peated proofs will be necessary to tance in the country, and between place the emigration of insects beyond six and seven feet deep. doubt or contradiction. Their direction, when they first My attention was first drawn to the reached the coast, was about one sudden appearing and disappearing of point from the east towards the insects, by a species of the coleoptera south; and they proceeded, with class, which had settled on the rumex acutus, and almost covered a considerable tract of them, and in the course of twenty-four hours they were all gone, nor was there a straggler left. I next happened accidentally on a very large number of the phygranea striates, settled in clusters on all the vegetables growing on the banks of a rapid stream, and they literally covered them; but when I went the next evening to make farther observations, there was not a single fly to be Scen. Walking one summer's evening in company with a naturalist, in a valley near the coast, our attention was at tracted with seeing all the trees, bushes, and hedges covered with the papilio atalanta for half a mile. They quitted their situation early in the morning; for when we went out again to see after them, there was not one butterfly out of many thousands to be seen. As these facts happened at different times, and there were long intervals between them, they might have been seen, and forgotten, if a more direct proof of the migration of insects had not been told me by a person whose veracity cannot be questioned. great regularity after they had reached the land towards the west.— After the first flight had passed about ten minutes, there appeared a second, and about the same interval a third; and they followed each other in the same direction. He was obliged to shut all his doors and windows, for they were so thick and numerous that they almost covered every thing which opposed their progress. A very large flight of the coccinella 7 punctata arrived in the Isle of Thanet, about the middle of August, and they covered the parapet-wall on the pier head, the fort, the houses, and the trees and hedges in the neighbourhood at Margate, and extended as far as Ramsgate, and even settled upon the people as they were walking.→ I saw a flight of the coccinella 2 punctata, which had settled on the buildings and the hedges on the side of the road, as I was going through the county of Sussex, and they extended a considerable distance from the place where I first observed them. Large tracts of different insects have been seen floating dead upon the water; and in the Isle of Thanet a person discovered an immense quantity of scarabæus melolontha driven on the shore nearly a foot deep. To account for this phenomenon of insects being found floating dead upon the water, and in such numbers that they may be scooped up with the hand, the naturalist supposes that they must be driven from our coast in tempestuous weather, too far to get back again. But who ever saw them upon the wing in a storm? Or, are they accustomed to fly in such wɛather? If we may give credit to the Eastern travellers, the locusts congregate in such large numbers, that in their flight they obscure the rays A lieutenant in the navy, who was stationed, in the summer of 1803, at the signal-house, near the edge of the cliff on the high land, not far from the South Foreland in Kent, mentioned a circumstance, which confirmed my opinion, that insects not only emigrate, but take long flights to reach the place of their destination. He said, as he was standing near his house, about three of the clock in the afternoon, he heard a noise at a distance, which he at first compared to the rippling of water by the side of a vessel; and he was soon surprised of the sun. with seeing a flight of lady-birds, Joel, in his figurative language, (coccinella), which for thickness re- describes their appearance to the noise sembled a shower of snow, as they of a flame of fire that devoureth the approached him. They flew near stubble; and he adds, they shall run the ground, and extended from the like mighty men, they shall climb edge of the cliff to a considerable dis- the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one in his way, to the seasons. But, if we gain no and shall not break his ranks; neither other advantage in attending to this shall one thrust another. They shall pursuit, we shall certainly find that run to and fro in the city; they shall we are increasing our imperfect know run upon the walls, they shall climb ledge of the wonders contained in the up the houses, they shall enter into creation; and we shall have reason to the windows like a thief. admire the wisdom and power of Him who created all things, in number, weight, and measure. This appears to be a striking description of the flight of the coccinella 2 punctata already mentioned. They were first heard at a distance, and their noise was probably much more like the flame devouring the stubble than the rippling of water; but a sailor would naturally form his comparison from the element he was best acquainted with. The flight of the coccinella was regular, and withbut interrupting each other in their ranks; and they observed a regular space between the three bands.