press upon each other, that numbers fell A DREAM OF LIFE. My vision travelled with them, and I saw, at the end of this road, a thick-set hedge that divided it from the plains. This hedge extended on either side the portals of a massive door that afforded one means of entrance to the plains beyond. Many youths paused before this obstacle in their path. To the touch of a golden key some carried at their girdles the ponderous gate swung upon its hinges. Hanging upon the skirts of these fortunate possessors of the golden keys, some were dragged through, and others slipped craftily by when Opportunity beckoned. By the gate stood "Worldly Wisdom," wooing the youths with subtle sophistries to fawn upon the owners of those keys and so gain admittance. Round the gateway that so readily admitted the rich I saw a crowd of forms that pressed forward to welcome them with numerous devices. There was Slothful-ease, with her dreamy music and voluptuous enticements; Pleasure, in tawdry finery, with her attendant maidens, radiant in tinse and paint; alluring Speculation; Gambling, reckless and enticing, with the jovial spirit of the wine-cup. From the background, heavyeyed Dissipation, gross Sensuality, and Vice, in her unhallowed rags, looked on, marking their victims. At intervals over the plains rose golden shrines, where numerous votaries bent the knee to Mammon, the great god of the plains. I watched the sacrifice of most precious objects upon his altars. Parents offered up pure bright-eyed girls; youths who had been most indefatigable in overcoming the obstacles that beset their entrance to the plains, here laid down their early vows of love and duty; maidens bartered their consciences for coronets, and love for convenience; hardfeatured old men gave up their souls to the god; and mothers even laid their babes upon the sacrificial altars. No heathen barbarism could ever be compared in monstrosity to this Mammon-worship on these Christian plains. Christian! how few of the attributes of that most elo My eye roved away from the gateway but once, and that in a bye-path amongst " light, that cast a glorious refulgence around. I then saw that though Turmoil and Strife might be in the plains, Truth gleamed upon the heights-Truth, glorious, immortal! with fair dissembling amongst men. Dis- upon the brow of a distant mountain, simulation and Artifice reigned in the gleamed a solitary beacon-a calm, steady councils of the wise, and Political Craftiness kept the people in subjection. I saw those who could fawn, lie, steal, yet hide these sins under a cloak of professing goodness, elevated to the highest offices in the temples of Religion and Legislature on the plains, while Truth's simple votaries were ousted even from their rights. Religion, or what passed as such, walked amongst the crowd with hands raised and eyes upturned in indignation; yet the worst crimes of all were committed under that desecrated namehonour violated, confidence betrayed; she preached the cardinal virtues and practised the cardinal sins. The glare and heat of the plains, the incessant strife, the uproarious din, made my brain burn and my spirit sicken. Alas! for life, if this were all ! "Where are they," I cried, "the fresh, bright youths of the morning, so eager for the struggles and the contests of life, with hearts beating in harmony with the truth and beauty of nature?" Echo laughed at my query. I looked amidst the haunts of Trafficthere I beheld several at the desk, worldly interest in their eyes, worldly wisdom on their brows, callous worldliness at their hearts. They had annexed heart and soul to Traffic, instead of making that subservient to their bodily wants. I recognised others amongst the studious burners of the midnight oil, and found that the inordinate love of fame and approbation had crushed out the simpler love of virtue and right. The plains had become a standard by which men were judged, and I saw great minds that trembled more for this condemnation, than for the condemnation of the law of right and wrong implanted within their own souls. Oh, life! life! eternal life! Are these thy ends, these thy aims? Is there nothing greater, more glorious, than selfaggrandisement? My soul sank within me, my head drooped with very heart sickness, when a stray zephyr flitting by, left a whisper in my ear, "Look to the heights!" I raised my eyes from the plains: there, Around the beacon-fire flitted shadowy forms-they were those of the few noble souls who had triumphed over the trials and temptations of the plains, and hence. forward their mission was to keep burning and bright the clear light of truth. And now, from the eminence, I saw how many this light had guided and was guiding through the circuitous paths of the plains-how many single-minded men shaped their course by that alone. These I had passed over in my review of the plains, for they had been content with humbly