far from courteous. He was a skilful rifleman; he had just, by means of an iron ramrod and a serving-mallet, hammered down a ball into a gun as long as himself; and his enemies had never occasion to say that he did not discharge his obligations to them-in lead-with all due promptitude, whenever an opportunity occurred.--There were several other extraordinary characters on board, but I will not detain you now with a recital of their peculiarities.

The Dolphin carried an ample fore-top-sail and top-gallant-sail, as well as a gaff-top-sail; and had we kept her large, there was a probability of her out-sailing her antagonist. The attempt was not, however, made, or thought of; and silence was first broken by O'Flinn exclaiming, while he sent his quid from the starboard to the larboard cheek, and gazed upon the brig as she neared us, -" I wonder whether he has got a drop of the crathur on board, botheration to him, for we're

all out here!"

The Spaniard's first attempt was to round to on our weather quarter, and, shooting in the wind, to give us a diagonal broadside, and then to box-haul, and rake us with the other. Our captain, however, saw his drift; and the moment he luffed, we, too, shook the Dolphin up in the wind; so that we both lay for a moment parellel, at a distance of little more than pistol-shot-the brig being a little to windward. We could distinctly hear the commander of the brig giving his orders to his people.

I have but a confused recollection of the sensation of that moment of suspense. I heard the orders from the brig, in Spanish,-" Fire together!" - and our captain, waving his hand, exclaimed, - " Down! down, my lads, on the deck! We must receive his first broadside, and then to our posts!" In a moment,

we were all flat upon the deck; and the next, through a seam in the waist-boards, I observed the smoke belch, in one swelling column, from the side of the brig; and the thunder of her guns came simultaneously with the crash of our slender bulwarks, shattered by the shot. A groan from one of the crew at my feet, and the shrill pipe of the first officer, raised me in a moment. I looked round, and saw one of the Colombians stretched on his face, mortally wounded; his thighs were nearly cut off by a shot; he died instantly in my arms, without being able to utter a word.

I felt, now that the first broadside was over, as if a load of anxiety were removed from my breast. My heart ceased to palpitate with more than ordinary quickness: and I felt --the feeling, indeed, appeared to be general-that I could stand fire to the last. There was another man killed near to the bows of the Dolphin, and three shots had passed through the bonnet of her foresail. Our spars were, however, still standing; and we were not long in returning the fire of the enemy.

We were instantly at our posts, -every gun primed and ready. The brig had become hogged in the wind, in the confusion of firing, and scarcely steerage way upon her. Our eel of a craft was still creeping a-head; and the captain, seizing the tiller, kept her full for a moment, and, singing out "Let go the jibsheet!" we were immediately in stays, and fell across her hawse, as the head-sails took a-back. The mate stood by the long gun, which he primed and pointed with masterly promptitude: and blowing his match, the priming fizzed out for a moment. The next, the report shook every timber in the Dolphin, and the double shot, with which it was charged, raked the Spaniard fore and aft, and we could plainly perceive when the smoke dispersed, had mowed down at least a dozen of the crew, and thrown her yet crowded decks into confusion.

The Dolphin was pierced for only two carronades on each side of the quarter-deck; but O'Flinn, with the arms of a Hercules, had turned the muzzles of the whole four upon the enemy, firing them successively (two of them through the boards) as we passed the bows of the brig. --The moment her larboard side opened to our view, our marines discharged into her a well-aimed volley, and the cries of her officers which were mingled with loud and violent oaths, were drowned by a second discharge, from some of our spare firelocks that were placed in readiness on the deck. The others, thanks to Birmingham, would not go off.

The brig had now fallen back, and began to fill on the starboard tack, so that her larboard broadside bore partly upon us. She fired it off, and followed the discharge by a volley of musketry. Our lee main shrouds (or rather backstays -our only standing rigging abaft) were carried away; and our Kentuckian was painfully, though not dangerously, wounded in the knee, by a half-spent ball from a grape. He instantly limped up the forerigging, and, standing on the crosstrees, singled out the commander of the brig, who wore a blue uniform, faced with red. The rifle was deliberately raised: it went off with a smart, but not very loud, report; and O'Flinn, who was watching the result, in a moment after exclaimed -" By J-s, but he has pinked the skipper!" The fall of the commander, and the rushing of his officers round him, on the quarter-deck, too truly told that the red American had taken his stern revenge. I could not help thinking there was something savage in thus premeditatedly singling out an individual, as if for martial execution, and I looked upon

the face of the perpetrator, as he descended the ratlines, to observe if it bore indication of any compuctuous visiting within. But, saving his restless eye, that seemed to gleam with triumph, and his lip, that slightly quivered as in contempt, his aspect still bespoke his usual apathy and wildness. He was in the act of springing from the shroud to the deck, when a shot, whistling over my head, struck him I know not where, and bending backwards like a bow, as if in one final pang, he dropped his rifle, and fell into the sea. A rope was instantly procured; but he had sunk, and, from the whiteness of his clothes, I could distinguish his body quivering by the undulations of the waves, until he disappeared in the depths below.

