MAY I through the medium of your valuable Miscellany, inform such persons as feel an interest in whatever remains still exist of those who have been an honour and ornament to their country, that, having lately been at Binfield, in Berkshire, I there had the satisfaction of beholding the identical wood to which Pope used to resort as his favourite lounge, and where many lines, perhaps, of the Windsor Forest had their birth. It consists entirely of beech trees, remarkably tall, large, and straight; and stands on the side of a hill, sloping on every side but the West, on which it rises. It may be called an open wood, as the trees are not very close together, and their side branches and (I am sorry to add) tops have been lopped; nevertheless, they are still handsome trees, and it was with the greatest regret I heard that there was a great probability of their being all taken down. Perhaps they are in number about fifty, but I speak entirely from guess. One tree more hallowed than the rest, has been spared as to its top, and by that it may be distinguished by any stranger seeking for it, in the centre of the wood. On this tree, about twelve feet from the ground, (I speak again from guess) are cut with a knife in very large letters, and evidently a great while ago, (I imagine by Pope himself) these sacred words; HERE POPE SUNG. What axe would not recoil from such a stem? what barbarous unfeeling avarice could lay prostrate so well-authenticated a living monument of Pope's own confidence in the regard which posterity would have for any thing so naturally connected with his feelings, his habits, his poems, and his love of fame? I can conceive no object more truly worthy of the adoration of the antiquary and the man of letters. I would prefer this tree, while it stood, to the noblest monument that sculpture or masonry could raise. It is to rescue this tree and its brethren from the fate I was told the

recent enclosure (and probably the change of property consequent thereon) was likely to bring them to, that I have ventured to trouble you with this letter; hoping it may meet some eye able and willing to propose a measure of protection and safety for an object which I confess interests me far beyond what I have been able to express. As I walked the wood and parish, it was impossible not to recal such few lines of our immortal bard as a feeble memory could retrace. Often and often did I repeat (with a mournful application to himself of what he had composed for others:)

'Here his first lays majestic Denham sung,

Here the last numbers flow'd from Cowley's tongue.'

Denham's thought, also, frequently obtruded itself:

For as Courts make not Kings, but Kings the Court,

So where the Muses and their train resort

Parnassus is. If I can be to thee
A Poet, thou Parnassus art to me.

For this English Parnassus, then, I implore the interest of the powerful, and the compassion of the wealthy. For myself, should a subscription be opened to case this tree in gold (but seriously I mean, to buy the ground and tribute my mite. On crossing Lodon fence the wood,) I would gladly conbridge I verified the epithets of

The Lodon slow with verdant alders

crown'd.'

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR-I was exceedingly amused with the article on Animal Sagacity in your Magazine for December; such instances bring the animal very close to the human species, in reason and good conduct; it almost traces an affinity to mankind-much more so, certainly, than wonld be done by any pedigree or other effort to demonstrate a genealogy. They are nearly as surprising as that anecdote related (by Goldsmith I believe,) of a venerable dog, who had been brought up and instructed in the family of a strict Roman Catholic, and who, at the close of his life, was sent across the channel into Wales, to finish his days in the family of a Protestant. Such, however, was the force of pre

cept and example, (some would call it conscience, and a sense of duty), that nothing, from the moment he entered the Protestant circle, would tempt him to eat meat, either on Fridays or Saturdays.

But I think, Mr. Editor, I can give you an instance of sagacity in the canine breed more astonishing far than that, or any other, it ever was my chance to hear: it was related to me, I assure you, as an undeniable fact, and names of persons and places attended the relation of it; my author was a Prussian officer, who, a little time back, visited this metropolis, and it was my lot to hand him about, and show him the curiosities. A German count had a very valuable dog, a large and noblelooking animal; in some description of field-sports he was reckoned exceedingly useful, and a friend of the count's applied for the loan of the dog for a few weeks' excursion in the country: it was granted; and, in the course of the rambles, the dog, by a fall, either dislocated or gave a severe fracture to one of his legs. The borrower of the dog was in the greatest alarm, knowing well how greatly the count valued him; and, fearing to disclose the fact, brought him secretly to the count's surgeon, a skilful man, to restore the limb. After some weeks' application, the surgeon succeeded, the dog was returned, and all was well. A month or six weeks after this period, the surgeon was sitting gravely in his closet, pursuing his studies, when he heard a violent scratching at the bottom of the door; he rose, and, on opening it, to his surprise, he saw the dog, his late patient, before him, in company with another dog, who had broken his leg, and was thus brought by his friend to be cured in the same manner.

