ty that they could persuade the people to come forward, or sit down at the holy table. At length they prevailed upon a certain number to take their places; while the greater part of the congregation withdrew from the church, and scated themselves on an eminence at some distance, expecting to see the church sink into the lake. The service was concluded, and nothing happened; consequently the apprehensions of the people were banished. This is a strong and authentic instance of popular credulity. the person to whom it is opposite shall die first of the company. If a person is sick, and a magpie rests on the roof of the house, it is a sure sign of death. The cock crowing at an unseasonable hour is very uncouthy; a phrase for which we have not a correct and equally expressive English synonyme; it implies dreary, an unknown something, to agitate and alarm the mind. It is also believed that the feathers of wild fowl in a pillow under the head of a dying person, will prevent the approach of death, and protrac the sufferings of the patient; for this cause I have know: the pillows removed. Should a horse stumble when riding for a mid-wife, it is a bad omen for either mother or call Salt spilt on the table prognosticates evil; but this is common to England, see Gay's Fables. If a bride or bridegroom's wedding shirt is stolen, it is a sure indication that one of the parties will violate the marriage vow; any of the rest of the clothes stolen is reckoned bad luck. There was another being of whom I have often heard in my early days; and I still recollect, that the relation of his feats, and the descriptions of his different appearances, produced a degree of horror in my mind, that all the spirits who composed the train of hobgoblins could not inspire. His name was Shelly-coat; I was never able to comprehend his character. Of fairies, witches, &c., I believed that I had a proper conception. I imagined their forms, and could, in some degree, conceive the boundaries of their Many people are still afraid of what they term an el power; but Shelly-coat, like Milton's Satan among the eye; and I have known several old women accused of this, other fallen spirits, towered proudly eminent. I was when butter would not make, or when different other operataught to believe his form gigantic, but indefinable; and tions failed of success. Such poor old creatures are alwap his powers almost infinite: his strength was always comdeemed unlucky to meet in a morning, or when one is s mensurate to what he undertook, and his swiftness that of ting off upon a journey; the best way to counteract their a spirit; he delighted only in horrible deeds and devasta-malign influence, is to address them before they speak to tions; blood and massacre marked his progress. He was you. Some people are reckoned lucky as a first-foot, and clothed in a coat of shells, the rustling of which appalled others the contrary. Good and bad hansel at the New-year, the stoutest heart; when his hellish work was finished, he or at the commencement of a sale, is still believed in by the stripped off his coat, and deposited it below a rock, which common people. defied mortal strength to move it; after which he continuIt is still a received opinion, that the last three days of ed invisible, until he again resumed his dress for a repeti- March, old style, (termed the Borrowing Days) indicate tion of his infernal purposes. Such were the ideas impressed upon my infant mind of this monstrous and mysterious being, of whom I have never been able to obtain any information. The only recollection that I just now have of this character being noticed in our popular poems, is the line of Ramsay, "she fled as frae a shelly-coated cow." I wish some of your correspondents acquainted with the superstitions of our country, would favour your readers with an illustration of this strange character, with some account of his origin, and supposed place of residence. Hallowe'en is famous in Angus, as the season when the fates are propitious in disclosing the future destiny of such young men and maids as perform the necessary rites; but these have been so faithfully and humorously described by the immortal Burns, that it would be gross presumption to offer an enumeration. I may take this opportunity of mentioning a few freits and prejudices formerly credited, and still partially acted upon. The death-watch, death-drop, and death-stroke, are all previous signals of approaching dissolution. Within these last twenty years, I have heard a house carpenter affirm, that on the night previous to a coffin being ordered from him, he hardly ever failed to hear the noise of saws, planes, &c. in his shop, giving "dreadful note of preparation." Before the death of a friend, his or her wraith appears clad in white; will glide along the room, and suddenly vanish. When the tallow at a lighted candle melts, and again freezes, curling over like a ribbon, (an effect which a particular current of air will produce,) it is a dead speal, and the weather for the ensuing season: if they are boisterns In this quarter, the following rhymes are proverbial:- The half o' winter's to gang-an' mair," There are certain stones to be found in the earth which are lucky to build in the wall of a house; and others the reverse. When a boy, I was well acquainted with an old man, who most tenaciously held and acted upon this opinion. Some of his young and roguish neighbours, taking advan tage of his superstitious notions, procured a large stone of the