HUGO GROTIUS. II. THE CASTLE OF LOUVESTEIN. WE have hitherto considered the life of Grotius principally as it regards his high attainments in various branches of literature, and we approach with some reluctance the consideration of his character as a religious disputant. We have seen that, from his early years, he was disposed to controversial subjects; and we may gather from the advice of De Thou, and other circumstances, that his zeal in these respects outstripped his discretion. The sincere advocacy of well-grounded and settled opinions would not have been otherwise than honourable and praiseworthy; but when we find him engaged in the early part of his life most warmly in the Protestant cause, and yet subsequently, through his acquaintance with the Jesuits, so far forsaking his former principles as to favour the Pope's supremacy, the doctrine of transubstantiation, of the seven sacraments, &c., we are naturally disposed to view with the less interest his wavering opinions in religious matters; or to seek for some extenuation of his proceedings, in the fact that he was most sincerely anxious for unity, and not sufficiently scrupulous in the mode by which he sought to attain it. The controversy in which he took so important a part at the period of his history at which we have now arrived, was not, however, between Papists and Protestants, but between the followers of Calvin and Arminius, whose VOL. XXIV. disputes at that times ran to a lamentable height in the United Provinces, and were at first referred to the synod of Rotterdam, and finally quelled by force of arms. Grotius, in his endeavours to promote peace and good understanding between the parties, too evidently favoured the side of the Arminians for his efforts to be successful. The decree drawn up by him, and approved by the States, though very carefully worded, was so obnoxious to the opposite party, that the state of affairs grew worse than ever; and the States found it necessary to raise troops for the suppression of riots, and the security of their towns. This step exasperated Prince Maurice of Nassau against the States, and led to the ruin of Grotius. The prince, who, as governor-general, considered that his dignity had been infringed, now made a tour through the Provinces, removing from the senate all who were known or suspected to favour Arminianism. Grotius was arrested; his trial was shamefully conducted; and his judges were so ignorant, that, though they decreed penalties which were only enacted against persons convicted of high treason, they omitted mentioning in the sentence that Grotius was guilty of that crime. Grotius was condemned to perpetual imprisonment; and he was accordingly conveyed from the Hague to the castle of Louvestein, near Gorcum, South Holland. The father of Grotius was not permitted to see his son; but his wife was permitted to accompany him to Louvestein, with the understanding that, if she left that fortress, she would not be permitted to return to it again. Subse 742 versy quently the severity of the decree was relaxed, and she | was permitted to leave the castle twice a week. In captivity, Grotius regained that tranquillity which controhad deprived him of, so that he was able to resume his studies, and to produce several new works. Besides those relating to the prevalent disputes, he composed a treatise in Dutch verse, On the Truth of the Christian Religion; also his Institutions of the Laws of Holland, in Dutch; a Catechism for the use of his daughter Cornelia, in Flemish verse; and a Dialogue between a father and son on the necessity of silence, explaining the use and abuse of speech, and the advantages of taciturnity. While Grotius was calmly pursuing his studies, his wife was intently studying the means of effecting his escape. He had been permitted to borrow books of his friends, and they were sent to and returned by him in a chest which conveyed his linen backwards and forwards to the town of Gorcum, where it was washed. This had been the custom during the whole time of his imprisonment, which had now nearly extended to two years. The guards were very exact for the first twelve months in examining the contents of this box every time it passed through their hands; but at length finding that it never contained anything but books and linen, they grew careless, and did not give themselves the trouble to open it. This negligence was observed with delight by the wife of Grotius, and she was not slow in turning it to account. She first ascertained that it was possible for her husband to bear the confinement of being shut up in the chest for a period long enough to allow of his escape, and then proceeded to take some precautionary measures. She diligently cultivated the acquaintance of the lady of the commandant of the Louvestein; and on one occasion, when she was aware that the commandant was gone to Heusden to raise recruits, she paid a visit to this lady, and took occasion to lament her husband's immoderate love of study: she informed her that it had made him seriously ill; and that she felt so much uneasiness on his account, that she had now resolved to take from him all his books, and send them away in the chest to their respective owners. Having thus prepared the mind of the commandant's wife, she spread in other directions the same tale; and at the same time caused the chest to be prepared for its destined inmate, by boring holes to admit the air. With some difficulty she prevailed on Grotius to adopt her scheme, and to leave her in prison. A servant, who was in the secret, superintended the removal of the box; but when the soldiers took it up, they found it so much heavier