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hide thirty-six barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the parliament house ; and one of the party, named Guy Fawkes,

was to set fire to it, when the king and, * his parliament were met there next time; so that they might all be blown up.

This was to be on the fifth of Novem. ber; and all was ready : but something led them to suspect that all was not right. Indeed a hint is said to have been given of what was going on, by Lord Monteagle, who lived at Hornby Castle, in the vale of Lune. So they went to look at the cellars the night be. fore. And there they found Guy Faux with a lanthern and matches under his cloak! He was seized ; and the gunpowder was found under a heap of coals and wood. The other Papists engaged in this horrid work were found and taken; and they were all tried, found guilty, and executed.

How thankful we should be, that God did not suffer these cruel men to have their way! For if they had prospered, and Popery was now the religion of Eng. land, you would not be enjoying the blessing of a Bible in your own language; for the Popish Priests will not allow their people, either young or old, to read the Bible.

I trust there are many of my readers, who think that they could better part with any thing, than this blessed book which tells them of heaven, and of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners, who is the way to it.

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AN ENGLISH PEA, At one place,” says Captain Cruise, in his Journal of a ten months residence in New Zealand, "we found a number of people collected round an object, which seemed to attract great attention ; and which they told us, when we entered the circle, was tabbooed. It proved to be a plant of the common English Pea; and had been growing about two months. The seed that produced it had been found in the Coromandel: it was fenced round with little sticks, and the greatest care appeared to be taken of it.”

In this simple fact, we have a very natural picture of a people about to pass from a barbarous to a civilized state. In the former state, mankind subsist not by agriculture, but by the natụral productions of the earth, or by the chase. That the New Zealanders are now in a state of improvement, is evident from this little fact. Time was, when, far from cultivating the English pea, these savage sons of nature would have viewed it with unconcern or contempt.

It is related, that, when the Church Missionaries first broke ground for the growth of wheat in that southern island, the object of their labour was explained to the natives. · Bread or biscuit was shewn them; and they were told, that this food, which is esteemed highly by them, would repay the missionaries' toil. Their minds were filled with joy. The fields were tabbooed and the expected produce eagerly desired. In course of time, the blade appeared; but the na. tives, who in this, saw little likeness to the bread they had expected, were scarce. ly restrained from plucking up what they then viewed as useless weed. And even when the rich ear was yellowing in the sun, their disappointment and unbelief were expressed with all the wildness of their savage character. At length, the white man reaped, thrashed, ground,

kneaded, and baked of the produce of his crop; and the wondering savage owned the white man's words were true.

How interesting to contemplate the group round the English pea! Here, it might be said, the spear was turned into the pruning hock, and the sword into the ploughshare. The work of blood and murder, the chief delight of the New Zealander, was for a while put off, and his savage, yet noble, nature allured to a better train of thought.

But, are there none in this Christian land, who would do well to copy this alniost first step of the uncultivated man to a state of wisdom? Are there none in civilized England, who are prone to the most baneful passions ? Are there none, who have yet to learn, that those weeds, which are natural to the heart, must be rooted out, and the good seed sown, watered, and cherished there, ere it, like the English pea, can satisfy the utmost desire of the sower, or produce good fruit to the glory of Him who can alone give the increase ?- There surely are ; and the best among us may read a valuable lesson, even in the story of the group in New Zealand round an English

M. E. N.
Carlisle.

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NARROW ESCAPE. On the 26th of May last, two little boys, about ten years of age, one of whom was named Alexander Boissier, were watching goats together on the cragsy mountain of Tessone. They were amusing themselves in gathering wild sorrel, when young Boissier, unaware of the danger, advanced to the brink of a precipice called the Great Creek, where a rock had been hewn down to the depth of three hundred feet. The youth, creeping on all fours, attempted to pluck a fine sorrel which was growing on the side, when suddenly his hand slipped as he was drawing hiinself back, and the weight of his body was hurrying him down the frightful chasm; when grappling as he slided along, his foot was caught by a feeble piece of box, growing ont of the rock ; and he was held hang

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