to navigate the ship, to watch the four men who had been lib erated, and to feed and attend to their prisoners.

Providence favoured them; the weather moderated, the wind was fair, and without accident Captain Wilson brought the "Emily St. Pierre," into the Mersey, thirty days after he had retaken her, having accomplished a passage of nearly 3,000 miles. As an act of individual courage, forethought, coolness, nerve, and the highest seaman-like qualities, the recapture of the "Emily St. Pierre" stands unsurpassed by any performed by seamen of any period, rank, or country.

Captain Wilson received the welcome he so richly deserved, on his arrival at Liverpool, from the mercantile as well as all other classes. The Council of the Mercantile Marine Service presented him with a gold medal, and silver medals with suitable inscriptions to the steward and cook; they also each of them received a purse with twenty guineas, and 170 merchants of Liverpool bestowed on Captain Wilson the sum of 2000 guineas; while numerous other presents were made by various companies, eager to show him in what high estimation his gallantry was held. His officers and crew who had been made prisoners by the Federals, on their arrival at Liverpool after their release, presented to him a valuable sextant, to show their sense of his kindness to them during the voyage from India, and of his noble conduct.

Captain Wilson's conduct adds another to many proofs that true bravery, humanity, and generosity are ever united.

-KINGSTON.

KIRKDALE CAVERN.

THERE is another circumstance of high interest disclosed by the interior of many caverns, the occurrence of extinct animals of the ancient earth; on which account these receptacles have obtained the name of zoolithes or bone caverns. This phenomenon prevails in almost every country of Europe, and also of America, and has obtained of late years, particularly by the investigations of Dr. Buckland, who has made it the subject of his peculiar study, a high degree of importance, on account of the light which it throws upon the ancient condition of the earth, and the changes which the surface has undergone. His researches into the condition of a cave discovered in 1821 at

T

overgrown with grass and bushes, but was accide by some workmen. The cave is situated on the d of the oolite formation (in the coral rag and Oxford declivity of a valley. It extends as an irregular na 250 feet into the hill. There are a few expansions, high enough to allow a man to stand upright. floor were found covered with a deposit of stalagm which there was a bed of from two to three feet of and micaceous loam, the lower portion of which i contained an innumerable quantity of bones, with floor was completely strewn. The greatest part of very well preserved, and still retained a great port natural gluten, in consequence of the peculiar nat investiture. The animals to which they belonged hyæna, bear, tiger and lion, elephant, rhino popotamus, horse, ox, deer of three species, wat mouse, belonging wholly to extinct species, and with those with which we are acquainted in t of Asia. The most plentiful of all were the the hyæna, and from the amount which he saw, estimated the number of the individuals interred be between two and three hundred. The an have been one half larger than the living species, i ture resembling the hyæna of the Cape. The be were less abundant, belonged to the large cavern spec according to Cuvier, was of the size of a large white about eighteen feet in length. The elephants were th mammoth. Of the stags the largest was of the si moose deer. Of the ox two species were distinguishe bones were most frequent next to those of the hy these bones lay irregularly strewed one with another, of the largest animals were in the most remote and corners, into which they could never have penetra living. The teeth, and the hard marrowless bones tremities, as well as those of the fore and hind feet, injured these were so numerous that they must have to a much greater number of individuals than could be as belonging to the other bones. Many of the bones b which exactly corresponded with the form of the inci

of the hyena, and the broken horns of the stag were evidently marked by gnawing. These facts warranted the conclusion, that the hyænas must have lived for a long time in this cave, and have dragged the bones of the larger animals, particularly the oxen, into this den, as their prey. The supposition was confirmed in a most striking manner by a variety of other facts. Dr. Buckland found that bones which he caused to be gnawed by living hyænas had exactly the same appearance as those found in the cavern, and the teeth and harder bones were thrown aside by them. He even found in great abundance excrements of the hyena, which offered the closest resem· blance to those of the living animal. From the facts described, it appears that the Kirkdale cave was for a long series of years a den inhabited by hyenas, who dragged into its recesses the other animal bodies whose remains are there commingled with their own,--some great catastrophe causing an inundation in this region which destroyed the whole race. -MILNER.

MILITARY GLORY.

