THE HORSE

Is so noble an animal that we are not to wonder that the natural historian is so profuse in his praise; his good qualities are entitled to our special attention.

"THE reduction of the Horse to a domestic state is the greatest acquisition from the ani mal world which was ever made by the art and industry of man. This noble animal partakes of the fatigues of war, and seems to feel the glory of victory! Equally intrepid as his master, he encounters danger and death with ardour and with magnanimity. He delights in the noise and tumult of arms, and annoys the enemy with resolution and alacrity. But it is not in perils and conflicts alone that the Horse willingly co-operates with his master, he like. wise participates of human pleasures. He ex ults in the chace and tournaments---his eyes sparkle with emulation in the course! But though bold and intrepid, he suffers not him. self to be carried off by a furious ardor. he represses his movements, and knows how to govern and check the natural vivacity and fire of his temper. He not only yields to the hand, but seems to consult the inclination of his rider. Uniformly obedient to the impressions he receives, he flies or stops and regu lates his motions entirely by the will of his master. He in some measure renounces his very existence to the pleasure of man. He delivers up his whole powers, he reserves nothing and often dies rather than disobey the mandates of his governor!"--- Buffon.

THE STAGES OF HUMAN LIFE ARE gradual and successive, each is characterised by some striking peculiarity --take them as described by the pen of an eminent phy

"BEHOLD the Child whom you lately fondled in your arms now contending with his play. tellows in boyish sports! Again---observe him who lately returned from school with his satchel in his hand, now panting foremost in the chace! And now see Manhood stamped upon the downy cheek! Let us likewise remember the equally gradual declension. At length the sturdy son supports his feeble Sire! For he who in his youth was swiftest in the race, is now scarcely able to uphold his tottering limbs. The man of war, whose sturdy arm wielded the blood thirsting sword of battle, is now bending under the weight of his own body. Behold his sinews are dried up and the purple current that bounded in his veins, now beavily and scarcely creeps along! In every part alike the powers of this wonderful ma chine decay. The teeth, designed both for use and ornament, robbed of their beautiful enamel, become unsightly, and drop out of their sockets. The penetrating eye that searched into the very abyss of thought, is altogether useless or but dimly discern the rays of light. Manly fortitude is now no more and wisdom itself retires from the decayed mansion."

Dr. Hugh Smith.

THE WORKS OF CREATION

ARE a never failing theme of contemplation; every part is deserving attention; and affords a display of the perfections of the Supreme Being, but our faculties are limited and we meet with many things which exceed our comprehension.

"THE supreme intellect embraces in one comprehensive view, the whole system of cre. ation, and whatever is the work of infinite wisdom is destined to some useful and beneficial end. The lion and the tyger, the vulture and the shark, which seem made only for annoyance may have parts to act in the Universal System highly beneficial to the whole but, of which we are totally ignorant, and the mole, condemned to a life of subterranean darkness apparently destitute of every source of enjoyment, may experience a degree of happiness suited to its nature, and of which we cannot form any conception. If we examine a com-1 plex piece of mechanism, and observe the regularity of its operations and movements, although we may not perhaps comprehend the utility of each part, and the particular action of each wheel or spring, yet in considering that from the motions of the whole machine some great effect is produced, we shall readily con clude that none of its parts are useless. These observations have an evident tendency to im prove the mind and ameliorate the heart. They all concur to illuminate the understanding and to inspire the most exalted sentiments of morality and religion, to instruct the ignorant, to check presumption and confound Atheism."

Bigland.

A ROYAL EPITAPH,

SINGULAR either for sentiment or expression, will be sure to attract notice; the following is a real curiosity. Happy would it be both for Prince and Subject did all Kings of the earth study to merit the inscription of it on their tombs.

"WHAT I could accomplish by good means I never did by evil.

"What I could obtain by peace, I never forced by war.

"I never chastised in public him whom I could privately amend or whose amendment I had not previously attempted.

"I never allowed my tongue to utter an untruth, nor did I ever permit mine ears to listen to the flatterer.

"I was not prodigal in expending, nor ava ricious in accumulating.

"I have grieved for those whom I punished, but when I have pardoned I have been joyful. "I was born a Man among Men, therefore do the worms devour me, but I lived virtuously among the virtuous, and therefore my soul has found repose with God !"Southey.

TASTE

Is that power of the mind by which we relish the beauties of Nature and of Art; and it is a faculty capable of very great improvement. The advantages and pleasures flowing from its cultivation are innumerable.

"THE cultivation of taste is recommended by the happy effects which it naturally tends

to produce on human life. The most busy man in the most active sphere cannot be always occupied by business. Neither can the most gay and flourishing situations of fortune afford any man the power of filling all his hours with pleasure. Life must always languish in the hands of the idle. It will frequently languish even in the hands of the busy, if they have not some employment subsidiary to that which forms their main pursuit. How then shall those vacant spaces, those unemployed intervals, which more or less occur in the life of every one be filled up? How can we contrive to dispose of them in any way that shall be more agreeable in itself, or more consonant to the dignity of the human mind, than in the entertainments of taste, and the study of po lite literature?

"He who is so happy as to have acquired a relish for these, has always at hand an innocent and irreproachable amusement for his leisure hours, to save him from the danger of many a pernicious passion. He is in no hazard of being a burden to himself, or obliged to court the riot of loose pleasures, in order to relieve the tediousness of existence.

"The pleasures of taste refresh the mind after the toils of the intellect, and the labours of abstract study; and they gradually raise it above the attachments of sense, and prepare it for the enjoyments of virtue.

"So consonant is this to experience, in the education of youth, no object has in every age appeared more important to wise men, than to tincture them early with a relish for the enter tainments of taste. The transition is commonly made with ease from these to the discharge of the higher and more important duties of life.