VARIETIES. HOW TO DRESS WELL.-Dr. Johnson speaking of a lady, who was celebrated for dressing well, remarked, "The best for evidence that I can give you of her perfection in this respect is, that one can never remember what she had on. Delicacy of feeling in a lady will prevent her putting on any thing calculated to attract notice: and yet a female of good taste, will dress so as to have every part of her dress correspond. Thus while she avoids what is showy and attractive, every thing will be adjusted so as to exhibit symmetry and taste. DOMESTIC PEACE.-The less of physical force or menacing language we use,-the less, to take an expressive word, we scold our children, the more order and quiet we shall commonly secure. I have seen a family where a single word, or a look even, would allay a rising storm. The gentle but firm method, is the best security for domestic peace. ON SUFFERING INJURIES.-I have this moment heard of a most malignant attempt to injure my character, and I take up my pen to record, to the praise and glory of my God, that my soul is kept in perfect peace. I pity those who delight in the exercise of such wicked dispositions. Little do they think that they injure themselves more than me; and that there is a day coming when the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. It is an unspeakable consolation that God knoweth every thing, and will judge righteous judgment. To him I can make my appeal that in the point referred to I am greatly injured; but whilst I have the testimony of my own conscience, and the light of my Redeemer's countenance, none of these things do move me, or ought to move me.-Simeon. A JEWISH PARABLE.-A poor man was travelling on a hot day, carrying a heavy load upon his back. A rich man passing by in his chariot took pity on him, and invited him to take a seat in his chariot behind. Shortly after, on turning round, the rich man saw the pilgrim still oppressed with the load upon his back, and asked him why he did not lay it on his chariot. The poor man said that it was enough that he had been allowed to be himself carried in the chariot, and he could not presume to ask for more. "Oh, foolish man," was the reply, "if I am able and willing to carry you, am I not able also to carry your burden? Oppressed and anxious Christian, do you not see in this man your own unbelief and folly? He who has accepted your person, and is your reconciled Father in Christ Jesus, expects you to cast upon him all your burden of cares too, and be able to sustain it. LAMARTINE-Lamartine when plunged in the very thick of political strife, found time to commence a "History of the Restoration," to edit a daily newspaper, to write a bi-monthly political pamphlet, and to produce a monthly literary periodical. He has knocked off two more volumes of the history aforesaid, in one of which, by the way, there is a very graphic account of the battle of Waterloo, written apparently under the influence of a real admiration of the generalship of Wellington, and of the heroic bravery of our noble soldiers. And he has commenced the publication of a semi-literary, semi-historical periodical, under the droll title of "Le Civilisateur”as if the "most civilized people on earth," as the French like to call themselves, could possibly want the teaching of any civilisator. Besides this, the indefatigable man has numerous other literary projects on hand.-Literary Gazette. THE laying down of the Electric Telegraph between England and Belgium is to be commenced without delay. The wire is ready. The line will go from Dover to Nieuport, and not Ostend, as at first stated, LIFE. What a serious matter our life is; how unworthy and stupid it is to trifle it away without heed; what a wretched, insignificant, worthless creature, any one comes to be, who does not as soon as possible, lend his whole strength, as in stringing a stiff bow, to doing whatever task lies first before him.-Sterling's last letter to his Son. SPARE MOMENTS are like the gold-dust of time: and Young was writing a true as well as a striking line when he taught that "sands make the mountain, and moments make the year." Of all the portions of our life, spare moments are the most fruitful in good as evil. They are the gaps through which temptations find the easiest access to the garden of the soul. A JUST REBUKE.-A hypocritical fellow in Athens inscribed over his door, 66 Let nothing evil enter here." Diogenese wrote under, "By what door does the owner come in?" THERE is this difference between hatred and pity; pity is something often avowed, seldom felt; hatred is a thing often seen, seldom avowed. STATISTICS. WATER.-Some four-fifths of the weight of the human body are nothing but water. The blood is just a solution of the body in a vast excess of water-as saliva, mucus, milk, gall, urine, sweat, and tears are the local and partial infusions effected by that liquid. All the soft solid parts of the frame may be considered as ever temporary precipitates or crystallizations (to use the word but loosely) from the blood, that motherliquid to the whole body; always being precipitated or suffered to become solid, and always being re-dissolved, the forms remaining, but the matter never the same for more than a moment, so that the flesh is only a vanishing solid, as fluent as the blood itself. It has also to be observed, that every part of the body, melting again into the river of life continually as it does, is also kept perpetually drenched in blood by means of the blood-vessels, and more than nine-tenths of that wonderful