imperceptible, unless the fly moved; and then would the spider move also in the same proportion, keeping that just time with her motion, as if the same soul had animated both these little bodies; and whether it were forwards, backwards, or to either side, without at all turning her body, like a well-managed horse. If, however, the capricious fly took wing and pitched upon another place behind our huntress, then would the spider whirl its body so nimbly about as nothing could be imagined more swift; by which means she always kept the head towards her prey, though, to appearance, as immoveable as if it had been a nail driven into the wood, till, by that indiscernible progress (being arrived within the sphere of her reach), she made a fatal leap, swift as lightning, upon the fly, catching him in the pole, where she never quitted hold till her belly was full, and then dragged the remainder home."*

There are several hideous forms of the group in tropical climates, of which the best known is that of the Scorpions. It is impossible to look on one of these, and not be reminded of a lobster, the great palps, with stout dilated pincers, resembling closely the claws of that much more respectable crustacean. The Scorpions are widely scattered; several are found in the south of Europe, but it is in the tropics that they most abound. The Scorpio afer of the East Indies grows to six inches in length, and its sting is rather a formidable affair. We once experienced the effects of a West Indian Scorpion's venom, which were, however, not more severe than those of a wasp's or bee's sting. The weapon is a hooked, very acute joint at the extremity of a six-knobbed tail, within which is a bag of subtle poison, infused into the wound through two minute slits near the point. These animals lurk under stones and in dark crevices, living on beetles and other insects, which they "Travels in Italy."

catch with their claws. Tiny species closely resembling them, except that the tail and the sting are wanting, are common in old books and papers, and sometimes parasitically infesting insects. These constitute the genus Chelifer, and form the connecting link between the Scorpions and the Harvest-men or Shepherd-spiders (Phalangium), which are so common in autumn, remarkable for the great slenderness and length of their many-jointed legs, which continue to move a long time after being separated from the body.

The tribe of Mites comprises small and generally very minute animals. Scarlet is their favourite livery, and it often has the appearance of satin or velvet. The Watermites (Hydrachna) are merry little creatures that scuttle along through the water of our pools, looking like tiny globules of red sealing-wax. The Cheese-mite (Siro domesticus) is so common that possibly, gentle reader, you may have emulated the feats of Samson, slaying thousands at a time, and that with a jaw-bone. If you are fond of dogs or of cattle, you have also, doubtless, made the acquaintance of a vile creature called a Tick (Ixodes), which attaches itself to the poor brutes in some spot inaccessible to their efforts -such as behind the ears, or at the root of the tail-and then, plunging a beak of sharp horny lancets into the flesh, sucks the blood, till its own body is gorged and swollen. from the size of a hemp-seed to that of a horse-bean, when it drops off to make room for another blood-thirsty sucker. And, finally, some of these creatures (Sarcoptes) of minute dimensions, burrowing beneath the skin, become the cause of certain highly infectious cutaneous diseases, which are unhappily too common where cleanliness is neglected.

P. H. G.

ENGLISH LETTER-WRITERS.

SYDNEY SMITH.

SYDNEY SMITH was born at Woodford in 1771. He was the second son in a family of five children. His eldest brother, Robert, like himself, showed uncommon talent at a very early age. The two lads used to neglect their games to debate about books, and their mother reports that they often argued on subjects far above their years with a warmth and fierceness as if life and death hung on the issue. In order, therefore, that there might be no rivalry between them as they grew up, their father sent them to separate schools; Robert and another brother to Eton, Sydney and the youngest brother to Winchester.

At that time our public schools were places of cruelty and horror. In the recipe for curing boys of ignorance, the principal ingredients were starvation, fagging, fighting, and flogging. At Winchester, however, in spite of hunger and neglect, Sydney and his brother were so successful that their schoolfellows refused to compete with them for prizes. It was of no use to do so, said the young gentlemen who signed the round-robin to the Warden. Sydney became an excellent Latin verse-maker. He composed, he said, upwards of ten thousand Latin verses, "and no man in his senses would dream in after-life of ever making another."

He was also a ringleader in mischief. His daughter tells how he was discovered inventing a catapult by lamplight, and commended for his ingenuity by the master, who little dreamt it was intended to capture a neighbouring turkey, whose well-filled crop had long attracted the atten

GENEROSITY AND FILIAL OBEDIENCE.

35

tion and awakened the desires of the hungry urchins." Nor did the treatment which he experienced, and that which he abate a kindliness of disposition

saw administered, alter or which was born with him. A friend wrote to him in great distress for five guineas. He had but four, and these he sent. On his way to the post, he found a guinea lying on the road. He could not discover the owner, so he sent it too. We do not wonder to hear of such a boy that he became Captain of the school; and this, when he left, entitled him to a scholarship and fellowship at New College, Oxford.

When he left College his father was perplexed what to do with him. He himself inclined towards the bar; but his brother Robert was there already. So his father, after determining not to send him as a super-cargo to China, induced him to go into the Church-not knowing what else to do with him. He seems to have sacrificed his own wishes to please his father. He took orders, and got a curacy in Netherhaven, a miserable parish in the midst of Salisbury Plain. This outlandish place was visited only by a butcher's cart, and that but once a-week: there was no society but the Squire; and he often dined on a mess of potatoes moistened with ketchup. He worked hard there, nevertheless, in the profession which he had adopted.

The Squire took a fancy to him, and after he had served the parish two years, engaged him to be tutor and bearleader to his son. They started for Germany, but did not get beyond Edinburgh, as in 1797 the greater part of the Continent was either at war or expecting to be so. They remained here five years, and society being then more attainable to the poor man than it now is there, he gradually became acquainted with a number of men whose names must always be remembered in connexion with his own,

among whom were Jeffrey, and Horner, and Brougham, Dugald Stewart, Playfair, and Walter Scott.

In 1799 he left Edinburgh for a little while, in order to marry Miss Pybus, a lady to whom he had been long engaged. It was well that she had some property, for he had none save six small silver teaspoons, which (says his daughter) from much wear had become the ghosts of their former selves. He insisted on having her portion settled on herself. The Salisbury Squire gave him a thousand pounds; his wife sold some family jewels; and so they were enabled to commence housekeeping when he returned to his pupil at Edinburgh, which he did as soon as possible. Ere long a daughter was born to him, whom he named, after much meditation, Saba, who afterwards became the wife of Dr. Holland; and it is recorded that the nurse found, to her horror, that he had stolen her from the room a few hours after she was born, to introduce her to Jeffrey.

At the same time that his future biographer was thus brought into the world, and put in peril of her life, he and Brougham and Jeffrey were engaged in giving birth to the "Edinburgh Review," of which he edited the first number. The reforms which it helped to promote can only be appreciated, by remembering the amount of injustice and folly which passed for wisdom at the time of its establishment. "The Catholics were not emancipated," he says in the preface to his collected writings; "the Corporation and Test Acts were unrepealed; the Game Laws were horribly oppressive; steel traps and spring-guns were set all over the country; prisoners tried for their lives could have no Counsel; Lord Eldon and the Court of Chancery pressed heavily on mankind; libel was punished by the most cruel and vindictive imprisonments; the enormous wickedness of the Slave-trade was tolerated; a thousand evils were in