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cess. She, however, rejoiced, that in her youth, it was not deemed necessary to spend five or six hours a day in practising music; she had not therefore to reflect on the waste of so large a portion of her existence, as she probably would have done in more modern times. Such was her opinion of time employed on a pursuit, which, as in her case, was never followed up or turned to future account; it would not, perhaps, have been very different, if the accomplishment had been carried on to such a pitch of perfection, as to bear the application of Sir Francis Bacon's remark on the victors in the Olympic games, that they were so excellent in these unnecessary things, that their perfection must needs have been acquired by the neglect of whatever was necessary.' For drawing, my aunt had a taste; the instructions, therefore, that she received, were so far valuable, as to form the basis for future self-improvement and agreeable recreation. A few spirited sketches and tasteful ornaments, indicated a considerable degree of talent and industry; and the pencil was still occasionally employed with admirable dexterity and correctness, either for purposes of practical utility, or for the amusement of her children.

"The parents of my aunt, especially her father, had not been accustomed to take a comprehensive view of education, but seemed to think, that when a certain number of years had been passed at school, and a proper amount of money had been expended on the payment of governesses and masters, the business was completed, and was to be entirely laid aside. To furnish the young people with suitable books for their further improvement, or in any way to gratify or cultivate the taste which school education might be supposed to have instilled, formed no part of their system.

"The school girls, when they came home, having finished their education, were to emerge at once into women: not only were they required strictly to conform to the rules and habits of a very precise family; but it seemed to be expected that they should relinquish all desire after pursuits and pleasures, congenial to youth. They were to make pastry and pickles, copy recipes, and work tambour and tent stitch, with all the solemnity due to the importance of these avocations. If they wished to read, a desire which was regarded with some suspicion and jealousy, as it was thought they had surely read

enough at school, there was a library of good old authors, collected by an ancestor of the family, who was much addicted to learning; but all modern literature was strictly interdicted, as light, vain, and unnecessary.

"As to society, a few formal insipid tea parties, and a family meeting at Christmas, formed the entire round of social intercourse, whether in town or country; between which, by the way, the year was pretty equally divided. This half-yearly change of residence must have been an agreeable break in the monotonous scene, especially to my aunt Priscilla, who was an ardent lover of nature, and whose benevolent disposition would lead her to seek her pleasure in visiting and benefiting the poor, who are so much more accessible in the country than in London. There, too, she had the enjoyment of a garden, in the cultivation of which she greatly delighted.

"By means of occasional excursions to one or other of the fashionable watering places of the day, my aunt became familiar with scenes of interest in her own country. Her habit, however, of referring to such topographical and historical books as she had access to, in connexion with the several localities she visited; and indeed, of uniformly bringing what she had read to bear upon what she saw or experienced, often led her father to remark, that she was too studious by half, and to express his fear, that she would either turn her brain, or become totally unfitted for a notable housewife, which after all, he maintained, was the noblest character of woman. Her constant cheerfulness and good humour, however, tended to dispel the former apprehension; and the testimony of her mother, as to her uniform activity in household affairs, removed the latter.

“Greatly as my aunt preferred a country residence, when the season came for returning to London, she was prepared to fall in cheerfully with the family arrangement. She carried many sources of pleasure with her, and therefore, did not appear to have been disposed at any time to complain of circumstances. She had strength and application of mind, to enable her to take things as they were; and though she probably would have liked many things different from what they were, she could adapt the one to the other, strike out a plan of her own, pursue her own improvement, and do as much good as she could, without attempting to disturb what she could not alter.

D

"I believe that my aunt's chief anxiety and disquietude arose from observing, that an unhappy effect was produced on the minds of each of her sisters, by the recluse and unintellectual habits of the family. The elder of the two, naturally of a reserved and gloomy temper, not only conformed to the wishes and practices of her parents, but even far exceeded them, and entirely secluded herself from society, until she became little better than a cold, scornful, self-righteous automaton; and though she possessed many sterling qualities, concealed and almost nullified them, by a harsh and repellent exterior. She, like my aunt Priscilla, addicted herself to reading, but it seemed not so much for the sake of informing her own mind, and contributing to the pleasure and profit of others, as that she might secretly exult in having waded through so many huge folios; and indulge her contempt of others who sought information in a lighter and more interesting form. Poor aunt Leonora! But I shall tell you a little more about her another time.

