uses all the four feet, in which situation it is almost invincible; and even after killing its assailant, it will remain fastened upon him for a long time with vindictive desperation.

There are three or four species, differing materially in size, which inhabit Guinea, Congo in Africa, and other parts, but the one we have been describing is most common in the uncultivated parts of South America; and indeed, as Goldsmith observes' if we examine through the various regions of the earth, we shall find that all the most active, sprightly, and useful quadrupeds, have been gathered round man, and either served his pleasures, or still maintained their independence by their vigilance, their cunning, or their industry. It is in the remote solitudes that we are to look for the helpless, the deformed, and the monstrous births of nature. They therefore retire for safety into the darkest forests, or the most desert mountains, where none of the bolder or swifter animals chuse to reside.'

SONG.

Oн, deem not guile is in the tear
That steals from lovely woman's eye,
Oh, deem not aught save truth sincere
Prompts her gentle bosom's sigh;
For when at pure affection's shrine
She becomes a worshipper,
Robed in charms most like divine,
Love is all the world to her!

Oh, trust not to the faithless smile
Óf man, nor heed his passion'd prayer
Too oft it is the traitor's wile,

To lure his victim to despair:
But when at pure affection's shrine
Woman is a worshipper,

Robed in joys most like divine,
Love is all the world to her!

CHARLES M.

ORIGIN OF KNIGHTHOOD.

WHEN the inhabitants of Germany sallied from their woods, and made conquests, the change of condition they experienced produced a change in their manners. Narrow communities grew into extensive kingdoms, and petty princes and temporary leaders were exalted into monarchs. The ideas, however, they had formerly entertained, and the customs with which they had been familiar, were neither forgotten nor neglected. The modes of thought and of action which had been displayed in their original seats, advanced with them into the territories of Rome, continued their operation and power in this new situation, and created that uniformity of appearance which Europe every where exhibited. Their influence on the forms of government and polity which arose, was decisive and extensive; and it was not less efficacious and powerful on those inferior circumstances which join to constitute the system of manners, and to produce the complexion and features that distinguish ages and nations.

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The inclination for war entertained by the Germanic states, the respect and importance in which they held their women, and the sentiments they had conceived of religion, did not forsake them when they had conquered. To excel in war was still their ruling ambition, and usages were still connected with arms. the sex they still looked with affection and courtesy. And their theology was even to operate in its spirit, after its forms were decayed, and after Christianity was established. Arms, gallantry, and devotion, were to act with uncommon force; and to the forests of Germany we must trace those romantic institutions, which filled Europe with renown and with splendour; which, mingling religion with war, and piety with love, raised up so many warriors to contend for the palm of valour and the prize of beauty.

The passion for arms among the Germanic States was carried to extremes. It was amidst scenes of death and peril that the young were educated: it was

by valour and feats of prowess that the ambitious signalized their manhood. All the honours they knew were allotted to the brave. The sword opened the path to glory. It was in the field that the ingenious and the noble flattered most their pride, and acquired an ascendancy. The strength of their bodies, and the vigour of their counsel, surrounded them with warriors, and lifted them to command.

But, among these nations, when the individual felt the call of valour, and wished to try his strength against an enemy, he could not of his own authority take the lance and the javelin. The admission of their youth to the privilege of bearing arms was a matter of too much importance to be left to chance or their own choice. A form was invented by which they were advanced to that honour.

The council of the district, or of the canton to which the candidate belonged, was assembled. His age and his qualifications were inquired into; and, if he was deemed worthy of being admitted to the privileges of a soldier, a chieftain, his father, or one of his kindred, adorned him with the shield and the lance. In consequence of this solemnity, he prepared to distinguish himself; his mind opened to the cares of the public; and the domestic concerns, or the offices of the family from which he had sprung, were no longer the objects of his attention.

To this ceremony, so simple and so interesting, the institution of knighthood is indebted for its rise. The adorning the individual with arms continued for ages to characterise his advancement to this dignity. And this rite was performed to him by his sovereign, his lord, or some approved warrior. In conformity, also, to the manners which produced this institution, it is to be observed, that even the sons of a king presumed not to approach his person before their admission to its privileges; and the nobility kept their descendants at an equal distance. It was the road, as of old, to distinction and honour. Without the advancement to

it, the most illustrious birth gave no title to personal rank.

Their appetite for war, and their predatory life, taught the Germans to fancy that the gods were on the side of the valiant. Force appeared to them to be justice, and weakness to be a crime. When they would divine the fate of an important war, they selected a captive of the nation with whom they were at variance, and opposed to him a warrior out of their own number. To each champion they presented the arms of his country; and, according as the victory fell to the one or the other, they prognosticated their triumph or defeat. Religion interfered with arms and with valour; and the party who prevailed could plead in his favour the interposition of the Deity. When an individual was called before the magistrate, and charged with an offence, if the evidence was not clear, he might challenge his accuser. The judge ordered them to prepare for battle, made a signal for the onset, and gave his award for the victor.

Nor was it only when his interest and property were at stake that the German had recourse to his sword. He could bear no stain on his personal character. To treat him with indignity or disdain was to offend him mortally. An affront of this kind covered him with infamy, if he forgave it. The blood of his adversary could alone wipe it away; and he called upon him to vindicate his charge, or to perish.

In these proceedings, we perceive the source of the judicial combat, which spread so universally over Europe, and which is not only to be considered as a precaution of civil polity, but as an institution of honour.

These nations, so enamoured of valour, and so devoted to arms, courted dangers even in pastime, and sported with blood. They had shows or entertainments, in which the points of the lance and the sword urged the young and the valiant to feats of desperate agility and boldness; and in which they learned to confirm the vigour of their minds and the force of

their bodies. Perseverance gave them expertness, expertness grace, and the applause of the surrounding multitude was the envied recompense of their audacious temerity.

These violent and military exercises followed them into the countries they subdued, and gave a beginning to the jousts and tournaments, which were celebrated with so unbounded a rage, which the civil power was so often to forbid, and the church so loudly to condemn; and which, resisting alike the force of religion and law, were to yield only to the progress of civilization and knowledge.

Unacquainted with any profession but that of war, disposed to it by habit, and impelled to it by ambition, the German never parted with his arms. They accompanied him to the senate-house, as well as to the camp, and he transacted not without them any matter of public or of private concern. They were the friends of his manhood, when he rejoiced in his strength, and they attended him in his age, when he wept over his weakness. Of these, the most memorable was the shield. To leave it behind him in battle was to incur an extremity of disgrace, which deprived him of the benefit of his religion, and of his rank as a citizen. It was the employment of his leisure to make it conspicuous. He was sedulous to diversify it with chosen colours; and, what is worthy of particular remark, the ornaments he bestowed were in time to produce the art of blazonry and the occupation of the herald. These chosen colours were to be exchanged into representations of acts of heroism. Coats of arms were to be necessary to distinguish from each other warriors who were cased completely from head to foot. Christianity introduced the sign of the cross; wisdom and folly were to multiply devices; and speculative and political men, to flatter the vanity of the rich and great, were to reduce to regulation and system what had begun without rule or art.

It is thus I would account for knighthood and the