water pond in a garden for many years; and adds, that in Mr. Arnold's pond at Guernsey, which has been before referred to, the sole becomes twice as thick as a fish of the same length from the sea. A letter from a gentleman residing on the banks of the Arun contains the following statement-“I succeeded yesterday in seeing the person who caught the soles about which you enquire, and who has been in the constant habit of trawling for them with a ten-feet beam trawl in this river for the last forty years. The season for taking them is from May till November. They breed in the river Arun; frequenting it from the mouth five miles upwards, which is nearly to the town of Arundel, and remain in it the whole year, burying themselves in the sand during the cold months. The fisherman has occasionally taken them of large size, two pounds weight each, but frequently of one pound; and they are thicker in proportion than the soles usually caught at sea, in other respects precisely the same; and it is evident they breed in great numbers in the river, from the quantity of small ones about two inches long that are constantly brought on shore when drawing the net for gray mullet." GRAY MULLET IN FRESH WATER. "The partiality exhibited by the gray mullet for 'fresh-water, has led to actual experiment of the effect of confining them to it entirely. Mr. Arnold put a number of the fry of the gray mullet, about the size of a finger, into his pond at Guernsey, which is of about three acres area, and has been before referred to under the article Basse. After a few years, mullet of four pounds weight were caught, which proved to be fatter, deeper, and heaver, for their length, than others obtained from the sea. Of all the various salt-water fishes introduced, the gray mullet appeared to be the most improved. A slight change in the external colour is said to be visible." SMELTS IN FRESH WATER. "The smelt is generally in great request, from its delicate and peculiar flavour. This quality, coupled with the circumstance of the fish passing six or seven months of the year in fresh-water, has induced two or three experiments to retain it in ponds; one of which was attended with complete success, and the attempts might he multiplied with advantage. Colonel Meynell, of Yarm, in Yorkshire, kept smelts for four years in a fresh-water pond, having no communication with the sea; they continued to thrive, and propagated abundantly. They were not affected by freezing as the whole of the pond, which covered about three acres, was so frozen over as to admit of skating. When the pond was drawn, the fishermen of the Tees considered that they had never seen a finer lot of smelts. There was no loss of flavour or quality." : And fish may not only he reared, but positively bred, according to the experiments of Sir Francis A. Mackenzie. Having formed a pond, and caught "four pair" of salmon in the spawning-season, they were placed in the pool, and— "Observed to commence spawning on the day following. Caught them carefully. Squeezed gently about 1,200 ova from a female into a basin of water, and then pressed about an equal quantity of milt from a male fish over them. "Stirred the two about together gently, but well, with the fingers; and after allowing them to rest for an hour, the whole was deposited and spread in one of the wicker baskets recommended by Professor Agassiz, having above four inches of gravel below, and two or three inches of gravel above them.” Other experiments were made, and here are the results "On the 19th February, examined the ova; and life was plainly observed in the baskets, wire-bags, and unprotected gravel: both were placed artificially, and were deposited by the salmon themselves. and went on gradually increasing, much in proportion "On the 19th March, the fry had increased in size, to the temperature of the weather. few of the ova had burst, the young fry having "On the 22d, the eyes were easily visible; and a a small watery bladder-like bag attached to the throat. opened. The bags had become detached from their "On the 18th April the baskets and bags were all inch in length; and they swam about easily, all disthroats: the fry measured about three-quarters of an tinctly marked as parr.' has attended the above-described experiments, that the breeding of salmon or other fish, in large quantities, is comparatively speaking easy; and that millions may be produced, protected from every danger, and turned out into their natural element at the proper age; which Mr. Shaw has proved, by repeated experiments on a small scale, to be when they have attained about two years of age, when the parr marks disappear: they assume the silvery scales of their parents, and distinctly show a strong desire to escape from confinement, and proceed downwards towards "There can be no doubt, from the success which the sea. Thus far we have dealt with fresh-water, and with fish wholly or partially inhabiting it. Experiments seem to show that salt-water fish will liye and thrive in salt-water ponds: whether