a very neat and curious piece of workmanship. He sometimes set it upon the house-top, that the wind might turn it round. He also contrived to cause a mouse to turn his mill. This little animal being put inside a hollow wheel, its endeavours to get forward turned the wheel, and set the machinery in motion. There was also some corn placed above the wheel, and when the mouse tried to get at the corn, it made the mill go round.

Having got an old box from a friend, he made it into a water-clock-that is, a clock driven by a small fall of water. It was very like our common clocks, but much less, being only about four feet high. There was a dial-plate at top, with figures of the hours. The hour-hand was turned by a piece of wood, which either fell or rose by water dropping upon it. This stood in the room where he lay, and he took care, every morning, to supply it with plenty of water. It pointed out the hours so well, that the people in the house would go to see what was the hour by it. It was kept in the house as a curiosity long after Isaac went to the college. The room in which Isaac lodged was full of drawings of birds, beasts, men, ships, and mathematical figures all neatly made upon the wall with charcoal.

When Isaac grew a little older, and went to college, he had a great desire to know something about the air, the water, the tides, and the sun, moon, and stars. One day, when he was sitting alone in his garden, an apple happened to fall from a tree to the ground. He then began to ask himself, what is the cause of the apple falling down? Is it from some power or force in the apple itself, or is the power in the carth which draws the apple down? When he had long thought about this subject, he found out that it was the earth that attracted, or drew the apple down, and that this power of attraction is one of the laws of nature. By it, loose objects are retained upon the surface of the earth, instead of flying abroad through space. It is attraction which gives weight to objects; hence it is sometimes called gravitation, which means nearly the same thing as weight. Isaac Newton also discovered that all objects whatever have an attraction for each other, and always in proportion to their size, and the distance at which they are

placed. Thus the moon, though a large globe, is under the attraction of the earth, and the planets are under the attraction of the sun. And it is by attraction they are all made to keep their proper distances from each other. These discoveries were justly considered as among the most important ever made; and reflecting men will ever venerate the name of Newton for his having made them.

Isaac Newton was also the first who showed that every ray of white light from the sun consists of seven different colours, and he made known many other curious and wonderful things which were never known before. He was of a mild and equal temper, and was seldom or never seen in a passion. He had a little dog, which he called Diamond. He was one day called out of his study, where all his papers and writings were lying upon a table. His dog Diamond happened to jump upon the table, and overturned a lighted candle, which set fire to all his papers, and consumed them in a few moments. In this way he lost the labours of many years. But when he came into his study, and saw what had happened, he did not strike the little dog, but only said, "Ah, Diamond, Diamond! thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done!" Though Isaac Newton was a very wise and learned man, he was not proud of his learning, but was very meek and humble. He was kind to all, even to the poorest and meanest men. Though he was wiser than most other men, yet he said, a little before he died, that all his knowledge was as nothing when compared with what he had yet to learn. He was sometimes so much engaged in thinking, that his dinner has been often three hours ready for him before he could be brought to table. He died in the year 1727, at the age of eighty-five.

THE BOASTFUL SCHOLAR.

Professor Porson, who was a very learned man, of somewhat odd character and appearance, was once travelling in a stage-coach, along with several persons who did not know who he was. A young student from Oxford amused the ladies with a variety of talk, and amongst other things, with a quotation, as he said, from Sophocles. A Greek quota

THE BOASTFUL SCHOLAR.

53

tion, and in a coach too, roused the slumbering professor from a kind of dog-sleep in a snug corner of the vehicle. Shaking his ears, and rubbing his eyes, "I think, young gentleman," said he, "you favoured us just now with a quotation from Sophocles; I do not happen to recollect it there." "Oh, sir," replied our tyro, "the quotation is word for word as I have repeated it, and in Sophocles too; but I suspect, sir, that it is some time since you were at college." The professor, applying his hand to his greatcoat, and taking out a small pocket edition of Sophocles, quietly asked him if he would be kind enough to show him the passage in question in that little book. After rummaging the leaves for some time, he replied, "Upon second thoughts, I now recollect that the passage is in Euripides." "Then perhaps, sir," said the professor, putting his hand again into his pocket, and handing him a similar edition of Euripides, "you will be so good as to find it for me in that little book." The young Oxonian returned again to his task, but with no better success. The tittering of the ladies informed him that he had got into a hobble. At last, "Bless me, sir," said he, "how dull I am! I recollect now; yes, yes, I perfectly remember that the passage is in Eschylus." The inexorable professor returned again to his inexhaustible pocket, and was in the act of handing him an Eschylus, when our astonished student vociferated, "Stop the coach! -holloa, coachman, let me out, I say, instantly-let me out! There's a fellow here has got the whole Bodleian library in his pocket!"

