well-grown, except one dwarf among them, knotty and crooked, which the rest had in derision. The master of the wood wanted to build a house, and ordered his men to cut down out of that grove every stick that they found fit for service. They did so, and the poor despised little tree was alone spared from the axe."

66

59. 'Tis BETTER the dog be your friend than your foe. This is a Dutch saying. It has much of policy and worldly wisdom in it. And the author of A grey cap for a green head, in following it up thus advises us; Injure no man: the meanest person may, once in seven years, have an opportunity of doing you much good or harm. Though we have a thousand friends, we may lack more, but one enemy is too much." Let the proverb, however, be read in an enlarged and Christian sense, and in the charitable spirit of the Apostle's exhortation. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.- -Rom. xii. 18.

M.

A FIGHT OF WILD BEASTS. A TROOPER'S horse and a bull were turned out, and soon after were let loose a lion, and a tiger, and a bear, and a wolf, kept hungry for the purpose. The tiger crawled along upon the ground like a cat, and first jumped upon the bull's back, which soon brought the bull down, and then the great scramble began, the beasts tearing the bull to pieces, and likewise one another. The wolf and the tiger were first despatched. The lion and the bear had a long contest. The lion, with his teeth and with his claws, wounded the bear in several places, but could not penetrate much further than the skin. The bear, somehow or other, took the lion at an advantage, got him within his grasp, and gave him such a squeeze, as squeezed the breath out of his body. The bear then furiously attacked the trooper's horse, who was grazing all this while at a little distance, and not minding what was done; but the horse with his hindlegs gave him such a kick upon his ribs, as provoked him into tenfold fury; and at the second attack, a second kick upon his head broke both his jaws, and laid him dead upon the ground; so that, contrary to expectation, the trooper's horse remained master of the field.NEWTON's Memoirs. This happened some years ago, at Berlin.

THE SOUFFLEUR.

ON the south side of the Mauritius is a point, called THE SOUFFLEUR, from the following circumstance. A large mass of rock runs out into the

sea from the main-land, to which it is joined by a neck of rock not two feet broad. The constant beating of the tremendous swell which rolls in, has undermined it in every direction, till it has exactly the appearance of a Gothic building, with a number of arches in the centre of the rock, which is about thirty-five or forty feet above the sea; the water has forced two passages vertically upwards, which are worn as smooth and cylindrical as if cut by a chisel. When a heavy sea rolls in, it of course fills in an instant the hollow caverns underneath, and finding no other egress, and being borne in with tremendous violence, it rushes up these chimneys, and flies roaring furiously to a height of full sixty feet. The moment the wave recedes, the vacuum beneath causes the wind to rush into the two apertures with a loud humming noise, which is heard at a considerable distance.

My companion and I arrived there before high water, and having climbed across the neck of rock, we seated ourselves close to the chimneys, where I proposed making a sketch, and had just begun, when in came a thundering sea, which broke right over the rock itself, and drove us back much alarmed. Our Negro guide now informed us, that we must make haste to recross our narrow bridge, as the sea would get up as the tide rose. We lost no time, and got back dry enough; and I was obliged to make my sketches from the main-land.

In about three quarters of an hour the sight was truly magnificent. I do not exaggerate in the least when I say, that the waves rolled in, long and unbroken, full twenty-five feet high, till, meeting the headland, they broke clear over it, sending the spray flying over the main-land; while from the centre of this mass of foam, the Souffleur shot up with a noise which we afterwards heard distinctly between two and three miles off. Standing on the main cliff, more than a hundred feet above the sea, we were quite All we wanted to complete the picture, was a large ship going ashore.

wet.

[Journal of the Geographical Society.]

TORY OF WRITING.