they would breed there, or could be kept to produce a profit, is yet a matter of experiment. SEA-FISH IN PRESERVES. ferent parts of Scotland, and found to maintain their "Cod have been kept in salt-water ponds in difthree; one in Galloway, another in Fife, and a third condition unimpaired. Of these ponds there are in Orkney. That in Galloway is at Logan, the seat of Colonel M Dowall: it is a basin of thirty feet in depth and one hundred and sixty in circumference, hewn out from the solid rock, and communicating with the sea by one of those fissures that are com is attached to this preserve, whose duty it is conmon to bold and precipitous coasts. A fisherman tity of food; which several species soon learn to stantly to supply the fish with the necessary quantake eagerly from the hand. In the course of the fishing for this daily supply, such fish as are not too much injured are placed in the reservoir; the others are cut in pieces for food for the prisoners. The whelks, limpets, and other testacea, are boiled to free them from the shells; and no sooner does the keeper or his son appear with the well-known basket of prepared food, than a hundred mouths are simultaneously opened to greet the arrival. The cod-fish are the most numerous in this preserve; one of which has lived twelve years in confinement, and attained a large size. "Dr. Parnell mentions that cod are observed to thrive better while under confinement than most of the species of the same family; and in some instances they are found improved by the change. Elias Cathcart, Esq., of St. Margaret's, near North Queensferry, has kept for some time a number of marine fishes in a salt-water pond of about two hun- * * * We have thus gathered together some of the most striking points connected with a plan for the regular supply of fish upon principles analogous to that of poultry or sheep. Under favourable economical circumstances, there seems no doubt that the markets may be supplied with choice fresh water fish at a reasonable rate, and with a profit to the owners. Whether this could be done generally through the country-whether a higher class of fish might not be bred, or at least reared in fresh water-and whether salt-water ponds could be formed and stocked at a profit-are all fair subjects of experiment to landlords with whom immediate gain is not an object, and who may desire a liberal and public spirited pursuit, which, attentively followed, will enrich natural history, if it do not make the experimentalists any richer. to the large size of the head, so the name of miller's thumb given to this species, it has been said, is suggested by and intended to have reference to the particular form of the same part. "The head of the fish, it will be observed by the accompanying vignette, is smooth, broad, and rounded; and is said to resemble exactly the form of the thumb of a miller, as produced by a peculiar and constant action of the muscles in the exercise of a particular and most important part of his occupation. "It is well known that all the science and tact of a miller is directed so to regulate the machinery of his mill, that the meal produced shall be of the most valuable description that the operation of grinding will permit when performed under the most advantageous circumstances. His profit or his loss, even his fortune or his ruin, depend upon the exact adjustment of all the various parts of the machinery in operation. The miller's ear is constantly directed to the note made by the running-stone in its circular course over the bed-stone; the exact parallelism of their two surfaces, indicated by a particular sound, being a matter of the first consequence and his hand is constantly placed under the meal-spout, to ascertain by actual contact the character and qualities of the meal produced. The thumb by a particular movement spreads the sample over the fingers: the thumb is the guage of the value of the produce; and hence has arisen the saying of Worth a miller's thumb;' and 'An honest miller hath a golden thumb;' in reference to the amount of the profit that is the reward of his skill. By this incessant action of the miller's thumb, a peculiarity in its form is said to resemble exactly the shape of the head of the fish constantly found in the mill-stream, and has obtained for it the name of the miller's thumb: which occurs in the comedy of Wit at Several Weapons, by Beaumont and Fletcher, act v. scene i.; and also in Merrett's Pinax. "Although the improved machinery of the present time has diminished the necessity for the miller's skill in the mechanical department, the thumb is still constantly resorted to as the best test for the quality of the flour. MACKEREL-SUPPLY AND DEMAND. "In May 1807, the first Brighton boat-load of mackerel sold at Billingsgate for forty guineas per hundred-seven shillings each, reckoning six score to a hundred; the highest price ever known at that market. Of the books that have supplied the materials for this notice, the Treatise on the Management of Freshwater Fish, by