and the tusks and skeleton would remain. More sand would be washed down every year to the estuary, forming the deposit which, in the course of countless ages, had undergone upheaval to a thousand feet above the present sea level, and become the mass of sandstone which was blasted to make way for the Jumna canal.” From the remains of the mammoth which have come to light we are able to describe its general form and structure, even to its skin. We know beyond a doubt that it was thickly covered with long shaggy hair, more particularly upon its neck and along its back; its trunk resembled that of the Indian elephant; its body was heavy, with a tail naked to the end, which was covered with a thick tuft of hair; and in size it far surpassed the existing elephants, for it was from sixteen to eighteen feet in height. THE north-east spends his rage; he now shut up 3 Scarce staining ether; but by swift degrees, In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails Oppressing life; but lovely, gentle, kind, The wish of nature. Gradual sinks the breeze Is heard to quiver through the closing woods, 6 And wait the approaching sign to strike, at once, The promised sweetness. Man superior walks And looking lively gratitude. At last, The clouds consign their treasures to the fields; 8 And fruits, and flowers, on Nature's ample lap? 1 Effusive south. The south wind is likened to a warm stream poured out: "effusive," poured out, so as to spread far and wide. (Lat. effusus, poured out.) ? With vernal showers distent, distended with spring showers. ST. 6. (Lat. ver, the spring; tendo, I stretch.) 3 Scarce staining ether, hardly leaving a "stain or mark upon the air: i.e., any trace of its presence. 4 Delusive lapse, gliding away so gently as to delude, or cheat, the eyes. 5 The falling verdure. The effect put for the cause. The "verdure," or green grass, being the effect of the rain now on the point of falling. 6 The plumy people, the birds; "plumy," feathered. (Lat. pluma, a feather.) 7 Prelusive, by way of prelude, or introduction. 8. Umbrageous, abounding in shade. (Lat. umbra, a shade.) 9 The milky nutriment, the rain; EO called because it causes the grass to grow, and the grass, when eaten by the cow, becomes changed into milk. Distils has here its literal mean ing-drops (Lat. stillo, I drop). Hence the meaning of the last two lines is-And, while the rain descends, the fancy pictures to itself the freshening fields grown green again. BARBARA S N the noon of the 14th of November, 1743, just as with her accustomed punctuality, ascended the long, rambling staircase, with awkward interposed landing places, which led to the office, or rather a sort of box with a desk in it, whereat sat the then treasurer of the Old Bath Theatre. All over the island it was the custom, and remains so I believe to this day, for the players to receive their weekly stipend on the Saturday. It was not much that Barbara had to claim. This little maid had just entered her eleventh year, but her important station at the theatre, as it seemed to her, with the benefits which she felt to accrue from her pious application1 of her small earnings, had given an air of womanhood to her steps and to her behaviour. You would have taken her to have been at least five years older. Till latterly she had merely been employed in choruses, or where children were wanted to fill up the scene. But the manager, observing a diligence and adroitness in her above her age, had for some few months past entrusted to her the performance of whole parts. You may guess the self-consequence of the promoted Barbara. The parents of Barbara had been in reputable circumstances. The father had practised, I believe, as an apothecary in the town. But his practice, from causes for which he was himself to blame, or perhaps from that pure infelicity which accompanies some people in their walk through life, and which it is impossible to lay at the door of imprudence, was now reduced to nothing. They were, in fact, in the very teeth of starvation, when the manager, who knew and respected them in better days, took the little Barbara into his company. At the period I commenced with, her slender earnings were the sole support of the family, including two younger sisters. I must throw a veil over some mortifying circumstances. Enough to say, that her Saturday's pittance was the only chance of a Sunday's meal of meat. 4 This was the little starved, meritorious maid, who stood before old Ravenscroft, the treasurer, for her. Saturday's payment. Ravenscroft was a man, I have heard many old theatrical people besides herself say, of all men least calculated for a treasurer. He had no head for accounts, paid away at random, kept scarce any books, and summing up at the week's end, if he found himself a pound or so deficient, blest himself that it was no more. Now Barbara's weekly stipend was a bare half-guinea. By mistake he popped into her hand a whole one. Barbara tripped away. She was entirely unconscious at first of the mistake. God knows, Ravenscroft would never have discovered it. But when she had got down to the first of those uncouth landing - places, she became sensible of an unusual weight of metal pressing her little hand. Now, mark the dilemma.5 She was by nature a good child. From her parents and those about her she had imbibed no contrary influence. But then they had taught her nothing. Poor men's smoky cabins are not always porticoes of moral philosophy. This little maid had no instinct to evil, but then she might be said to have no fixed principle. She had heard honesty commended, but never dreamed of its application to herself. She thought of it as something which concerned grown-up people, men and women. She had never known temptation, or thought of preparing resistance against it. Her first impulse was to go back to the old treasurer, and explain to him his blunder. He was already so confused with age, besides a natural want of punctuality, that she would have had some difficulty in making him understand it. She saw that in an instant. And then it was such a bit of money: and then the image of a larger allowance of butcher's meat on their table next day came across her, till her little eyes glistened, and her mouth moistened. But then Mr. Ravenscroft had always been so good-natured, had stood her friend behind the scenes, and even recommended her promotion to some of her little parts. But again, the old man was reputed to be worth a world of money. He was supposed to have fifty pounds a year clear of the theatre. And then came staring upon her the figures of her little stockingless and shoeless sisters. And when she looked at her own neat white cotton stockings, which her situation at the theatre had made it indispensable for her mother to provide for her, with hard straining and ching from the family stock, and thought how glad |