“My most dear Lord, King, and Husband,—­The houre of my death now approaching, I cannot choose, but out of the love I beare you, to advise you of your soule’s health, which you ought to prefer before all considerations of the world or flesh whatsoever.  For which yet you have cast me into many calamities, and yourself into many troubles.  But I forgive you all, and pray God to do soe likewise.  For the rest, I commend unto you Mary, our daughter, beseeching you to be a good father to her, as I have heretofore desired.  I must entreat you also to respect my maids, and give them in marriage, which is not much, they being but three, and to all my other servants, a year’s pay besides their due, lest otherwise they should be unprovided for.  Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.  Farewell.”

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THE NATURALIST.

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SPEED AND DIET OF THE OSTRICH.

In the Annals of Sporting it is observed:—­“If we are to place confidence in traveller’s tales, the ostrich is swifter than the Arabian horse.  During the residence of Mr. Adamson at Pador, a French factory on the south side of the river Niger, he says that two ostriches, which had been about two years in the factory, afforded him a sight of a very extraordinary nature.  These gigantic birds, though young, were of nearly the full size.  They were (he continues) so tame, that two little blacks mounted both together on the back of the larger.  No sooner did he feel their weight, than he began to run as last as possible, and carried them several times round the village,—­and it was impossible to stop him, otherwise than by obstructing the passage.  This sight pleased me so much, that I wished it to be repeated, and, to try their strength, directed a full-grown negro to mount the smallest, and two others the larger.  This burden did not seem at all disproportioned to their strength.  At first, they went at a pretty sharp trot; but when they became heated a little, they expanded their wings, as though to catch the wind, and moved with such fleetness that they seemed scarcely to touch the ground.  Most people have, at one time or other, seen the partridge run, and consequently must know that there is no man able to keep up with it; and it is easy to imagine, that if this bird had a longer step, its speed would be considerably augmented.  The ostrich moves like the partridge, with this advantage; and I am satisfied that those I am speaking of would have distanced the fleetest race-horses that were ever bred in England.  It is true, that they would not hold out so long as a horse; but they would, undoubtedly, be able to go over the space in less time.  I have frequently beheld this sight, which is capable of giving one an idea of the prodigious strength of the ostrich, and of showing what use it might be of, had we but the method of breaking and managing it as we do the horse.”