— When they settled, they climbed the walls of the houses; they entered the windows and the doors; nor could they be prevented but by shutting them as against a thief. We are yet, in a great measure, ignorant of the economy of Nature in providing for the many classes of animated beings in the water, the earth, and the air: the habits of many of them are yet to be learned; and our knowledge of them can only be increased by repeated observations. Every hint which is offered is making one step in our progress; and though it may not appear of much consequence at first, it may, in time, lead to many useful discoveries. By attending to the flights of insects on the coast, and noting the time of their appearance, the direction of the wind, and whether the atmosphere be calm, clear, or foggy, we shall have some rule to guide us in our future observations; for it is very probable that they, like the stork in the heavens, know their appointed times; and like the turtle, the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming, and they obey the dictates of Nature like the other tribes of animated beings in the creation, If a little farther attention were paid to them, by observing the trees, the plants, or the shrubs, on which they fix to feed and propagate, the farmer and gardener would then learn, by the seasons, how far they might suffer by such formidable enemies, according The ADVENTURES and TRAVELS, in various Parts of the Globe, of HENRY VOGEL.. Translated from the German. [Continued from p. 5.] HE waiter honest worthy ofth, house, antive of Swisserland, had listened with a great deal of attention to this learned discussion. He placed some bottles of old wine upon the table and said, "Gentlemen, I here bring you a sort of wine such as you have hardly ever before drunk: you will therefore permit me, as a simple Swiss, to offer a few words upon this subject. The expression, about which you cannot agree, is perfectly intelligible among us to every country lad and herdsman, and what a joy did it communicate to my heart as I heard it; for it recalled to my mind the scenes of my youth and the joys which I had experienced in my native country. I was a shepherd, and in summer used to tend a herd of sheep on the tops of the lofty Alps, where the richest grass, the best herbs, and the finest flowers grow. There I ate my bread and delightful cheese, and drank the most delicious milk mixed with water as pellucid as crystal, while I carolled forth the song of my youth. "There, there, have I seen the horns which my countryman cele brates, and which echoed to the strains that I sung. There were hundreds of those horns on the long ridges of hills which the poet mentions. On the highest Alps are steep, craggy rocks, which rear their heads into the clouds and even above them, covered with thick ice, which even the heat of summer does not entirely dissolve, and between them there are oceans of ice extending many miles, which are never entirely thawed, and from them descend great streams of water, arising from such parts of the snow and ice as are melted. The gentleman from the Thuringian forests answered, and said, "he "I am a Swiss, and have, at times, was astonished that men of sound a longing desire of home. To soothe understanding could suffer themselves my melancholy mind at such mo- to be so deluded by a word, as to bements, I have bought maps of Swis- lieve such improbable things, and to serland, and pictures representing listen so little to the dictates of sound those high mountains and their glit- reason. Only reflect, for a moment, tering horns; in these I particularly how absurd and impossible it is, pertraced those spots where I had formerly tended my sheep, viz, in Grindelwald: there we may behold the magnificent Breithorn, the lofty Wetterhorn, the Fischerhorn, and a great number of other rocks; by this means I renewed my past delights, and enjoyed, over again, the days of my youth. Oh! that I were, once again, where hills bear horns, where rocks piled on rocks, stretch into the clouds, where the lofty vallies are filled with eternal ice and snow, from whose superflux issue large rivers." One of the company now asked if there were really seas of ice upon the Alps, the snow and ice of which were never wholly thawed, but were, to a certain degree, eternal? The Swiss assured him that there were, and added, that there were some spots where the ice was a hundred yards in depth. An A.M. from the forests of Thuringia, grew warm upon this, and told the Swiss "to cease troubling the company with such wild and improbable stuff. High mountains, indeed, that were so much nearer to the sun, and yet to be covered with eternal ice and snow; to believe such nonsense, one must be mad. The stupid boy has heard