rings round their fore-legs: they also give them a regular allowance of bread and meat, and take all possible care of them while alive. When they die, the Egyptians embalm them and put them in sacred sepulchres." Fortunately for the credit of Herodotus, a mummy of a crocodile has been found with his ears pierced for pendents, which fact is particularly mentioned by M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire *.

Strabo tells an odd story of a crocodile which he saw when he visited Egypt, somewhat more than 400 years after the visit of Herodotus. "In this district they honour the crocodile very much, and they have a sacred one which lives by itself in the lake, and is quite tame to the priests. He is called Suchus, and is fed with bread, and meat, and wine, which he gets from strangers who come to see him. Our host, who was a person of importance in the place, accompanied us to the lake, taking with him from table a small cake, some roasted meat, and a little cup full of some sweet liquor. We found the crocodile lying on the margin of the lake. The priests went up to him, and while some opened his mouth, another crammed into it, first the cake, then the meat, and, last of all, poured the drink down his throat. The crocodile, after this treat, jumped into the lake, and swam over to the other side t." Inthe Townley Gallery of the British Museum (Room VI. No. 88) there is a piece of sculpture representing a man mounted on the back of a crocodile, in a singular attitude, which will be best understood by a visit to the Museum.

STATISTICAL NOTES.

For

ENGLAND AND WALES (CONTINUEd). (10.)—THE SUM expended for the maintenance of the poor of England in the year ending March 25th, 1830, was 6,553,4431. For Wales, the sum for that year was 275,598. Although the population since 1750 has only about doubled itself, the poor rates have increased, since that year, more than tenfold. the ten manufacturing and mining counties, mentioned in paragraph 2, (viz., Lancaster to Salop,) the increase has been from 107,9271. in 1750 to 1,337,011. in 1830; for the thirteen counties in paragraph 3, (Surrey to Hertford, including the Metropolitan,) from 294,070l. to 2,666,1991.; and for the nineteen agricultural counties, in paragraph 4, from 277,S651. to 2,550,330. The sum expended for the poor of Middlesex in 1830, was 675,2851.; next to this comes Kent, 358,461., though only the sixth county in the order of population; then, Norfolk, 299,2117., though only the ninth county in population; then, Lancaster, the third in population, 297,6741.; then, Essex, the fourteenth in population, and containing about onefourth of the people in Lancashire, 282,1331.; then, the West Riding of Yorkshire, with a population of 976,400, 281,1587. The ratio of the poor rates of the ten manufacturing counties to their population is about as one to three; that of the thirteen metropolitan and other counties, about one-half; and that of the nineteen agricultural counties, as about two to three. The chief burthen of pauperism, therefore, falls upon the agricultural districts.

(11.) The committals for crime in the ten manufacturing districts were in 1805, 1, 198, and in 1829, 6,430; in the thirteen metropolitan and other districts, they were in 1805, 2,317, and in 1829, 7,844; and in the nineteen agricultural counties, they were in 1805, 1,012, and in 1829, 4,158. In all Wales the committals decreased from 78 in 1805, to 24 in 1829. The number of persons committed for trial at Assizes and Sessions in England and Wales in 1830, was 18,107, of whom 12,805 were convicted, 3,470 acquitted, and 1,832 had no bills found against them and were not prosecuted. Of the convicted, 1397 were sentenced to death, and 46 executed. Annales du Muséum, vol. ix. p. 386. + Description of Egypt, Book xvii.

As a general result, the committals in England are thus in the proportion of one to 740 inhabitants; and in Wales, of one to 2,320. In London and Middlesex the proportion is higher than in any other county, being one committal to every 400 inhabitants; in Surrey the proportion is one to 680; in Kent, one to 730; in Sussex, one to 750; in Essex, one to 650; in Hertfordshire, one to 520; in Bedfordshire, one to 710. In the manufacturing districts the proportion is in Lancashire one to 650; in Warwickshire, one to 480; in Gloucestershire (including Bristol), one to 540; in Nottingham, one to 750; in Cheshire, one to 630. In the more remote counties the proportion is small, that of Northumberland being only one to 2,700; of Durham, one to 2,460; and of Cornwall, one to 1,600. It should be remarked, that of late, other causes than the advance of crime have tended to fill the prisons, such as the Malicious Trespass Act, and the law for paying prosecutors their expenses in cases of misdemeanour; and it is most satisfactory to observe that the darker crimes have, of late years, been less apparent than of old.