fulfilling their duties, craying no outward significance because of the light and glory within; reading their mission in plants and streams, ay, even in the grass trodden beneath their feet. I felt the fire of that mission glow within. Life was the glorious reality I had imagined it. We may stand beside the grave of our dearest hopes-we may bid our most cherished friends farewellthe bright form of our youth may be no more, and the solemn bell may toll for our parting breath-still have we joy, hope, and triumph, for truth is grounded upon eternal hills. Truth-glorious, golden, gleaming Truth-is immortal! MAGGIE SYMINGTON. "O THOU poor authorling! Reach a little deeper into the human heart! Touch those strings, those deeper strings, and more boldly, or the notes will die away in whis own! And to cheer thy solitary labour, pers, and no ear shall hear them save thine remember that the secret studies of an author are the sunken piers upon which to rest the bridge of his fame, spanning the dark waters of oblivion. They are out of síght, but without them no superstructure can stand secure."-Longfellow. "THE one half of success, in almost any enterprise, springs from the patient, pru which it appears to depend; and all the dent performance of every condition on other half, in many cases, no less certainly, springs from warmly expecting, and firmly determining to achieve it." GLEANINGS FROM MANY FIELDS. THE TEMPERAMENTS. "There are four temperaments, choleric and sanguine, active; phlegmatic and melancholic, passive. Sanguine is characterised by activity; choleric by force; phlegmatic by inertness; melancholic by sensibility. In sanguine and choleric the outline is convex; phlegmatic and melancholic outline with concavities. "SANGUINE.-Convexities united by angles; features, salient; complexion, pink; hair, red and crisped; light of the eye, sparkling; colour blue; voice, sharp; movements, agile and with elasticity; attitudes, with spring, bird-like, constant in motion. "PHLEGMATIC. The body bears a large proportion to the limbs, and the plain of the face to the features; complexion, sodden; features, sunk, not well formed; hair, hempen and lank; eye, open, dull, grey in colour; eyebrows, an unmeaning arch; cheeks, pendulous; lips, thick, without coarse expression; voice, uninflected and deep; attitude, without gesticulation; light of the eyes, tranquil. "The sanguine will be an entertaining companion, not deep. "The choleric à brave champion, not tender. "The melancholic, a warmly attached friend. "The phlegmatic, ballast, rest. "It is always desirable there should be an active and passive temperament. The character is likely to be poor without this union. If there are only the two passive temperaments the character is without spring, and little able to help itself. If the two active, there is little quiet or rest between the violence of the cholerie and the restlessness of the sanguine. The finest characters generally possess all four temperaments From Life of Mrs. Shimmelpenninck. "CHOLERIC.-The muscles strongly defined; complexion bilious; eyes dark; light flashing; nostrils, well pronounced: hair, black and curled strongly; gestures, violent; voice, deep and harsh; shaggy "CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI.-The son of eyebrows; the mouth closes determinately, an humble tradesman, he commenced jaw-bone marked forcibly. his early career as a librarian. His birth - place was Bologna. When an obscure priest in the North of Italy, he was called upon to confess some criminals who were to suffer death next day. They proved to be foreigners condemned for piracy, and he found himself utterly unable to hold any intercourse with them. Overwhelmed with grief at this unlooked-for impediment, he retired to his home, spent the night in studying their language, and the next morning confessed them in their own tongue wherein they were born.' Such, at least, is the common story told here, and his friends ascribe his success to miraculous assistance which was afforded him, as a reward for his zeal in the discharge of his holy office. From that time his talent rapidly developed. His knowledge of languages seemed to be almost intuitive, for he acquired them without the least apparent difficulty. At the age of thirty-six he is said to "That a choleric temperament will have have read twenty, and to have concombativeness, distinctivenesss, and self-versed fluently in eighteen languages. At esteem-little veneration. "MELANCHOLIC.