Star.
London, England, 1825-11-25 00:00:00

THE BURGH OF S nnuNa.

domrlllllo

Saturday, Robert Downie, Esq. of Appin, 111. P. for'
this district of liergbs, arrived here with his family, tn 4
their way to Edid6urgh, and on Monday he invited that
Magistrates and Council to dine at Gibb's Inn. Beier*
sitting down to dinner, Provost Tucsresots addecait'ed
the Member, expressin the high sense he and his fellow
citizens entertained of his past s-rvices, and at the same
time requested that he would continue to be their repre-
sentative, and pledged himself to support birwat the next
General Electionein which request and pledge the Peo-
vost was instantly followed by tie Magistrates and
Council in the most handsome manner, a circumstance
not more gratifying to the Member than honourable to
the parties.
Mr. Dow NI E, evidently feeling strongly the flattering
manner in which the Magistrates and Town Council
had thus so handsomely and unanitnously come for-
ward, for the second time within the last twelve months,
stated how gratifying such a c .mpliment was to him,]
more especially from that town, which mig!st almost be
called the place of his birth, and which was so closely
connected with the remembrance of his early days.
He received it not only as a Mitt ic of good- will to him
personally, but as a proof that, after a trial of six
years, his public conduct had aff riled satisfaction to
constituents so highly respected. That this, next te
his duty to his country, what was he most prized, :.nd
that no exertion on his part wr•uld be spared to secure
the continuance of that approbation of which their pre-
sent conduct afforded so strong an expression. His only
object in offering himself as their representative was to
contribute his humble endeavours towards the public
good; and he had hitherto supported the measutes of
the present Administration, foam a conviction that he
was thereby most effectually forwarding the great ob-
ject which he had in view. Mr. Downie then alluded
to certain remarks which had appeared regarding him-
self in one of the public papers, in giving an account of
a recent melancholy event, and added, that when he
should find his Majesty's Mini-tets as indifferent to the
feelings and lives of their fellow-subjects as the writer
of the remarks in question, thee should he Ito longer be
found " sweltHrtby iriPlott -dye: prajoritfts: dttbp Ali•
nisterial betiteet-41ni1g,411/14 •
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rIOLE.

Very lately accident brought us into contact with a
mole-catcher of the name of Rigg, who has been plying
his vocation in this neighbourhood, and who in the
course of conversation mentioned several curium facts
connected with the habits of the 61 miner of the soil,"
which we do not recollect to have seen in the best
books on Natural History. Our friend has been at the
trade eleven years, and although his labours were fre-
quently suspended from lack-01 custom, inauspicious
weather, or some other circumstance, he has killed
within that time neatly 30,000 moles. Some sportsmen
are in the habit of noting do an all the birds and hares
they bag, and from use or wont, cr the rules of the
craft, every mole-catcher keeps a little book in which he
,registers the number of his victims. In this way accu-
racy is attainable, and if some old stagers were to ez.
bibit their Diaries, the number of the quadrupeds they
have killed in their time, would appear quite frightful
and appalling. Jockies tell us that a horse's strength
would be severely tried in pulling, without the aid of
wheels, a load amounting to four times his weight ; but
as one living 14 miner" has been known to drag twenty
dead ones behind him, it follows, that the mole in pro-
portion to its size, is perhaps the strongest animal in
the world. Its strength of claw is indeed surprising;
and hence its power of diving, as it were, into the solid
earth with all the ease of the ghost in Hamlet, that is
let up and drawn by machinery. In a field in the
South, our informant counted three hundred hills that
had been thrown up by one mole in the course of a
very few weeks. Of this fact there could not be the
slightest doubt; in the surrounding ground no trace of
vermin was found ; and after the said culprit had been
caught, the mining process entirely ceased. Moles, as
most farmers know to their cost, burrow in the richest
and freest soils ; but few of our Readers, we sus': ect, are
aware that the stronger quadrupeds, by combining
against their weaker neighbours, forcibly drive them
from their several encampments, and in this way en.
Voss a greater share of the worms and other insects
to themselves. This fact may appear incredible, but it
is nevertheless quite correct ; for while on indifferent
laud the moles are found to be starved and poor, they
are fat and strong cn good sr ils, and never desert the
one for the other excepting on the principle of di►e ne-
cessity. The ancients thought the mule blind, but mo-
dern discovery has shewn the fallacy of that opinion,
and timid and inoffensive as be appears to be, the fie.
quent instances in which the species are found dead
and lacerateJ, sufficiently prove that they wage very
deadly wars among themselves. In some places, the
farmers think the moles useful in destroying another
great pest, the grub; but these insects infest soils which
the mining quadruped rarely visits; and, besides, what
are all the insects a mole can destroy, compared with
the harm he does himself? In England, they under-
stand these things better, and hence the I serpent asso-
ciation of-parishes n kb the view of securing the constant
or periodical service, of a mole-catcher.
The coat of the mole has been much admired, and
yet its value has fallen so low, that it will not repay
the trouble of skinning. Speaking of this wonderful
creature, a great English author remarks with equal
truth and beauty, 66 toe plush covering, which, by the
smoothness, closeness, and polish of the short piles that
compute it, ri jects the adhesion of almost every species
of earth, defends the animal from cold and wet, and
from the impediment sthi;ll it would experience by the
mould sticking to its body. From soils of all kinds the
little pioneer vanes forth bright and clean. Inhabiting
dirt, it is, of all animals, the neatest."—Durafries Cour.

A new consular flag has been hoisted since the 3d of
this month, in the city of Genoa; it is that of his Majesty AIDZILA-
NEN.BiN-Iliscusat, Emperor of Morocco.
The Swedes ate remarkable for their humane treat-
ment of animals. Then tenderness to the small ho:ses of
the country is so great, that they have even been known
to weep when they have seen one of these useful little
animals (Liven bqund his strength. When we r. fleet
on certain instances of brutality which have appeared
in evil. lice before oufrolice Magistrates, vie cannot but
own that Swe.;eii might give a.le4pu in this particular
to enlightened England.
Yesterday was the anniversary of Hugh Le Despencer,
,the favourite of Edward the Second, being hanged at
:llcrtlyrd, 1329; Lis father was hanged at Ihibrol I;;
:o,:toher preceding; of the deal; of Lawrence Ricci, the
laiat General of the society of the Jesuits, 1776 f and of
tlic death of Dr. Hem y, bistotian, 1790. 1