when he also had a cloud over his mind, while meditating on life and death-he "went into the sanctuary of God; " light pierced his darkness; he returned to Eliza next day, with a lighter step

and a cheerfuller heart.

"Oh, Harry," she said, "how I have been longing for you to return! I want you to answer my question: Why did God make us men and women ?

66

"It was His pleasure, my dear, to do so, just as He has made the earth a globe, and surrounded it with an atmosphere." Yes, yes, I know all that very well. But what I want to know is what you would call the rationale of the question. I will put it another way-What sort of world would this be, if we had all been merely intellectual beings, without that division by which we are men and women?"

"All I can fancy of it is, that, in this case, human beings would have resembled a forest of pine-trees-dull, dark, and uniform." "Why, Harry, why? I want to know the reason why?" "This division of the human race into men and women may be termed the KALEIODOSCOPE of humanity. It is a comparatively simple matter, and yet it produces that apparently infinite variety which diversifies human existence. The relation of parent and child-the care of the father-the love of the mother-the affec

tion of the child-the attachment of brothers and sisters-family ties-social interests-national concerns-all spring from being men and women."

"Good, good-go on, Harry."

"Then that universe of mind which springs from the attachment of two such as we are-human love, the theme of so much thought and so much song-human love, given by God to adorn and elevate human existence, and which prevails in its noblest purity and power where man is most advanced in principle and in civilisation."

"Now, Harry, I begin to understand. Let me try if I can express myself philosophically, as you would say. The division of mankind into MEN and WOMEN is a great means to a great end -is it not?"

"Exactly the end being, the endowing our humanity with moral sentiments-with thought, feeling, hope, effort, love, fear, forbearance, tenderness, &c."

"But, Harry, there will be no men and women in a future state of existence?"

"No, Eliza, our Lord has assured us of that."

"Well, then, if there be no parents and children, no husbands and wives, no men and women to love and be loved, what state of existence will it be? There will be no hope, love, fear, as you express it; and what object can our division into men and women serve, when it perishes with this world?"

"Eliza, do you remember that passage in the Gospel where the Sadducees, who did not believe in a resurrection, came to our Lord with what they thought a puzzling question. They supposed a case, where, according to the Mosaic law, a woman had been married in succession to seven brothers; and then they tauntingly asked, whose wife she would be in the resurrection? What reply

did our Lord make?"

"I remember. He said, 'Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which are in heaven.''

"Mark the words, Eliza-'the POWER OF GOD.' The distinction of sex is the scaffolding of our MORAL existence; this life is but the first stage of our being; when our characters are built up, the scaffolding will be taken away, and then we enter on a nobler, a higher state."

"But, Harry, what I am afraid of is, that we will not know each other, or that at least we will become quite indifferent to each other."

"Nay, Eliza, nay! I rest perfectly satisfied that in a future state MEMORY will be like night, revealing in our constitution those innumerable things which the light of the present life dims or conceals; that love, first created by our connexion with an animal existence, will, when dissociated from it, act with a power of which we have no present idea; and that all the intellectual powers, expanding in a body freed from mere animal qualities, will make the human being a wonderful creature-one of the glories of God's universe!"

The vivid flashing of Eliza's eyes showed to Harry that her mind was in a state of peculiar excitement; he, therefore, retired, promising to return soon. During his absence, a thought took "Oh," said she to herself, “if possession of the girl's fancy. memory will be such a powerful reflector in a future state, how I should like to remember that I had been Harry's wife in this world!" Then suddenly blaming herself for being a mere selfish creature, she prayed, while the tears streamed from her eyes, that God would give her affectionate lover a good wife, after she was dead and gone!

But the idea became strong: the thought of being Harry's wife before she departed overcame all idea of singularity or of incongruity-she thought that if she died without bearing the name of "wife," she would depart from this breathing, bustling, working world, without a tie to link her memory even to the grave. She mentioned the idea to her mother, who could not comprehend her meaning, and thought disease had affected her brain. But when the mother mentioned it to Harry, he at once caught and comprehended the spirit of Eliza's wish. "Yes," said he, as he walked into the room, "yes, my own girl, you shall be Harry's wife before you die!

