but sure; ear-rings have at last followed nose-rings to the receptacle of things lost upon earth. Patches and "paint an inch thick" long since disappeared, and plucking the eye brows is now little practised among the ladies, except by those of the South Sea Islands. Little by little, and step by step, it is discovered that nature can make up a tolerably good-looking head and face, without having the aid of art to furnish up her handy work. This, however, has not been established completely as regards the body, but that the time will come, say in a century or two, when that problem will be solved in the affirmative, is not to be doubted, and curved spines and dyspepsia, liver complaints and consumptions, will be no longer incurred, in the attempt to teach dame nature the proper method of shaping the human frame. We are first in the race of human civilization, though our education is not finished, as they say at boarding schools; and by looking at those behind us, we may see the gradations through which we have passed. The American Indians flatten the heads of their children to give them a genteel appearance. The people of Japan blacken their teeth; and ear-rings, and nose-rings, and toe

rings, as well as armlets and anklets, are fashionable among those styled savages in all countries. Of these we are much in advance, as is proved by the gradual abandonment of ear-rings, which will be thorough, now that the fashionables of England have given them up. In a few years it will be thought as ungenteel to be seen with such pendants, as it would for a lady to walk up Regent-street in the finery of an Esquimaux bride-dipped in train oil, and clothed in the entrails of a whale; such being the method adopted by the fair of that tribe to render themselves peculiarly attractive to their lovers.

HARMONY.-He who cultivates peace with others does them a kindness; but he does himself a greater, by the returns to his own breast. If you brighten a knife, it will smooth the stone on which you brighten it. This is the case with nations; they who promote it find happy returns. War is the reverse. The life

of a man is a serious thing, it is his all, and ought not to be wantonly trifled away. War is one of the greatest plagues of man; and I am sorry it is a plague much courted. A bleeding man and bleeding nation take long to recover.-W. Hutton.

DR. PRINGLE.-Solomon has said, "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit." Perhaps this has seldom been done in a more happy way than in the following occurrence:-Some years ago, as the late Rev. Dr. Pringle, of Perth, was taking a walk one summer afternoon upon the Inch, two young beaux took it into their heads to break a jest upon the old parson. Walking briskly up to him, they asked him if he could tell them what was the colour of the devil's wig? The worthy clergyman, surveying them attentively a few seconds, made the following reply:-"Truly here is a most surprising case, two men have served a master all the days of their life, and can't tell the colour of his wig!"

GEORGE THE THIRD.-"The king and queen have suffered infinitely from the loss of the sweet little prince, who was the darling of their hearts (Prince Octavius). I was charmed with an expression of the king's: Many people,' said he, would regret they ever had so sweet a child, since they were forced to part with him. This is not my case; I am thankful to God for having graciously allowed me to enjoy such a creature for four years.' Yet his sorrow was very great."-Hannah More.

A SEA-BULL.-An Irishman who served on board a man-of-war in the capacity of a waister, was selected by one of the officers to haul in a tow-line of considerable length, which was towing over the taffrail. After drawing in forty or fifty fathoms, which had put his patience, as well as every muscle of his arms, severely to the proof, he muttered to himself, "Sure, it's as long as to-day and to-morrow; it's a good week's work for any five in the ship. Bad luck to the arm or leg it'll lave me at last. What! more of it yet! Och, murder! the sea's mighty deep, to be sure." After continuing in a similar strain, and conceiving there was little probability of the completion of his labour, he suddenly stopped short, and addressing the officer of the watch, exclaimed, "Bad manners to me, sir, if I don't think somebody's cut off the other end of it."

FAMILY NAMES.-Henry Fielding being in company with the Earl of Denbigh, with whose family his own was closely connected, his lordship asked the reason why they spelt their names differently; the earl's family doing it with the e first (Feilding), and Mr. Henry with the i first (Fielding). "I cannot tell, my lord," answered the great novelist, "except it be

that my branch of the family were the first that knew how to spell."

MILLER AND HERSCHEL.-About the year 1760, as Dr. Miller, the organist, was dining at Pontefract, with the officers of the Durham militia, one of them, knowing his love of music, told him they had a young German in their band as a performer on the hautboy, who had only been a few months in England, and yet spoke English almost as well as a native, and who was also an excellent performer on the violin. The officer added, that if Miller would come into another room, this German should entertain him with a solo. The invitation was gladly accepted, and Miller heard a solo of Giardini's executed in a manner that surprised him. He afterwards took an opportunity of having some private conversation with the young musician, and asked him whether he had engaged himself for any long period to the Durham militia? The answer was, "Only from month to month." "Leave them, then,' said the organist, "and come and live with me. I am a single man, and think we shall be happy together; and doubtless your merit will soon entitle you to a more eligible situation." The offer was accepted as frankly as it was made; and the reader may imagine with what satisfaction Dr. Miller must have remembered this act of generous feeling, when he hears that this young German was Herschel the astronomer.— The Doctor.

