the entrance from the quay, after having been somewhat unceremoniously crowned with an empty murlin, so as to justify the remark of a bystander, that "his head was surely in a creel." He succeeded in effecting his escape by the Back Traps. The Merchant recovered from the claw of the crab, and trudged homewards, exclaiming, "Deil tak your partan taes, muckle mischief hae they played amo' councillors first and last, but naething like this. It was a mercy that we wisna like 'the pigs !''

So here ended "Fytte the First," which abundantly proved that-wherever the schoolmaster might be "abroad,"-in the Fish Market he was certainly "NOT AT HOME!"

A "jeu d'esprit," on Councillors Phillip, Dunn, etc., and their intermeddling with education then. Wisdom sits enthroned in the councils of the city now. We have no meddling or muddling to lament over, each returning competition for bursaries at the University proving how valuable and effective for gaining these is our present Grammar School curriculum. For "the spread of letters," this same locality-the Fish Market site is again in favour with the Aberdeen TownCouncil.

PADDY WEEKS' ADDRESS.

DEAR Ladies and Gentlemen-all!
Behold me once more in your city;
Since I left you, my luck's been but small;
Och! sure you'll say-more is the pity!

Soon after I left Aberdeen,

I droop'd like a lone weeping willow;
I have been quite a prey to the spleen,
And sleep's cut his stick from my pillow.

Just look at my chop-fallen cheeks!

I suspect I am in for consumption;

If you know your ould friend Paddy WeeksI confess I'm surprised at your gumption.

A crony I met, and says he

You look very ill, my dear fellow !

Your liver is bad, for I see,

Your complexion is turning quite yellow!

In dust I must very soon moulder,

My appetite's so very bad!-Oh!

I don't like to look over my shoulder,

For fear I should miss my own shadow !

j

Now, the reason of all this distress,

You cannot with reason suppose ; I'll tell it you all-more or less;

But, of course, it is under the rose!

I hope there is none within hearin'-
(Just let me get over my spittle!)
I have been to see ould mother Erin—
But-by J- !-she's bad off for victual!

Says I-"Is your money all spent?"
What, think ye, replied the poor cratur?
Och! I pinch back and belly for "rint"
To give to the "great liberator!"

Sure I found that the "Sign o' the Fork"
Was no longer a sign of a Hotel;
Bottle-stopping there must be in Cork,

When there's devil a drop in the bottle!

To teach in your new Grammar School,
The Ex-cur-sio-nal Education

On the system of Dr. O'Toole,
Would tally with my inclination!

Or if

you should rather incline

To nestle me in your new College; Why 'tis quite in an Irishman's line

To promote the confusion of knowledge!

Since I'm just like the famed Brig o' Don,
Being turned rather ouldish and crazy ;

When the best of us both is quite gone,

'Twere but fair that the worst should be aisy!

Our cases do so correspond,

That, without any more botheration,
I'd consider a slice o' th' fond,
An agreeable mortification!

Should I pluck up my old phisiog

By the help of good eating and drinking,
I'd be liker to-" go the whole hog,"

So I'll just tell you what I've been thinking.

What if you should make me M.P.,

I'm sure you won't think me ambitious;
For you know that my speeches would be

All "sensible, clear, and judicious!"

Mr. Weeks, comedian, was at this time figuring on the Aberdeen stage with the Crisps, Williams', and—Tom Ryder. Dan O'Connell, “the great liberator" was levying "rint," and Lord Brougham designating the then Aberdeen M.P.'s speeches, as "sensible, clear, and judicious." One of the Aberdeen Mortifications is called "The Brig o' Don Fund."

MATHEMATICS.

THE importance of the study of Mathematics, whether with a view to mental discipline, the gratification of enlightened curiosity, or the employment of its practical results in the exigencies of professional life, has never been questioned except by those to whose crude and mistaken opinions on the subject little deference is due. By means of this powerful engine of inventive thought, we are enabled to scan the scan the most mysterious phenomena of nature, and to perform the most striking achievements of art. It has been applied to detect the subtle agency of magnetic, electric, and capillary attraction, and to discover the laws of the forces which urge the heavenly bodies along courses traced by the finger of Omnipotence! It has been employed to assist the feeble hand of man to rear his towers of strength, the proud palace, and the consecrated fane; and to navigate the stately vessel through the pathless deep. In every, even the most remote age, and among all nations, in any degree famed for civilisation, it has ever been prosecuted with an ardour worthy of its