fies ice-mountain. ICEBERGS. They also occasionally crowd the banks of Newfoundland, "beyond which," says Captain Scoresby, "they sometimes conveyed, by the operation of the southerly under-current, as low as latitude 40° north, and even lower, a distance of at least 2000 miles from the place of their origin." THE term Iceberg, written Ysberg by the Dutch, signi- most general form is with one high perpendicular side, or contain caverns, or clefts and cracks in the most from the sea 402 feet high, and extends backwards towards the summit of the mountain, to about four times that elevation. Its surface forms a noble inclined plane of smooth snow, and has a beautiful appearance; but the lower parts, in the latter end of every summer, present a bare surface of ice. The front surface of ice-regular as if formed by art. The base of floating icebergs, generally, is glistening and uneven. Wherever bergs is commonly larger in extent than their upper surface. a part has been recently broken off, the fresh fracture is of a beautiful greenish-blue colour, approaching to Hence, (says Scoresby,) the proportion of ice appearing emerald but such parts as have been long of the whole thickness; and, when the summit is conical, above water, is seldom less in elevation than one-seventh green; exposed to the atmosphere, are of a greenish-gray colour, and from a distance have the appearance of cliffs quently one-fourth of the whole depth of the bergs. The or of the steeple form, the elevation above water is freof whitish marble. These icebergs are wholly produced waves break against them in a high sea, and in a swell from rain or snow, the period of their foundation, or they make a tremendous noise in rising and falling; and first stratum, being frozen, being nearly coeval with they rip up and divide fields of ice of great thickness. the land on which they are lodged: the subsequent The breaking up of icebergs is usually caused by the heat increase is produced by the congelation of the sleet of of the sun, or a temperate atmosphere: they then become summer or autumn, and of the snow accumulated in hollow and fragile; large pieces break off and fall into the winter, which, being partly dissolved by the summer sea with an astounding crash. This is technically termed sun, becomes consolidated, and, on the decline of the calving: the iceberg loses its equilibrium, sometimes turns on one side, and occasionally is inverted. The sea is thereby summer heat, frozen into a new layer of ice. This put into commotion; fields of ice in the vicinity are broken yearly increase continues until the mass becomes moun-up; the waves extend, and the noise is heard to the tainous, and rises to the elevation of the surrounding cliffs. distance of several miles; and sometimes the rolling motion The melting of the snow, which is afterwards deposited of the berg not ceasing, other pieces get loosened and` on these enormous blocks, likewise contributes to their detached, until the whole mass falls asunder, like a wreck. growth, and by filling up the crevices renders the whole solid. Where such a mass has risen to the height of 1000 or 2000 feet, the accumulated weight, assisted by the action of the ocean at its base, plunges it into the sea, and it is driven southward by the winds and currents, and known to mariners under the name of iceberg; and from its cavities the whalers fill their casks with pure fresh water. Icebergs occur in many places in the Arctic and Antarctic regions: in Hudson's Strait, Davis's Strait, and Baffin's Bay, they are frequently of astonishing magnitude. Ellis describes them as sometimes occurring of 500 or 600 yards thickness. Frobisher saw one iceberg which he judged to be "near fourscore fathoms above water." Captain Middleton saw bergs three or four miles in circumference, 100 fathoms under water, and a fifth or sixth part above. Captain Ross observed multitudes of icebergs in Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay: at one time, near Waygate, or Hare Island, hes w 700 icebergs, some of them of prodigious size and ex- | traordinary form. One berg is described by Captain Ross as being 40 feet high, and 1000 feet long; another 85 feet high, and 1200 feet in circumference; another 325 feet high, and 1200 feet long: another aground in 150 fathoms water, and several together aground in 250 | fathoms; one berg, of which the dimensions were given in by Captain Parry, had nine unequal sides, was aground in 60 fathoms, and measured 4169 yards long, 3689 yards broad, and 51 feet high. The weight of this iceberg, taken at somewhat smaller dimensions, was estimated at 1,292,397,673 tons. One of the largest bergs represented in Captain Ross's Journal, is perforated in an arched form, beneath which some of the crew disembarked on the ice. Floating icebergs are seen in greater number in Baffin's Bay than elsewhere in the Arctic regions. Thence they constantly make their way southward, down Davis's Strait, and are scattered abroad