reading-room, if they knew that a Bow-street officer was officially planted there.

Mr. George Samouelle, (Extra-Assistant in the Natural History Department,) examined.

you

Have you anything which wish to add to the evidence which you gave on a former day? There is one important feature, with respect to the British Museum, in the mind of the public that I am much pleased with, the general good feeling exhibited by them on all occasions. During the time that I have been in the Museum there have been only two panes of glass broken by the visiters; both were purely accidental; one was by a lady being pushed, and putting her elbow through a pane of glass; the other, by a lady, who was stooping to tie her shoe at a staircase, and fell, and broke a pane. There is, also, I may observe, no scribbling about the Museum; and the only instance in which I have found any remark made, was by some ignorant man, who wrote with a piece of red chalk on the banisters leading to the King's Library, "Museaum.”

You mean to say, that the behaviour of the public generally is such as it ought to be, in viewing the Museum ?-Yes. The ignorant are brought into awe by what they see about them, and the better informed know

how to conduct themselves. We have common policemen, soldiers, sailors, artillerymen, livery servants, and of course, occasionally, mechanics; but their good conduct I am very much pleased to see, and I think the exhibition at the Museum will have a vast influence on the national character of Englishmen in general.

Then, supposing the Museum were opened on any of the great holidays, from your experience of the behaviour of the public, you would be under no apprehension of injury being done to any part of the collection?-I think there is an objection to that, on this principle. We will take Easter- Monday, Whit-Monday, or the day after Christmas. day, termed "Boxing-day;" we find that the lowest of the low on those days are set at liberty, and get intoxicated, and I would not answer for their conduct; and it is only on one day that they could have access, which would be the Monday; and I think it will generally be found with the lower class of people, that their attention is directed more to an excursion in the country, to Greenwich fair or some other place of amusement.

Are you prepared to give the Committee any information as to the comparative behaviour of the public at the present day, and the behaviour some years back? The British Museum has only become very popular within the last few years; time was when we had not inore than 200 visiters a day, we

But drunken persons would be excluded under any circumstances? Yes: I have never seen a person intoxicated in the Museum yet.

Supposing then that all persons in any degree inebriated were excluded, do you then think any mischief would be likely to be done to the collection, even on Easter-Monday or Whit-Monday?-No; for I think that those only to whom it was a holiday, and who could obtain no other day, might then take an opportunity of seeing it, and that others would not come.

Then drunken persons being excluded, and some additional strictness being observed in watching the collections, the opening of the Museum on those holidays would be perfectly safe?-Yes: there are a number of persons in situations in the city of London, who have, from the regulations of the establishments, no other holiday than the Easter, Whitsun, and Chrismas vacations, and Good Friday, when the London bankers and other large companies do no business, and where numerous, respectable persons are employed, and many, from that circumstance have not been able to see the British Museum.

Are you at all acquainted with the collections in Paris ?- No, I have never been to Paris.

You cannot state to the Committee how far on fêtes in Paris the public are admitted indiscriminately to the collections ?—No; I understand that there is free admission to

every one.

Antiquariana.

REMAINS OF ROMAN LONDON.

ON March 17, was read before the Society of Antiquaries an interesting letter from Mr. C. R. Smith, of Lothbury, addressed to A. J. Kempe, Esq., F.A.S. The communication

gave a detailed statement of the discoveries of Roman remains, in 1834 and 1835, in various excavations carried on within the metropolis, by which many facts corroborating the historical proofs of the habits and customs of the Roman colonists, have been obtained. The observations made by the author would alone, (were historical evidence wanting,) have confirmed the extent and affluence of the ancient capital of Britain. It seems to have been thickly populated, and the inhabitants well supplied with the conveniences and luxuries of life. The Society's table was covered with a variety of specimens of vases, pateras, urns, fibulas, knives, rings, &c. The writer stated that the soil known among antiquarians as Roman, descended to depths varying from twenty to fifty feet or more from the present level. In King William Street, near St. Clement's Church, a tesselated pavement was observed, traces of which were discernible at Eastcheap; and both, proba bly, formed the flooring of courts of some public building, or private dwelling of the better class. Similar pavements crossed Loth bury, which, with like reason, may be assigned to a connexion with the building that stood on the site of the Bank, by sonie considered the Prætorium of the Roman sta

tion. In King William Street were also found a variety of urns, broken amphoras, some small earthen lamps, with coins of Vespasian, Domitian, and base denarii of Severus, Caracalla, &c.