One morning a coach drove up to a church,-Harry and Eliza, his sister, and her mother stepped out, and so elastic were the movements of the bride that a casual spectator never would have imagined that she was already married to death. The proclaiming of the banns had attracted no attention, for it was done in a distant church, and not a soul, beyond the four individuals, was aware of the nature of this singular union. Several other couples were married at the same time; and as they all stood up, Eliza seemed amongst them a being of another world. She went through the ceremony without evincing symptoms of exhaustion; though, when she reached home, she fainted repeatedly, and it appeared as if her wedding-day was to be her last. Next day she was better; and a momentary delusion came over Harry's mind that she might still live. But the wife" felt that it was a delusion; she was done with this world, she said, and contented to be done with it"Harry, my own husband, remember me when I am dead!"

Two weeks after the wedding, it appeared evident that her departure was at hand. Harry and her mother sat up during the night, reading at intervals portions of the New Testament. The light of morning had begun to penetrate the window-blinds, when Eliza said, in a whispering but not a complaining tone, "Mother, my feet are very cold-oh, mother, I am becoming so cold!" and then the mother, whose heart was too dry for tears, made a sign to Harry that Death had of a certainty entered the chamber, and was hovering over the bed. "Where is Harry?" she murmured, and and he he took her hand in his. "Harry, read a verse to me;' repeated from memory, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." "Ah, that is good," she said; "science is very good, Harry, but that is worth all your science to me just now. Harry, come near me; I cannot see you-where are you?" "I am here, dear Eliza." "And mother?" Here, my child." "May God bless you both-Harry, call me WIFE before I die.” He leaned forward to whisper the affectionate word in her ear, and heard her muttering, "What we know not now, we shall know hereafter." Then a few incoherent expressions followed; a gentle sigh, and one or two sobs; and just as the rays of the sun illuminated the apartment, the spirit of a noble creature departed.

ANCIENT GREEK AGRICULTURE AND ARTS. THE arable land of Greece was, even in Homer's time, fully occupied, well cultivated, and therefore highly valued. Boundaries were ascertained by accurate measurement, and watched over with a jealous attention to the rights of property. Great labour was expended on the erection of mounds for the purpose of resisting the inroad of torrents from the hills. For in such a mountainous country, babbling waterfalls were often suddenly swelled into floods, which, if not diverted from the fields, would have swept away the harvest, flocks, and cottages of the husbandmen. Wheat seems to have been the object of most general attention; spelt, white barley, and oats, were also extensively grown: nor were sweet herbs and the lotus-grass neglected. In some of the islands and the more favourable vales of the continent, particularly in Thrace, the vine and olive were reared, to the exclusion almost of any other produce. The wine of Ismarus was peculiarly famous for its strength; indeed, so much so, as to induce a belief that it was impregnated with a spirit obtained by distillation from grain. The plough which the husbandmen used seems to have been of the most simple form; such as was prevalent in England before the improvements commenced. It was drawn generally by a pair of oxen, where the glebe was light; but where the fallow was deep, mules were preferred. These were urged to exertion by the goad, and were divided by the standard of a double yoke, formed of wood, and smoothly polished, in order that the animals might suffer no injury from constant friction. Fallows were much used; for experience had not yet taught the husbandman to repair the exhaustion of one crop by the substitution of another. These lazy fields were ploughed three and four times; and where they were extensive, several teams were employed at the same time. A picture of such a busy scene is presented to us in the Odyssey, where a man stands at the border of the field, with a goblet of wine in his hand, which he presented to each of the ploughmen, as they successively reached the boundary, in order to induce them as much as possible to expedite their labours.

When the harvest was matured, it was cut down by a sickle, the same as that now in use. The manner, however, in which the reapers proceeded to work, was different from that to which we are accustomed. They divided themselves into two parties, equal in number, which began at opposite sides of the field, and persevered until they met in the middle. Emulation was thus excited, and the toils of the day were facilitated, while they were equally distributed. As the golden handfuls fell under the sickle, there were labourers behind who gathered and bound them in sheaves, which other assistants collected and stacked. The labourers had a repast prepared for them of pottage thickened with flour; the proprietor dined on beef under the shade of an oak, attended by his household servants. After the field was stripped of its produce, it was richly manured with dung, which had been gradually gathered from the stalls of the oxen, mules, and horses. Oxen were employed to tread out the barley, and the grain was separated from the chaff by winnowing it with a fan before a strong current of air.