in the Atlantic. | | The general colour of icebergs has been referred to; but their appearance varies with their solidity and distance, and their mixture with earth, gravel, or sand. The state of the atmosphere also affects their appearance: they glisten in the sun's rays, and even at night are discernible at a distance, by their natural effulgence; and, in foggy weather, by a peculiar blackness in the atmosphere. Captain Ross tells us that it is hardly possible to imagine anything more exquisite than the variety of tints which icebergs display: by night, as well as by day, they glitter with a vividness of colour beyond the power of art to represent. While the white portions have the brilliancy of silver, their colours are as various and splendid as those of the rainbow. By these means the danger of icebergs to the navigator is much diminished; but it is still requisite to be on the watch for them. They sometimes occur in extensive chains, in which vessels get involved in the night, during storms, when fatal accidents occur. Ships are not unfrequently moored to bergs; but if the latter be overturned, or, while floating in a tide-way, their base be arrested by the ground, they fall with the noise of thunder, and crush whatever objects they encounter in their descent. "Thus have vessels been often staved by the fall of their icy moorings; while smaller objects, such as boats, have been repeatedly overwhelmed, even at a considerable distance, by the vast waves occasioned by such events." Again, in the temperate season, when the bergs become fragile, and are struck for the mooring anchor, they split asunder, and the masses bury boats and men. "The awful effect produced by a solid mass, many thousands, or even millions, of tons in weight, changing its situation with the velocity of a falling body, whereby its aspiring summit is in a moment buried in the ocean, can be more easily imagined than described." Captain Scoresby concludes that most of the icemountains, or icebergs, that occur in the Arctic regions, are derived from the land icebergs, or glaciers, and are consequently the product of snow or rain-water. The same writer also allows that some icebergs may be formed in coves and bays in the polar countries; and these, having their bed in the ocean, must be partly the product of sea-water, and partly that of snow and rainwater. From the evidence of a Russian voyager of the last century, there is reason to infer that some icebergs have their origin in the wide expanse of the ocean; and he describes a continent, so to speak, of mountainous ice existing, and probably increasing in the ocean, at a distance of between 300 and 400 miles from any known land. The buoyancy of icebergs is referable to the considerable increase of bulk which water undergoes in congelation; ice being, bulk for bulk, lighter than water. This buoyancy produces remarkable effects, not only floats the icebergs, but with them heavy bodies, as strata of earth and stone, and beds of rock of great thickness, which are thus transported from the mountainous shores of high latitudes to the bottom of distant seas, where the ice is dissolved. Such ice-islands, before they are melted, have been known to drift from Baffin's Bay to the Azores, and from the South Pole to the neighbourhood of the Cape. Icebergs not unfrequently ground on reefs or shallows, and thus remain stationary for some years. Fabricius and Crautz mention two immense icebergs having grounded and remained in South-east Bay for several years. From their vast size they were named by the Dutch. Amsterdam and Haarlem. To prolong my days I will neither ask the elixir of life from the alchemist, nor multiplied prescriptions from the physician. A severe regimen tends to abridge life, and multiplied privations give a sadness to the spirit, more noxious than the prescribed remedies are salutary. Besides, what is physical, without moral life; that is to say, without improvement and enjoyment?-FLINT. CHILDREN AND STORY-TELLERS OF NAPLES. THE streets of Naples are characterized by extraordinary stir and bustle. One of the most interesting features of this scene is the great number of very young children, who are already of use to their parents. You see little boys and girls as busily employed as their elders; one is the bearer of his father's breakfast to the fields; another carries a pick-axe or spade, which you would hardly think him strong enough to lift. Another drives an ass, with vegetables, to market; and you may often see a little creature standing on a chair, grinding a knife, while another, still younger, turns the wheel. In the city are conservatorii, or schools, opened for children of both sexes, where they are educated, fed, and taught some handicraft. Some are in the nature of workhouses, and employ a multitude of indigent persons, while others are devoted entirely to children, educated principally for music. The latter institutions have produced many of the great performers and