return, she told him what had passed, declared she could not survive the circumstance, and entreated him to put her to death. He reasoned with her calmly, his affection making him see the matter in its proper light. None but her own family, he said, knew the disgrace, and unconscious of what they had done. the very men who occasioned it were She waited till he went out again, and then fractured her skull by beating it against the wall! The young

man found her in this state, but

alive, and in her senses;-sheimplored him to finish the sacrifice she had not strength to accomplish, and release her from her sufferings; and he then stabbed her to the heart! Shocking as this is, the most painful part of the story is yet to come :-the parties were English subjects; by the English laws the young man's act was murder; he was arrested, sent to Bombay for trial, and confined with common prisoners till the ensuing sessions. A true bill was found against him; the jury, consisting half of Europeans and half of natives, brought him in guilty, and the judge condemned him to death, which was. very improperly executed.

ELEPHANTS.

Mr. Forbes, during this campaign, performed many long journeys on an elephant, whom he praises for sagacity, docility, and affection. It stopped while his master was sketching, and remained immoveable. If mangos were wanted, which grew out of common reach, he selected the best branch, broke it off, and delivered it to the driver, and received a portion for himself with a respectful SALAM, raising his trunk three times above his head, in the manner of mental obeisance, and murmuring thrice. If a branch obstructed the houdah or sedan, which he carried, he broke it off and often carried a leafy bough in his trunk, as a fly-flap or a fan. During breakfast, he generally made his appearance at the door of the tent, to solicit sugar-candy and fruit, and caresses and encomiums, in which he delighted as much as a favourite cat. Ragonath's elephants became emaciate, and it was discovered that their keepers stole these balls for their own These rascals were punished, and inspectors appointed by the master of the elephants to see them fed. After some months the animals began to lose flesh again, though the inspectors examined the quality and quantity of their food, and saw it given them. Upon inquiry, it was found that they had been taught to receive the balls and retain them in their mouths till the inspectors withdrew, when they took them out and presented them to the keepers.

use.

GHOST STORIES.

NO. VI.

"I've heard, but not beliey'd,
That spirits of the dead may walk again;
Yet for this once, yea, superstitiously,
I will be squard by this
WINTER'S TALE.

[OUR series of Ghost Stories has been so long neglected, that we had almost forgotten it; but meeting the other day with the subjoined marvellous morsels in an old Scotch periodical work, we resolved to resume the article, and hope it will suit the taste of at least some of our readers.]

One William Sutor, aged about 37, a farmer of Middle-Mause (belonging to the Laird of Bolgown, near Craighal), being, about the month of December, 1728, in the fields with his servants, near his own house, overheard at some distance, as it were, an uncommon shrieking and noise, and they, following the voice, fancied they saw a dark grey-coloured dog, but as it was a dark night, they concluded it was a fox, and accordingly were for setting on their dogs; but it was very observable, that not one of them would so much as point his head that way. About a month after, the said Sutor, being occasionally on the same spot, and much about the same time of night, it appeared to him again, and, in passing, touched him so smartly on the thigh, that he felt a pain all that night.

In December, 1729, it again cast up to him, at about the same place, and passed him at some distance. In June, 1730, it appeared to him as formerly; and it was now he began to judge it was something extraordinary. On the last Monday of November, 1730, about sky-setting, as he was coming from Drumlochy, this officious visitor passed him as formerly, and in passing he distinctly heard it speak these words, "Within eight or ten days, do or die!" and instantly disappeared, leaving him not a little perplexed. Next morning he came to his brother James's house, and gave him a particular account of all that had happened; and that night, about ten o'clock, these two brothers, visiting their sister at Glanhallow, and returning home, stepped aside to see the remarkable pot, where they had no sooner arrived, than it appeared to William, who, pointing his finger to it, desired his brother, and a servant who was with them, to talk to it, but neither of them could see any such thing.

Next Saturday evening, as William was at his sheep-fold, it came up to him, and audibly uttered these words, "Come to the spot of ground within half an hour!" whereupon he went home, and taking his staff in his