ANCIENT CUSTOM.-It is well known that the Bishops, when signing their names, use the old Latin appellations, or abbreviations of them, for their sees, instead of the English ones: thus, Ebor. stands for York, Cantuar. for Canterbury, Vigorn. for Worcester, and Exon. for Exeter. Some well-meaning people are occasionally much perplexed by these subtleties. When the princess Charlotte was labouring under an indisposition, the bishop of Salisbury sent frequent inquiries to her Scotch physician, signing himself "J. Sarum." The doctor, unversed in these niceties, observed to a friend, that he had been pestered with notes from ane Jean Sarroom, that he ken'd nothing aboot. I tak' nae notice o' the fellow," said he.

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A NUMEROUS class of ancient heathen entertained an opinion, that the invisible God abandoned the affairs of men entirely to themselves. They persuaded themselves that it must be inconsistent with his dignity to notice, and incompatible with his happiness to concern himself in, the transactions and objects of this lower world; that his habitation was so immeasurably remote, and his felicity so essentially dependent on undisturbed repose, that the character and condition of men never shared for a moment his divine regards. They absurdly argued from their own limited capacity to his infinite perfection; and because they found that the more independent they could render their contrivances of their subsequent care, the more they were at liberty for new contrivances and pursuits, they transferred the same ideas to the infinite God; forgetting that the perfection of an uncircumscribed essence consists partly in pervading and superintending all things, and yet being absolutely independent and happy.

This was approaching the consummation of their misery and guilt. For, by this virtual annihilation of the Divine Being, they destroyed every adequate restraint on vice, every encouragement to virtue, and every ground of substantial consolation to distress. The vicious might sin on without dreading his frown; the virtuous might practise self-denial, and aim at improvement, without hoping to obtain his smile; and had all the sufferers which the world contained sent up one united groan, one imploring supplication for relief, they would only have been giving their breath to the winds. They voluntarily reduced themselves to the blank and cheerless estate of being "without hope," because "without God, in the world."

How different the view of his character and conduct is that which divine revelation supplies! It draws aside the veil which concealed his glory from our eyes, and shows him in his high and holy place, not in a state of silence and solitude, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, each of them waiting to do his bidding; not in a state of moral inactivity, but in active communication with every part of his vast dominions, through a thousand different channels; not in a state of apathy, regardless of earth and all its multifarious concerns, but as actually bending towards it, listening to every sound it utters, observing the conduct of every being it contains, and approving or condemning every action which it exhibits; it even shows him to us in the astonishing act of raising up the fallen and prostrate children of earth, and putting them in the way of reaching his own abode.

Deferring, for the present, a detailed consideration of the evidence on which the doctrine of a universal providence rests, I will merely re[No. 4. JAN. 25, 1837.-2d.]

VOL. I.

mind the reader that nature, with all its countless tribes and successive generations, can only be regarded as a part of the family of Providence; that prophecy is only a leaf from the book, a section of the great plan; that remorse is only a recognition of the doctrine of Providence; that the dread inspired by conscious guilt is only a repetition of Belshazzar's doom—a sight of the hand of Providence guiding the lightning before the sinner's eye; that prayer is an appeal to Providence; the final Judgment the winding up of Providence; and the eternal happiness of the saved, its ample and sublime results.

I will now only invite attention to the consolatory nature of the doctrine. It includes a species of consolation, indeed, even for the irreligious. Solemn thought! It assures them that if they will perish, their doom shall not commence a moment before it is righteously due, nor in the least degree exceed the severity which their guilt has deserved. Justice shall be done them. But to the Christian the doctrine is an unmixed consolation. He believes that the same providing mind which bestowed the unspeakable gift," is engaged to supply his daily bread; that the same kind and careful hand which led him away from the verge of the bottomless gulf, is employed in conducting him to heaven. And can he believe this? can he realize to himself the cheering truth that he is living in the hand of God, and not be solaced by it? If this truth had been revealed, and brought to you to-day, reader, for the first time-if your affairs had hitherto engaged no attention but your own, and it had to-day been revealed to you that from this moment God would watch over them, that he intended to treat them as a part of his own affairs, that he had actually taken the management of them into his own hands, would not the report bring you relief, and fill you with delight?

