g with some intermitting gales of warmer air, or, in their
continual waftage to and fro, touching upon each other are a little
thawed, blunted, and frozen into clusters, or entangled so as to fall
down in what we call flakes." But we are not, (says the author of the
"Contemplative Philosopher,") to consider snow merely as a curious
phenomenon. The Great Disposer of universal bounty has so ordered it,
that it is eminently subservient, as well as all the works of creation,
to his benevolent designs.

"He gives the winter's snow her airy birth,
And bids her virgin fleeces clothe the earth."
SANDYS.

P.T.W.

* * * * *

MONKEYS AT GIBRALTAR.

Though Gibraltar abounds with monkeys, there are none to be found in the
rest of Spain; this is supposed to be occasioned by the following
circumstance;--The waters of the Propontis, which anciently might be
nothing but a lake formed by the Granicus and Rhyndacus, finding it more
easy to work themselves a canal by the Dardanelles than any other way,
spread into the Mediterranean, and forcing a passage into the ocean
between Mount Atlas and Calpe, separated the rock from the coast of
Africa; and the monkeys being taken by surprise, were compelled to be
carried with it over to Europe, "These animals," says a resident at
Gibraltar, "are now in high favour here. The lieutenant-governor, General
Don, has taken them under his protection, and threatened with fine and
imprisonment any one who shall in any way molest them. They have
increased rapidly, of course. Many of them are as large as our dogs; and
some of the old grandfathers and great-grandfathers are considerably
larger. I had the good fortune to fall in with a family of about ten, and
had an opportunity of watching for a time their motions. There appeared
to be a father and mother, four or five grown-up children, and three that
had not reached the years of discretion. One of them was still at the
breast; and although he was large enough to be weaned, and indeed made
his escape as rapidly as the mother when they took the alarm, it was
quite impossible to restrain laughter when one saw the mother, with great
gravity, sitting nursing the little elf, with her hand behind it, and the
older children skipping up and down the walls, and playing all sorts of
antic tricks with one another. They made their escape with the utmost
rapidity, leaping over rocks an