area.

"But its most extraordinary attitude was when it attempted to eat. Some plates of rice and raisins were presented to it, of which it only tasted. It was more attracted by an acacia which happened to be growing in the It threw up and back its head; then, taking the pinnate leaves in the curl of its tongue, it stripped the branches bare in a moment. It was then invited by some grass growing out of the interstices of the stones, but seemed greatly distressed to get at it. It made several attempts, but the height of its fore-quarters was too great even for its long neck; it continued to persevere, however, stretching out its limbs wider and wider after every effort, till its chest seemed so strained as to be in danger of splitting open; but it could not succeed in cropping the grass, notwithstanding the most extravagant expansion of its legs. The position, which seemed to be the most painful and awkward, nature probably never intended it should be placed

in.

Its residence being a sandy soil, where there is no grass, and its food being the leaves of trees, it is formed to stretch up to their branches. When it drinks in its native state, it is probable it wades into the water, so as to bring the surface within an accessible distance of its mouth; the keepers always lifted up the vessel to accommodate it. The shape of the animal seemed altogether to accord with this opinion. I measured its dimensions; from the hoof of the fore foot to the tip of the ear was eleven feet nine inches, while from the hoof of the hind leg to the insertion of the tail was not four. The splendid body cloths, when thrown over its back, immediately slipped off behind, till fastened on by bandages round the neck. The head was profusely decorated with amulets of blue beads, to protect it against the influence of an evil eye. The gentleness, familiarity, and docility of this immense

creature were quite delightful. It recognised its Arab attendants with great affection, and it came among us like a spaniel, put out its head to be caressed, and seemed quite pleased with being stroked and patted. Its nature is so very mild, that when one was shot by Mr. Gordon, in Africa, it died in the act of licking his hand."

Of the history of the giraffe, Dr. Walsh adds these neatly written details:—

"The appearance of an animal of this kind is of rare occurrence in Europe. Pliny says it was first seen at the Circensian games exhibited by Cæsar.* In the time of Horace, it was publicly exhibited on the theatre, where it appears to have attracted great applause.† It is described by Dion, who mentions it as being shown about,‡ and by Varro, who says its name was derived from having the form of a camel and the spots of a panther.§ But the figures represented on the Prænestine pavement leave no doubt that it was the same animal as that now called a giraffe; and it became so common at Rome, that a herd of ten of them were exhibited together in the reign of the Emperor Philip: though it afterwards became so scarce in modern times, that when Le Vaillant, about half a century ago, sent the skin of one of them from South Africa, the naturalists of France believed it to be a fabrication till they examined its texture with a magnifying glass.

"Much has been said of its being the animal mentioned in the Bible. The learned Bochart affirms that it is not; while Shaw has assigned good reasons for supposing that it is. The Septuagint and the Vulgate translate it cameleopardalis; but our version has it chamois, though such an animal is not a native of either Egypt or Syria. He thinks that the Israelites, while in Egypt, had many opportunities of being acquainted with the animal, and certainly the translators who so rendered the word had also; further, that it is a clean animal according to the Levitical law; and above all, that it is rendered zuraffa, or zeraffa, in the Arabic version, from whence it is now called giraffe. Though considered at Constantinople the first of the kind that ever was seen there, yet it appears from Busbequius that, shortly before his arrival, one had been exhibited, but had died, and was buried. He had the bones taken up and examined, and from these he gives an accurate description of the animal. It appears also to have been an instrument of propitiation on other occasions besides the present. Wher Tamerlane, or Timour, conceived the project of annexing Africa to his empire, and from thence invading Europe, by

Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. viii. c. 28. +Hor. Epist., lib. ii. i., 1, 198. Dion, lib. xliii.

Varro de Ling. Lat., lib. iv.

Ossa tamen quæ sub terra condehantur eruenda curavi ut inspicerem,-Busb. Ep. i., 71.

the straits of Gibraltar, his design was averted by a giraffe. The soldan of Egypt obtained one of these animals, which was found in the interior of the country, and sent it to Samarcand as a present to the Tartar. He received it as a great curiosity, and was so gratified by the gift that he suspended his intention."*

* Gibbon, chap. lxv.

Manners and Customs.

CHURCH ALES.

