Mr. Ellis's Letters, _Second Series_, vol. iv.
pp. 57, et seq.

* * * * *

DANGER.

FROM L'ADONE OF MARINO.

_(For the Mirror.)_

Like some lone Pilgrim in the dusky night,
Seeking, through unknown paths, his doubtful way,
While thick nocturnal vapours veil his sight
From yawning chasms, that 'neath his footsteps lay;
Sudden before him gleams the forked light!
Dispels the gloom, yet fills him with dismay.
His trembling steps he then retraces back,
And seeks again the well-known beaten track.

E.S.J.

* * * * *

CATS.

(_For the Mirror_.)

The first couple of these animals which were carried to Cuyaba sold
for a pound of gold. There was a plague of rats in the settlement, and
they were purchased as a speculation, which proved an excellent one.
Their first kittens produced thirty _oilavas_ each; the new generation
were worth twenty; and the price gradually fell as the inhabitants
were stocked with these beautiful and useful creatures. Montengro
presented to the elder Almagro the first cat which was brought to
South America, and was rewarded for it with six hundred _pesos_.

* * * * *

THE DEATH OF KING JOHN.

_Extracted from an old black-letter volume, entitled "The Abridgment
of the Acts and Monuments of Martyrs, from the earliest period of
Christian suffering to the time of Queen Elizabeth, our gracious lady,
now reigning," printed in her reign_.

(_For the Mirror_.)

In the yeere 1216, king John was poisoned, as most writers testify, at
Swinsted Abbey, by a monk of that abbey, of the order of Cistersians,
or S. Bernard's brethren, called Simon of Swinsted. The monk did first
consult with his abbot, shewing him what he minded to do, alleging for
himself the prophecy of Caiphas, 11th of John, saying, it is better
that one man die, than the whole people perish. I am well content,
saith he, to lose my life, and so become a martyr, that I may utterly
destroy this tyrant. With that the abbot did weep for gladness, and
much commended his fervent zeal. The monk then being absolved of his
abbot for doing this fact, went secretly into the garden, on the back
side, and finding there a most venomous toad, did so prick him and
press him with his penknife, that hee made him vomite all the poison
that was within him; this done, he conveyed it into a cup of wine, and
with a flatteri