ture, and was an accurate obferver of every object that fell within his notice. He must have known that the light of the glow-worm was feated in the tail; but a poet is certainly juftified in calling the luminous part of a glow-worm the eye. It is a liberty we take in plain profe; for the point of greatest brightness in a furnace is commonly called the eye of it. Dr. Johnson might have arraigned him, with equal propriety, for fending his fairies to light their tapers at the fire of the glow-worm, which in Hamlet he terms uneffectual:

The glow-worm fhews the matin to be

Had been incorporate. So we grew together,

Like to a double cherry, feeming parted; But yet a union in partition,

Two lovely berries moulded in one stem : So, with two feeming bodies, but one heart;

This is one of the finest descriptions of female friendship that can be conceived! No extravagant effufions of imaginary feeling, no affected refinement of capricious fentiment, but the native emanations of virgin innocence and fimplicity, flow in every line of this beautiful paffage. And what can be more affecting than the expoftulation of Helena, on the fuppofition that her friend was in a confederacy to infult her- It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly.' But Shakspeare makes all his characters fpeak the language of nature; and no female ever spoke under the fame circumstances, with more nature and propriety, than the fuppofed infulted and injured Helena.

Sleep.

Over their brows death-counterfeiting Sleep

With leaden legs and batty wings doth

creep.

Nothing resembles death fo much as Sleep; and this resemblance is fo ftriking and apparent, that Sleep has been called his brother, his halfbrother, and his counterfeit. The fentiments of fir Thomas Browne, on this fubject, in his Religio Medici,' are equally juft and ftriking: Sleep,' fays he, is fo like death, that I dare not truft it without my prayers, without bidding an half adieu unto the world, and taking a farewell in a col loquy with God."

The Dew in Flowers.

the buds

* That is, ingenious, skilful.

pearls,

family coat.

Stood

Now it is the time of night,

That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his spright,
In the churchyard paths to glide:
And we fairies that do run

By the triple Hecate's team,
From the prefence of the fun,

Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic; not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
I am fent, with broom, before,
To fweep the duft behind the door ‡.

This admirable description of night has given occafion to one of Warburton's beft emendations: bebowls, in the second line, was formerly be holds, and altered by him to bebowls. Our poet, in another defcription of midnight, fays:"

And now loud howling wolves aroufe the jades

That drag the tragic melancholy night,

There is a paffage in Marfton's Antonio and Mellida, which feems to be copied from the above:

Now cheek'd moon: Now lions half clam'd entrails roar for food:

barks, the wolf against the full

Now

croaks the toad: and night-crows fbriek aloud, Flutt'ring 'bout cafements of departing

fouls:

That is, overcome.

fairies. Thus Drayton :

written,

written, and give the kind of pleafure which the author defigned. Fairies, in his time, were much in fashion; common tradition had made them familiar; and Spenfer's poem had made them great.-Shakspeare has, unquestionably, a peculiar happinefs, in thofe fictions and inventions, from which poetry derives its highest distinction, and whence it firft affumed its pretenfions to divine inspiration, and appeared the affociate of religion. Our bard faw how ufeful the popular fuperftitions had been to the ancient poets: he felt that they were neceffary to poetry itself. Ghosts, fairies, goblins, elves, were as propitious and affiftant to him, and gave as much of the fublime and marvellous to his fictions, as nymphs, fatyrs, and fawns, to the works of ancient bards. He never carries his fictitious beings beyond the limits of the popular tradition. It is true, that he boldly ex

erts his poetic genius, and fascinating powers, in that magic circle, in which none e'er durft walk but he :' but as judicious as bold, he contains himself within it. He calls up all the ftately phantoms in the regions of fuperftition, which our faith will receive with reverence. He throws into their manners and language a myfterious folemnity, favourable to fuperftition in general, with fomething highly character iftic of each particular being he exhibits. each he has affigned tasks, and appropriated manners adapted to their imputed difpofitions and characters; which are continually developing through the whole piece, in a feries of operations conducive to the cataftrophe. They are not brought in as fubordinate, or cafual agents, but lead the action, and govern the fable. In a word, our bard gives an air of reality even to fictitious exiftence.

A breed of wild cats fubfifts in the woods here; they are twice the file of the domeftic cat, and frequently carry off the young lambs and kids. They are very ufeful however in deftroying the numerous tribe of rats that infeft the cane lands. . Their fur is extremely fine. The negroes fell it for a fhilling a fkin; they kill them to eat their flesh, which they regard as a great dainty.

་

THE OPOSSUM.

To

domestic cat; its fhape fomewhat refembles a weafel; the nofe is long, and not unlike that of a hog; the ears round, fhort, erect, and tipt with black; the legs are fhort, and generally of that colour likewife; the fur is of a greyish brown; beneath the belly hangs a loose fkin like a bag, which the opoffum can dilate and contract at pleasure, and in which it fecures its young ones when alarmed or pursued by the hunters. When the dogs approach, it feigns death, and, by that means, is fure to escape, as the canine race do not prey upon its flesh, but only hunt it out of wantonnefs. The breed however is almost

extinct here.