Go to a person who is in the last extremity of want and wretchedness; tell him that his situation has excited the sympathy of those who will befriend him; inform him that they are persons high in rank, and great in resources; and that they have never been known to abandon a benevolent object when once they have adopted it; tell him this-and, if he can bring himself to believe tidings so joyful, will he not feel that his wants are at an end, and be ready to give a loose to exclamations of delight? But though such a case were to occur; nay, more, though the individuals who befriended him were the most distinguished on the face of the earth, philanthropists, philosophers, and kings; and though they were daily to meet in solemn deliberation on nothing but his affairs; and were to place the whole of their resources for his use, what would it all be, great as it seems, compared with the fact, that the great God himself takes

E

the charge of our affairs? How insignificant to have a few fellow-creatures assume the management of our concerns, liable as they are to err, weak in their utmost strength, and unable to aid us when most we need assistance-compared with the superintending providence of the allwise, almighty, all-sufficient God, infinite, immutable, and eternal! Yet this is the privilege of the Christian.

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With the psalmist, he can say,

My times are in thy hands;" in higher than human, higher than angelic hands; they are in thy hands, who art the Lord both of angels and men. They are not conducted at a distance, not indirectly managed, or indistinctly known, they are" in the Lord's hands." Had he powers of vision to pierce to the throne of God, and could he look on all that passes there, he would see that his affairs are represented there as distinctly and as fully as are those of the loftiest archangel that stands in the presence of God. He would behold there the "book of remembrance;" and had he power to inspect its sacred pages, he would find a page devoted to his special interest -a page in which his name is written, his character delineated, his history recorded, and the very hairs of his head numbered.

"We know

that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose."

And as if this doctrine did not afford consolation enough, the Saviour of the world draws near, and says to all who have believed, “ask what ye will, let not the fact of a Providence keep you from the throne of benevolence; for while its plans secure to you whatever is necessary to your safety, they secure to you all that is essential to your enjoyment also, provided you desire it: "ask what ye will, and it shall be done." He is aware that he can safely leave them to the free expression of their desires, and the choice of their blessings; that he may safely intrust them with the keys of his vast resources, and give them access to all his treasures. They are so sensible of their own ignorance of what is best for them, that, like Solomon, when allowed to ask what he chose, they would first ask for wisdom to make the choice. They are so satisfied with his wise and beneficent Providence, that they would refer the choice of their blessings back again to himself; saying with the Psalmist, "Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us."

THOUGH We are not sure that those who are commanded to "stand at ease" are always at ease" when they stand," yet, for a reason which will presently appear, we have alluded to this subject, at the same time cordially wishing that, by the total abolition of armies and work for them, all mankind may be allowed to "stand at ease;" or, otherwise, to "rest at ease," as may be most agreeable to their own personal feelings.

The reason to which we have alluded will be found in a passage which we shall quote from a Treatise on "Animal Mechanics," published under the superintendence of the Society for the "Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," as it expresses itself, and published anonymously, or rather under the sanction of about eighty names of some weight and authority, as committeemen, central or local. This parade of names was, we believe, put forth for the express purpose of extinguishing all independent literary and scientific men, in order that their places might be supplied by needy members or dependents of the community. It is needless to add, that the society has failed in this: it was a little behind the age at the beginning; and its apparent steps have been what is, in the terse language of the army, called "marking time;" that is, first throwing out one leg and then another, but drawing them back again, and never budging an inch.

This, however, does not remove from the Society the blame of any thing erroneous, either in fact or in velocity, which may have been, or

which may be published, under the weight of their authority.

As we do not observe the name of a single military man in the list of the committee, as existing at the time when this treatise on "Animal Mechanics," or, to speak more correctly, this "Animal Treatise on Mechanics," was published, we suppose the committee had in view that consummation which we ourselves so earnestly desire, namely, the total abolition of war; and that they saw meet to undermine the soldier while standing at ease," by bringing the blunderbuss of false philosophy to bear upon his footing,

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The passage to which we allude is in the following words :-" The posture of a soldier under arms, when his heels are close together, and his knees straight, is a condition of painful restraint. Observe, then, the change in the body and limbs when he is ordered to stand at ease; the firelock falls against his relaxed arms, the right knee is thrown out, and the tension of the ankle joint of the same leg is relieved, whilst he loses an inch and a half of his height, and sinks down upon his left hip. This command to "stand at ease," has a higher authority than the general orders. It is a natural relaxation of all the muscles, which are, consequently, relieved from a painful state of exertion, and the weight of the body bears so upon the lower extremity, as to support the joints independently of muscular effort."—Animal Mechanics, p. 19.