66

THOMAS WARTON, in a note to his History of English Poetry, vol. iii., pp. 412–414, edition of 1824, has contended that the word ale, in old English, signifies properly a feast or merry-making, supporting his opinion by referring to the compounds leet-ale, lamb-ale, Whitsun-ale, clerk-ale, church-ale, &c., by which our ancestors designated certain festivals they were in the habit of holding. For instance, "Church-ale," he observes, was a feast established for the repair of the church, or in honour of the church saint, &c. In Dodsworth's Manuscripts, there is an old indenture, made before the Reformation, which not only shows the design of the church-ale, but explains this particular use and application of the word ale. The parishioners of Elveston and Okebrook, in Derbyshire, agree jointly to brew four ales, and every ale of one quarter of malt, betwixt this and the feast of St. John Baptist next coming; and that every inhabitant of the said town of Okebrook shall be at the several ales. And every husband and his wife shall pay twopence, every stranger one penny; and all the inhabitants of Elveston shall have and receive all the profits and advantages coming of the said ales, to the use and behoof of the said

church of Elveston. And the inhabitants of Elveston shall brew eight ales, betwixt this and the feast of St. John Baptist, at which ales the inhabitants of Okebrook shall come and pay as before rehearsed." In this way he explains the not yet altogether disused bridal, that is bride-ale, meaning a marriage feast, and its more forgotten synonyme, wedding-ale.

There can be no question, however, that these festivals were called ales only by a natural transfer of that term from its original meaning, which was, not the feast itself, but the particular kind of liquor drunk at it; that which, in the estimation of the guests, no doubt, principally constituted it a feast. -Companion to the Newspaper.

EJECTMENT LAW.

In the Island of Sicily, (says Count Stolberg,) is the following singular custom :-If any man buy an estate, be it house, land, or vineyard, the neighbour of the purchaser, for an entire year afterwards, may eject him by an

advance of price. In vain would the first purchaser give more to the original owner. This singular law is generally evaded by the purchase-money being stated in the articles of agreement at a higher sum than has been agreed upon in the presence of four witnesses. There is another no less singular law in Sicily, according to which, any man can oblige his neighbour to sell his house, if he will pay him three times its value. The intention of this law was the improvement of the towns. It was to encourage the humble abodes of the poor. possessors of large houses to purchase the W. G. C.

The Naturalist.

KEEPING FLIES OUT OF HOUSES.

(Concluded from page 376.)

ANOTHER point to which it seems desirable to pay attention is, as to the precise species of flies which have this dread of passing. It seems probable, from the through a net. facts stated, that not merely the common house-fly, (Musca domestica,) which chiefly species of the same genus, which, in smaller swarms in our apartments, but the other numbers, intermingle with them, as well as Stomotys calcitrans, which, from its attacks on our legs, is often a greater pest, and, indeed, the dipterous [two-winged] tribes in general, are all equally deterred from traversing this imaginary boundary. But, before exact observations require to be instituted; this supposition can be fully adopted, more and it would also be desirable to have similar experiments made as to the house-flies of America, and other hot countries, in which it

is probable that the prevalent house-fly may be a species nearly allied to our Musca domestica, but distinct from it.

mily circle, my eldest son observed, that he On mentioning the above facts to my farecollected a passage in Herodotus in which a similar statement was made as to gnats; and he pointed out the chapter in which the father of history distinctly says, that certain fishermen defended themselves at night from the gnats by covering their beds with their fishing-nets, through which these insects, not even attempt to bite. though they bit through linen or woollen, did

lation, as literal as possible; but, that there Of this passage, the following is a transmay be no doubt of its accuracy, compared with the translations of Schweighæuser, Larcher, and Beloe, with which, in substance, it exactly agrees :

"But against the gnats, being in great numbers, these are the means they have invented: the towers are of service to those who inhabit the upper parts of the marshes, and ascending into them, they sleep there; for the gnats, on account of the winds, are

not able to fly high. But those who live around the marshes have invented other means instead of towers. Every man of them possesses a casting-net, with which, during the day, he catches fish, and at night he makes use of it in the bed where he reposes, round which he places the net, and then, having crept under it, he sleeps. But the gnats, if he sleeps wrapped up in a woollen or linen garment, bite through these, but through the net they do not even attempt to bite." (Herodotus, book ii., chap. 95.)