Mr. Boccius, may be praised as an excellent practical disquisition. Clear, close, and brief, it may be understood by the most obtuse of the "landed proprietors" to whom it is addressed, and cannot weary the most impatient. Of a work like Yarrell's History of British Fishes, which, expensive as the elaborate execution of the engravings renders it, has already reached a second edition, not much need be said. The new edition contains nearly forty additional subjects, that have been discovered as frequenting or at least found in the British seas since the publication of the first edition. Many adThe next boat-load produced but thirteen ditional remarks have been sent to the author from guineas per hundred. Mackerel were so plentiful private individuals, which he has incorporated in his at Dover in 1808, that they were sold sixty for a work; and about sixty plates, either entirely new or shilling. At Brighton, in June of the same year, re-engravings from better specimens, have been ad- the shoal of mackerel was so great, that one of the ded to this edition. So that, whether considered as boats had the meshes of her nets so completely oca scientific description of the structure and anatomi-cupied by them, that it was impossible to drag them cal characters of fishes, or a general account of their in: the fish and nets, therefore, in the end sunk tohabits so far as is known, the History of British gether; the fishermen thereby sustaining a loss of Fishes may be held unrivalled; though Mr. Yarrell nearly 60%., exclusive of what the cargo, could it perhaps has drawn somewhat too much of his know- have been got into the boat, would have produced. ledge from specimens in the market-place, instead of from observation in the waters, Even this remark may be hypercritical, considering the extent of the work; for Mr. Yarrell himself has exhibited a good deal of living knowledge, and much is supplied by correspondents. Of this less strictly scientific but more generally interesting matter, we will exhibit a few specimens to close with. THE MILLER'S THUMB. The success of the fishery in 1821 was beyond all precedent. The value of the catch of sixteen boats from Lowestoffe, on the 30th June, amounted to 5,2521.; and it is supposed that there was no less an amount than 14,000l. altogether realized by the owners and men concerned in the fishery of the Suffolk coast. In March, 1838, on a Sunday, four Hastings boats brought on shore ten thousand eight hundred mackerel; and the next day, two boats brought seven thousand fish. Early in the month of February "As the term bullhead is thus considered to refer 1834, one boat's crew from Hastings cleared 1007. by the fish caught in one night; and a large quantity Home, a veteran fisher, and of a family not undistinof very fine mackerel appeared in the London mar-guished in the gentle craft. Here is a resumé of his ket in the second week of the same month. They own exploits with the rod and linewere cried through the streets of London three for a shilling on the 14th and 22d March, 1834, and had then been plentiful for a month. The boats engaged in fishing are usually attended by other fast-sailing vessels, which are sent away with the fish taken. From some situations these vessels sail away direct for the London market; at others, they make for the nearest point from which they can obtain land-carriage for their fish. From Hastings, and other fishing towns on the Sussex coast, the fish are brought to London by vans, which travel up during the night. TENACITY OF LIFE IN TENCH. "A piece of water which had been ordered to be filled up, and into which wood and rubbish had been thrown for years, was directed to be cleared out. Persons were accordingly employed; and, almost choked up by weeds and mud, so little water remained that no person expected to see any fish except a few eels, yet nearly two hundred brace of tench of all sizes and as many perch were found. After the pond was thought to be quite free, under some roots there seemed to be an animal which was "The first salmon I ever caught was with the minnow, in the month of June, 1783, when I was a boy of thirteen, fishing for trout. That fish weighed eighteen pounds; and since that time I have frequently killed ten or twelve salmon in one day with a minnow. The worm also is a very deadly bait, when the river gets low in summer; and in the upper parts of the river the worm is the principal bait used during the whole of the spring fishing-season. "I may here mention, that I have killed, and all with the fly, many hundreds of salmon weighing twenty-five pounds and upwards. The two largest I ever killed weighed, one forty-five pounds, in July, 1795, the other forty pounds. The latter fish was sent to the late Duke of Buccleuch, at Bowhill. When his old cook saw the fish, he declared it was absolutely impossible that any man could kill such a fish with the rod, and to this moment does not believe I caught it. The fish, which weighed fortyfive pounds, killed also in the month of July, 