with his office, and applied to the queen for his recall. In a letter to his brother he says, "I have come to the age at which many wise men have voluntarily renounced places of honour. I love quiet, and would be glad to devote the remainder of my life to the service of God and of posterity. If I had not some hope of contributing to the general peace I should have retired before now.' The Queen of Sweden granted the request of Grotius, and wrote of him to the French queen in terms of the highest praise, saying that she would never forget his great services. On retiring to private life, Grotius went to Holland. He was extremely well received at Amsterdam and Rotterdam. From thence he proceeded to Hamburgh, Lubec, Wismar, Colmar, and Stockholm. Queen Christina repaired thither from Upsal to meet him, and gave him several audiences. She was lavish in her expressions of regard, and in her promises; but as Grotius found the fulfilment of them to be a matter of doubt, and also that he was regarded with considerable jealousy by persons at court, he asked permission to leave Sweden. The queen, reluctant to lose so bright an ornament to her court, refused several times to grant him his dismission, and signified to him that if he would continue in her service in quality of councillor of state, and bring his family to Sweden, he should have no occasion to repent it; but he excused himself on account of his own health, which was beginning to decline, and also on that of his wife, who could not bear the cold air of the kingdom. He therefore requested a passport; but there was so much difficulty in obtaining it that he actually departed without one, and had arrived at a seaport about two leagues distant in order to embark for Lubec, when the queen's messengers overtook him, with a request from her majesty that she might see him once more, otherwise she should think that he was displeased with her. Compelled thus to return, Grotius explained his reasons to the queen more fully, who at length seemed satisfied with them, and made him a present in money amounting to twelve or thirteen thousand Swedish imperials, of the value of about ten thousand French crowns. She added to the present some plate, the finishing of which had, she told him, been the only cause of the delay in granting his passport. It was afterwards issued, and the queen appointed a vessel to convey him to Lubec. The vessel, in which he embarked on the 12th of August, 1645, had scarcely sailed for Lubec when it was overtaken by a violent storm, and obliged on the 17th of that month to put in fourteen miles from Dantzick. Grotius set out in an open wagon for Lubec, and arrived at Rostock very ill, on the 26th of August. He was quite unknown in this place; where he found himself so much debilitated as to require the aid of a phy: sician. On a first interview his medical attendant told him that his indisposition proceeded from weakness and fatigue, and that with rest and some restoratives he might recover; but on the day following he changed his opinion. Perceiving that the weakness of his patient increased, with a cold sweat, and other symptoms of an exhaustion of nature, he announced that his end was near. Grotius then requested the attendance of a clergyman. John Quistorpius was brought to him, who in a letter to Calovius gives the following particulars of the last moments of Grotius. You are desirous of hearing from me how that Phoenix of Literature, Hugo Grotius, behaved in his last moments, and I am going to tell you. He embarked at Stockholm for Lubec; and after having been tossed for three days by a violent tempest, he was shipwrecked and got to shore on the coast of Pomerania, from whence he came to our town of Rostock, distant above sixty miles, in an open wagon, through wind and rain. He lodged with Balleman, and sent for M. Stockman, the physician, who, observing that he was extremely weakened by years, by what he suffered at sea, and the inconveniences attending the journey, judged he could not live long. The second day after Grotius's arrival in this town, that is on the 18th August, O. S., he sent for me at nine at night. I went and found him almost at the point of death. I said there was nothing I desired more than to have seen him in health, that I might have the pleasure of his conversation. He answered, God had ordered it otherwise. I desired him to prepare himself for a happier life, to acknowledge he was a sinner, and to repent of his faults; and happening to mention the publican who acknowledged that he was a sinner, and asked God's mercy, he answered, "I am that publican." I went on and told him that he must have recourse to Jesus Christ, without whom there is no salvation. He replied, “I place all my hope in Jesus Christ." I began to repeat aloud in German the prayer which begins "Herr Jesu;" he followed me in a very low voice with his hands clasped. When I had done, I asked him if he understood me. He answered, "I understand you very well." I continued to repeat to him those passages of the Word of God which are commonly offered to the remembrance of dying persons; and asking him if he understood me, he answered, “I heard your voice, but did not understand what you said." These were his last words: soon afterwards he expired, just at midnight. His body was delivered to the physicians. The remains of Grotius were afterwards carried to Delft, and deposited in the tomb of his ancestors. Queen Christina wrote a letter of condolence to the widow of Grotius, and made a request to her to procure her all the manuscripts of this learned man, whose works had given her the greatest pleasure. Speaking of the person of Grotius, Burigny describes him as a strong and well-built man, though