"Died at Perth, Thomas Marshall, Esq. Provost of that city, where his name will long be remembered with affection and gratitude. His illness was originally occasioned by one of those magnanimous actions that marked his character. Seeing from a window which overlooks the river Tay, a man struggling for life in the stream, he ran across the bridge, and plunged into the water to save him. The extraordinary exertion proved fatal to himself, and brought upon him the complaint which ended only with his life.

"To his private virtues were added great activity and public spirit. His native town has been improved, ornamented, and extended in an astonishing manner, under his auspices; and the ground on which the seminaries are erected, was his gift. His death is regarded by his fellow citizens as a public loss. On the day of his funeral, all the shops were shut up, and ten thousand people followed him to the grave."

What an honourable testimony to the happy consequences of a well spent life! Such distinctions reflect more lustre on the individuals that obtain them, than the highest rank or titles can confer. Compare the obsequies of some profligate nobleman, who has devoted his life to the pursuit of pleasure, and spent his time and wealth in the indulgence of sensual gratification, with those of this excellent person,' and a tolerable estimate may be formed of the superiority of virtue to every other consideration. The nodding plumes, the painted escutcheons, the hired mourners follow the remains of the votary at the shrine of voluptuousness, with every ap

pearance of grief, but without any sincere regret; whilst the heir secretly rejoices that the deceased has paid the debt to nature, and left him master of his treasures. No real grief is felt for the loss of him who lived for himself alone; whilst the ashes of the good man and public benefactor, are moistened with the tears of those whom his bounty has relieved. The prayer of the widow and the orphan, and of the outcast ready to perish, has drawn blessings on his sick bed, and soothed the hour of death.

At that awful period can any reflection be more consoling, than that we have neglected no opportunity of doing good to our fellow-creatures? Every one cannot, like Mr. Marshall, build school-houses, enlarge towns, or save others from drowning, from want of means and opportunity; but none are so mean, so feeble, or so destitute, but, with a disposition to be kind, they may afford assistance and comfort on many occasions. A kind word, a sympathising look, are testimonies of a good heart; and if we do not omit such opportunities of benevolence as lie within our reach, we shall stand acquitted with respect to those that are beyond our power. Let every one in his sphere feel for the sorrows of those with whom he lives, as relations, friends, and neighbours, and he will be at no loss for occasions of doing good.

The world furnishes us with many examples of the good effects of this disposition, considered as the means of advancing a man's fortune; though this is a dishonourable motive for doing a benevolent action.

The late lord Chedworth is supposed to have been influenced by gratitude, in the disposal of a large portion of his vast property to a mere acquaintance, who had no other claim upon his generosity than having pitied him, and shown him attention, at a time when his lordship was under disgrace, so that his equals and former associates shunned his company. When the humane feelings of this gentleman induced him to countenance one upon whom the world frowned, he was far from foreseeing that his compassion would be recompenced with two hundred thousand pounds. Though I would not be understood to recommend interested motives, as a proper incitement to the amiable virtues of kindness and good nature, yet it must be allowed, that instances of the happy consequences of benevolence, are an encouragement to lose no opportunity of showing kindness to our fellowcreatures in all situations. Nor is this lesson any where more beautifully enforced, than in the affecting story of the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. In their days there was a dreadful famine in the land. This poor woman's stock of provisions was nearly exhausted, and she had left her melancholy abode, in order to collect a few sticks, to make a fire to dress the last meal for herself and her son. In this immediate prospect of perishing with hunger, her humanity, and her faith in the promises of God, delivered by the prophet, not only induced her to share the scanty pittance with the stranger, but to make him a cake, before she or her son satisfied their craving appetites. This generous, humane, and pious action, did not lose its reward. The prediction of the

holy man was accomplished. A miraculous supply was bestowed, not sufficient only for the support of this good woman and her beloved child, but also for the prophet, who became an inmate with her during the remaining `time of scarcity; for we are told, "that the barrel of

meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail, till the Lord sent rain upon the earth." But great as was this deliverance, it was not the whole recompence of her charity towards a stranger. Some time after, her only son, that dear child for whom she had already suffered so many anxious hours, fell ill, and so grievous was his malady, that all appearance of life was fled. In the depth of her affliction, to whom could she apply, but to the kind friend who had on a former occasion shown that power was given him from on high, to perform things beyond the course of nature. The holy man sympathised deeply with his benefactress, and without pretending to have any supernatural power within himself, prayed earnestly that his spirit might be permitted to reanimate the lifeless clay. His petition was heard, the child revived, and the prophet had the unspeakable delight of restoring the son to his happy mother, whose faith was confirmed, and her reliance on the divine power strengthened, by this happy event; besides the consciousness of a sweet reward for a disinterested action.

SURNAMES.

ONE of the recreations I most delight in, is to assemble a party of young people, and propose to them some subject that is adapted to exercise their faculties and ingenuity. I love to see the progress of my young friends, and am able to judge by these opportunities, whether their time is employed in the acquisition of knowledge, or spent in trifles that tend to no useful purpose.

My juvenile party were much diverted at our last meeting, by tracing the origin of surnames. In the early periods of society, when a small number of persons dwelt in the same community; whilst a scattered village supplied the place of a city, and a nation consisted of a small tribe only; it was easy to distinguish the members of this society by a single name. They were generally known to each other; therefore, Abraham, Isaac, John, and Thomas, were sufficient: but as numbers increased, it became necessary to give a peculiar name to every family, that should be borne by all the individuals belonging to it, besides that which distinguished them from each other. At first the name of the father became that of all his household, whence come the surname of John, George, Thomas, William, Henry, and many more that will easily suggest themselves to remembrance. The next step was to mark the parent from the child, by adding, for the latter, the word son to the name of the father: thus, Thompson, Wilson, Williamson, Robinson, Robertson, Jameson, John