were assembled, quietly regaling themselves upon a portion of the gum which had exuded from the tree; sometimes running for a short distance with uncommon speed, then resting for some moments, as if for reflection, and so alternately moving onward until it came within several inches of the intended spot; it now proceeded with much greater care, occasionally pausing, and slowly projecting its head around the branch, as if to ascertain its true approximation. At length, after approaching within a few inches to where the flies appeared, it gradually stole to the upper surface of the branch, and then became perfectly motionless; and so it continued for some moments, as if to select a victim from among their number, and for the purpose of making a more sure and deadly aim. The favourable moment having now occurred, it all at once, and with a motion almost as rapid as the light, sprung through the air immediately upon one of the flies, and soon bore it away triumphantly to some secluded recess among the leaves.” E. HOME. O HOME, my loved home! welcome thou to my heart, Other climes may be light, other scenes may be fair, But O! none with my long-cherish'd home can compare, My earliest joy, and my earliest care; I may roam o'er the earth, but my heart will be there, The bright lamp of day hath sunk low in the west, So the heart that's afflicted again shall find rest S. SAYINGS AND DOINGS. BON MOT.-A country gentleman of the name of Pepper, had been several times thrown from a spirited young horse, and was one day relating the circumstance to his friend Lord N., at the same time observing that he had never given his horse a name. think," replied Lord N., "you should call him Pepper-caster. "I A PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES.-In the "Conversations and Recollections of Coleridge" we have the following interesting facts, illustrative of the honour and honesty which sometimes distinguish the conductors of the periodical press:-" Clarkson (the moral steam-engine, or giant with one idea,) had recently published his book, and being in a very irritable state of mind, his wife expressed great fears of the effect of any severe review in the then state of his feelings. I wrote to Jeffrey, and expressed to him my opinion of the cruelty of any censure being passed upon the work as a composition. In return I had a very polite letter, expressing a wish that I should review it. I did so; but when the Review was published, in place of some just enlogiums due to Mr. Pitt, and which I stated were upon the best authority, (in fact they were from Tom Clarkson himself,) was substituted some abuse and detraction. Yet Clarkson expressed himself gratified and satisfied with the effect of the review, and would not allow me to expose the transaction. Again, Jeffrey had said to me that it was hopeless to persuade men to prefer Hooker and Jeremy Taylor to Johnson and Gibbon. I wrote him two letters, or two sheets, detailing at great length my opinions. This he never acknowledged; but in an early number of the Review, he inserted it at length, and added at the conclusion, as his own words, to this effect:-'We have been anxious to be clear on this subject, as much has been said on this matter by men who evidently do not understand it. Such are Wordsworth, Southey, COLERIDGE, and Miss Baillie.'" POLLY LEITON.-"My longest visits," says Count Segur, "were paid to a very silent old man, who very rarely uncovered his thoughts, and never his head; his gravity, his monosyllables, proved sufficiently at our first meeting that he was a Quaker; notwithstanding I must own, that, in spite of my esteem for his virtue, our first interview would have been our last, but that, on a sudden, a door opened, and a being entered the parlour. who seemed to be a nymph rather than a mere woman; I never saw one who united so much elegance to so much propriety of appearance. It was Polly Leiton, the daughter of my grave Quaker. Her dress was as white as herself, whilst the ample muslin of her neckerchief, and the envious cambrics of her cap, scarcely allowed me to see her light-coloured hair; in short, the simple adorning of this pious maiden vainly endeavoured to conceal the finest form and the most engaging features. Her eyes appeared to reflect, as in two mirrors, the sweetness of a pure and tender soul. She received us with a degree of confiding ingenuousness that charmed me; and the language of thee and thou, which her sect prescribes, gave to our new acquaintance an air of old friendship. I doubt whether the finest work of art could ever eclipse this the finest work of nature, (le chef-d'œuvre de la nature,) as the Prince de Broglio called her. In our conversation she surprised me by the candour and originality of her questions. Thou hast, of course,' said she, neither wife nor children in Europe, as thou hast quitted thy country, and art come to such a distance in order to carry on the hateful trade of war.' 'But it is for your sakes,' I replied, that I have left all that is dear to me, and it is to defend your liberties that I come to fight against the English.' 'The English,' answered she, 'have done thee no harm; and what does our freedom signify to thee? One ought never to meddle with other people's affairs, except it be to settle them amicably, and to prevent the shedding of blood.' 