observer, who wishes to appreciate that hum of civic life which he cannot analyze, will find an excellent opportunity by placing himself on the hill of Capo di Monte at Naples, in the line of prolongation of the street called Spaccanapoli.

4. It is probably to the stillness of which I have spoken, that we are to ascribe the transmission of sound to great distances at sea in calm weather. In June, 1853, I and my family were passengers on board a ship of war bound up the Ægean. On the evening of the 27th of that month, as we were discussing, at the tea table, some observations of Humboldt on this subject, the captain of the ship told us that he had once heard a single gun at sea at the distance of ninety nautical miles. The next morning, though a light breeze had sprung up from the north, the sea was of glassy smoothness when we went on deck. As we came up, an officer told us that he had heard a gun at sunrise, and the conversation of the previous evening suggested the inquiry whether it could have been fired from the combined French and English fleet, then lying at Besika Bay. Upon examination of our position we were found to have been, at sunrise, ninety sea miles from that point. We continued beating up northward, and between sunrise and twelve o'clock meridian of the 28th, we had made twelve miles northing, reducing our distance from Besika Bay to seventyeight miles. At noon we heard several guns so distinctly that we were able to count the number. On the 29th we came up with the fleet, and learned from an officer who came on board that a royal salute had been fired at noon on the 28th, in honour of the day as the anniversary of the Queen of England's coronation. The report at sunrise was evidently the morning gun, those at noon the salute.

5. Such cases are rare, because the sea is seldom still, and the measureless laughing of the waves rarely silent, over so great a space as ninety or even seventy-eight nautical miles. I apply the epithet silent advisedly. I am convinced that the poet meant the audible laugh of the waves, which is indeed of countless multiplicity, not the visible smile of the sea, which, belonging to the great expanse as one impersonation, is single, though, like the human smile, made up of the play of many features.

NOTE.

1 Fahrenheit, the name of a German philosopher who invented a thermometer, or measurer of heat.

IT chanced one day, so I've been told,
(The story is not very old),

As Will and Tom, two servants able,
Were waiting at their master's table,
Tom brought a fine fat turkey in,
The sumptuous dinner to begin :
Then Will appear'd-superbly cook'd,
A tongue upon the platter smok'd;
When, oh! sad fate! he struck the door,

And tumbled flat upon the floor;

The servants stared, the guests look'd down,
When quick uprising with a frown,
The master cried, "Sirrah! I say
Begone, nor wait a single day,

You stupid cur! you've spoiled the feast,
How can another tongue be dress'd?"
While thus the master storm'd and roar'd
Will, who with wit was somewhat stor'd,
(For he by no means was a fool,
Some Latin too he'd learnt at school,)
Said, (thinking he might change disgrace
For laughter, and thus save his place,)
"Oh! call me not a stupid cur,
'Twas but a lapsus linguæ, Sir."
"A lapsus linguæ ?" one guest cries,
"A pun!" another straight replies.

The joke was caught-the laugh went round-
Nor could a serious face be found.

The master, when the uproar ceased,
Finding the guests were all well pleased,
Forgave the servant's slippery feet,
And quick revoked his former threat.
Now Tom had all this time stood still,
And heard the applause bestowed on Will;
Delighted, he had seen the fun,

Of what his comrade late had done,
And thought, should he but do the same,
An equal share of praise he'd claim.
As soon as told the meat to fetch in,
Bolted like lightning to the kitchen,
And seizing there a leg of lamb,
(I am not sure, perhaps 'twas ham,
No matter which,) without delay,
Off to the parlour marched away,
And stumbling as he turn'd him round,
Twirl'd joint and dish upon the ground.
For this my lord was ill-prepared;
Again the astonish'd servants stared.
Tom grinn'd-but seeing no one stir,
"Another lapsus linguæ, Sir!"
Loud he exclaim'd-no laugh was raised,
No "clever fellow's" wit was praised.
Confounded, yet not knowing why
His wit could not one laugh supply;
And fearing lest he had mistook
The words, again thus loudly spoke;
(Thinking again it might be tried,)
""Twas but a lapsus linguæ," cried.
My lord, who long had quiet sat,
Now clearly saw what he was at;

In wrath this warning loud he gave,—

"When next thou triest, unletter'd knave,

To give, as thine, another's wit,

Mind well thou know'st what's meant by it;

Nor let a lapsus linguæ slip

From out thy pert assuming lip,

Till well thou know'st thy stolen song,

Nor think a leg of lamb a tongue."

