I HAVE heard many protest they have been carried insensibly great distances from home, and, without knowing how they came there, found themselves on the top of a mountain. One story, in particular, was told me of a man who had been led by invisible musicians for several miles together; and not being able to resist the harmony, followed till it conducted him to a large common, where were a great number of little people sit ting round a table, and eating and drinking in a very jovial manner : among them were some faces whom he thought he had formerly seen, but forbore taking any notice, or they of him, till the little people offering him drink, one of them, whose features seemed not unknown to him, plucked him by the coat, and forbade him, whatever he did, to taste any thing he saw before him; for if you do, added he, you will be as I am, and return no more to your family. The poor man was much affrighted, but resolved to obey the injunction: accordingly a large silver cup filled with some sort of liquor, being put into his hand, he found an opportupity to throw what it contained on the ground. Soon after the music ceasing, all the company disappeared, leaving the cup in his hand; and he

returned home, though much wearied and fatigued. He went the next day, and communicated to the minister of the parish all that had happened, and asked his advice how he should dispose of the cup: to which the clergyman replied, that he could do no better than to go to the top of the common, and bury the cup in the ground, and take no notice to any body, but return after a short time and see if it was there still. The man did as he was directed, but when he went the second time the cup was removed, and the grass was carefully replaced.

Another instance they gave me to prove the reality of spirits, was of a fidler, who, having agreed with a person, who was a stranger, for so much money, to play to some company he should bring him to, all the twelve days of Christmas, and received earnest for it, saw his new master vanish into the earth the moment he had made the bargain. Nothing could be more terrified than was the poor fidler; he found he had entered into the devil's service, and looked on himself as already damned; but having recourse also to a clergyman, he received some hope: he ordered him, however, as he had taken the earnest, to go when he should be called; but that, whatever,

Faces should be called for, to play Done but psalms. On the day appented, the same person appeared, with whom he went, though with what inward reluctance it is easy to guess; but, punctually obeying the minister's directions, the company to whom he played were so angry, that they all vanished at once, leaving him at the top of a high hill, and so bruised and hurt, though he was not sensible when or from what hand he received the blows, that he did not get home without the utmost difficulty.

Nothing can be more distressing than for parents to lose their children or have them changed, yet the following facts are established upon such credit, that mothers are in continual terror at the thoughts of it. I was prevailed upon myself to go and see a child, who, they told me, was cne of these changelings, and, indeed, must own, was not a little surprised, as well as shocked at the sight: nothing under heaven could have a more beautiful face; but though between five and six years old, and seemingly healthy, he was so far from being able to walk or stand, that he could not so much as move any one joint: his limbs were vastly long for his age, but smaller than an infant's of six months; his complexion was perfectly delicate, and he had the finest hair in the world; he never spoke nor cried, eat scarce any thing, and was very seldom seen to smile, but if any one called him a fairy-elf, he would frown, and fix his eyes on those who said it, as if he would look them through. His mother, or at least his supposed mother, being very poor, frequently went out a chairing, and left him a whole day together the neighbours, out of curiosity, have often looked in at the window to see how he behaved when alone, which, whenever they did, they were sure to find him laughing, and in the utmost delight. This made them judge that he was not without company more pleasing to him than any mortal's could be; and what made this conjecture seem the more reasonable, was, that if he was left ever so dirty, the woman, at her return, saw

him with a clean face, and his hair combed with the utmost exactness and nicety.

A second account of this nature I received from a creditable woman, whose offspring seems to have been devoted to the power of spirits. The fourth or fifth night after she was delivered of her first child, the family were alarmed with a most terrible cry of fire, on which every body ran out of the house, to see whence it proceeded, not excepting the nurse, who being much frighted as the others, made one of the number. The poor woman lay trembling in her bed, alone, unable to help herself, and her back being turned to the infant, saw not that it was taken away by an invisible hand. Those who had left her, having enquired about the neighbourhood, and finding there was no cause for the outcry they had heard, laughed at each other for the mistake, but as they were going to re-enter the house, they saw the poor babe lay on the threshold, and by its cries, preserved itself from being trod upon. This exceedingly amazed all that saw it, and the mother being still in bed, they could ascribe no reason for finding it there, but having been removed by fairies, who, by their sudden return, had been prevented from carrying it any farther.

About a year after, the same woman was brought to bed of a second child, which had not been born many nights before a great noise was beard in the house where they kept their cattle; (for in this island where there is no shelter in the fields from the excessive cold and damps, they put all their milch kine into a barn, which they call a cattle-house.) Every body that was stirring ran to see what was the matter, believing that the cows had got loose; the nurse was ready as the rest, but finding all safe, and the barn door close, immediately returned, but not so suddenly but that the newbor. babe was taken out of the bed, as the former had been, and dropt on their coming, in the middle of the entry. This was enough to prove the fairies had made a second attempt;

and the parents sending for a minister, joined with him in thanksgiving to God, who had twice delivered their children from being taken from them. But in the time of her third lyingin, every body seemed to have forgot what had happened in the first and second, and on a noise in the cattle-house ran out to know what had occasioned it. The nurse was the only person, excepting the woman in the straw, who stayed in the house, nor was she detained through care, or want of curiosity, but by the bonds of sleep, having drank a little too plentifully the preceding day. The mother, who was broad awake, saw her child lifted out of the bed, and carried out of the chamber, though she could not see any person touch it; on which she cried out as loud as she could, "Nurse, nurse! my child, my child is taken away;" but the old woman was too fast to be awakened by the noise she made, and the infant was irretrievably gone. When her husband, and those who had accompanied him, returned, they found her wringing her hands, and uttering the most piteous lamentations for the loss of her child; on which said the husband, looking into the bed, "The woman is mad, do you not see the child lies by you?" On which she turned, and saw indeed something like a child, but far different from her own, which was a beautiful, fat, well-featured babe; whereas, what was now in the room of it, was a poor, lean, withered, deformed creature. It lay quite naked, but the clothes belonging to the child that was exchanged for it, lay wrapt up all together on the bed.

