eagle, or their offspring. M. de Thou, in the memoirs of his life, tells us, that he himfelf once dined with a certain great man; and obferved with fome furprize, that all the wild fowls brought to table wanted a leg, wing, or other part, till he was informed they were taken from an eagle's airy in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Ray mentions an eagle's neft, found near the river Darwent, in 1668, confifting of large flicks, one end whereof was laid on a rock, and the other on two birch trees. It was two yards fquare, and had a young eagle in it, with the carcaffes of one lamb, one hare, and three grygalli. And, it appears from Sir Robert Sibbald, that the eagle will fometimes feize even children; for he gives us an instance of one that took up a young child, at a place called Houghton-head, and carried it to its neft in Hoy, one of the Orkney idlands, four miles diftant; but being immediately followed by four men in a boat, who had obferved an eagle's airy in that inland, and knew the place perfectly well, they brought back the child unhurt, before the furious bird had begun his intended repaft. He had carried the child there, by fticking his talons in his cloaths only.

Sharpness of fight is alfo a quality of the eagle, which fets him above all other birds. He feems even to be fenfible of that advantage, and to preserve it in his fpecies. As foon as his young begin to have ftrength, he turns them towards the fun, and makes them fix their eyes upon it; and if any one cannot bear the heat and force of the rays, he chaces him from the nest, as if he judged him unworthy of his protection and affiftance; but attaches himfelf to the reft with remarkable affection, even to the expofing his own life to preferve them, and fighting obftinately against all those who would take them from him. He is feen fluttering in various ways, round his neft, to teach them to fly. He takes them afterward on his back, carries them higher at different times, quits them in the middle of his course, in order to prove them; and, if he perceives that they cannot as yet fupport themselves alone, and that they are in danger of falling, he darts himself below them with the greatest rapidity, and receives them again on his back, between his wide expanded wings. He is the only bird in whom nature has inftilled

this kind of instinct, which the Scripture has chofen as an expreffive fymbol of the tenderness with which God protects his people in the wilderness :

"The Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

"He found him in a defert land, and in the wafte-howling-wilderness: he led him about, he inftructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

"As an eagle stirreth up her neft, fluttereth over her young, fpreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings;

"So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him.

Deut. xxxii. ver. 9, 10, 11, 12,"

The reason why eagles, who have not the fibres of their eyes ftronger than other animals, can look fo fteadfastly on the fun, and fupport the fplendor of its rays fo eafily, is, becaufe, they have two fets of eye-lids; the one is thin and fine, which they draw over the eyes when they look upon a luminous object, and which renders the glaring light much more fupportable; the other thick and clofe, with which they shut their eyes entirely. By this means he rifes to that prodigious height fo aftonishing to the beholder.

The eagle fometimes carries his flight in the regions of the air to fuch an inmense height, as to vanish from our fight, notwithstanding his bulk and the length of his wings, which, when stretched out, are nine feet and more from the tip of one wing to the other; and from the extremity of the bill to that of the tail, the diftance is three feet and upwards. Bochart tells us that this bird lives a century, and encreases.. in bulk to his death. If this be true, we may credit the relation of

of Athenæus, who fays that eagles were carried by way of ornament at the triumph of Ptolemy, whofe wings were 20 cubits long; but we are in fome doubt, notwithftanding, as to the truth of this point. From the ftupendous swiftnefs of this bird, he has had the highest honours paid him by the poets. He is the armour-bearer of Jupiter, and is painted at the end of his fcepter. Ganymede was carried off by an eagle to ferve the gods with nectar; and the eagle always conveyed the fouls of heroes to heaven. Many other fables might be related to the fame purpose.

The hand of Providence is particularly remarkable in the formation of the eagle's eye; for befides the two eye-lids, the eye itfelf is very strong, and he can discover bis prey at a great distance. This is taken notice of in the excellent book of Job: "She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, on the crag of the rock, and on the strong place from thence the feeketh her prey, and her eyes behold afar off. Job xxxix, 28, 29."

It is agreed among all the learned and critics, that every ten years he renews his ftrength and youth. His feathers at the end of every fuch period become more heavy, and lefs proper for flight.

He

then approaches nearer the fun than usual; and after being exceffively heated, he plunges immediately into the fea; his feathers fall off, and new ones fupply their place, which restore him to his former ftrength. It is this, which perhaps David intended to exprefs in thefe words: "Thy youth fhall be renewed like that of the eagle."

Ælian attributes to him a peculiar inftin&t of gratitude. If he may be relied on, that eagle which Pyrrhus had brought up, and which followed him every where, was fo fenfible of the death of that illuftrious warrior, that he would not quit his body, or receive any nourishment: and another threw himself into the pile where the corpfe of him, who had kept him till that moment, was burning. Plutarch, in the life of Numa, relates, that Pythagoras had fo far tamed an eagle, that upon his pronouncing certain words, it would ftop in its flight, and come down to him. He alfo, in the life of Marius, fays, the eagle never lays more than two eggs at a time but in this, it fhould feem, he muft haye been mistaken; for Ruysch tells us,

there was an eagle's neft found between' Misena and Drefden, in which were three young ones. This bird was always reckoned a good omen. The ftory of the eagle's neft with seven young ones, which Marius pretended fell into his robe as he was one day in the country, is well. known; from whence he inferred, he fhould feven times be poffeffed of the fuThis Plutarch preme power in Rome. thinks was not true; because, as is above-mentioned, he fays the eagle never lays but two eggs before the fits upon and hatches them. The eagle was so highly esteemed among the ancients, that it was a great mark of refpect to be called by that name. After the engagement between Demetrius's general Pantauchus and Pyrrhus, the Epirots called the latter eagle: to which he replied," By your means it is that I am an eagle; for how fhould I not be fuch, while I am borne up by your arms as on wings?" Plutarch, in the life of Ariftides, fays, that kings and tyrants are fonder of the title of eagle, or vulture, than the appellation of the juft, as Ariftides was called; meaning, as we fuppofe, that the former are more like to themselves in rapacity and cruelty.