He said-and quickly from the floor,

Straight kicked him through the unlucky door.

1 66

MORAL.

Let each pert coxcomb learn from this
True wit will never come amiss;

But should a borrow'd phrase appear,
Derision's always in the rear.

NOTE.

'Lapsus linguæ," Lat., a slip of the tongue. This will show the play on the phrase, in what follows.

SPELL AND PRONOUNCE

revoke', to recal.

assuming, falsely pretending.

DRIVER ANTS.-Rev. J. G. WOOD.

1. PERHAPS one of the most terrible of insects is that which is appropriately called the Driver Ant, of Western Africa.

2. This insect is a truly remarkable creature. Although it is to be found in vast numbers, it has never been found in a winged condition, and neither the male nor the female have as yet been discovered. The workers are uniform in colour, but exceedingly variable in size. Their hue is a deep brownish black, and their length varies from half-an-inch to one line, so that the largest workers nearly equal the common earwig, while the smallest are no larger than the familiar red ant of our gardens. In the British Museum are specimens of the workers, which form a regular gradation of size, from the largest to the smallest.

3. They are called Driver Ants because they drive before them every living creature. There is not an animal that can withstand the Driver Ants. In their march they carry destruction before them, and every beast knows instinctively that it must not cross their path. They have been known even to destroy the agile monkey, when their swarming host has once made a lodgment on its body; and when they enter a pigsty, they soon kill the imprisoned inhabitants, whose tough hide cannot protect them from the teeth of the Driver Ants. Fowls they destroy in numbers, killing in a single night all the inhabitants of the hen-roost, and having destroyed them, they have a curious method of devouring them.

4. The Rev. Dr. Savage, who has experimented upon these formidable insects, killed a fowl and gave it to the ants. At first they did not seem to pay much attention to it, but he soon found that they were in reality making their preparations. Large parties of the insects were detached for the purpose of preparing

a road, and worked with the assiduity which seems to be a characteristic of these energetic insects. Numbers of them were employed in smoothing the road to the nest by removing every obstacle out of the way, until by degrees a tolerably level road was obtained. The ants are possessed of strength which seems gigantic when compared with their size, carrying away sticks four or five times as large as themselves, and never failing to pounce upon any grub or insect that might happen to be lurking beneath their shelter. They always carried such burdens longitudinally, grasping them with their jaws and legs, and passing the load under the body. Some of these roads are more than two hundred yards in length.

5. Meanwhile, the other ants were busy with the fowl. Beginning at the base of the beak, they contrived to pull out the feathers one by one, until they stripped it regularly backwards, working over the head, along the neck, and so on to the body. This was evidently a very hard task, as the insects did not possess sufficient strength to pull out the feathers by main force, and were consequently obliged to grub them up laboriously by the roots. The next business was to pull the bird to pieces, and at this work they were left. Unfortunately the experiment was spoiled by the natives, who stole the fowl, thinking that the ants had eaten so many of their poultry that they were justified in retaliation. Others chose to excuse themselves by saying that they thought the fowl to be a fetish offering to the ants, and accordingly took it away from them.

6. The large iguana lizards fall victims to the Driver Ants, and so do all reptiles, not excluding snakes. It seems, from the personal observations of Dr. Savage, that the ants commence their attack on the snake by biting its eyes, and so blinding the poor reptile, which only flounders and writhes helplessly on one spot instead of gliding away to a distance. It is said by the natives, that when the great python has crushed its prey in its terrible folds, it does not devour it at once, but makes a large circuit, at least a mile in diameter, in order to see whether an army of Driver Ants is on the march. If so, it glides off and abandons its prey, which will soon be devoured by the ants; but if the ground is clear, it returns to the crushed animal, swallows it, and gives itself up to repose until the process of digestion be completed. Whether this assertion be true or not, Dr. Savage cannot say; but it is here given in order to show the extreme awe in which the natives hold the Driver Ants.