withal, and we sit as the principal spectators thereof, let us offer our sacrifices of praise, and acknowledge that "the spirit of man is as the lamp of God, wherewith may be searched the inwards of all secrets ;" and let us not despair, but, trusting in the powers given to us, continue in endless progression until all things are subdued under our feet."

THE ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE.

A few of the advantages of knowledge may be thus exhibited.

1. Knowledge avoids the misery to which ignorance is exposed.

2. Knowledge rejects false and selects true plea

sures.

3. Knowledge humanizes the possessor. 4. Knowledge preserves order in society. 5. Knowledge is power.

F

I.

KNOWLEDGE AVOIDS THE MISERY TO WHICH IGNORANCE

IS EXPOSED.

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Quique metus omnes et inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.

1. Benvenuto Cellini, when speaking of his grandfather Andrew Cellini, says: "He was still living when I was about three years of age, and he then above an hundred. They had one day removed a water-pipe, and there came out of it a large scorpion, which they had not perceived: it descended upon the ground, and had crept under a great bench when I saw it, and ran to take hold of it. This scorpion was of such a size, that, whilst I held it in my little hand, it put out its tail on one side, and on the other darted its two mouths. I ran overjoyed to my grandfather. The good old man begged it of me, but I grasped it the harder and cried, for I did

not choose to part with it. My father took a pair of scissars, and, humouring me all he could, he cut off the tail and head of the scorpion, without my having received any injury.

2. A little girl sat on a fine summer's morning by the side of a river, eating her bread and milk from a small basin which she held in her hand. A snake crept up the bank, raised itself, and, bending over, took a piece of the bread and instantly shrunk back. The child, pleased with the beautiful colours and flexible form of the creature, looked eagerly, but in vain, for its retreat. She returned disappointed to finish her meal. In a few moments the snake again raised itself, and was just taking the largest piece of bread, when the child, lifting up her hand, said, "Not so fast, speckled back."

3. Near to the Hartz Mountains in Germany, a gigantic figure has from time immemorial occasionally appeared in the heavens. It is indistinct, but always resembles the form of a human being. Its appearance has ever been a certain indication

་

of approaching misfortune. It is called the Spectre of the Broken. It has been seen by many travellers. In speaking of it, Monsieur Jordan says: "In the course of my repeated tours through the Hartz Mountains, I often, but in vain, ascended the Broken, that I might see the Spectre. At length, on a serene morning, as the sun was just appearing above the horizon, it stood before me, at a great distance, towards the opposite mountain. It seemed to be the gigantic figure of a man. It vanished in a moment." In September 1796, the celebrated Abbé Haiy visited this country. He says: "After having ascended the mountain for thirty times, I at last saw the Spectre. It was just at sun-rise in the middle of the month of May, about four o'clock in the morning. I saw distinctly a human figure of a monstrous size. The atmosphere was quite serene towards the east. In the south-west a high wind carried before it some light vapours, which were scarcely condensed into clouds and hung round the mountains upon

which the figure stood. I bowed. The colossal figure repeated it. I paid my respects a second time, which was returned with the same civility. I then called the landlord of the inn; and having taken the same position which I had before occupied, we looked towards the mountain, when we clearly saw two such colossal figures, which, after having repeated our compliment by bending their bodies, vanished.-When the rising sun throws his rays over the Broken upon the body of a man standing opposite to fleecy clouds, let him fix his eye steadfastly upon them, and in all probability he will see his own shadow extending the length of five or six hundred feet, at the distance of about two miles from him."

4. Ignorance can shake strong sinews with idle thoughts, and sink brave hearts with light sorrows, and doth lead innocent feet to impure dens, and haunts the simple rustic with credulous fears, and the swart Indian with that more potent magic, under which spell he pines and dies. And by ignorance is