not tail. He had a good complexion, an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, and a serene and smiling countenance. The high character of Grotius as a literary man, may in some measure be gathered from our brief sketch; and if we have not dwelt on the apparent inconsistencies in his religious career, it is because we feel the subject to be a painful one, and because we believe that his motives were good, though mistaken. The design which he had formed of reconciling all the different parties which divide Christendom, made it a matter of necessity with him to get the Church of Rome on his side, and in so doing he went so far as grievously to offend the Reformed Church. But he was evidently deceived by the flatteries of Romanists, and while he thought he was making great advances in the cause of general peace and union, he was giving them strong hopes of his conversion to their particular belief. In one of his letters to his brother he said, "I have received a visit from some Catholic Councillors of State, and Codurus, a clergyman, who expect the coalition will quickly take place, and pay great regard to my opinion. May the God of peace direct the whole to the advancement of truth and piety!" But we find the learned Jesuit, Father Petau, talking, not of the general coalition, but of Grotius's conversion. "I do not think him far from becoming a Catholic," says Petau, "after the example of Holstenius. I shall neglect nothing in my power to reconcile him to Christ, and put him in the way of salvation." According to the prediction of Ruarus, Grotius eventually reaped no other fruit of religious controversy than the hatred of the parties he was attempting to reconcile. Burigny justly says that to hope for success in such a project as that which engaged the attention of Grotius, one must suppose in all men a sincere love of truth, and a readiness to renounce their prejudices; in fact, we must endow them with good understandings and upright hearts. ONE delicate attention which most of the Hindoo women voluntarily pay to their husband, is, that when he is absent from home for any length of time, they seldom wear their jewels, or decorate themselves with ornaments; since the object they most wish to please is no longer in their presence.-FORBES' Oriental Memoirs. JOHN W. PARKER, PUBLISHER, WEst Strand, London, On the dissolution of St. Mary's Abbey, as noticed in a former article, it was dismantled, and by order of Henry the Eighth a palace was built out of its ruins, the name of which was changed to the King's Manor, in order, say the historians of the city, "that the very name and memory of the abbey might be lost for ever.' The king having established a council at York for the purpose of maintaining order in the northern counties, the manor was appropriated to the residence of the lords president. In 1541 King Henry visited York, and remained there twelve days, during which time the Manor House was probably his place of residence. James the First, on his journey to London to take possession of the crown after the death of Elizabeth, arrived at York on the 16th of April, 1603. He resided at the Manor, and was entertained with great splendour by the lord mayor and corporation. His majesty was so well pleased with the honours paid him, that, at a public dinner given him by the lord mayor and citizens, he expressed himself much in favour of the city, seemed concerned that their river was in so bad a condition, and said it should be made more navigable, and he himself would come and be a burgess amongst them. He also ordered the Manor House to be repaired, and converted into a royal palace, intending to use it as such upon his journeys to and from Scotland. There are still many testimonials of the prince's design, in arms and other decorations about the several portals of the building. It was still, however, used as the residence of the Lords President of the North, as long as VOL. XXIV. His that office continued. The lords of the council met his majesty at York, and the state and dignity which he here took upon him formed quite a contrast to the comparatively rude habits of the Scottish kings. majesty visited York again in 1617, when the Manor Palace became the scene of regal pomp and court festivities. In 1633 Charles the First paid his first visit to York, while on his way to Scotland. Previous to the breaking out of the war between him and his parliament, the king summoned a great council of the peers, to be held in York, and subsequently, in the latter end of the year 1641, he took up his residence at the Manor Palace. Here he was attended by upwards of forty peers of the first rank, and the county levied a corps of six hundred men, who acted as his body guard. This court, which was very splendid, was not however constantly held at the Manor, but for a part of the time at Sir Arthur Ingram's house in the minster yard. The Earl of Strafford, as lord president of the north, also resided in the Manor Palace. During the civil war the Manor was materially damaged. On the 14th of June, 1644, the Earl of Manchester's forces having undermined St. Mary's tower, Colonel Crayford, a Scotchman, sprung the mine with such effect that the tower was demolished, and a number of persons buried in the ruins. After this he made a breach in the wall in Mary Gate, which being practicable was entered by the rebels, who scaled several other walls, and took possession of the Manor. It hap 752 pened to be Trinity Sunday, and most of the royalist | but in the second court are two ancient grand entrances commanders were at the cathedral; the republicans, into the palace. One of them was formerly the entrance however, who served in the Parliament army, thought to