masters of the art, who have figured in the churches or on the stages of the different capitals of Europe for the last century. An amusement almost peculiar to Naples is that afforded by story-tellers, or, as they are called, the improvisatori. M. Sass, a recent traveller, says: "These men are seen surrounded by audiences of the lower classes. They have a square place railed in, with a few planks for seats. Some sit, others stand,-and numbers lie on the ground; but all evince profound attention. One man relates stories of his own invention, at times convulsing his hearers with laughter, and at others drawing the tears of sensibility from their eyes. Farther on is one who recites from Ariosto, Tasso, or other Italiau poets; and often, after reading a passage, he puts the book under his arm, and proceeds to an explanation, with very appropriate action and gesture. The voice and manner of the improvisatore,-the interest excited in the audience, every one appearing fearful of breathing, lest they should lose a part, or interrupt the story, the beautiful groups in which they are accidentally ranged, combine to make it a most interesting sight to a stranger." THE COMMON FOX, (Vulpes vulgaris.) THROUGHOUT the habitable regions of the earth, we find that, as the empire of civilized man gradually extends, predatory animals are proportionably reduced in number, until in particular countries or districts the most formidable species become completely extinct. Thus, that ancient marauder the wolf, formerly so much the object of dread and superstition throughout our land, has been extirpated from it, though he is still roaming at large on many parts of the Continent. But while this is the case with such animals as have proved themselves inimical to the safety of the human race, it is not so with the Fox, whose propensities, however rapacious, are exercised only on creatures lower in the scale of existence than itself. This animal is permitted to remain amongst us for the sake of the sport which it affords; its depredations are tolerated, and pains are even taken to keep up the supply of the species. In no other country of the world is the hunting of the fox pursued with the same zeal and success as in England. It is a favourite diversion with all ranks of people, and is greatly lauded by its advocates as a means of keeping up the hardihood of the English character, as well as of promoting a kindly feeling between the seve ral classes meeting together on such occasions. The breed of horses, it is also said, would soon degenerate, were the stimulus removed which now induces persons to go to the expense, trouble, and risk of rearing horses for the chase. Whether this be the case or not, the enthusiasm with which this sport is followed is very remarkable, and is by no means confined to the actual members of the hunt. It is amusing to witness the excitement which pervades a village in the hunting districts when the inhabitants become aware of the approach of the hounds. Old people seem to regain a portion of their juvenile feelings, and may be seen hastening with unwonted activity to view the sport; labouring men for get their usual measured pace, and appear as if impelled towards the scene of action by some irresistible impulse; others necessarily confined to their tasks, show by their eager looks that they would willingly throw aside the implements of husbandry and join the chase; light and active persons frequently follow the hounds on foot, and traverse the country for miles with a degree of speed and ardour unknown to them at other times; all indeed is bustle and excitement, and ill fares the work, domestic or of the field, when reynard chooses to lead the hunts men and the hounds in the vicinity of a village. The pleasurable excitement connected with this diversion is doubtless greatly enhanced by the sagacity and and wiliness of the animal pursued, and by the innumerable stratagems which it employs to elude the menaced ruin. The history of the fox is full of interest, and will repay us for the attention we may be disposed to give to the subject. The family to which our common fox belongs is generally considered as only a variety of the extensive genus Canis, which comprises dogs, wolves, and jackals. Nor is the organisation of the fox very different from that of the dog. The number of toes on the fore and hind-feet, and the number and position of the incisor, canine, and cheek teeth correspond in each, though the teeth of the fox are sharper and better fitted to inflict a mortal wound at a single bite, without mangling its prey, than those of the dog. There are, however, some remarkable differences between the animals, as there are also between the fox, and all other members of the same family. The pupil of the eye in the fox, if observed during the day, or under the influence of a strong light, is seen to close in a vertical direction, instead of contracting equally in the form of a circle, and, therefore, as in the case