From this passage, then, it is clear, says Mr. Spence, junior, that Herodotus affirms the same fact with regard to the Egyptian Conopes, (which, from what he says of their frequenting marshes, biting by night, and the received interpretation of the word, there can be no doubt were one or more species of gnat, mosquito, or Culex,) as has been observed of the house-fly; namely, that they will not pass through the meshes of a net although the space be sufficiently large to admit them. If Herodotus had mentioned merely a net, one might have supposed he meant some very thin gauze, or other net-like substance, such as the gnat-curtains are made of at the present day; but he says it was a casting-net used by fishermen, and must have had meshes much wider than sufficient to admit a gnat; nor, I think, can there be a doubt on this head, when we consider that he adds that they bite through linen and woollen coverings, and yet do not even at tempt to bite through the net: this circumstance seems to prove that he was struck with this as a curious fact, which he imparts to his readers in his usual, concise manner. It will also be seen, that the net was not merely laid on the bed as a covering, but sustained by some support, (as a pole or bedstead,) so as to form a kind of tent, into which form the casting-net, from its shape, could be easily arranged, and under which the fishermen then crept, and thus slept secure from their formidable assailants. This is also the meaning attributed to the passage by Schweighauser, who says, "lecto circumponit rete, deinde subrepens sub illo dormit," (he lays his net round his bed, and then creeps under, and sleeps under it.) Thus it would seem that the beds so covered, agreed in all essential points with the Florentine rooms, of which the open windows had nets stretched across them; the gnats in the one case being asserted by Herodotus to be kept out under nearly the same circumstances as the flies are known to be excluded in the other. But here an objection may arise: may not the coincidence be accidental? Can we be sure that if flies are excluded by nets, gnats will be so also? In short, can we warrant the conclusion, that the assertion of Herodotus is correct? And, until the experiment has been fairly made,

and

we cannot be certain that gnats will be excluded from beds as flies are from rooms. But at the same time, judging from analogy, and the great improbability that so unusual a mode of defence, and one so unlike at first view to be effectual, should have been a mere fiction without a foundation of truth, there seem strong grounds for believing the fact to be as stated by Herodotus; that though, as is well known to persons who live in hot climates, gnats soon find their way through holes in gauze curtains, yet it is very probable that they may be afraid of venturing through a net, just as this last is sufficient to keep out flies, though we know that they will creep through the linen sides of a meat-safe. And thus Herodotus may be found as correct in this passage, as Geoffroy de St. Hilaire has shown him to be in the history of a bird, (Charadrius Egypticus of Hasselquist,) taking the gnats out of the mouth of the crocodile, which was deemed a mere fable until confirmed by the evidence of this naturalist when in Egypt.*

If it shall be proved, as seems not unlikely, that a person in bed may protect himself against gnats merely by stretching a widemeshed net over the place where he lies, it may be regretted that this simple fact, related by Herodotus as known to the Egyptian fishermen 2300 years ago, has been so long overlooked, and remained in reality quite unknown. Adopting this simple mode of protection, a traveller in marshy districts would have only to provide himself with a piece of netting three yards long and a yard wide, not taking up, when rolled, more than a few square inches of his trunk, and throwing this over a slight support of a few pieces of cane or whalebone equally portable, he would be secure from attack, though the net were but a few inches above his body, and the width of the meshes would not offer the slightest impediment to respiration and the free circulation of the air; whereas it is almost out of the question to use a piece of muslin or gauze in the same manner, at a slight elevation above the body, on account of the suffocating heat that would ensue; and if, in order to obviate this, the traveller were to carry with him common gauze curtains as now in use, sufficiently spacious to inclose the whole bed, the time and trouble required in arranging and applying them, would often be such as even to deter him from making use of them, and to lead him to prefer taking his chance without any defence.

If there is thus cause for regret that a fact so important should have been so long and completely overlooked, it seems not less to be wondered at, that the passage in Herodotus announcing it should have been so little noticed by commentators, not one of

* See Description de l'Egypte, Histoire Naturelle,

tom. i., p. 198-205.

whom seems to have been struck with the singularity of his statement, which, whether correct or not, equally required observation. One would think that in reading this passage, it must have seemed to them rather strange that a casting-net, whose meshes must have been wide enough to admit several guats at a time, should be asserted by Herodotus to be a sufficient defence from them, though they bit through either linen or woollen; and one may well be surprised that, whilst they have spent pages on passages far less curious, they should pass this over with a mere reference to Juvenal or Horace, where these authors allude to the conopeum, or gnat-curtain.