unlucky species, (for he had taught them to distinguish them,) and laid it at his door during the night. They watched in the morning, and saw the poor man carry the stone to a considerable distance, and deposit it on a caira His tormentors had it again at his door next morning: again he carried it with much labour to a greater distance, and digging a hole, buried it in the earth. A third time it met him on his threshold in the morning, when, with great perturbation of mind, and fatigue of body, he carried it still farther off, and deposited it in a mill-dam, where his persecutors allowed it to remain. Among the prejudices or antipathies still entertained by the common people, there is one which seems to be handed down from parent to child with unabated virulence: it is against that beautiful and innocent bird, the yellow-ham. mer; whose nest is destroyed wherever it is discovered. The children appear to have a savage delight in tortuning the unfledged younglings. They have a doggrel stanza 1 which, being currently repeated, has doomed this hapless bird, by its vulgar name, to cruelty and infamy. "Half a paddock, half a toad, Half a yellow-yaldrin ; Gets a drap of the devil's blood Ilka May mornin'." Perhaps some of your readers may be able to communicate, through the medium of your Magazine, from whence this prejudice has originated. It has been already observed, that the Magpie is reckoned ominous; this bird, and also the stone-chaffer, (vulgarly the clochrate,) are generally the objects of vengeance and dislike among the vulgar. The toad, and land-lizard, (vulgarly the ask,) are also doomed to instant death whenever they appear; the lizard, particularly, seems to excite a kind of horror the moment it is observed; and I have seen a man stop on a journey and collect stones to kill this poor reptile, when he discovered it crawling in his path; if he did not kill it at the first stroke he had to find another stone, and so on till it was despatched, for he would not again touch the stone that had come in contact with so horrible an antagonist. EXTERNAL COMFORT, AND DOMESTIC A BENEVOLENT, and on many points an enlightened writer, Mr. Dick, the author of the "Christian Philosopher," and other books of highly useful tendency, in a recent work upon the general diffusion of knowledge, enumerates many of the most obvious late improvements in roads, travelling conveyances, houses, churches, manufactories, steam vessels, &c., &c., but he does not, like some of his fellowlabourers, stop there. He admits that much remains to be done; and that with the progress of the arts, and the extension of manufactures, the comforts of the people have not kept pace, nor their millennium begun. "Much," he owns," is still wanting to complete the enjoyments of the lower ranks of society. In the country, many of them live in the most wretched hovels, open to the wind and rain, without a separate apartment to which an individual may retire for any mental exercise; in towns, a whole family is frequently crowded into a single apartment in a narrow lane, surrounded with filth and noxious exhalations, and where the light of day is scarcely visible. In Spells, charms, and talismans, are still in repute among such habitations, where the kitchen, parlour, and bed-closet some old people, as preventatives or cures for diseases, parare all comprised in one narrow apartment, it is next to ticularly the toothache, and intermittent fever, known here reflection, amidst the gloom of twilight, the noise of chilimpossible for a man to improve his mind by reading or by the appellation of the ague, and trembling fever. Hap- dren, and the preparation of victuals, even although he felt pily for the inhabitants, this painful and lingering disease an ardent desire for intellectual enjoyment. Hence the is now almost banished, except in some low and marshy temptation to which such persons are exposed to seek ensituations; although there are people still alive, who recol-joyment in wandering through the streets, in frequenting the ale-house, or in lounging at the fire-side in mental inactivity. In order that the labourer may be stimulated to the cultivation of his mental powers, he must be furnished with those domestic conveniences requisite for attaining this object. He must be paid such wages as will enable him to procure such conveniences, and the means of instruction, otherwise it is next thing to an insult to exhort him to prosecute the path of science. The long hours of labour, and the paltry remuneration which the labourer receives in many of our spinning-mills and other manufactories, so long as such domestic slavery and avaricious practices continue, form an insurmountable barrier to the general diffusion of knowledge. lect the time when a farmer in this quarter of the country would not have engaged a servant unless he had previously had the 'ague; so prevalent was this disorder about the month of May, when the labours of a farm-servant were particularly wanted. A strik It may be remarked, that the opinions imbibed, and the practices adopted in early life, are not easily changed, especially if they have the sanction of our ancestors. ing instance of this occurred not many years ago. An old man, who had only one cow, which was the principal support of his family, found one morning that his valuable, "But were the minds of the lower orders imbued with a animal was stolen; his grief was excessive, and his family certain portion of useful science, and did they possess such a were in deep dejection, as they were totally unable to pur- competency as every human being ought to enjoy, their know chase another. A few of his kind and more opulent neigh-most instances it will be found, that ignorance is the fruitful ledge would lead them to habits of diligence and economy. In bours, pitying the distress of the family, contributed a sum adequate, purchased another cow, and sent her to the poor man; two or three of them also waited upon him, and at parting, enjoined him to get a lock and key to his byredoor, to prevent a repetition of the same misfortune; when they received the following reply :-"Na, na, Sirs! I'm nae doubt obliged to you for the cow,-but, to put a lock upo' my byre-door!