of the cat, the faculty of vision can be exercised with a very small proportion of light. Yet is the animal by no means deficient in sight, even when exposed to the noontide glare; as those who have followed in his track can abundantly testify. Another point of difference is in the shape of the muzzle, which in the fox is much more elongated and pointed than in others of the same family. The tail is also longer, more bushy, and more thickly covered with fur; the skin is altogether covered with closer and finer fur, and is in some varieties of great beauty and high value. The habits of the fox are more distinct than its organisation from those of other animals of the canine species. The form of the eye enables it to see prey when above it, and thus the perches of pheasants and other gallinaceous birds are assailed by the nocturnal marauder. Its predacious habits know no bounds, and its stealthy and cautious manner of approaching and of securing its prey enables it to commit the most destructive havoc in the farm-yard, and to carry off its booty with impunity. It is peculiar to foxes to be quite solitary in their operations, never joining in numbers to make common cause against their enemies, and so to compensate for the want of individual strength; but encountering alone whatever dangers assail it, and opposing them at first with all the cunning of its sagacious nature, and when this fails, with the most desperate and unyielding courage, fighting to the last extremity. Foxes are common in various parts of the globe, but most numerous in temperate and cold climates. There is not much difference in their general aspect, except such as arises from variety in colour and markings. Their means of subsistence vary with the localities in which they are found. In some places they are known to subsist chiefly on fish, in others they fatten on the fruit of the vine; the lesser beasts and birds are, however, their principal prey, especially rabbits, game, and domestic poultry. They perform an essential service in Scotland by destroying the moor mice, which sometimes increase to such an extent as to destroy the vegetation of the moors, to the great loss of the shepherd. At the season of the vintage in France and Italy, these animals do much damage, and feed on the grapes till they become fat, and, as it is said, good for eating. Foxes are not migratory animals in any country, nor do they often shift their quarters with the seasons: they are hardy and healthy creatures, and it is a rare occurrence to find one of their number that has died a natural death. The common fox is about a foot high, and from the muzzle to the other extremity of the body it averages about two feet and a half. Shaw describes it as having a broad head, sharp snout, flat forehead; and a straight and bushy tail. The colour is a yellowish red or brown, mixed with white or ash-colour on the forehead, shoulders, hind-part of the back, and outside of the hind-legs; the lips, cheeks, and throat are white, and a stripe of the same colour runs along the under side of the legs; the breast and belly are whitish gray; the tips of the ears and the feet black; the tail externally reddishyellow, with a black tinge; internally yellowish-white, with the same; the tip of the tail perfectly white. According to circumstances the fox kennels either above or below the surface of the earth. Where the soil is wet and clayey, he finds a retreat in thick bushes or in hollows at the roots of trees; in drier situations he makes an excavation to a convenient depth in the earth, often beneath the protection of a high bank where roots of trees, &c. prevent the soil from falling in, and also form a shelter to his dwelling. He does not always take the trouble to make a hole for himself, but gets accommodation by dispossessing the badger. Wherever he takes up his abode he always provides a number of outlets to give means of escape from danger. The young of the fox are from three to eight in number, and are produced only once in the year, i.e. about the latter end of March. The female prepares a bed for them of leaves and hay, and manifests the most tender solicitude in their behalf. The cautious, prudent character which belongs to her by nature, seems entirely lost when she has young ones to nurse and protect. If she perceives the place of her retreat to be discovered, she will carry off her cubs one by one, till she has put them all in a situation which promises greater security. She has even been known to bear away a cub when the hounds were out, and thus risk her own life in attempting to save that of her offspring. The cubs are born like dogs, covered with hair, and having their eyes shut. Their growth is completed at eighteen months, and the period of their natural lives is probably thirteen or fourteen years. In the days of his inexperience (says a modern writer) a favourite lure will ensnare the fox, but when apprised of its nature, the same expedient becomes unavailing. He