WARWICK CASTLE is one of the most interesting monuments of feudal grandeur in the kingdom. The view which we have given above is from the River Avon, from whose banks the principal part of the edifice abruptly rises, being built upon the solid rock of freestone which bounds the river. Viewed by itself, this portion of the building is not the most picturesque. But taken in connection with the ancient towers of the castle, with the ecclesiastical edifices of Warwick town in the back-ground, and with the Avon and its beautiful bridge in front, it would be difficult to find a scene more imposing, certainly impossible to find one so rich in historical associations, which should be also so uninjured by time. Passing through a road cut through the solid rock which now presents a plantation of shrubs judiciously arranged so as to shut out the view of the castle til! it is suddenly presented to the eye, the visitor finds himself in a spacious area where he is at once surrounded by ancient fortifications, and Gothic buildings of a later date, now devoted to the peaceful occupation of the descendants of the old chieftains who here once held a stern and bloody sway over their trembling dependants. The keep, erected, it is said, in the days of our AngloSaxon ancestors, is now only a picturesque ruin. But two towers of high antiquity are still entire; and these are associated with the days of baronial splendour, when many a proud man, the lord of such a castle as this, held the lives and fortunes of trembling vassals in dependence upon his uncontrolled will. Miserable was the condition both of " the oppressor and the oppressed" in those evil times. One of these towers is called Cæsar's—a common appellation of some commanding part of the fortress in many castles of remote antiquity. Another, and the more important of these towers, is called Guy's. This building is perhaps the most commanding feature of Warwick Castle. It is a hundred and forty-eight feet in height. From whatever point it is viewed its proportions are truly majestic. Its real grandeur is neither advanced nor impaired by the traditions with which it is connected. Sir Guy of Warwick is one of the heroes of the wild romances of the days of chivalry. He is said, as is said of most of these worthies, to have killed a giant and a dragon; but his chief exploit is thus recorded in an old ballad : "On Dunmore heath I also slew A monstrous wild and cruel beast, In these days no great importance will be attached to this passage in the good knight's prowess; and in truth many of the bragging feats of those days, when people rode about on great horses, clad in coats of mails, were not a whit more valuable to mankind, or evinced more real courage, than this vaunted destruction of the "Dun-cow." The state-rooms, which are exhibited at Warwick Castle, contain many objects deserving attention. Some of the pictures are of the first order of excellence, particularly several portraits by Vandyke. In a greenhouse, delightfully situated in the grounds surrounding the castle, is one of the finest and most perfect remains of antiquity, a Grecian vase of white marble, dug up from the ruins of the Emperor Adrian's palace at Tivoli, and conveyed to England by the late Sir William Hamilton. Of this celebrated piece of sculpture, now called "the Warwick Vase," we shall give a representation in a future number. On the edge of the road that leads from Warwick to Coventry is a knoll, now almost covered with trees, which was the scene of one of the most remarkable events in our history, which forcibly illustrates the difference between the Warwick Castle of five centuries ago, and the Warwick Castle of the present day. It was on this mount that Piers Gaveston, the favourite of a weak monarch (Edward II.), was beheaded. The original name of this place was Blacklow-hill. It is now called either by that name, or by that of Gaveston-hill. Piers Gaveston, the clever but unprincipled favourite of the King, was the object of especial enmity to the great barons who were in opposition to the crown. After various conflicts with the monarch, they succeeded in banishing the favourite from the kingdom; but he having imprudently returned in 1312, the Earl of Warwick forcibly seized upon his person, in defiance of an express convention, and bore him in triumph to Warwick Castle, where the Earls of Lancaster, Hereford, and Arundel, repaired to hold a consultation about their prisoner. His fate was speedily decided. He was dragged to Blacklow-hill, about two miles from Warwick Castle, where he was beheaded amidst the scorn and reproach of his implacable and perfidious enemies. On the top of Black low-hill there is a rude stone, on which the name of Gaveston, and the date of his exeeution, are cut in ancient characters. As we now look upon the beautiful prospect which this summit presents, it is satisfactory to contrast the peacefulness and the fertility that are spread around, with the wild appearance that the same spot must have exhibited at the period of lawless violence which we have described; and to reflect that such a tragedy can never again occur, as long as all men are under the equal justice of the laws. ON THE MEANINGS OF WORDS.