The specimens of the Samian pottery discovered are of a very beautiful and diver sified description; and were, Mr. Smith observed, alike interesting to the antiquary and to the classical scholar, not only from their rich colour, compact texture, and numerous forms, but from the variety of mythological and historical representations embodied thereon. Deities and their emblems, priests, and sacrificial processions are favourite sub jects on the Samian vases. Gladiatorial combats also, are of common occurrence; and the weapons, attitudes, and dresses of the combatants, closely accord with the description of various historians. To the naturalist also, a field for investigation is open, in the representation of animals, leaves, plants, flowers, &c., executed with great apparent attention to fidelity and character. The dogs, so often occurring on this species of ancient pottery, in the act of coursing or hunting, it is remarked, bear a striking resemblance to the hounds and greyhounds employed at the present day throughout England, and especially to the cross occasionally met with between the greyhound and the sheep-dog. The Romans were accustomed to import dogs for hunting from Gaul and Britain, which still retain a pre-eminence for the breed of certain species.

The remainder of the paper was an

nounced for continuation at the next meeting.-FROM A CORRESPONDENT.

Anecdote Gallery.

ASTROLOGY.

TIBERIUS, when he was at Rhodes, wished cial astrology. He sent for, in succession, to satisfy his curiosity with respect to judiall those who pretended to foretell future events, and received them upon a terrace of close to the sea. his house, which was built upon the rocks One of his enfranchised

slaves, of muscular height and extraordinary the intricacies of the precipices. If Tiberius strength, conducted them to him through discovered that the astrologer was a cheat, the slave alluded to, immediately, upon a given signal, cast him into the sea.-At that time, there was at Rhodes a certain man, astrology, and of a cunning disposition. He named Trasullus, who was deeply skilled in was taken, in the same manner as the others, should be emperor, and revealed to him many to this retired spot, assured Tiberius that he rius asked him if he knew his own destiny, other events that should take place. Tibeand if he had consulted his own horoscope. Trasullus, who had had some suspicions when he did not see any of his companions return, and who felt his fears increase on viewing the countenance of Tiberius, the man who had been his conductor, (who did not quit him for a moment), the elevated place where he stood, and the precipice which lay beneath him,-turned his eyes up to Heaven, as if he intended to consult the stars: he immediately appeared fear-stricken, turned pale, and exclaimed, in an apparent agony of terror, that he was menaced with death. Tiberius was

full of joy and admiration on hearing this reply, ascribing to astrology what was only presence of mind and cunning, cheered the spirits of Trasullus, embraced him, and from that time regarded him as an oracle.-A blind man, by throwing a multitude of arrows sand times:-in like manner, when there at random, may hit the mark once in a thoudaily uttered fresh predictions, some were were in Europe thousands of astrologers, who found which chance justified; and these, although of very rare occurrence, kept alive the credulity which millions of falsehoods

ought to have destroyed.

Boulainvilliers and Calonne, who both en

joyed a high reputation at Paris for their skill in astrology, had predicted to Voltaire that he should die at the age of thirty-two. "I have been mischievous enough," he wrote, in 1757, " to deceive them already, by about thirty years, for which I humbly beg their pardon." He deceived them still further, by more than twenty years.

Fulgosus, who had great faith in astrology,

relates, as a proof of the truth of this science, that the Emperor Adrian, who was a very skilful astrologer, wrote every year, on the first of January, what was to happen during the year; and in the year of his death, he only wrote the events that were to occur up to the month when he died, giving it to be understood, by his silence, that he foresaw his fate. But others observe, that the book in which the Emperor Adrian penned his predictions was not shown till after his death, so that it might easily have been written subsequently to that event:-as some wiseacres predict the temperature of the day, when the evening has arrived.

Strange it is that astrology should, in the face of its innumerable falsehoods, have ever gained such influence as it did amongst the Eastern nations. Zica, king of the Arabs, to whom the most celebrated astrologers of his age had predicted a long life, died the very year of the prediction.

An astrologer, fixing his eyes upon the countenance of the Duke of Milan, said to him, "My lord, arrange your affairs, for you have not long to live."" How dost thou know this?" asked the Duke.- "By my acquaintance with the stars," answered the astrologer." And pray how long art thou to live ?"- My planet promises me a long life." "Well, thou shalt shortly discover that we ought not to trust to the stars." And he ordered him to be hanged instantly.