This creature lived with them near the space of nine years, in all which time it eat nothing except a few herbs, nor was ever seen to void any other excrement than water: it neither spoke, nor could stand or go, but seemed enervate in every joint, like the changeling I mentioned before, and in all its actions shewed itself to be of the same nature.

A woman who lived about two miles distant from Ballasalli, and used

to serve my family with butter, made me once very merry with a story she told me of her daughter, a girl of about ten years old, who being sent over the fields to the town, for a pennyworth of tobacco for her father, was on the top of a mountain surrounded by a great number of little men, who would not suffer her to pass any farther. Some of them said she should go with them, and accordingly laid hold of her; but one seeming more pitiful, desired they would let her alone, which they refusing, there ensued a quarrel, and the person who took her part fought bravely in her defence. This so incensed the others, that to be revenged on her for being the cause, two or three of them seized her, and pulling up her clothes, whipped her heartily; after which, it seems, they had no farther power over her, and she run home directly, telling what had befallen her, and shewing her buttocks, on which were the prints of several small hands. Several of the townspeople went with her to the mountain, and she conducting them to the spot, the little antagonists were gone, but had left behind them proofs (as the good woman said) that what the girl had informed them was true; for there was a great deal of blood to be seen on the stones. This did she aver with all the solemnity imaginable.

Another woman of credit, who expected every moment the good hour, as she lay awake one night in her bed, saw seven or eight women come into her chamber, one of whom had an infant in her arms: they were followed by a man of the size with themselves, but in the habit of a minister. One of them went to the pai, and finding no water in it, cried out to the others, what must they do to christen the child? on which they replied, it should be done in beer. With that the seeming parson took the child in his arms, and performed the ceremony of baptism, dipping his hand into a great tub of strong beer, which the woman had brewed the day before to be ready for her lying

in. She told me they baptized the infant by the name of Joan, which made her know she was pregnant of a girl, as it proved a few days after when she was delivered. She added also, that it was common for the fairies to make a mock christening when any person was near her time, and that according to what child, male or female, they brought, such should the woman bring into the world.

But I cannot give over this subject without mentioning what they say befel a young sailor, who coming off a long voyage, though it was late at night chose to land rather than lie another night in the vessel: being permitted to do so, he was set ashore at Douglas. It happened to be a fine moonlight night, and very dry, being a small frost; he therefore forebore going into any house to refresh himself, but made the best of his way to the house of a sister he had at Kirk Merlugh. As he was going over a pretty high mountain, he heard the noise of horses, the halloo of a huntsman, and the finest horn in the world. He was a little surprised that any body pursued those kinds of sports in the night, but he had not time for much reflection before they all passed by him, so near that he was able to count what number there was of them, which, he said, was thirteen, and that they were all drest in green, and gallantly mounted; he was so well pleased with the sight, that he would gladly have followed, could he have kept pace with them; he crossed the foot way, however, that he might see them again, which he did more than once, and lost not the sound of the horn for some miles. At length, being arrived at his sister's, he tells her the story, who presently clapped her hands for joy, that he was come home safe; for," said she, "those you saw were fairies, and 'tis well they did not take you away with them."

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THE CATACOMES OF PARIS. THE following anecdote of two Russian Officers, who lost themselves in the Catacombs by wandering from their party, is related by an intelligent traveller; and may serve as a caution to persons visiting these subterraneous abodes, not to lose sight of the guide or party with them in their perambulations: "Judge of our astonishment," says this writer, "when, on turning a corner, we perceived at a distance, by the light of our torches, two Russian officers, who hastened towards us with an exclamation of the most lively joy, which was answered with equal warmth by their comrades who belonged to our party. They had come the preceding day to see the Catacombs; out of curiosity, and a romantic desire for discoveries, they had deviated from the black line, lost the guide with the company, and were not missed by him when he came to count over the party at going out, because his attention was diverted by a posse of English travellers. After a long, fatiguing, and dangerous ramble in these labyrinths, they, at length, found the line again, but too late. They then reached the outlet; all was silent, there companions were gone, and they found themselves alone in these abodes of death. In this critical situation, the most ra tional course they could pursue was, to wait patiently for the moment of their deliverance. One hour passed after another; a reference to their watches, by the last gleam of their expiring tapers, informed them of the approach of night, and deprived them of revisiting the upper world before the succeeding day. They now prepared a couch of skulls and bones, and thus bivouacked in a camp of skeletons more numerous than the victims of ambition with which any conqueror ever bestrewed a field of battle. They depicted to us in lively colours, their feelings amidst this everlasting night, and in this prodigious company of ghastly bed fellows, their alarm heightened by the con

sideration of the dreadful possibility, that hunger might soon add them to the number of the victims of death, and their excessive joy on hearing the sound of human voices, and perceiving the light of our torches, which announced the termination of their twenty-four hours' captivity."

WOMAN AND THE MOON.

I'VE oft been sorely puzzl'd and perplex'd,

When thinking of the Sun and Moon, and so on,

To know what principle, when they were sex'd,

Those who first fix'd their gender chose to go on:

I will not say that I've been ever vex'd, When this same thing I've chanc'd a thought to throw on,

But it has given my reasoning powers some pother,

Why we should HE the one and SHE the other!

The Moon-and Woman; there may be I own.

Points of resemblance, more than one or two;

Twenty, for aught I know, might soon be shown;

I'd state them—if I'd nothing else to

do,

To know what charms they borrow, or they buy;

Besides, whenever any thing is bought,

to win 'em,

ought.

in 'em.