current is pure water. Water plays as great a part, indeed, in the economy of that little world, the body of man, as it still more evidently does in the phenomenal life of the world at large. Three-fourths of the surface of the earth is ocean; the dry ground is dotted with lakes, its mountain-crests are covered with snow and ice, its surface is irrigated by rivers and streams, its edges are eaten by the sea; and aqueous vapour is unceasingly ascending from the ocean and inland surfaces through the yielding air, only to descend in portions and at intervals in dews and rains, hails and snows. Water is not only the basis of the juices of all the plants and animals in the world; it is the very blood of nature, as is well known to all the terrestrial sciences; and old Thales, the earliest of European speculators, pronounced it the mother-liquid of the universe. In the later systems of the Greeks, indeed, it was reduced to the inferior dignity of being only one of the four parental natures- fire, air, earth, and water; but water was the highest in rank. LONDON IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.The extent and increase of London during the reign of Queen Elizabeth caused the greatest alarm to the Government; yet, in comparison with the present extent and progress of London, how idle, at a first glance, seems the fear; still, when we consider the sanitary condition of London at that time, and the imperfect state of the roads throughout England, we cannot wonder at the dread, particularly as plague and famine were frequent visitors to Queen Elizabeth's London citizens. What changes have taken place since that day! what wonderful extension! and still London in 1852 is not only better supplied with provisions than in the time of Elizabeth, but also vastly improved, notwithstanding our numerous abuses, in sanitary condition. In 1579, the alarm to which we have alluded respecting the increase of London was so great that an inquisition was ordered to be taken of the number of foreigners in London, when it appeared that the number had increased threefold in twelve years. In 1567, the number of strangers in London was, Scots, 40; French, 428; Spaniards and Portuguese, 45; Italians, 140; Dutch, 2,030; Burgundians, 44; Danes, 2; Liegois, 1; in all, 2,730; in 1579, the number was 8,190. This increase produced a remonstrance from the Lord Mayor and Aldermen against the number of new buildings and inhabitants within the city and suburbs of London; in consequence of which Her Majesty issued a proclamation, forbidding any new buildings of a house or tenement within three miles from the gate of the city, where no former house could be remembered to have stood, and likewise not to suffer more than one family to inhabit any house. The Lord Mayor was empowered to commit offenders against this proclamation, or to hold them to bail.-The Builder. THE NEGRO POPULATION OF THE WESTERN WORLD.-In the last number of the Anti-Slavery Reporter, we find the following computation of the population of African descent now existing in the New World:United States Brazil.... Spanish Colonies. 3,650,000 4,050,000 1,470,000 South American Republics 1,130,000 ... French Colonies Total............ 750,000 850,000 270,000 50,000 45,000 70,000 35,000 .12,370,000 Of these, seven millions and a half are in slavery in the United States, Brazil, and the Spanish and Dutch Colonies; one quar ter of a million in progress of emancipation in the South American Republics; and the remainder, four millions, six hundred and twenty thousand, are free. ORIGINS. WILLIAM, the Conqueror, originated the Curfew Bell, which was rung at eight o'clock in the evening, to warn the people to put out their fires and candles; a law made with the good intention of preventing the terrible conflagrations that often happened in the towns, when so much wood was used in building. DURING the reign of William, the Conqueror, the absurd mode of trial by ordeal, which had been in general use among the Saxons, was discontinued; and the Norman fashion of settling legal differences by single combat was brought into England. Before the conquest, surnames were not used in England; but the Normans adopted a second name by way of distinction, and it usually expressed some personal quality or indicated some office. SPIC AND SPAN NEW.-Spic and span new is a corruption from the Italian Spiccata de la spanna-snatched from the hand -fresh from the mint; and was coined when the English mercers were as much infatuated with Italian fashions, as they are now with French. WHAT IS A POUND TROY?-In 1758, the House of Commons issued a Commission to adjust the standard of weight, and under the superintendence of the officers of the Mint, assisted by some eminent scientific men, the standards were determined, and two Troy pounds, of extreme accuracy, were produced. One of these pounds was deposited in the House of Commons, and was destroyed in the fire in 1834, and the other, until recently, has been in private hands. This duplicate of the original standard Troy pound has been, since the destruction of its fellow, the weight always appealed to in any Commission for the trial of weights. It was, on Thursday, sold by auction, by Messrs. Puttick and Simpson, the well-known auctioneers of Piccadilly, amongst other effects of the late S. Alchorne, Esq., formerly King's assay master. The weight alluded to produced 177., and was understood to have been purchased for Government. The hydros tatic balance used for the trial of the standard in 1758, with several boxes of extremely accurate weights, were withdrawn, no bidder appearing for the same. The sale included many curious MS.S. on Mint affairs. Amongst these was Crocker's Register Book of Drawings for Medals, certified under the hands of various officers of the Mint, and containing thirty autographs of Sir Isaac Newton, sold for 404, and will, with the most interesting of the other MS.S. find its resting place in the British Museum. Lot 178, a 51. piece of Geo. III., dated 1820, and in very fine condition, sold for 317. FAMILY NAMES.