to prevent him from doing any further mischief, Henry appointed him to an office in the royal kitchen; and afterwards he became falconer to the king.

But a few years after, a more formidable rebellion broke out, which was not so soon quelled. This was headed by a person named Perken Warbeck, who pretended that he was the Duke of York, the little prince, who, you remember, was so cruelly smothered in the Tower, with his brother young Edward V. There was sufficient evidence of the death of the Duke of York, and therefore there could be no doubt that Perkin Warbeck was nothing more than an impostor; but yet he found means of persuading some people, that the account of the young prince's murder, which was generally believed, was untrue; and that he himself was that unfortunate boy, now grown up to manhood. Amongst those whom Warbeck succeeded in deluding, was the Duchess of Burgundy, who was Edward IV's. sister, and aunt of the real Duke of York. He was supported too by many, both in Ireland and Scotland, so that the rebellion was of a serious character, and occasioned a great deal of disturbance in the country for a long time. At last, Warbeck was taken prisoner, and put into confinement. He soon, however, contrived to escape from his keeper, and after

wards was retaken, compelled publicly to read an account of his origin and history, and then was again imprisoned in the Tower. But as he still contrived to form plots and conspiracies, Henry found it necessary, for his own safety, and for the preservation of the government, to order his execution, and Warbeck was accordingly hanged. Another execution took place about the same time, which was not so justifiable on Henry's part as that of the impostor Warbeck ;-the young earl of Warwick was accused of forming a design against the government, and was condemned, and put to death. Warwick had been long cruelly oppressed; and as he had been found guilty of no actual crime, his execution gave great offence to the people, and was indeed an act of such undue severity, as to be a blemish in Henry's reign.

Henry VII. reigned more than twenty years. There is not, I think, very much that will interest you in his immediate history; but as some very important matters which greatly benefited the world at large, took place about this time, I will say something about them before we commence another reign. It is long since we have alluded to the state of learning and of religion in this country. Our attention has been so much directed to affairs connected with fighting and civil wars, that there has

been little opportunity for speaking about subjects which belong usually to more peaceful times; and yet great improvements, and a vast increase of knowledge, had taken place during the last few years, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the country.

Now there are two events which it will be important for you to remember, as belonging particularly to this period of our history,-I mean the period extending from the middle to the close of the fifteenth century. The first I will mention is the invention of printing. You have not forgotten, I am sure, the scarcity of books in early times, and the reason why they were so scarce,-the great labour and the length of time required in copying out every word with pen and ink,-which was necessary before printing was introduced. Such an occupation took up a great part of the lives of many persons; and yet, after all, the number of books produced by their industry, was very few in comparison with the number which we are accustomed to see completed, in a much shorter time, in these modern days. This change is just owing to the invention of that very useful art of printing.

Perhaps you will be vexed when I tell you, that our own country does not deserve the honour of having invented this art. The knowledge of it was first brought into Eng

land in the reign of Edward IV.; and the first English printer was a mercer named William Caxton, and a very clever and worthy person he was. He was assisted by a man named Milling; and together they set up a printing press at Westminster, and after a great many trials, and a great deal of trouble and difficulty, for nothing really valuable is ever accomplished without trouble and difficulty, they produced a little book, which was the first printed in England. I dare say you will like to hear the title of this little book;-it was a treatise on the Game of Chess, translated from the French by Caxton himself; so whenever you amuse yourselves by playing at that pleasant game, it will be well to remember the historical fact which is thus connected with it.

But I told you that printing was not invented in this country. There is some uncertainty as to the place where, and the man by whom it was invented. Some people have given the credit to a Dutchman named Koster; and I have heard that the manner in which he first found out the way to print was this. He happened one day, perhaps it might have been in an idle mood, to amuse himself with cutting out letters and words upon the bark of a tree; then he laid some damp paper upon the words he had cut, and he found, when he looked at the paper, that a rude impression of

them had been made upon it. From this little circumstance, he conceived the idea of that wonderful art which now has been carried out to such a degree of perfection. But you are not to suppose that the early efforts of Koster, and Caxton, and Milling, and others, were at all to be compared with the beautifully printed books which we see in the present day. Every art has been invented long before it has attained to perfection. What one commences, another improves upon; and so years and generations may pass away ere the first bright thought, the clever idea which in the beginning darted into the mind of the inventor, is worked out into all the beauty and utility of which it is capable. For this, as well as for all other improvements and advances in civilization, time, and a long time too, is required. But how thankful we should be even for the first rude efforts of those early days; for not only was the knowledge of this art favourable to the extension of science and learning in general, by the multiplication of books upon all kinds of subjects; but, more especially, it was the great means of spreading the truths of the gospel, by the circulation of that best of all books which was shortly to be sent forth to enlighten the hitherto dark places of this country, and of other countries also.

But I told you that there was another event