are not often seen, except by those settlers who reside very close on the forests in remote parts of the colony; for though their habit appears to be that of feeding upon the ground only, yet they do not frequent grounds on which there are no trees, the shade of these appearing to be indispensable to them in the heat of the day, as well as during the night. The structure of the bill is decidedly insectivorous or at all events adapted for collecting worms, molLasca, and other small ground animals; and the claws are adapted for scraping, though not so decidedly as those of poultry. In fact the birds, and the country which they inhabit, are both so different from any thing else that we meet with, that they would require to be both carefully examined, in order that any just conclusion might be arrived at respecting the adaptation of each to the other, or the use of the birds in the general economy of nature. THE VILLAGE PRIZE. In one of the lovliest villages of old Virginia there lived in the year 175-, an old man, whose daughter was declared, by universal consent, to be the lovliest maiden in all the country round. The veteran, in his youth, had been athletic and muscular above all his fellows; and his breast, where he always wore them, could show the adornment of three medals, received for his victories in gymnastick feats when a young man. His daughter was now eighteen, and had been sought in marriage by many suitors. One brought wealth another a fine person-another this, and another that. But they were all refused by the old man, who became at last a by-word for his obstinacy among the young men of the village and neighbourhood. At length the nineteenth birthday of Annette, his charming daughter, who was as amiable and modest as she was beautiful, arrived. The morning of that day, her father invited all the youth of the country to a hay-making frolick. Seventeen handsome and industrious young men assembled. They came not only to make hay, but also to make love to the fair Annette. In three hours they had filled the father's barns with the newly dried grass, and their own hearts with love. Annette, by her father's command, had brought the malt liquor of her own brewing, which she presented to each enamoured swain with her own fair hands. 66 Now, my boys," said the old keeper of the jewel they all coveted, as leaning on their pitchforks they assembled round the door in the cool of the evening, "Now my lads, you have nearly all of you made proposals for my Annette. Now, you see, I don't care anything about money or talents, book larning nor soldier larning-I can do as well by my gal as any man in the country.-But I want her to marry a man of my own grit. Now, you know, or ought to know, when I was a younster I could beat anything in all Virginny in the the way o' leaping. I got my old woman by beating the smartest man on the Eastern 'Shore, and I have took the oath and sworn it, that no man shall marry my daughter without jumping for it. You understand me, boys. There's the green, and here's Annette," he added, taking his daughter, VOL V-12 "Now who stood timidly behind him, by the hand. the one that jumps the furtherest on a 'dead level,' shall marry Annette this very night." This unique address was received by the young men with applause. And many a youth, as he bounded gaily forward to the arena of trial, cast a glance of anticipated victory back upon the lovely object of village chivalry. The maidens left their looms and and quilting frames, the children their noisy sports, the slaves their labours, and the old men their armchairs and long pipes, to witness and triumph in the success of the victor. All prophesied and many wished that it would be young Carroll. He was the handsomest and best humoured youth in the country, and all knew that a strong mutual attachment existed between him and the fair Annette. Carroll had won the reputation of being the "best leaper,” and in a country where such athletic achievements were the sine qua non of a man's cleverness, this was no ordinary honour. In a contest like the present he had, therefore, every advantage over his fellow athlete. The arena allotted for this hymeneal contest was a level space in front of the village inn, and near the centre of a grass plat, reserved in the midst of the village, denominated the "green." The verdure was quite worn off at this place by previous exercises of a similar kind, and a hard surface of sand, more befittingly for the purpose to which it was to be used, supplied its place. The father of the lovely, blushing, and withal happy prize, (for she well knew who would win,) with three other patriarchal villagers were the judges appointed to decide upon the claims of the several competitors. The last time Carroll tried his skill in this exercise, he "cleared," to use the leaper's phraseology-twenty-one feet and one inch. The signal was given, and by lot the young men stepped into the arena. "Edward Grayson, seventeen feet," cried one of the judges. The youth had done his utmost. He was a pale, intellectual student. But what had intellect to do in such an arena? Without a look at the maiden he left the ground. "Dick Boulden, nineteen feet." Dick with a laugh turned away, and replaced his coat. 66 Harry Preston, nineteen feet and three inches " "Well done Harry Preston," shouted the spectators, you have tried