-The origin of most family names is too remote in the obscurity of the past, to be authenticated by anything better than a plausible guess. Generally they tell their own history. An individual trait of character or peculiarity of person, has fixed a descriptive epithet upon an individual, and the designation extends to his posterity for ever. Thus we account easily for the Littles, the Longs, the Shorts, and the Broads,—the Hardys, the Strongs, and the Swifts. Occupations have given names to the Smiths, the Gardeners, the Coopers, the Tailors, the Carpenters. Locations to the Hills, the Brooks, the Rivers. Birds to the Martins, the Herons, the Crows, and the Sparrows. Descent to the Williamsons, Jacksons, Johnsons, Richardsons, and Thompsons: and so throughout the greater number of the names in English. And we suppose it is the same in all languages, for the philosophy is universal. Few can go back to the particular person with whom the name originated, but all can form a very clear notion how it happened. BANKRUPT. Banks, for the deposit of money, may now be classed amongst the most magnificent buildings which ornament our large towns. This has not always been the case. Originally, those who followed the profession of public money-lenders, occupied each a bench or bank, as it was called, (the term still prevails in some agricultural villages) at the market cross. On market days, the customers resorted to their bankers, each of whom attended for the transaction of business. Then, as now, that business was not invariably successful-occasionally the banker failed. When this occurred, he ceased to attend his bank, which was understood as a signal of insolvency. On this becoming known, a party assembled at the cross (including, no doubt, some of the customers of the absent banker), and rupt or broke, his bank to pieces; after which, he was called a bankrupt. now, when the owner of one of these establishments fails, we say his bank is broken. Even Printed by JOHN KENNEDY, of 32 Alpha Road, Regent's Park, at his Printing Office, Paul Street, Portman Market. SOUL'S THE WELFARE. FEMALE STUDIES. WE purpose to consider, in this Essay, what course of study is the best adapted for the right developement of the intellect, and for the formation of healthy mental habits. It will be readily allowed that a rightly developed intellect and healthy mental habits constitute the best qualification for the earnest and efficient discharge of the duties belonging to our transient, but important sphere of action. We may first inquire wherein such a mental condition consists—and afterwards consider what course of study is best adapted to aid in its developement. The perfection of intelligence lies in clear and ready discernment. A mind whose perception is quick and distinct, whose judgment is sound-whose memory is retentive and available—and whose imagination, though brilliant, is controlled-presents perhaps as efficient and able an intellectual instrument as we are capable of conceiving. But intelligence may be forfeited-and, unhappily for society, instances of the abuse of the noblest powers constitute the common material of history. It is only in proportion as the intellect is guided in all its investigations by an ardent love of truth, that it can be regarded as a beneficial agent, otherwise the degree of its ability is only the measure of its mischievous and perverting power. The healthiest mental habit that can be acquired is the love of truth. Under the steady influence of this pure passion, the intellect cannot fail to develope itself aright, and all the powers of the mind will find scope for constant activity. This disposition, like others, will grow and strengthen in proportion as it is exercised. It is essentially active. It lies at the foundation of all that is great and useful in character; to it we owe the noblest specimens of human nature that the page of history can present. It has been active in every onward movement of society. Where it has once taken root, no power has been equal to its destruction, no difficulty appals it, no reverence for time-honoured error arrests its course; its trophies are reared amidst the substantial progress of society— which, as it now exists, is but the earnest of still more splendid attainments. If such be the results of the love of truth, surely it is worth cultivating. We dwel on it because it will be found to be the fruitful source of other mental habits. It will especially tend to form that capacity of attention, which is one of the most essential elements of mental progress. Perhaps nothing marks a greater difference between the intellectual power of individuals than the degree of intensity with which they are able to fix their thoughts on any subject under notice. The secret of intellectual power is largely involved in the capacity of steady and continuous attention. It is well known that Sir I. Newton ascribed his splendid attainments, not so much to original talents, as to the exercise of patient application. This habit |