tomb set in a ring.[7]

[7] See p. 118 of the present volume.

* * * * *


MONASTERIES.


It is a strange error to conceive that English monasteries, before the
dissolution, fed the indigent part of the nation, and gave that
general relief which the poor laws are intended to afford.

_Hallam._

* * * * *


PIRACY.


Mr. Hallam makes the following excellent observations upon the
frequency of piracy in the middle ages:--"A pirate, in a well-armed,
quick-sailing vessel, must feel, I suppose, the enjoyments of his
exemption from control more exquisitely than any other free-booter;
and, darting along the bosom of the ocean, under the impartial
radiance of the heavens, may deride the dark concealments and hurried
nights of the forest robber. His occupation is indeed extinguished by
the civilization of later ages, or confined to distant climates. But