1795, was a fresh-run fish, with what are called tide-lice on it, and the finest I ever tasted. I * "I may here be permitted to mention, that in the month of April, 1795, I killed thirty-six salmon in took home. Mr. Yarrell may form some idea of the one day, rod-fishing; one of which, eighteen pounds, size and quality of the fish, when I tell him that the fisherman received twenty-five guineas for that day's work, not including the fish I took home. The day after, I caught twenty-six. conjectured to be an otter: the place was surrounded, and on opening an entrance among the roots, a tench was found of most singular form, having literally assumed the shape of the hole in which he had of course for many years been confined. His length, from eye to fork, was thirty-three inches; his circumference, almost to the tail, was twenty-seven inehes; his weight, eleven pounds nine ounces and a quarter; the colour was also singular, his belly being that of a char, or vermillion. This extraordinary fish, after having been inspected by many gentlemen, was carefully put into a pond; and at the time the account was written, twelve months after-rages near fourteen per day, all but two salmon." wards, was alive and well. OBSERVE EVERY THING. "The tench spawns about the middle of June, with some variation depending on the season. Willughby says it happens when wheat is in bloom. Such coincident circumstances in the seasonal progress of animals and vegetables particularly deserve to be studied, recorded, and remembered; they may be made subservient to many useful purposes; one, which has a direct reference to fishing, will serve as an illustration. Some London friends, who are enthusiastic fly-fishers, know exactly when to leave home and find the mayfly on the water in different counties of England, by the flowering of certain plants in the neighbourhood of London." Some of the most racy observations to the present edition are from the communications of the Earl of "In the month of June of that year, 1795, I killed in one week, between the Monday morning and Saturday night, eighty-two clean salmon, all in the finest condition, and many of them large fish; which ave LAWSUIT WITH A DOG. "My uncle, the same who caught the seventypound salmon, had a Newfoundland dog which was celebrated for catching salmon. He knew the Monday mornings as well as the fishermen themselves, and used to go to the cauld or mill-dam at Fireburn Mill on those mornings. He there took his station at the cauld slap, or opening in the dam, to allow the salmon to pass; and has been known to kill from twelve to twenty salmon in the morning. The fish he took to the side. The then Lord Tankerville instituted a process against the dog. I had a copy of the proceedings, but I regret to say it was lost when the old library was altered. This case was brought before the Court of Session; and the process was entitled the Earl of Tankerville versus a dog, the property of the Earl of Home.' Judgment was given in favour of the dog.' ་་ COFFEE-DRINKING IN PARIS. said to facilitate the digestion; but long experience THE superiority of French coffee over that which has shown that at the same time there should be a is made in England, consists, first, in the berry be- small quantity of brandy or other liqueur. The ing roasted more than it is in England; and 2dly, in enormous quantity of sugar which is served with making the coffee of great strength, to which is ad- one's coffee surprises a stranger. The French are ded a large quantity of hot milk. The usual mode great sugar-eaters, and generally put five or six large of taking coffee in Paris for breakfast is one fourth lumps in a cup of coffee. Those who do not concoffee and three fourths milk. The English frequent-sume what is served, frequently put the remaining ly take a much larger proportion of coffee, and, there- lumps into their pocket, which they eat during the fore, experience bad effects; for if taken too strong day, or employ at home for the manufacture of eau it is calculated to produce heat of blood, dryness of sucree. It is not exactly fashionable to carry away skin, and indigestion. The practice of taking a one's sugar, but the practice excites no comment.Sinall cup of coffee after dinner, without milk, is Chambers's London Journal. From the Britannia. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE BIRTH OF THE In connexion with the auspicious event which is at present exciting so much interest throughout the country, a slight reference to a similar occurrence, a century and a half past, may perhaps amuse our readers. The birth of the pretender James Francis Edward is an important circumstance in our history, not only on account of the doubts that have scarcely yet been satisfactorily removed, as to whether he was really the son of James II. and his Queen; but also from the effect it had in hastening the revolution, and thereby conducing to the act of settlement from which her present Majesty derives her title to the throne. Whether or not the individual in question was a supposititious child, adopted by James to serve the purpose he had in view, is of little consequence to us; inasmuch as the Act which settled the Crown on the House of Hanover expressly excluded the descendants of James Stuart; but it was a most important consideration at a time when the allegiance of the nation was divided between the old regime and the new one, and when the abettors of the expelled family still looked forward to the prospect of its restoration. When James II. ascended the throne, his open profession of popery was highly distasteful to his subjects; but totally regardless of their complaints and remonstrances, his only object seemed to be the establishment and perpetuation of the religion he espoused. The successors to the sovereignty were his two daughters by his first marriage, the Princess Mary, the wife of William of Orange, afterwards William III., and the Princess Anne, afterwards Queen Anne. These were both Protestants, and James's only hope of a Popish heir remained upon the chance of Mary of Modena, his Queen, presenting him with a son. She had had several children, but they had all died very young, and now there seemed very little prospect of the King's wishes being gratified. All, however, that superstition could devise was resorted to to enlist Providence in the cause. Pilgrimages were made to the various shrines of Christendom; and large gifts were offered to the Catholic Church to engage the prayers of the faithful on the King's behalf. The Pope of Rome entered warmly into the subject; and to his intercession with the saints, joined with the other religious practices that bigotry prescribed, was attributed the circumstance of her Majesty subsequently becoming enceinte. The progress of events was, however, carefully watched by the Princess Anne, who, as was very natural, felt considerable jealousy of the promised intruder; and, whilst she took care to inform her sister in Holland of all that took place, she in no very delicate terms declared her conviction that the story of the Queen's pregnancy was a palpable imposture, got up for the purpose of cheating her and the Princess Mary of their rights. The people at large were not more scrupulous in their expressions of unbelief, and the most ribald and scurrilous jests were continually perpetrated at the expense of the King and Queen. The denouement of the affair at length took place, and somewhat earlier than was expected. The King was suddenly sent for from Rochester, and her Majesty, on the evening of the 9th of June, 1688, caused herself to be removed from Whitehall to the Great Bedchamber of St. James's Palace. The next day was Sunday, and some of the Royal attendants, whilst receiving the communion at eight o'clock in the morning in the chapel, were interrupted at the altar, by a summons to attend their mistress. The King had previously arrived, and had despatched messengers in all directions to gather as many Privy Councillors as could be assembled on so short a notice; but Burnet maliciously insinuates that especial care was taken to omit, in the hurry of the announcement, all those who were inimical to the Roman Catholic cause. By half-past eight the council was assembled in a small room adjoining the bed-chamber. The bed which the Queen was to occupy required warming; and the warming-pan which was brought for the purpose, played no inconsiderable part in the calumnies that were afterwards propagated, since nine persons out of ten were thereby persuaded that it was in this identical machine that a new-born infant, selected for the purpose, was introduced into the Queen's bed, and made to pass for her own. The council was not long kept in suspense. In half an hour they were called into the room by the King, and placed themselves around the bed, the curtains of which were on both sides withdrawn. The Lord Chancellor Jefferies stood close to the foot. In a very few moments the birth took place, the King being on his kness by the bed-side, anxiously await ing the exent. The Queen had previously requested that she might not be made suddenly acquainted with the sex of the child; and it was arranged that if it was a boy the midwife was to pull the Countess of Sunderland by the gown, and she was then to make a signal to the King, all which was silently performed. The child uttered no cry on its first appearance, which caused some apprehension to her Majesty. She anxiously enquired if it were alive, and was at once assured of the fact. The infant was then delivered over to Mrs. Dalabadie, the dry nurse, who, wrapping it in flannel, carried it into the adjoining chamber; and the King having requested the peers present to bear witness to the fact of the delivery, invited them to follow him into the same room. There the young Prince again underwent the inspection of the council; and although at first his head was of a blackish hue, he soon recovered his natural colour; and having been washed and dressed, and three drops of his own blood having been, by the advice