-I'll do nae sic a thing-my fatherly lead to poverty and disgrace. Their knowledge of the never had ane upo' his, a' his days,-an' it's now o'er far tible substances, would lead them to a proper economy in nature of heat, combustion, atmospheric air, and combusafternoon wi' me, to begin an' fallow new fashions!" SCALE OF MARRIAGES.-A calculator has made out the following estimates of the chances of matrimony a girl has at the different periods of her life. Out of a thousand women, 32 are married between 14 and 15; 101 between 16 and 17;219 between 18 and 19; 233 between 20 and 21; 165 between 22 and 23; 102 between 24 and 25; 60 between 26 and 27; 45 between 28 and 29; 18 between 30 and 31; 14 between 32 and 33; 8 between 34 and 35; 2 between 36 and 37; and one between 38 and 39. To judge by this table, a lady of 30 years would have only 28 chances of getting married out of 1000; when passed 40, the chances are far less. source of indolence, waste, and extravagance; and that abject poverty is the result of a want of discrimination and proper arrangement in the management of domestic affairs. Now, ledge necessarily produces, would naturally be carried into the habits of application which the acquisition of knowthe various departments of labour peculiar to their stations, and prevent that laziness and inattention which is too common among the working classes, and which not unfrequent the use of fuel; and their acquaintance with the truths of chemistry, on which the art of rational cookery is founded, would lead them to an economical practice in the preparation of victuals, and teach them to extract from every substance all its nutritious qualities, and to impart a proper relish to every dish they prepare; for want of which knowledge and attention, the natural substances intended for the sustenance of man will not go half their length in the hands of some as they do under the judicious management of others. Their knowledge of the structure and functions of the animal system, of the regimen which ought to be attended to in order to health and vigour, of the causes which produce obstructed perspiration, of the means by which pestilential effluvia and infectious diseases are propagated, and of the disasters to which the human frame is liable in certain situations, would tend to prevent many of those diseases and fatal accidents to which ignorance and inattention have exposed so many of our fellow-men. For want of attending to such precautions in these respects, as knowledge would have suggested, thousands of families have been plunged into wretchedness and ruin, which all their future exertions were inadequate to remove. As the son of Sirach has well observed, "Better is the poor being sound and strong in constitution, than a rich man that is afflicted in his body. Health and good estate of body are above all gold; there are no riches above a sound body, and no joy above the joy of the heart." the streets present a grotesque appearance of sandy hillocks and mounds, and pools of stagnant water scattered in every direction, with scarcely the vestige of a pathway to guide the steps of the passenger. In winter, the traveller, in passing along, is bespattered with mire and dirt, and in summer, he can only drag heavily on, while his feet at every step sink into soft and parched sand. Now, such is the apathy and indifference that prevail among many villagers as to improvements in these respects, that although the contribetion of a single shilling, or of half a day's labour might, in some instances, accomplish the requisite improvements, they will stand aloof from such operations with a sullen obsti. As slovenliness and filth are generally the characteristics nacy, and even glory in being the means of preventing of ignorance and vulgarity, so an attention to cleanliness them. Nay, such is the selfishness of many individuals, is one of the distinguishing features of cultivated minds. that they will not remove nuisances even from the front of Cleanliness is conducive to health and virtuous activity, their own dwellings, because it might at the same time probut uncleanliness is prejudicial to both. Keeping the body mote the convenience of the public at large. In large towns, clean is of great importance, since more than the one-half likewise, many narrow lanes are rendered filthy, gloomy, of what we eat and drink is evacuated by perspiration; and and unwholesome by the avarice of landlords, and the eb. if the skin is not kept clean the pores are stopped, and per- stinate and boorish manners of their tenants, and improve. spiration consequently prevented, to the great injury of ments prevented which would tend to the health and com. health. It is highly necessary to the health and cheerful-fort of the inhabitants. But as knowledge