Are they not mentioned to have been seen in Hudson's Voyage? And the Rev. Dr. Philip, in a letter from the Cape of Good Hope, dated April, 1822, says I have to day seen a Mermaid, now exhibiting in this town. I have always treated the existence of this creature as fabulous; but my scepticism is now removed.' He then proceeds with the description of the animal, which is similar to every other I have met with; only he observes in continuance-'the countenance has an expression of terror, which gives it the appearance of a caricature of the human face;' but he is disposed to think that both these circumstances are accidental, and arose from the manner in which the creature met its death. 'It was caught somewhere to the north of China by a fisherman, who sold it for a trifle; after which it was brought to Batavia. Here it was purchased by Captain Eades for five thousand Spanish dollars. Captain Eades is a passenger on board the American ship Lion, now in Table Bay.'

"Now do you think, my incredulous Cousin, that the Rev. Gentleman alluded to would lend his name to testify a circumstance that might be contradicted by all the town and the whole ship's crew? Besides, there was one some years ago at Haarlem; and the supposed hand of another was for some time preserved in the cabinet belonging to the physic garden at Leyden."

"The supposed hand! that puts me in mind of a story I have read somewhere of a traveller

who when viewing the curiosities that were carefully preserved in the Church of St. Ambrose, at Milan, was shewn the brazen serpent erected by Moses in the desert. 'I thought,' said she,' that was beaten to powder by the Divine command.' The Priest looked surprised and displeased. 'Forgive me, father,' said she, perhaps this was made of that powder?' The father bowed assent."

NUMBER XXXV.

ON SUPERSTITION.

་་་

Alas! you know the truth too well;
The salt was spilt-to me it fell.
Then to contribute to my loss, 1

My knife and fork were laid across;
On Friday too!-the day I dread!
Would I were safe at home in bed!
Last night, (I vow to heav'n 'tis true)
Bounce from the fire a coffin flew.
Next post some fatal news shall tell!
God send my Cornish friends be well.

THE desire of searching into futurity has, no doubt, given rise to a variety of superstitious follies, equally weak and extravagant.

"The Romans in particular," says a celebrated Author of Heathen Theology, "found out almost innumerable ways of Divination; all nature had a voice, and the most senseless beings, and most trifling accidents, became presages of future events. This introduced ceremonies that were the most childish and ridiculous, and which yet. were performed with an air of solemnity."

"Birds, on account of their swiftness, were sometimes considered by the Egyptians as the

symbols of the winds; and figures of particular species of fowl, were set up to denote the time when the near approach of a periodical wind was expected. From hence, before they undertook any thing of consequence, as sowing, planting, or putting out to sea, it was usual for them to say, let us consult the birds, meaning the signs fixed up to give them the necessary information they then stood in need of. By doing this, they knew how to regulate their conduct; and it frequently happened, that when this precaution was omitted, they had reason to reproach themselves for their neglect. From hence mankind mistaking their meaning, and retaining the phrase let us consult the birds; and, perhaps, hearing old stories repeated of the advantages such and such persons had received by consulting them in a critical moment, when the periodical wind would have ruined their affairs; they began to conceive an opinion that the fowls which skim through the air were so many messengers sent by the gods to inform them of future events, and to warn them against any disastrous undertaking. From hence they took notice of their flight, and from their different manner of flying prognosticated good or bad omens. The birds were instantly grown wonderous wise; and an owl, who hates the light, could not pass by the window of a sick person in the night, where he was offended by the light of a lamp or candle, but his hooting must be considered as prophesying that the life of the poor

man was nearly at an end. Observations were also taken from the manner in which the sacred chickens took their food; from the chattering or hooting of crows, pies, owls, &c. and from the running of beasts, as heifers, asses, rams, hares, wolves, &c. when these appeared in uncommon places, crossed the way, or run to the right or left. They also pretended to draw a good or bad omen from the most common and trifling actions of life, as sneezing, stumbling, starting, the numbness of the little finger, the tingling of the ear, the spilling of salt upon the table, &c."

Now it is very well known that cattle, as the storm approaches, will bellow and run to seek shelter under a tree or a hedge; and

"Prone to the lowest vale, the aërial tribes
Descend: the tempest-loving raven scarce
Dares wing the dubious dusk."

So that these things may certainly be considered as the effect of some great cause, and not the cause of any great effect.

We are informed that "Scipio, Augustus, and many others, have without any fatal consequences, despised the chickens and the other arts of divination; but when the Generals miscarried in any enterprise, the people laid the whole blame on the heedlessness with which they had been consulted; and if he had entirely neglected consulting them, all the blame was thrown upon him who had preferred his own forecast to that of the fowls;