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.-Proverbs, xvi. 18, 19.

Christ says Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.-Matt. xi. 29. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.-Matt. xviii. 4.

COURTESY.

As men are of different dispositions and tempers, they would assuredly fall out with each other, if cach were to say to another whatever arose in his thoughts. In order to avoid giving offence, it is necessary to put a restraint upon our thoughts in company, and only say what we think will probably not be displeasing to any.

In associating, men have also found it necessary to observe certain set forms of speech and conduct, of a respectful and affectionate kind, towards cach other. One, in writing a letter to another, subscribes himself as his "obedient servant," though the individual whom he is addressing may be quite a stranger. If the writer be acquainted with the person addressed, he calls him " dear sir," though he may, in reality, care little about him. There is in this a certain insincerity; but it is necessary, in order to avoid an appearance of rudeness or bluntness, which could not fail to hurt the feelings of the receiver of the letter.

Ladies and gentlemen, in conversing, address each other in respectful terms; a gentleman always hands a chair to a lady before he seats himself; cach person waits till another has done speaking before he begins to speak; all are deferential and kind to each other. No doubt many are little disposed to make this show of politeness; but it is proper, nevertheless, that it should be made, because anything else would be offensive. It is better to put a slight constraint upon our inclinations, than, by bluntness, to give pain to our fellow-creatures. Politeness, in fact, has its true source in benevolence. If we love our fellow-crcatures, as we ought to do, we cannot fail to be courteous to them, and to avoid giving them, by word or look, unnecessary offence.

It is also of importance to observe that the real state of our feelings is liable to be very much affected by the very appearances of surrounding and connected things. If we live much amidst broils and jars, our feelings become harsh and irritable. If we live where only the soft words of courtesy are used, we become soft and courteous. In polite society we gradually gain the power of restraining all violent

THE ENGLISHMAN AT TURIN.

55

feelings, and at length become in reality the creatures which at first we only seemed.

Like other virtues, courtesy has its extremes. An overpolite or fawning manner is as disagreeable as rudeness. True politeness is an honest and manly complaisance, as far from cringing and obsequiousness on the one hand, as from insolence and indifference on the other.

THE PERSIAN PEASANT.

No one is so high but he may feel the courtesy of the most humble, and no one is so humble but he may win applause by courtesy. This is because it is not the value of a favour, or of an act of courtesy, that we chiefly esteem: we more esteem the feeling from which it springs, and the manner in which it is conferred. For the same reason the greatest men, in giving the greatest possible favours, have sometimes won less love than the humblest have gained by very little favours, or things which were no favour at all. It was said of Charles I. that he granted favours in so unpleasing a manner, that they procured him less affection. than some other kings gained by courteously declining to gratify their courtiers. A peasant meeting Artaxerxes, king of Persia, in one of his journeys, having nothing to present to his sovereign, ran to an adjacent stream, and filling his hands with water, offered it to the king to drink. The monarch smiled at the oddness of the present, but thanked the giver, in whom, he said, it showed at least a courteous disposition. Such a peasant might be to appearance a clown, but his mind must have been by nature that of a gentleman.

THE ENGLISHMAN AT TURIN.

About the middle of the eighteenth century, when Englishmen travelling abroad were, from their rareness, objects of greater attention than now, one, in the course of the tour of Europe, arrived at Turin. Sauntering out to see the place, he happened to meet a regiment of infantry returning from parade. While he gazed at the passing troops, a young officer, evidently desirous to make a display before the stranger, in crossing one of the water-courses by