Abominable Cruelty.-A correspondent has furnished us with a bill, announcing the particulars of the sports, as they are called, at the Wakes at Barton, a place about four miles from Manchester. The bill was issued by Miss Alice Cottam, of the sign of the King's Arms, near Eccles, and was printed by order of the stewards. It is our opinion that all the parties concerned in publishing such a document ought to be indicted. The following is a literal copy of a part of the Barton bill of fare!" On Saturday, August 28, 1830, at the house of Miss. Alice Cottam, sign of the King's Arms, near Eccles. A. C. with great pleasure informs her friends and the public in general, that she has, at a considerable expense, engaged an excellent bull, bear, and badger, for the gratification of those who may favour her with their company; the bull will be baited three times a-day, namely, half-past nine o'clock in the morning, at half past one in the afternoon and at five o'clock in the evening, every day during the Wakes. The bear will be baited at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and three o'clock in the afternoon. The badger will be baited every evening.-N, B. The bull, bear, and badger will be baited on Saturday night previous, to commence at six o'clock precisely, subject to such conditions as shall be then and there produced. The whole is so arranged as to form a never-failing source of amusement. By order of the stewards.-God save the King.' -Liverpool Mercury.

Hare Hunting.-The following definition of hare. hunting is given by a writer of the year 1616:-" Is it not a worthie peece of seruice for fiue or sixe men in the countrey (whose dwellings are foure or fiue miles asunder,) to make a mad match to meet together on such and such a morning, to hunt or course a hare, where if shee be hunted with hounds shee will lead them such a dance, that perhaps a horse or two are killed, or a man or two spoiled, or hurt with leaping hedges or ditches, at the least after foure or fiue days preparation, and some ten pounds charge among them, horses and dogs, besides an infinite deal of trouble, and an innumerable number of oaths and curses; after this great deal of doo, the main purchase can be no more than a poor silly hare, which is but a dry meate, an d will take more butter in the basting than her carcase is worth."

A perilous Adventure.-The annals of the north are filled with accounts of the most perilous and fatal conflicts with the polar bear. The first, and one of the most tragical, was sustained by Barentz and Heemskerke, in 1596, during their voyage for the discovery of the north east passage. Having anchored at an island near the strait of Waygatz, two of the sailors landed, and were walking on shore, when one of them felt himself closely hugged from behind. Thinking this a frolic of one of his companions, he called out in a corresponding tone, "Who's there? Pray stand off." His comrade looked, and screamed out, "A bear! a bear!" then, running to the ship, alarmed the crew with loud cries. The sailors ran to the spot, armed with pikes and muskets. On their approach, the bear very coolly quitted the mangled corpse, sprang upon another sailor, carried him off, and plunging his teeth into his body, began drinking his blood at long draughts. Hereupon the whole of that stout crew, struck with terror, turned their backs, and fled precipitately to the ship. On arriving there, they began to look at each other, unable to feel much satisfaction with their own prowess. Three then stood forth, undertaking to avenge the fate of their countrymen, and to secure for them the rights of burial. They advanced, and fired at first from so respectful a distance, that all missed. The purser then courageously proceeded in front of his companions, and, taking a close aim, pierced the monster's skull immediately below the eye. The bear, however, merely lifted up his head, and advanced upon them, holding still in his mouth the victim whom he was devouring; but seeing him soon stagger, the three rushed on with sabre and bayonet, and soon despatched him. They collected and bestowed decent sepulture on the mangled limbs of their comrades, while the skin of the animal, 13 feet long, became the prize of the sailor who had fired the successful shot. -Edinburgh Cabinet Library.

