once or twice,' says Mrs. Charlotte Smith, "seen stuffed bird of this species hung up to the beam of a cottage ceiling, and imagined that the beauty of the feathers had recommended it to this sad pre-eminence, till, on inquiry, I was assured that it served as a weather vane; and though sheltered from the immediate influence of the wind, never failed to show every change by turning its beak to the quarter whence the wind blew." This was an old superstition, for Shakespeare, speaking of sycophants, says, they

"Turn their halcyon beaks

With every gale and vary of their masters."+

The learned but somewhat credulous author of the 'Physicæ Curiosa,' asserts the same upon the testimony of his own observation. "Father Athana

sius Kircher," he says, "had one of those birds sent him in a present by a friend, and being disembowelled and dried, it was suspended from the ceiling of his celebrated museum from 1640 to 1655, when I left Rome, and though all the doors and windows were shut, it constantly turned its bill towards the wind; and this I myself observed with admiration and pleasure almost every day for the space of three years."‡ It would be useless to follow the author in the fanciful philosophy by which he pretends, after Kircher, the possessor of the bird, to account for the phenomenon ; for, notwithstanding his personal testimony, the whole story is evidently the fabulous tradition of the dried bodies of the same bird having the property of preserving cloths and wollen stuffs from the moth, which once induced drapers to hang it up in their shops. But this is nothing to the pretended power of the lifeless skin of averting thunder, augmenting hidden treasure, bestowing grace and beauty on the person who carries it, and renewing its plumage each season of moulting.§

Nat. Hist. of Birds, 1, 73Phys. Cur. part ii, p. 1367. § Aldrovand, Ornith. iii. 62.

+ King Lear.

See also Kircher, Magia, iv. 4, § 3, c. 5.

THIS place, so interesting to the Christians as the scene of the Saviour's earliest miracle, is distant about an hour and a half's journey to the north-east of Nazareth, where our Lord passed the days of his childhood. It is situated on the slope of a hill, where, in a small church belonging to the Greek communion, is shown an old stone pot made of the common rock of the country, and which is said to be one of the original vessels that contained the water afterwards converted into wine. It is worthy of note, says Dr. Clarke, that in walking along the ruins in Cana, one sees large massy pots of stone answering to the description given by the Evangelist; not preserved nor exhibited as relics, but lying about disregarded by the present inhabitants, as antiquities with the original use of which they are altogether unacqainted. From their appearance, and the number of them, it is quite evident that the practice of keeping water in large stone pots, each holding from eighteen to twenty-seven gallons, was once common in the country.

"And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

"Jesus said unto them, fill the water pots with water, and they filled them up to the brim.

"And he saith unto them, draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast, and they bare it.

"When the ruler of the feast tasted the water that was

made wine, and knew not whence it was (but the servants which drew the water knew) the governor of the feast, called the bridegroom.

"And saith unto him, every man at the beinning doth set forth good wine and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

"This beginning of miracles, did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”

A recent traveller in the Holy Land, Roe Wilson, gives the following interesting account of his visit to Cana.

"Cana of Galilee is the place which has been rendered so highly memorable by our Lord's first miracle, John ii. 11, which he wrought at the marriage feast; in all probability of a relation, since his mother and some of her kindred were present. The performance of this miracle appears to have been the most proper for the manifestation of his glory, and commencement of his ministry, since it carried with it such irresistible conviction. Under a scorching sun, I stopped at a fountain, near the entrance of this village, to take refreshments; and it will be observed, that it was the only one near the village, and it is called The Well of Cana,’ and here it may be remarked, as at all wells, there are one or more trees to afford shelter from heat, as of old. On sitting upon the shattered wall which inclosed it, I turned to that highly interesting passage of sacred writ which records that six water-pots of stone were used at the nuptial feast, when "the modest water saw its God and blushed." While I was thus engaged, a striking. fact occurred. Six females, having their faces veiled, (Gen. xxiv. 66, Song of Sol. v. 7,) came down to the well, each carrying on her head a pot, for the purpose of being filled with water, which evinced how much the customs of old are observed here at this day.

"These vessels are formed of clay, hardened by the heat of the sun, and are of a globular shape, and large at the mouth, not unlike the bottles used in our country