the council chamber. Over the old doorway still this a good opportunity for making the attack, deeming remain the arms and the several quarterings of the unforthat the Lord's day was the best time for doing, what tunate Thomas, earl of Strafford, finely carved in stone, they denominated, the Lord's work. Their triumph, and placed there when that nobleman resided at the however, did not on this occasion last long. The explo- Manor, as lord president of the north. One article of sion of the mine alarmed the royal officers, who rushed accusation against this earl, who was beheaded in the to their posts, and a party of the garrison having got reign of Charles the First, related to that coat of arms, out by a private sally-port in the city walls, entered the stating, "he had the arrogance to put up his own arms Manor, and cut off the only way the enemy had to in one of the king's palaces." retreat. A smart rencounter took place on the bowlinggreen, but the rebels having fifty of their number killed, the rest (about two hundred and fifty) threw down their arms and submitted. Cromwell visited York but once on his way to Scotland, and it does not appear whether he resided at the Manor. In the reign of Charles the Second the city forfeited the good character for loyalty that it had acquired during the time of Charles the First, and there were continual bickerings between the court and the municipality. The king appointed a governor of York, and the Manor House was the residence of that officer. Lord Fretchville, baron of Stavely, was first appointed, and after his death Sir John Reresby succeeded him; he was the last governor of York, and the Manor Palace does not seem to have accommodated any public character since that period. In the reign of James the Second a large room in the palace was fitted up and used as a popish chapel, where mass was celebrated openly; but on the landing of William, Prince of Orange, in 1688, the enraged populace resorted to this as well as to other Roman Catholic chapels: "They tore away all the pictures and images they met with, threw down the altars; and after stealing the books and vestments of the priests, exhibited them in different parts of the city, through the day in the evening they publicly burnt them." : About the year 1696 the king's mint was erected in the Manor, and an immense quantity of gold and silver coin, bearing the letter for York, under the head of the king, was struck. At a later period the room used as the Roman Catholic chapel was converted into an assembly room for the use of the city; and still later it was appropriated to the use of the York Diocesan Society or National School. After the Revolution the Abbey or Manor was granted on lease from the crown to different persons, until it passed into the Grantham family, with whom it still An old archway, once the entrance to St. Mary's Abbey from Bootham, opens into a court-yard, to the right of which is a stone wall, built probably prior to the abdication of James the Second, and having in it recesses enriched with arabesque work, and apparently designed for images. A part of the palace on one side of this wall is occupied as a private residence, and does not present to the observer any characteristic of its former importance. The principal entrance to the other part of the building, however, is extremely interesting; it displays over the doorway the royal arms, supported by carved columns, bearing various devices, with the initials I. R. near the bottom, and surmounted with a crown. A short passage leads to the inner court, now divided into two; and at this end of the passage the doorway is likewise ornamented with carved figures of justice, and other emblematical devices. The first of the inner courts contains merely the modern entrances to two dwellings before referred to, * Hargrove's History of the City of York. This other entrance seems to have opened into a large hall or vestibule, whence a second door led to a broad and handsome flight of stone steps, part of which yet remains. The stair-case conduc's to the council-chamber, a spacious, lofty, and comfortable apartment, occupied, at the time of Mr. Hargrove's description, as a school-room. In an adjoining passage is a curious carved moulding on the wall, near the ceiling, in which is represented a dancing bear and several other grotesque figures. To the door-way on the opposite side of the courtyard the ascent is by a large flight of stone steps out of the court, and over the door are the royal arms, in fine preservation, with the initials C. R. This door, which is now blocked up, opened into a noble apartment, which some suppose to have been the banquetting-room, but where tradition states several of the parliaments held at York to have been assembled. Formerly there was a communication between this apartment and the councilchamber, now occupied as work-shops. Beneath the reputed banquetting-room was the spacious kitchen, of which the immense fire-place and chimney yet remain. I DESIRE for my friend the son who has never withstood his mother's tears.-LaCretelle. WHEN young persons who have been religiously educated become depraved in their moral feelings and licentious in their conduct, the vitiation of the imagination and of the social affections tends to obscure that internal evidence of the truth of Christianity which, to a mind not depraved, or perverted, is alone sufficient to command belief. And as the injunctions of the Bible, and its awful sanctions, are the principal restraints upon the passions, there is a strong motive for wishing to invalidate its authority: this motive may so far divert the attention from the direct evidence of revelation, and so fix it upon objections and difficulties, that, at length, a very sincere kind of infidelity may be produced, which may continue to infatuate the understanding to the last moment of life.