I have heard before now a farmer say, that he had a horse in his stable, who always, on losing his shoe, went of his own accord to a farrier's shop, a mile off; but I never yet heard of a horse taking another horse to a farrier for the purpose. In the case of the dogs, there must have been a communication of ideas; they must have come to a conclusion before they set out; they must have reasoned together on the way, discussing the merits of the surgeon, and the nature of the wound. Gray's-Inn, Dec. 1816. T. B.

An Account of the Shepherds of the Landes, in the South of France. In a Letter to the Editor (of the Journal of Science and the Arts,) from THOMAS MAYNARD, Esq.

London, Nov. 12, 1816.

MY DEAR SIR-The accompanying figure represents a shepherd of the Landes, or desart in the south of France. This tract of country lies between the mouths of the Adour and the Gironde, along the sea-coast, and, according to tradition, was once the bed of the sea itself, which flowed in as far as Dax.* Through this district the guards marched from Bayonne, at the conclusion of the war in June, 1814, to embark at Bourdeaux. This afforded us an opportunity of seeing a country seldom visited by travellers. It is a bed of sand, flat, in the strictest sense of the word, and abounding with extensive pine woods. These woods afford turpentine, resin, and charcoal, for trade, as well as a sort of candles, used by the peasantry, made of yarn dipt in the turpentine. The road is through the sand, unaltered by art, except where it is so loose and deep as to require the trunks of the fir-trees to be laid across, to give it firmness. The villages and hamlets stand on spots of fertile ground, scattered like islands among the sands. The appearance of a corn-field on each side of the road, fenced by green hedges, a clump of trees at a little distance, and the spire of a rustic church tapering from among them, gave notice of our approach to an inhabited spot. On entering the villages, we found neat white cottages, scattered along a bit of green, surrounded by well cultivated gardens and orchards, and shaded by fine old oaks and walnuts. Through the centre of the village, a brook of the clearest water was always seen running amongst meadows and hay-fields, and forming a most grateful contrast to the heat and dust of the sandy road. It was between the villages of Castel and La Buharre that we first saw these shepherds, mounted on stilts, and striding, like

This is not the only change. The river Adour also has altered its course: the old bed of the river is marked by an extensive lake and morass to the north of the present course, and along the high road to Dax.

storks, along the flat. These stilts raise them from three to five feet: the foot rests on a surface, adapted to its sole, carved out of the solid wood; a flat part, shaped to the outside of the leg, and and reaching to below the bend of the knee, is strapped round the calf and ankle. The foot is covered by a piece of raw sheep's hide. In these stilts they move with perfect freedom, and astonishing rapidity; and they have their balance so completely, that they run, jump, stoop, and even dance, with ease and safety. We made them run races for a piece of money, put on a stone on the ground, to which they pounced down with surprising quickness. They cannot stand quite still, without the aid of a long staff, which they always carry in their hands. This guards them against any accidental trip, and when they wish to be at rest, forms a third leg, that keeps them steady. The habit of using the stilts is acquired early, and it appeared that the smaller the boy was, the longer it was necessary to have his stilts. By means of these odd additions to the natural leg, the feet are kept out of the water, which lies deep during winter on the sands, and from the heated sand during the summer: in addition to which, the sphere of vision over so perfect a flat is materially increased by the elevation, and the shepherd can see his sheep much farther on stilts than he could from the ground. This department of France is little known, and if what I have here related be as new to your readers as it was to me at the time I first saw them, this description may possibly afford them some amusement.

I remain, dear sir, &c. &c.

THOS. MAYNARD.

An account of the proceedings of the Court of Inquisition at Lisbon, against Elizabeth Vasconellos, an English

woman.

Elizabeth Vasconellos, now in the city of Lisbon, doth, on the 10th of December, Anno 1706, in the presence of John Milner, Esq. her majesty's consul-general of Portugal, and Joseph Willcocks, minister of the English factory at Lisbon, declare and testify;— That she was born at Arlington, in the county of Devon, and a daughter of John Chester, Esq.; bred up in the church of England; and, in the eleventh year of her age, her uncle, David Morgan, of Cork, intending to go and settle in Jamaica as a physician, by her father's consent, he having several children, took her with him to provide for her.