hard for the acres and homestead." Harry also laughed, and swore he only jumped for the fun of the thing. Henry was a rattle-brained fellow, but never thought of matrimony. He loved to walk and talk, and laugh and romp with Annette, but sober marriage never came into his head. He only jumped for the fun of the thing. He would not have said so, if he was sure of winning. Hurrah Charley Simms, fifteen feet and a half. for Charley! Charley'll win!" cried the crowd good-humouredly. Charley Simms was the cleverest fellow in the world. His mother had advised him to stay at home, and told him if he ever won a wife, she would fall in love with his good temper, rather than his legs. Charley, however, made the trial of the latter's capabilities and lost. Many refused to enter the lists altogether. Others made the trial, and only one of the leapers had yet cleared twenty feet. "Now," cried the villagers, "let's see Henry Carroll. He ought to beat this ;" and every one appeared, as they called to mind the mutual love of the last competitor and the sweet Annette, as if they heartily wished his success. Henry stepped to his post with a firm tread. His eye glanced with confidence around upon the villagers and rested, before he bounded forward, upon the face of Annette, as if to catch therefrom that spirit and assurance which the occasion called for. Returning the encouraging glance with which she met his own, with a proud smile upon his lip, he bounded forward. Twenty-one feet and a half!" shouted the multitude, repeating the announcement of one of the judges, "twenty-one feet and a half. Harry Carroll forever. Annette and Harry." Hands, caps, and handkerchiefs waved over the heads of the spectators, and the eyes of the delighted Annette sparkled with joy. 66 The old man approached, and grasping his hand exultingly, called him his son, and said he felt prouder of him than if he were a prince. Physical activity and strength were the old leaper's true patents of nobility. Resuming his coat, the victor sought with his eye the fair prize he had, although nameless and unknown, so fairly won. She leaned upon her father's arm, pale and distressed. Her lover stood aloof, gloomy and mortified, admiring the superiority of the stranger in an exercise in which he prided himself as unrivalled, while he hated him for his success. Annette, my pretty prize," said the victor, taking her passive hand-"I have won you fairly." Annette's cheek became paler than marble; she trembled like an aspen leaf, and clung closer to her father, while the drooping eye sought the form of her lover. His brow grew dark at the stranger's language. When Henry Carroll moved to this station to strive for the prize, a tall, gentlemanly young man, in a military undress frock coat, who had rode up to the "I have won you, my pretty flower, to make you inn, dismounted and joined the spectators, unperceiv- a bride !-tremble not so violently-I mean not myed, while the contest was going on, stepped suddenly self however proud I might be," he added with galforward, and with a knowing eye measured deliber-lantry, "to wear so fair a gem next my heart. Perately the space accomplished by the last leaper. He haps," and he cast his eyes round inquiringly, while was a stranger in the village. His handsome face and easy address attracted the eyes of the village maidens, and his manly and sinewy frame, in which symmetry and strength were happily united, called forth the admiration of the young men. 66 Mayhap, sir stranger, you think you can beat that," said one of the bystanders, remarking the manner in which the eye of the stranger scanned the arena. "If you can leap beyond Harry Carroll, you'll beat the best man in the colonies." The truth of this observation was assented to by a general murmur. "Is it for mere amusement you are pursuing this pastime?" inquired the youthful stranger, or is there a prize for the winner ?" "Annette, the loveliest and wealthiest of our village maidens, is to be the reward of the victor," cried one of the judges. "Are the lists open to all?" the current of life leaped joyfully to her brow, and a murmur of surprise ran through the crowd-" perhaps there is some favoured youth among the competitors, who has a higher claim to this jewel.-Young sir," he continued, turning to the surprised Henry, methinks you were victor in the list before me—I strove not for the maiden, though one could not well strive for a fairer-but from love for the manly sport in which I saw you engaged. You are the victor, and as such, with the permission of this worthy assembly, receive from my hand the prize you have so well and so honourably won." The youth sprang forward and grasped his hand with gratitude, and the next moment Annette was weeping from pure joy upon his shoulders. The welkin rung with the acclamations of the delighted villagers, and amid the temporary excitement produced by this act, the stranger withdrew from the crowd, mounted his horse, and spurred at a brisk trot through the village. That night, Henry and Annette were married, and the health of the mysterious and noble-hearted stranger, was drunk in overflowing bumpers of rustic bevBut erage. "All, young sir?" replied the father of Annette, with interest, his youthful ardour rising as he surveyed the proportions of the straight limbed young stranger. "She is the bride of him who