The rich who resided in the country had barns and large cornfields in the neighbourhood of their mansions, and also vegetable and flower gardens which were brought to a very considerable degree of perfection. Fruits of many sorts were known and cultivated with great attention and success. Their vegetables chiefly consisted of parsley, kail, beet-root, radishes, gourds, and garlic; their flowers were principally the rose, the crocus, the lotus-flower, and the hyacinth. Their acquaintance with fruits seems to have been limited to pomegranates, pears, apples, figs, olives, and grapes. Culinary and medicinal herbs, of various kinds, were in common use. Some of these gardens were watered by rills, which were drawn from distant elevated springs, and tastefully made to flow over a bed of pebbles. Others were irrigated by fountains, which rose within their own precincts; they were regularly divided into plots, exclusively dedicated to fruits, vegetables and flowers, and shaded from the rough winds by groups of poplars, here and there diversified by tall and stately palm-trees.

The pasturages appear not to have been so extensively appropriated as the arable land. At least, there were numerous commons, whither the shepherds drove their herds and flocks at discretion. Whenever they found an unoccupied and agreeable pasture, there they abided for a while, and built huts for themselves, stalls for their cattle, and folds for their sheep. The folds were sometimes covered, the better to defend the helpless inmates from beasis of prey. They were also watched by dogs-those sagacious, faithful, and courageous animals, without which the shepherds seldom ven

tured to drive their flocks a-field; so liable were they every moment to be attacked by the wolf or lion.

The rich had also large herds of swine, all pastured abroad under the care of faithful hinds, those only excepted which promised speedily to multiply their race. The latter were kept within an enclosure, defended from thieves and beasts of prey by a high stone wall, fortified by stakes and by a thick hedge of thorn on the outside. The office of the chief herd was one of considerable trust. He had under him several assistants, and if diligent in the performance of his duties, he slept out at night under a hollow rock, or in some other sheltered place in the neighbourhood of his herd. When going out upon such occasions, he slung his falchion athwart his shoulders, and took a sharp javelin in his hand at night he laid himself down on a large shaggy goat-skin, reckless of the winds and rain.

The peasants drank equally the milk of sheep and goats as that of cows. The wealthy seem to have had large dairies, where they kept their milk in wooden pails and tubs, for the purpose of converting it into cheese. When they wished to fix milk in a curd, they poured into it the juice of figs, at the same time stirring around both the liquids as rapidly as possible.

The skill of the Greeks in masonry and carpentry was of no mean description. There were regular builders, as well as artificers in wood, iron, brass, leather, gold, and silver. The houses of the less opulent classes generally, were neither lofty nor extensive; the roof of the palace, as well as of the cottage, was thatched with straw; the former was easily distinguishable from the latter, by its superior height and extent, the court-yard by which it was surrounded, the ornaments with which its walls were decorated, and the battlements by which it was defended. The interior parts of the palace were exclusively dedicated to the use of the family, and of these the bed-chamber of the prince and his consort was peculiarly sacred. It was furnished with a reclining couch, small seats, a lofty bed-frame, the wood work of which was ingeniously turned and carved, and with chests in which the princess kept the mantles, tunics, veils, and other fine garments belonging to herself, her husband and children. Frankincense and other perfumes were frequently burnt in this apartment, whence it is generally mentioned with the epithet "fragrant." It was lined or panneled with cedar, and spread with a carpet. The bed was formed of soft fleeces, and covered with fine linen and warm rugs. The door was of polished oak, and secured on the inside by brazen or silver bolts. It was here also that the treasure of the family was deposited, consisting of gold, silver, brass, and iron, in masses, or worked up into coins and various utensils, such as cups, caldrons and tripods. When the prince and princess left this room, which was usually near the top of the palace, it was of some importance to secure it during their absence from the access of servants. They had no locks with wards like those which we use; but they had in lieu of them a contrivance which may be thus described.

Supposing the door to consist of two valves, the bolt was drawn from its place in one of the valves through its recipient in the other, by means of a cord attached to the end of the bolt. This cord passed through an aperture in the second valve, which aperture was cut in a zigzag shape, adapted to a key carefully kept by the princess in her own possession. When the cord was drawn tight and the bolt thus fixed, to make security doubly secure she fastened the cord outside with an ingenious knot, which nobody could disentangle but herself. When she wished to open the door again, she untwisted the knot, left the cord loose, and then applying her key to the aperture above described, she struck the end of the bolt with sufficient force to drive it back to its original place. The key was wrought of brass, silver, or ivory.