It seems that the commentators have been led astray by the word conopeum, confounding the casting-net of the Egyptian fishermen with the gnat-curtain of the Romans, which, both from the definition given of it, "linum tenuissimis maculis nectum," (thread knitted together in very fine meshes,) and from the use as banners to which Horace supposed it applied,—

"Interque signa (turpe!) militaria

Sol aspicit conopeum."-(Epod. lib. ix., ode ix.) was evidently of a texture resembling our muslin or gauze. If, therefore, they had been duly struck by the passage, they ought either to have shown how it was that a casting-net could exclude gnats as effectually as gauze; or else, that, in point of fact, the texture of both was the same, the casting net having, notwithstanding the apparent absurdity of the supposition, meshes so small as to prevent gnats from coming through them, or, on the other hand, the conopeum, though applicable for a banner, having meshes as large as a casting-net. But nothing of this kind has been attempted in the way of explanation by Schweighauser, Larcher, Baehr, or any of the commentators I have consulted, who all seem to regard the conopeum, or gnat-curtain, to be the same as the amphiblestron of Herodotus, when, in fact, except in the advantages derived from each, they have no more similarity than the paper.bags used for covering grapes have with a cherry-tree net.*

"In a curious poetical tract, entitled 'An Epistle from the Fens to Mr. ****** at Rome,' dated May 1, 1727, the author falls into the same error with all the commentators in referring, in the following lines to the passage of Herodotus in question, which he quotes :

appears,

'See with delight the great relief
Known by the fame of twice a thousand years;
See the close net of size immense and deep,
Flows round the bed and guards the dome of sleep.
What though the gnats incessant wave their wings,
Vain their efforts, and harmless are their stings.
Soon as their swarms the adverse bound beset,
Checked they retire, nor pass the impervious net.'
He here, like the commentators, regards the modern
gnat-curtain as precisely identical with the amphi-

I hope, in order to put beyond question the accuracy, or the contrary, of Herodotus's statement, that entomologists will make experiments as to the efficacy of nets in excluding gnats from beds, noticing particularly whether the result be affected by the circumstance of the room being light or dark, or by the colour of the threads, or the size of the meshes; and I trust also, that such as may travel in Egypt will direct their attention to the exact species of gnats which may abound there, and as to the fact whether the fishermen still defend themselves from them in the mode pointed out by Herodotus. Transactions of the Entomological Society, part i., pp. 2-11.

[Since the above interesting papers were read before the Entomological Society, others of less length on the matter have been read before the same body; but we defer the republication of them here, until we have written certain observations on them which they seem to suggest.-J. H. F.]

blestron of Herodotus, without giving himself the trouble to point out how his epithets 'close' and 'impervious' could be applicable to a casting-net."

Antiquariana.

THE ABREY, READING, BERKSHIRE.

READING is a borough and market-town in Berkshire, situate in a valley, near the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet, at the distance of thirty-nine miles from London. It contained, according to the last census, upwards of 16,000 inhabitants, and returns two members to Parliament. It is chiefly celebrated for the remains of a magnificent Abbey, built by Henry I. in the year 1121; who endowed it with the lands of Cholsey, in Berkshire, of Leominster, in Herefordshire, and Reading itself; with all their appendages, lands, churches, chapels, tithes, &c., and a mint, and one mintmaster. The Monastery was also free from all taxes and tolls throughout England and Wales; and the Abbot was a mitred Abbot, and a Peer of Parliament, and ranked next to the Abbots of Glastonbury and St. Albans. It was dissolved, and laid in ruins at the general suppression of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII.; when Hugh Farringdon, the last Abbot, was, by order of the King, hanged, drawn, and quartered, together with two of his monks, in front of the Abbey, and the lands alienated to the Crown. Several Parliaments were held at Reading, probably in the Refectory of the Abbey; one in 1191, in the second year of the reign of Richard I., and another in 1213, in the fourteenth of John. The arms of the Abbey, which are still to be seen, though much defaced, at the west end of St. Lawrence's