-Elements of Thought. CHINESE GRATITUDE. resided AN English merchant, of the name of C—, many years at Canton and Macao, where a sudden reverse of for tune reduced him from a state of affluence to the greatest necessity. A Chinese merchant, named Chinqua, to whom he had formerly rendered service, gratefully offered him an immediate loan of ten thousand dollars, which the gentleman accepted, and gave his bond for the amount; this the Chinese immediately threw into the fire, saying, "When you, my friend, first came to China, I was a poor man, you took me by the hand, and assisting my honest endeavours, made me rich. Our destiny is now reversed; I see you poor, while I am blessed with affluence." The by-standers had snatched the bond from the flames; the gentleman, sensibly affected by such generosity, pressed his Chinese friend to take the security, which he did, and then effectually destroyed it. The disciple of Confucius, beholding the increased distress it occasioned, said he would accept of his watch, or any little valuable, as a memorial of their friendshiv. The gentleman immediately presented his watch, and Chinqua, in return, gave him an old iron seal, saying, "Take this seal, it is one I have long used, and possesses no intrinsic value, but as you are going to India to look after your outstanding concerns, should fortune further persecute you, draw upon me for any further sum of money you may stand in need of, sign it with your own hand, and scal it with this signet, and I will pay the money."-FORBES'S Oriental Memoirs. THE GRANITE QUARRIES OF ABERDEEN. | few years ago it was 1s., but much of the decrease is to be ascribed to the greater expertness in working which they have attained. II. "As a building stone," says Dr. Knight, "the granite of Aberdeen is confessedly the best which our island affords. When finely dressed, its effect in buildings approaches to that of the best white marbles. It does not sully but with extreme slowness from the coal smoke of cities. Its tint, of a slight bluish white, is not liable to change from that alteration in the oxide of iron in the feld-spar of red granite which takes place in our climate, and by disintegrating the principal constituent of the stone, reduces it to a whitish powder. There may even be added an advantage of empirical origin; the expense of making ornaments in so hard material being very great, a considerable simplicity is the general result, and much bad taste, in every freak of architectural deformity, is avoided." Throughout Aberdeenshire the granite is extracted by blasting with gunpowder, conducted in the usual mode*. The proprietors are generally careful to provide copper points to the steel borers and prickers, a precaution necessary to the prevention of those dangerous accidents to which the use of gunpowder exposes the workmen. In some of the quarries the more powerful fulminating powders of quicksilver have been tried, instead of gunpowder; but they failed, apparently from the action of these substances taking place with such velocity as not to generate a sufficient momentum. Nor have trials, made by fitting the bores with sand instead of the usual materials closely rammed down with bronze pointed tools, been found to answer with granite, though employed with some success with rocks of inferior hard ness. The really practical improvements in blasting have been made by increasing the width and depth of the bores. Some years ago the only jumpers (these are boring chisels driven by short-handed hammers) employed, were not more than an inch in diameter, and the holes generally from three to five feet in depth. In 1819 were introduced tools 24 inches in diameter, and the bores were made to the depth of ten or twelve feet. By this new arrangement far larger masses of rock were detached, with such effect that the New London Bridge was supplied from the quarries which a few years before could not have furnished a single stone of the dimensions employed in its arches and piers. The entrance to Aberdeen from the south is by a bridge, of which the arch has a span of one hundred and thirty feet; when this bridge was erected it was with great difficulty that the stones for it were supplied, and no one, says Dr. Knight, can see that elegant bridge without remarking that the stones employed in its construction are too small for its great magnitude. The quarriers and the merchants in stone who employ them, distinguish several kinds of manufactured stone. Those which are in greatest demand, and are adapted to the pavement of the streets of London and other cities, are called " common sixes," because as they lie in a pavement their depth is only six inches; the superficial extent of each stone is about ten inches by six. The price of this sized stone at Aberdeen is 5s. per ton. As the stones increase in size they are called respectively "half sovereigns," "sovereigns,' ""cubes," and "imperials," and fetch proportionally higher prices. The freight of stone to London is about 8s. per ton, and the vessels which convey it take in ballast at London, and then repairing to Sunderland, receive at that port cargoes of coals for Aberdeen; by which means coals are sold in Aberdeen about five per cent. cheaper than if no granite were transmitted by the same shipping; and consequently the paving stone is afforded cheaper in London than if no coals were conveyed to Aberdeen. In Aberdeen the foot pavements as well as the roads are of granite; but they are too rough to be agreeable to the pedestrian accustomed to the agreeable smoothness of the sandstone. Till