'But my king," I rejoined, has commanded me hither, to bear his arms against your enemies and his own.' 'Well, then,' said she, 'thy king has commanded thee to do what is unjust and inhuman, and that is contrary to the commandments of thy Maker. Thou shouldest obey thy God, and disobey thy king; for his kingly power is only given him to save, and not destroy. I am very sure that thy wife, if she have a good heart, is of my opinion.' What could I say in answer to this angel? for, in truth, I was tempted to believe her one. It is very certain, that had I not been married and happy, whilst defending the liberty of America, I should have lost mine to Polly Leiton. The impression made on me by a charming young woman was of so different a nature to that which I had experienced in the brilliant whirlpool of the world, that, for a while, she banished from my mind all ideas of concerts, balls, and entertainments." SIR R. PHILLIPS.-Sir Richard Phillips, the bibliopolist, who, at the beginning of the present century was equally the patron and the terror of authors by profession, the envy of his brethren, and the laughingstock of the city, is thus noticed by Coleridge : Phillips left Nottingham, where he had just established himself, at an early age. He afterwards kept a hosiery shop in St. Paul's, and sold the 'Magazine' (the Monthly) at the back. He used to boast that he could do more by puffing than all the other booksellers. It is certain that he was a great annoyance to them at one time. He had a host of writers in his pay, whom, however, he never retained. A gross flatterer, I recollect hearing him address some fulsome compliments to Dr. Beddoes, to which the Doctor appeared to listen with patience. He was, after a peroration of ten minutes' duration, told by the Doctor that he was wrong in his chronology. "Not right in my chronology?' said the surprised bookseller; what has chronology to do with the matter?' "Only this-that, so far back as the year 1540, this kind of complimentary insult had become obsolete!' varnish from tarnishing the beautiful colours of the paper. After this was dried, one or two coats, as may be desired, of India rubber varnish, were applied, which, when dried, formed a surface smooth as polished glass, through which the variegated colours of the paper appeared with undiminished, if not with increased lustre. This carpet is quite durable, and is impenetrable to water or grease of any description; when soiled it may be washed, like a smooth piece of marble or wood. If gold or silver leaf forms the last coat, instead of papering, and the varnish is then applied, nothing can exceed the splendid richness of the carpet, which gives the floor the appearance of being burnished with gold or silver. METAPHYSICS.-A Scotch blacksmith gave the following definition of metaphysics :-"Twa foulk disputen thegither, he that's listenin disna ken what he that's speakin means; and he that's speakin disna ken what he means himsel,-that's metaphysics." INSCRIPTION FOR A CHIMNEY-BOARD. HERE lie entombed the ashes, earthly parts, and remains, of a brilliant and volatile nature; of a steady and grateful disposition, yet was he a shining example he was the best and kindest Nor did he ever look cool even upon his foes; though his fondest admirers "The knight said no more, but decamped at once. "Once, when in an abstruse argument with Mrs. Barbauld on the Berkleian controversy, she exclaimed, 'Mr. Coleridge! Mr. Coleridge !' The knight was present. No sooner did he hear my name mentioned than he came up to my chair, and after making several obsequious obeisances, expressed his regret that he should have been half an hour in the company of so great a man without being aware of his good fortune; adding shortly afterwards, 'I would have given nine guineas a sheet for his conversation during the last hour and a half!' This, too, at a time when I had not been at all publicly known more than a month. He Though rather the promoter of a cheerful glass in others, avowed indeed, afterwards, that he never feared offending by flattery, being convinced that, for one man who was offended, ninety-nine were pleased with that which, if presented to others, they would have deemed nauseating and disgusting."-Letters, &c., vol. ii. INDIA RUBBER CARPETS.-Dr. Jones, of Mobile, in a letter to professor Silliman, says, "Having some India rubber varnish left, which was prepared for another purpose, the thought occurred to me of trying it as a covering to a carpet, after the following manner: A piece of canvass was stretched and covered with a thin coat of glue, (corn-meal size will probably answer best,) over this was laid a sheet or two of common brown paper, or newspaper, and another coat of glue added, over which was laid a pattern of house-papering, with rich figures. After the body of the carpet was thus prepared, a very thin touch of glue was carried over the face of the paper, to prevent the India rubber too often turned their backs upon him. thus basely blown upon. and somewhat given to smoking, though it often threw him into inflammatory disorder. were ended by a gentle and gradual decay; in one of the wanton days A SCOTTISH SABBATH. CHAPTER I. It does not seem doubtful, or rather, we may say, it is absolutely certain, that the