custom in new countries, had been turned into the woods, to procure their own subsistence from the rank herbage of the early summer; just before emerging from the forest, upon the clearing of his neighbour, the worthy Joseph Sleeper, he saw a large bear descending from a lofty sycamore, where he had been, probably, in quest of honey.

A bear ascends a tree much more expertly than he descends it, being obliged to come down hind foremost. My friend Dobson did not like to be joined, in his evening walk, by such a companion; and without reflecting what he should do with the "varmint" afterwards, ran to the tree on the opposite side from the animal's body, and just before he reached the ground, he seized him by the fore paws. Bruin growled and gnashed his tusks; but he soon ascertained that his paws were in the grasp of iron paws, equally iron-strong with his own; nor could he use his hinder paws to disembowel his antagonist, as the manner of the bear is, inasmuch as the trunk of the tree was between them. But Dobson's predicament, as he was endowed with rather the most reason, was worse yet. He could no more assail the bear than the bear could assail him; nor could he venture to let him go-a very gracious return for thus unceremoniously taking him by the hand. The twilight was fast descending into darkness, and his position was far less comfortable than it otherwise would have been at the same hour, surrounded by his wife and children, at the supper-table, to say nothing of the gloomy prospects for the night. Still, as Joe Sleeper's house was not far distant, he hoped to be able to call him to his assistance; but his lungs, although none of the weakest, were unequal to the task; and although he holloaed and bawled the livelong night, making the woods and welkin ring again, he succeeded no better than old Glendower of old, in calling spirits from the vasty deep.

It was a wearisome night for Dobson, such a game of hold fast he had never been engaged in before. Bruin, too, was somewhat worried, although he could not describe his sensations in English, albeit, he took the regular John Bull method of making known his dissatisfaction -that is to say, he growled incessantly. But there was no let go in the case, and Dobson was, therefore, under the necessity of holding fast, until it seemed, to his clenched and aching fingers, as though the bear's paws and his had grown together.

As daylight returned, the smoke from Mr. Sleeper's chimney began to curl up gracefully, though rather dimly, in the distance. Dobson again repeated his cries for succour, and his heart was soon gladdened by the appearance of his worthy, but inactive neighbour, who had at last been attracted by the voice of the impatient sufferer, bearing an axe on his shoulder. Dobson had never been so much rejoiced at seeing Mr. Sleeper before, albeit he was a very kind and estimable neighbour.

"Why don't you make haste, Mr. Sleeper, and not be lounging at that rate when you see a fellow-Christian in such a kittle of fish as this?"

“I run is that you, Mr. Dobson, up a tree there? And was it you I heard holloaing so last night? I guess you ought to have your lodging for nothing, if you've stood up agin' the tree all night."

"It's no joke, though, I can tell you, Mr. Sleeper; if you had hold

of the paws of a black varmint all night, it strikes me you'd think you'd paid dear enough for it. But if you heard me calling for help in the night, why didn't you come and see what was the trouble?"

"Oh, I was going tired to bed, after laying up log fence all day, and I thought I'd wait till morning, and come bright and airly. But if I'd known it was you

"Known 'twas me!" replied Dobson, bitterly, "you knew 'twas somebody who had flesh and blood too good for these plaguy varmints though; and you know there's been a smart sprinkle of bears about the settlement all the spring!"

66

Well, don't be in a huff, Tommy. It's never too late to do good. So hold tight now, and don't let the tarnal critter get loose, while I split his head open."

66

No, no," said Dobson. "After holding the beast here all night, I think I ought to have the pleasure of killing him. So you just take hold of his paws here, and I will take the axe and let a streak of daylight into his skull about the quickest."

The proposition being a fair one, Mr. Sleeper was too reasonable a man to object. He was no coward either; and he therefore stepped up to the tree, and, cautiously taking the bear with both hands, relieved honest Dobson from his predicament.

The hands of the latter, though sadly stiffened by the tenacity with which they had been clenched for so many hours, were seen brandishing the axe; and he, apparently, made all preparations for giving the deadly blow-and deadly it would have been, had he struck. But, to the surprise of Sleeper, he did not strike; and to his further consternation, Dobson swung the axe upon his shoulder and marched away, whistling, as he went, with as much apparent indifference as the other had shown in coming to his relief.

It was now Sleeper's turn to make the forest vocal with his cries. In vain he raved, and called, and threatened. Dobson walked on and disappeared, leaving his friend as sad a prospect for his breakfast as he himself had for his supper.