than usual that they said there must be an Arminian in it. This was a common proverb of the times; but Grotius's wife, who was present, coolly remarked that there were indeed plenty of Arminian books in it, on which they proceeded with their important burden. One of the soldiers, however, talked of having the chest examined, but by the address of the maid-servant his scruples were removed, and it was safely deposited in the boat which was to convey it from Louvestein to Gorcum. The passage took a considerable time, and when the boat reached the shore, the maid, being now beyond the reach of the guards at Louvestein, pretended that there was some valuable glass in the chest which must be removed with care. Two chairmen were therefore employed to carry it to the house of David Bazelaer, a friend of Grotius. Bazelaer dismissed his servants from the apartment into which the chest had been conveyed, and hastened to open it and to embrace his friend. Grotius had felt no inconvenience from his constrained position, though the length of the chest was only three feet and a half; but had suffered much anxiety of mind during the course of the deception. He now dressed himself as a mason, with rule and trowel, and went by the back door of Bazelaer's house to the river-side, and stepped into a boat, which carried him to Vervic, in Brabant. There he made himself known to some Arminian friends, and then, hiring a carriage, he proceeded to Antwerp, taking the necessary precautions not to be known by the way. In the mean time his wife continued to encourage the idea of his being ill and confined to his bed at Louvestein; but no sooner had she gained tidings of his safe arrival in Brabant (where he was safe from his enemies), than she told the guards of his flight, and afterwards, when pressed and even threatened by the commandant, she related the story of his escape in the book-chest. He put her into close confinement, but in a few days an order arrived from the States-General, restoring her liberty, and permitting her to take with her from Louvestein everything which belonged to her. It was on the 22nd of March, 1621, that Grotius obtained his liberty. On the 30th of that month, he wrote from Antwerp to the States-General, that in procuring his liberty he had employed neither violence nor corruption with his keepers; that he had nothing to reproach himself with in what he had done; and that the persecution he had suffered would never diminish his love to his country, for whose prosperity he heartily prayed. The escape of Grotius, and the magnanimity of his wife, exercised the pens of the most famous poets of the time. Grotius himself made some verses on the subject, which were translated into Flemish by Von Vondel. He also apostrophised the chest to which he owed his liberty, and in the latter part of his life was at great pains to recover it, after it had passed out of his hands. Without dwelling on the controversial writings which still employed the time and thoughts of Grotius, we may refer to the choice he made of a residence. Invited by learned men and by the ministry of France, to take up his abode in that country, he travelled thither in disguise, and reached Paris the 13th of April, 1621. He was immediately noticed by numerous distinguished individuals; but it was not until the following year that he was presented to the king. His majesty received him favourably, and granted him a pension of 3000 livres. In 1622 Grotius published his Apology, dedicated to the people of Holland and West Friezland. It contained a vindication of his conduct, and a full account of the proceedings which led to his arrest, of the informality in the nomination of judges, the irregularity of the sentence, the wrongs done to the several prisoners after the passing of the sentence, &c. All this tended greatly to incense the States-General against him. Unable to give a satisfactory reply to his work, they proscribed it, condemned it as slanderous, and as tending to asperse by falsehoods the sovereign authority of the government of the Provinces; and therefore forbad all persons to have it in their custody on pain of death. The severity of this proceeding made Grotius fearful of his own apprehension; he therefore applied for protection to the King of France, who issued letters, February 26th, 1623, formally taking him into his royal protection. In 1625 Grotius published at Paris his admirable book of the Rights of War and Peace. Of this work Burigny says, "Those who would study the law of nations cannot read this book too often: they will find in it the most agreeable learning, joined to the strongest reasoning. The whole is not equally correct; but what large work is not liable to the same censure?" Besides, we must consider that it has the glory of being original in its kind; and the first treatise that reduced into a system the most excellent of all sciences. This great work, originally written in Latin, was translated into Dutch, Swedish, German, and English. But Grotius began to feel his situation in Paris a very uncomfortable one. His pension was so irregularly paid that he was put to the greatest inconvenience, and having refused that absolute devotion of his services to the plans of Richelieu, which that proud cardinal required of him, he was treated with little consideration or respect. In this state of things he became very desirous of returning to his own country, and having first sent his wife thither to ascertain how the people stood affected towards him, he at length ventured to follow in the year 1631. But he did not meet with the countenance he had expected. On the contrary, an edict of banishment