the mastodon and the megatherium roamed
over other countries, gigantic kangaroos
hopped over the plains of Australia, and
enormous wombats burrowed in the forests.

The one exception is that of the elephant.
The remains of a mammoth species of this
animal have been discovered in the bone caves;
but even in this instance, zoologists assert that
there are traces of marsupial organisation.
Amongst some of the aboriginal tribes,
however, a report is current that there still
exists in the interior of the country an animal
to which they ascribe the most extraordinary
characters and powers. Its native name is
the Bunyup; and the description usually
given of it is that of a huge quadruped having
a large round head, a long neck, and a hairy
body. It is amphibious, they say, and frequents
deep lakes and water-holes. The descriptions
given by other tribes point to a sort of
orang-outang;—an animal walking in an erect
posture, taller than a man, armed with a
club, having a very large head, and apparently
possessing great strength. But the accounts
are very vague, and are, in all probability,
either the tradition of some extinct animal, or
are altogether fabulous. It is certainly possible,
that there may exist, in the unexplored and
more tropical districts, animals differing from
all those with which we are now acquainted.
But the ascertained extension of the marsupial
order to the extreme North of New Holland,
and even partially to the large islands
adjoining it, almost warrants the belief that we
are already familiar with the chief forms of
animal life that are to be found in that great
country.

THE ROPEMAKER'S WIFE.

AT the period when the gallant king
Francis the First encouraged, and his sister
Marguerite adorned literature, the South
of his kingdom boasted of as great an ornament
of the world of letters as did the capital
itself.

La Belle Cordière, by which name of
endearment Louise Labé was known, was born
at Lyons, and for a series of years reigned
over and gave laws to the learning of her
province. Her husband was a rich merchant
who dealt largely in cords and cables, but
she is not known by his name, which was
Ennemond Perrin; nor by her father's, which
was Charly—she was called Labé, from a
sobriquet given to the latter, for some reason
unexplained.

Perrin possessed a very considerable fortune,
besides houses and lands at Lyons, all of which
he appears to have left to his widow, who
describes the house she resided in as being
veiy handsome, and her gardens delicious.
Where the Place Belcour now stands was
probably this mansion, and one of the avenues
of the garden must have occupied the spot
where the street is built, which bears the
name of La Belle Cordière. Louise wrote
both in prose and verse, and the anagram of
her name, out of which a motto had been
formed which she adopted, was intended to
express the beauty of her compositions, as
well as of her person; it is, according to the
fashion of that day, attached to her poems:

"BELLE A SOY" (souhait).

Louise established in her house a fine
library, and surrounded herself with all that
was learned, witty, and distinguished in her
native province. Her society was very select,
and talent alone gave a claim for admission
to this envied place. It is easy therefore to
understand that jealousy and ill will were not
unknown to those who were excluded. As,
in spite of her wealth, Louise could not lay
claim to rank, her rivals had powerful arms
against her, and those whose genius could not
gain for them an invitation to this Academy
of talent were able to speak of it with
contempt, as beneath the notice of the high-born
and aristocratic.

This however gave little annoyance to the
high priestess of letters, who lived a life
of literary enjoyment and learned ease,
admired, caressed, and flattered, and far
above the littlenesses of either sex, whom,
in return, she held in no small dis-esteem,
as many of her essays prove. She did
not attempt to conceal her contemptuous
opinion of the ladies of Lyons, whom she
describes and reproaches as ignorant, frivolous,
silly, and affected. These strictures, once
published, were as a firebrand amongst the
insulted nobility whom a mere bourgeoise
had dared to brave, and straightway the
character of the imprudent authoress was
attacked with all the bitterness that revenge
and fury could dictate. It was asserted that
her beauty and the freedom of her manners
were the attractions at her Academy, and that
the learning and accomplishments found there
were but secondary; that all the ladies who
frequented her circle were immoral, and that,
in fact, she was a woman to be avoided and
despised. An unlucky quarrel which occurred
between Louise and one of her hitherto most
devoted friends, gave too much colour to the
insinuations thrown out against her.

Clemence de Bourges, long the intimate
and beloved friend of Louise Labé, appears to
have equalled her in all the gifts of mind and
all the accomplishments which made her the
envy and delight of Lyons, but she had an
advantage over her friend, which was fatal to
their attachment. She was considerably
younger, and consequently more attractive to
a certain adorer of genius, who, having for
some time vacillated between the two
divinities, declared himself the slave of the
youngest.

"'Twere long to tell, and sad to hear"

how the rivals beheld their friendship from
this moment rent violently asunder; all the
counsels that "they two had shared " ended