tends to liberal. ness of children; for where it is neglected, they grow pale, ize the mind, to subdue the principle of selfishness, and to meagre, and squalid, and subject to several loathsome and produce a relish for cleanliness and comfort, when it is troublesome diseases. Washing the hands, face, mouth, more generally diffused, we may expect that such improveand feet, and occasionally the whole body, conduces to ments as those to which I allude, will be carried forward health, strength, and ease, and tends to prevent colds, rheu- with spirit and alacrity. There would not be the smallest matism, cramps, the palsy, the itch, the toothache, and difficulty in accomplishing every object of this kind, and many other maladies. Attention to cleanliness of body every other improvement conducive to the pleasure and would also lead to cleanliness in regard to clothes, victuals, comfort of the social state, provided the majority of a coapartments, beds and furniture. A knowledge of the na- munity were cheerfully to come forward with their assis. ture of the mephitic gases, of the necessity of pure atmos- ance and contributions, however small, and to act with cospheric air to health and vigour, and of the means by which cord and harmony. A whole community or nation acting infection is produced and communicated, would lead persons in unison, and every one contributing according to his abto see the propriety of frequently opening doors and win- lity, would accomplish wonders in relation to the improve dows to dissipate corrupted air, and to admit the refreshing ment of towns, villages, and hamlets, and of everything that breeze, of sweeping cobwebs from the corners and ceiling of regards the comfort of civil and domestic society. the room, and of removing dust, straw, or filth of any kind which is offensive to the smell, and in which infection might be deposited. By such attention, fevers and other malignant disorders might be prevented; vigour, health, and serenity promoted, and the whole dwelling and its inmates present an air of cheerfulness and comfort, and become the seat of domestic felicity. In short, were knowledge generally diffused, and art uni. formly directed by the principles of science, new and interesting plans would be formed, new improvements set on foot, new comforts enjoyed, and a new lustre would appear on the face of nature, and on the state of general society. Numerous conveniences, decorations, and useful establishments never yet attempted, would soon be realized. Houses on neat and commodious plans, in airy situations, and farnished with every requisite accommodation, would be reared for the use of the peasant and mechanic; schools on spacious plans for the promotion of useful knowledge would be erected in every village and hamlet, and in every quarter of a city where they were found expedient; asylums would be built for the reception of the friendless poor, whether young or old; manufactories established for sup plying employment to every class of labourers and artisans, and lecture-rooms prepared, furnished with requisite appa ratus, to which they might resort for improvement in science. Roads would be cut in all convenient directions, diversified with rural decorations, hedge-rows, and shady bowers Again, scientific knowledge would display itself among the lower orders, in the tasteful decoration of their houses and garden plots. The study of botany and horticulture would teach them to select the most beautiful flowers, shrubs, and evergreens; to arrange their plots with neatness and taste, and to improve their kitchen-garden to the best advantage, so as to render it productive for the pleasure and sustenance of their families. A genius for mechanical operations, which almost every person may acquire, would lead them to invent a variety of decorations, and to devise many contrivances for the purpose of conveniency, and for keeping every thing in its proper place and order which never enter into the conceptions of rude and vulgar minds. Were such dispositions and mental activity gene-foot-paths, broad and smooth, would accompany them in all rally prevalent, the circumstances which lead to poverty, beggary, and drunkennness, would be in a great measure removed, and home would always be resorted to as a place of comfort and enjoyment. Again, the study of science and art would incline the lower classes to enter into the spirit of every new improvement, and to give their assistance in carrying it forward. The want of taste and of mental activity, and the spirit o. selfishness which at present prevails among the mass of mankind, prevent the accomplishment of a variety of schemes which might tend to promote the conveniences and comforts of general society. For example; many of our villages which might otherwise present the appearance o. neatness and comfort, are almost impassable, especially in the winter season, and during rainy weather, on account o the badness of roads and the want of foot-paths. At almost every step you encounter a pool, a heap of rubbish, or a dunghill, and in many places feel as if you were walking in a quagmire. In some villages, otherwise well planned, their windings, and gas-lamps, erected at every half-mile's distance, would variegate the rural scene and cheer the shades of night. Narrow lanes in cities would be either widened or their houses demolished; streets on broad and spacious plans would be built, the smoke of steam-engines consumed, nuisances removed, and cleanliness and comfort attended to in every arrangement. Cheerfulness and activity would everywhere prevail, and the idler, the vagrant, and the beggar would disappear from society. All these operations and improvements, and hundreds more, could easily be accomplished, were the minds of the great body of the community thoroughly enlightened and moralized, and every individual, whether rich or poor, who contributedļto bring them into effect, would participate in the general enjoyment. And what an interesting picture would be presented to every benevolent mind, to behold the great body of mankind raised from a state of moral and physical de gradation to the dignity of their rational natures, and to the enjoyment of the bounties of their Creator!