-No. 2. EVERY body must be aware that the same word has sometimes several significations; and that words at the present day are often used in a different sense from that which they had a few centuries ago, or even in the time of our fathers. This necessarily arises from the great changes that are constantly taking place in society: new inventions and new ideas either require new words to express them, or render it necessary to use old words in new senses. Owing to the rapidity with which a population of a mixed character is pouring into the United States of North America, we find that new words are in the process of formation, because they are wanted; and we find also, that the English language in that country is occasionally borrowing a word from the language of the new comers. Thus, for instance, in some parts the word plunder is vulgarly used to signify baggage, having been introduced by the German settlers. A man who is just arriving at his place of destination may chance to hear himself spoken of in the following terms: "Mr B. is just come with his plunder." We do not mean that it should be inferred from this that the English language is much corrupted in the United States: on the contrary, we believe it is spoken with greater purity by a proportionally larger number in that country than in Great Britain. But still such changes as we have alluded to are taking place there with more rapidity than among ourselves. One of the principal divisions of grammar is etymology, by which term is meant "the classifying of words which resemble one another in the mode in which they are written, and in the general meanings assigned to them." The term etymology also includes "the tracing of the different significations of a word, and showing how one proceeds from another." This latter division of the subject is one of great extent, and often of great difficulty; and though not well adapted either for the amusement or instruction of all classes of readers, yet it is still highly curious and interesting to many. The history of some words would be much more amusing than the lives of half the people included in our common Biographies. Thus, to take a few familiar instances of the changes which words have undergone, we all know pretty well what is now meant by a knave; but this word formerly signified a servant, or person of inferior condition, who waited on a superior. In our translation of the Bible, the words "cunning workman" signify a "skilful workman"; but the word cunning has now a different meaning. Whose fault it is that these two words have changed their signification-whether it is the fault of the master or the man, we will not venture to decide. It should be remarked that our language at present contains, in many instances, two sets of words which signify the same things. Such words as velocity, effeminate, timid, executed, differ respectively very little in meaning from the words swiftness, womanish, fearful, and done. The words of the former class are of Latin origin, and have for the most part been introduced into our language either directly from the Latin, or from the French and the Italian. We have received a large addition of such words within the last century; and we are still receiving them rather faster than they are wanted. Words of the second class belong to the real substance of our language, and may be called words of Saxon origin: it is this part of our language which resembles so closely the Dutch, the German, and some other European languages that belong to one and the same family. As a specimen of our pure unmixed language, we can find none better than the received version of the Bible, which, for simplicity, force, and clearness, is hardly equalled by any other composition in the English tongue. The Lord's prayer is a perfect example of genuine English: it contains very few words of Latin | origin. It is altogether composed of pure Saxon terms; and for this reason alone, independent of its internal excellence, it would merit our peculiar attention, as showing the genuine beauty and simplicity of our ancient Saxon tongue. The writings of Dr. Johnson may be considered as a specimen of Latinized English, which, though sometimes sounding and forcible, is more frequently bombastic, unmeaning, and disagreeable to all who relish. simplicity, either in manner or in language. As a general rule, it may be safely affirmed, that our best writers, by which term we mean the best both in matter and in language, prefer words of Saxon origin; while those who pretend to more knowledge than they possess, are fond of dressing the littleness of their thoughts in the most gaudy attire they can find. Even the menders of shoes have caught the infection; and instead of the plain old announcement of "shoes mended here," we are now frequently told that "repairs are executed;" while perhaps at the next door we may learn that "funerals are performed." valent in British produce or manufactures, or the value thereof, is given in exchange for every cargo of French goods that crosses the channel. Those who buy must also sell; nor can there be any trade, whether between nations or individuals, unless on a fair principle of reciprocity. This country, therefore, can never be impoverished, nor the demand for British labour diminished, by the importation of French silks, or any other foreign manufactures, in how large quantity soever. It must, however, be admitted, that the tendency of any sudden change in the law which introduces foreign manufactures into the market, to the discouragement of British, is necessarily, at first, to throw some workmen out of employment, by changing the direction of the demand for labour. This is one of the inconveniences that unavoidably follows an alteration in an old established system of policy; but we believe that the magnitude of such inconveniences has been very greatly exaggerated. At all events, if one demand for labour be closed by the abolition of restriction in a particular instance, it is quite clear that an equivalent demand must be opened in some other quarter, and therefore that the It is of more importance than at first sight it may aggregate demand for labour in the