Iron manufactured and Coals consumed in Wales.In the Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle, it is stated, that the quantity of iron annually manufactured in Wales is about 270,000 tons, of which about three-fourths is made into bars, and one fourth sold as pigs and castings. The quantity of coal required for its manufacture, on the average of the whole, including that used by engines, workmen, &c. will be about five and a half tons for each ton of iron: the annual consumption of coals by the iron works will, therefore, be about 1,500,000 tons. The quantity used in the melting of copper ore, imported from Cornwall, in the manufacture of tin-plate, forging of iron for various purposes, and for domestic uses, may be calculated at 850,000 tons; which makes altogether

the annual consumption of coal in Wales, 1,850,000 tons. The annual quantity of iron manufactured in Great Britain is 690,000 tons. If such be the immense consumption of coal and iron in this country at present, who can calculate what it will be in a few years, when the kingdom will be covered with railroads,and when we bear in mind, that upwards of 400 tons have been laid down in the double line of railway between Liverpool and Manchester, a distance of about thirty miles only!

Floating Icebergs.-The distance to which icebergs float from the polar regions on the opposite sides of the line, is, as might have been anticipated, very different. Their extreme limit in the northern hemisphere appears to be the Azores (north latitude 420) to which isles they are sometimes drifted from Baf. fin's Bay. But in the other hemisphere they have been seen, within the last two years, at different points off the Cape of Good Hope, between latitude 369 and 399. One of these was two miles in circumference, and 150 feet high. Others rose from 250 to 300 feet above the level of the sea, and were, therefore, of great volume below, since it is ascertained, by experiments on the buoyancy of ice floating in sea-water, that for every solid foot seen above, there must at least be eight feet below water. If ice islands from the north polar regions floated as far, they might reach Cape St. Vincent, and then, being drawn by the current that always sets in from the Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar, be drifted into the Mediterranean, where clouds and mists would immediately deform he serene sky of spring and summer. -Lyell's Geology.

The German Ocean.-The bed of this sea is encumbered in an extraordinary degree with accumulations of debris, especially in the middle or central parts. One of the great central banks trends from the Frith of Forth, in a north-easterly direction, to a distance of 110 miles; others run from Denmark and Jutland upwards of 105 miles to the north-west, while the greatest of all, the Dogger Bauk, extends for upwards of 354 miles from north to south. The whole superficies of these enormous shoals is equal to about onefifth of the whole area of the German Ocean, or to about one-third of the whole extent of England and Scotland. The average height of the banks measures, according to Mr. Stephenson, about seventy-eight feet; and, assuming that the mass is uniformly composed to this depth of the same drift matter, the debris would cover the whole of Great Britain to the depth of twenty-eight feet, supposing the surface of the island to be one continued plain. A great portion of these banks consists of fine and coarse silicious sand, mixed with fragments of corals and shells ground down, the proportion of these calcarious matters being extremely great. As we know not to what distance our continents formerly extended, we cannot conjecture, from any data at present obtained, how much of the space occupied by these sands was formerly covered with strata, subsequently removed by the encroachments of the sea, or whether certain tracts were originally of great depth, and have since been converted into shoals by matter drifted by currents. But as the sea is moved to and fro with every tide, portions of these loose sands must, from time to time, be carried into those deep parts of the North Sea, where they are beyond the reach of waves or currents. So great is the quantity of matter held in suspension by the tidal current on our shores, that the waters are in some places artificially introduced into certain lands below the level of the sea; and by repeating the operation, which is called "warping," for two or three years, considerable tracts have been raised, in the estuary of the Humber, to the height of about six feet.- Lyell's Geology.

Military Dandies in India.-The following general order has been issued by the Commander-in-Chief at Madras, dated head quarters, Choultry Plain, December 4, 1829:-"The Commander-in-Chief having, with great disgust, noticed a feminine practice adopted by some officers of this service, of wearing combs in their hair, and dangling fancy curls, unbecoming the appearance of a soldier, desires that this practice may be forthwith abolished, and a more male costume adopted."