"The youngest sister, my own dear mother, was a girl of a high and lively spirit. She doubtless, as she herself has acknowledged to me, required judicious restraint; but the influence of unswerving rigidity was extremely injurious to her. Being debarred from suitable society, and restrained from innocent sources of gratification, she formed an intimacy with one of the female servants of the family, who if not vicious was ignorant; and willing to indulge and gratify her kindhearted young mistress, secretly supplied her with the produce of a circulating library, selected without discrimination, and devoured with avidity. This kind of reading prepared the way for further mischief; and, as I have already intimated, she formed a rash and injudicious matrimonial connexion, without the consent of her parents. That one imprudent and unhappy step was the occasion of years of family alienation; it was supposed to have hastened the death of my grandmother, and it certainly embittered the whole succeeding life of my mother. Many of its attendant evils were averted by the kind exertions of my aunt Priscilla; but in all probability, it never would have taken place, had there existed between my grandparents and their family, that mutual sympathy and confidence which ought always to exist between parents and children.

"In making these disclosures, I betray no family confidence; for all the parties concerned were led to see their own errors, and were anxious that others should be warned against them.

"As to the religious education of my aunt, it was characterized by the same rigidity and formality that pervaded the general movements of the family. There was little in it to reach the youthful understanding, or win the affections. Long answers of catechisms committed to memory; abstruse and heavy sermons, read to a drowsy family; wearisome services, and arbitrary restrictions, were little calculated to leave amiable impressions on the mind. But as there is no doubt, that notwithstanding many prejudices and mistakes, my grandparents were sincere Christians, I will not enlarge on the effects of their system of education in this particular, but rather imitate my judicious aunt, who when she observed anything wrong, forbore direct censure, but adopted and recommended something better. Her own practice and success, will best exemplify the preferableness of her system.

A CALCULATING MACHINE.

A MACHINE has been invented by Dr. Roth, of Paris, and patented in this country by Mr. Wertheimer, which performs sums in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, with unerring exactness. It is to be seen at the Polytechnic Institution, London. The editor of the Mechanics' Magazine says: "We use the word machine, as the whole of Dr. Roth's calculating contrivances may, we understand, be combined in one frame or case; but what we saw were two separate machines or instruments; one for performing the operations of addition and subtraction, which is of a rectangular form, about six inches long by three in breadth; and the other for doing sums in multiplication and division, which is of a circular form, about twelve inches in diameter, and three inches in thickness. On the face of each machine there is a series of revolving circles or zones, each bearing the integral numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and each representing either units, or tens, or hundreds, or thousands, etc. Beneath each figure there is an orifice, by inserting a small hand style or pricker, in which the circle to which it belongs

can be turned round, so as to present that figure to any point of the circle desired. All these circles are connected with and act upon a system of wheel work, concealed from view beneath the face of the machine, (like the machinery of a watch,) but in what manner, or on what principle, is not explained, and will probably remain a secret till the specification of the patentee (Mr. Wertheimer) is enrolled. As the numbers to be added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided, are given to the operator, he transfers them to the machine by means of the style; and, when the whole are told off, you see almost at the same instant the product or answer to the question, exhibited to view through a series of open circular spaces left in the face of the machine, immediately above the revolving circles. We saw a great many questions solved by these machines, in each of the first four rules of arithmetic, as fast as they could be enunciated, and in every instance without the slightest error.

One great recommendation which Dr. Roth's machines possess over all others of the sort which we have seen or heard of, is their conveniently portable size, and (should the demand for them be extensive) consequent cheapness. The price now asked for an adding and subtracting machine, of the dimensions before given, is 21. 2s., and for the multiplying and dividing one, 261. 5s.; but unless there is something of a more nice and complex character in the concealed machinery than we have any reason to suppose there is, both machines might be supplied, in large numbers, for a fourth of the money, and yield a handsome profit. At the head of the list of subscribers for a set of the machines, we were pleased to observe the names of 'Victoria' and 'Albert."

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THE PROPERTIES OF SCRIPTURE.

THE properties of Scripture may be summarily enumerated as follows:-1. All of it is clear and intelligible enough, to persons who sincerely desire to conform the heart and life accordingly. 2. The word of God is found to be of special effect upon the human heart, for conviction, conversion, instruction, and comfort, in all ages and nations; and hereby evinces-3. Its divine authority; whence it follows-4. That it is the standard for determining every controversy in matters

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NATURAL ORDER. Salicacæ.