somewhere that a poet has spoken of eternal ice, and knew not that this only means ice which lasts till the hot days in summer. In the forests of Thuringia there are also mountains, and the snow lies upon them longer than in the valleys; but what becomes of it, when the sun of May and June shines on it?" Another spoke and said, he had read in some books of travels, that even in Peru, which is not far from the line, there are hills and rocks, and between them vallies, which are covered with eternal ice and snow. This traveller, and others who maintained the same circumstance, and who were besides men of learning, could not all be liars. petual ice upon lofty hills which are so near the sun, in a country where the solar rays are directly vertical.He who can believe this," continued he with a scornful laugh, "must be cracked. We know, well enough, that travellers make it a point of ho nour to see what nobody has ever seen before them, and therefore they amplify and describe with exaggerated and poetical licence." The learned company began now to get very warm, and to bandy, with each other, the phrases madness, folly, stupidity, credulity, ignorance, &c. till a sensible and lively individual soothed their rage, and drew them off from their dispute in the following manner. He said, "Gentlemen, the Swiss has led you upon the ice where it is easy to fall. Let us return to the hills which bear horns. In the different explanations which you have given, you have adverted only to the horns, and the circumstance of their being borne: you have forgotten that the word hill has, here, a different signification. The well-known adage of Horace just now occurs to me: Parturiunt montes, nascitur ridiculus mus. That is, men who promise great things and excite great expectations, do not often perform much. You see, therefore, that mountains sometimes signify men, who assume great importance, who strive to outdo others, and who promise a vast deal. "Such important people have also, sometimes, wives, who know how to live. Now you will easily conceive what is meant when we say they bear horns; and thus you have a new explanation of the words where hills bear horns. So let us dispute no more, but drink a glass of wine in harmony and peace. Success to your future wives, and no more of horns!" All was now peace and good humour laughter prevailed, and I, who had 6 hitherto remained silent as a fish, now of heart and mind, certainly accidenpartook of the general hilarity. We tal, and which were unfolded by did not separate till early in the morn- some favourable occasions, and the ing: I took a friendly leave of all, and, in a few days, set out on my journey back to Jena. I had frequent opportunities of reading of a few good books, than to her education, for that power of discriminating, at once, the true, the Hitherto, I had followed, most beautiful and the good, of feeling strictly, the instructions of my ancient them with such ardour, and of bringfriends, nor had I cultivated an ac- ing them to the level of her own acquaintance with any female that had tions with such facility. And it was love for its basis: but now, as I passed this, as well as her interesting counthrough Weimar, my heart became tenance, which attracted my attention enchained, and I felt, all at once, a on the first evening, and which rencertain something towards a woman dered her, gradually, so delightful, which I myself was unable accurately so lovely in my eyes. to explain. Many of the professors had given me letters of introduction speaking to her while at table, for to some distinguished persons, and she inquired very minutely about my one of these received me with great return, in order to know something politeness and attention. After I had of what I had seen. She entreated been there some time, and was upon her parents to conduct me, next day, the eve of taking my departure, I was to the ducal gardens, to the Stern, invited to supper; and this invitation and to the Belvidere, and to take her I received with much pleasure. also, which was likewise willingly granted. While we were at the Stern, we ascended the numerous and beautiful stories of the bower, sat there some time, and gazed upon the charming landscape that stretched before us: but, while we were thus employed, Charlotte let her handkerchief drop out of the window. I naturally ran into the garden to fetch it for her: when I returned, she advanced some steps towards me to return me her thanks: I kissed her hand with a gentle squeeze, and from that moment we felt a something for each other, which, as we were both equally inexperienced in love, we knew not how to account for. She might easily perceive it in me and I in her; and we wished from that time, never more to be separated. As we sat down to table, there appeared a young lady, the only daughter of the gentleman of the house, and I took my place between her and her mother. Charlotte, for that was her name, was possessed of many personal beauties, and