Strange Incubation.-Captain Beaulieu, a French officer in the service of the Pacha of Egypt, sent off, some time since, for one of his friends in France, a collection of antiquities and curiosities, among which were some crocodile's eggs. During the passage, or the quarantine, these eggs hatched, and when the case was opened at the custom-house, three small crocodiles ran out.-On the way they had devoured several rolls of papyrus, and the bandages and mummy of an ibis, of which nothing remained but the claws and some of the feathers. It is hoped these animals will arrive in Paris alive.-Paris Paper.

Railway Travelling.-The directors have given notice by public advertisement, that after the first day of January, 1831, the fare from Liverpool to Manchester, will be reduced from 7s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. each person.

The Mammoth and Bison at one time domiciled in Yorkshire.-Bones of the mammoth have been rscently found at North Cliff, in the county of York, in a lacustrine formation, in which all the land and fresh-water shells, thirteen in number, have been accurately identified with species and varieties now existing in that county. Bones of the bison, an animal now inhabiting a cold or temperate climate, have also been found in the same place. That those quadrupeds, and the indigenous species of testacea associated with them, were all contemporary in. babitants of Yorkshire (a fact of the greatest importance in geology), has been established by unequivocal proofs, by the Rev. W. V. Vernon, who caused a pit to be sunk to the depth of more than two hundred feet, through undisturbed strata, in which the remains of the mammoth were found imbedded, together with the shells, in a deposit which had evidently resulted from tranquil waters. These facts, as Mr. Vernon observes, indicate that there has been little alteration in the temperature of these latitudes since the mammoth lived there.-Lyell's Geology.

Spectral Illusion.-The following very curious circumstance is given in a letter to the Editor of the Edinburgh Journal of Science :-" On the 26th of December, 1829, about half-past four in the afternoon, Mrs. was standing near the fire in the hall, and on the point of going up stairs to dress, when she heard, as she supposed, my voice calling her by come here, come to me."

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She imagined that I was calling at the door to have it opened; she went to it, and was surprised, on opening it, to find no one. She returned towards the fire, and again heard the same voice, calling her distinctly and loud, ' come, come here.' She then opened two other doors of the same room, but seeing no one she returned to the fire place. After a few moments she heard the same voice still calling

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come to me, come-come away; this time in a loud, plaintive, but somewhat impatient tone. She answered as loudly, Where are you?-I don't know where you are,' still imagining that I was somewhere in search of her; but receiving no answer, shortly went up stairs. On my return to the house, about half an hour afterwards, she inquired why I had called to her so often, and where I was; and was, of course, surprised to hear I had not been near the house at the time. On the 30th of the same month, at about four o'clock, p. m., Mrs. down stairs in to the drawing-roam, which she quitted a few minutes before, and on entering the room saw me, as she supposed, standing with my back to the fire. She addressed me, asking how it was I had returned so soon (I had left the house for a walk half an hour before.) She said I looked fixedly at her with a serious and thoughtful expression of countepance, but did not speak. She suppo-ed I was busied in thought, and sat down in an arm-chair near the fire, and close within a couple of feet at most of the figure she still saw standing before her. As, however, the eye still continued to be fixed upon her, after a few minutes she said, Why don't you speak, The figure, upon this, moved off towards the window at the further end of the room, the eyes still gazing on her, and passed so very close to her in doing so, that she was struck by the circumstance of hearing no step nor sound, nor feeling her clothes brushed against, nor even any agitation in the air. The idea then arose for the first time in her mind, that it was no reality, but a spectral illusion."

German Tradition.-Stumpsius, a German writer of the 16th century, says, that in the year 1520, a butcher of Basle was accidentally led to explore a cavern, which he describes as still existing in the neighbourhood of that city, and which tradition had long pronounced to be haunted. This adventurer, having proceeded rather further into the interior than was customary with casual visitors, was surprised to find a low iron door in one of the sides of the cave, which, opening with some difficulty, admitted him by a winding passage into a fragrant garden, in the midst of which stood a goodly palace. Entering the great hall. he espied a lady, of surpassing beauty from the waist upwards, but having her lower extremities like those of a serpent, sitting on a throne;"Near her was a brazen chest cross-barred, and double locked," full of treasure, guarded on each side by a fierce ban-dog. On seeing him approach, the lady quieted the dogs, and pointing to the gold and silver coin in the chest, which she had opened with a key taken from her bosom, gave him a small piece of each kind, informing him that she was thus held in durance by the arts of a step mother, till some young man, of virtuous life and conversation should break the spell by giving her three kisses, after which she, with the chest for her dower, would be at his command. Our author goes on to say that the knight of the cleaver made two attempts to salute her, but as he approached her flips, her aspect" did become so grimme," that he was too much alarmed to complete his task, and "turned thence the same way he came." It appears that,

