fiddles. Oh, dear sir, we canna stand it-canna stand it; you've been owre sair on us, sir; you shouldna have looten us gang this length.'

'Well, Willie, to shew you that it's all a piece of fun, though done to try if your friendship would stand the test of whisky, here is a crown-piece for each of you, by way of solatium, and call upon me to-morrow morning, when I will give each of you as good a fiddle as those you have demolished.' So saying, and putting the money into their hands respectively, along with a note of his address, the gentlemen departed, followed by the thanks of the now happy and reconciled friends.

This lesson was not thrown away upon Willie Hodge and Jamie Dowie. An understanding was established between the two fiddlers, that they should never in future take any one's word for giving them half-a-crown, or any other sum, so far as to suspect each other's integrity, far less to engage in mortal combat on such hypothetical grounds. And, moreover, what was best of all, they vowed they should henceforth abstain from tasting a drop of spirits, justly observing, that there was nae saying what might be the consequences; for drink was sure to lead to mischief ae way or anither.'

THE LITTLE FOWLER.

FRANCESCO MICHELO was the only son of a carpenter, who resided at Tempio, a town in the island of Sardinia: he had two sisters younger than himself, and had only attained his tenth year, when a fire, which broke out in the house of his father, reduced it to ashes, and consumed the unfortunate carpenter in the ruins. Totally ruined by this frightful event, the whole family were left destitute on the world, and were forced to implore the charity of strangers, in order to supply the urgent necessities of

each succeeding day. Every morning, little Francesco was despatched to seek relief from the numerous friends of his father; but, alas! it is but a weak resource, and an uncertain support which is founded on the commiseration of others.

At length, tired of his vain attempts to support his indigent parent by the extorted kindness of others, and grieved at seeing her and his sisters pining in destitution before his eyes, necessity and tenderness conspired to urge him to exertion and ingenuity. He made with laths, and with some little difficulty, a cage of considerable dimensions, and furnished it with every requisite for the reception of birds; and when spring returned, he proceeded to the woods in the vicinity of Tempio, and set himself industriously to secure their nests of young. As he was skilful at the task, and of great activity, he was not long before he became tolerably successful: he climbed from tree to tree, and seldom returned without his cage being well stored with chaffinches, linnets, black-birds, wrens, ring-doves, and pigeons. Every week, Francesco and his sisters carried their little favourites to the market of Sassari, and generally disposed of those which were most attractive and beautiful.

The object of their desires was to be able to support their helpless parent; but still all the assistance they were able to procure for her, was far from being adequate to supply her numerous wants. In this dilemma, Francesco conceived a new and original method of increasing his gains; necessity is the mother of invention, and he meditated no less a project than to train a young Angora cat to live harmlessly in the midst of his favourite songsters. Such is the force of habit, such the power of education, that, by slow degrees, he taught the mortal enemy of his winged pets to live, to drink, to eat, and to sleep in the midst of his little aviary, without once attempting to devour or injure them. The cat, which he called Bianca, suffered the little birds to play all manner of tricks with her: she used to leap about and sport amongst them, while they would sometimes peck at and tease her; but

on all such occasions, she would merely stretch out her paw, and threaten them, but never did she extend her talons, or offer to hurt her companions.

He went even further; for, not content with teaching them merely to live in peace and happiness together, he instructed the cat and the little birds to play a kind of game, in which each had to learn its own part; and after some little trouble in training, each performed with readiness the particular duty assigned to it. Puss was instructed to curl herself into a circle, with her head between her paws, and appear buried in sleep: the cage was then opened, and the little tricksy birds rushed out upon her, and endeavoured to awaken her by repeated strokes of their beaks; then dividing into two parties, they attacked her head and her whiskers, without the gentle animal once appearing to take the least notice of their gambols. At other times, she would seat herself in the middle of the cage, and begin to smooth her fur, and pur with great gentleness and satisfaction; the birds would sometimes even settle on her back, or sit like a crown upon her head, chirping and singing as if in all the security of a shady wood.