"By the powers!" said O'Flinn, piping his eye for a moment over his old crony, as he gazed over the side, and blowing his match, to fire the long gun, -" we've lost a man! but, by J--s, we'll pay them home for it!"

The schooner had by this time got a little to windward of the enemy, who was standing on the other tack, repairing his rigging. As soon as we could rig a preventer-stay, in lieu of the shrouds shot away, we put about, and, keeping her away, were, in a few minutes, close upon the weather quarter of the brig. As we rounded to, resolved again to receive his broadside, we lay down upon the deck. He discharged at us his six guns. Two of the shot hulled us between wind and water, and we could hear the rush of leaks in the hold, as she heeled to the wind. The other shot struck the water to leeward of us, and, passing close over our heads, tore up into foam an expanse of sea beyond us. We now leaped up, every man to his station; and, bearing close down upon the brig, returned her fire with a bar-shot, that told upon his main rigging, and did fearful execution amidst the crowd visible on his quarter-deck. We then doused our main-peak, slacked off the mainsheet, and bearing smartly away under his stern, as we wore round on the other tack, we again raked him with our larboard carronades and long gun. In this manœuvre, however, we lost three men by a discharge of grape from his stern chasers; and another was afterwards killed by a musket ball, while he was kneeling on a grating lowered over the side, plugging up the shot holes. Still we were not dispirited; and the attack was continued in various ways from time to time, for a space of three hours and a half, with a loss on our part of two more men. The rigging and sails of the brig were, through the coolness and skill with which O'Flinn and our captain and first officer managed the long gun, dreadfully cut up; and his loss of men was evidently great, chiefly from the effect of our musketry, when we came to close quarters. For my part (said Norman) 1 loaded and fired as quickly as possible; but as I had not made up my mind to the propriety of shedding so much blood, even in self-defence, I believe most of the balls from my piece went harmless through the air, or lodged in the sides of the brig; for I took no positive aim at any human being, and shut my eyes when I fired, lest I should see some one drop, on being pierced by the bullet.

From the lowness of the Dolphin, she was hard to hit; and the enemy at length changed his mode of attack, and evidently fired high, with intent to dismast us. A shot carried away our ensign halyards, and the flag fell upon the deck. One of the English sailors instantly took a hammer and a few pump-tacks, and ascending the bare back-stay, nailed it securely to the top-mast, and regained the deck unhurt, though marked by the enemy's marines,

Whenever the name of Porson has been mentioned, he has been mostly praised for his memory; but other scholars may perhaps be quoted, who have not fallen very short of him in this particular. Scarce any, however, can be found, who have possessed the extraordinary talent of retaining every thing which they have ever read, and carrying it about, and bringing it out, a point nomme, in all states and conditions, whether sick or sorry, as Porson showed in numberless instances, that he could do, almost even to his latest breath: and probably none who, to a memory uncommonly accurate, have formed a judgment so remarkably sound and singularly acute, with a nice discernment of every defect, and an exquisite taste for every beauty. His company was, as may well be supposed, eagerly courted by all ranks, from the combination-room to the cyder-cellar, for he mixed with all, and was to be found in both; and it was who should assist at his evening lectures, and who should carry away most from the oracle. But it sometimes so happened, as it does to all, that the priest was sulky, and pulling a book out of his pocket, read only to himself; sometimes violent, and catching a poker out of the fire, brandishedit over his head, to the terror of the

company. Of this trick, however, he was cured once for all, by a man of fighting notoriety, who, upon seeing Porson seize the poker, and not being used to a furious Greek, but in the play, snatching the tongs, observed, "That two could play at the same game;" upon which the Professor, with a sneer of his own, said, " I believe if I should crack your skull, I should find it very empty." "And if I should crack your head," replied the Irishman, " I should find it full of maggots." This good-natured remark pleased the Professor so much, that he returned the poker to the fire, and repeated a whole chapter of Roderick Random analogous to the busi

ness.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

After this great man had received his death-wound, at the battle of Zutphen, and was overcome with thirst from excessive bleeding, he called for drink, which was presently brought him. At the same time a poor soldier was carried along desperately wounded, who fixed his eager eyes upon the bottle, just as he was lifting it to his mouth; upon which he instantly delivered it to him, with these words, Thy necessity is yet greater than mine.

COURT FAVORS.

Upon a very important occasion, when Louis XVIII. had withdrawn to reflect in his closet, and had given the most particular orders to the guard that he was not to be interrupted, "even by Madame," the Duchess of Angouleme is said to have presented herself according to her custom at the door of the cabinet, and demanded admission; the guard remonstrated, but the Duchess was determined, and on the soldier crossing his arms to prevent her entrance, she coolly boxed his ears, and forced her way into the presence of the king. The

duchess complained to the monarch, that the guard had committed a most disloyal offence, in opposing with arms a member of the royal family. To appease the feelings of the princess, the soldier was punished with three days' imprisoned; and for doing his duty, rewarded by the king, upon his release, by being promoted to a company.

