The palace of the Eternal, whereof our sun is but a porch-lamp. Carlyle. SPACE AND COLOUR-Expression of. It is a favourite dogma among modern writers on colour, that "warm colours" (reds and yellows) "approach," or express nearness; and "cold colours" (blue and grey), "retire," or express distance. So far is this from being the case, that no expression of distance in the world is so great as that of the gold and orange in twilight sky. Colours, as such, are absolutely inexpressive respecting distance. It is their quality (as depth, delicacy, &c.) which expresses distance, not their tint. A blue bandbox set on the same shelf with a yellow one will not look ar inch farther off; but a red or orange cloud in the upper sky will always appear to be beyond a blue cloud close to us, as it is in reality. It is quite true that, in certain objects, blue is a sign of distance; but that is not because blue is a retiring colour, but because the mist in the air is blue, and therefore any warm colour which has not strength of light enough to pierce the mist is lost or subdued in its blue; but blue is no more, on this account, a "retiring colour," than brown is a retiring colour; because, when stones are seen through brown water, the deeper they lie, the browner they look; or than yellow is a retiring colour, because, when objects are seen through a London fog, the farther off they are the yellower they look. There is, therefore, I think, one law about distance, which has some claims to be considered a constant one; namely, that dulness and heaviness of colour are, more or less, indicative of nearness. distant colour is pure colour: it may not be bright, but it is clear and lovely, not opaque nor soiled; for the air and light coming between us and any earth or imperfect colour, purify

All

To know

It is not good to speak evil of all whom we know bad; it is worse to judge evil of any who may prove good. To speak ill upon knowledge shows a want of charity; to speak ill upon suspicion shows a want of honesty. I will not speak so bad as I know of many; I will not speak worse than I know of any. evil by others, and not speak it, is sometimes discretion; to speak evil by others, and not know it, is always dishonesty. He may be evil himself who speaks good of others upon knowledge, but he can never be good himself who speaks ill of others upon suspicion.

SPEAKING-Gently.
Speak gently! It is better far

Warwick.

To rule by love than fearSpeak gently-let no harsh words mar The good we might do here!

Speak gently! Love doth whisper low

The vows that true hearts bind;

And gently Friendship's accents flow

Affection's voice is kind.

Speak gently to the little child!

Its love be sure to gain;
Teach it in accents soft and mild:
It may not long remain.

Speak gently to the young, for they
Will have enough to bear-
Pass through this life as best they may,
'Tis full of anxious care?

Speak gently to the aged oue,

Grieve not the care-worn heart; The sands of life are nearly run

Let such in peace depart! Speak gently, kindly, to the poor;

Let no harsh tone be heard; They have enough they must endure, Without an unkind word! Speak gently to the erring: know, They may have toil'd in vain ; Perchance unkindness made them so: Oh, win them back again! Speak gently: He who gave his life To bend man's stubborn will, When elements were in fierce strife, Said to them, "Peace, be still !” Speak gently! 'Tis a little thing

Dropp'd in the heart's deep well. The good, the joy, which it may bring, Eternity shall tell.

Bates.

SPEAKING-in Public.

In

To improvise (i.e. speak extemporaneously), is to speak alone to people who do not interrupt you, or excite your ardour by interruption. It is to give explanations that are not asked of you, to resolve objections which have not been offered against you; in a word, it is to be the sole actor before spectators who will answer you, or will preserve silence, according as it may seem most expedient to them. conversation, everybody improvises when he talks; and if each of us could but retain what has been said pro and con., we might, in following a certain order prescribed by usage, make as many different discourses as there were interlocutors in the conversation. Every one who speaks in society would speak a very long time, if he were not interrupted when animated; that is to say, when he is altogether absorbed in that which he says, and does not experience any distraction: and even interruption sometimes but animates him the more. But the silence of his auditory, when once he perceives it, produces a very contrary effect. All eyes being fixed on him, he is embarrassed, he stammers, and at length becomes dumb; but this is not a defect of genius, it is merely a want of self-possession. He is a weak man; he is not master of his palpitating heart; he has lost his self-possession; his calm judgment has abandoned him: hence he sees nothing that he ought to see; he can compare nothing; he has lost the standard by which he ought to measure himself and others; he has lost genius, because he has lost the balance of judgment. Hence the first rule of improvization-"Acquire the mastership of your own feelings."

SPEAKING AND SINGING.

Jacotot.

Little or no attention is paid to the tone in which children speak; consequently they too often contract bad habits of intonation from the earliest age; and, as they grow up, what is mere habitual tone is mistaken for their natural voice. From this inattention to intonation in early years proceeds much difficulty in the voice for singing; and it is not unfrequently the cause of diseases of the throat and chest. It is but a part of this evil system that a most injurious habit prevails among the young ladies of the present day, of speaking in a subdued muffled tone, or what might be called a semi-falsetto, in consequence of which very few natural voices are heard. It must be understood, I speak more particularly of English ladies, as foreigners generally speak in the natural tone of their voice. I have no hesitation in saying that hundreds of young

ladies bring upon themselves serious chestaffections from a bad habit of speaking and singing. Signora Ferrari.

