must be made to pass into the body through the palms of the hands. The king was to play with the racket till perspiration was induced, which would be the proof that the secret medicine had been received into the system. It needs scarcely be added, that the sole object of the racket was to stimulate the king to bodily exercise; and the remedy was effectual so long as the prescription was followed.

In the retreat of the French army from Moscow, when no enemy was near, the soldiers became depressed in courage and enfeebled in body, so that they nearly sank to the earth from exhaustion and intense cold: But no sooner did the report of the Russian guns sound in their ears, than new life seemed to pervade them; and they wielded powerfully the arms which, a few minutes before, they could scarcely drag along the ground.

I was told the following fact by a Christian minister. A traveller crossing over the Alps in 1849, was so overcome by fatigue and cold, as to be no longer able to resist the powerful impulse of lying down, although he was fully conscious it would be fatal to go to sleep. Just at this moment he heard a groan, and rose to see whence it proceeded; when he found a fellow-traveller lying on the snow, overcome like himself by the cold. He was instantly stimulated with a desire to save the dying man, and began to rub his limbs with the snow, till he himself glowed with his own exertions. After a time he saw the eyes of the dying man open, he heard the sigh of returning animation, he renewed his labour with greater vigour, felt excited and strong; and had ultimately the unspeakable pleasure of accompanying his fellow-traveller to his journey's end. The Scripture says, "he that watereth hall be watered also himself;" so was it in this case; the labour of love" that saved the dying man, supplied the glow which restored him also who administered it.

So influential is nervous stimulus, that it has sometimes given life and vigour to paralytic limbs: this has happened in cases of shipwrecks, fires, sea-fights, assaults, &c.

Dr. Sparrman (after describing the fatigue and exhaus

tion which he and his party endured in their travels at the Cape) adds, "yet what even now appears to me a matter of wonder is, that as soon as we got a glimpse of the game, all languor left us in an instant."

I was told the following little incident while writing the present theme. Mr. Farley of Exeter, taking a walk with his three young children, had so tired them that they began to cry with fatigue, and could not proceed further: as they were still some way from home, and it was impossible to carry all three, he hit upon the following device. He cut four sticks off the hedge, and striding one himself, began to canter and caper about; the children soon followed the same example, and ran home astride their sticks, laughing and shouting for joy, now trying to catch their papa, and now calacoling as they saw him do.

Dr. Andrew Combe relates the following anecdote. An Englishman who suffered from a nervous depression, and fancied himself too ill to stir, was persuaded to go from London to the north of Inverness to consult an eminent physician: the stimulus of expecting the means of cure enabled the invalid to bear the journey down. When he reached Inverness he found that no such person existed, as he had come to consult, and his rage at finding himself hoaxed sustained him in returning; but on his arrival at home, his disease had left him. Mental stimulus was the eminent physician that effected the cure.

Sportsmen, cricketers, golfers, skaters, the rowers in a boat race, and others who are moved by any strong mental impulse, will undergo without fatigue such an amount of bodily labour, as the strongest frame without some incentive to action would sink under.

Every body knows how wearisome it is to saunter and loiter about without any definite object to attain; and how unprofitable a walk taken against the inclination, merely for the sake of exercise, always is, compared to the same amount of exertion made in pursuit of an object in which the mind feels an interest; as, for example, in a dance, a game, a romp, an ascent of a mountain, and so on,

QUOTATIONS.

The conversation of a friend is a powerful alleviation of the fatigue of walking.—Dr. A. Combe.

Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est.

Faith in a cure abets the physician, by giving a cheerful nervous stimulus to the muscles of the body.-Dr. A. Combe.

The nerves serve for the conveyance of the motive faculty from the brain.- Wilkins.

The healthful results of cheerful exertion will never be obtained, where the nervous impulse which animates the muscles is denied.-Dr. A. Combe.

The labour we delight in physics pain.
A willing heart makes nimble fingers.
A willing horse needs no spur.

CONCLUSION.-Hence . . . .

THEME XIII. Knowledge is power.

INTRODUCTION.-A mind well informed is possessed of great influence.

1ST REASON.Because it has command over the reason, belief, and understanding of men: by which means it leads captive their will; and the will directs the actions of the human machine.

2ND REASON. It inspires confidence in those whose co-operation is required, without which the wisest schemes are often frustrated.

3RD REASON.-It disarms opposition, and prevents obstacles being thrown in the way to impede or thwart the plan suggested.

4TH REASON.-It gives the mind mastery over its own devices, so that it can comprehend and handle them with the familiarity and skill of a master-workman.

5TH REASON.-It inspires that full assurance of success, which arins the mind with energy and indomitable courage to persevere to the end.

6TH REASON. It conceives the means of accomplishing the object in hand, and is able to suggest devices in eases of unexpected difficulty.

7TH REASON.-It lays all science, art, and nature under tribute; and makes them fellow-workers and obedient servants.

SIMILES.-A rudder guides a ship whithersoever it

wills.

Edge on a scythe is better than strength in the mower. The power of knowledge may be likened to the regulator of a watch.

It may also be compared to a lever, which is the simplest of all mechanical contrivances, but will lift enormous weights by a wise arrangement of the fulcrum.

A mass of men without knowledge may be compared to a train of locomotives without a steam engine. There is every means of transit complete, except the motive power.

The power of gunpowder in blasting rocks is infinitely more efficacious than all the brute force that can be applied.

Knowledge is like the key of a complex lock; its appliance to the wards would be more efficacious in shooting the bolts than the strength of a giant.

An automaton cannot be made to imitate the motions of living beings, or perform the functions designed by the artist, by the application of extraneous force or any amount of physical violence; but when the secret springs are set in motion, it is instantly obedient.

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.-Demosthenes, by his orations, swayed the whole Athenian people according to his will.

Cicero, by his wisdom and oratory, put Catiline to flight, and carried with him the co-operation of all the senate and people of Rome, although many were the secret favourers of the conspiracy.

Antony, by his oratory, turned the admiration of the Roman people for Brutus and his conspirators to open hostility and rancorous vengeance.

Sheridan, by his eloquence in the House of Commons on the celebrated trial against Warren Hastings, so carried away the minds of all present, that they were obliged to adjourn in order to recover from the effect before they pronounced judgment.

When Carneades the philosopher went to Rome, Cato the Censor gave counsel in the open senate, that he should be sent back to Greece with all despatch, or he would enchant the minds of the Romans, and sway them at his will.

Amphion and Orpheus owe to the power of their wisdom, what the poets ascribe to the magic of their music.

Menenius Agrippa, by his wise fable of the "Belly and its Members," quelled the dangerous insurrection which threatened destruction to the infant republic of Rome; and brought back the seceders to the city to protect the very people they had designed to destroy.

Cecrops by the power of wisdom raised the Athenians from rude barbarity to civilised life.

Cæsar, by his address and knowledge of the human mind, more than once restored his rebellious soldiers to obedience, and made them ardently attached to his person, and devoted to his cause.

Ulysses by his wisdom contributed more to the capture of Troy, than Ajax by his strength, Agamemnon by his sovereignty, or Achilles by his courage.

Archimedes, by his wisdom; did more to stave off Mar