quitoes in swarms found me out, attacked my legs, hands, and face, and made my reading and my rest impossible; so that I returned to the beach and called for the boat to come and take me on board again, where I was obliged to bear the heat I had striven to quit, and also the laugh of the company. Similar cases in the affairs of life have since frequently fallen under my observation."

WASHINGTON IRVING (b. 1783, d. 1859) was descended from an old Orkney family, and was born at New York. He intended to follow a business career, but he found himself unfit for it, and betook himself to literature. He was patronized by Sir Walter Scott, and in this way was brought into public notice. His History of New York, the Sketch Book, and Bracebridge Hall, contain exquisite pictures of life in America in the olden time and in his own; his Tales of a Traveller were the product of a tour on the Continent, and his Tales of the Alhambra, the Conquest of Granada, the Life of Columbus, and The Companions of Columbus, were the result of a lengthened stay at Madrid. Irving's novels remind us of Goldsmith in the purity of their English as well as in the geniality of their style. His historical works are also held in high repute, insomuch that their author received from George the Fourth one of two gold medals which were awarded for historical eminence. Hallam received the other.

A RAINY SUNDAY IN AN INN.

"It was a rainy Sunday, in the gloomy month of November. I had been detained in the course of a journey by a slight indisposition, from which I was recovering; but I was still feverish, and was obliged to keep within doors all day, in an inn of the small town of Derby. A wet Sunday in a country inn! whoever has had the luck to experience one can alone judge of my situation. The rain pattered against the casements, the bells tolled for church with a melancholy sound. I went to the windows in quest of something to amuse the eye; but it seemed as if I had been placed completely out of the reach of all amusement. The windows of my bedroom looked out among tiled roofs and stacks of chimneys, while those of my sitting room commanded a full view of the stable-yard. I know of nothing more calculated to make a man sick of this world than a stable-yard on a rainy day. The place was littered with wet straw, that had been

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kicked about by travellers and stable-boys. In one corner was a stagnant pool of water surrounding an island of muck; there were several half-drowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable crest-fallen cock, drenched out of all life and spirit, his drooping tail matted, as it were, into a single feather, along which the water trickled from his back; near the cart was a half-dozing cow chewing the cud, and standing patiently to be rained on, with wreaths of vapour rising from her reeking hide; a wall-eyed horse, tired of the loneliness of the stable, was poking his spectral head out of a window, with the rain dripping on it from the eaves; an unhappy cur, chained to a dog-house hard by, uttered something every now and then between a bark and a yelp; a drab of a kitchen wench tramped backwards and forwards through the yard in pattens, looking as sulky as the weather itself; everything, in short, was comfortless and forlorn, excepting a crew of hard-drinking ducks, assembled like boon companions, round a puddle, and making a riotous noise over their liquor.”—Bracebridge Hall.

Other Miscellaneous Writers. Among these are Theodore Parker, author of various papers on German Literature, the Labouring Classes, &c.; HENRY CAREY, author of The Credit System, The Slave Trade, &c.; and DR. CHEEVER, author of the Wanderings of a Pilgrim.

SCIENTIFIC WRITERS.

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON (b. 1780, d. 1851) is notable as an ornithologist. His father was a great student of nature, and from him he early learned those lessons which had such an influence on his life and writings. In his boyhood, he was passionately fond of birds, and he spent much of his time in travel and study, in order to produce his great book on the subject, The Birds of America a work which was highly praised by the principal scientific men in this country. He afterwards wrote an American Ornithological Biography, and The Quadrupeds of America.

MATTHEW F. MAURY (b. 1806, d. 1872) was well known as an excellent writer on subjects connected with the science of the sea. In 1825, he entered the American Navy as a midshipman; and, during his voyages, showed

such excellent powers of observation, combined with accurate scientific knowledge, that he was speedily promoted to a lieutenancy, and sent on an exploring expedition to the South Sea. In consequence of an accident, he retired from active service, and was appointed superintendent of the National Observatory. His great book is entitled The Physical Geography of the Sea, which is not only a valuable contribution to literature, but the best work which has ever appeared on the subject. The value of Maury's book has been universally acknowledged, and its author received many substantial rewards for his services to science.

WRITERS OF TRAVEL.

EDWARD ROBINSON, Professor of Biblical Literature, New York, has written a learned and valuable work entitled Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai, &c. ; and JOHN LLOYD STEPHENS contributed Incidents of Travel in Africa, Asia, and America. But the list of writers on this subject is almost innumerable.