country cannot be appear, that our children should be well trained to use at all diminished. The question, therefore, comes to and understand the Saxon part of our language; for this, whether it is better that the persons occupied in a though it is true that we now possess numerous Latin-particular branch of labour should not be inconvenienced ized words which are both useful and indispensable, it by being obliged to change the nature of their work, or is also true that a great number of our words which that the whole mass of consumers should be enabled to come from the Latin or French do not convey ideas so buy a foreign commodity which can be imported better clear and precise as the genuine words of our language. and cheaper than it can be made in Great Britain? The In composing books, then, for young children of all issue is between the few and the many; and, whether classes, but more particularly those of the poorer class, the benefit to be derived by the many, from the particular it is of great importance to avoid Latinized words as measure, is not greater than the loss or inconvenience much as possible. When they have made some pro- to be consequently sustained by the few? Not that good, gress in understanding the meanings of the Saxon words, or evil, ought to be estimated by the numbers who would they may read books in which Latinized words are used participate in the advanges of one measure, or another; whenever they are found necessary, which, we venture but that governments ought never to be unmindful that to say, will not often be the case. it is the interest of the consumer, or in other words, of the nation at large, which it is their bounden duty to consult and advance, in preference to the subordinate claims of any class of individuals. In our next number we shall commence the classification of the Saxon nouns of our language. THE ERROR OF DISCOURAGING THE USE OF If then, it is certain, that the same encouragement is afforded to British industry, whether we consume what is made abroad, or what is manufactured under our own eyes, it is time that we should hear less of those foolish lamentations of the growing taste for foreign fashions, which are constantly in the mouths of those who will not take the trouble to reflect. We may be perfectly sure that neither does Don Miguel present us with port wine, nor will the supply of it be continued, any longer than we furnish to the Portuguese, British manufactures. The ladies of England have no more reason to fancy it ungenerous, or unpatriotic, to ornament themselves with the beautiful and elegant fabrics of France, than they have for considering it wrong to drink Chinese tea for their breakfasts, instead of a decoction from indigenous plants. Those who make it a matter of conscience to dress themselves exclusively in British stuffs, should, for con THERE is no principle better settled, either in public or domestic economy, than this-that it is for the interest of consumers to buy commodities at the best and cheapest rate. Every sensible person acts upon this rule in his own affairs so far as he is able; but in consequence of the system of prohibiting and discouraging foreign commodities, upon which our legislature has heretofore acted, the public has been obliged to pay for certain British commodities considerably more than their value. This is not the place to inquire why any vestiges of the system of protecting duties, as they are called, have been suffered to remain, or whether the complaints of various interests, against the modification of the protective system, have been well or ill founded; but it may still be useful for us to say a few words upon the groundlessness of the assertions that are in the mouths of many, insistency's sake, use roasted wheat to the avoidance of regard to the supposed injurious tendency of a taste for foreign commodities, in preference to British. We mention the subject, purely as one of public economy, and not in reference to any question immediately before Parliament, or the public. Those who lament the use in this country of French silks, or French gloves, seem to take it for granted that the use of such articles throws out of employment, as a matter of course, a certain number of British artisans, and that the country is consequently impoverished in proportion. But such reasoners must be very ignorant of the nature of trade, because nothing is more certain than that the French have never yet given us gratis a single yard of silk, or a single pair of gloves, but that an equi coffee, and all other substitutes of the like nature, in preference to the genuine articles; for the simple reason that the substitutes are made in Great Britain, and that the original articles are produced out of it. Whilst, therefore, we love and honour our country with an affection and reverence which other lands cannot so well claim from Englishmen, we must beg to repudiate that kind of patriotism which would force us into an absurd disregard of the advantages of living in a civilized age. It is not true patriotism, but the spirit of monopoly, that is fostered by the erroneous notions we condemn; and monopolies will always be hateful in the' eyes of honest governments, for they are repugnant to the welfare of the mass of the people. Cabinet of Natural History at Madrid; and it is singular enough that what is wanting in those bones is sup plied in the present. Some doubts were entertained, for example, whether the pelvis made a complete circle, for this part, in the Madrid skeleton, was broken off in front; the sagacious Cuvier presumed that it did; and our specimen proves it. THE GREAT SKELETON OF THE MEGATHERIUM. OUR Conceptions of the plan of Nature