a heart adorned with all the finest and noblest feelings. Her solid understanding would have been susceptible of the highest cultivation, and of the most interesting and engaging qualities, if the unlucky prejudice, that wealth is the surest source of all earthly accomplishments and of all earthly happiness, had not given a wrong direction to that most tender love which her parents felt for her, and if they had thought more how to give their daughter a good education, than how to make her wealthy. By unwearied efforts to obtain this latter point, and an anxious regard for her health, by regular instructions in the first catechetical principles of religion, by initiation into some matters of household economy, and by the acquisition of a few exterior accomplishments, they believed that they had not only amply fulfilled their duty, but had also given the most unequivocal proofs of their extreme regard for the precious jewel upon whom all their happiness was founded. Charlotte, therefore, was more indebted to her own natural qualities The next day, I set off for Jena, but my heart was now always with my thoughts at Weimar. Scarcely was the college over on Saturday, when I rode back to that place. I alighted at the Elephant, and had no greater wish than to see Charlotte, How I should begin about this, was what I could not immediately decide; for, to go to her parents again so soon, I considered as improper. The waiter brought my coffee in, and I scarcely noticed him. He asked me if I would have any thing to eat with it? but I returned no answer. "Are you ill, Sir," at length asked he; "you seem to be buried in thought. If I can Yes, but she is chiefly employed serve you, you have only to command in teaching, and does not make any articles unless they are expressly be me." "You can serve me, by quitting spoken." 66 come back the room," I replied; in a quarter of an hour, for I shall if you have leisure, I wish you would "I would fain speak with this one: perhaps want you to go with a mes- shew me where she lives." He did sage.' He was scarcely down stairs, so, and when I arrived I knew not when I began to regret that I had what I should order. The loquacity dismissed him so harshly: I called of this person, however, helped me him back again, and requested him out of my difficulty: she laid before to buy me several things. me so many different bead-dresses, "You are quite another person al- that it was very easy for me to choose ready," said he; "something unplea- some one out of them. While we sant has certainly occurred to you. were thus talking to each other, six If I can serve you, I will do it cheer- young girls suddenly came into the fully: I have often been of real use room, to many students and I am so well lotte. known to them, that when they arrive here from Jena, they always to me. ask for me." : and among them was Char "Ah! are you here yet," said she "I thought you had got back to Jena long before this.""So I have been, but certain circumstances compelled me to be here in Weimar to-day, and to remain here till to morrow,"-" Will you not pay us a visit then?"-" Not now," I replied, "but I shall soon return, and then I shall not fail to pay my respects; I beg, therefore, that you will not mention to your parents that you have spoken with me." As I As soon as he had left me, I began again to think upon what method I The milliner now interrupted the should employ to speak to Charlotte. It conversation. "I will pay the occurred to me, at last, that she went greatest attention to your order, Sir; every day in the afternoon to a fe- I must now, however, request you male who lived near the Esplanade, that you leave me, in order that I who instructed her in various kinds may begin my teaching." of works. Oh! how I thanked my went away I said to my conductress, good genius that had suggested this "I have put up at the Elephant, thought to me. I could hardly you will do me the greatest favour await the return of the waiter, and if you could procure me an interwhen he did return, I had scarcely view with Miss Charlotte this evenpatience to listen to what he had ing or to-morrow morning: you to say. may rely on my warmest gratitude," "Tell me, my friend," said I immediately, "can one purchase here any articles of female dress, well made?" 44 swer; "That is not very possible," said she;" however I will try if I can Very well," was his an- oblige you: I must tell you, though, "there are several milliners that you must permit me to be in this town; one of them resides in present, for I will not suffer the this neighbourhood, and has already young lady to be alone with you." taken a good deal of money from "Most willingly," I replied; only this house." Where do the others do you procure an interview; I They live here and there. wish only to be in her presence." By the bye, there's one I think who lives near the Esplanade.— UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. XIV. live?" 66 [To be continued.] P |