The first substance used for writing upon was, probably, dry leaves! Virgil describes the Sibyl writing her prophecies in detached sentences, upon dry leaves, which were scattered by the wind when the door of the cave was opened. The next step towards paper, was the invention by the Egyptians of the papyrus; a substance made of reeds, growing upon the banks of the Nile. Brass, lead, wood, ivory, and wax, amongst numerous other things, have all been used for the same purpose. At length, parchment, or vellum, was invented, which, but for its great value, would have become the substance generally used: but it was so expensive, that persons were often reduced to the extremity of erasing some part of a work, to make room for their own writings. Cicero writing to his friend Trebatius, who had written to him on parchment which had been before used, betrays a fear that Trebatius had erased his letter, to save the expense of buying new parchment. By this practice we have lost many works of antiquity. Attempts have been made to rescue some of these writings from destruction, by examining all those manuscripts which are written upon parchment, from which something had been erased. Angelo Mai has succeeded in deciphering a part of Cicero's Treatise on Republics, which had been partially erased, in order to substitute St. Augustine's Commentary on the Psalms.

The most ancient books were formed of tablets joined together, very much in the form of a modern book. Afterwards, when more flexible materials were used, books were made in the form of rolls. The Greeks and Romans, and all the eastern nations adopted this form. These rolls must have been very inconvenient to manage while reading. There were two rollers, one at each end of the roll, round one of which the whole manuscript was folded: the reader unrolled one end, and as he proceeded, he rolled it upon the empty roller until the whole was transferred from one roller to the other.

Much important information upon the manners of the Romans has been obtained, as might be expected, from the discovery of two Roman cities, which had been hidden by the cinders thrown from Mount Vesuvius, by the eruption about the year A.D. 79; but little more is known upon the subject of their books and manner of writing, than was known before the excavations. Rolls of brittle material, eight inches long and about two inches in thickness, were frequently discovered by the workmen during the operations at Pompeii; but it was not at first known that these were books: upon examination, however, they proved to be rolls of papyrus glued together. At one end of most of them was a label, upon which was written the title of the work, and the author's name. Of these rolls, Camillo Paderni carried away three hundred and thirty-seven, which he collected from the rubbish, during twelve days

The labour bestowed upon ancient manuscript books was immense. As they were intended to answer all the purposes of a modern printed book, their durability was of the greatest importance. The ancient copyists, therefore, paid great attention to the manufacture of their inks, as well as the parchment; in this art they were so successful, that most of the very ancient manuscripts which are now extant, are as legible, and the ink is as black and bright, as if they had been but just written. It is supposed that the ink owes this beautiful colour to the lamp-black. Some ink was found in a glass-bottle at Herculaneum, which was very thick and oily. It was owing, perhaps, to its glutinous nature, that the persons employed to take down the speeches delivered by the orators in the Forum, preferred writing on waxen tablets, which required a very slight touch to mark them. It would have been an operation almost laborious to write with such ink as this found at Herculaneum, and the writer would, therefore, have proceeded very slowly, and would not have been able to follow the speaker. There is one great objection to this ink; it does not enter sufficiently into the parchment, and is, therefore, easily obliterated. The Romans made inks of various colours; the emperors, in the later times, when wealth and luxury had destroyed the Empire, endeavoured to maintain an appearance of grandeur, by writing with purple ink. Materials more valuable were sometimes used, when the writings were of value; the works of Homer were written in letters of gold, upon a roll 120 feet long, formed of the intestines of serpents. The Hebrews also are remarkable for the beauty of their manuscripts; the letters are as evenly formed as it would be possible to form them in type; it is almost impossible to believe that they can have been written by a pen. All the eastern nations make their pens of reeds, which were well suited to the broad character of their writing; these reeds are brought from the East to Europe, and are used by the scholars in eastern literature; they are still used by many people in the East at this day. Reeds were used by other nations also. Pens made of them were discovered during the excavations at Pompeii; they are cut like a quill-pen, except that the nib is much broader. When waxen tablets were used, they were written upon by a stylus, an instrument pointed at one end to form the letters, the other end being flat, for the purpose of erasing them by flattening the wax. Hence Horace uses the phrase, "to turn the stylus," for correcting what had been written. Some of the richest of the Romans made use of a silver stylus.