In 1685, they went in an English ship, and near the island they were attacked by two Turkish ships; in the fight her uncle was killed, but the ship got clear into Madeira, and she, though left destitute, was entertained by Mr. Bedford; a merchant, with whom, and other English, she lived as a servant till 1696; in that year she was married, by the chaplain of an English man of war, to Cordoza de Vasconellos, a physician of that island, and lived with him eight years, and never in the least conformed to the Romish church.

In 1704, her husband, having gone on a voyage to Brazil, she fell dangerously ill, and, being light-headed, a priest gave her the sacrament, as she was told afterwards, for she remembered nothing of it. It pleased God she recovered, and then they told her she had changed her religion, and must conform to the Romish church, which she denied, and refused to conform; and thereupon, by the bishop of that island, she was imprisoned nine months, and then sent prisoner to the inquisition at Lisbon, where she arrived the 19th of December, 1705. The secretary of the house took her effects, in all above 5001. sterling; she was then sworn, that that was all she was worth: and then put into a straight dark room, about five feet square, and there kept nine months and fifteen days.

That the first nine days she had only

bread and water, and a wet straw bed to lie on. On the ninth day, being examined, she owned herself a Protestant, and would so continue; she was told, she had conformed to the Romish church, and must persist in it or burn; she was then remanded to her room, and, after a month's time, brought out again; and, persisting in her answer as to her religion, they bound her hands behind her, stripped her back naked, and lashed her with a whip of knotted cords a considerable time; and told her afterwards, that she must kneel down to the court, and give thanks for their merciful usage of her; which she positively refused to do.

After fifteen days she was again brought forth and examined; and, a crucifix being set before her, she was commanded to bow down to it and worship it, which she refused to do; they told her that she must expect to be condemned to the flames, and be burnt with the Jews at the next auto de fe, which was nigh at hand. Upon this she was remanded to her prison again for thirty days; and, being then brought out, a red-hot iron was got ready, and brought to her in a chaffing dish of burning coals; and, her breast being laid open, the executioner, with one end of the red-hot iron, which was about the bigness of a large seal, burnt her to the bone in three several places, on the right side, one hard by the other; and then sent her to her prison, without any plaster, or other application to heal the sores, which were very painful to her.

A month after this she had another severe whipping, as before; and in the beginning of August she was brought before the Table, a great number of inquisitors being present, and was questioned whether she would profess the Romish religion or burn? She replied, she had always been a Protestant, and was a subject of the Queen of England, who was able to protect her, and she doubted not would do it, were her condition known to the English residing in Lisbon; but, as she knew nothing of that, her resolution was to continue a Protestant, though she were to burn for it. To this they answered, that her being the Queen of England's subject signified nothing in the dominions of the King of Portugal; that the English residing in Lisbon were heretics, and would certainly be damned; and that it

was the mercy of that tribunal to endeavour to rescue her out of the flames of hell; but, if her resolution were to burn rather than profess the Romish religion, they would give her a trial of it before hand: accordingly the officers were ordered to seat her in a fixed chair, and to bind her arms and her legs, that she could make do resistance nor motion, and the physician being placed by her, to direct the court how far they might torture her without hazard of her life, her left foot was made bare, and an iron slipper, red-hot, being immediately brought in, her foot was fastened into it, which continued on, burning her to the bone, till such time as, by extremity of pain, she fainted away; and, the physician declaring her life was in danger, they took it off, and ordered her again to prison.

On the 19th of August she was again boought out, and whipped after a cruel manner, and her back was all over torn; and her being threatened with more and greater tortures, and, on the other hand, being promised to be set at liberty if she would subscribe such a paper as they should give her, though she could have undergone death, yet not being able to endure a life of so much misery, she consented to subscribe as they would have her; and accordingly, as they directed, wrote at the bottom of a large paper, which contained she knew not what; after which they advised her to avoid the company of all English heretics; and, not restoring to her any thing of all the plate, goods, or money, she brought in with her, and engaging her by oath to keep secret all that had been done to her, turned her out of doors, destitute of all relief, but what she received from the help and compassion of charitable Christians.

The above-said Elizabeth Vasconellos did solemnly affirm and declare the above written deposition to be true, the day and year above written.

by

JOHN MILNE. JOSEPH WILCOCKS. Lisbon, Jan. 8, 1707, N. S. A copy, examined from the original J. BLISSE. The above unholy tribunal and cruel piece of legitimacy, is restored, with all its horrors and ramifications, in the dominions of our worthy ally the King of Spain, by a decree dated in July, 1814.