It would be extremely difficult to find, in any

In

other book whatever, so many blunders in so short a passage as this; and the committee of the Society for the "Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" are highly reprehensible for having suffered it to get into circulation. In the first place, when a soldier stands at "attention," that is, bearing equally upon both his legs, with the heels together, and the axes of the feet forming an angle of sixty degrees, this is not "a condition of painful restraint," but one in which the human body can remain longer than in any other, though a little training is required in order to this. the second place, when a soldier stands at ease, he never draws back his left foot for the purpose of relaxing the "tension of the right ankle." He | does the very reverse: he draws back the right foot, until the bend of it is against the left heel, throws the weight of his body upon the right leg, and thus relieves the left side. In the third place, "standing at ease" is not a mere relief from " standing at attention," except to raw recruits and members of the awkward squad, beyond which it does not appear that the military experience of the author of this treatise could possibly have extended.

The authors of the system of military training may possibly not have been philosophers capable of writing a treatise on animal mechanics, or a Bridgewater treatise on the Hand, but assuredly it is not on this account the more probable that they were fools. They knew the means of economizing the muscular power of the soldier ; and they have applied those means in a way from which Sir Charles Bell himself, notwithstanding the mighty volume of his animal science might take a lesson.

The right side of the soldier is, to use a homely expression, the professional side of the soldier, and the left is the pioneering side. The right hand primes, loads, and fires; the right shoulder is the rest or great point of support in firing, and in order to give it effect, the right foot is drawn backward and turned out; and in like

manner the right haunch is the point of rest in charging with the bayonet; both in firing and in the charge, the left hand acts the part only of a stay to steady the musket against its rest. The left side, again, always carries the musket except upon very particular occasions, and those of skirmishing parties, when they have to run in advance or retreat. When the soldier is long under arms, and carrying his musket with the butt in the left hand, the strain upon the left side is considerable. The elbow joint and the hand are relieved by supporting the musket, by bringing the left hand across the breast, with the projecting parts of the lock above the arm. This, however, does not relieve the left side; and therefore, like the former position, it cannot be very long continued without injuring the efficiency of the man. In so far as the musket is concerned, the left side is relieved by ordering arms, that is bringing it down to the ground with the butt parallel to the right foot. Even then, however, the left leg remains under considerable disadvantage, as the right side does not partake in the previous fatigue of the shouldered musket; and therefore, in order to give the left side all the relief which is consistent with a soldier standing in a line, the right foot is drawn back, and the weight of the body thrown chiefly upon it, while the left side is in a relaxed and easy position. This is the real mode of standing at ease, and the reason why it is done; and we have alluded to it from no desire to praise or encourage drilling or soldiering in any way whatever; but because the account of it which we have quoted is totally incorrect, and shows that the author has quite misunderstood the subject, and should correct it in some future edition, lest some ungentle critic should say he is

"Old dog at physiology:

But as a dog that turns a spit,
Bestirs himself, and plies his feet,
To mount the wheel, but all in vain-
His own weight brings him down again."

GRIEF! grief! 'tis thy symbol, so mute and clear,
Yet it hath a tale to the listening ear,
Of the nurse's care, and the curtain'd bed,
And the baffled healer's cautious tread,
And the midnight lamp, with its fitful light
Half screen'd from the restless sufferer's sight;
Yes, many a sable scene of woe

Does that muffled knocker's tablet show.

Pain! pain! art thou wrestling here with man
For the broken goal of his wasted span?
Art thou straining the rack on his starting nerve,
Till his firmest hopes from their anchor swerve;
Till burning tears from his eye-balls flow,
And his manhood yields in a shriek of woe?
Methinks thy scorpion sting I trace

Through the mist of that sullen knocker's face?

KNOCKER.

Death death! do I see thee with weapon dread?
Art thou laying thy hand on yon cradle bed?
The mother is there, with her sleepless eye,
She disputeth each step of thy victory;
She doth fold the child in her soul's embrace,
Her prayer is, to be in her idol's place;
She hath bared her breast to thine arrow's sway,
But thou wilt not be bribed from that babe away.

Earth earth! thou dost stamp on that scroll of bliss
The faithless seal of a traitor's kiss,

Where the bridal lamp shone clear and bright,
And the feet through the maze of her dance was light.
Thou biddest the black-robed weeper kneel,
And the heavy hearse roll its lumbering wheel :
And still to the heart that will heed its lore,
True wisdom doth speak from the muffled door.
L. H. S.