It is not known where the first large library was made; perhaps in Egypt. It has been thought that the collection of the copies of the Scriptures, the public records, and theological works, which the

Jews preserved with so much care, suggested the idea to the Egyptians, who formed libraries in imitation of them, but upon the same gigantic scale upon which they executed every thing which they undertook. The library at Alexandria was the largest ever made before the invention of printing; perhaps larger than any made even since that invention. It was at first intended to collect for the king's use, such books only as treated of civil government; but it was not likely that a king, who would be at the trouble of collecting works to enable him to exercise, for the happiness of his people, the vast power which the kings of Egypt possessed, would confine his knowledge within such bounds. He therefore ordered that all books brought into Egypt should be seized, and placed in his library, and copies of them made for the owners. Sometimes money was also given, to make compensation for the loss of the originals; succeeding kings followed the example of the founder. Ptolemy Evergetes having seized copies of the works of Eschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, caused copies of them, and a sum of fifteen thousand crowns, to be given to the person from whom they were taken. In this way was the Alexandrian Library increased, until it contained the amazing number of seven hundred thousand volumes; a number almost incredible, when it is considered that all these were manuscript. A large number of copyists were kept at the library. This was the library of the University of Alexandria, to which all the learned men of the age resorted. It is the Caliph Omar to whom we are indebted for the loss of this vast pyramid of books. His manner of reasoning and deciding upon the fate of this library is known to all, and shows more regard for his Koran than love of literature; it was devoted to the purpose of heating the public baths of the city, which it supplied with fuel for nearly six months.

It was here also that the Bible was translated into Greck. The king having heard that the Jews had a book, containing the laws of Moses, was desirous of having a work on his favourite subject, which the Jews held to be of divine origin; he, therefore, sent a message to Jerusalem to ask for a copy. Various statements have been made, as to the manner in which the translation was effected. The number of translators employed, and the time occupied in completing it, have not yet been determined. It was placed in the king's library, and has always been esteemed a most valuable version of the Bible. A manuscript copy of this version, wanting a few chapters in different parts of the New Testament, is now in the King's Library, at the British Museum; it is supposed to have been written about the third or fourth century.

Another curious specimen of ancient books, though of comparatively modern date, is the book upon which Henry the First, and several succeeding English kings, took the coronation oath. It is a manuscript copy of the Gospels, beautifully written upon vellum. It was originally bound in two oak boards, nearly an inch thick, joined together at the back with straps of leather. There are large pieces of brass on the corners. On one cover is a large double gilt crucifix, which was kissed by the king on his taking the oath.

The monks were the only persons who preserved the few ancient books which the barbarians, during their irruptions into Italy, had not had time to destroy. In every monastery a room was set apart for the express purpose of making copies of books, and, but for the persevering industry of the monks, we should have been almost unacquainted with the works of Greece and Rome,

The art of printing, which was invented a little before the dissolution of the monasteries, and which, indeed, greatly hastened their fall, made a great change in the state of literature. From the time when Rome first began to rise to eminence in literature, until it was taken by the Goths, the great body of the people had advanced but little in knowledge; the high price of books putting them out of the reach of all but the richest citizens. Learning was therefore the happiness of a few; but immediately after the invention of printing, books began to be circulated through all the countries in Europe: and people have gradually become more civilized and enlightened. The increasing demand for books, has reduced the price of them so much, that there are few who cannot afford to have a small number at least. The beauties of Grecian and Roman literature were but little known, and consequently little valued, by the Grecians and Romans themselves. But now, a person might buy a copy of nearly all that has descended to us of ancient literature for the price which a single copy of Euripides, or Horace, would have cost at the time that these poets lived.

There are a great number of very extensive libraries in Europe. Every college has a library. Italy has many libraries. There are two large libraries in Florence, one of which is called after the name of the wonderful man who passed his life there, Magliabechi. This man was born in 1633, and, having distinguished himself by the extent of his reading, he was appointed librarian to the grand duke. He never travelled more than a few miles from Florence, living entirely among his books. His acquaintance was sought by all the learned in Europe, who were sure of obtaining from this man information on any branch of learning which they might study. There were few books, with the contents of which he was not fully acquainted, his memory being as tenacious, as his reading was extensive. It is reported that he repeated from memory, the contents of a manuscript which had been lost, and which he thus restored to the world. The Magliabechian library contains 130,000 volumes, including 11,000 manuscripts.

