not the crown-to her the sceptre of England presented no charms. Ah, no! it was the ambition of her friends -it was her tender attachment to them, which ruined this illustrious lady. Yet she opened not her mouth. though condemned by the fury of a cruel bigot to suffer death herself, and to see all that were near and dear to her overwhelmed by misfortune, she uttered no complaint. The closing scene of her life exhibits all the mildness and gentleness of her amiable character. With all the serenity of innocence, and with all the ardent glow of triumphant faith, she bade adieu to this world of sorrow, and sunk peaceful into the grave, in the full hope of another and a better life.

THE GOLDEN CRESTED WREN.

There are several species of the wren, some of which may be ranked among our finest singing birds, though their note continues only during the breeding season. The willow wren, with its low plaintive note, is seen perpetually running up and down the bodies and boughs of trees in moist shady places where willow trees abound. The Caribbee wren is called, for its delightful notes, a nightingale, and is remarkable for possessing peculiar sweetness of song in a land where singing birds The Ruby-crowned wren is a native of our

are rare.

own country. But of all the wren species the Golden crested wren is the most elegant. This beautiful little bird is the smallest of the British birds, not weighing above twenty-six grains, and being only three inches and a half in length. It is distinguished from all other singing birds, not only by its size, but by a brilliant scarlet mar': upon its head, bounded by a fine yellow line on either side. The bill is of a dusky hue, the feathers of the forehead are green, and a narrow white line extends from the bill to the eyes. The hind part of the neck and the back are of a dull green, the coverts of the wings are dusky, edged with green and tipped with white. The quill feathers and the tail are dusky, edged with pale green. The throat and belly are white tinged with green, the legs are of a dull yellow and the claws are very long. The golden crested wren frequents woods and is usually seen in oak trees. Though so very small a bird it endures the winters of England. Its note does not differ greatly from that of the common

wren.

The wren builds a curious nest of an oval shape, very deep, and with a small hole in the middle for entrance and departure; the external part consists chiefly of moss, but it is carefully lined with hair and feathers. This bird lays a great number of eggs, generally from twelve to eighteen, they are white, sprinkled with pale reddish spots. The wren breeds twice a year, in April and in June.

It is, observes Mr. Ray, one of those daily miracles that we take no notice of, that a tiny wren should produce so many young and feed them all without pass ing over a single one, and that too in total darkness.

ODE TO THE WREN.

Sweet minstrel of the yellow bower,
That dimly meets the morning ray,
With here and there a summer flower,
That fades unwept-unseen, away;

Though scarce a warbler, strains his throat
To soothe the heart, or please the ear,
To me thy solitary note

Is still as soft, as sweet, as clear.

No season chills thy tranquil joys,
Or calls thy little breast to mourn;
One theme thy scanty thought employs,
As rolling months and years return.
Thou hast a song-however dark

These ever changing skies appear-
Heard till the glow-worm lights her spark,
The twilight stream, or copse wood near.
While man, the great, the brave, the wise,
To hoary age from youthful bloom-
Though scenes as various round him rise,
Goes weeping onward to the tomb.--

His mightier mind, by reason's ray,

Though cheered and lighted, sinks opprest,
And moments, as they steal away,

Still leave him anxious and unblest.

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES-SENSITIVE PLANTS.

Every one skilled in natural history knows, that the mimosa, or sensitive plants, close their leaves, and bend their joints, on the least touch. This is truly astonishing: but hitherto no end or design of nature has appeared from these motions; they soon recover themselves, and the leaves are expanded as before. Dione Muscipula, or Venus's Fly Trap, is a newly discovered sensitive plant; and shows that nature may have some view towards its nourishment, in forming the upper joint of its leaf like a machine to catch food. Upon the middle of this lies the bait for the unhappy insect that becomes its prey. Many minute red glands, that cover its inner surface, and which, perhaps, discharge some sweet liquor, tempt the poor animal to taste them; and the instant these tender plants are irritated by its feet, the two lobes rise up, grasp it fast, lock the two rows of spines together, and squeeze it to death. Further, lest the strong efforts for life, in the creature thus taken, should serve to disengage it, three small erect spines are fixed near the middle of each lobe among the glands, that effectually put an end to all its struggles. Nor do the lobes ever open again, while the dead animal continues there. Bul it is nevertheless certain that the plant cannot distinguish between an animal and a mineral substance; for if we