foundation of all idolatry, be it of how degrading and revolting a character it may, is what is called "natural religion," the breathing of the finite created spirit after the infinite spiritual God-the law of the mind," as Paul expresses it. In all heathen countries, where any advance has been made in civilization and the arts, designing men have used every effort to turn this principle into the instrument of their own purposes. The rudest of all people which have been introduced to our notice in modern times, the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, had no temple, no idol, no consecrated substance, or sacred place. Their memories did not reach further back than the preceding generation; but still, when they were asked whither their fathers had gone, they pointed upward to the sky in dumb though solemn veneration. The red Indians of North America, still a rude and ignorant people, but far more intellectual than the native Australians, worshipped "the Great Spirit ;" and, although some of them had symbolic objects, as for instance the "stone" of the Oneidas, yet these were national rather than idolatrous; and "the Great Spirit" was worshipped by them in the same manner as by those who had no symbolic substance, The whole tenour of human history shows, that it is only after considerable advances have been made in the arts of life, and when certain individuals of the human race have begun to ply their arts of turning the great body of the people to their own advantage in the way of gain, of glory, or of both, that the temple has been built, and the idol fashioned. Something more gorgeous and imposing than the people are usually accustomed to, something which can attract and captivate the senses. To give the law in the members" the victory over the "law of the mind," is what has all along been required, and is still required, for producing this effect. What and how much may be necessary, depends of course upon the condition of the people. A queen of savages is delighted with a glass bead; a European queen cares for nothing less costly than a diamond, and not much for that, unless it is of considerable size and price. It is the same in the case of those idolatries, in which those who have a personal worldly interest in so doing, go about to transfer to the temple and the idol that worship and veneration which the spontaneous feeling of even the rudest mind would give to God only. Any one who is conversant with the history of nations, will easily perceive that there is no exception to this. A rude stone, smeared over with red ochre, is a god [No. 5. FEB. 1, 1837.-2d.] VOL. I. to the simple Hindû; and a few stones built up under the shade of a tree, and daubed over with lime, is a temple. If tasteless magnificence is the character of the people, then the shapeless idol is loaded with precious metals and costly stones, and clothed with robes of great price; while the size of the temple, and not the symmetry, is the quality upon which its claim to the veneration of the people is rested. The idols of the Mexicans and Peruvians were costly in their ornaments, but hideous in their forms; the temples of the same people were vast in their dimensions, but destitute of every pretension to elegance. These have gone the way which all idols, whether heathen or pretended Christian, must go some day or other; but there are still analogous cases in some parts of the East. The polished Greeks and the luxurious Romans required idols and temples of a different character; and we still admire the remains of the one, and the ruins of the other, as among the choicest productions of human taste and skill. In all the varieties, however, the object has been the same -to take the senses captive by the material display, and thus withdraw the longing of the mind from the invisible God, who, to be worshipped at all, must be worshipped in spirit. Some may suppose that these remarks have nothing to do with any Christian observance, and especially with "A Scottish Sabbath." The fact is, however, so much at variance with this supposition, that, without some such means as we have stated, it is impossible to judge rightly of Christian worship, or duly to appreciate the peculiarities of the "Scottish Sabbath." Mankind are in precisely the same condition at their birth, in a land of the purest and most enlightened Christianity, as they are in one of the most benighted savagism; and if a child, immediately on its birth, were to be transported from the one to the other, it would not fail to grow up in all the habits and customs of the country to which it was taken. Mental qualities and mental acquirements are not in the slightest degree hereditary, though there are bodily qualities transmissible, especially from the mother, that appear to fit the body, much better in some cases than in others, for being the informant of the mind from without, and its servant in the execution of its purposes. It follows, as a necessary consequence of this, that those upon whom the religion of the Gospel has not yet come in its power, but who are merely mocking the true God in his temple, stand in jeopardy of being carried away by the pomp of a highly ornamented church and an imposing ritual, so as to mistake the exhibition and the observance for the essentials of religion; and