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the better stomach--the one had more luxury, more able physicians to attend and set him to rights-the other more health and soundness in his bones, and less occasion for their help---that after these two articles betwixt them were balanced, in all other things they stood upon a level; that the sun shines as warm, the air blows as fresh, and the earth breathes as fragrant upon the one as the other, and that they have an equal share in all the beauties and real benefits of Nature !"--Sterne.

BOOKS

YIELD to those persons who are blessed with a love of reading, an inexhaustible source of amusement. This circumstance is thus stated by a writer who has contributed in a more than ordinary degree, to the instruction and entertainment of the public.

"AT the head of all the pleasures that of fer themselves to the man of liberal education, may confidently be placed that derived from books. In variety, durability, and facility of attainment, no other can stand in competition with it; and even in intensity it is inferior to few. Imagine that we had it in our power to call up the shades of the greatest and wisest men that ever existed, and oblige them to con verse with us on the most interesting topics, what an inestimable privilege should we think it! But in a well furnished library we, in fact, possess this power. We can question Xenophou and Cæsar on their campaigns; make Demosthenes and Cicero plead before us; join in the audiences of Socrates and Plato, and receiva demonstrations from Euclid and Newton. In

books we have the choicest thoughts of the ablest men in their best dress. We can at pleasure exclude dulness and impertinence, and open our doors to wit and good sense alone. It is needless to repeat the high commendations that have been bestowed on the study of letters by persons who had free access to every other source of gratification."--Dr. Aikin.

THE TYBER

AT Rome, is a river famed in classic story; though small, yet it is connected with some interesting facts of ancient history; the subsequent notice of it is not unworthy of attention.

"AS it was dark when we arrived at the Albergo, or Inn, at Rome, I had no opportu nity of examining its situation. In the evening when I retired to my chamber, all being still I heard the rush of water, and hastily opening my window, observed that the Tyber ran close under it! I could not but congratulate myself at thus hanging over this immortal river, to which so great a proportion of the world once paid tribute, and the sight of which awoke so many reflections on the past. Upon the banks of this river were raised the conquerors of one half of the world! This is the very stream into which Horatius Coccles, armed and mounted, plunged, after defending the bridge against the troops of Porsenna... over which Celia swam, leading the way for the escape of her companions, the virgin hos tages-into which, in times of dreadful famine many of the starving Romans threw themselves in open day with their heads covered, and in

death-like silence! Being swollen by the late rains, it now rushed past with great rapidity, and the stars were dimly reflected from its turbid stream."...Semple.

THE DOG

HAS long been distinguished for those qualities which rendered him an acquisition to indivi duals, and to society; his characteristic virtues are thus eloquently described.

"MORE tractable than man, and more pliant than any other animal, the Dog is not only soon instructed, but even conforms himself to the manners, movements, and habits of those who govern him. He assumes the very tone of the family in which he lives. Like other ser. vants, he is haughty with the great and rustic with the peasant. Always eager to obey and to please his master or his friends, he pays no attention to strangers and furiously repels beg. gars whom he distinguishes by their dress, their voice, and their gestures. When the charge of a house or garden is committed to him during the night, his boldness increases, and he some. times becomes perfectly ferocious. He watches, goes the rounds, smells strangers at a distance, and if they stop, or attempt to leap any barrier, he instantly darts upon them, and, by barking and other marks of passion, alarms the family and neighbourhood. Equally furious against thieves as against ferocious animals, he attacks and wounds them, and forces them from whatever they have been attempting to carry off, but contented with vic. tory, he lies down upon the spoil and will not touch it even to satisfy his appetite, exhibiting

at the same time an example of courage, temperance, and fidelity. To conceive the importance of this species in the order of Nature, let us suppose that it never existed. Without the assistance of the Dog, how could Man have conqnered, tamed- and reduced other animals. into slavery? How could he still discover, hunt down, and destroy noxious and savage beasts? For his own safety, and to render him master of the animated world, it was necessary to form a party among the animals themselves; to conciliate, by caresses, those which were capable of attachment and obedience, in order to oppose them to the other species. Hence the training of the Dog seems to have been the first art invented by man and the result of this art was the conquest and peaceable possession of the earth."--Buffon.

THE IDLE AND PROFLIGATE SON

LEAVING his father's house is an object of our deepest commiseration; such was the Prodigal mentioned in the New Testament, and it is replete with instruction to the young reader.

"I SEE the picture of his departure-the ca. mels and asses laden with his substance detach ed on one side of the piece, and already on their way the Prodigal Son standing on the foreground with a forced sedateness struggling against the fluttering movement of joy upon his deliverance from restraint--the elder brother holding his haud as if unwilling to let it go-the father-sad moment-with a firm look covering a prophetic sentiment, that all would not go well with his child--approaching to em

brace him and bid him an adieu. Poor incon siderate youth! From whose arms art thou flying? From what a shelter art thou going forth into the storm? Art thou weary of a father's affection, of a father's care? Or hopest thou to find a warmer interest, a truer coun sellor, or a kinder friend, in a land of stran gers, where youth are made a prey, and so many thousands are confederated to deceive them and live by their spoils i"-Sterne.

SINGULAR DEXTERITY

APPEARS in the following anecdote, and be. ing well authenticated, it shall be introduced for the amusement of the youthful mind.

"THERE are characters who had rather amuse the world at the hazard of their lives for a slender and precarious, than follow an honest calling for an easy subsistence. A small figure of a man seemingly composed of spirit and gristle, appeared at Derby, (October, 1732) to entertain the town by sliding down a rope I One end was to be fixed at the top of All Saints steeple, (the loftiest in the town) and the other at the bottom of St. Michael's, an horizontal distance of eighty yards, which formed an inclined plane extremely steep! A breast plate of wood, with a groove to fit the rope, and his own equilibrium, were to be his security while sliding down upon his belly, with his arms and legs extended. He could not be more than six or seven seconds in this airy journey, in which he fired a pistol and blew a trumpet. The velocity with which he flew raised a fire by friction, and a bold stream of smoke fol lowed him! He performed this wonderful ex

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