ORIGIN OF DOUBLE X.

In distinguishing between small beer and strong, all ale or beer, sold at or above ten shillings per barrel, was reckoned to be strong, and was, therefore, subjected to a higher duty. The cask which contained this strong beer was first marked with an X, signifying ten; and hence the present quack-like denominations of XX, (double X) and XXX, (treble X) which appear, unnecessarily, on the casks and in the accounts of the strong ale brewers. A curious change of circumstances has rendered this letter still an appropriate mark in the books of excise. Ten shillings has no longer any relation to the selling price, but it is now the duty per barrel.

FORTY-SECOND HIGHLANDERS.

The total number of men that belonged to this gallant regiment, from 1797 to 1816, was 13,127. In 1817 there were only three men living, in the corps, that fought against Buonaparte in Egypt.

DEFINITION OF "SON-IN-LAW."

"Mr. Abraham," said Lord Mansfield, "this is your son, and cannot go in the same bail bond." - "He ish not my son, my Lord." -"Why, Abraham, here are twenty in Court will prove it."-" I will shwear, my Lord, he is not.""Take care, Abraham, or I will send you to the King's Bench.""Now, my Lord, if your Lordship pleases, I will tell you the truth."

The chief incidents of this little Tale were related to the Author by an African boy, whom he first met with near the borders of the Great Karroo or Arid Desert. The expression of the orphan stranger, when asked about his kindred, was literally (as translated by him into broken Dutch) - Ik ben alleenig in de waereld!" i. e. "I am all alone in the world." A few slight circumstances, characteristic of the country, are almost all that has been added to poor Marossi's affecting narrative.

The system of outrage and oppression, of which this story exhibits a specimen, has been ably developed by the Rev. Dr. Philip, in his "Researches in South Africa."

The following terms perhaps require explanation for general readers :

Bergenaars - Mountaineers, a marauding horde of Griqua or Mulatto lineage, inhabiting the skirts of the Stormberg mountains, beyond the north-eastern frontier of the Cape Colony.

Bushman-A wild Hottentot.

Gareep-Native name of the great Orange River.

Springbok-Antilope Pygarga or Euchore. Wild-dog-Wilde-hond of the Colonists-Hyæna Venatica.

Sea-cow, or Zeekoe-The Colonial term for the Hippopotamus.

Utika, i. e. Beautiful-The Supreme Spirit.

I sat at noontide in my tent,

And looked across the Desert dun, That 'neath the cloudless firmament

Lay gleaming in the sun,-
When from the bosom of the waste
A swarthy stripling came in haste,
With foot unshod and naked limb,
And a tame springbok following him.

He came with open aspect bland,
And modestly before me stood,
Caressing with a kindly hand
That fawn of gentle brood?

"Poor boy," I said, "thy kindred's home,
Beyond far Stormberg's ridges blue,
Why hast thou left so young to roam
This desolate Karroo?"

The smile forsook him while I spoke;
And when again he silence broke,
It was with many a stifled sigh
He told this strange sad history.

" I have no kindred!" said the boy:
"The Bergenaars-by night they came,
And raised their murder-shout of joy,
While o'er our huts the flame
Rushed like a torrent; and their yell
Pealed louder as our warriors fell
In helpless heaps beneath their shot-
One living man they left us not!

"The slaughter o'er, they gave the slain

To feast the foul-beaked birds of prey; And with our herds across the plain

They hurried us away

The widowed mothers and their brood:
Oft, in despair, for drink and food
We vainly cried-they heeded not,
But with sharp lash the captives smote.

"Three days we tracked that dreary wild, Where thirst and anguish pressed us sore; And many a mother and her child

Lay down to rise no more:
Behind us, on the desert brown,
We saw the vultures swooping down;
And heard, as the grim night was falling,
The gorged wolf to his comrade calling.

"At length was heard a river sounding
Midst that dry and dismal land,
And, like a troop of wild deer bounding,
We hurried to its strand-
Among the maddened cattle rushing,
The crowd behind still forward pushing,
Till in the flood our limbs were drenched,
And the fierce rage of thirst was quenched.

"Hoarse-roaring, dark, the broad Gareep
In turpid streams was sweeping fast,
Huge sea-cows in its eddies deep
Loud snorting as we passed;
But that relentless robber clan
Right through those waters wild and wan
Drove on like sheep our captive host,
Nor staid to rescue wretches lost.

"All shivering from the foaming flood, We stood upon the stranger's ground, When with proud looks and gestures rude,

The white men gathered round: And there, like cattle from the fold, By Christians we were bought and sold, Midst laughter loud and looks of scorn, And roughly from each other torn.