F thereby turn, at least virtually, the Christian | rustics. Many, no doubt, go to church in a clean smock frock; but there are also many who loiter about the fields, hedges, and alehouses, in the same dirty and self-neglected style as so many of the labourers do in the purlieus of London. Fiscal regulations do not appear to have the least influence upon this, for they have been much multiplied of late; and the increased neg Such being the case, it is pretty obvious that parliamentary interference would be just as unavailing. Both the evil and its cure, if cure it admits of, lie in quite another direction, in which it is not our present object to follow them. church into a heathen temple. Hence, the more simple the service, the more conducive it must be to the interests of true religion. Splendid cathedrals, titled ministers, pompous ceremonies, and pealing organs, have really nothing to do with the "still small voice" which calls to those who are without Christ, "what dost thou here?" The Lord is not in the great wind, the earth-lect of the Sabbath has increased still faster. quake, or the fire, at the present time, any more than in the days of Elijah the Tishbite. The voice of religious instruction to the ear must be an audible voice; and the less it is drowned or disturbed by other sounds, it will do its office the better; but the voice which reaches the inner man—the immortal spirit—“ in demonstration of the spirit and with power," is, if the expression may be allowed, a silent voice, in so far as any or all of the senses are concerned. If the spirit is to be instructed, the senses must be still the while. All the observances of the Scottish church are more simple than those of any other church having the name of " Established" or "National." The beneficial effects of this are visible in many things, but perhaps not more in any than in the Scottish Sabbath. 66 In Scotland the case is different, though fiscal regulations on the subject are comparatively few there. The people of Scotland are certainly not better at the time of their birth, for morals are not more hereditary than knowledge. The person who offends in Scotland is, also, generally, a worse character than he who offends to the same extent in England, because he breaks a stronger chain of examples. In the towns of Scotland the first day of the week is less of Sabbath than it is in the country, though more so than in an English town of the same size and class; but the contrast should be taken in the country districts, which are, in the great bulk of their population, free from the influence of the towns. Hence we shall take such a district. The church is a very simple structure, often without tower or spire, but generally with a small belfry, though sometimes the bell is suspended on a post, or in a tree. The church is usually in a beautiful situation, more especially if it is an old one; it is almost invariably in a clump of trees, and very often on a gently-swelling knoll, near the bank of a clear rivulet, which, when favourable for such a purpose, often also turns a mill. Such a church is really a very pleasing It is perhaps as well that the name "Sabbath" has not been used as the common name of the first day of the week, or hebdomadal commemoration of the resurrection of the Saviour. 'Sunday" (the sun's day) has been retained, and it was used by the Pagans long before their conversion to Christianity. In London Sunday is any thing but a Sabbath-day of rest, upon which, as is duly set forth on the tablet at the legal side of the altar in every episcopal church, "thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates." Any one who compares this with what is really done in London on the Sun-object to a feeling mind; and though it has not day, would very naturally conclude that it is set up in the churches in derision of the sacred volume, and defiance of the almighty Lawgiver. Those who have been a Sunday in London, and have used their eyes, require no additional evidence on this subject; and those who have not may find ample proofs in the notes to the clear and practical, and, as we may say, manly sermon delivered by the Rev. John Harris, of Epsom, before the London City Mission, Dec. 6th, 1836. been consecrated by any formal rite, it is hallowed to the people as well for being the scene of their religious instruction, as from the fact that the bones of their fathers are deposited in the little green mounds around. We know not what influence the hearing of the word of God, surrounded by the bones of their ancestors, and the fact of meditating among the tombs during the interval between the morning and the evening service, may have upon the rustic youths of Scotland; but these things must have some influence, and it cannot be bad. There are me "With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked;" and besides "holy texts," there are other moni London is, of course, much worse in this respect than the rural districts, because the greater the multitudes the more abundant is the follow-morials there ing of that multitude to do evil. But still we are not aware of any district in England in which Sunday is hallowed as a Sabbath. The cattle rest nowhere, in the largest sense of the word; the servants, and even the labourers who live in their own cottages, very