But the more indigenous this unsightly weed, the more need is there to prevent its growth. It has many varieties-the leaf is not always of the same shape, nor the flower of the same colour—but they are all of one genus; and our readers, who are by this time, we trust, most excellent botanists, will have no difficulty in detecting them, however much affected by the soil they grow in. The I's and my's a lady exhibits in conversation, will bear such analogy to her character as the wares on the stall of the Bazaar bear to the trade of the vender. Or, if she have a great deal of what is called tact, she will perhaps vary the article according to the demands of the market. In fashionable life it will be my cousin Sir Ralph, my father the Earl, and my great-uncle the Dukethe living relatives and the departed fathers, the halls of her family, their rent-rolls, or their graves, will afford abundant étalage for any conversation she may have to furnish out. Among those who, having gotten into the world they know not how, are determined it shall at least be known they are there, it is my houses, my servants, my park, my gardensor if the lady be too young to claim on her own behalf, my father's houses, &c. &c., will answer all the purpose. But happily for the supply of this sort of talk, rank and wealth, though very useful, are not necessary to it. Without any ostentation whatever, but merely from the habit of occupying themselves with their own individuality, some will let the company choose the subject; but be it what it may, all they have to say upon it is the I or the my-books, travel, sorrow, sickness, nature, art—no matter—it is, I have seen, I have done, I have been, I have learned, I have suffered, I have known. Whatever it be to others, the I is the subject to them; for they tell you nothing of the matter but their own concern with it. For example, let the city of Naples be spoken of-one will tell you what is seen there, what is done there, what happens there, and make her reflections upon all, without naming herself; you will only perceive by her knowledge and her remarks, that she has been in Naples:

another will tell you how she came there, and why she went, and how long she stayed, and what she did, and what she saw; and the things themselves will appear but as accidents to the idea of Self. Some ladies I have known, who, not content with the present display of their powers, are determined to re-sell their wares at second hand; they tell you all the witty things they said to somebody yesterday, and the wise remarks they made to a certain company last night—I said, I remarked-the commodity should be valuable indeed to be thus brought to market a second time. Others there are, who, under pretext of confidence, little complimentary, when shown alike to all, pester people with their own affairs— before have been two hours in their company, you are introduced to all their family, and all their family's concerns -pecuniary affairs, domestic secrets, personal feelings-a sort of bird's-eye view of everything that belongs to them, past, present, and to come: and woe to the secrets of those who may chance to have been in connexion with these egotists!-in such a view, you must needs see ten miles round.

you

There is an egotism of which we must speak more seriously. Faults, that in the world we laugh at, when they attain the dignity and purity of sacred things, become matter of serious regret. I speak nothing of the ostentatious display of pious and benevolent exertion, too well depicted in the sketch of Anthemis, to need our further remark. We live at a time when religion, its deepest and dearest interests, have become a subject of general conversation. We would have it sobut we mark, with regret, that Self has introduced itself here. The heartless loquacity-we must say heartless, for in matters of such deep interest, facility of speech bespeaks the feelings light—the unshrinking jabber with which people tell you their soul's history, their past impressions and present difficulties, their doctrines and their doubts, their manifestations and their experiences-not in the ear of confidence, to have those doubts removed, and those doctrines verified-not in the ear of anxious inquiry, to communicate knowledge and

give encouragement-but anywhere, in any company, to anybody who will listen-The, I felt, I thought, I experienced my sorrows, my consolations. Sorrows that, if real, should blanch the cheek to think upon, mercies that enwrap all heaven in amazement, they will tell out as unconcernedly as the adventures of the morning-the voice falters not, the colour changes not, the eye falls not. And to what purpose all this personality? To get good, or do good? By no means: but that whatever subject they look upon, they always see themselves in the foreground of the picture, with every minute particular swelled into importance, while all besides is merged in indistinctiveness.

We may be assured there is nothing so ill-bred, so ennuyant, so little entertaining, so absolutely impertinent, as this habit of talking always with reference to ourselves. For everybody has a Self of their own, to which they attach as much importance as we to ours, and see all other matters small in the comparison. The lady of rank has her castles and her ancestors-they are the foreground of her picture -there they stood when she came into being, and there they are still, in all the magnitude of near perspective; and if her estimate of their real size be not corrected by experience and good sense, she expects that others will see them as large as she does. But that will not be so. The lady of wealth has gotten her houses and lands in the foreground-these are the larger features of her landscapetitles and the castles are seen at a smaller angle. Neither lady will admire the proportions of her neighbour's drawing, should they chance to discover themselves in each other's conversation. She again, whether rich or poor, whose world is her own domesticity, sees nothing so prominent as the affairs of her nursery or her household; and perceives not that in the eyes of others her children are a set of diminutives, undistinguishable in the mass of humanity; in which that they ever existed, or that they cease to exist, is matter of equal indifference. And she who holds her mental powers

in predominance, to whom the nearest objects are knowledge, and reason, and science, and learning-she takes disgust at the egotism of the former three, and does not perceive that the magnitude she gives to her own pursuits, seems as ill proportioned to them as theirs to her. And if there be one who is disabused alike of all, of wealth, and rank, and learning; and, having taken just measure both of what she has and of what she has not, has placed all in the obscurity of the distance; and in nearness to her heart and pre-eminence in her contemplation, has placed the great things of eternity—right though she is, and just though her drawing be, even she should be aware that others see it The shades that overcast her landscape, never hung on theirs the sunbeam that lights it, never shone on them. In time and season she must speak to them for good—but when good is not the object, she, too, must be aware of offensive egotism, in speaking of joys and sorrows that they never knew, and exhibiting contempt for things that she despises, but they cannot.

not so.

It is thus that each one attributes to the objects around him, not their true and actual proportion, but a magnitude proportioned to their nearness to himself. We say not that he draws ill who does so-for to each one, things are important more or less, in proportion to his own interest in them. But hence is the mischief-we forget that every one has a Self of their own, and that the constant setting forth of ours, is to others preposterous, obtrusive, and ridiculous. The painter who draws a folio in the front of his picture and a castle in the distance, properly draws the book the larger of the two: but he must be a fool if he therefore thinks the folio is the larger, and expects everybody else to think so too. Yet nothing wiser are we, when we suffer ourselves to be perpetually pointing to ourselves, our affairs, and our possessions, as if they were as interesting to others as they are important to us.

School Education.

If we can succeed in showing the mother that she has left a duty unperformed towards her infant-a duty of paramount importance-yea, one of far greater consequence than those even which she so assiduously performs for its bodily comfort; if we can convince her that any of the bad passions which agitate, the evil dispositions which deform, and the vicious inclinations which degrade, the human character, are under her control, are attributable to her neglect, and may be prevented by her exertions; she will no longer be idle, she will no longer be negligent and indifferent as to the moral health of her offspring.-MOTHER'S MAGAZINE.

S soon as a group of little creatures peep out from the nursery, everybody asks the mother how she

means to educate them; and she, with maternal anxiety,