To relieve the suspense of the reader, it is right to add that Dobson returned and killed the bear in the course of the afternoon.

LITERATURE.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. By Professor Low. Part XIII. London: Longman and Co.

THIS great national work, of which we have had occasion to speak in unqualified praise as each succeeding number appeared, is now all but completed-Part XIV. being announced as the last. From such portions of it as came more peculiarly within our province, we made ample extracts, and they spoke for themselves of the masterly treatment which Mr. Low has bestowed upon those divisions of his labour.

The present number contains portraits and copious notices of black cattle, namely, "The Herefordshire Breed," "The Long-Horned Breed," and "The Short-Horned Breed," of the latter there are two illustrations given. The subjoined extract will be found of much interest for the general reader, inasmuch as it refers to an inquiry that has engaged the most distinguished naturalists, but still remains, and, probably, ever will continue, unresolved:

"The term long-horned, when applied to a variety of British cattle, denotes not only a simple character of the horns, namely, their extension, or length, but a certain similarity in the external form of the animals which united a great proportion of the older cattle of the country into what might be termed a breed. Length and grossness of horns may be supposed to be connected, in certain circumstances, with the nature of the pastures and the humidity of the climate. A moist climate tends to produce thickness of skin and length of hair; and the corneous system is so connected with the cuticular, that it is reasonable to believe that what affects the skin and its covering, may exercise an action on the parts connected with them. The true long-horns seem to have been the inhabitants of the western parts of the British islands. They extended over nearly all the plains of Ireland, and the greater part of the mountains, and yet form the prevailing race of that country. In England, they occupied Lancashire, extending northward into Cumberland and Westmoreland, and southward, through Cheshire and Shropshire, to the districts on the Severn, and even into Somersetshire, where the traces of them still exist in the higher country. From the mouth of the Severn they extended inland through the midland counties, even to Leicestershire. They were found, and are yet reared, in Derbyshire, and partially occupied, and still occupy, the bleak range of heathy hills which extend from that county northwards, and which divide the more westerly and humid country on the Atlantic from the eastern and drier on the German ocean. But, on the eastern slope of this range of hills, they gradually diminished in numbers, until the traces of them were lost; and they were not found within the period of any records in the south-eastern counties of the chalk. Although they had stretched through the midland counties, as far to the eastward as Leicestershire, yet, as they extended eastward, their characters appear to have undergone a progressive change; for, although Leicestershire became, in time, the centre of a highly cultivated breed of longhorns, the older cattle which possessed it seem either to have been a mixed race, or to have deviated greatly from the type of the true long-horns of the western counties. Thus, the long-horned breed appears to have been derived from the western and more humid countries, and to have disappeared, or lost its distinctive characters, in the eastern and drier; and hence it seems reasonable to infer, that it owed the characters which distinguished it to the influence of climate. Yet, in the west of Ireland, in the moistest climate of Europe, and spread extensively over the whole country, there is a race, the Kerry, which differs, in almost every respect that constitutes a breed, from the long-horns. The wild white forest breed, though reared for ages in parks in the west of England and Scotland, never assumes the characters of the long-horned race. The North Devon, and all the native cattle of the humid mountains of Wales, are alike removed from it; and in all the west of Scotland, in tracts exposed to the continued vapours of the Atlantic ocean, no trace of the characters distinctive of the long-horn race presents itself. The Kerry breed, the Devon, the Welsh, and the Scotch Highland, differ as much from the long-horned as the white man from the negro; and the two classes retain their characters distinct, though naturalized in the same tract of country beyond all records. The influence of climate alone, then, does not satisfactorily account for the formation of breeds, which, naturalized under conditions apparently similar, differ so greatly from one another; and we are rather conducted to the inference, that races so unlike were derived from distinct sources."

THE FARMER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA, AND DICTIONARY OF RURAL AFFAIRS. By Cuthbert W. Johnson, Esq. Part VII. London: Longman and Co.

EVERY subject treated in this number displays the care and talent so conspicuous in the parts which preceded it. Some idea may be formed of the services bestowed upon modern times by science and those who dispense its treasures, from the following passages in Leonard Mascal, a writer of note in the sixteenth century. Take for example his cure for the stomach-ache in cattle :

"Ye shall take but a frog, and cut off his left leg, and so put him alive in the beast's mouth; but then you must have ready a handful of salt mixed with a pint of good strong ale, and so soon as you can after the frog, give the beast to drink, and make him swallow all down together!"

