within us a taste, or powerful instinct, which may be rendered indolent, or may be cultivated so as to decrease or promote our happiness. This is common to all ages and conditions, and is seen in the home of the savage and in the palace of the epicure. That person, therefore, is not only singular, but comparatively useless, who wishes to be considered as living apart from mankind in his pursuits and opinions; for, as we are formed for society, so we naturally partake of the rules, habits, taste, and fashion, of those with whom we associate, or whom we like to imitate. When these rules are wholesome, and regulated by the great moral obligations we are under to live worthy of our natures, and to honor Him who has blessed us with an immortal thinking principle, we become blessings to our race.

Independent of the rules spoken of, there are very many who wish to take the precedence in whatever is fashionable, and to live in the cultivation of those rules which exclude from their society those whose incomes, or previous training, or birth, will not allow them to be imitators, hence the existence of many of the conventional usages in society, which, however unimportant in themselves, are overwhelming in power. No matter how absurd the exercise of that power may be, it is beyond the control of reason. Take, for example, the duello, in a period when kings and nobles and clergy not only tolerated but countenanced it. The laws by which it was regulated were not only exceedingly numerous, but very rigid. "In 1547 Henry II., of France, issued an ediet prohibiting the judicial or public combat, and yet he was himself slain in a tournament. Lord Herbert of Cherbourg says the ladies of France gave high honor to Balaguy, quite an ordinary man in all respects, save that he had slain eight or nine of his friends in single combat. Brande, in his Encyclopedia, states that one hundred and twenty gentlemen were killed in duels in a single French province in six months, and that in the reign of Henry IV., four thousand fell in two years. In England the first attempt to repress duels is said to have taken place in 1713. A bill for that purpose was brought into the commons, but lost on the third reading. In Scotland, as late as the middle of the sixteenth century, licenses for duelling were granted by the crown, and formed a source of revenue, (Ex. Brande's Enc.). Now let it be remembered, that a good method of testing a principle is to reduce it to practical operation, that we may discover its utility. Suppose then that every man, merchant, mechanic, farmer, physician, clergyman, should practice this principle of resentment in order to become a man of honor, or a fashionable gentleman! How soon would Fashion, like a volcano towering to the skies, disgorge her streams of burning lava to consume all that is green and beautiful. Happy for us, we have the "law and the testimony," in which we read, "The fashion of this world passeth away."

Fashion has its uses and abuses. The fashion of one age adds

beauty to the painter's art. While visiting the Royal Gallery of Paintings in London, and again in France, we were struck with this fact, namely, how much the dress of different ages apparently added to or subtracted from the painter's skill. In statuary and architecture, how much of beauty depends upon appendages, slight in themselves, but important as matters of taste. "Tis here we see the mutability of fashion, even in permanent works. Why then should we seek so much to be first in less important matters! Such a feeling hardens the heart; moved by it, tyrants have taxed their subjects beyond endurance, drained their treasuries, pillaged cities and countries to administer to its gratification. To live principally to be observed by others, without reference to usefulness, is absurd, irrational. There cannot be a proper degree of sympathy among brethren, where the constant aim is to outstrip each other in fashion. It is a feeling which engenders pride, strife, feuds and animosities; and so strong may the passion become, as to sacrifice virtue on this altar, by indulgence in expensive vices, foreign luxuries, pompous equipages; and sometimes the end of the career is bankruptcy, fraud, and perpetual disgrace. The mutability of fashion should warn us against its extravagancies. Let us look at it a moment in its application to dress. We have collected the following facts from a History of France, published in Philadelphia by John Gifford, in 1776. "In the fourteenth century, the king and nobles of France sat on wooden benches or stools." Those in high places give rise to certain fashions, and sometimes also destroy them. Thus it is said when one of the kings of England appeared publicly without buckles to his shoes, a whole manufacturing district complained that the means of their living would be taken away. And again, when the king appeared without a wig, the manufacturers of the article petitioned him not to ruin the trade. "Charles VII., of France, was of low stature, and had very short legs; he wore such a dress as was best calculated for concealing the defects of his person; so the fashion of long garments was revived during his reign." During the reign of Lewis XI., the next king of France, a total revolution occurred in the article of dress. The ladies, who had been accustomed to wear gowns of immense length, so that their trains and immoderately long sleeves swept the ground, now cut them off and substituted other superfluities quite as ridiculous. their heads they wore enormous caps, surmounted with folds of silk or other light materials, in the form of a turban, almost a yard in height." In the reign of Charles VI., the head-dresses of the women were so broad, being two yards in breadth, that it was found necessary to make the doors wider in order to admit them; whereas now, they were obliged to make them higher. During this period, men wore short jackets, not reaching to the waist, and small clothes to which they were fastened by laces. They also wore false shoulders to make the chest appear large and full, and their hair was worn long. In the early history of France,

during the reign of Chilperic I., 576, the long Roman coat was worn by persons of distinction. Henry II. introduced ruffles and collars; until that time the monarchs wore their necks entirely bare. The favorite dress of Henry II. was a kind of half trowsers and a cloak not reaching below the waist. The dress of the French ladies at this time was very simple. Lace was then unknown to them. Their dresses were adorned on one side with the arms of their husbands, and on the other with those of their own family. It was not until the time of Charles VII. that bracelets, necklaces and ear-rings were introduced.

