THE DROPPING WELL AT KNARES-
BOROUGH.

KNARESBOROUGH is in the West Riding of the County of York. Its name is supposed to have been derived from the German Rnares, a rocky mountain; thus indicating the situation of its ancient castle, erected by Serlo de Burgh, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England, and became lord of this manor.

The ruins of the castle extend over a circular area of about three hundred feet in diameter, and exhibit part of the keep and some round towers of good masonry, with arches and windows, in the decorated English style of building. Southward of the castle is an excavation in the rock, called St. Robert's Chapel, founded by a native of York in the reign of Richard 1.

About a mile from the town are the remains of an ancient encampment on the point of a hill, two hundred feet above the surface of the river, whence there is a fine view of the town and castle. In this parish there are mineral springs of different qualities. The water of the dropping well, of which an engraving is given, is remarkable for its petrifying qualities.

SELF-CULTURE.

ADDRESSED TO YOUNG CHRISTIANS.

To educate the minds and hearts of men is one of the noblest of occupations. "The first creature of God in the work of the days, was the light of the sense; the last was the light of reason; and his sabbath work, ever since, is the illumination of His Spirit. First he breathed light upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man, and still he breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his chosen." It is thus represented-and who can say unjustly as one of the occupations of God.

The object now contemplated needs some little explanation. It is briefly to set forth the best means of cultivating the talents of the young-of making them educated or trained Christians. This object may be regarded as the work of the parent, the guardian, the teacher, or as the work of young persons themselves. As far as it is the work of the parent or teacher, it is not intended to discuss its importance, or the best means of its attainment: but only so far as it is the work of young Christians themselves. It is no doubt of very great moment that the Church should see to it, that they are trained; but it must be remembered that all mental or moral training is personal. The young must educate themselves; they must discipline them

selves. Education, as we shall have occasion to explain it, and discipline, are personal acts. Hence it is that this paper is described as an Essay on Self-Culture. The object then is to determine the best means of the self-cultivation of young Christians; though of course it is presupposed that this self-cultivation will be aided and guided by the ministry and the Church.

Another distinction which it is important to remember, is this. The following essay is not intended to make young men students-lovers of literature or of literary ease—or ministers, who need of course an extensive and minute preparation for the work of the ministry-but intelligent Christians: It is intended merely to enable them to educate their minds, their feelings, their consciences, and to communicate and diffuse their spirit so as most efficiently to adorn their profession and to advance the salvation of men. The self-culture which it is proposed to discuss, is only such as may secure intelligent self-devotedness. The perfection of the first, in our view of it, is the observance of the second; and all questions unconnected with practical utility we shall regard as impertinent and

extraneous.

"Merely intended" to make them more intelligent and useful! Alas, what a vast number of objects have occupied the thoughts, and possibly the hearts, even of Christians, which, when compared with this object sink into insignificance! Upon such education,-young people remember this,-upon such education may be suspended the unity of the Church, the immortal destinies of millions of your fellows, the ultimate and universal triumphs of the faith. The next age, both of

the world and of the Church, will derive its character from you. Such as you are, such will it be. So that to educate you, or rather, to aid you in the glorious work of educating yourselves, is to bring on more rapidly the time of millenial glory-" when the sons of Zion shall come from far-her daughters from the ends of the earth."

EDUCATION DEFINED.

But what is education, and how are we to become educated? What is to be our aim, and how are we to attain it? What is culture, and how are we to become cultivated?

Important qustions! Questions which the Great Teacher himself deemed it necessary to solve; and questions which have never received from parents a tithe of the attention they deserve. My young reader! See to it that you yourself be able to understand and answer them.

Education has generally been supposed to refer mainly to the acquisition of knowledge-to instruction in the rudiments of science or of letters; so much so, that an "educated person" is a phrase held to be synonymous with " one who has had opportunity of forming acquaintance with the discoveries of this age and the opinions and errors of the past." To educate and to teach, to be educated and to be taught, it is concluded, are one.

Never were two things more unfortunately confounded; never was it more important that a distinction should be felt and remembered. To teach is to

communicate knowledge; to educate is, in the beautiful language of Scripture, "to train up" in the right way. The first refers to instruction only; the second to the formation of habits-of habits consistent with the decisions of religion and virtue. The one gives knowledge, that is, power; the other teaches to control it. The one adds to the information of the mind; the other regulates and sanctifies at once the mind, the feelings, and the conscience. The one is a property

both of the lost-for the devils know-and of the redeemed; the other is the privilege of the Christian. Heaven is educated nature complete; and educated nature on earth-nature that has grown up into Jesus -is heaven begun.

Education then is the formation of habits-habits of thought, of feeling, of conscience-consistent with religion and virtue.

This definition, it will be observed, is of great practical value. It serves to remove all the objections which, during the last thirty years, have been urged against the education of the people. To add to their knowledge is to add to their power; and it may, doubtless, be questioned whether mere knowledge apart from principle, is an advantage; but to teach them to use their knowledge well, to raise upon the foundation of that knowledge the structure of a holy and consistent life, to aid them in forming habits that will make them better parents, better subjects, better Christians, is a 'work of love' that the most sceptical must praise; and this is the work, which it is intended now to explain and commend.

* Eph. iv. 15.