(12.) The number of depositors in Savings' Banks in England in 1830 (including 5,904 Friendly and Charitable Societies) was 373,716, and in Wales 10,404. The total amount thus invested was, in England, 13,080,2557., and, in Wales, 340,7217. The proportion of the depositors to the total population, is therefore about 34 in every 1000, or one in 30. The average of the ten counties, in paragraph 2, is 25 dépositors to every 1000; of the thirteen counties, in paragraph 3, it is 33 depositors to every 1000; and of the nineteen counties, in paragraph 4, it is 27 to every 1000. In Devonshire the proportion of depositors is the highest, being 55 to 1000; in Middlesex and Berkshire it is 50 to 1000; in Lancashire and Warwickshire, 20 to 1000; in Kent, Sussex, and Dorset, 36 to 1000; and in Monmouth, Westmoreland, and Buckingham about 12 to 1000 of the population. The average amount of each deposit is about 347., and there has of late been a considerable increase in the number of depositors of sums under 201., who amount now to 192,881. By some this fact is regarded as a proof of the growth of prudential habits among the mass of the working classes. It would be more exact to say so, of a small portion of the working classes, the fact being that 29 out of 30 of our population do not contribute to Savings' Banks at all. There are some debatable questions in regard to the effect produced by the appropriation of the funds of the Savings Banks by the Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt, but such questions cannot at all affect the manifest advantage to be attained by every working man in saving his money at interest, in preference to squandering it.

(13.) It has been already seen in paragraph 3, that the rate of increase of the population of Middlesex (including the city of London) since 1700 has been 117 per cent., being 37 per cent. less than the average of the rest of England. The following is a statement of the London, as compared with 1801:— present population of the Metropolis commonly called

SINGULAR ESCAPE. THE following curious anecdote is taken from Archdeacon Coxe's Historical Tour in Monmouthshire, vol. i., p. 101-2-"The frame of the wooden bridge over the Usk, at Caerleon, is not unlike the carpentry of Casar's bridge over the Rhine, as described by him in his Commentaries. The floor, supported by ten lofty piers, is level, and divided by posts and rails into rooms or beds of boards, each twelve feet in length; the apparently loose and disjointed state of the planks, and the clattering noise which they make under the pressure of a heavy weight, have not unfrequently occasioned alarm to those who are unused to them. Some travellers, from a superficial view of the structure, have asserted that the planks are placed loose, to admit the tide through their interstices when it rises above the bridge, and which would, if they were fixed, force them from the frame, and carry them away. But, in fact, the tide has never been known to rise above the bridge, nor was the flooring constructed to obviate this inconvenience. Formerly the planks were fastened to each extremity by iron nails; but the wood being liable to split, and the nails frequently forced up by the elastic agitation of the beams under the pressure of heavy carriages, the planks were secured from rising by horizontal rails, fastened to the posts, and prevented from slipping side-ways by a peg at each end

within the rail.

"The height of the water, at extraordinary tides, exceeds thirty feet; but though it has never risen above the floor, yet the united body of a high tide, and the floods to which the Usk is subject, have been known to carry away parts of the bridge. An accident of this kind, which happened on the 29th of October, 1772, occasioned a singular event, to which I should not have given credit, had it not been authenticated by the most respectable testimony.

"As Mrs. Williams, wife of Mr. Edward Williams, brazier was returning from the village on the other side of the bridge to the town of Caerleon, at eleven o'clock at night, with a candle and lanthorn, the violence of the current forced away four piers and a considerable part of the bridge. On a fragment of this mass, consisting of an entire room, with the beams, posts, and flooring, she was hurried down the river; but preserved sufficient presence of mind to support herself by the railing. After having been carried down about a mile and a half the candle was extinguished: on passing some houses at St. Julian's, near the river side, she screamed for help, and was heard by several persons, who started out of their beds to assist her; but the violence of the stream had already hurried her beyond their reach. During this time she felt but little apprehension, as she entertained hopes of being delivered by the boatmen at Newport; her expectafions were increased by the numerous lights which she discerned in the houses, and she accordingly redoubled her cries for assistance, though without effect. On arriving at Newport, which is more than three miles from Caerleon, the fragment on which she stood being broken to pieces against a pier of the bridge, she fortunately bestrode a beam, and, after being detained for some minutes by the eddies at the bridge, was rapidly hurried along towards the sea. In this perilous situation she at length gave up all hope of deliverance, and resigned herself to her approaching fate.