During the reign of Philip IV., of France, it was decreed by law that no duke, count nor baron, possessing a territorial manor of six thousand livres, should have more than four robes a year, and their wives as many; prelates and knights were restricted to two, an esquire two, a batchelor one, and every woman, single or married, who had less than two thousand livres a year in land, one. No citizen's wife was permitted to have a carriage, or be Highted home at night with waxen torches; neither she nor her husband were permitted to wear expensive furs, or gold, or precious stones, or crowns of gold or silver. During this reign, the long shoes turned up at the toes, were introduced into France; they are said first to have been worn by a nobleman, who had a large fleshy excrescence at the end of his foot, for the purpose of concealing that defect. They soon came into general use, and a man's rank was known by the length of his shoes. The shoes of a prince were two feet and a half in length; those of a baron two feet, while a simple knight was reduced to eighteen inches, and a plain citizen to twelve. The long shoes were succeeded by large slippers, more than a foot in width."

But we will stop here, hoping at least that we may not forget how changing is the fashion of the world; and while some adopt the saying, "We may as well be out of the world as to be out of fashion," that others of us may still be permitted to indulge our creed, "Be not in haste to follow every new fashion."

THE DEXTERIAN SYSTEM OF ASTRONOMY.

Sir Isaac Newton formed a scheme

Of wonderful deductions,

About the sun and moon and stars,

And proved it all by Fluxions;
But now one Dexter dexterously,
With right and left corrections,

Has shewn this wrong, and that the heavens
Are nothing but reflections.

TO THE WIFE OF A CLERGYMAN.

BY REV. C. C. VAN ARSDALE, D. D.

Wife of my old and early friend,

May blessings crown thy heart and lot,
And holy love thy steps attend,

With that pure joy that faileth not.
Blest is the trust thy husband bears
To heal life's woes and soothe its cares;
And to that bliss beyond the skies,
To point man's dim and weeping eyes.

Yes, he is blest whom God employs

In this high work; and she is blest,
Who shares his labors and his joys;

The friend and partner of his breast;
If, with a heart of glowing love,
And wisdom gathered from above,
And ardent zeal, from day to day,
She cheers and aids him on his way.

Lady, this favored trust is thine;

Rejoice and prize it highly, then,
That him thou lovest still may shine,
As Christ's ambassador to men:

In purity and faith be thou

A crown and honor to his brow,

And with a Christian's clinging heart,

In all his trials bear thy part.

Through toil, or shame, whate'er betide,
Howe'er by sins or sorrows crossed,
Pursue thy journey by his side,

To soothe the wretched, save the lost;

Thy task unyielding still maintain,
With counsel guide, with prayer sustain,
With love provoke, with zeal inspire,
Leading to God each fond desire.

O thus, dear lady, seek to be,

To him who loves thee "an help meet;"

Then through a vast eternity

Thy love, now fond, shall be more sweet;

And there together ye shall dwell,

With numbers won from sin and hell,

To bless those dear and tender bands,

That bound on earth your hearts and hands. Philadelphia, 1847.

LITERARY NOTICES.

STORY OF THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO, by the REV. G. R. GLEIG, M. A. New York: Harper & Brothers.

We have here the recorded testimony of a most competent eye-witness, concerning one of the most tremendous scenes of which this world has ever been the theatre. With the story in its general outline, of course every intelligent reader must be familiar; but the filling up belongs peculiarly to the author, and embraces many striking and impressive incidents, of which we believe the present work is the first and only record. The book is altogether of an unpretending character, the style is characterised by a graceful ease and beautiful simplicity, and the descriptions are so graphic and striking that the reader almost forgets that the scenes, which he contemplates, are not actually passing before his eyes.

TALES IN VERSE, BY MARY HOWITT. Harper & Brothers.

If those are to be reckoned among the greatest benefactors of the race, who write not only agreeable, but useful books for the young, then surely is Mary Howitt entitled to this honorable distinction. The present little volume bears the very image and superscription of her graceful and inventive mind, and of her truly benevolent heart. The verses are full of life and spirit, of beauti ful thought and kind feeling, and will furnish profitable entertainment to many a youthful mind.

THE HISTORY, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. New York: Robert Carter.

The preface of this little work informs us that it is substantially a reprint of a book published by the London Religious Tract Society, and extracted from the writings of our distinguished countryman, Catlin. It conveys in the form of dialogue much valuable information in respect to the people of whom it professes to treat, and supplies many important materials of reflection, both to the philosopher and to the Christian. It is fitted especially to impress the church with her obligations, to bring the remains of this neglected and perse. cuted race within the civilizing and regenerating influence of Christianity. It is prolific both of entertainment and instruction.