" of burnt corn; and from the elegancy of the "sculpture, and other criteria, it was inferred "that this brick could be no work of latter ages, "and is if Romans, of Roman Jews, from its subject."

ISLAND OF CAPRARIA.'

This small island, which has borrowed its name from the wild goats, its regular inhabitants, was occupied in the fourth and fifth centuries by a new colony of a strange and savage appearance. "The whole island (says an ingenious traveller of "those times) is filled, or rather defiled, by men, "who fly from the light, who call themselves "Monks, or solitaries, because they chuse to live "alone, without any witnesses of their actions..

They fear the gifts of fortune from the appre"hension of losing them; and, lest they should "be miserable, they embrace a life of voluntary "wretchedness. How absurd is their choice! "how perverse their understanding! to dread "the evils, without being able to support 'the "blessings, of the human condition. Either "this melancholy madness is the effect of dis

ease, or else the consciousness of guilt urges "these unhappy men to exercise in their own "bodies the tortures which are inflicted on "fugitive slaves by the hands of justice."

CARDINAL XIMENES.

That ashes have usually been considered as an appropriate type of mortality, the following anecdote may be thought a forcible illustration: Isabella of Spain, who possessed all the haughty spirit of that nation, was not less conspicuous for her good sense; and the great and magnanimous Ximenes knew well how to take advantage of such prominent features of character. The Cordeliers, of which order he was principal, having acquired an excessive influence, which the cardinal was resolved to diminish, even if he should fail in effecting a thorough reform, he boldly determined upon an expedient well calculated, though fraught with danger, to obtain success. With an assumed insolence and contumely, he first excited the indignation of Isabella, against the whole order of which he was the ostensible intemperate head: and that effected, he nobly urged the vanity of all earthly pride. "Recollect, sir," said the astonished fair one, "who you are, and to whom you speak." "Yes, madam,” replied Ximenes, "I am aware I speak to the queen of Spain, a being like myself and all my "order, sprung from the ashes, to which we "must alike return." The rebuke was felt! The queen acquiesced in the doctrine, and, the

cardinal succeeded in the radical reformation of his turbulent brethren!

SAINT DENYS.

The French, who have chosen St. Denys, or Dionysius, as their tutelar saint, confound together the histories of the Areopagite and that of the Bishop of Paris: and a little town between St. Brine and Paris, about four miles from the latter, has been named after him-meaning the Bishop-because their legends affirm that, "after having been decollated, he walked from "Paris to found an abbey on that spot, carrying " his head under his arm, and only resting seven "times at equal distances, to bless and console "his wondering and admiring followers, who, "to perpetuate the remembrance of so miracu"lous an effort, caused crosses or pillars to be " erected at those seven places, on which it has "been customary to lay for a short time the re"mains of the defunct which pass them for in"terment."

Denys is far from being the only Saint to whom superstition has assigned the supernatural power of bearing his head in his hand after the axe of the executioner had removed it from his shoulders.

In the early ages it was customary for the

painters when depicting the martyrs, to exhibit some token of their respective sufferings; hence the martyrs who had been decapitated were, therefore, usually represented with headless trunks, and the head on some adjoining table, or more commonly in their hands: and it was easy for ignorance and eredulity, not only to mistake that type, but to be led into the belief that those holy persons had actually so carried their heads about for the benefit of believers.

To the like error of the illiterate may be assigned the construction put upon the sign yet preserved by the oil shops, of the "Good Woman," which was originally expressive of some female Saint, Holy or Good Woman, who had met death by the privation of her head. It has of late however, been converted into a joke against the females, whose alleged loquacity is considered to be satirized by the representation: and the more strictly to conform to such meaning, this sign is now more commonly called the "Silent Woman."

DELICATE ARTIFICE.

Two young ladies of a respectable family in the west of England, were so much reduced, as to be compelled to take in needle work for their subsistence. The circumstance reaching the ear

of a wealthy clergyman in the neighbourhood, who had received some favour from the family, he instantly repaired to the house, and fearful of wounding their delicacy, said, "I am informed,, "ladies, that you have in your apartment a most " valuable picture. I entreat you to let me have "it, for which I will settle an annuity of fifty

pounds upon you, and it shall commence this "moment." It is unnecessary to add that the offer was accepted.

DOCTOR SHAW.

Stow relates, that while Richard III. was protector, it was desired by that crafty prince and, his council, that the famous, or rather infamous Dr. Shaw, should in a sermon, at Paul's Cross, on a text from the danger of illegitimate succession, signify to the people, that neither king Elward, nor the duke of Clarence, nor the children of the duke of York, were legally begotten, and that the protector should come in at this period of the discourse, as if by accident, when the Dr. was to proceed in these words: "But "see the Lord protector, that very noble prince, "the special pattern of knightly prowess, as "well in all princely behaviour, as in the linea "ments and favour in his visage, representing "the very face of the noble duke his father: