become deformed; an occurrence which is rare in boys, who are left, in conformity with the designs of Nature, to acquire strength and symmetry from free and unrestrained muscular action. Yet such is the dominion of prejudice and habit, that with these results meeting our observation in every quarter, we continue to make as great a distinction in the physical education of the two sexes in early life, as if they belonged to different orders of beings, and were constructed on such opposite principles, that what was to benefit the one, must necessarily hurt the other. [Abridged from COMBE's Physiology applied to Health.]

THE GIGANTIC SALAMANDER,
(Salamandra gigantea.)

THE Salamander belongs to that order of reptiles called Batrachians, from their resemblance, to a certain extent, to the frog tribes. The Batrachia include all the reptiles with naked bodies, without the hard covering of the tortoises, or scales like serpents. The whole of this order are without nails on the toes, and they all undergo various changes or metamorphoses; the different changes in the organization of the Salamanders nearly resemble those which occur in the case of the frogs and toads, which have been more fully described under the head of the Surinam Toad*.

The name of the Salamander must be familiar to most of our readers, from its having been applied by the ancients to a fabulous creature, which was supposed to possess the power of existing in the midst of flames, and even of quenching the fire by which it was surrounded. In our own times a strange belief exists among the ignorant, that if any fire remains unquenched for the space of seven years, a Salamander will be produced. But the inquiries of modern science have shown, that the only foundation for all these fables concerning the harmless reptile represented below, is the humble means of self-defence granted to it by the Creator.

The body of the Salamander is covered with pores, from which, when alarmed, or suffering from pain, an acrid watery humour exudes, which is at times able so far to quench the fury of the flames as to give the poor creature time to escape, and in this See Saturday Magazine, Vol. II., p. 15.

simple fact consists the whole of the mysterious power that has been attributed to it.

The Salamanders are divided into two sections, the aquatic, that rarely leave the water, (our common eft is an example,) and the terrestrial, who only remain in that element during their tadpole state. The aquatic Salamanders have a tail flattened sideways, so as to assist them in swimming.

The experiments of Spallanzani, on their astonishing power of reproducing a limb, have rendered them famous. The same limb can be reproduced several times in succession, after it has been cut off, and that with all its bones, muscles, &c. Another faculty, not less singular, is that of remaining a long time encompassed with ice without perishing.

The Salamanders were erroneously placed by Linnæus among the Lizards, but they have been most properly transferred to the order to which they now belong, and to which they bear a much greater affinity, especially from their transformations.

Although the reptile figured in the engraving is called gigantic, in reference to the size of most of the genus, it does not exceeed eighteen inches in length. Some few years back, however, a Salamander was discovered in Japan, to which the name gigantic might be applied with much greater propriety. A living specimen was taken, and conveyed to the museum at Leyden five years since; it was then about twelve inches long, but it has since then grown to the length of two feet and a half, although confined in a wooden vessel containing water. It is of a very dark olive-green colour, and covered with tubercles, nearly resembling in form the species represented in the engraving. It feeds sparingly on small living fish which are placed in its prison; its appetite, however, only recurs at long intervals, and its destined prey seem perfectly unconscious of the presence of an enemy, and when alarmed, take refuge under the very jaws of the reptile.

Ir mankind in the present day were strictly to adhere to those practices which promote the health and well-being of their minds and bodies, and as strictly, to abstain from those which tend to injure them, there would be little or no cause to complain that our race is degenerating, and that the men of modern days scarcely possess the sixth part of the strength of their forefathers.-HODGKIN.

THE CITY OF BRUGES,

IN BELGIUM.

THE Belgian city of Bruges is one of the most ancient and remarkable among the towns of the Netherlands. Like many others which are to be found in Europe, and nowhere in greater profusion than in the same territory with itself, it exhibits the melancholy instance of a town, which had been raised by the fostering hand of Commerce to the highest pitch of wealth and prosperity, becoming so reduced as to retain only just enough of its former greatness to render most striking the contrast between its ancient and its present state. During the latter years of the middle ages, Bruges was the first city for trade and manufactures in the whole of Europe, and probably of the world; the rank which it now enjoys is very far indeed from that lofty pre-eminence, scarcely sufficient, indeed, when compared with that of other cities, to be deemed of any importance whatsoever. Bruges, or Brügge, as it is called, is now the capital of the province of West Flanders; during the time that Belgium was united with France, from 1795 to the downfall of Napoleon in 1814, the city was the capital of the department of the Lys. It stands in a level plain, at the distance of about eight miles in a direct line from the coast; it has no river or natural piece of water in its immediate neighbourbood, but the fine canal which runs from Ghent to Ostend passes through it, and affords it all the advantages of an easy communication with the sea. This canal is both broad and deep, so as to be navigable for ships of from 200 to 300 tons' burden; a branch from it leads to Sluys or Ecluse, which, previous to its temporary separation from Flanders, and annexation to the United Provinces in the sixteenth century, used to be the port of Bruges.

The origin of Bruges is referred to the seventh or the eighth century, and the city is supposed to have risen from the ruins of a town called Oudembourg, which was destroyed by the Danes and Normans; its name is by some derived from the number and mag-, nificence of its bridges, or brüggen, and by others from a particular bridge called Brugstoc, which stood between Oudembourg and another town called then Rodembourg, and afterwards, Ardemberg. In the year 800, according to Mr. Grattan, Bruges had already a flourishing trade; and 90 years afterwards, it was for the first time surrounded with walls by Baldwin, surnamed le Chauve, or the Bald, who at that time held the Earldom or county of Flanders as a fief under the French crown. A strong encouragement to its commercial prosperity was given in the year 960, when a fair was established in it by Count Baldwin the Third; and through the long course of five succeeding centuries, while the greater part of Europe was sunk in the darkest barbarism; the industrious burghers of Bruges were slowly securing the advantages of wealth and civilization. The manufacture of wove fabrics, for which Flanders was at so early a period distinguished, became to this city a vast source of profit; and a further means of advancement was afforded it, by the establishment of the herring-trade, in the fourteenth century.

About the year 1262, the merchants of the Hanseatic League first began to resort to Bruges, and soon afterwards they made it one of their four great comptoirs or factories. The commerce then existing between the nations of the north of Europe and those of its southern countries had already become extensive through the enterprise of the cities on the Baltic. But still so defective was the state of navigation, that a voyage between that sea and the Medi

terranean could not be performed in a single summer. It became desirable, therefore, that some half-way station should be chosen, as a magazine or storehouse wherein the two classes of traders might deposit and exchange their merchandise; and the choice fell upon Bruges, which had for some time previous been a place of considerable resort. This city accordingly became the general rendezvous; thither the merchants of Italy, particularly those of Venice, resorted, and in return for the manufactures of their own country and the precious commodities which they had labo riously brought from India and the East, they received the more bulky, but not less useful, produce of the north, its iron, copper, corn, flax, hemp, timber, and other articles invaluable as naval stores.

The commercial connexion between Bruges and our own country had been of some importance before that city became a Hanseatic factory; and it afterwards increased to a great extent, being apparently of much value in the eyes of both parties. In the year 1296, the merchants of Bruges obtained considerable privileges in their trade with Britain,—or to use the phrase of modern times, they were placed on the footing of the most favoured nations; for at the instance of Guy, Earl of Flanders, permission was granted by our monarch, Edward the First, that "they should purchase wool throughout England, Ireland, and Scotland, and practise all other kinds of mercantile dealings as freely as had been permitted to the Lombards." Not half a century afterwards, Bruges was made what was called the staple for English wool,-that is to say, the fixed market to which all persons exporting wool from England were bound to carry it; we read in Rymer's Fœdera, that in this year "King Edward the Third re-established the staple for English wool, woolfels, leather, and tin, at Bruges; directing the mayor, constable, and community of Merchants of the Staple of England, to govern the trade thither, and to impose taxes, tallages, &c., relating thereto." This staple seems, however, to have been transferred wholly, or in part, to Calais, not many years afterwards. In the year 1358, however, the connexion was drawn still closer, through the agency of the ancient company, or Fellowship of the Merchant Adventurers of England,—the Brotherhood of St. Thomas à Becket,-as they were originally called; who obtained from Louis de Male, Count of Flanders, an ample concession of privileges, which led them to fix their Flemish establishment. and with it the staple for English woollen cloth, at Bruges;-" whereby," says one of their secretaries, "a great concourse of merchants were drawn to that city, from all Europe." Not many years after this period, at least in 1407, Bruges was formally declared the staple port for Scottish ships and merchandise; which it had been, in fact, for some time previous.

