has denominated "the noblest work of God," an honest man. His escape was effected amidst difficulties and dangers, but no danger seemed to him comparable to the danger of living in the violation of laws human and divine; and now he lives in peace in the midst of his friends.

The Zenaida dove always places her nest on the ground, sometimes artlessly at the foot of a low bush, and so exposed that it is easily discovered by any one searching for it. Sometimes, however, it uses great discrimination, placing it between two or more tufts of grass, the tops of which it manages to bend over, so as completely to conceal it. The sand is slightly scooped out, and the nest is composed of slender dried blades of grass, matted in a circular form, and imbedded amid dry leaves and twigs. The fabric is more compact than the nest of any other pigeon with which I am acquainted, it being sufficiently solid to enable a person to carry the eggs or young in it with security. The eggs are two, pure white and translucent. When sitting on them, or when her young are still small, this bird rarely removes from them, unless an attempt be made to catch her, which she however evades with great dexterity. On several occasions of this kind, I have thought that the next moment would render me the possessor of one of these doves alive. Her beautiful eye was steadily bent on mine, in which she must have discovered my intention; her body was gently made to retire sidewise to the farthest edge of her nest; as my hand drew nearer to her, and just as I imagined that I had hold of her, off she glided with the quickness of thought, taking to wing at once. She would then alight within a few yards of me and watch my motions with so much sorrow that her wings dropped, and her whole frame trembled as if suffering from intense cold. Who could stand such a scene of despair? I left the mother to her offspring.

1. Where does the Zenaida dove place her nest?

2. Of what materials is the nest composed ?

LESSON CCCI.

OCTOBER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.
Artesian Wells.

AN Artesian well is a subterranean fountain of pure water, which is obtained by boring vertically down

through one or more of the geological strata of the earth, till the perforation reaches a porous gravel bed containing water, placed under such incumbent pressure as to cause it to ascend to the surface, or to a height convenient for the operation of a pump. It is said that Artesian wells derive their name from the ancient French province of Artois, where for many centuries they have been used, although their adoption in this country is very recent.

The operations employed for penetrating the soil are entirely similar to those practised by the miner, in boring to find metallic veins; but the excavator of Artesian wells must resort to peculiar expedients to prevent the purer water, which comes from deep strata, mingling with the cruder waters of the alluvial beds near the surface of the ground, &c. In London and its vicinity there are now a great many of these wells, which have been perforated through the immensely thick bed of London clay, and even through some portions of the subjacent chalk.

If we admit that the numerous springs which issue from the ground proceed from the infiltration of the waters progressively condensed in rain, dew, &c., the theory of these interior streamlets is sufficiently obvious; for as soon as the upper stratum is perforated, the waters may rise, in consequence of the hydrostatic pressure upon the lower strata, and even overflow the surface in a constant stream, provided the level from which they proceed be proportionally higher.

In the progress of the boring, frequent veins of water are passed through; but as these are small streams, and perhaps impregnated with mineral substances, the operation is carried on until an aperture is made into a main spring, which will flow up to the surface of the earth. If this has its source in a neighbouring hill, the water will frequently rise up, and produce a continued fountain; but if the spring happens to be below the level of the surface of the ground where the boring is effected, it may be necessary to dig a well of considerable size down to that level, in order to form a reservoir into which the water may flow, and whence it must be raised by a pump.

1. How are Artesian wells obtained? -and from what province in France are they named ?

2. What frequently happens if the water has its source in a neighbouring hill?

3. If the spring happens to be below the level of the surface of the ground, what then?

LESSON CCCII-OCTOBER THE TWENTY-NINTH.

George Alexander Stevens.

THE following original letter of this celebrated "lecturer on heads" is characteristic of the man:

"Yarmouth Gaol.

"DEAR SIR, -When I parted from you at Doncaster, I imagined, long before this, to have met with some oddities worth acquainting you with. It is grown a fashion of late to write lives. I have now, and for a long time have had, leisure enough to write mine, but want materials for the latter part of it. For my existence cannot properly be called living, but what the painters term still life; having, since February 13, been confined in this gaol for a London debt. As a hunted deer is always shunned by the happier herd, so am I deserted by the company, my share taken off, and no support left, save what my wife can spare me out of hers :

"Deserted in my utmost need,

By those my former bounty fed."

“With economy, which till now I was a stranger to, I have made shift hitherto to victual my little garrison, but then it has been with the aid of my good friends and allies-my clothes. This week's eating finished my last waistcoat, and next I must atone for my errors on bread and water.