must, to say the least, be ever imperfect: perhaps we do not err in supposing that it is the design of Providence to fill all space with life and enjoyment. We may look in two directions at her works; by the assistance of the microscope we find everywhere minute vegetable and animal productions:-rising from the contemplation of these, we turn to that luxuriant vegetation, and to those huge animals which, according to the economy and fabric of the animal body, exhibit the largest possible dimensions. Of these it would appear that many have yielded their abode to man, and are now extinct. In the great plains of South America, and more especially behind Buenos Ayres, in that flat country which is washed by the Parana and its tributaries, there are found the remains of enormous animals. Their bones lie sunk in the mud, or alluvial soil; and sometimes, during a very dry season, when the waters are low, they appear standing up above the surface like trunks of trees, or snags as they are called in America. Such are the bones lately brought to London by the very meritorious exertions of Mr. Parish. Examining these bones, putting them together, and comparing them with the drawings of Joseph Garrega, Madrid, 1796, and of Dr. Pander and Dr. D'Alton, of Bonn, 1821, we may venture upon some speculations concerning them. The hinder parts of this animal must have been of great magnitude and strength compared with the anterior part. Anatomists know, from the inspection of the bones, what was the condition of the muscles; for the processes by which they are acted upon are ever strong and projecting, when the muscles are powerful. The processes of the pelvis show what large and strong muscles must have operated upon the thigh bone; and the thigh bone itself is an extraordinary object. It is two feet five inches in length; is three feet four inches round its thickest, and two feet two inches round its smallest, part; it is thus twice or three times the thickness of the thigh bone of the elephant. It is of very great solidity, and the ridges or processes which stand out from it, imply that the muscles were of extraordinary power. The bones of the leg, the tibia and fibula, which are separate in other animals, are here short, thick, and united into one compact bone. The calcaneum, or heel bone, projects far, being more than a foot in length, and thus it gives a powerful lever to the muscles that are attached to it. And the bones of the toes are, indeed, very curious; exhibiting to the comparative anatomist that structure which is adapted for the attachment of long and clumsy claws-but neither like the split hoof of the ruminating animals, nor the retractile claws of the feline, or cat tribe, and eThis part of the skeleton was brought to the autho-sembling more the tardigrade class, or sloths. Some rities at Buenos Ayres; from whom Mr. Parish had in- have estimated the foot to be upwards of four feet in terest to obtain it: after which, he sent some hundred length, and to be a foot in breadth. miles into the country; had the bottom of the river sounded and dragged for the remainder of the bones; and, finally, had that part of the water danimed off, so as to obtain the skull, the vertebræ of the spine and of the tail, the bones of the hinder extremity, and the shoulder bone This skeleton, imperfect as it is, proves to be, not the mastodon, or fossil animal of the Ohio, but the great fossil animal of Paraguay, the last discovered of the extinct species, and called megatherium by Cuvier, from two Greek words which signify the great The inhabitants of a remote district saw the pelvis of the animal which we are going to describe, appearing above the water, and throwing a lasso, or cord, over it, they drew it ashore.. The pelvis is the circle of bones which extends from haunch to haunch; and we may form some conception of its size, both from the manner in which it was found, and from the lively remark of Professor Buckland, on seeing this portion of the skeleton -that two of the largest members of the Geological Society might pass through its circle. When we put our hands upon our haunches, we rest them upon the wings of the pelvis: now if we extend our arms to the utmost, we have an exact measure of the breadth of the bones of which we are speaking, for it measures across from five to six feet. monster. An imperfect skeleton of this animal is in the Royal A most ingenious member of the Geological Society, in his observations upon this subject, conceived that this great strength was given to the hinder extremities of the animal, that it might the better stand upon three feet, and scratch with the fore foot that was free. We should have the more willingly assented to this idea had the hind foot been obviously calculated for standing upon; but the processes of the bones, and the formation of the toes, seem to indicate that this limb was to be more actively employed. Why not suppose that it dug like such animals as we see employed in digging ?