within these few years a considerable quantity of granite for foot-pavements has been sent to London, but the quartzose rock from Yorkshire has gradually superseded it, little but kirbs and causeway stones being now in request. The reason why granite for the footways was rejected, was probably on account of the roughness of the dressing; they require to be finished with an axe dressing, in order to the comfort of the pedestrian, in those walks which still continue to distinguish our cities from most of those on the continent. The demand for granite for paving our streets has lately received a considerable check in consequence of the extensive adoption of woodpavement; but the demand for granite as a building stone has been on the increase, and would, we should hope, counterbalance the loss from the other cause, while the demand for such large masses of stone would greatly tend to improve the skill of the quarriers. Granite increases rapidly in price with its dimensions, as is the case with all mineral productions where size becomes of importance. Many stones of great magnitude have been supplied from the Aberdeen quarries, such, for example, as the pedestal of the bronze statue of the Duke of Bedford, in London, and the thick columns which are placed as piers in the vaults of the Custom House of London; such stones cost in the rough block at the quarries, from 5s. to Ss., and in some cases 10s. per cubic foot. The docks of the Naval Arsenal at Sheerness were supplied by the Aberdeen quarries, of which no less than 700,000 cubic feet of the red and blue squared granite were furnished at 4s. 11d. per foot, including the coasting duty; the contractors also agreed to furnish all the sizes required, at this price. At the time when the new hall of the FishIn the accounts of the building of the pier of Aber-mongers Company was about to be erected, a tender deen by Smeaton, in 1779, the placing stones of two tons weight in that structure is stated as a very remarkable circumstance. Of late years the citizens of Aberdeen have been in the habit of seeing blocks of fifteen tons and upwards passing through their streets. The separation of such large masses has required improved machinery for moving and transporting them: the only tool formerly employed was the quarry crow used as a lever; less than twenty years ago only one form of crane was used, and that of an imperfect description. New cranes of superior construction are now in common use, as also are screw jacks for lifting the greatest blocks of stone to small heights. With respect to the wages of the men employed at the quarries, Dr. Knight states that in 1835 the quarriers received from 10s. to 15s. a week; the blasters or firemen, 15s.; and that these prices were lower by one-fourth than they were in 1827. The masons who square the stone received 6d. per cubic foot, whereas a *This mode is described in an article on Blasting Rocks, contained in Saturday Magazine, Vol. XXIII., p. 247. The bulk of a ton of granite is, on the average, very nearly fifteen cubic feet. was made of the Aberdeen granite, to be delivered in A stone of 15 tons weight, at 10s. Od. per cubic foot. دو 12 " 6 60 5 Devonshire granite, while the east side and the foundation stones are of Aberdeen granite. The tool by which granite is easily shaped into simple forms is a pointed hammer chisel (called by the workmen a pick), armed with steel, and assisted by a considerable weight of metal, beld in both hands like a hammer, but so managed as to allow of a rapid succession of blows, graduated according to the nature of the work. These blows descend upon the slope of the inclined plane at which the stone is placed, so that not only are the pieces struck off projected away from the labourer, but the impulses are given in directions most favourable for effect, as his body bends over the stone on which he is working. The degree of fineness of dressing has been carried much farther of late years than formerly, by what is termed axe dressing, with a hammer or iron having a blunted edge, approaching to the form of the tool after which it is named. In the first stage of dressing large pieces are struck off the stone with blunt-faced hammers. The polishing of granite, and its application to the purposes of art, will be noticed in a separate article. Dr. Knight wishes the art of polishing granite to be encouraged as much as possible: "The demand for chimney pieces, not altered in colour by the smoke of coal fires, ornamental tables and vases, snuff boxes, and other trinkets, would," he says, "undoubtedly be great. Hitherto such articles have been confined to the imperial and royal residences of Europe, where they attract attention from their rarity; or to the Vatican Palace, which contains more polished granite in vases, tables, columns, slabs, such as line the splendid room entitled Stanze de Papyri, than all the rest of Europe can exhibit." It is always interesting, and very often instructive, to compare our own processes in the useful arts with those of another nation. It is curious to notice the similarity of contrivance in working the same material adopted by different nations, which probably never had any intercommunication on the subject. The nature of the material will doubtless often suggest similar modes of working; but it is not always that nation which has made the greater advance in civilization, that discovers the best methods of using those humble but indispensable instruments, the hammer and the chisel. The following is an abstract of Mr. Lay's description of the granite of the neighbourhood of Hong Kong, and the method adopted by the native artisans for working it. At some remote period in the annals of geological