seldom. Even a Sunday dress, different from the common working clothes of the week, is rare among the English tors "To teach the rustic moralist to die." Often may then be seen some ancient man, hoary with age, and bent with toil, who yet has the tinge of health and the lines of contentment and hope upon his face, separating from his companions, and pacing slowly toward the grassy turf which covers the remains of the partner of the years of his prime, and haply some of the pledges of their simple attachment, as if, in the impressive language of Dr. Watts, he had gone alone to "View the ground Where he must shortly lie." It may, it will happen, that during this silent survey the eye will fill, the curved body bend more lowly upon its staff, and the sod shall be watered with tears at the recollection of days that are gone; but the pang is momentary, for the consolations of true religion are inseparable from his mind." graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever." The glance upward says, more forcibly than if the words were spoken, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Thus having breathed his hope, he joins his companions, and the "in-ringing" bell begins to tinkle. Such a parish is delightful all the week, but the Sabbath and its services are the choice portion, and to them we shall briefly advert in a second chapter. THE TEE-TOTALERS. "WHEN the devil sees that he cannot stop the coach, he jumps on the box, and takes the reins, in the hope of overturning it." Such appears to be his policy in relation to temperance societies. Of the existence of such societies our readers are doubtless aware. For our own parts, we not only admit their necessity, we admire and advocate them, and believe that they have already effected much good. We cannot but grieve, therefore, at the martyrdom they are enduring, especially in some parts of America, at the hands of misguided friends, who have even banished the use of wine from the sacred ordinance of the Lord's Supper, and seriously deprecate the growth of the vine. It is, we suppose, with the intention of placing such pernicious excesses in their proper light that an esteemed correspondent sends us the following account of a Scientific Tee-Total Meeting, recently held at the "Water-Butt Rooms," Well-street, Rainville, County Maine. On entering we found the room crowded with (what on any other occasion we should have called) ardent spirits. Among a number of appropriate symbolic decorations, two flags, suspended over the chair, were particularly conspicuous; the one, apparently burning with flames, in the midst of which the black letters ALCOHOL, were made to writhe about like so many tortured imps; the motto, A burning shame: the other, with the sign of Aquarius, the water-bearer, apparently pouring a refreshing stream on the head of the venerable chairman, P. Drinkwater, Esq., with the motto, Water for ever. The chairman, on rising, congratulated the meeting on the favourable auspices under which they met. The very elements, he remarked, seemed to smile on their object, it having been raining in torrents all day. (Hear, hear.) This, doubtless, accounted for the presence of so many friends. He earnestly hoped that no one present was so inconsistent as to use an umbrella, or to wear any waterproof article of dress. (Cheers; and a bustle at the lower end of the rooms, with cries of, Turn him out.) The disorder was occasioned by the timely discovery of a daring intruder actually wearing a Macintosh cloak. Order having been restored by his instant expulsion, the venerable chairman continued :-Your dripping appearance proves that you do not. For his own part, he was happy to say, that he had been the honoured instrument of buying up and destroying no fewer than thirteen umbrellas, and six waterproof hats, that blessed day. (Cheers.) Would that he possessed the requisite authority, he would as cordially issue an order for the demolition of all such vile innovations, as for the destruction of so many mad dogs. And this, by the way, reminded him of hydrophobia-(Hear, hear)-the most unnatural, the most monstrous of all monstrous diseases. Hate water! (Here the meeting was sensibly affected.) Ungrateful man! any This came of alcohol. Was hydrophobia ever heard of before alcohol came into use? Had one ever heard of a member of the Tee-Total Society dying of hydrophobia? He challenged the world to produce an instance. It was his firm belief that hydrophobia was nothing else than demoniacal possession. And hence, as if in spite, it had of late, as was to be expected, greatly increased; for what were they but an anti-hydrophobia association? He must apologize for his length and warmth; but abstinence was a subject on which temperance was a sin. Nothing but his deep sense of the importance of the object could have brought him out that evening; for he found that as life advanced infirmities increased. His infirmity, however, called for gratitude rather than complaint; for it was, and he was proud to own it, an aqueous humour. This reminded him that at the last meeting he had been asked two important questions; 1st, what disease was to be most deprecated next to hydrophobia? He had now no hesitation in replying, diabetes. And, 2nd, which is the most desirable for the termination |