was issued against him; so that he formally bade a final adieu to Holland, and determined to seek his fortune elsewhere. He then fixed his residence at Hamburgh, where he received proposals from several of the greatest princes, who sought to draw to them a man of such profound learning and knowledge of public law. He was invited to Poland, Denmark, and Sweden, and eventually entered into the service of the last-named country. Grotius had a singular veneration for the Great Gustavus, and before he had any idea of devoting himself to his service, he had thus expressed his opinion of the monarch :-"Happy are they who are under the protection of so great a king. He proves the possibility of what appeared incredible in the great men of antiquity; he is a witness who gives evidence in their favour: he will serve for a master to posterity: and the best lessons in the art of war will be learned from his history. He is no less eminent as a warrior than as a statesman; and in him is found all that makes a great king. He is the wisest monarch now reigning, and knows how to improve every opportunity to the best advantage, not only when the injustice of his enemies obliges him to have recourse to arms, but also when he is allowed to enjoy the blessings of peace." LUMINOUS PHENOMENON AT SEA. CAPT. BONNYCASTLE, Coming up the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the 7th of September, 1826, was roused by the mate of the vessel in a great alarm from an unusual appearance. It was a star-light night, when suddenly the sky became overcast in the direction of the high land of Cornwallis country, and an instantaneous and intensely vivid light, resembling the aurora, shot out of the hitherto gloomy and dark sea on the lee bow, which was so brilliant that it lighted everything distinctly even to the mast-head. The light spread over the whole sea between the two shores, and the waves, which before had been tranquil, now began to be agitated. Captain Bonnycastle describes the scene as that of a blazing sheet of awful and most brilliant light. A long and vivid line of light, superior in brightness to the parts of the sea not immediately near the vessel, showed the base of the high, frowning, and dark land abreast; the sky became lowering, and more intensely obscure. Long tortuous lines of light showed immense numbers of very large fish darting about as if in consternation. The spritsail-yard and mizen-boom were lighted by the reflection, as if gas-lamps had been burning directly below them; and until just before day-break, at four o'clock, the most minute objects were distinctly visible. Day broke very slowly, and the sun rose of a fiery and threatening aspect. Rain followed. Captain Bonnycastle caused a bucket of this fiery water to be drawn up; it was one mass of light when stirred by the hand, and not in sparks as usual, but in actual coruscations. A portion of the water preserved its luminosity for seven nights. On the third night, the scintillations of the sea reappeared; this evening the sun went down very singularly, exhibiting in its descent a double sun, and when only a few degrees high, its spherical figure changed into that of a long cylinder, which reached the horizon. In the night the sea became nearly as luminous as before, but on the fifth night the appearance entirely ceased. Captain Bonnycastle does not think it proceeded from animalcula (which frequently render the sea phosphorescent), but imagines it might be some compound of phosphorus, suddenly evolved and disposed over the surface of the sea; perhaps from the exuvia or secretions of fish connected with the oceanic salts, muriate of soda, and sulphate of magnesia +.-Connexion of the Physical Sciences. * Sprit-sail-yard. The yard belonging to the bolt-sprit, or bow-spritmast, in the head of a ship. + See two articles upon the Luminous appearance of the Sea, at pages 159 and 171, Vol. XIV., of the Saturday Magazine, ON HOSPITALS. II. ALTHOUGH from the commencement of the Christian dispensation, the care of the sick had been an object of attention to its professors, yet, the extensive prevalence of a disease termed Leprosy was the chief cause of separate edifices, some of them on a most extensive scale, being erected. This disease was not, as supposed by some, imported from the East by the Crusaders, for many establishments for its relief had been instituted prior to those expeditions. These houses were called in France léproseries and maladreries, and in England leper-houses or lazar-houses, and in Italy lazarettos, owing to a fanciful resemblance to the disease with which Lazarus in the parable is said to have been afflicted; he was declared to be the tutelary saint of those struck with leprosy, while the receptacles for lepers in Britain and Italy were named after him; so also was the military and religious order of St. Lazarus, which was created for the double purpose of superintending the lazar-houses, and carrying on the war in the Holy Land. Lepers were admitted into the order, and the master was a leprous knight. They accumulated a large property, which eventually caused their ruin, by exciting the cupidity of Philip the Fifth of France. This disease, whose very nature is a matter of historical dispute, and under whose name probably many cutaneous diseases were confounded, ravaged all Europe between the sixth and fifteenth centuries. It seems to have attracted more attention than the plague itself, by reason of its wide diffusion and obstinate resistance, and a large proportion of the wealth of the early Christians was devoted to providing receptacles for those attacked by it. Gregory of Tours mentions a leper