having taken heart, he subsequently made another attempt, in company with some of his companions to whom he had told the story, but the party looked in vain for the iron door. Some years after, however, a relation of his did succeed so far as to discover it, and even managed, as he declared to reach the gar den, but the lady was then gone, palace and all, nothing remaining but a few sculls and bones. The unlucky finder, it is added, went mad on his return, and died in a few days. It is by no means improbable that this narrative may have furnished a certain popular writer with the ground-work of his poem Sir Guy the Seeker."

QUERIES.

On Animal Food--A constant reader would be obliged to any correspondent who would furnish a plain dissertation on animal food, comparative nutrition, seasons of wholesomeness, and tests to detect fraud.

On Marriage.--W. R. Jun. wishes to be informed if the Presbyterian ministers in Ireland have a legal right to solemnize marriage. Also, if this privilege is enjoyed by any other sect, and if such solemnizations in Ireland are legal in England.

On Books-The queries by C. C. C. on books respecting governments, poets, and other authors of renown, &c. can admit of no definite reply. Much depends upon opinion; and what one person would recommend, it is highly probable another would condemn. Some, also, might be glad of an opportunity of expatiating on the excellencies of their own productions, or of introducing works which either themselves or their friends have to sell.

Literary Notices.

Just Published.

No. XXI. of the National Portrait Gallery: the Marquess of Anglesey; the Earl of Carlisle; and Captain Franklin.

Views in the East, Part V. has Caves of KarliBenares-and El Wuish, on the Red Sea.

Lancashire Illustrated, now complete in one 4to. volume, is Embellished with nearly 100 elegant Views, accompanied with descriptive letter-press.

Christian Experience, or a Guide to the Perplexed. By Robert Philip, of Maberly Chapel.

Communion with God, or a Guide to the Devotional. By Robert Philip, of Maberly Chapel. Counsels to Sunday School Teachers. By John Morison.

The Daily Scripture Instructor.

Calmuc Tartary, or a Journey from Sarepta to several Calmuc Hordes. By Henry Augustus Zwich. Brief Outline of the Evidences of the Christian Religion. By Archibald Alexander, DD., America. Part 1. with Engravings, a Dictionary of the Architecture of the Middle Ages, &c. By John Britton, F. S. A.

The Sacred Offering, 1831: a Collection of Original Poems on Devotional Subjects: with a Frontispiece. In Silk.

The Bridal Gift. By the Author of the Parting Gift. In Silk.

The 6th Part, containing all the Numbers issued in 1830, of the Botanic Garden. By B. Maund, F. L. S. The 3rd Vol. containing, Parts 5 and 6, will be ready for delivery at the same time.

The Nature, Responsibility, and Reward of the Christian Ministry. By the Rev. Isaac Mann, A. M. Writings of John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, 12mo. Sonnets and Miscellaneous Poems. By Henry Martin.

The Olive Branch, with a Portrait of Pollock, author of The Course of Time,"

Manners and Customs of the Jews, and other Nations mentioned in the Bible.

Lectures on the Christian Sabbath. By William Thorn.

Family Classical Library, Tacitus, Vol. II. The Talba, or Moor of Portugal, 3 vols. By Mrs. Bray.

Beauties of the Mind; a Poetical Sketch. By Charles Swain.

Original Psalm and Hymn Tunes. By Everard Ford.