Besides this nuptial chamber, there were in the interior of the palace apartments for the different members of the family, and the numerous female attendants. There was also a spacious room, where the women generally sat at their several tasks of carding, spinning, weaving, and embroidery, and other needle-work, under the superintendence of the princess and her housekeeper. There were also store-rooms for wine, milk, cheese, salted meats, and bread; separate kitchens for the male cooks and their assistants; and a kind of parlour for the general purposes of the family. It was a remarkable characteristic of those earlier ages, and one that still much prevails in the East, that although the stranger was treated with the most cordial and generous hospitality, yet, however highly esteemed he might be, he was seldom invited into the interior of the palace. He rarely passed beyond the bath-room, which was usually attached to the hall. The hall itself was immediately entered from the front great door, and formed a spacious apartment in which the banquet was uniformly served up for the

prince and his numerous guests. The roof was lofty, and its heavy frame-work, which was entirely exposed to the eye, was supported by rows of tall columns. The wall behind the throne was hung with shields and spears; that which corresponded with it at the lower end of the hall, as well as the side walls, were panneled, and in some instances ornamented with plates of brass, or studded with gold, silver, ivory, or jasper. The floor was of beaten earth or clay couches, tables, and footstools were placed for the guests in the recesses formed by the rows of columns on either side. These couches were covered with rich drapery for the banquet. It was upon these, also, that the bed of the stranger was always prepared. The banquet was seldom prolonged to a late hour. When it was over, the mistress of the mansion directed her maids to dispose soft fleeces on one or more of the couches in the hall, according to the number of the strangers who were to sleep there*. The fleeces were strewed with linen and shaggy rugs. The spears, shields, corslets, greaves, helmets and falchions were made by armourers, artificers who regularly pursued this trade. The spears were generally very long. The handle was of wood, the point of burnished brass, and surrounded at its insertion in the wood with a ring of the same material. The lower extremity of the weapon was also pointed, for the purpose of enabling the warrior occasionally to fix it in the earth. Ox-hides were prepared for shields in this manner :-The hide was spread out and drawn equally on all sides by men stationed for the purpose; they then rubbed lard into it until the natural moisture of the skin was completely expelled. Several of these prepared hides were cut in an oval shape, sewed one over the other, and strengthened at the verge all round by a narrow plate of brass, fastened on with wire. This was a common shield. The shields of opulent chieftains were sometimes formed of a solid plate of gold, or of brass; sometimes they consisted of leather, coated on the outside with a layer of brass, or with concentric circles of gold, brass and tin, and fortified in the middle by a piece of jasper. It was the fashion to decorate the exterior of a costly shield with the visage of Gorgon-figures of Terror, Flight and Fear, Discord, the Furies, serpents, and all the most significant emblems of inexorable anger. If such a shield as that of Achilles ever existed, it was indeed no wonder that its workmanship should have been attributed to a divine artist. In the centre was a view of the earth, the heavens, the sea, the sun, moon, and stars. There was next a contrasted representation of two cities, one full of the enjoyments and occu pations of peace, the other afflicted with war. A field under the plough was opposed to another where reapers were employed on the harvest. Next appeared a vineyard and pastures, filled with blithe youths and maidens, shepherds, cattle, and flocks of sheep. In another quarter appeared a choir of graceful dancers, and the azure flood of ocean encircled the whole.

There were corslets also of curious and costly workmanship, which combined invulnerable strength with dazzling splendour of appearance. The falchions were of brass, sometimes double-edged and embossed with gold. The hafts of those which the chieftains wore, were usually of silver; their sheaths, and sometimes their belts, were of the same material. They had also sheaths of ivory, upon which a great value was set. The helmets were usually made of brass, with decorated leathern straps to tie under the chin. Two, three, or four tubes were riveted on them, in which a corresponding number of horse-hair crests was inserted. The seat of the chariot was hung on braces. The axle was of beech, the rim of the wheel of poplar, which was cut down young, bent, and seasoned for the purpose; the nave was connected by eight spokes with the circumference of the wheel, which was strengthened on the outside by a thick plate of brass. The yoke was of wood, generally of box-tree. It consisted of an upright standard, and two branches or arms, one for each steed. In the lower extremity of the standard a round aperture was pierced, which admitted of its being slipped on the pole, and there it was made fast by rings and braces. The reins were frequently ornamented with pieces of ivory stained in waving lines of purple.

