Y.

Be it so

Why, cardinal's a high degree

And yet my lot it possibly may be.

St. Suppose it was, - what then?

Y.

Why, who can say
But I've a chance of being pope, one day?

St. Well, having worn the mitre and red hat,
And triple crown, what follows after that?

Y. Nay, there is nothing further, to be sure,
Upon this earth, that wishing can procure :
When I've enjoyed a dignity so high,

As long as God shall please, then189 I must die.

St. What! MUST you die? fond youth! and at the best

But wish, and hope, and MAY BE all the rest?

Take
For that which MUST be, first of all provide;
Then think of that which MAY be; and, indeed,
When well prepared, who knows what may succeed?
Who knows but you may then be, as you hope,
Priest, căn'on, bishop, cardinal and pope ?

my advice-whatever may betide,

Dr. Byrom.

XXV.

ENGLAND UNDER CANUTE THE DANE.

1. CANUTE began to reign in England in the year one thousand and seventeen, and reigned eighteen years. He was a merciless king at first.141 After he had clasped the hands of the Saxon chiefs, in token of the sincerity with which he swore to be just and good to them, in return for their acknowledging him, he denounced and slew many of them, as well as many relations of the late king. "He who brings me the head of one of my enemies," he used to say, "shall be dearer to me than a brother'

And he was so severe in hunting down his enemies, that he must have got together a pretty large family of these dear brothers.

2. He was strongly inclined to kill Edmund and Edward, two children, sons of Edmund, surnamed Ironside : but, being afraid to do so in England, he sent them over to the King of Sweden, with a request that the king would be so good as to “dispose of them." If the King of Sweden had been like many, many other men of that day, he would have had their innocent throats cut; but he was a kind man, and brought them up tenderly.

3. Normandy ran much in Ca'nūte's mind. In Normandy were the two children of the late king-Edward and Alfred by name; and their uncle, the Dūke, might one day claim the crown for them. But the Duke showed so little inclination to do so now, that he proposed to Canute to marry his sister, the widow of King Ethelred; and she, being but a showy flower, and caring for nothing143 so much as becoming a queen again, left her children and was wedded to him.

4. Successful and triumphant, assisted by the valor of the English in his foreign wars, and with little strife to trouble him at home, Canute had a prosperous reign, and made many improvements. He was a poet and a musician. He grew sorry, as he grew older, for the blood he had shed at first, and went to Rome in a Pilgrim's dress, by way of washing it out. He gave a great deal of money to foreigners on his journey; but he took it from the English before he started. On the whōle, however, he certainly became a far better man when he had no opposition to contend with, and was as great a king as England had known for some time.

5. The old writers of history relate how that Canute was one day disgusted with his courtiers for their flattery, and how he caused his chair to be set on the sea-shore, and feigned to command the tide, as it came up, not to wet the edge of his robe, for the land was his; how the tide came up, of course, without regarding him; and how he then turned to his flatterers, and rebuked them, saying, what was the might of any earthly king to the might of the Creator, who could say unto the sea, “Thus far shalt thou go, and no further "?

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who the majesty of creation without rapture? The world is as a sunbeam out of Eden; a fleeting dream of the future paradise of bliss! Where is the fearful skeptic, contending against his reason? Let him step forth and look on nature, clad in her festive livery, who, an eternal bride, joyous and beautiful, points him to God. Let him step forth, and a fresh and balmy fragrance from millions of blossoms will greet him, and declare that "Here there is no death; all is life, and life is from God."

10. Doubter! if now the beauty of smiling nature hath warmed thy heart; if now the convincing power of reality hath purified thy dreams; if thy reason no longer doubts what it is too im'potent to fathom; if thy soul longs to depend, in childlike innocence, upon thy Heavenly Father, then sink down and bury thy blushing face and gushing tears in the flowers of the meadow; and thy sigh-perhaps the first thou hast for many years offered up to thy God-will be no discordant sound in the glad anthem of nature. From the German.