—to behold the country diversified with the neat and cleanly dwellings of the industrious labourer,—the rural scene, during the day, adorned with seminaries, manufactories, asylums, stately edifices, gardens, fruitful fields and romantic bowers, and during night, bespangled in all directions with variegated lamps, forming a counterpart, as it were, to the lights which adorn the canopy of heaven! Such are only a few specimens of the improvements which art, directed by science and morality, could easily accomplish." Most benevolently reasoned! but when will these things be done? Who will commence the career of improvement? What signs of daybreak are in the heavens?-scarcely the faintest streak. NATURAL HISTORY. HYENAS of Abyssinia.-These animals generally inhabit caverns and other rocky places, from whence they issue under cover of the night to prowl for food. They are gregarious, not so much from any social principle, as from a greediness of disposition, and a gluttonous instinct, which induce many to assemble even over a scanty and insufficient prey. They are said to devour the bodies which they find in cemeteries, and to disinter such as are hastily or imperfectly inhumed. There seems, indeed, to be a peculiar gloominess and malignity of disposition in the aspect of the hyena, and its manners in a state of captivity are savage and untractable. Like every other animal, however, it is perfectly capable of being tamed. A contradictory feature has been observed in its natural instincts. About Mount Libanus, Syria, the north of Asia, and the vicinity of Algiers, the hyenas, according to Bruce, live mostly upon large succulent bulbous roots, especially those of the fritillaria, &c.; and he informs us that he has known large patches of the fields turned up by them in their search for onions and other plants. He adds, that these were chosen with such care, that after having been peeled, if any small decayed spot became perceptible, they were left upon the ground. In Abyssinia, however, and many other countries, their habits are certainly decidedly carnivorous,-yet the same courage, or at least fierceness, which an animal diet usually produces does not so obviously manifest itself in this species. In Barbary, according to Bruce, the Moors in the daytime seize the hyena by the ears and drag him along, without his resenting that ignominious treatment otherwise than by attempting to draw himself back; and the hunters, when his cave is large enough to give them entrance, take a torch in their hands, and advance straight towards him, pretending at the same time to fascinate him by a senseless jargon. The creature is astounded by the noise and glare, and allowing a blanket to be thrown over him, is thus dragged out. Bruce locked up a goat, a kid, and a lamb, all day with a Barbary hyena which had fasted, and he found the intended victims in the evening alive and uninjured. He repeated the experiment, however, on another occasion, during the night, with a young ass, a goat, and a fox, and next morning he was astonished to find the whole of them not only killed, but ac tually devoured, with the exception of some of the ass', bones! The general size of the stripped hyena is that of a large dog. Bruce regarded the Abyssinian species as distinct from those described as natives of other parts of Africa, but recent observation has failed to confirm that impression of the Scottish traveller. This species was known to the ancients, and was exhibited at Rome for the first time in the reign of Gordian. One which died a few years ago in Paris was of an irritable and dissatisfied disposition, and had eaten away in its impatience all the toes of its hindlegs. Nubia and Abyssinia. PAPYRUS. The papyrus of the ancients, the CYPERUS PAPYRUS of botanists, is a graceful marsh plant, twelve or fifteen feet in height. The roots creep extensively and throw up numerous stems, sheathed at the base by a few sword-shaped leaves, and terminated with large and elegant umbels of flowers. The paper of antiquity was prepared from the inner portion of the stein; and, on the authority of Pliny, the best and most beautiful paper was made out of the very heart of the substance of the stem, and was com posed of three layers arranged in parallel and transverse rows and submitted to heavy pressure. A kind of size seems also to have been used, which glued the parts together and rendered the spongy texture fitter for the reception of writing. To be of good quality this paper was required to be fine, compact, white, and smooth. Several coarser kinds were made. It would appear from the same author, that the Egyptians formerly applied the plant to many purposes. "The inhabitants of Egypt do use the root instead of wood, and utensils in an house. The very