mutations, the granite rock which formed the crust of the earth near the main-land of Cow-loon, seems, by some tremendous action from below, to have been raised up from its bed, riven into fragments of every kind of shape and dimension, and left in that new arrangement to undergo the weathering effects of the atmosphere. After the lapse of many years the smaller pieces were disintegrated into a quartzose sand, while the larger were merely rounded and polished by the same action which reduced their fellows to powder. We find these larger masses now imbedded in sand, and so far apart from each other, that the hewer can easily assail them with his hammer and wedges. What might therefore seem to be merely an accidental circumstance turns out to be a most beneficial arrangement. In attempting the removal of a scantling from one of the natural blocks, the workman relies mainly upon the effect of percussion. He first draws a line by means of an inky thread which he manages with his hand and his foot. He then proceeds with hammer and chisel to make holes about a foot asunder along the course of the line. This is a tedious affair. When the holes are deep enough he inserts a small wedge, which has been formed by a single blow from a large iron beetle. This is repeated till he has passed from one end of the line to the other, three or four times in succession, when to his surprise the stranger sees the hard rock part asunder as if it were only a piece of limestone. After a block has been removed in this way he cuts it up into slabs by a renewed application of the hard chisel and the iron hammer, the wedge and the iron maul or beetle. These slabs are of course in a state which may be fairly called rough hewn, and consequently require to be smoothed and modelled after they have been conveyed to their destination. In effecting this object, the hammer and a blunt chisel are used, so that the various irregularities in the surface, and the parts to be removed, in order to give the slab the requisite shape and dimensions, are beaten off by a bruising operation. In this process the temper of the tools is of less importance, and thus the necessity of repeated grinding is dispensed with. The fragments which are broken off in hewing these granite blocks are used as ballast, not only by foreign ships, but also by native craft, which often carry several boxes filled with these pieces upon their decks, in order to adjust the equipoise of the vessel when it inclines too much, through the pressure of the wind upon the sails. These fragments are conveyed to the sea-side in wheel-barrows, remarkable for the simplicity of their form, and the rudeness of the workmanship. The wheel is high, and the handles are so wide apart, that it requires the utmost fathom of the arms to reach them: the attitude of a an guiding one of these vehicles down a steep path, appears very painful to the eye of a stranger. DIFFERENT minds are distinguished by the different degrees of attention of which they are capable: thus, a sluggish mind is one in which the desire of knowledge is not great enough to rouse attention on ordinary occasions. A weak mind is one in which, though there may be much desire for knowledge-or curiosity-there is not force enough to fix or command the thought. In an ardent mind, great efforts of attention are produced by a high susceptibility to the stimulus of motives. But that is the most efficient kind of attention which seems to be the natural and constant habit of the mind, and to be independent of the excitement of motives. The vigour of the mind greatly depends upon the just balance between the desire of knowledge and that force in which consists the power of attention. Whether the mind be naturally strong, or weak, or sluggish, education tends to increase the power of attention; or, in other words, to give it more command of its thoughts-more active power, than it would otherwise have. GOD hath made the present so much the exclusive object of our duty, that He will scarcely suffer even His best and wisest servants to gain reputation for skill and foresight by any conjectures concerning the times and seasons, which He hath reserved in His own power.-MILNER. In our progress from infancy to manhood, how much do our sentiments of beauty change with our years! how often, in the course of this progress, do we look back with contempt, or at least with wonder, upon the tastes of our earlier days, and the objects that gratified them! and how uniformly, in all this progress, do our opinions of beauty coincide with the prevalent emotions of our hearts, and with that change of sensibility which the progress of life occasions! As soon as any class of objects loses its importance in our esteem, as soon as their presence ceases to bring us pleasure, or their absence to give us pain, the beauty in which our infant imagination arrayed them disappears, and begins to irradiate another class of objects, which we are willing to flatter ourselves are more deserving of such sentiments, but which have often no other value but their coincidence with those new emotions that begin to swell in onr breasts. The little circle of infant beauty contains no other objects than those that can excite the affections of the child. The wider range which youth discovers is still limited by the same boundaries which Nature has prescribed to the affections of youth. It is only when we arrive at manhood, and still more, when either the liberality of our education, or the original capacity of our minds, have led us to expethat we acquire that comprehensive taste which can enable rience or to participate in all the affections of our nature, us to discover and to relish every species of sublimity and beauty.-ALISON. |