3 I

butterfly,

beyond defcription. The plumage of the humming bird, when expanded in the fun, exhibits all the lucid tints of the rainbow; the head, neck, and back, are of a refplendent variable green and gold; the wings azure; the breaft and tail of a fapphire blue; a fparkling creft, that might be miftaken for a polished emerald, rifes on the head of the trochilus polytmus, which is much fmaller than the other kind, and infinitely more beautiful; the bill of the humming bird is near an inch long, curved, black, and polifhed like ebony; the tongue is cylindrical, and much longer than the bill; it ferves as a trunk to extract the honied effences lodged in the nectaria of flowers; for this bird fubfifts entirely by fuction; the eyes, from their colour and brilliancy, refemble two beads of polifhed fteel. They fly with extreme fwiftnefs, and the wings, as they cut the air, make a noife like the buzzing of a humble bee, but much louder; the motion of the wings is fo rapid as even to be perfectly imperceptible. The humming birds are fearless of mankind; they will fuffer you to approach close to them while they remain fufpended under a bloffom to extract its aromatic juices. This little wonder of nature is perhaps one of the boldeft of the feathered race; it frequently attacks, and never fails of defeating, any plumed adverfary, however fuperior in ftrength and fize. The weapon it employs on thefe occafions is its bill, which is fharp and pointed like a needle; it plunges it either in the enemy's eye, or the fleshy part under his wing. The neft is of an hemifpherical fhape, and wove with cotton, which they pick from the pods, when fplit open by the fun; they faften it to the bough of a tree by drawing a few threads round it, and cementing them with a little odoriferous gum drawn from the flowers. The outfide generally fortified with a few citron or orange leaves, twined in with the cotton. It is doubtful whether the

mirable architects, are moft worthy of admiration. The humming bird lays two eggs, each the fize of a large pea.

LIZARDS.

A variety of the lacertae or lizard fpecies inhabit the trees here. The guana (lacerta iguana of Linnæus) is the largeft in Antigua. It is fometimes upward of fix feet long; with creft indented like the teeth of a comb, two inches high, beginning on the crown of his head, and gradually diminishing to the point of his tail; under his jaw hangs a large bag, which he can dilate with air, or exhauft at pleasure. The guana is of various colours; but most commonly it is either brown, green, or blue, It is perfectly harmless. Its fole weapon of defence is its tail, with which, however, it can give a violent blow. This reptile is often eaten in the Weft Indies. They pretend its flesh is as delicate as that of a chicken. The extraordinary fpecies of lizard called the wood-flave (lacerta gekko) is frequently feen in this ifland. It is about feven or eight inches long; his tail fhort, thick, and blunt at the point; his feet have five femi-palmated toes, with fharp claws, wherewith he adheres ftrongly even fmooth perpendicular furfaces; the eye is formed like a cat's, the pupil being long and narrow, and ending above and below in a point; the eye has a fingular and fascinating glare; and it is altogether a loathfome and difagreeable animal. The wood-flave is one of the most venomous reptiles found in these islands. A gummy fluid exudes from all his pores, which blifters and ulcerates the skin of thofe who touch it. And under each claw is a fmall bag filled with a thick bluecoloured matter, which is faid to be the chief ingredient used in the compofition of the famous Malay poison, well known in the Eaft Indies.

to

ground lizard is commonly of the colour of the earth on which it creeps; but thofe that affect living among trees are always of a vivid green like the foliage they inhabit. The body of the lizard is covered with shining pellucid fcales, that affume a variety of glowing colours every time they move, befide their having the peculiarity of turning as black as jet if frightened. The tradition of this reptile's being attracted by, and fafcinated with, the found of mufic, is a fact of which, by experience, I can affert the veracity. I have frequently, when fitting in the garden, fung an air in a foft voice, which, in a few minutes, would draw the lizards from the fhrubs and trees around to the fpot where I was; where they would remain with their little heads gently inclined, their eyes immoveably rivetted to the place from whence the found proceeded, and their gloffy fcales presenting a thousand different hues every moment; but, as foon as the air ceased, the charm was broke, and the lizards made a precipitate retreat, and concealed themselves among the bushes. This experiment I have frequently tried, and never once found it vary in its fuccefs. Indeed it is a well known fact in the Weft Indies, that, when the negroes want to catch lizards, (which are a wholesome and favoutite food with them) the art they employ to allure them into their hands is whiftling. All the lizard fpecies are oviparous, and lay a foft egg of the confiftence of a jelly.

THE SEA DEVIL.

Among the various kinds of fishes in these feas, is the fting ray, the fea devil, or raia marta, which is of a hideous afpect; the body flat, about twelve feet in length, and feventeen in breadth; the mouth is four feet wide; the body is about two feet in thickness; the tail is fourteen feet long, and tapers to a fine point. One of these monsters was killed at Rendezvous Bay in this island, and it required feven yoke of oxen to drag him on shore.

THE CAT FISH.

The cat-fish, the barracuda, which is a fifh of dreadful voracity, that frequently attacks and devours the men here when they bathe in the open fea. It is more dangerous to encounter the barracuda than even the fhark; for that fish, having his mouth placed beneath a long projecting fnout, is obliged to turn on his back before he can devour his prey, which gives an opportunity, or at least a chance, of efcape, (for many of our bold fwimmers carry cutlaffes in the water with them, and, while the fhark is turning, they are fometimes lucky enough to give him a mortal blow) whereas the barracuda is very fwift, comes with open mouth, and has fuch prodigious agility, that it is impoffible to elude his rapacious jaw.

THE BORER.

In Antigua, is a very mischievous infect of the phalana, or moth fpecies, the eruca faccharivora, which, in its caterpillar ftate, is called the borer, from its property of perforating the body of the fugar cane, fucking out the juice, and reducing the pith to powder. This infect has long been a peft to the colonies, and it is impoffible to extirpate it. Repeated experiments have been tried for the purpose; but none have yet fucceeded. They are fo extremely hardy, that an attempt was once made to kill one of them, by throwing it in a bottle of fpirits of wine (an inftantaneous death to all other infects) yet the borer was found floating about, alive and brisk, nine and thirty hours after. In form it refembles the white round maggot that breeds in the hell of the filberd.