smells the very iron of the trap, and carefully shuns it. If he perceives that the means of ambush are multiplying around him, he quits his place of residence and retires into more secure quarters. Man with all his reasonings and machines, requires himself much experience not to be overreached by this wily quadruped. If all the issues of the kennel are beset with snares, the occupant scents and recognises them, and rather than fall into them, exposes himself to the most cruel and protracted privation of food. He is comparatively ignorant and careless of his conduct when no war is waged against him; but when the apprehension of pain or death, exhibited under various forms, has produced and give rise to comparisons, judgments, and indications, multiplied sensations, which become fixed in his memory, he acquires skill, penetration, and cunning. If the imprudence and thoughtlessness of youth frequently make him deviate from the right path, the experience of age corrects his wanderings, and teaches him to discriminate true from false appearances. The skin of the fox we have already spoken of as furnishing a soft and warm fur. This is much used in various parts of Europe, for muffs and for the lining of clothes. In the Valais, and the Alpine districts of Switzerland, great numbers of foxes are taken on this account. Vast numbers of skins are likewise imported from Newfoundland and Hudson's Bay. In order to keep up the supply of foxes in this country, they are sometimes imported from the Continent, but these are said not to show equal sport with our own. The waste of foxes is not attributed altogether to the hunting which is carried on, but to the prepossession against reynard which exists among the owners of extensive domains, where the preservation of winged game is an object of importance. It is affirmed, however, that if coverts were provided in ground favourable to the burrowing of rabbits, the foxes, who prefer rabbits to any other food, would supply themselves from this source, without molesting either pheasants, partridges, or hares; and this statement is confirmed by facts, for in some manors, thus provided with the favourite food of the fox, this animal is found with hares and pheasants in equal plenty. In the night which precedes a fox-hunt the well-known business of earth-stopping is performed by persons connected with the hunting establishment. This consists in stopping up the earths, as they are called, while the foxes are absent in search of their prey, so that when they return to their lodging, they find themselves shut out. Thorn or furze-bushes, intermixed with earth, are used to close the entrances to these subterranean dwellings, and when the chase is over, the earths are unstopped, that the foxes may not be deprived of their natural kennel, and driven to seek others elsewhere. The season of fox-hunting is, or ought to be, now nearly at an end. It has been recommended, as a means of repairing the scarcity of foxes, that no country be hunted later than February. As a further means of supplying the requirements of the chase, the domestic rearing of foxes is frequently resorted to. Some litters are procured, carefully removed, and placed in a convenient apartment, where they are fed, and nourished up with milk, wheat, and water, until they are old enough to try their strength against weasels, polecats, &c. A kennel is then prepared for these young foxes, and they are forced into it, one by one, and kept there by watching and supplying them with sufficient food within the entrance. Where rabbits are plentiful the cubs soon learn to catch the young ones in the neighbourhood: they likewise find plenty of beetles, chaffers, and worms, and if properly managed there is very little doubt of their taking to the kennel and remaining there. The habits of the fox afford subject for a much longer notice than we can give, but they have been so frequently illustrated by anecdotes, or brought under actual observation, that to a large proportion of our readers they are doubtless sufficiently familiar. While this animal is reared and prized by the huntsman, he is unjustly hated and despised by many persons, in consequence of the natural tendencies which belong to him. We cannot join, for instance, in such language as the following, where the animal is represented as a thief, conscious of the wrong and robbery he is committing, and expecting the just vengeance of his pursuers. As straggling armies at the trumpet's voice Though high his brush he bear; though tipt with white Recal the shades of night, the pampered rogue His forfeit head, and thirsting for his blood. If there were no other sign of the perverseness of the mind of man, this would be a sufficient one, that about spiritual things almost every one is satisfied with himself, and thinks himself as wise and as holy as need is, whereas about temporal things nobody is contented with his state and condition, but would fain be greater and richer every day. If we were really wise we should not be so greedy of temporal things, considering we have as much as nature requires. What is beyond the need of nature is a clog to grace. But in spiritual things the greatest share we have is the least of what an Infinite Being is able and willing to give.