of some difficulty, and one on which I could scarcely have ventured, but for the kind encouragement of a highly-valued friend, to whom I had the privilege of applying in cases of doubt or difficulty. When other works of established authority suited my purpose better, I have not confined myself to Paley; neither are the moral and religious lessons which have been deduced from the various natural phenomena referred to, uniformly taken from him. Sometimes they arose spontaneously from the subject, and sometimes I availed myself of such passages in the writings of Dr. Hartley and Bishop Law, as seemed to suit my purpose. Particular references to these works would be useless to children, and parents will probably think this general acknowledgment sufficient. Chichester. HARRY BEAUFOY, &c. CHAPTER I. Much design Is seen in all their motion, and their make: YOUNG. HARRY BEAUFOY, a clever, active boy of ten years old, was very busily employed, one summer evening, in weeding and watering his little garden. At length, having finished the work to his satisfaction, he took his rake and wateringpot to the tool-house, and hung them up in their places he then went to look for his mother. Mrs. Beaufoy still sat reading in the summerhouse, whither Harry had seen her go soon after tea. "I suppose your book is a very entertaining one, mamma,' "said he; "but I think even Robinson Crusoe would not have kept me in doors so long this beautiful evening: it is very cool and pleasant now, and I want to shew you my garden before it is dark. I have been weeding and wa tering, and tying up my pinks; and it looks so neat that you will like to see it." "I will go with you my dear," replied his mother. So say ing, she took a slip of paper off the table, and put it carefully into her book before she closed it. "I am not so particular about marks," said Harry ; "I mostly read where I see something entertaining, unless it happens to be a new story, and then I can understand it better if I begin and go straight on; but I can always find my place without a mark." "You must waste some minutes in doing so; and your practice of reading wherever you happen to see an entertaining passage is a childish trick, of which you will probably cure yourself when you really wish to gain knowledge." "I wish that now, mamma. There is a great deal of pleasure in knowing what is entertaining, or even useful, as I found yesterday about your watch.' : Mrs. Beaufoy smiled. "So then, the useful is placed below the agreeable in your scale; and I believe, at your age, this is very natural but if so, it is of great consequence that you should early acquire a love for what is excellent, and a taste for order, which will make the acquisition of knowledge pleasant to you; or else there is great danger that your love of being entertained will give you the frivolous turn of thought which is the certain consequence of indulging a habit of wandering from object to object, or even from book to book, without any plan beyond the amusement of the passing hour." "Frivolous; that means trifling, insignificant. Oh! I should be very sorry to be frivolous, for then every body would despise me. I hope I shall never be that. And you see I have a taste for order in some things, mamma. My garden, for instance: look now, if it is not as neat as you Icould wish it to be!" "I think it does you credit, Harry; and I am glad to see that you have had patience to allow time for the seeds of your annuals to come up. I expected that the present pleasure of using your new rake would occasion the destruction of your flowers. Now your garden is likely to be as gay as it is neat; and I hope you will be encouraged to cultivate the love of order and design in other affairs, as well as in gardening." "Well then, mamma, do you not remember yesterday? When we examined your watch, and compared the different parts of it with the plates and description in Hutton's Dictionary, did I not go from wheel to pinion, and pinion to wheel, in the very order of the alphabet? I cannot remember half of what we read; but I have a distinct idea of the barrel, and the chain, and the fusee. And though the spring was shut up in the barrel, so that we could not see it, I know the shape of it from the drawing; and I perfectly remember where the two ends of it are fastened, and that it is only the natural effort of the spring to uncurl itself, that turns the barrel round and puts the whole watch into motion. I never thought the inside of a watch half so beautiful or so curious, till I understood why it moved. It is the most ingenious contrivance that ever I saw in my life." "You think so, because you are accustomed to see contrivances still more ingenious, without reflecting upon them. When I first opened my watch, you said you could see nothing but a confused assemblage of wheels; and if you had not had patience to begin in the right place, and observe the action of one part of the machine upon another, you would still see nothing but confusion, and have no clearer idea of the contrivance of the artist, or of his skill in adapting one part to another, than you had yesterday morning." "It was very kind of you, mamma, to take so much pains in explaining the parts of the watch; and it was more amusing to me, because we had a real watch to compare with the drawing and the description. I am afraid I should have been tired of pinion d and wheel E, without that. But I like to understand contrivances, especially when they are so ingenious, and really set things in motion." While they were thus conversing, Mrs. Beaufoy and her son walked slowly towards the house. "Are you going in, mamma?" said Harry. “Yes, my dear, it is time to go in now; but before you follow me; you may go into the poultry-yard, and open the door of the hen-house as softly as you can. If I am not mistaken, your will there witness the effects of a contrivance, which you will be as much puzzled to understand, as you were to account for the wheels of the watch appearing ́. to move of themselves." They then separated, and Harry pursued his |