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beside its owner, and down on it, as we have said, Willie had been vigorously planted by his antagonist. On ascertaining that it was his fiddle that had perished, Willie loosened his hold of the enemy, and groping about for an instant, got hold of Jamie's violin, which, having drawn from its receptacle, he grasped by the neck, and in a twinkling battered it to pieces about the ears of its owner.

The bread-winners demolished, the combatants again closed in deadly strife, and hugged and tugged each other with the most relentless ferocity. At this moment two gentlemen, who had witnessed the progress of the quarrel, and subsequent combat between the two musicians, from an adjacent part of the room, stepped up to them, and after separating them, inquired what was the cause of quarrel.

That-that-man-there,' said Willie, breathless with agitation and exertion, and pointing to his colleague, 'has cheated me o' half-a-croon, or at least o' fifteen pence.'

'It's a lie, gentlemen-it's a barefaced lie,' shouted Jamie in great wrath, and as breathless as his antagonist; 'it's him that has cheated me. He got the half-croon.'

'What half-crown?' said one of the gentlemen.

The history of the half-crown was forthwith given by Jamie. But are you perfectly sure that either of you got it?' inquired the gentleman.

The question at once took Willie and Jamie all aback. It was a poser. A new light on the subject instantly and suddenly fell upon them, and the possibility of the real facts of the case for the first time crossed their minds, but they did not immediately admit it.

"Why, I suppose there can be nae doot that ane o' us got the half-croon,' said Jamie, rather sheepishly, and with an expression that plainly enough shewed that he did now very much doubt it. I heard the gentleman distinctly say: "There's half-a-croon for ye," so that ane o' us maun hae got it, I should think?'

'I should doubt it, however,' replied the gentleman. 6 You are two honest-looking men, and would not, I am

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sure, cheat each other out of a paltry half-crown. rather think you have been tricked-made the subject of a hoax.'

The two unfortunate minstrels could no longer withstand the conviction that they had been regularly duped, and a deep sense of shame took possession of their hearts, for having, even for an instant, suspected each other's honesty. The truth, moreover, flashed upon them, that they had in their drunken folly destroyed their fiddles— the sole means of their support. The agony of the poor repentant wretches can hardly be described. Lamenting with bitter tears the folly of their conduct, they sat them down and cried over the shattered fragments of their instruments, declaring they should now have no other resource but in begging from door to door for their subsistence.

The case having attained this dismal juncture, the gentleman who first addressed them, spoke as follows:"Now, my good fellows, since you have had your pipe out, and seen what a couple of fools you have made yourselves, I have to tell you that it was I who played you the trick that has caused all this mischief.'

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You, sir! and how could you do sic a cruel thing to us?' cried both the lachrymose fiddlers at once.

That I shall tell you,' replied the gentleman. 'You must know I wished to perform an experiment upon you. Everybody told me that your friendship for each other was inviolable; but this I doubted; and so I executed the plan of pretending to give one of you half-a-crown, knowing that you would in all likelihood adjourn to a public-house, where, on this occasion, you would be certain to quarrel. If you had been persons who never took drams, I should not have thought of trying such a scheme. Take my advice, my good fellows; in future save your money, and have nothing more to do with gills -remember the auld Scots proverb, "When drink's in, wit's out.""

"That's owre true a tale,' answered Willie; 'but what are we to do noo? We'll just be twa objects without our VOL. XVII.

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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

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