bodie and pole of the not for fuel only, but also to make thereof sundry vessels papyr itselfe serveth very well to twist and weave therewith little boats, and the rinds thereof be good to make saileclothes, curtains, mats, and coverlets, clothes also for hangings, and ropes. Nay, they use to chew and eat it both raw and sodden: but they swallow the juice only down the throat and spit out the grosse substance." As for the flower, it served no other purpose than for "chaplets to adorn the images of the gods." At one time the papyrus was in general request not only in Egypt but in other countries. Under the Ptolemies the books of the great Alexandrian library were copied on this paper; but when Eumenes, king of Pergamus, began to establish a rival library, a mean jealousy controlled the dissemination of knowledge and forbade the exportation of papyrus. Parchment came into more general use soon afterwards, and is said to have derived its Latin name pergamenea from the city of Pergamus, where it was substituted for the papyrus, which was no longer to be obtained. INSTINCT OF BIRDS OF PASSAGE.-A curious instance is related in the Philosophical Transactions, illustrative of that wonderful, incomprehensible faculty which enables the migratory birds, on their return to this country from foreign climates, to find their way, year after year, to the identical arm-houses from which they had migrated. Several swifts were marked by taking off two claws from the foot, and the same birds were found to return to their former haunts for seven successive years. The following paragraph on the same subject appeared in the recent London journals:« During last summer an inhabitant of Waldmuenchen, in Bavaria, caught a house-swallow, which had returned to the same nest for four successive seasons, and fastened a slight gold ring, bearing his initials (I. G. N.) round his neck. On the 12th of April last the wanderer arrived from his winter quarters with a second ring, as well as the former one, round his neck; it was also of gold, and had some Arabic letters upon it." THE MAMMOTH OF FLOWERS.-The plant called krubut, or great flower of Sumatra, is a most extraordinary vegetable prodigy: the breadth of a single full-grown flower exceeds three feet, and the petals or blossom leaves are of a sub-rotund shape, and measure twelve inches each from the base to the apex, and it is about a foot from the insertion of one petal to the opposite one. That part which is considered the nectarium, situated in the centre of the flower, would hold twelve pints of water. The pistils which are abortive, are as large as cows' horns, and the weight of the whole is estimated at about fifteen pounds. THE TRUE BALM. To breasts that feel corroding care, And calm our grief is-BEST LOCHRIN. COLUMN FOR THE LADIES. FREE TRADE-A SCOTCH d'eon. ABOUT twelve or fourteen years back, a female, whose sex had long been suspected, was discovered in the person of a plasterer in Glasgow, who every day pursued his calling, in the most steady and regular way. Her history is curious; but before going into it, we would briefly inquire why, among all the advocates of Free Trade, no one thinks of throwing open the many species of mechanical art, for which they are fit, to women? The occupations by which they can earn their bread are limited to the hardest and foulest kinds of drudgery, or to a few light employments generally depending on fashion, and liable to continual fluctuations and depression. HELEN OLIVER, Our heroine, belonged originally to Saltcoats. When her sex was discovered, she had for upwards of four years worn the dress, and worked at the trade of a man. She took the name of a brother, John Oliver. About two years before her transformation, she was a maid-servant in a farm house in West Kilbride; a particular intimacy took place between her and a person in a neighbouring house, who officiated as ploughman. Being frequently seen walking together in quiet and sequestered places, they were regarded as lovers: ultimately, however, this " ploughman" turned out to be also a female; and it is believed by Helen's relatives and acquaintances, that it was the arguments of this personage which induced her to abandon the female dress and duties. One Sunday, while in her parent's house at Saltcoats, she requested her mother to give her, her "wee cutty pipe," and she would give her two new ones in exchange. To this unusual demand the mother, after some questions, consented; and Helen immediately afterwards began to write a letter, which, in answer to an inquiry from her parent, she said was to inform the people in Greenock, to whom she was hired as a servant, that she would not be with them for some time, for several reasons she then alleged. Early on the following morning, Helen helped herself to a complete suit of her brother's clothes and disappeared, without giving the least intimation of her future prospects, or where she intended to fix her residence. Dressed in her new attire, she reached the house of a cousin in Glasgow on the same day. Her relative was not sufficiently intimate with the person of the fair impostor to detect the fraud. Never doubting in the least that she was "the real John Oliver," among other inquiries for absent relatives," sister Helen" was not forgotten. A plasterer stopt at the time in her cousin's house, and she resolved to learn that business. Accordingly she went for a trial to a person in the Calton; but having fallen out with her master, she left the