Throughout the long course of years which had elapsed from the age of its foundation, this city had not been without considerable drawbacks upon its prosperity; it had suffered a variety of misfortunes, and had not been without a full share of what few cities of any note could then hope to escape,-the calamities of war. On more than one occasion, the greater part of the town had been destroyed by fire. The heaviest ills, however, inflicted on it, were brought about by internal commotions and disputes with their sovereign; and to them the turbulent character of its inhabitants much contributed. "The great riches," says a French writer, supposed to be Huet, Bishop of Avranches, "which commerce brought to the citizens of Bruges, rendered them not only insolent and unjust towards foreign merchants, thus causing these indeed to withdraw, but even towards their sovereign."

The Hanseatic writers, according to Anderson, complain loudly of the petulance and insolence of the inhabitants of Bruges to their people; and the dissatisfaction which this conduct at length occasioned was such, that resolutions were actually taken in the general meetings of the Deputies of the Hanse Towns, to break off all commerce with Flanders, although eventually a reconciliation took place. The spirit of haughty independence which these citizens acquired with their prosperity is indeed remarkable; it fostered in them a proneness to turbulence and discontent, which the slightest provocation, real or imaginary, would often inflame into open rebellion. It is almost impossible to read a few pages of their country's annals without meeting with some instance of this disposition; it usually begins with an act of violence on the part of the burghers, perhaps the murder of an obnoxious officer, and usually ends with their submission, fine, and pardon.

Bruges was at the height of its greatness in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Dr. Robertson calls it "the store-house from which the nations of Europe were supplied. Never," he adds, "did wealth appear more conspicuously in the train of commerce; the citizens of Bruges, enriched by it, displayed in their dress, their buildings, and mode of living, such magnificence as even to mortify the pride, and excite the envy of royalty." He alludes here to the oftrepeated story which is told by Meyer, in the annals of Flanders, in connexion with the visit paid to Bruges, in 1301, by King Philippe le Bel, of France, and his queen, Joanna of Navarre, when nearly all Flanders had submitted to the French monarch. Guicciardini thus relates it :-"Considering well the magnificence and opulence of this city, they wondered and were astounded, and the queen herself, amongst other things, attentively remarking the splendour and pomp of the women, became moved by female envy, (mark well the fact, observes the French translator of Guicciardini,) and filled with disdain, she exclaimed, Alas! I thought that I had been queen alone here, and I find myself but one in a hundred!' and there is no doubt," adds the writer, "that this envy and anger of this princess (a thing remarkable,) produced in after-time, both to this city, and the whole country, the most heavy troubles.”

Of the actual extent of the commerce of Bruges we have little means of judging; a few incidental notices in the pages of historians, enable us to form some conception of it. In its most prosperous times, there used to come to this city 40,000 bags of wool from Spain alone; this number was aftewards reduced to 25,000, valued at 625,000 scudi. The importance of the traffic in Indian goods with Venice, appears from the fact, that in the year 1318, five Venetian galeasses-vessels of considerable burden -laden with those commodities, arrived at Bruges, in order to dispose of their cargoes at the fair. In the year 1468, there arrived at the same time in the harbour of Sluys-the harbour of Bruges-no less than 150 merchant-ships; but the annalist who records the fact, mentions it as a “rare occurrence." Speaking of the flourishing condition of the city about this period, Bishop Huet remarks, that there was then scarcely any nation, at all considerable, which had not in it a factory, and a company of merchants for carrying on business; there were those of the English, French, Scotch, Castilians, Portuguese, Aragonese, Navarrese, Catalans, Biscayans, Venetians, Florentines, Genoese, Lucchese, Milanese, Germans, Danes, Swedes, and of the Hanseatic cities. All these different nations, he adds, carried thither the commodities of their respective countries, and

exchanged the various kinds for one another, as well as for the wove fabrics of Flanders itself. The reputation which the artisans of Bruges had obtained in the working of the precious metals, is curiously shown by an act of the Scottish parliament passed in 1489; its title is "of Gold-smithes," and it provides that those of Scotland-whom it charges with making "fals mixture of evil mettel"-shall for the future make their works of the fineness of the new works of silver of Bruges, and that there shall be a deacon of the craft, who "sall examine the said wark and fines thereof, and see that it be als gude as the said wark of Bruges."

The decline of Bruges is dated from the year 1487, when a dispute arose between the city and its sovereign Maximilian, the son of the Emperor of Germany. A war followed, which lasted ten years; the citizens in the end preserved their rights and privileges, but their commerce had in the mean while received a fatal blow. Maximilian blockaded the port of Sluys, and thus cut them off from the sea; their commerce passed away to their jealous rivals of Antwerp and Amsterdam, who had warmly aided the archduke in all his measures, and who obtained from him in return, all the commercial privileges which Bruges had before enjoyed exclusively. Antwerp was the chief gainer; its prosperity is always dated from the downfall of Bruges, whose foreign merchants repaired to it in great numbers.

In the year 1515, the English merchants quitted Bruges, and betook themselves to the rising city of Antwerp; and in the following year, the remainder of the other foreign merchants imitated their example, so that none but the Spaniards remained. Again, however, in less than half a century, the forsaken city recovered some portion of its former prosperity; for in 1558, the sudden loss of Calais caused the English to re-establish in it the staple for their wool;

much to the benefit of its inhabitants. It was soon after this period that Guicciardini wrote his description of the Netherlands; and the account which he gives of Bruges, shows us that, though fallen from its ancient greatness, it still held a high rank among the manufacturing towns of Europe. That writer speaks of its "abundance" of cloths, tapestry, fustians, serges, &c., and of the "marvellous quantity" of silk prepared in it; indeed, he tells us that, of the artisans engaged in the fabrication of those kinds of articles, there were no less than sixtyeight crafts, or companies. Yet this prosperity was but transient; for under the severe pressure of warfare, and the fatal influence of religious persecution, the pre-eminence of Flanders as a manufacturing district began to pass rapidly to other countries.

The people of Bruges were sensible of its decline, and did not suffer it to continue without an effort to arrest its progress. In Thurloe's collection of statepapers, there are preserved two letters which were addressed, about the middle of the seventeenth century, by the magistrates of the city to the Company of Merchant Adventurers of England, courteously inviting them to fix their Flemish establishment in Bruges, which had been its ancient seat. The first was dated in the year 1649; and the answer to it requested preliminary stipulations, for an exemption from certain tolls and taxes, and for the free exercise by the English merchants of their own religion. The second invitation was addressed two years afterwards, in 1651; and to this the company replied, "That as the said letters (of the magistrates) were entirely silent in the two most material articles; viz, the free exercise of their religion, and the duties to be paid, they desire a peremptory answer thereto :

since the English parliament, both out of their own zeal for the worship of God, and for the honour of their nation, could never admit of a treaty of residence, till those two articles be first agreed on." Here the matter seems to have dropped.

The modern city of Bruges is described as a clean, quiet, dull town; "the streets are wide," says Malte Brun, "but the houses with triangular gables, give them a Gothic aspect ugly enough." Our engraving will convey a general idea of the character of its architecture; its appearance from a distance has been likened to that of a "forest of cones." The tower seen in our view is that of the old town-hall; it is about 300 feet in height, and is ascended by means of 533 steps. The view from the summit is very fine; the spectator is rewarded for the trouble of the ascent "not only by a panorama of the city, but by so extended and unbroken a map of the country around it," to use the words of a female writer," as leaves a more graphic impression of Flemish scenery on the memory than can be obtained by any other means." The chimes of this tower are celebrated; the machinery of them is very interesting, especially the enormous barrel on which the tunes are arranged in great variety. These carillons play incessantly,indeed every three quarters of an hour; they have the sweetest tones," says the writer of the Family Tour through South Holland, "of any we had heard."

SONNET S.

TO THE SUN.

MONARCH of day, who from thy burning throne
Bidd'st the close valleys melt, the mountains blaze
Beneath thy tyranny, as o'er each zone

Thy dazzling sceptre flashes far its rays

Of quenchless fire! thou whom in ancient days
Our fathers kneed with vain idolatry,

And gorgeous pomp, and solemn hymns of praise,
And altars deck'd with impious blazonry.

Oh! still belov'd! with morn's "sweet hour of prime,"

I greet thy beams, but thine the knee no more.

A brighter sun, a worship more sublime,

Claims now the heart, and bids the tongue adore. Thy day no more, the sabbath's hours we bless,

And hymn the Christian's God,-the Sun of Righteousness.

THE CLOUD.

See'st you light cloud the wind is hurrying by?
The eagle's scarce more rapid in his flight,
'Tis thus the years of youth,-hope-rapture fly,
Clad in attractive hues and robes of light,
Swiftly they fly, but ah! a weary night

Their reign succeeds,-a more than midnight gloom That gives no peace to morn's uprising bright,

Nor bids sweet Hope her wonted sinile resume. Ah! yes; though dark our night and drear the tomb, Through its long vista, lo! the glorious star, Whose rays from heaven's bright vestibule illume Death's deepest vaults with radiance from afar, Sun of immortal day! victorious faith

Eyes thy uprising blaze, and triumphs over death. G. M. J.

As he that lives longest lives but a little while, every man may be certain that he has no time to waste. The duties of life are commensurate to its duration, and every day brings its task, which if neglected is doubled on the morrow. But he that has already trifled away those months and years in which he should have laboured, must remember that he has now only a part of that of which the whole is a little, and that since the few moments remaining are to be considered as the last trusts of heaven, not one is to be

lost. DR. JOHNSON.

It is no strange thing for men left to their own passions, either to do much evil themselves, or abuse the overmuch goodness of others.—Icon Basilike.

PROVERBS VIII.

81. Call me Cousin, but Cozen me not.

Some amusement is here afforded by a play upon the words, between which, however, though like in sound, there is no connexion; the former being derived from a Latin compound, whence comes consanguinity; whereas Cozen, to cheat, is taken from cose, signifying, in the old Scotch dialect, to chop or change. Now let us proceed to the moral of the sentence, which implies, Use no deceit in your tongue.

Dare to be true! Nothing can need a lie, A fault that needs it most grows two thereby. So much for falsehood, which is the principle and fountain

of all sin.

But there are instances, though they are probably rare, in which a person may be deceived by means of words spoken in truth and a good conscience. Lucius, an Arian persecutor, was, according to Eusebius, thus fairly cozened. This violent man, being bent on mischief, approaching a boat in which was Athanasius, asked if he knew where Athanasius was? Yes, said Athanasius, (who was known to Lucius only by name and not by face,) he is hard before you, and if you make haste you may overtake him: whereupon Lucius, being hot in his pursuit, rushed past the very object of his search. But the proverb condemns that deceit which is the corruption of truth and justice. 82. Full of CoURTESY, full of Craft.

"Sincere and true-hearted persons," observes Ray, are least given to compliments and ceremony. I suspect he hath some design upon me who courts and flatters me.” And the Italians say, The dog wags his tail, not for thee but for the bread.

Flattery injures many whom sincere treatment would improve. It is often the case with flatterers, according to an old writer, that "they have the voice of Jacob but the hands of Esau. They are smooth in their words but rough in their actions." So much danger is there in flattery, that Sigismund, Emperor of Germany, struck a man who praised him too much, saying, he bit him! On the other hand, we are told of a plain-speaking schoolmaster, who had in one of his rooms a large glass, in which he caused his scholars to behold themselves. If they were handsome, he would tell them "What a pity it was such goodly bodies should be possessed with defective minds." If they were plain or deformed, he would tell them "They should make their bodies more beautiful by dressing their minds."- Let not this Proverb, however, be supposed to forbid courtesy, or to encourage that coarse and rude kind of sincerity which goes under the name of bluntness, in which there is often not a little of affectation. With courtesy, say the Arabs, the fracture is repaired; that is, with gentleness and urbanity a reconciliation can be effected in quarrels. And we have better oracles than these,-Holy Scripture instructs us to "be courteous."

83. The CROW thinks her own bird the fairest.

Naturally enough too. The old and well-known fable of the Eagle, the Owl, and the Owlets, has a pretty general application in the world; and within due limits the partiality alluded to in the proverb is the effect of a wise and providential ordinance. It would be well, however, for parents who blindly dote upon the imagined perfection of their young ones, to remember the meaning of the word Fond, as defined by Johnson.

The moral before us extends also to the offspring of the brain. Each author is apt to think the subject he has chosen, and his mode of handling it, to be the best. This infatuation, like the one alluded to above, is well expressed in an Arabian proverb, The beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother. The beetle is cited by the present Egyptians as remarkable for its ugliness.

84. Cut your COAT according to your cloth.

This proverb," says Bailey in his Dictionary, " contains good advice to people of several ranks and degrees, to balance accounts betwixt their expenses and their income, and not to let their vanity lead them, as we say, to outrun the constable." Plutarch speaks of "the vice of being in debt;" and by Cicero frugality is put in opposition to wickedness, as if he thought it impossible for the improvident and careless to be otherwise than bad. An ounce of prudence, say the Italians, is better than a pound