"Themistocles had so many towns to furnish his tables, and a whole city bore the charge of his meals. In some respects I am like him, for I an furnished by the labours of a multitude. A wig has fed me two days; the trimmings of a waistcoat as long; a pair of velvet breeches paid my washerwoman; and a ruffled shirt has found me in shaving. My coats I swallowed by degrees; the sleeves I breakfasted upon for weeks; the body, skirts, &c., served me for dinner two months; my silk stockings have paid my lodgings, and two pair of new pumps enabled me to smoke several pipes. It is incredible how my appetite (barometer-like) rises in proportion as my necessities make their terrible advances. I here could say something droll about a stomach; but it is ill jesting with edgetools, and I am sure that is the sharpest thing about me. "You may think I can have no sense of my condition, at while I am thus wretched, I should offer at ridicule. t, sir, people constituted like me, with a dispropor

THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE.

421

tionate levity of spirits, are always most merry when they are most miserable; and quicken, like the eyes of the consumptive, which are always brightest the nearer a patient approaches to dissolution. However, sir, to show that I am not entirely lost to all reflection, I think myself poor enough to want a favour, and humble enough to ask it. Here, sir, I might make an encomium on your good nature, humanity, &c.; but I shall not pay so bad a compliment to your understanding, as to endeavour, by a parade of phrases, to win it over to my interest. If you could, any night at a concert, make a small collection for me, it might be a means of my obtaining my liberty; and you know, sir, the first people of rank abroad will perform the most friendly offices for the sick; be not therefore offended at the request of a poor (though deservedly punished) debtor.

"To Dr. Miller, Doncaster."

m

"G. A. STEVENS."

1. Repeat G. A. Stevens's humorous account of the produce of his wardrobe.

2. Who was Themistocles?

3. What does the writer say of people who have a disproportionate levity of spirits ?

LESSON CCCIII.

OCTOBER THE THIRTIETH.

The Hare and the Tortoise.

IN days of yore, when time was young,
When birds conversed as well as sung,
When use of speech was not confined
Merely to brutes of human kind;
A forward Hare, of swiftness vain,
The genius of the neighbouring plain,
Would oft deride the drudging crowd;
For geniuses are ever proud:

He'd boast, his flight 'twere vain to follow,
For dog and horse, he'd beat them hollow;
Nay, if he put forth all his strength,
Outstrip his brethren half a length.

A Tortoise heard his vain oration,

And vented thus his indignation:
"Oh, Puss! it bodes thee dire disgrace,
When I defy thee to the race.
Come, 'tis a match, nay, no denial;

I'll lay my shell upon the trial."

'Twas done, and done—all fair—a bet-
Judges prepared, and distance set.

The scampering Hare outstript the wind,
The creeping Tortoise lagg'd behind,
And scarce had pass'd a single pole,
When Puss had almost reach'd the goal.
"Friend Tortoise," quoth the jeering Hare,
"Your burden's more than you can bear;
To help your speed, it were as well
That I should ease you of

your
Jog on a little faster, pr'ythee;

shell;

I'll take a nap and then be with thee."
So said, so done; and safely sure;
For say, what conquest more secure?
Whene'er he waked, (that's all that's in it,)
He could o'ertake him in a minute.

The Tortoise heard his taunting jeer,
But still resolved to persevere,
Still drawl'd along, as who should say,
"I'll win, like Fabius, by delay:"
On to the goal securely crept,
While Puss, unknowing, soundly slept.
The bets were won, the Hare awoke,
When thus the victor Tortoise spoke :
"Puss, though I own thy quicker parts,
Things are not always done by starts;
You may deride my awkward pace,
But SLOW AND STEADY wins the race."

LESSON CCCIV.

OCTOBER THE THIRTY-FIRST.

The Bigoted Sceptic.

WHAT shall we say to that most extraordinary of all characters, a bigoted Sceptic? who resists the force of proof, where he has every temptation to be convinced; who ought to sigh for reputation, and to bless the man who has reasoned him to silence. Bigotry in him is pure, unadulterated vice. It is not the fear of losing an opinion on which his happiness depends, but the fear of losing an opinion, merely because it is an opinion; and this is the very essence of obstinacy and pride.

Where men pretend to nothing, the world is indulgent to their faults; but it well behoves those who lord it, in words and thoughts, over the rest of mankind, that they