outleaps Henry Carroll. If you will try you are free to do so. let me tell you, Harry Carroll has no wife in Virginia. Here is my daughter, sir, look at her and make your trial." The officer glanced upon the trembling maiden about to be offered on the altar of her father's unconquerable monomania with an admiring eye. The poor girl looked at Harry, who stood near with a troubled brow and angry eye, and then cast upon the new competitor an imploring glance. Placing his coat in the hands of one of the judges, he drew a sash he wore beneath it tighter around his waist, and taking the appointed stand, made, apparently without effort, the bound that was to decide the happiness or misery of Henry and Annette. "Twenty-two feet and an inch!" shouted the judge. -The announcement was repeated with surprise by the spectators, who crowded around the victor, filling the air with congratulations, not unmingled, however, with loud murmurs from those who were more nearly interested in the happiness of the lovers. In process of time, there were born unto the married pair sons and daughters, and Harry Carroll had become Colonel Henry Carroll of the revolutionary army. One evening, having just returned home after a hard campaign, he was sitting with his family on the gallery of his handsome country-house, when an advance courier rode up and announced the approach of General Washington and suite, informing that he should crave his hospitality for the night. The necessary directions were given in reference to the household preparations, and Colonel Carroll, ordering his horse, rode forward to meet and escort to his house the distinguished guest, whom he had never yet seen, although serving in the same widely extended army. That evening, at the table, Annette, now become the dignified, matronly, and still handsome Mrs. Carroll, could not keep her eyes from the face of her illustrious visitor. Every moment or two she would steal a glance at his commanding features, and halfdoubtingly, half-assuredly, shake her head and look again, to be still more puzzled. Her absence of mind and embarrassment at length became evident to her husband, who inquired affectionately if she were ill? "I suspect, colonel," said the general, who had been some time, with a quiet, meaning smile, observing the lady's curious and puzzled survey of his features-"that Mrs. Carroll thinks she recognizes in me an old acquaintance." And he smiled with a mysterious air, as he gazed upon both alternately. The colonel stared, and a faint memory of the past seemed to be revived as he gazed, while the lady rose impulsively from her chair, and beading eagerly forward over the tea-urn, with clasped hands and an eye of intense, eager, inquiry, fixed full upon him, stood for a moment with her lips parted as if she would speak. "Pardon me, my dear madam-pardon me colonel -I must put an end to this scene. I have become, by dint of camp-fare and hard usage, too unwieldly to leap again twenty-two feet one inch, even for so fair a bride as one I wot of." The recognition, with the surprise, delight and happiness that followed, are left to the imagination of the reader. GENERAL WASHINGTON was indeed the handsome young "leaper," whose mysterious appearance and disappearance in the native village of the lovers, is still traditionary-and whose claim to a substantial body of bona fide flesh and blood, was stoutly contested by the village story-tellers, until the happy DENOUEMENT which took place at the hospitable mansion of Colonel Carroll. ARCHITECTURE. purpose [Ionick Order.] On The Ionic Order. The account of this order, which they afterwards built the temple of Diana, but in Thus were two The most beautiful Grecian specimens of this order are the temple on the Ilyssus, and the temples of Neptune Erectheus, and Minerva Polias, in the Acropolis at Athens, the two latter of which are so sim ilar, that we shall not here discriminate between them. We are thus reduced to two Greek examples and these are so exquisitely beautiful, that it is diffi * All the Grecian Doric columns have flutes; a fact Vitruviu cult to give the preference to either. We shall there- | are dissimilar. To obviate this inconvenience, the fore describe both. The temple on the Illyssus is the Greeks twisted the extreme volutes of a portico so as plainer of the two its volute consists of a single to make the two faces alike. But Scamozzi, a faspiral with a deep channel between, and is separated from the shaft by the sculptured echinus. The architrave is not broken into fasciæ, as in most other specimens. The cornice consists simply of a square member, with an echinus and fillet surmounted by the cymatium the bed-mouldings in the elevation are completely concealed. The base is composed of two tori, the upper of which is channelled horizontally, and surmounted by a bead, inclosing a very flat scotia, the upper fillet of which projects as far as the extremity of the torus. elliptic. The following are the measures of this order, of which specimens are shown in the engraving. The column, including base and capital, sixteen modules, fourteeen minutes and one-fifth; the base, twenty-nine minutes and fourfifths; the capital (to bottom of volute), forty minutes. The architrave, fifty-five minutes and two-fifths; the frieze, forty-nine minutes; the cornice, thirty minutes and onefifth. Width of