-LUDOLF. ON CHESS. V. ORIGIN OF THE NAMES OF CHESS-MEN. AN inquiry into the various mutations which the game of chess has undergone in its passage through different nations, affords much curious information. Although the nature of the game itself never seems to have been essentially changed, yet the names and powers of the pieces have been subject to much variation: the military character of the game has often been lost sight of; and it may, in its present state, be typical not so much of a military community as of a well-regulated society, in which we find kings, queens, bishops, knights, and peasants. The king, the principal piece in the game, has always preserved his title; but his consort, the queen, has been raised to her present dignity by a series of remarkable changes, which can be traced with tolerable exactness. The original name for this piece seems to have been the Eastern word Pherz, that is, a counsellor, or general of an army. It has been supposed that the similarity of sound between the words Pherz and Vierge, occasioned the introduction of the latter term among the Europeans: but that the extravagant veneration of the times towards the Holy Virgin, caused the term Vierge to be changed into Fierce or Fers, the old Norman and English term for the queen, and thus the military character of the game became at once lost sight of. In an old Latin poem the queen is called Virgo. M. Freret, after remarking that among Eastern nations the move of this piece is only from square to square, observes, that the romantic spirit of the times disdained this very contracted motion as too much resembling the slavery of the Asiatic females, and contrary to the privileges enjoyed by those in Europe, on which account they rendered it as free as possible, by making it the most important of all the pieces. But this remark does not agree with Mr. Barrington's ingenious observations. He says: In most of these (the Eastern) governments, the kings are rather indolent monarchs, and consequently this piece scarcely moves at all, but is merely to be defended from attacks. The emperor himself being thus indoleut, necessarily requires a minister or general, who can protect his master by vigorous and extensive motions against distant insults, in the most remote parts of the board. The piece therefore of the greatest importance, was by the Persians styled Pherz or General. Chess hath universally been considered as an engagement between two armies, and if the piece of the greatest importance is termed the General, this allusion is properly carried on. Mr. Douce remarks: Although the title of queen cannot be traced so far back as that of fierce, it is of considerable antiquity, as it is to be met with in French manuscripts of the thirteenth century; and in the Gesta Romanorum, a collection of stories compiled about the beginning of the thirteenth century, this piece is called regina. About the year 1408, John Lydgate, the monk of St. Edmonsbury, wrote a poem which he dedicated to the admirers of the game royal at chess, from which the following extract is preserved by Dr. Hyde: To all folkys vertuouse That gentil bene, and amerouse, Was of a Fers so fortunat, Into a corner drive and Maat. The last two lines become intelligible if we read them thus, "The king was by a fortunate queen (of the adversary,) driven into a corner of the chess-board and check-mated." We introduce the quotation however to show that Mr. Douce is not correct in supposing it "not possible to trace the term fers in the English language beyond the time of Chaucer*.' But the term queen seems to have come into general use by the year 1474, when Caxton printed the second edition of his Book on Chess, for he describes the queen in the following terms:-" Thus ought the quene be maad. She ought to be a fayr lady, sittyng in a chayer, and crowned with a corone on her head, and cladde with a cloth of gold, and above furrid with ermynes." We also find the same term continued in the reign of Henry the Seventh, as appears from a passage in the Vulgaria of W. Horman, printed at London, 1519. "We shoulde have II kyngis, and II quyens, IIII alfyns, IIII knyghtis, IIII rokis, and XVI paunys." Mr. Madden thinks that from the pieces found in the Isle of Lewis +, and also by the set of chess-men belonging to Charlemagne, of the eighth, or beginning of the ninth, century, the very early appearance of the queen on the European chess-boards is proved, and consequently we must reject the theory which ascribes this introduction to the French, from the fancied similarity between Fierce, or Fers, and the Persian Pherz. That it is to the Greeks we should rather "ascribe the merit or blame of metamorphosing