-Features in a concave basis; cheekbone flat, without muscular constriction; white manifest under the iris of the eye; hair, lank, dark in colour; voice, unsubstantial, susceptible of modulation; chest falls in; limbs long in proportion to their figure; light of the eye, melting; attitude, pensile. "It is probable that a sanguine temperament will have much approbation and hope, little circumspection, generally more knowing than reflecting faculties. "That the melancholic will be prone to caution and acquisitiveness, generally having ideality or causality, and large ad hesiveness. "The phlegmatic will probably exhibit more reflective than knowing faculties, with equable distribution of the organs, without much ideality or comparison. the present time (1818) he speaks forty-two! When complimented on the subject of his acquirements he sometimes answers - Do not mention it. I am only a dictionary badly bound.' Lady Blessington remarked that she did not believe he had made much progress in the literature of the forty-two languages, but was rather like a man who spent his time in manufacturing keys to palaces, which he had not time to enter. I inquired if this were true. Try him,' was the reply; and I endeavoured to do so. I led him, therefore, to talk of Lord Byron and his works, and then of English literature generally. He gave me, in course of conversation, quite a discussion on the question, which was the golden period of the English language; and, of course, fixed on the days of Addison. He drew a comparison between the characteristics of the French, Italian, and Spanish languages; spoke of Lockhart's translations from the Spanish, and incidentally referred to various other English writers."-DR. KIP. "How often has the cloud, that to my fearful eye had gathered blackness, been tinged with light before it approached me! How often have the deep waters, which I fancied must have even gone over my soul, been caused to go back, and appeared as a wall on my right hand and my left, making that a defence which I feared would prove a danger, and testifying to the hardness of my heart, and the goodness of my God, who proved better to me than all my fears, and showed me how needless were all my anxieties." "VARIETY OF TREES.-Some trees attain to a prodigious height and thickness; and after they have stood a hundred years, they annually increase in circumference, while others arrive at their full growth in a very short time. Pliny beheld with admiration these large trees, the shell and bark of which were sufficiently large to be formed into sloops, containing 30 persons. What, then, would he have said to those of Congo, the cavities of which make vessels to hold 200 men?-or the trees which, if we may believe the account of travellers, are eleven feet in diameter, and can bear the weight of 400 or 500 stone? There are some of this species at Malabar, which are computed to be fifty feet in circumference. The cocoa-tree, a sort of palm-tree, is of this kind, and some of them bear leaves which will cover fifty people. The tulipot, which flourishes in the island of Ceylon, and for its gigantic height resembles the mast of a ship, is equally famous for its leaves; so immense are their size, that it is said one of them will securely shelter fifteen or twenty men from the rain; and when dried, they are so useful that they may be folded up like fans, are extremely light, and appear no longer than a man's arm. On Mount Libanus are still to be seen twenty-three old cedars, which are supposed to have escaped the Deluge (?). A learned person, who saw them, assures us that ten men could not encompass any one of them. They must, consequently, be 30 or 36 feet in circumference, which does not appear incredible, or disproportioned, for trees of some thousand years' standing. The great variety which we discover among trees leads me to observe the difference in mankind with respect to their situations in life: their various opinions, their talents, and the improvement they make of them. As there is not a tree in the forest which may not be beneficial to its owner, so there is not one member of society who is incapable of increasing the general good One, like of unshaken constancy. Another, who may the oak, is an example of intrepid fortitude not possess equal firmness, has a more gentle and complying disposition. He is as flexible as the willow, and yields to every zephyr. If his soul be virtuous he wi only give way in lawful, innocent, and inthese principles he will always embrace the different points. If he be not actuated by strongest side. However different the trees may be from each other, they are equally universe, are all cherished by the S the property of the great Sovereign of the beams, and refreshed by the same fruitful earth, warmed by the same enlivening showers. Would to Heaven that human beings, however different in other respects. would, with united hearts, acknowledge their equal dependance upon the power and beneficence of the Supreme Being as Hicreatures, and as being equally indebted t Him for their existence and support, a well as for those talents with which His infinite goodness has pleased to endow them. The lofty cedar, which rises with such majesty on the summit of Lebanon, s as equally nourished by the juices of the earth, and the refreshing