the capital, three modules, three minutes; upper diameter of column fiftyone minutes. Intercolumniation from centre to centre of column six modules, five minutes and two-fifths. mous Italian architect, designed a capital in which the volutes proceeded angularly from the shaft, thus presenting the same front every way; and the capital so executed has been generally attributed to the supposed inventor. Sir William Chambers, however, is of opinion that Michael Angelo was the author of one of this description, in the Vatican at Rome. This capital is commonly known as the modern Ionic, but has not been often executed in large works. The freize of this order has been, by many archiThe flutes are semi-tects, and Palladio among the number, pulvinated, or rounded in its contour, and smaller than the architrave, as though it were pressed down and bent by the superincumbent weight; but the ill effect of this has been so generally perceived, that it is rarely to be seen in late works. The cornice is distinguished from the Greek by its variety of mouldings, among which the most remarkable is a square member in in the bead-mouldings, cut into small divisions, somewhat resembling teeth, whence they are called dentils In other points of variation between the Grecian and Roman architecture there may be a difference of opinion; but with respect to the Ionic capital, we conceive this to be impossible. Whoever compares the meager, petty form of the capital of the temple of Concord, with that of the Erectheion, must instantly, whatever be his former prejudices, perceive the amazing difference, and unhesitatingly acknowledge the vast superiority of the latter. The poverty of the solitary revolving fillet, the flat, insipid lines, and the enormous projection of the clumsy echinus, combine to render this the very worst feature in all the Italian orders. The base commonly used is the Attic, though Vitruvius has appropriated one to this order, resembling the Corinthian without its lower torus. The specimens furnished in the temple of Minerva Polias are next to be considered. This example is much richer, yet no less elegant than the other: the The following are the measures of the order from volute instead of a single spiral, is formed by three: Sir William Chambers: The base, one module: the the sculptured echinus beneath is surmounted by a shaft, sixteen modules nine minutes; and capital, guilloched moulding, and separated from the shaft twenty-one minutes. The architrave, forty minutes by a neck adorned with honey-suckles. The base is and a half; the frieze, the same; and cornice, fiftyvery similar to that of the temple on the Ilyssus, ex-four minutes. Width of capital, two modules, twentycept that its beauty is increased by the diminution six minutes. Upper diameter of column fifty minutes. of its height, the scotia is deeper, and the upper torus "As the Doric order," says Sir William Chambers, is guilloched. The architrave consists of three fasciæ," is particularly affected in churches or temples deand the cornice is similar to that of the Illyssus temple, except that the echinus and bed-moulding are sculptured, and the astragal of the latter is seen in the elevation beneath the corona. dicated to male saints, so the Ionic is principally used in such as are consecrated to females of the matronal state. It is likewise employed in courts of justice, in libraries, colleges, seminaries, and other The column, including base and capital, is eighteen structures having relation to arts or letters; in primodules, seven minutes and one-tenth in height; the vate houses, and in palaces; to adorn the women's base, twenty-four minutes; and capital, forty-two. apartments, and says Le Clerc, in all places dedicaThe architrave, forty-five minutes and one-fourth;ted to peace and tranquility. The ancients employed the frieze forty-seven minutes and four-fifths; and it in temples sacred to Juno, to Bacchus, to Diana, cornice (to the fillet of the echinus, which is the and other deities whose characters held a medium greatest actual height of the entablature, the cyma- between the severe and the effeminate." tum being a restoration,) twenty minutes and two(To be continued.), fifths. The width of the capital, three modules, three minutes. Upper diameter of column, fortynine minutes and a half. Intercolumniation (from centre to centre), nine modules. Both these orders destitute of insulated plinths. laving thus given our readers an idea of the finest eek specimens of this order, we must now proceed the Roman and Italian version of it. It is the culiarity of this order, that its front and side faces The greatest flood has the soonest ebb; the most violent tempest the most sudden calm; the hottest love the coldest end; and from the deepest desire oftentimes ensues the deadliest hate. A wise man had rather be envied for providence, than pitied for prodigality. Revenge barketh only at the stars, and spite spurns at that she cannot reach. · POPULAR MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS. AIR, LIGHT, CLEANLINESS, CLOTHING. A function or process, in its nature resembling what we call respiration or breathing, is performed by all living beings. Even plants breathe, and their leaves are the organs by which their respiration is performed. Polypi, of which you have an example in the gelly fish, and zoophites, of which