hospital as early as the sixth century. Louis the Eighth in 1227 made bequests to two thousand, situated in France alone. Similar establishments were very numerous in England. London and Norwich had each five leper-houses, but the most considerable, perhaps, was that situated at BurtonLazars, in Leicestershire. The leprosy became much less prevalent during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but even in the seventeenth leper-houses existed on the Continent, and were greatly abused by vagrants and vagabonds, who imitated or produced diseases of the skin, in order to be permitted to pass their lives in idleness in the hospitals. As this disease was believed to be contagious, the most rigorous means were employed to keep those afflicted with it, separate from the rest of the community, and they were crowded into the leper-houses, and where these did not exist, or afforded insufficient accommodation, into huts temporarily erected. In fact, the restrictions to which they were subjected, were of a very cruel nature. They were considered as dead in a civil point of view; could neither inherit or transfer property, although they had the enjoyment of it during their lives. They were only permitted to enter towns upon the occasion of certain festivals, and then were obliged to warn passers-by of their presence, by striking a piece of wood as they passed along; they were forbidden to marry, except with the leprous; and the existence of the disease was considered as good grounds for a divorce. As the disease was very frequently never cured, the lepers oftentimes inhabited these houses for life, and during their residence in them they were obliged to assume a particular dress. In the various towns of the Continent, magistrates and physicians were elected for the purpose of visiting and examining all suspected lepers, a practice which continued in the fourteenth century. Muratori relates that a king of the Lombards, in 630, issued a decree, Taylor, in his Index Monasticus, enumerates twenty lepor-houses in Norfolk alone. declaring the lepers incapable of entering society, and commanding them, if misery and hunger compelled them to beg, on no account to approach the healthy, without giving them due notice. Lombardy seems always to have contained many lepers, and we find Pope Sylvester dissuading upon this ground, a king of France from marrying a Lombard princess. By an edict of Pope Alexander the Third, lepers, who had been by these various interdictions, deprived of the comforts of religious worship, were permitted to provide themselves with a place for religious purposes, and an officiating minister; they were exempted from tithes, but not permitted to encroach upon the parochial dues. Notwithstanding all the precautions taken, there is no reason to believe the disease, or rather the numerous diseases confounded under the name of leprosy, to have been contagious; and we find numerous relations of kings and prelates, repairing to the leper-houses, to perform, as acts of devotion, various disgusting offices for their inhabitants, without any evils being stated to have resulted to them. Dr. Bateman considers that the prevalence of obstinate diseases of the skin, in the Middle Ages, may be accounted for by a variety of physical circumstances: he says, "From the fifth century, when the empire at length fell under the repeated assaults of the northern invaders, to the tenth, the finest parts of Europe lay in a state of devastation, little cultivation was practised, all the arts neglected or lost, and clothing, habitations, and food, were alike insufficient and unwholesome: and for three centuries more this desolation was increased, if possible, by the wars then waged. The food consisted, even in England at a later period, of much salted provisions, especially in the winter, and of a hard black bread chiefly of rye, to the scarcity of which corn, rather than to its ergoted or diseased condition, the St. Anthony's fire, mal des ardens, and other similar maladies, should be attributed. So little were vegetables cultivated indeed, or gardening understood even in the sixteenth century in this country, that in the year 1509, Queen Catharine could not procure a salad until Henry sent to the Netherlands for it. How totally destitute of such diet must the people in general have been at a much later period." Mr. Raymond, in his history of this leprosy of the Middle Ages, (or as it is called by medical writers, Elephantiasis, makes some very curious and interesting observations, upon the influence which physical and political derangements of countries exert in producing the epidemical visitations with which they are afflicted. He says, that between the years 606 and 1039, the average intervals between great famines in Europe, were only seven years. From the birth of Christ to the year 1680, there were ninety-seven great plagues, or epidemics, giving upon an average about seventeen years interval between each. But of these, fifty-two occurred between 1006 and 1680, furnishing an average interval of twelve years only. During the fourteenth century, which was remarkable in history for the confusion of states, and various other calamities which prevailed, at at least fourteen plagues, at average intervals of only six years, devastated Europe. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when regular government had become somewhat vigorous, there were but six plagues, while in the seventeenth century, the average interval rose to twenty years. France suffered more than any other part of Europe, for, between 503 and 1039, more or less of her provinces suffered from seventy plagues, giving an average interval of only six years and a half. But, it was in the ninth and tenth centuries, that epidemic diseases, and especially those of a leprous character, particularly manifested themselves. In remarking upon these facts, this author observes: When the Romans had civilized Europe, many of the evils which had heretofore afflicted it disappeared, but, during the confusion which followed the fall of their empire, every kind of calamity darkened the horizon, and augmented in proportion to the anarchy that prevailed. These diminished again by the improvement which took place in the state of society in the sixteenth century. This happy change, which restored health to the west, was brought about by the political ameliorations which had commenced in the fourteenth century, when the feudal tyranny of the be undermined. It has been consummated only in later barons, and the despotic power of the priesthood, began to ages, when governments have taken a just consistence after the extinction of intestine disorders, and have turned their attention to the cultivation of waste lands, and a love for the arts. Since that period, the air has become drier and more pure, the food more wholesome and nourishing, the houses better constructed and ventilated, the clothing more protective against cold, from the use of linen more conduwith acquisition of more civilized manners and customs, the cive to cleanliness, the result of all which has been, that duration of human life has become prolonged. FALL'N hath our lot on days of pleasant calm; How different from the blood-stained times of yore, Are freedom's children; not in doubt and fear, Of earth an Eden make, and reign alone; THE future actions of men are known to God, because he knows all the causes that will influence their actions. I HAVE great respect for the virtue that flies temptation. It is that sort of prowess, which the whole train of Scripture calls upon us to manifest when assailed by sensual evil. Interior mischiefs must be grappled with-there is no flight from them. But solicitations to sin, that address themselves to our bodily senses, are, I believe, seldom conquered in any other way.-Cowper. Do nothing upon which you dare not ask God's blessing. WHEN we conceive a better opinion of a man whose countenance, air, or manners, had at first conveyed a contrary impression, we begin to discover infallible signs of his goodness. Is this discovery a reality? I suspect it is a mere illusion. For the same features, voice, and manners, had a little before appeared signs just as infallible of rudeness. No sooner do we alter our judgment of the moral qualities than we change our conclusions as physiognomists. How many countenances do we venerate because we know they belong to virtuous men, which, upon others, would seem in no degree calculated for veneration, and the contrary. A lady Collatinus, and imagining that she discovered in the expresonce amused me by mistaking a head of Catiline for that of sion the sublime grief of Collatinus at the death of Lucretia. -SILVIO PELLICO. A STRONG habitually indulged imagination may be so absorbed in the end, if it be not a concern of absolute immediate urgency, as for a while quite to forget the process of attainment. the rigid laws of time and distance, and place a man in That power has incantations to dissolve something so like the presence of his object, as to create the temporary hallucination of an ideal possession; and it is hard, when occupying the verge of Paradise, to be flung far back in order to find or make a path to it with the slow and toilsome steps of reality. In the luxury of promising himself that what he wishes will by some means take place at some time, he forgets that he is advancing no nearer to it -except, on the wise and simple fact of growing older, becoming somewhat nearer to every event that is yet to happen to him. He is like a traveller, who, amid his indolent musing in some soft bower, where he has sat down to be shaded a little while from the rays of noon, falls asleep, and dreams he is in the midst of all the endearments of home, insensible that there are many hills and dales for him yet to traverse. But the traveller will awake; so too will our other dreamer; and if he has the smallest capacity of just reflection, he will regret to have wasted in reveries the time which ought to have been devoted to practical exertions.-FOSTER, THE NATURAL HISTORY AND MANAGEMENT OF CAGE-BIRDS. I. THE COMMON LINNET (Fringilla cannabina, LINN.) I wadna gie the Lintie's song, Sae merry on the broomy lea, As on the ev'ning breeze it flows.-ANON. THE rearing and management of cage-birds afford pleasure and amusement to a large number of persons both in town and country; nor can we wonder that these pleasant little songsters prove so universally attractive. The variety and sweetness of their notes, the beauty of their plumage, and the activity and elegance of their movements, are sufficient to excite interest; and when to these are added the peculiar habits and characteristics of each species, as they may be distinguished by an attentive observer, it is not surprising that bird-fanciers abound, and that the bird-catcher's trade is a thriving one. Several interesting works have been published expressly for the use of persons keeping tame birds; and in examining these, it is impossible not to see that much greater attention is required to keep birds in health than is generally supposed, and that many a sudden death or serious malady among our caged favourites is to be assigned to injudicious management, such as giving improper food, neglecting the state of the cage, not supplying a