rains, as the briar which springs at his feet; and so is the Divine blessing equally necessary to the happiness of the rich and the poor."C. C. Sturm. which is cut and squared for us, but that "DEFINITE work is not always that which comes as a claim upon the conscience. whether it is nursing in a hospital, or hem ming a pocket-handkerchief. The Church of God is built, we are told, of living stones, but it does not follow they are all to be of the same size, or that some may not be intended to fill up the holes and corners, and keep the others firmly together. It would! be a hard world to live in if there were none to do the odds and ends of work in it. Miss Sewell. HOW GREAT IS HIS GOODNESS!pied by a sky perpetually shrouded in leaden clouds-if the trees were always Ir a number of persons were suddenly clad in russet brown, and if the songs of asked "Which is the greatest proof of birds were never heard in them, we yet God's goodness in the natural world?" could live, and our health and our daily and an answer were as'suddenly demanded, comfort not be in the slightest degree the probability is, that the majority of affected. Therefore, humanly speaking, them would be utterly unable, or at least there appears no real reason why this very much puzzled, to give a satisfactory earth, on which we live, should have been reply; nor would this be in any way made so fair, but that our heavenly remarkable, for when we first consider Father condescended to consult our this question, how many instances spring pleasure and our happiness; He knew up in the mind, of mercies without end, that He had so constructed us, that blessings without number, daily and beauty would be delightful to us, and hourly bestowed upon us, crowding upon barrenness most distasteful, and so, in His the recollection, and at first glance ren- great mercy, He provided us with abundering it most difficult to decide which dant means for gratifying our tastes. really may be the greatest, the clearest, and the most wonderful proof of our heavenly Father's abounding goodness, as displayed in the world of nature. And besides this most obvious perplexity, different minds will doubtless vary in their theories on this subject; to some persons one especial blessing will appear the most wonderful, while to others another of a totally different character will seem most striking. In the spiritual world it is not so; there the one great proof of God's goodness shines out in unmistakable clearness and glory, even the gift of His beloved, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! And in the natural world also there is one supremely glorious gift, often little thought of and little heeded, and even when to some extent appreciated by the artist's eye and the poet's mind, frequently unrecognised as coming from Him "who giveth us all things richly to enjoy." After the fall of man, how easy would it have been for the Almighty and Allpowerful God to have so cursed the earth as to have withdrawn from it all external loveliness; and none could have cavilled at the justice of the sentence. Man had sinned wilfully and flagrantly; would it. have been too severe a punishment if his offended Maker had taken away from him for ever that beauty which had delighted his eyes, but which had failed to teach him grateful obedience to Him from whom the loving gift proceeded? Mrs. Beecher Stowe, in her "Sunny Memories," has remarked with some force, "that God could have caused fruit to grow without the coloured corolla of flowers in which to mature the seed;" "He could," she adds, "have formed it in good, strong, bushel baskets, had He been so disposed;" and this observation applies to many other things, fair, but common objects in the material creation. I mean the gift of beauty-the beauty Could He not cause the sun to set exists in all God's works; the beauty that without flooding the sky with glories imis lavished on this fair earth, with its possible to be described? Could He not goleran, stedfast mountains, its fair, peace- have contrived a rainbow without those ful valleys and "rejoicing streams," its soft and lovely hues that render it deradiant verdure, and its wealth of flowers lightful to look upon? Certainly He with their sweet, fresh fragrance and could! Surely, then, it is no small their lovely hues! If all this loveliness proof of His goodness, that besides probe not the greatest proof of God's good-viding all things necessary for life and ness in the natural world, certainly it is happiness, He has left us, despite our inone of the greatest-and why? Because gratitude, abundant traces of a sinless we could exist without it; it is not abso-Eden-a glorious wealth of beauty, free lutely essential, by any means, to our to all, if only they will look around comfort or to our well-being. If this them, as they tread the beaten track of earth were one flat, flowerless plain, cano- daily life. |