DESCRIPTION OF A MOORISH FEAST.

THE black eunuch was ordered to bring in tea, which the basha desired Hadoud to prepare for us. An English teaboard then made its respectable appearance, attended by a teakettle of steamengine dimensions, and covered with mutilated coffee-cups, of all ages, shapes, and sizes; and two large bowls, of curious Fezzan earthenware, full of rich milk, formed the advanced-guard of the

*It is worthy of remark, that this custom exists at the present day in ssia. See Dr. Lyall on Russia, p. 53.

motley Chinese corps drawn up behind them. Almond-paste cakes and sweetmeats were then handed round, the making of which is the business of the harem ladies; and here I may mention, that I have seen such a vast variety of finely-made pastry at weddings in this country as would have caused a Parisian pastrycook to die of envy. We had scarcely finished our tea, when a huge baking-dish was set before us, containing nearly half a sheep, and so exquisitely dressed and so finely flavoured as to surpass any dish I have ever partaken of. My companions fully agreed with me, and we were preparing to do justice to its merits, when we missed the knives and forks. The basha, seeing what we stood in need of, sent immediately for what in Barbary are considered superfluous articles of luxury, where the use of knives and forks has not yet superseded that of the fingers; but Hadoud, seizing on the joint before him, began to pull it to pieces with his fingers, and, culling the choicest and fattest parts, he offered them to us: at first we hesitated, from the force of cleanly habits, in receiving these delicate morsels from the hands of the Hadge; but on his giving us a hint in Spanish, "not to offend the company by our fantasia," but to do as others did, we gave up all our scruples of delicacy, and fell-to with so good a grace upon the baked mutton, that we soon convinced the Moors that we knew the way to our mouths without the help of knives and forks. Bunches of delicious grapes were handed round to us to eat with our meat—a custom well worthy the notice of those qui vivent pour manger; and, to please the Moors, you must adopt this maxim. It was in vain that I declared to Hadoud that I had amply satisfied my appetite; he kept groping about the dish, exclaiming "Mira, Mira," held up between his fingers the fat parts of the meat, which I was forced to accept. He declared we had not eaten half a dinner; and he told us that when the Moors had eaten so much as to make it uncomfortable to themselves, they rubbed their stomachs against the wall, by which they were enabled to continue their feast, and that, by taking large draughts of water at intervals, they reanimated their appetites and prevented repletion. Basins of cold water were then brought to us, and we washed our hands; whilst the black slaves carried away the mangled remains of the meat, and placed them before the basha and his ministers, who all huddled round the dish, and gave us a fair specimen of what a Moor can eat.-Beauclerk's Journey to Marocco.

WEATHER WISDOM.

as he

THE state of the weather is an every-day topic of conversation. Every one is more or less interested either in what it happens to be at the present moment, or what it is likely to be at any future time. The prosperity and personal safety of individuals, and of whole communities, depend on the general character of the seasons, whether either too wet or too dry.

Meteorology has been studied in all ages; and various instruments have been invented to indicate such atmospheric changes as are unappreciable or imperceptible to the mere feeling or sensation. These are the barometer, which measures the weight of the air: that is, the weight of a column of air equal in diameter to that of the tube of quicksilver, and extending from the place of the instrument to the top or upper surface of the aerial ocean or atmosphere; which latter being higher, and of course heavier, or lower, and of course lighter, are changes indicated by the rising or falling of the mercury in the tube of the instrument. The barometer, however, is but an imperfect machine as a weatherglass, because it is acted on by changes at a great distance from its place; and, indeed, it is only on very great changes of weather from dry to wet, or from wet to dry, that the indications of the barometer can be depended upon. The thermometer is a welldesigned instrument for measuring the temperature of the air, and is particularly useful for many common purposes of life. It should always be attached to the barometer, as it serves to explain some of the indications better, which would not otherwise be truly accounted for. The differential thermometer is a more complicated instrument, indicating not only the degree of temperature, but, we believe, what is called the dew-point also. This point is that lower degree of temperature at which dew begins to be formed on bodies colder than the air. The hygrometer is an instrument for measuring the degrees of moisture in the air, and is one of the most useful, especially for farmers, in hay-time and harvest. The hydrometer is a machine for measuring the depth, density, or other properties of fluids, and is mostly used by the compounders and rectifiers of spirituous liquors. All these instruments (to which may be added the electrometer) are only acted on by present phe