came with a fleet, and land-ing on the coast of Kent, set-tled them-selves in that coun-ty. Shortly af-ter a sec-ond fleet sail-ed up the Thames, on the banks of which the en-e-my land-ed and built a fort. Al-fred now mov-ed tow-ards them, and pitch-ed his camp be-tween their ar-mies, to pre-vent a junc-tion. A great bo-dy then marched off in-to Es-sex, and, cross-ing the riv-er, halted at Farn-ham, in Sur-rey; whence they were dri-ven, with great slaugh-ter, by the King's for-ces. Ma-ny fierce bat-tles af-ter this took place be-tween Al-fred and the Danes; but at last he for-ced them to quit the is-land.

From this time till his death, Al-fred's chief stu-dy was, how he could most im-prove the mor-als, and soft-en the man-ners, of his peo-ple: and in do-ing this, he has shown the most profound wis-dom that ev-er gra-ced the hu-man mind.

He first di-vi-ded the king-dom in-to coun-ties, hun-dreds, and tyth-ings: he had so great a regard for the va-lue of time, that each hour of the day brought with it its pro-per du-ty: the day and night form-ed three dis-tinct por-tions: the first eight hours were pass-ed in sleep, meals, and ex-er-cise: the next eight in read-ing, writing, and pray-er: and the rest of the day was

de-vo-ted to pub-lic bu-si-ness. In ru-ling the na-tion, he mix-ed the great-est mer-cy with the most ri-gid jus-tice; and to him we owe our hum-ble tri-bute of thanks, for that great-est of all grants, TRIAL BY JURY.

Al-fred died in the year 900, and was bu-ri-ed at Hyde Ab-bey, in Hamp-shire.

There are some an-i-mals, which du-ring sever-al months of the year re-main in a dor-mant state; that is, to all ap-pear-ance, life-less. They are found not on-ly in ve-ry cold coun-tries, but al-so in ve-ry warm ones. The pe-ri-od of long sleep com-mon-ly com-men-ces when the food of the an-i-mal be-gins to be-come scarce. Instinct, at this time, im-pels him to seek a safe place for his pe-ri-od of rest. The bat hides it-self in dark caves; or in walls of de-cay-ed build-ings. The hedge-hog en-vel-ops him-self in leaves, and of-ten lies con-ceal-ed in fernbrakes. Ham-sters and mar-mots bu-ry themselves in the ground, and the jump-ing mouse of Can-a-da en-clo-ses it-self in a ball of clay. Ma-ny of them col-lect, pre-vi-ous to their quies-cent state, great stores of food, on which they prob-a-bly live un-til sleep o-ver-comes them. Whilst they are in this state, we may ob-serve a de-crease of an-i-mal heat; but if they are a-wa

D

ked du-ring win-ter they soon re-cov-er their nat-u-ral warmth. There are birds al-so which pass the win-ter months in this state, as the swift, the cuc-koo, &c. A state of par-tial tor-por takes place in the case of the com-mon bear and the ra-coon. The bear be-gins to be drow-sy in No-vem-ber, when he is ve-ry fat, and re-tires in-to his den, which he has li-ned with moss, and where he but rare-ly a-wakes in win-ter. When he is rous-ed from sleep, by a-ny ac-ci-dent, he is in the hab-it of lick-ing his paws; which are at that time with-out hair, and full of small glands; hence the be-lief, that he draws his nour-ishment on-ly from them.

A can-non is a hea-vy me-tal-lic gun, which is mo-ved by the strength of men and hor-ses. It is mount-ed on a car-ri-age, and i-ron balls are pro-ject-ed to a dis-tance from it by the force of gun-pow-der. The in-ner part of the can-non is call-ed the bore. The sol-id piece of met-al behind, is na-med the breech, and ter-mi-nates in the but-ton. The dol-phins (so call-ed be-cause they u-sed to be made in the form of this an-imal) are the han-dles by which the piece is mount-ed or dis-mount-ed. The ap-er-ture, through which the fire is car-ri-ed in-to the bore, to ig-nite the charge, is call-ed the vent or touch