LINNEAN ARRANGEMENT. Diccia Octandria.

Barren Flowers in a long, loose, cylindrical catkin. Calyx a one flowered, wedge-shaped scale,

notched at the edges. Corolla of a hollow, oval, cup-like petal, containing eight or more hair like short filaments. Anthers large, four cornered.

Ger

Fertile Flowers in a long imbricated catkin. Calyx a notched expanded scale. Corolla a tubular petal, smaller than that of the barren flower. men, superior egg shaped, pointed. Style none. Stigmas four or eight, awl shaped. Capsules, egg shaped, two valved, one celled. Seeds, numerous, small oval, each with a downy tuft of white silklike hairs. Tall trees, growing by the sides of rivers. Leaves more or less heart shaped, and

deeply notched; smooth above, and hoary beneath. Flowers in March and April.

"The poplar trembling o'er the silver flood."

THE poplar is included in the natural order Salicace, being in appearance and many other particulars, identified with the willow. Like all the varieties of that extensive species, it thrives best in the neighbourhood of water. The blossoms are dicecious (that is, those containing stamens are on a different tree to those which produce the seeds,) and each seed is

suspended to a long, silky tuft of hairs. The timber, too, like that of all other aquatic trees, is soft, light, and homogeneous. The most essential difference between the two species which compose the above-named order, is in the number of stamens in each flower; those in the willow rarely exceed five, while in the poplar there are never less than eight; the margin of the flower scale or bractea in the former is entire, in the latter serrated; and the leaves of the one are more or less lance shaped, in the other heart shaped. The general appearance of the trees, however, is very different, and easily to be distinguished the majority of the scarcely to be numbered willow tribe being rather shrubs than trees, and when cultivated for profit, kept low by continual cuttings, while the poplars are large and stately timber trees.

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Withering enumerates four species of the poplar as natives of Britain. These are the white, the grey, the black, and the trembling poplar, or aspen tree. Many other species have been introduced into this country from America, Tar- | tary, and other parts of the north temperate zone, and are easily naturalized to our climate. Of these, the two most ornamental and generally known are the Lombardy and balsam poplars. They all require a moist and rich soil, and thrive best in the neighbourhood of running water, but never in a marshy situation.

The grey poplar (Populus canescens) is a tall, straight tree, growing from eighty to one hundred feet. The leaves are heart-shaped, deeply and irregularly notched, dark green, and covered below with a white cottony down. The young shoots are also covered with this down, but the general colour of the bark is grey; hence the name of the species. The abele tree, or white poplar, (P. alba,) differs so slightly from this, that many botanists have considered them as varieties of the same species, and classed them together, being distinguished from all other poplars by this white down beneath the leaf, which, when the tree is ruffled by the wind, gives it a peculiar

appearance.

"The poplar, that with silver lines his leaf." COWPER.

"The white poplar, from its foliage hoar, Scatters forth gleams like moonlight, with each gale

That sweeps the boughs."-MRS. HEMANS.

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The abele appears to have been brought to this country from Holland, about the beginning of the seventeenth century. Hartlib, in his "Compleat Husbandman," published in 1659, states that some years before that time, ten thousand trees were brought over, all at once, from Flanders, and planted in the country places, where the people, not knowing what they were, called them Dutch beech trees. The name by which this tree is known among us, is evidently derived from its Dutch name, Abeclboom. Some have imagined this to originate from the town of Arbela on the site of ancient Nineveh, where numbers of these trees are found. It is probable that both these trees are varieties of one general species, one or other of which is found in most parts of Europe, below the latitude of fifty-seven degrees, though M'Culloch observed few stunted plants," in the island of Lewis, one of the Hebrides. In many parts of France they are very abundant, so as to furnish fuel to the neighbouring towns. In Paris the wood is almost exclusively applied to heating ovens, and known there as le bois blanc. From the rapid growth of this tree, and the facility with which, after lopping, it reproduces long and strong shoots, it is invaluable in many cases, and deserves to be better known. In ten years from the time of planting, if the soil be rich and moist, the abele attains the height of more than thirty feet, with a trunk from six to nine inches in diameter. "In three years," says Evelyn,“ they will come to an incredible altitude; in twelve, be as big as your middle; and in eighteen or twenty, arrive at full perfection. A specimen of this advance we have had in an abele tree at Syon, which, being lopped in February, 1651, did, by the end of October, 1652, produce branches as big as a man's wrist, and seventeen feet in length: for which celerity we may recommend them to such late builders as seat their houses in naked and unsheltered places, and that would put a guise of antiquity on any new inclosure; since by these, while a man is on a voyage of no long continuance, his house and lands may be so covered, as to be hardly known at his return. But, as they thus increase in bulk, their value advances likewise, which, after the first seven years, is commonly worth twelvepence more so as the Dutch look on a plantation of these trees as an ample portion for a daughter, and none of the

Fantastical, while round its slender base
Rambles the sweet-breathed woodbine."
B. CORNWALL.