In Africa they reckon feven forts of eagles, all differing in fize, shape, and colour. It is probable there are more; for at the Cape alone are four, which au thors particularly defcribe. The first is fimply called the eagle, of the ignoble kind, from their feeding upon fish and dead animals; the fecond is the duckeagle, whofe prey is chiefly ducks; the third is termed the bone-breaking-eagle, from their carrying up the land-tortoifes a great height into the air, and letting them fall to break their fhells; and the fourth the fea-eagle, from living always near Others add a fifth fort of that element. eagles, called dung-birds; who, if they find an ox or cow laid down, fall upon the beast in great numbers, make a hole in the belly of it with their bills and talons, and perfectly scoop out the infide of it, leaving but a bare skeleton covered with the hide.

In Virginia are three forts of eagles. The largest is called the grey eagle; the fecond is the bald eagle; for the body and part of the neck being of a dark brown, the upper part of the neck and G8g2

head

with contempt. In fpite of all their zeal and perfeverance, their harvest was but fcanty and they complained that their fuccefs was greatly obstructed by the conduct of the English and Dutch of New York; who, tho' Chriftians by profession, exhibited no examples of Chriftianity, nor any figns of religion; and, moreover, indulged the favages with a free trade for fpirituous liquors, which debauched their morals by producing the most brutal in toxication. But how fmall foever the progrefs of the miffionaries might be, in planting the Chriftian religion; certain it is, they made many useful discoveries for the benefit of commerce, and established correfpondences among the diftant tribes that inhabit the vaft continent of NorthAmerica.

not before, the colony of New-France, or Canada, became an object of importance. The number of the fettlers was confiderably increased; the foldiers of the regiment of Carignan being disbanded, began as planters to cultivate the lands: their officers were gratified with large tracts, to be held with all the rights of figniorship; and as they were generally men, of good families, New France could boast of a greater number of ancient nobleffe, than were to be found in any other French colony, Thefe gentlemen vied with each other in building elegant and convenient houses, in raifing plantations, encouraging industry, and promoting agriculture;, fo that in a little time, Canada, exclusive of the fur trade, began to flourish as a populous and fertile country..

[To be continued.] 478

WHAT

an idea must a man of a con templative turn of mind entertain of human nature, if he has made himself well acquainted with the hiftory of the civil wars, in the reign of the unfortunate Charles I. and of the many and innume rable fcenes of wickedness, carried on by a fet of men with the vileft hypocrify, and all under the cloak of religion! What humiliating thoughts muft he have of the infatuation of mankind, who could be blinded with fuch enthufiasm and fanaticifm, as to commit fuch atrocious deeds with the folemnity of faints; and actual ly believe, as well as declare, they were all the while doing the work and service of God! In all the writings of the zealots. of that time, there is fuch a ridiculous mask of piety drawn over the fouleft acts, which will not fail to excite our laughter, though it cannot but provoke our indignation. The highest abfurdities, frangest comparisons, groffest flatteries, greateft falfities, every where interlarded with reflections from scripture, and all in the most affected strains of holiness, make up the chief matter of the fpeeches, debates, and records, of that age.

As the following account of the death of Oliver Cromwell, published by authority a few days after he died, is an inftance of the truth of the foregoing reflections, and of the high regard paid to the memory of that man, who was the life and foul of this enthusiastic zeal; and as it must

prove agreeable and entertaining, we have given it a place in this Magazine. It is necessary to remark, that though the whole is a laboured panegyric, conceived in terms of the highest adulation, without much regard to truth or decency; it was implicitly believed by thofe who were the friends of Cromwell, to be a true portraiture of the person it was drawn forsk

"WHITEHALL, Sept. 3. 16586. His most serene and renowned highness Oliver lord-protector, being after a fickness of about fourteen days (which appeared an ague in the beginning) reduced to a very low condition of body, began early this morning to draw near the gates of death ;. and it pleafed God about three o'clock in the afternoon, to put a period to his life.

"We would willingly exprefs, on this fad occafion, the deep forrow which hath poffeffed the minds of his most noble fon and fucceffor, and other dearest relations, had we language fufficient: but all that we can ufe will fall far thort of the merits of that most excellent prince.

"His first undertakings for the public intereft, his working things all along, as it were out of the rock; his founding a military difcipline in these nations, fuch as is not to be found in any example of preceding times; and whereby the noble foldiers of these nations may, without flattery, be commended for piety, moderation, and obedience, as a pattern to be imitated, but hardly to be equalled by fuc

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