of the physicians, administered to him as a sovereign specific against convulsions, the ceremony, as far as the Privy Council was concerned, was at an end. Lord Clarendon, the King's brother-in-law, was not present when the Prince was born; but he went after dinner to the palace, and found the king in the act of shaving, his Majesty assuring him that he had been so occupied in receiving company that he had not before found time to dress himself. Much suspicion was excited by the fact of the Princess Anne's absence from a ceremony in which she was so much interested. She was at the time at Bath, where she had gone for the benefit of her health; but it was more than insinuated that she had been sent there that she might be out of the way when the crisis of the plot should take place. She came to town, however, in a day or two; and her uncle, Lord Clarendon, informs us that he found her in a very moody, discontented frame of mind, and far from being convinced that any relationship existed between herself and the new-born infant. To her sister she continued her complaints. She stated that the Queen was always most reserved in her pre sence, and seemed unwilling that she should come near her that the parties present at the birth were mostly favourable to the King-and that abundant opportunity was afforded for the deception, since nothing that they saw was at all inconsistent with the introduction of a supposititious child. That the Queen, to conceal her features at the time of the delivery, begged the King to hide her face with his head and his periwig, for that she could not bear the gaze of so many men; and the Princess concludes one of her letters with the assurance that she would do all she could to ferret out the truth. The popular scepticism, however, kept pace with hers; and at length the King determined on the humiliating measure of assembling an extraordinary council of those who had witnessed the Prince's birth, and procuring their specific testimony as to what they saw. This was, accordingly, done on the 22d of October following, and each individual who had been present entered into a minute statement of all that took place; and these several testimonies, duly signed, were immediately published in the Gazette. A deputation of the Lords waited on the Princess Anne with a copy; but she merely observed, that such a proceeding was quite unnecessary, since her father's word was quite sufficient to satisfy her. The Prince and Princess of Orange had sent over an ambassador to congratulate James on the birth of a successor, and had ordered a form of prayer for the latter to be read in the churches; but this was only intended to lull suspicion as to their views. An active correspondence was carried on with the disaffected in this country, and pamphlets were industriously circulated, in which the alleged imposture which had been practised on the people was exposed. Even many of those who believed that the Queen had really borne a child, still asserted that he had died on the evening of his birth ; that another was then procured and sent down to Richmond for the benefit of the air; that this also languished and died, and that a third was then palmed upon the country as the original bantling. It is no easy matter to arrive at the truth amidst the various conflicting statements that have come down to us regarding this transaction; but we think that the evidence is considerably in favour of the birth being a genuine one, and such appears to be, at this time, the very general opinion. After the revolution, however, the spuriousness of the Prince's birth was so openly assumed, that when, at a subsequent period, a member of the House of Lords proposed an inquiry into the subject, Lord Wharton rose and said, with much indignation, "My Lords, I did not expect, at this time of day, to hear any body mention that child who was called the Prince of Wales." When, in the month of November, the Revolution took place, James, before he left the kingdom himself, despatched the Queen and her infant child to France, under the care of the French Ambassador. THE CLOUD-CHURCH. STANDING one evening in the gallery of the Church of the Ascension, and looking out through one of its beautiful Gothic windows, the whole building appeared mirrored as it were in the clouds -painted on the air-with the sky o'er-canopying it, and forming a back-ground for the picture; the effect was "beautiful exceedingly." THE Soft white clouds sleep motionless The stillness of an Autumn eve It lies upon our hearts and brings Thrilling through memory's fountain springs The sunbeams stream in jewelled dyes Look upward! what so gorgeously Who ministers within its courts? Are angels there?-fair portals, ope— A child of earth would gaze Unclose-unclose-have I not looked And wished that from its splendor-throne And gaze on spirits of the air? Ah, foolish heart-wild wish is thine- Touched by oblivious wand of Night, No wreck-no trace-no shadow left Ah, foolish heart-why ever thus Seest not a temple firmly based |