There is another library at Florence made by the Medici, which contains many valuable manuscripts, which are secured by chains. Among them was a copy of Virgil's works, written upon vellum, with notes by the Consul Apronianus: it has been removed, and is now lost.

The Universities in England have libraries of great extent; there are also noble collections of books both in manuscript and type, attached to many of the ancient cathedrals in this kingdom. The library at the British Museum contains a large number of manuscripts, besides printed volumes, and was presented to the public by George the Second. And a few years since, that great depository of the treasures of literature and science received an inestimable accession by the munificent and truly royal gift of a library presented to the nation by King George the Fourth.

THERE is nothing more odious, than fruitless old age. Now, (for that no tree bears fruit in autumn, unless it blossoms in the spring,) to the end that my age may be profitable, and laden with fruit, I will endeavour, that my youth may be studious, and flowered with the blossoms of learning and observation.-BISHOP HALL.

We let our friends pass idly, like our time,
Till they are lost, and then we see our crime!
We think what worth in them might have been known,
What duties done, what kind affections shown:
Untimely knowledge! bought at heavy cost,
When what we might have better used, is lost!

ON KEEPING A HORTUS SICCUS,
OR BOOK FOR PRESERVING DRIED PLANTS.

SPRING is at hand, and the flowers of the field will soon be lifting up their heads, and opening their beautiful blossoms to the cheering sun-beams. They seem to call upon us to look at, and admire them; and why should we not, for He who knew all things has told us, that " Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." To study, therefore, their habits, and watch their progress, is a delightful task, which we would recommend to all, for assuredly the more they are examined, and their ways of life and growth inquired into, the more will the inquirer be led to acknowledge, that "wonderful are the works of God, and that in wisdom hath he made

them all."

With this view, we shall call the attention of our youthful readers more especially to the subject, and urge them to make collections of wild plants and flowers, by which their daily walks may be made sources of amusement and instruction. To enable them to derive additional as well as more lasting interest from the pursuit, we would recall their attention to the mode of forming an Herbarium, or collection of dried plants, given in vol. iv., p. 107, of the Saturday Magazine, by which simple process, some of the most valuable collections of dried plants have been preserved.

As a means of leading young people to a knowledge of plants, and exciting them to make collections in their own neighbourhood, prizes have been offered to the scholars of a National School in the country, for the best set of dried specimens, gathered and dried in the course of the year.

E. S.

THE VILLAGE PASTOR.

In the retired villages of our land, the pastor is often the only resident raised above the lowest rank of society. In such a situation, he becomes a source

of civilization and refinement to those around him.

His simple and unpretending, yet more polished his garden, tended and decked by the hand of taste; manners; his mansion, with its modest ornaments; these impart some relish for improvement among his poorer and ruder neighbours. But further, he is ever at hand to relieve, to instruct, to advise, and to console his flock. His purse, scanty as it often is, administers to their temporal wants; and he is yet more their benefactor by organizing and conducting plans more systematically formed for their relief. His influence may arrest the heavy arm, or soften the hard heart that would oppress them. superior knowledge guides them through difficulties, where no other friend is near to give them counsel. His authority composes their little feuds and jeafousies. His words of sympathy and consolation first deviations from rectitude, and brings back the soothe their distresses. His vigilant eye marks their yet unhardened and reclaimable transgressor into the path of innocence. Even in their bodily ailments, his simple science, and his yet simpler store of medicine may arrest the progress of disease and avert death. And as the Reformation has repealed the unscriptural

His

rule, which made celibacy compulsory on the clergy, he is, in the great majority of instances, aided by a partner, whose co-operation is by so much the more valuable, as her habits qualify her for every task of gentleness and mercy, more especially when she has to deal with the sick or the afflicted, the ignorant or the vicious, of her own sex.-DEAN OF CHICHESTER,