A singular decision in a court of justice.

SOME time ago, Mr N. a shopkeeper in Edinburgh, having allowed his affairs to run into confusion, they were put under the care of a trustee for behoof of his creditors. Among other accounts that stood on his books, was one owing by Mrs B. to the amount of L. 15 for goods bought in his shop. The trustee, on requiring payment for this account, could obtain no money, Mrs B. alleging that Mr T. the person who sold the goods, was indebted to her to a greater amount. She was told that the goods belonged to Mr N. only in whose fhop they had been bought; that Mr T. had no property in either the shop or the goods, but was merely a servant engaged to attend the shop, for a fixed salary weekly; and that any transactions that might have previously passed between her and him could not affect the present claim in the smallest degree. She still refused to make payment. suit was then commenced before the Baillie Court for recovery of payment. The facts above stated were all clearly proved; the acknowledged the goods had been bought in the fhop of Mr N. fhe knowing at the time that it was his shop, nor had the any reason to believe that Mr T. was in any respect a partner in business; yet a decision was given in favour of Mrs B. with full costs of suit. In as far as the authority of this court goes, such a decision would prove of the most pernicious tendency in trade.

A

The communication by Eugraphicus, containing a sketch of the life of George Edwards, the celebrated naturalist, is thankfully received, and fhall have a place as soon as room can be spared for it.

The conclusion of the important series of essays by Trader Political, fhall, if possible, appear in our next.

The fragments by lord Bacon," On the art of life, in ordering expence with due regard to splendid economy," is come to hand, and will appear at as early a period as circumstances will permit.

The character of Sterne, by G. S is received; at the same time there has been another character of the same writer, by a correspondent, some of whose observations have already appeared in a series of letters in the Bee, which, on account of priority of claim, must first be admitted.

The account of S-g by the same hand, G. S. is also come to hand, and is under consideration.

The verses by Proteus fhall have a place during the currency of

the month.

[Farther acknowledgements deferred till our next.]

123.

THE BEE,

OR

LITERARY WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER,

FOR

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10. 1793.

THE ELEPHANT.

Or all the animals with which we are acquainted, the elephant is, next to man, the most sagacious. The dog, the horse, and some others, are equally docile, and perhaps still more submifsive to man ; but none of them discover such strong indications of VOL. xiv.

BB

April 10 memory, and the power of connecting causes with events, which we call reasoning, as the elephant. Hence it is not only susceptible of kindness and affection to the person who feeds and cares for it, and of immediate resentment against those who injure it; but it has also the faculty of retaining the sense of injury for a long time, and of seemingly contriving plans for being revenged, and executing these with much cunning and sagacity at a distant period. On account of these qualities, not lefs than because of its great strength, the elephant has long been the favourite domesticated animal among the monarchs of those countries where it is a native.

The elephant, when tamed, on account of its great size, and the vast quantity of food it consumes, is too expensive for private individuals; and is, therefore, in a great measure an attendant of royalty, and the most unequivocal badge of dignity and state in eastern nations. It has been for time immemorial also employed in war; and in old times the Asiatic princes used to indicate the force of armies, by the number of elephants each could bring into the field, in the same manner as the maritime nations in Europe now estimate their power by the number of fhips of war they can fit out for sea. They were, indeed, in those days, a kind of moving fortrefses, which, for many ages, could only be resisted by more powerful fortifications of the same sort. It was only after the Greeks and Romans came to contend for power with the princes of Asia and Africa, that it was discovered that even the enormous strength of these animals was not proof against the

power of men acquainted with the best modes of military tactics. They were long, however, employed in the armies both of Carthage and of Rome. But in modern times their use has been entirely laid aside in battle, where European forces can be brought into the field; and they are now employed only for parade, or as beasts of burden, which in the warmer climates are peculiarly commodious; and where provender can be found in abundance, extremely useful attendants of an army. During the war just now concluded with Tippoo Saib, lord Cornwallis employed elephants for transporting his artillery up the Gauts, without which, I have been afsured, he would have found great difficulty in accomplishing the object of his wishes.

The elephant is a huge, unwieldy, uncouth looking animal, which, if we had not been acquainted with its rare qualities, all mankind would have called ugly. Its immense ears, its huge tufks, its flexible proboscis, which may be writhed into an infinite variety of forms, its thick clumsy legs, and small eyes, all contribute to render this animal a striking object to those who behold it, even independent of its size; but when taken altogether, it is so unlike to what we call elegant in other creatures, that it could only have been viewed as an object of terror or disgust.

The works of God are wonderfully varied; and the same objects are attained by means so very difsimilar, as to afford a perpetual source of wonder and of admiration to the contemplative mind. The power of animals, in a good measure, depends on the struc

April 10. ture of those members of the body they can employ as tools for effecting its purposes; and it has long ago been justly observed, that the human band is a tool of the most admirable construction, which, under the guidance of reason, has enabled man to effect those wonderful things he has atchieved. The paw of the lion, and others of the cat kind, which admits of being expanded and contracted like the human hand, gives to these animals a tremendous power, which is exerted for no other purpose but to destroy. The trunk, or proboscis, of the elephant, is a mem ber, which, to all appearance, could be of little use for grasping small objects, or effecting any useful purpose; yet it is so admirably constructed, by means of flexible cartilages and muscles, and is endowed at the same time with such sensibility and strength, as to be capable of being employed for ma ny uses, that we could not, without experience, have believed pofsible. With its point it can grasp even very small objects, with wonderful pliability s and by its power of being contracted or dilated, turned upwards or downwards, or in any other direction, at will, it is capable of being employed by that animal for much the same purposes as the human hand by man; and what seems still more extraordinary, notwithstanding its great flexibility and sensibility, it is so little susceptible of pain in that member, that it is employed as a tool for striking and chastising any object of its resentment with great force, so as to be used instead of a rod of correction for most purposes.