introduce a straw, or a pin, between the lobes, it will grasp it full as fast as if it were an insect. This plant grows in America, in wet shady places, and flowers in July and August. The largest leaves are about three inches long, and an inch and a half across the lobes: the glands of those exposed to the sun are of a beautiful red color; but those in the shade are pale, and inclining to green. The roots are squamous, sending forth few fibres, and are perennial. The leaves are numerous, inclining to bend downwards, and are placed in a circular order; they are jointed and succulent; the lower joint, which is a kind of stalk, is flat, longish, two-edged, and inclining to heart-shaped. In some varieties, they are serrated on the edges near the top. The upper joint consists of two lobes, each lobe is of a semi-oval form, with their margins furnished with stiff hairs, like eyebrows, which embrace or lock in each other when they are inwardly irritated. The upper surfaces of these lobes are covered with small red glands, each of which appears, when highly magnified, like a compressed ar butus berry. Among the glands, about the middle of each lobe, are three very small erect spines. When the lobes enclose any substance, they never open again while it continues there. If it can be shoved out, so as not to strain the lobes, they expand again; but if force is used to open them, so strong has nature formed the spring of their fibres, that one of the lobes will generally snap off, rather than yield. The stalk is about six inches high, round, smooth, and without leaves, ending in a spike of flowers. The flowers are milk-white, and stand on foot stalks, at the bottom of which is a little painted bractea, or flower-leaf.

There is not an article in botany more admirable than a contrivance, visible in many plants, to take advantage of good weather, and to protect themselves against bad. They open and close their flowers and leaves in different circumstances; some close before sun-set, some after; some open to receive rain, some close to avoid it. The petals of many flowers expand in the sun; but contraet at night, or on the approach of rain. After the seeds are fecundated, the petals no longer contract. All the trefoils may serve as a barometer to the husbandman; they

always contract their leaves on an impending storm. Some plants follow the sun, others turn from it. Many plants, on the sun's recess, vary the position of their leaves, which is styled, the sleep of plants. A singular plant was lately discovered in Bengal. Its leaves are in continual motion all day long; but when night approaches, they fall down from an erect posture to rest.

*

A plant has a power of directing its roots for procuring food. The red whortle-berry, a low evergreen plant, grows naturally on the tops of our highest hills, among stones and gravel. This shrub was planted in an edging to a rich border, under a fruit wall. In two or three years it over-ran the adjoining deep-laid gravel walk, and seemed to fly from the border, in which not a runner appeared. An effort to come at food, in a bad situation, is extremely remarkable, in the following instance. Among the ruins of New Abbey, formerly a monastery in Galloway, there grows on the top of a wall, a plane tree, about twenty feet high. Straitened for nourishment

* The Tabacum, or common Tobacco plant, was first discovered in America, by the Spaniards, about the year 1560, and by them imported into Europe. It had been used by the inhabitants of America long before; and was called by the inhabitants of the islands, yoli, and by those of the continent, patux. It was sent into Spain from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, where it was first discovered, and from whence it takes its common name. Sir Walter Raleigh is generally said to have been the first that introduced it into England, about the year 1585, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and who taught his countrymen how to smoke it. The following anecdote is related of him. He having imitated the Indians in smoking this plant, at length so much delighted in it, that he was unwilling to disuse it on his return to England; and therefore supplied himself with several hogsheads, which he placed in his own study, and generally indulged himself with smoking secretly two or three pipes a day. He had a simple man, who waited at his study door, to bring him up daily a tankard of old ale and nutmeg, and he always laid aside his pipe when he heard him approaching. One day, being earnestly engaged in reading some book which amused him, the man abruptly entered, and, surprised at seeing his master enveloped in smoke, (a sight perfectly new to him) the smoke ascending in thick vapors from his mouth and the bowl of the tobacco-pipe, immediately threw the ale in his master's face, ran down stairs, and alarmed the family with repeated exclamations, that his master was on fire in the inside, and that if they did not make haste, before they could get up stairs, he would be burned to ashes.