bath, ignorance of the symptoms of disease, and of the needful remedies. In this and some following articles, we therefore propose to present to notice the natural history of a few of our chief favourites among caged birds, and also to exhibit the mode of treatment suited to each, and which is most likely to ensure health and longevity; for it is painful to witness suffering in any form, and it will be shown that, by proper treatment, moping and melancholy may be removed, and the native sprightliness of many of our songsters fully preserved under confinement. These notices will doubtless be acceptable to persons who have not time or opportunity to study the works above alluded to. The common linnet, although devoid of brilliant plumage, has many attractions for those who delight in cage-birds. Its song is agreeable and "flute-like," its disposition is docile, and it is susceptible of great attachment towards those who take care of it. The flexibility of its throat enables it to imitate the strains of other birds, and also different airs which it is attempted to be taught. The natural song of this bird consists of several harmonious strains, which it utters in succession, and which are sometimes interrupted by more sonorous notes, having a slight resemblance to the crowing of a cock, so that it is commonly said that the linnet crows. If a young linnet be brought up with a chaffinch, a lark, or a nightingale, it will learn to sing like them; but in such cases it generally loses its native song, and preserves nothing but its peculiar call-note. According to one writer this bird may be taught to repeat many words distinctly, in different languages, and to pronounce them with an accent which would actually lead one to suppose that it understood their meaning. This art cannot be taught to full-grown birds, neither can they be made to imitate with much effect the strains of other songsters. The education of linnets for these purposes must commence as soon as the feathers begin to shoot. The bird destined to receive this teaching is separated from the rest, and never allowed to hear any other strains than those which it is intended it should imitate. At this early period it is fed on soaked bread, eggs boiled hard, and rape-seed that has been steeped in water for some time. Different plans are adopted for teaching particular tunes to a young linnet. Sometimes, when the bird does not show much disposition to profit by instruction, he is taken on the finger, and held before a mirror, the tune being whistled in a distinct manner all the time. Seeing before him, what he supposes to be another bird of his own species, the linnet then begins to tune up, and not having learnt any of his native song by companionship with his fellows, he makes the first attempt to imitate that which his master is whistling to him, This teaching is more likely to succeed by candlelight than by daylight. That the use of the mirror is not always necessary, is proved by the fact that some of the best instructed linnets have been brought up by cobblers, who whistled to them without interrupting their work. Bechstein says, "Of all house-birds, the linnet, from the softness and flute-like sound of its voice, gives the airs that are taught in the neatest and most agreeable manner. It is also one of those which pay best; some here cost from three to five rix-dollars when they can warble an air preceded and followed by a grand flourish as of trumpets. The weavers and shoemakers often bring up many of these birds. It is very pleasing and surprising to hear a young linnet that is well taught by a nightingale. I have one, whose imitations are as perfect as possible. It amuses me throughout the year; but especially when my nightingales are silent," This last circumstance of the linnet's song being continued throughout the year is a great advantage, and more than atones for the dulness of the plumage. Sonnini describes a linnet of great docility, which was able to whistle very perfectly five distinct airs which it had learnt from a bird-organ. This bird was also in the habit of calling many persons of the house distinctly by name, and of exhibiting many proofs of amiability and intelligence. Indeed the attachment of linnets to their owners has often been noticed as very remarkable. The birds even become troublesome with their caresses, readily distinguishing those who take care of them, perching upon them, and expressing their affection by gestures, and by looks. In their wild state linnets are very generally distributed throughout Europe. In the British Isles they are some of the commonest of birds. In summer they frequent open heaths and commons, and breed in furze and other bushes; in autumn they associate in large flocks, and traverse the more cultivated portions of the country, alighting by thousands in newly ploughed fields, to pick up the scattered seeds of wild plants. All kinds of seeds that they can shell easily, seem equally pleasing to their palate, as those of flax, hemp, dandelion, thistle, groundsel, chickweed, and the cruciform plants. The common linnet, the greater redpole, and the mountain linnet, are believed by Bechstein to be one and the same species. Some very striking varieties of plumage in the male bird, occasioned by the season, or by age, have caused much confusion and many mistakes on this subject. The common linnet is more than five inches long, of which the tail measures two inches and a half. The beak is short, dusky blue in summer and greyish white in winter, with the point brown. The feet are black. The general colour of the plumage in all the birds, young and old, male and female, is greyish, and |