-they work with their fore feet, and, after a cer tain accumulation, make more desperate exertions with their hind feet, to clear away the encumbrance. On the whole, the extremities of this animal must have been short compared with his length, and the breadth of his haunches; for his height is not estimated at more than seven feet. As we have said, the processes of the bones imply great muscular strength, and, probably, activity, such activity as we see in the motions of the armadillo. Nothing is more surprising than the smallness of the head in this animal: indeed we could not have believed that the head belonged to these enormous bones, had not Mr. Cliff put the vertebræ together, and did we not see that those of the neck corresponded with each other; and that the anterior vertebra of all, the atlas, fitted exactly into the articulating processes of the skull. This part is imperfect, but happily the teeth and a portion of the jaw are here. The teeth are most singular in their structure. There are no incisors or front teeth. Probably the animal had a projecting snout, like the tapir in the Zoological Gardens. It certainly had not a trunk like the elephant; because the length of the neck, as shown by the vertebræ, enabled it to reach the ground with the mouth: and neither the form of the bones of the face, nor the holes through which the nerves pass, indicate the attachment of such an organ as the trunk. The teeth are seated in the back part of the jaw; their ground surfaces enter into one another with extraordinary exactness; and the enamel is so placed that they are worn in a manner quite peculiar. They are unlike the teeth of the lion or of the tiger; they obviously suffered great attrition: and are provided against a rapid wasting by the mode of their growth, which resembles that of the front teeth of animals which gnaw-the rodentia. The projecting incisor teeth of the beaver, for example, cut like an adze, but they necessarily suffer from the attrition; to provide against which they grow at their roots, and advance forwards in proportion as they waste on their exposed surfaces. These teeth of the megatherium, although in the usual place of grinders, have the provision for growing at the fangs, whilst they waste on their crowns; which implies that they were used in cutting vegetables, and, probably, the roots dug out of the earth. From the processes of the scapula, or shoulder-blade, we see that this animal had a clavicle, or collar-bone, and that the radius and ulna had free rotatory motion: the marks upon the humerus, too, show that the muscles which roll the wrist-joint were powerful: now these, with the adaptation in the form of the toes for long and strong claws, lead us to believe that the animal turned out the earth like the mole, and was in structure something between the sloth and the anteater. Altogether, it would appear that he dug and searched for roots, and lived on vegetables. There is another fact important to our speculations on the habits of this animal; there has been brought home from the same districts, and found along with bones similar to these, though remotely placed from the present specimen, a cover like the shell of the armadillo, but of a size like a great brewer's boiler, and studded with tubercles, like the nails upon a prison door. If this shell covered the animal, for what purpose of defence could it be? An ingenious geologist conceived that the animal had the power of flinging up the soil in such masses, that, in descending, it required a protection to its back. This conjecture will hardly be satisfactory; and yet to suppose that such a creature, possessed of such dimensions, could have a formidable enemy, and that it required the protection of a defensive armour, like the armadillo, is perhaps equally extravagant. According to the methods of the naturalists, from the circumstance of this animal wanting the front teeth, we should class it with the Edentés of Cuvier, and, following that author, place it along with the megalonyx (having large claws). This latter animal, also extinct, Presi dent Jefferson described as a great lion, higher in limbs than our largest ox, and the enemy of the grand mastodon, thereby presenting a terrific idea of the ancient world. But Cuvier, by his knowledge of anatomy, proved it to have been a vegetable feeder, and to be properly classed with the tardigrade animals, a harmless race. This specimen of the megatherium, in its magnificent ruins, must give activity to the fancy. It is said that there is nothing interesting in antiquarian research, but as it is associated with man,-with human action or suffering. But here are remains which carry the mind back to the most remote times; not into the contemplation of the ages of mankind, but to the earlier condition of the globe, when it was undergoing a succession of changes, which were, at length, to suit it for the abode of the human race. The condition of a part of these bones may convey an idea of the plains where they are found. Some of them are nearly consumed by fire; the natives using them for setting their kettles on when cooking. To understand how they should be applied for such uses, we must recollect that there is no stone to resist the fire; and that there is nothing but mud and vegetable productions for many hundred miles around where these bones were discovered. The wood-cut of the megatherium at the head of this notice is copied from a plate in the great work of Cuvier on Fossil Bones, which representation is from the specimen in Madrid. AUGUST 9th.-The anniversary of the birth of John Dryden. This great poet was born in 1631, in the pa rish of Aldwinkle-All-Saints, Northamptonshire, where his father, the third son of Sir Erasmus Dryden, Bart., had a small estate. The poet's third son, Erasmus Henry, eventually succeeded to this baronetcy. All Dryden's near connections appear to have attached themselves in the civil wars to the party of the Parliament; and the poet himself, afterwards so celebrated for his royalist strains, began also by exercising his talents on that side of the question. The first verses by which he made himself much known, were his 'Heroic Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell,' in which he celebrated the memory of the Protector and his actions with no cold or sparing panegyric. When the Restoration, however, a few months after, brought other principles or |