The festal blazes, the triumphal show,
The ravish'd standard, and the captive foe,
The senate's thanks, the gazette's pompous tale,
With force resistless o'er the brave prevail.
Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Asia whirl'd,
For such the steady Romans shook the world;
For such in distant lands the Britons shine,
And stain with blood the Danube or the Rhine;
This pow'r has praise, that virtue scarce can warni
Till fame supplies the universal charm,

Yet Reason frowns on War's unequal game,
Where wasted nations raise a single name,

And mortgag'd states their grandsires' wreaths regret,
From age to age in everlasting debt;

Wreaths which at last the dear-bought right convey
To rust on medals, or on stones decay.

On what foundation stands the warrior's pride,
How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,

No dangers fright him, and no labors tire;
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquer'd lord of pleasure and of pain;
No joys to him pacific sceptres yield,
War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field ;

122

THE BATTLE OF CANNÆ.

Behold surrounding kings their pow'r combine,
And one capitulate, and one resign;

Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain ;
Think nothing gain'd, he cries, till nought remain,
"On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly,

"And all be mine beneath the polar sky."

The march begins in military state,

And nations on his eye suspended wait;
Stern Famine guards the solitary coast,
And Winter barricades the realms of Frost ;
He comes, nor want nor cold his course delay ;—
Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa's day:
The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands,
And shews his miseries in distant lands;
Condemn'd a needy supplicant to wait,
While ladies interpose, and slaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her error mend?
Did no subverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound ?
Or hostile millions press him to the ground?
His fall was destin'd to a barren strand,

A petty fortress, and a dubious hand;

He left the name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.

-JOHNSON.

THE BATTLE OF CANNÆ.

(B.C. 216.)

It appears that the Romans, till the arrival of the new consuls, had not ventured to follow Hannibal closely; for when they did follow him, it took them two days' march to arrive in his neighborhood, where they encamped at about six miles distance from him. They found him on the left bank of the Aufidus, about eight or nine miles from the sea, and busied, probably, in collecting the corn from the early district on the coast, the season being about the middle of June. The country here was so level and open that the consul, L. Æmilius, was unwilling to approach the enemy more closely, but wished to take a position on the hilly ground further from the sea, and to bring on the action there. But Varro, impatient for battle, and having the supreme command of the whole army alternately with Æmilius every other day, decided the question irrevocably on the very next day, by interposing himself between

the enemy and the sea, with his left resting on the Aufidus, and his right communicating with the town of Salapia.

From this position Æmilius, when he again took the command in chief, found it impossible to withdraw. But availing himself of his great superiority in numbers, he threw a part of his army across the river, and posted them in a separate camp on the right bank, to have the supplies of the country south of the Aufidus at command, and to restrain the enemy's parties who might attempt to forage in that direction. When Hannibal saw the Romans in this situation, he also advanced nearer to them, descending the left bank of the Aufidus, and encamped over against the main army of the enemy, with his right resting on the river.

The next day, which, according to the Roman calendar, was the last of the month Quinctilis, or July, the Roman reckoning being six or seven weeks in advance of the true season, Hannibal was making his preparations for battle, and did not stir from his camp; so that Varro, whose command it was, could not bring on an action. But on the first of Sextilis, or August, Hannibal being now quite ready, drew out his army in front of his camp and offered battle. Æmilius, however, remained quiet, resolved not to fight on such ground, and hoping that Hannibal would soon be obliged to fall back nearer the hills, when he found that he could no longer forage freely in the country near the sea. Hannibal, seeing that the enemy did not move, marched back his infantry into his camp, but sent his Numidian cavalry across the river to attack the Romans on that side, as they were coming down in straggling parties to the bank to get water. For the Aufidus, though its bed is deep and wide to hold its winter floods, is a shallow or a narrow stream in summer, with many points easily fordable, not by horse only, but by infantry. The watering parties were driven in with some loss, and the Numidians followed them to the very gates of the camp, and obliged the Romans, or the right bank, to pass the summer night in the burning Apulian plain without water.

At daybreak on the next morning, the red ensign, which was the well-known signal for battle, was seen flying over Varro's head-quarters; and he issued orders, it being his day of command, for the main army to cross the river, and form in order of battle on the right bank. Whether he had any further