To see a sleek and beautiful cat seated calmly in the midst of a cage of birds, was a sight so new and unexpected, that when Francesco produced them at the fair of Sassari, he was surrounded instantly by a crowd of admiring spectators. Their astonishment scarcely knew any bounds, when they heard him call each feathered favourite by its name, and saw it fly towards him with delight and alacrity, till all were perched contentedly on his head, his arms, and his fingers.

Delighted with his ingenuity, the spectators rewarded him liberally; and Francesco returned in the evening with his little heart swelling with joy, to lay before his mother a sum of money which would suffice to support her for many months. The next undertaking of the little Sardinian, was one of more enterprise and singularity still. He found one day a nest containing fifteen young partridges, which he brought to his aviary, and began to

At a

educate. Five, however, died within a few days, but the remaining ten fully answered his highest expectations. After some weeks of previous training, he contrived to attach them to little cannons made of brass, which he taught them to draw leisurely along a table. He then drew them up in two files, each girt with a sabre, and the other appurtenances of a soldier of artillery; every bird was taught to stand motionless beside his gun, and at the word of command, the partridge to the right lit a match at a chafing-dish on the table, and courageously fired off his piece of ordnance. At the second command, the company to the left performed the same exercise: nor was either, after a little practice, in the least degree terrified at the noise which they had created. third signal, a few of the little warriors fell over on their sides, stretched out their stiffened limbs, and counterfeited death; while others flew off limping and screaming with the pain of their wounds. The commandant again beat a roll of the drum, and all flying to the ranks, resumed their order, and repeated their ingenious evolutions. Among the feathered pupils of Francesco, however, all were not endowed with equal sagacity and talent; some were intractable and stupid, whilst others betrayed an instinct almost amounting to reason. Of the latter class, was one partridge, which he named Rosoletta. She followed him with the attachment of a dog; she hopped after him from house to house when he walked the streets of Tempio, flew from tree to tree when he wandered in the woods, and rarely by night or day did she lose sight of her affectionate master.

With a docility by no means common in birds, Rosoletta not only obeyed her instructor herself, but seemed to penetrate his wishes with regard to her companions; and even sometimes ventured to assist him in the education of his more giddy pupils. If a chaffinch, more stupid or mutinous than the rest, put his comrades in disorder, or a thoughtless linnet wandered from the ranks, Rosoletta would instantly follow, and striking the offender with her wing, attempt to keep him in order. Francesco

had once been at great pains to train a beautiful goldfinch, but one morning the ungrateful little bird escaped from his cage, flew to an open window, and reaching the adjoining garden, was seen no more. The little merchant was in despair at his loss; the more so, because he had promised him to the daughter of a lady from whom he had received much kindness. Five days elapsed, and the little wanderer returned not; he had given him over for lost, when, on the sixth morning, Rosoletta was seen chasing before her along the linden-trees, a bird which was screaming at the top of its voice, and attempting by every means to escape from her. Rosoletta led the way by little and little before him, and at length seated him in apparent disgrace in a corner of the aviary, whilst she flew from side to side in triumph at her success.

Francesco was now happy and contented, since by his own industry and exertions he was enabled to support his mother and sisters. Unfortunately, however, in the midst of all his happiness, he was suddenly torn from them by a very grievous accident. He was one evening engaged in gathering a species of mushroom very common in the southern countries of Europe; but not having sufficient discrimination to separate those which are nutritious from those that are poisonous, he ate of them to excess, and died in a few days, along with his youngest sister, in spite of every remedy which skill could apply. During the three days of Francesco's illness, his birds flew incessantly round and round his bed! Some,' says the Abbé Reperonei (an Italian, who recounts his story), lying sadly upon his pillow, others flitting backwards and forwards above his head, a few uttering brief but plaintive cries, and all, in fact, taking scarcely any nourishment during his sickness.' None of his feathered favourites manifested on his decease such real and disconsolate grief as Rosoletta. When poor Francesco was placed in his coffin, she flew round and round it, and at last perched upon the lid. In vain they several times removed her; she still returned, and even persisted in accompanying the funeral procession to the place of graves. During his