And this sample of natural philosophy from the same gentleman :

"It is most true, in the high mountains of Spain, which lie towards the occident seas, many jennets and young mares have colts without the covering of the horse."

THE BOOK OF THE FARM. By Henry Stephens. Parts I. II. and III. Edinburgh and London: Blackwood and Sons.

THIS work appears opportunely. Rural economy is a subject of very general interest just now, and agriculture is the chief resource of the English yeoman. The application of science to the practice of husbandry can no longer be the mere plaything of the pleasure-farmer. "Every rood of ground" is now called upon to maintain its colony instead of "its man:" art and industry combined can only bring this to pass. We, therefore, regard as real boons the publications which so well and so abundantly meet this necessity, and minister to the demands of the cultivators of the land. Farming is destined to become a science: men of learning are already turning their minds to it with an earnestness due to the vast importance of the inquiry. The work before us is one of the most practical results of so patriotic a spirit. It is a most welcome addition to our rural literature: as it proceeds we hope to transfer some of its good things to our pages.

THE ART OF SHOEING HORSES. By the Sieur de Salleysel. To which are added, NOTES ON HIS PRACTICE. By F. C. Cherry, Veterinary Surgeon. London: Longman and Co., 1842.

THE annotator of this work is one of the most enthusiastic, and, probably, one of the most able of his profession. We have spent some very interesting hours in his veterinary museum at Clapham, and derived pleasure and profit from his conversation. He has done both the Sieur de Salleysel, and the science upon which he wrote, good service in the publication before us. It abounds with curious and excellent matter, and deserves to be read by all interested in the inquiry to which it is addressed.

HANDY ANDY. By Samuel Lover. Part II. London: F. Lover, Aldine Chambers, Paternoster Row, 1842.

THIS boy will be the death of us. What is the police force about, to allow the uttering of a publication that has already brought us to

the brink of apoplexy fifty times? Grave people, undertakers, sextons, and the like, may, perhaps, read with impunity-such may laugh over it; but let a fellow with a squeeze of natural fun in him venture to peruse it, and we'll lay ten to one it throws him into convulsions.

HAND BOOK TO THE GAME OF BILLIARDS. By Colonel B

Second Edition. London: Boone, 29, New Bond Street, 1842. NOBODY is to be taught how to play billiards by means of any "graven letter," but some good counsel may be offered in type for all that. The rules of the game, too, so often subjects of dispute, are there, ready for reference, in black and white; and surely peace is cheaply purchased at the cost of three shillings, the price of Colonel B.'s Hand Book. It is a clear and clever treatise, moreover, on a very graceful and fascinating game; and we cordially recommend it to patronage.

THE MILLER OF CESSFORD, and WE WON'T GO HOME TILL MORNING, two songs by Chas. Blondel, Esq., a bard every way worthy the lineage which his name implies. The former is a lay of love, very pretty, and eminently correct-nothing of the Tibullus or Tommy Moore school about it, on our honour and honesty; but the latter is, it must be confessed, the stave to our kidney: just hear how it opens :

"The jolly old sun-where goes he at night?

And what doth he do, when he's out o'sight?
(Insinuations scorning).

We don't mean to say that he tipples apace;
We only know he's a very red face
When he gets up of a morning.

"So here we are, as merry as grigs,

And here we'll stay, an' it please the pigs,'

Old Time and his dry glass scorning!

The jolly old sun, he shall hear us sing

'Till this whirligig world to its centre doth ring,

And we won't go home 'till morning."

That's a good, hearty chaunt, and many a jolly cock shall crow it out when tee-totalism is only remembered as an abomination, from the memory of which men turn and shudder.

Manby, Fleet Street.

GUIDE TO THE TURF, OR POCKET RACING COMPANION. By W. Ruff. London R. Ackermann, Regent Street.

THIS indispensable manual for all concerned in the affairs of the turf, has been compiled by a gentleman in every way competent, and he has executed his task in a manner that does him credit. All the information that can be required as to the season's racing is arranged with perfect facility for reference; and, as the work is published in the form of a pocket-book, it will be always immediately available for the purpose. A racing calendar, lying on his library-table, is of little service to one who, on a race-course, needs to refer to some point of instant importance. We congratulate Mr. Ruff on his "start," and trust that he may "run on" for many a season.