"About a mile from Newport she discerned a glimmering light, in a barge which was moored near the shore, and, redoubling her cries, was heard by the master of the vessel After hailing her, and learning her situation, he cried out, Keep up your spirits, and you will be soon out of danger;' then leaping into the boat with one of his men, rowed towards the place from whence the screams proceeded; but some time elapsed before he overtook her, at a considerable distance from the anchorage of the barge. The night was so dark that they could not discern each other, and the surf

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swelling violently, the master repeated his exhortations, charged her to be calm, and not attempt to quit her station. Fortunately, a sudden dispersion of the clouds enabled him however, her presence of mind forsook her, and eagerly atto lash the beam fore and aft to the boat. At this moment, tempting to throw herself forward, she was checked by the oaths of the seamen, who were at length enabled to heave her into the boat, but could not disengage themselves from the beam till they almost reached the mouth of the Usk. This being effected, not without great difficulty, they rowed to the shore, and embayed themselves till the first dawn of the morning, when they conveyed her in the boat to Newport."

Mr. Coxe gives the names of several respectable persons residing in the neighbourhood, who expressly confirmed to his satisfaction the truth of this narrative: he especially refers to a clergyman, to whom Mrs. Williams often repeated the story, and confirmed it on her death-bed with the most solemn asseverations.

Chronicles, p. 631, the following lively picture is drawn of the Disturbed Times unfavourable to Lawyers.-In Stow's state of the courts of law during the performance of the tragedies of religious persecution and tyranny under Queen Mary in 1557:-" This yeere, in Michaelmas terme, men might have seen in Westminster Hall, at the King's Bench named Fostar, who looked about, and had nothing to do; bar, not two men of law before the justices. There was one the judges likewise looking about them. In the Common Pleas no more serjeants but one, which was Serjeant Benlowes, who looked about him: there was elbow-room enough; which made the lawyers to complain of their injuries

in that terme."

As the Italian poet, Tasso, whose misfortunes were as great as his genius, was on one of his journeys between Rome and Naples, he fell into the hands of banditti, who immediately proceeded to plunder him and his fellow-travellers. But no sooner did the captain of the band, the celebrated Marco Sciarra, of Abruzzi, hear the poet pronounce his name, than, with tokens of admiration and respect, he set him at liberty; nor would he even permit his followers to plunder Tasso's companions. A prince of royal or imperial birth confined the poet in a mad-house for more than seven years; the great and wealthy left him to a precarious life, which was often a life of absolute want; the servile men of letters of the day loaded him with abusive and most unjust criticism; but a mountain robber, by the road's side, controlled in his favour the very instinct of his gang, and kissed the hand of the author of the Gerusa

lemme!

Parini, a native of Milan, was not only cne of the first poets of modern Italy, but a digrified, philanthropic, and most amiable man. When the government of his country wa changed, and a republic first instituted under the protection of the French arms, Milan became the scene of very natural excitement, and occasionally of violence. The people had been too long deprived of liberty to be able to bear their new condition with moderation. Things even went so far that a young and beautiful girl was seen to ascend the republican tribune, and to promise her virgin-love to the man who should bring in the head of that foe to liberty-the poor old Pope; and the father of this virago was seen to embrace her with transport and tears excited by this heroic virtue! It was at this time that some violent demagogue tried to force Parini, one night at the theatre, to join the mob in crying" death to the aristocrats!" Long live the Republic," exclaimed the poet. "Life to the Republic, but death to no one!" In an instant tranquillity was restored.

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A Savoyard got his livelihood by exhibiting a monkey and a bear. He gained so much applause from his tricks with the monkey, that he was encouraged to practise some of them upon the bear: he was dreadfully lacerated, and on being rescued, with great difficulty, from the gripe of Bruin, he exclaimed: "What a fool was I, not to distinguish between a monkey and a bear! A bear, my friends, is a very grave kind of personage, and, as you plainly see, does not understand a joke."

Evelyn truly remarked, that all is vanity which is not honest, and there is no solid wisdom but in real piety.