"Some fly the loom, their busy fingers move,
Like poplar leaves, when zephyrs fan the grove."
POPE.

least effects of their good husbandry, which truly may very well be allowed, if that calculation hold which the late worthy knight (sir R. Weston) has as- Hence the quivering of the leaves of serted, who began his plantation not long this tree, which seem to dance as for joy, since about Richmond, that thirty pounds while they throw back, as a mirror, the being laid out in these plants, would cheery beams of the sun, have afforded, to render at least ten thousand pounds in both ancient and modern poets, a pleaseighteen years, every tree affording thirtying image of active enjoyment. Homer, plants, and every one of them thirty describing the handmaids of Penelope, more, after each seven years improving says, twelvepence in growth till they arrive at their acmé." Astounding as this calculation may at first appear, yet the assertions herein made as to the extraordinary increase from a single plant of this species, is so fully corroborated by a modern French author, that the white poplar may rank as a not unworthy companion to the giant banyan of the sultry plains of India. He asserts that, if an abele be planted in a field, and surrounded on every side by a fence, at the distance of twenty-five feet, in twenty years this space would be entirely filled by its suckers, or root shoots; and thus a wood, fifty feet in diameter, arise from a single tree. At a similar ratio, thirty or forty such trees would cover an acre in the same short interval.

The black poplar (P. nigra) is also a large and handsome tree. It reaches from fifty to eighty feet in height; and from the rapidity of its growth, the thickness and brilliancy of its foliage, and vivid hue of its large and early flowering catkins, is one of the most valuable of the species in ornamental plantations. The leaves are heart-shaped, less notched at the edges than the above named species, and green on both sides. The catkins appear before the leaves, which do not open till the month of May; they are short and thick, and from the deep red tinge of the anthers, have a very ornamental effect on the leafless branches. A correspondent in the Magazine of Natural History, from their great size and vivid colour, compares them, when torn off by a high wind, and lying on the ground, to "great red caterpillars." The foliage of this tree, though devoid of the silvery shade which renders the white poplar so beautiful when agitated by a gentle breeze, is of a brilliant and glossy green, and reflects back the rays of the sun in a peculiar degree, which gives it a particularly joyous and animated appearance.

"The poplar there

Shoots up its spires, and shakes its leaves i' the

sun

"As a green poplar leaf in wanton play, Dances for joy at rosy break of day." WIFFEN'S GARCILASSO.

In some parts of England this tree is known as the willow poplar, in others as the water poplar. It grows very rapidly in the neighbourhood of water, sometimes from thirty to forty feet in ten years. Like the abele and the willow, it bears pollarding, and when thus throws out long and strong treated, shoots, which are sometimes substituted for osiers in basket making, or when cut with the leaves, are tied into brooms.

"HOW CAN MAN BE JUST WITH GOD?"

the life of an individual as that in which THERE is no period so important in he first feels anxious for the salvation of his soul. At this crisis one question arises, of the highest interest, “How can convinced of his guilt and danger, he man be just with God?" When thoroughly will find no rest till this inquiry has received a satisfactory answer. Other inwill not alleviate his solicitude. To speak formation, though of a religious character, of the attributes of God, is only to exhibit that moral Governor, to whom, as a sinner, he is obnoxious; to enforce the claims of the supreme law is only to increase his dread of punishment; and arguments for the immortality of the soul the endless duration of the woe which he only place, in a clear and affecting light, feels he has deserved. It is "the glorious gospel of the blessed God" alone, afford him relief; and this it does, as he that so exactly meets his condition, as to be just, and the justifier of him who bereceives its proclamation, that God can lieveth in Jesus. On this subject we cannot but observe, with deep concern, the prevalence of great ignorance and of ruinous errors; and hence it is now proposed to offer some remarks on justifica

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