SPEECH-Beauty of.

Speech is the light, the morning of the mind; It spreads the beauteous images abroad, Which else lie furl'd and shrouded in the soul. Dryden.

SPEECH-Brevity of.

A sentence well couched takes both the sense and the understanding. I love not those cart-rope speeches that are longer than the memory of man can fathom. Feltham.

SPEECH-Faculty of.

The due and proper use of any natural faculty or power, is to be judged of by the end and design for which it was given us. The chief purpose for which the faculty of speech was given to man, is, plainly, that we might communicate our thoughts to each other, in order to carry on the affairs of the world; for business, and for our improvement in knowledge and learning. But the good Author of our nature designed us not only necessaries, but likewise enjoyment and satisfaction, in that being He hath graciously given, and in that condition of life He hath placed us in.

There are secondary uses of our faculties; they administer to delight, as well as to necessity and as they are equally adapted to both, there is no doubt but He intended them for our gratification, as well as for the support and continuance of our being. The secondary use of speech is to please and be entertaining to each other in conversation. This is in every respect allowable and right: it unites men closer in alliances and friendships; gives us a fellow-feeling of the prosperity and unhappiness of each other; and is in several respects serviceable to virtue, and to promote good behaviour in the world. And, provided there be not too much time spent in it, if it were considered only in the way of gratification and delight, men must have strange notions of God and of religion, to think that He can be offended with it, or that it is any way inconsistent with the strictest virtue. But the truth is, such sort of conversation, though it has no particular good tendency, yet it has a general good one: it is social and friendly, and tends to promote humanity, good-nature, and civility.

The government of the tongue, considered as a subject of itself, relates chiefly to conver sation; to that kind of discourse which usually fills up the time spent in friendly meetings

SPRING.

To see the old parental limbs of Earth

Lie stark as death; and fared she forth alone To where she left her burden in the void Beyond the south horizon:-her fair hair Streaming spring clouds among the vernal

stars.

SPY.

roaring waterfall, and, giddy and bewildered, watches the foaming mass as it leaps from stone to stone, and from crag to crag; he lingers in the fertile plains of a land of perpetual sunshine, and revels in the luxury of their balmy breath. But what are the deep

Which had sat up, and being naked blushedAnd stretched her conscious arms to meet the Spring,

landscapes, bounteous nature ever spread to charm the eyes and captivate the senses of men, compared with the recollection of the old scenes of his early youth? Magic scenes

young.

Theu did her mother Earth rejoice in her;
And she with filial love and joy admired,
Weeping and trembling, in the wont of maids.
Meantime her pious fame had filled the skies.
He that begat her, the Almighty Sun,
Passing in regal state, did call her "Child,"
And blessed her and her mother where they

sat

Her by the imposition of bright hands,
The Earth with kisses. Then the Spring
would go

Abashed with bliss,-decòrous in the face
Of love parental. But the Earth stood up,
And held her there; and, them encircling,

came

All kind of happy shapes that wander space, Brightening the air. And they two sang like gods

Under the answering heavens. Sydney Dobell.

SPRING-Invocation to.

Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness, come, And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud, While music wakes around, veil'd in a shower Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend. Thomson.

SPRING-Morning of.

What man is there over whose mind a bright spring morning does not exercise a magic influence, carring him back to the days of his childish sports, and conjuring up before him the old green field with its gently-waving trees, where the birds sang as he has never heard them since; where the butterfly fluttered far more gaily than he ever sees him now in all his ramblings; where the sky seemed bluer, and the sun shone more brightly; where the air blew more fresh over greener grass and sweetersmelling flowers; where everything wore a richer and more brilliant hue than it is ever dressed in now? Such are the deep feelings of childhood, and such are the impressions which every lovely object stamps upon its heart! The hardy traveller wanders through the maze of thick and pathless woods, where the sun's rays never shone, and heaven's pure air never played; he stands on the brink of the

them in colours brighter than the rainbow, and almost as fleeting! Dickens.

SPRING-Reflections in.

There is no way in which the young can better learn the sentiments of devotion, or the old preserve them, than by cultivating those habits of thought and observation, which convert the scenes of nature into the temple of God; which makes us see the Deity in every appearance we behold, and change the world, in which the ignorant, and the thoughtless, see only the reign of time and chance, into the kingdom of the living and ever-present God of the universe. Reflections of this kind arise very naturally amidst the scenes we at present, behold. In the beautiful language of the wise man, "The winter is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, and the time of the singing of birds is come." In these moments, we are witnessing the most beautiful and astonishing spectacle that nature ever presents to our view. The earth, as by an annual miracle, arises as it were from her grave, into life and beauty. It is, in a peculiar manner, the season of happiness. The vegetable world is spreading beauty and fragrance amidst the dwellings of men. The animal creation is rising into life; millions of seen, and myriads of unseen beings, are enjoying their new-born existence; and bailing with inarticulate voice the Power which gave them birth. Is there a time when we can better learn the goodness of the universal God. Is it not wise to go abroad into nature, and associate His name with every thing which at this season delights the eye and gratifies the heart. Alison.