AN obelisk is a single block of stone with four faces, which are not quite perpendicular, but inclined a little, each towards the opposite face, so that the width of each side gradually diminishes to the top of the shaft, which is crowned with a pyramid. There are two small obelisks of basalt in the British Museum, numbered 70 and 5. They are entire from the base upwards, but the upper part, together with the little pyramid at the top, is broken off. Both of them were brought from Grand Cairo in Egypt, where they were first taken possession of by the French, but they afterwards came into the hands of the English when the French army capitulated at Alexandria in 1801, and quitted the country.

The one numbered 70 was used as the door-sill of a mosque in the castle of Cairo, where that excellent traveller, Niebuhr, saw it in 1762, and copied part of the figures. By comparing his drawing with the north side of this obelisk (as it now stands), we readily discover it to be the same. This obelisk, besides losing its top and part of the shaft, has been broken into two unequal pieces, which are now united. The lower part, however, is quite complete, which is evident from there being a smooth unsculptured surface on all the four sides, to the height of about 10 inches above the base. In all the obelisks that have been accurately measured, at least in all of which we have been able to procure a complete account, the width of the adjacent sides is different. For example, in this Museum obelisk, as it now stands, the north and south sides are of the same dimensions, being about 1 foot 4 inches wide, while the east and west sides are each about 1 foot 5 inches:

the height of this fragment is about 8 feet 1 inch, measured along one of the faces.

These two obelisks have a great number of figures cut on each face, representing either natural objects, such as birds and serpents, or various other things which it is not in all cases easy to identify. They are cut deep into the stone, and, in some instances, a considerable elevation or relief is given to the parts contained within the deep incision, for the purpose of showing the round and prominent parts of the figure. On all Egyptian monuments of an early age, animals are cut with great accuracy of outline and spirit, especially birds, of which this obelisk offers some excellent specimens in the goose, the ibis, known by his long beak and legs, and another bird in walking attitude, near the base of the south side. The execution of this last is above all praise.

It is now ascertained that the figures enclosed in oblong rings contain the titles and names of kings. These are the same on the two obelisks, and they happen also to be the same as those on the great sarcophagus, No. 6.

There have been many disputes among the learned as to the origin and meaning of obelisks, into which we shall not enter here. We know that they were generally placed in pairs at the entrances of the great Egyptian temples and palaces; and there are still two standing, in their original position, before the gateway of a large edifice at Thebes. When the Romans got possession of Egypt, Augustus removed two of the largest obelisks from Heliopolis (the city of the sun) to Rome, where they still exist, and attest the fact of their removal at that period, by a Latin inscription on the pedestal. During the troubles of the city and the disastrous period of the decline of the Roman Empire, these and other obelisks were thrown down and broken; but they have since been set on pedestals by the enterprising spirit of some of the popes. Sixtus V., in 1586, set the first example, in which he was followed by several of his successors; and Pius VI. restored other obelisks in the years 1786, 1789, and 1792. Two have been raised since the last-mentioned date.

The largest obelisk now at Rome, and perhaps the largest in the world, is that which stands in front of the Lateran church. It was originally erected by the Emperor Constantius*, in the Circus Maximus, by means of a most cumbrous machinery of wood-work and ropes, after having been brought from Egypt in a ship built expressly for the purpose, and manned with three hundred rowers. Pope Sixtus V. set it up in its present place in 1588, after it had lain on the ground broken in three pieces for several centuries. Though the shaft has sustained some damage at the base, it is still 105 feet long; the width of the two larger sides at the base is 9 feet 8 inches, and of the smaller 9 feet. It now stands on a kind of pedestal, quite unsuited to the simple character of the genuine Egyptian supports. The whole height at present, with its pedestal and ornaments on the top, is about 150 English feet, and the weight of the obelisk itself may probably be about 440 tons. The material is the red granite of Syene, resembling that of the altar, No. 2, in the British Museum.

It is not so much the actual magnitude of an obelisk which excites our wonder, for the London monument is 50 feet higher than the tallest of the Roman obelisksbut the simplicity of the obelisk form, which is not disfigured by any irregularity, its gradual diminution towards the summit, which takes away all appearance of heaviness, the beautiful sculptures with which most of them are covered, and the unity of the huge mass cut from the quarries of Syene, conveyed so many hundred miles, and then set firmly on its pedestal-all these combined fill us with admiration at the boldness and taste of the designer, and the unwearied patience and skill of the sculptor.

Ammianus Marcellinus, xvii. 4.,