you may take sponge for an example, which constitute the lowest links in the chain of animals, perform this function by the whole of their exposed surfaces; but in all animals higher than these, there is a special apparatus for this purpose. In those which live in the water we find various modifications of gills. Thus, in the lobster and crab, which belong to a class of animals called crustacea, you know there are spongy bodies called by some persons dead men's flesh. The oyster, which belongs to another class of animals, called molusca; breatnes by means of that part which resembles a fringe, and is called the beard; while in the true fish, such as the herring and the shark, we find for the same purpose those parts which are generally known by the name of gills; but even in these there is some variety. On the other hand, those animals which either live in air, or at least breathe it, are provided with lungs, or with organs bearing some resemblance to them. The snail, which I mention as a specimen of the soft animals, or molusca living in air, has a kind of lung. The caterpillar, and the animals allied to it, of the insect class, are furnished with two tubes, one on each side of the body, for the reception of air, which finds its way into and out of them by two corresponding rows of small pipes or pores called stigmata. Frogs, turtles, serpents, and other reptiles, have regular lungs but of a coarse texture; birds breathe by means of lungs of a fine texture, which have as accessories various large cavities which receive air from the lungs. cylinder or stethoscope, an instrument of great advan- 99 66 The ex The general conviction of the close connexion between breathing and life is shown by the expressions "breath of life," "breathing one's last," piring," and the like. The absolute necessity for the constant performance of the changes effected by respiration, is fully demonstrated by experiments on animals which perform the function in water, as well as on those which breathe air. Thus fish die in limited quantities of water, if contact with air be prevented, and the effect will be more striking if the air contained in water have been expelled by boiling. We need not, then, be surprised at the serious and not unfrequently fatal consequences of those circumstances which interfere with respiration. I shall notice these under different heads. 1. Man or any other animal may die from having only a limited quantity of air, which he contaminates himself, and renders unfit for the purposes of life: as when a small animal is placed under a receiver, or when human beings have been confined in air-tight Man, as you know, and those animals which be-chambers, cases of which kind have occurred in mines long to the same class with him, breathe by means of very perfect lungs, which occupy a considerable part of the trunk. The air enters them by the windpipe; this divides, and its branches again and again divide and sub-divide, till its small and delicate branches have conveyed the air into the soft and spongy structure of the lung, in which it is brought into intimate contact with the organ. In man, and in those animals which resemble him in their mode of breathing, the process of respiration is partly mechanical and partly chymical. The mechanical part consists in the admission of air by the expansion of the cavity, which is brought about by the raising of the ribs, and the descent of the diaphragm or midriff, and in the expulsion of the air when the capacity of the chest is diminished by the falling of the ribs and the raising of the diaphragm. In its passage between the mouth and lungs, the air may be stopped at a narrow part, a little behind the tongue, called the rima glottidis. This may happen at our own will, or at times by serious or even fatal accident. The air, as it is put in motion in the lungs, by the act of taking in and sending out breath, produces a sound which may be heard through the ribs, and which differs in the healthy and the diseased states of the lung. On this fact is founded the use of the on the irruption of water. As our rooms are not airtight, it is rare for immediately fatal effects to proceed from the contamination of the air in them by means of the continued respiration of the same portion, yet instances have occurred of persons perishing from close crowding in a confined apartment, of which few instances are more fatal or striking than the case of the Englishmen confined in the Black-Hole at Calcutta. This was in 1775, when the Indian Nabob, Surajah Dowla, consigned 146 prisones to the dungeon so named. "It was about eight o'clock when these unhappy persons, exhausted by continual action and fatigue, were crammed together into a dungeon about eighteen feet square, in a close sultry night, in Bengal, shut up to the east and south, the only quarters whence the air could reach them, by dead walls, and by a wall and door to the north; open only to the west by two windows strongly barred with iron, from which they could receive scarce any circulation of fresh air. 66 They had been but a few minutes confined be fore every one fell into a perspiration so profuse, that no idea can be formed of it. This brought on a ra ging thirst, which increased in proportion as the body was drained of its moisture. Various expedients were thought of to give more room and air. Every |