Heggiages, an Arab general, under the Caliph Valid, consulted, in his last illness, an astrologer, who predicted to him his approaching death. "I rely so completely on your knowledge," replied Heggiages to him, that I wish to have you with me in the other world; and I shall therefore send you thither before me, in order that I may be able to employ your services from the time of my arrival." And he ordered the head of the soothsayer to be struck off, although the time fixed by the planets had not yet arrived.

Henry VII., king of England, asked an astrologer if he knew where he should pass the festivities of Christmas. The astrologer answered, that he knew nothing on the subject. "I then am cleverer than thou art," replied the king," for I know that thou wilt pass them in the Tower of London." The individual was immediately conducted thither.

Pope John XXI., having studied astrology for a long time, imagined, by the knowledge which he had acquired of the influence of the planets, that his life would be long and he mentioned it to all who approached him. He was one day boasting of it in the presence of some individuals, when an arch, which was being constructed by his orders at the palace of Viterba, fell, and hurt him so severely, that he died at the end of a week.

Darah, one of the four sons of the great Mogul, relied much on the predictions of astrologers. One of these impostors, at the peril of his life, had predicted to him that he should wear the crown; and Darah securely calculated upon it. Some of his acquaintance observed to the astrologer, that they were much astonished he should have the hardihood to foretell, at the risk of his existence, an event so uncertain. "One thing of two must happen," he replied; "either Darah will succeed to the throne, and my fortune is made; or he will be vanquished, and in that case his death is certain, and I shall not dread his vengeance."

An astrologer foretold the death of a lady whom Louis XI. passionately loved: she did, in fact, die; and the king imagined that the prediction of the astrologer was the cause of it. He sent for the man, intending to have him thrown through the window as a punishment: "Tell me, thou who pretendest to be so clever and learned a man, what thy fate will be?" The soothsayer, who suspected the intentions of the prince, and who knew his foible, replied, "Sire, I foresee that I shall die three days before your majesty." The king believed him, and was careful of the astrologer's life.*

The Emperor Frederick being on the point of quitting Vicenza, which he had just taken by assault, defied one of the most famous of his astrologers to divine by what gate he would go out the following day. The impostor replied to the challenge by one of the sealed note, advising him not to open it, by tricks of his profession; he gave Frederick a The emperor during the night had several any means whatever, until he had departed, yards of the wall pulled down, and went out through the breach. the note, and was not a little surprised to He afterwards opened read these words: "The emperor will go out by the new gate." This was sufficient to convince him that the astrologer and astrology were entitled to infinite respect.—Literary Gazette, 1826.

STRATEGY.

AFTER the capture of Calais by the French, they took Sark, a little island in the Channel; but it was ingeniously retaken by a Fleming, who pretended that he desired to bury a friend of his, that had died on board his ship, in that island. The French were very careful to search the men that came on shore, that they should have no arms about them; but did not think of looking into the coffin, which was full of arms: and when they thought the seamen were burying their friend, they armed themselves, and took all the French that were in the castle.-W.G.C.

This is an historical fact, which Sir Walter Scott has made some use of in his "Quentin Durward.'

The Naturalist.

THE GIANT'S CAVE, CLIFTON, NEAR BRISTOL. AMONG the fissures and cavities occurring in the carboniferous limestone of the West of England and Wales, are a considerable number, to which, from their inaccessibility, or from the circumstance of their being supposed to contain no bones, but little attention has been paid, or indeed supposed to be due. Independently, however, of the interest which attaches itself to bone caves, or to fissures remarkable for their magnitude, or the splendour of their stalactitical or stalagmitical incrustations, the consideration of rock cavities and clefts seems to promise some valuable points of inference, and may not unreasonably be expected to throw a certain portion of light upon some of the obscure parts of theoretical geology.

Our readers are probably well aware, that concerning the age and manner of formation of those clefts and cavities, geologists are by no means agreed, and are probably more ignorant upon this than upon any other branch of their science.

The only method by which the elucidation of these subjects can reasonably be expected, must be by a careful examination of a vast number of instances, remarking the figure, dimension, and direction of each, the kind of surface presented by its interior, the nature of its communication with other cavities, its contents, and the condition of the rock in which each may occur. Attention to these circumstances, even if it give rise to no positive results, may yet be expected to disprove several hypotheses upon these subjects; and thus by this negative kind of proof, reduce the real question within narrower limits.