town. She then went to Paisley, where she wrought for about three months, and she was next employed for about half-a-year in-Johnstone. There, either for amusement, or to prevent suspicion, and insure concealment, she courted a young woman, and absolutely carried the joke so far as to induce the girl to leave her ser vice to be married. [This was going rather far.] Travelling one night between Johnstone and Paisley, she was ac costed by a lad from Saltcoats, who was intimate with her person, parents, and history; and in consequence she removed to Kilmarnock, where she remained six months. Besides the places already mentioned, she has been in Lanark and Edinburgh, working always at the plastering, except a short time she was employed by a Glasgow flesher. A variety of circumstances have frequently impelled this rustic D'Eon to change not only her master and house of residence, but also the town in which she was comfortably employed, particularly as she was often or rather almost obliged to board and share her lodgings with some neigh, bour workman, and though for obvious reasons she seldom detailed more of her previous history than mentioned tht towns she had visited and the masters she had served, yet some sagacious females have been known to declare thae "Johnny must have been a sodger or a Tailor," because "when he likes himsel' he can brawly clout his breeks darn his stockings, mak' his ain meat, and wash his ain claise." At the beginning of February last, Helen applied for employment to a master plasterer in Hutchesontown. She said she was seventeen years of age, and stated that she and a sister were left orphans at an early age; urged her forlorn condition, and that having already had some practice, she was very anxious to be bound an apprentice, that she might obtain an ample knowledge of the had the appearance of a little man, she was in reality a business. Eventually she was employed, and though she tall woman, being about five feet four inches high. By no means shy of a lift, times without number she has carried the heavy hod full of lime for the Irish labourer in attendance. Steady, diligent, and quiet, she gave her mas ter every satisfaction, who considering her rather a de licate boy, feelingly kept her at light ornamental work, and paid her 7s. a-week. Sometime since a workman was employed by the same master, to whom Helen was intimately known. The master having learned the facts of the case, placed her apart at work from the men, and took a favourable opportunity to speak with her. She indignantly denied her metamorphosis, offered to produce letters from her sister, declared that she was a free-mason, and besides had been a flesher, a drummer in the Greenock volunteers, and made a number of statements with a view to escape detection. One day, an Irishman, with charaċteristic confidence, sprang upon the heroine, hugged her like a brother bruin, and cried in his genuine Doric, "Johnny, they tell me you're a woman, and dang it, I mane to know, for I love a purty girl." The agile female extracted herself in an instant, and with a powerful kick drøre him from her; at the same time exclaiming, with an oath, she would soon convince him she was not a woman. Ultimately, however, the truth was wrung from her, and she consequently left the town. She writes a good hand, and previous to her departure, she addressed a letter to her mas ter, in which she bade him farewell, and requested him met to make much talk about H. Oliver. What has since become of Helen-John we have not heard; but it is likely that some of our readers may he able to give us the conclusion or progress of her history. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, AND A LOVE LETTER. THE following is from a Van Diemen's Land paper, The Colonist.-Friday, August 24, 1832 :-A Police Incident. Last week, a damsel was brought to the police office, charged with putting one Mrs. Norah Mullagan in bodily fear. Prisoner pleaded guilty, but begged that the offence might be passed over, as she had received an offer of marriage from a gentleman, who, in all probability, would turn her off, were she to be punished, and he to discover her disgrace. To prove her veracity she produced the following epistle from her enamoured swain" My dear angel, this comes with a pound of sausages, which I hope will find you in good health, as it leaves me at present. I seed you last Sunday for the first time, since which I haven't had no peace for thinking of your dear self; I therefore will take it as a great favour if you will marry me as early as possible, as I can earn by my profession an excellent livelihood; I was rat-catcher and sow.gelder to the late Duke of York; I bleed horses, cures the cholerick morbus, and all other dumb animals, and have received a good hedication: the children we shall have will get their learning free gratis. I have been schoolmaster in Mr.'s family for the last fortnight, and have already teached the eldest boy jagraphy and the manufacture of ginger beer; and as for the second sm, have made him the most best grammaver and rethmeticker of all the lads I ever teached; so you see I have every chance of prospering; I have bought a ring and a pair of blankets-I have written to the governor for his permission, and requested the clergyman to have us asked in church; we appears to be a very nice sober man; I wanted him to go and have half a pint of rum, but he was too bashful. Please send me an answer post paid.-I remain my dear angel your trus love." |