the minister into the queen, and, by that means, of introducing so strange an anomaly as the promotion of a foot-soldier to be a lady." Mr. Barrington also observes, " Another impropriety arises from the pawn's becoming a queen, when he hath reached the last square of the adversary's camp; as it is a suitable reward to the pawn (or foot-soldier) to make him a general, if he penetrates so far through the enemy's troops; but certainly no prowess on his part can entitle him to be transformed into a queen." Dr. Hyde states, that in Poland and Russia the chessqueen is sometimes called the old woman, or nurse. THE BISHOP. Among the Persians and Arabs, the original name of this piece was Pil, or Phil, an elephant; under which form it was represented on the eastern chess-board. It appears that the Spaniards borrowed the term from the Moors, and with the addition of the article al, converted it into alfil, whence it became varied by Italian, French, and English writers into arfil, alferez, alphilus, alfino, alphino, alfiere, aufin, alfyn, awfyn, and alphyn. It is quite uncertain at what period the bishop first took the place of the elephant. Mr. Madden brings together a number of authorities to show that the term bishop was in use so early as the eleventh or twelfth century. It was in common use in the time of Elizabeth, as appears from ROWBOTHAM'S Pleasaunt and wittie Playe of the Cheasts renewed, 12mo, London, 1562. He says of it, "The Bishoppes some name Alphins, some fooles, and some name them princes: other some call them Archers, and thei are fashioned accordinge to the wyll of the workemen:" and again, Of the bishop, or archer: "In the auncient tyme of the Frenchmen named him Foole, which seemeth vnto me an improper name. The Spaniardes named him Prince, with some reason; and some name him Archer;" and, of its form among the English, he tells us, "The Bishoppe is made with a sharpe toppe, and cloven in the middest, not muche vnlyke to a bishop's myter." The French, at a very early period, called this piece Fol, an evident corruption of Fil. Hence, also, the French name for the piece Fou, or the fool, a natural perversion of the original, when we consider that, at the time it was made, the court fool was a usual attendant on the king and Queen: or, as Mr. Barrington observes, "This piece, standing on the sides of the king and Chaucer thus introduces the piece in question: She stale on me and toke my feers, + See Saturday Magazine, vol. xviii., p. 37, 60. queen, some wag of the times, from this circumstance, styled it The Fool, because anciently royal personages were commonly thus attended, from want of other means of amusing themselves." It is difficult to say why this piece should have been named the archer, unless, as Mr. Douce remarks, "Archers were formerly the body-guards of monarchs, and might have been thought, by some, more proper personages in the game of chess than fools, especially if they were inclined to give it a military turn." This piece has also been called the Secretary. The Russians and Swedes retain the original appellation of Elephant; the Germans call it Läufer, or the Leaper, from the ancient mode of taking over an intervening piece; and the Poles call it Pôp, Papa, or Priest. The Icelanders and Danes appear always to have called it Biskup, or Bishop. THE KNIGHT. This piece has been subject to little or no variation. It is likely that in early times the knight was represented on horseback, and hence the piece has often been called the Horse. On the European board this piece denoted the nobility; but Dr. Hyde states, that among Charlemagne's chess-men it is represented under the form of a centaur. From the peculiar leap of this piece the Germans call it the Springer: the Russians continue to call it the Horse. RELIGION is the key-stone of the arch of the moral universe. On religion are founded those sublime relations which exist between the visible and the invisible world,-those who still sojourn here, and those who have become citizens of the country beyond us. It is the poesy of existence,-the_basis of all high thought and virtuous feeling, of charities and morals, and the very tie of social existence.-F. ALL the generous and tender affections acquire a new charm in alliance with religious ideas, in the same manner as objects, beautiful in themselves, receive a new lustre when a pure light is thrown upon them. Filial piety becomes the preservation of the life of a mother; and let a pious more touching in those children who pray with fervour for courage but guide the visitor of the sick, and he becomes the angel of consolation, as he visits the abodes of misery. Even virtue itself does not receive its celestial impress, except in alliance with religious sentiments.-F. FAITH AND HOPE. O THOU ! who for our fallen race Its frailty and its pains were worn ; The burdens and the griefs hast borne ; Oh! teach thy ransomed ones to know With love, which centres all in Thee; LADY FLORA HASTINGS. |