The cave, with a description of which it is our intention to occupy the present paper, is one well known to all the inhabitants of Bristol and its vicinity, although from the difficulty and danger-almost amounting to impracticability of the access to it, it has hitherto, as far as we are aware, remained undescribed by either geologist or antiquary.

The Giant's Cave, so called from some fabulous tradition, is contained within the upper beds of the carboniferous limestone, these dipping south-east at 23°, and forming St. Vincent's Rock. The cavern opens upon the precipitous escarpment of the rock, at a height of about 250 feet above the river, and 50 or 60 below and to the west of the Observatory. A rude and broken ledge extends from the north-eastern summit of the rock, downwards, to within about twenty feet of the opening, across which space none but an expert craigsman would venture to pass.

The entrance to the cave is abrupt; it is in the form of a rudely-arched portal, ten feet high by thirteen broad, and perfectly level at

the bottom. Upon entering, the breadth remains nearly the same for some distance; but after advancing for nine feet, the roof rises suddenly, and losing its semicircular form, resembles the commencement of a fissure, but stops at a height of eighteen feet. At twenty feet from the entrance, the cave suddenly becomes narrower, and divides into three cavities; of these the longest and the lowest, is the continuation of the line of the great cave; it retains nearly the same width, but the floor descends about four feet, and the roof, gradually curving downwards, terminates the cavity somewhat abruptly, at a distance of 49 feet south-east from the great entrance. The two other cavities are smaller than the last; they lie, one above the other, on the western side; the lower one, about six feet from the ground, and about six feet high, being separated from the upper one, which closely resembles it, by a roof of rock. These two cavities opening, the one a little above the floor, and the other almost on a level with the roof, after passing on a few feet backwards, unite to form a passage, which being three feet wide by three high, ascends gently in a straight line 28 feet. This passage is very dark, and its floor, like that of the rest of the cave, is covered with soil, through which the rock now and then appears. Upon its western side, a foot before its sudden termination in a cul-de-sac, is a small orifice a foot and a half wide by two and a half high, which opens immediately into a small and nearly circular chamber, about three feet high by five feet diameter, and much resembling, both in size, shape, and temperature, an oven. In the north-western side of this chamber, which cannot be above a yard from the exterior of the western face of the rock, are two fissures, one of which is occupied by the root and part of the stem of a large ivy tree; and the other was too small to be entered, but showed a glimpse of the day-light.

The floor of the cave is strewed with earth and decomposed animal and vegetable matter, in some places to a depth of three feet. Below this, the rock is covered with a layer of stalagmite, masses of which were removed with a pickaxe, but were not found to contain any bones. The walls and roofs are incrusted with a similar deposit, not descending in regular stalactites, but forming, as is frequently the case, an incrustation of about an inch thick.

Upon some parts of the cave, and more especially upon the western wall, is a darklooking substance, resembling a bituminous exudation. It appears, upon a closer inspection, to be a species of lichen.

The exterior forty feet of the rock in which the cave is wrought, betrays at that particular point no very obvious traces of stratification, but towards the interior the dip begins to be apparent. The cave passes across

a large spar vein, which lies nearly parallel to similar veins, and to a large dyke of magnesian conglomerate in another part of the rock.

The different faces of this rock, especially near the entrance and southern chamber of the cave, are full of small, irregular holes; but the cave itself does not appear directly to communicate with any further range of cavities, although there are many reasons for supposing that such exist at no great distance.

These caverns are usually, throughout the carboniferous limestone, composed of a series of chambers connected by smaller passages. They are sometimes traversed by water, at others dry, or nearly so. The strata in which they occur are sometimes broken, at others not, but are usually so incrusted with stalagmite, as to be invisible or obscure; every now and then a section is afforded by the face of a cliff:*

Besides the ivy and the lichen above mentioned, a considerable number of other plants grow in the interior of the cave. The prin

of these are:

Scolopendrium Ceterach Sedium Acre

Rupestre S

Cryptogamia Filices.

Decandria Pentagynia.

HAILING A PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR.*
A SAIL!-heave to, small commodore,
And put thy helm a-lee

That nearer, from our deck, we may
Thy fairy frigate see.

Ay, thou hast shortened sail-we trace
Thy crimson hull's bright glow,
And lifted sail upon the wave,
Reflected fair below.

From whence? how bound? at what port touched?
And how long out at sea?

A far-famed man-of-war-we know
No freight is borne by thee.
A tiny shout comes o'er the waves-
A small voice answers-hark!
'Tis from the Portuguese, who keeps
Still in our lee his bark.