XXVIII. AN INCIDENT AT SEA.

1. A VESSEL that sailed between Whitehaven, in England, and the island of Jamaica, being on her homeward voyage, carried, among other passengers, a female who was the mother of an infant only a few weeks old. One beautiful afternoon, the captain perceived a distant sail, and after he had gratified his curiosity, he politely offered his spy-glass to his passenger, that she might obtain a clear view of the object.

2. Having the baby in her arms, she wrapped the shawl about it, and placed it on a sofa126 upon which she had been sitting. Scarcely had she applied her eye to the glass, when the helmsman exclaimed, "See! see what the monkey has done!" The reader may judge of the mother's feelings, when, on turning round, she beheld the mis'chievous animal in the act of transporting her beloved and helpless child apparently to the very top of the mast!

3. The monkey was a large one, and so strong and active that while it grasped the infant firmly with one arm, it climbed

the shrouds nimbly by the other, totally unembarrassed by the weight of its burden. One look was sufficient for the terrified mother, and that look had well-nigh been her last; and, had it not been for the assistance of those around her, she would have fallen prostrate on the deck, where she was soon afterwards stretched, apparently lifeless.

4. The sailors could climb almost as well as the monkey; but the latter watched their motions narrowly; and as it ascended higher up the mast the moment they attempted to put a foot on the shrouds, the captain became afraid that it would drop the child, and endeavor to escape by leaping from one mast to another.

5. In the mean time the infant was heard to cry; and though many thought it was suffering pain, their fears on this point were speedily dissipated, when they observed the monkey imitating exactly the motions of a nurse, by dandling nothing and caressing, its charge, and even endeavoring to husn it to sleep.

6. From the deck the lady was conveyed to the cabin, and gradually restored to her senses. In the mean time, the captain, having ordered every man to conceal himself below, quietly took his own station on the cabin-stairs, where he could see all that passed without being seen.

7. This plan happily succeeded: the monkey, on perceiving that the coast was clear, cautiously descended from his lofty perch, and replaced the infant on the sofa, cold, fretful, and perhaps frightened, but in every other respect as free from harm as when he took it up. The humane captain had now a most grateful task to perform: the babe was restored to its mother's arms, amidst tears, and thanks, and blessings.

Anon.

XXIX. SELECT SENTENCES.

1. Ir is a terrible thought to remember that nothing can be forgotten. I have somewhere read that not an oath is uttered that does not vibrate through all time, in the wide-spreading current of sounds—not a prayer lisped that its record is not also to be found stamped on the laws of nature, by the indelible seal of the Almighty's will.

2. The fountain of content must spring up in the mind; and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove.

3. A man's reputation has been very aptly compared to a sheet of white paper, which if it be once blotted can hardly ever be made to look as spotless as before. Apologists of youth

ful immoralities should think of this.

4. If a man would keep both his integrity and independence free from temptation, let him keep out of debt. Dr. Franklin says, "It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright."

5. An old miser kept a tame jackdaw, that used to steal pieces of money, and hide them in a hole; which the cat observing, asked why he should hoard up those round shining things, that he coulake no use of. 66 Why," said the jackdaw, "my master has a whole chest full, and makes no more use of them than I."

6. He that never changed any of his opinions never colrected any of his mistakes; and he who was never wise enoug to find out any mistakes in himself will not be charitable enough to excuse what he reckons mistakes in others.

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7. The expansion of mind which rises in us at the sight of the starry sky, the cloud-capt mountain, the boundless ocean, seems intended to direct our thoughts, by an impressive though indefinite feeling, to the Infinite Author of all.

8. Good sense and Christian principle must be in a very lan guid state, when a disrelish or weariness of life is the predominant feeling.

9. A profligate young fellow seeing an aged hermit go barefoot by him, "Father" says he, "you are in a very miserable condition, if there is not another world.". -"True, son," said the hermit, "but what is thy condition if there be?"

EI

10. Idle and indecent applications of sentences taken from the Scriptures, is a mode of merriment which a good man dreads for its profaneness, and a witty man disdains for its easiness and vulgarity.