worth knowing? It is this: We, "lords | unbearable, the whole will have an inte of the creation," venerate woman for her piety; we honour and respect her for her integrity and judgment; we admire her for her wit, talents, and accomplishments; and we love her for her personal charms and her feminine qualities and virtues. She, then, who would be venerated, respected, and admired, must excel in piety, integrity, judgment, wit, talent, and accomplishments; while she who would be loved, must cultivate with care the personal charms God has bestowed upon her, and guard, as the apple of her eye, her feminine qualities and virtues. I have said more than I intended, and only wish that it was more worthy your perusal. Time is hastening onwards, and we are hastening on too: let not, then, our contention be, which has the higher faculties, but rather, which shall apply them to the best advantage. If led on by infirmity of purpose, we may commit many errors in the pursuit of knowledge; but hardly shall we err, if our objects are really the Redeemer's glory, and the welfare of those around us for time and eternity. Whatever be our attainments, may the language of our hearts be, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory," Psa. cxv. 1. I remain, yours, A CAST IRON LIGHTHOUSE. A CAST IRON LIGHTHOUSE has been constructed by Messrs. Bramah and Robinson, under the direction of Mr. Alexander Gordon, and was lately to be seen towering above the adjoining buildings at their manufactory at Pimlico. It is to be erected on the east coast of Jamaica. The following particulars are from the Times. The height from the foundation to the roof is one hundred and five feet, fifteen feet of which will be sunk into the solid rock, and loaded in and out with rubble and concrete. The whole tower is formed of iron plates, one inch in thickness, and of these plates there are nine tiers, eleven plates at the bottom, and nine at the top; the whole are bolted together with iron flanges, and when permanently fixed will also be cemented with iron cement, and thus in effect, become one entire whole. To reduce the heat in the interior, which the strength of a tropical sun acting on a building of metal only one inch in thickness would render rior lining of slate, with an interval of one inch and a half between it and the iron, by which a current of air will constantly be in circulation over the whole. The diameter of the tower is eighteen feet six inches at the base, and decreases at the top to eleven feet six. The entire weight of the whole fabric is exactly one hundred tons. This lofty fabric was erected entirely without the aid of scaffolding, the expense of which, both here and on its final location in Jamaica, would have been very considerable: at present it stands upon the ground, and merely rests on a plane of temporary timber, etc. The manner in which this was effected is simple. the lower plates were secured together; a cross-beam passed over them, from which a derrick and cradle or windlass were fixed; by this the second tier of plates was elevated, and thus continued till the whole were placed in a very short time, and very few hands were necessary to effect it. The entrance is elevated from the ground ten feet, and is reached by steps of iron. It is little more than two months since the order was given for the erection of this structure, and it has been some time entirely finished. The whole expense, including the plan, the building, the passage over the Atlantic, and the erecting it, will not exceed, it is said, 7,000l. At the top, the platform is a square of sixteen feet, which consequently projects over the sides; this is surrounded by a rail, three feet in height. PROGRESS OF POPERY. NEW chapels have been recently opened at the following places :-Swinburne Castle, Northumberland; Derrytresna, St. Columb, Waterside, Warrenpont, and Ballyscullion, in Ireland. "Holy guilds," as they are called, are now in operation in many places, in the midland and northern counties. They are ostensibly charitable associations, formed for the purpose of supplying assistance in sickness, and defraying the expenses of funerals. The Romish bishops grant them charters of incorporation. The members wear peculiar habits and distinctive badges. The ceremony of investiture is performed by a bishop before the high altar. On occasion of the death of a member, all the members, male and female, (they form separate guilds,) attend the funeral, at tired in the dress of the guild, and walk in solemn procession, first to the church, and then to the grave. These exhibitions attract the attention of multitudes, who are thereby induced to attend the popish service for the time. On the feast of the nativity of the Virgin Mary, the members of the guild of St. Chad, Birmingham, one hundred and fifty in number, were "invested with the collar and shield of the association," in the cathedral, by Dr. Walsh, assisted by Dr. Wiseman. The charter of incorporation declares the guild to be formed, "under the patronage of our blessed Lady, and her spouse St. Joseph, in our cathedral church of the same St. Chad;" and the members are empowered to seek, collect, and administer alms in the town or elsewhere; to hold chapters, pass resolutions, elect of ficers, and to construct a burial place, for the brothers only; "provided always, that in all things they be subject to us and our successors, under the direction of some one priest in the service of the said church, to be named by ourselves and our successors." The reason for this last provision is obvious. Everything must be brought under the power of the priesthood. An association so constituted and governed will be always at the beck of the ecclesiastics; it is a trained band, ready to co-operate in the execution of any purpose which may be formed, especially if it be for the exaltation of the church. The Abbé Sorin, a French priest, accompanied by six lay assistants, has lately sailed for America, for the purpose of establishing schools, on Romish principles, in the state of Kentucky, On the 13th of October last, the new church of the Jesuits at the Hague, was consecrated by the bishop of Curium, assisted by a numerous body of the clergy, in the presence of an immense crowd, on whom it is said, "the touching ceremonies, which had not been witnessed for several centuries in the city, made a deep impression." A choir of one hundred and thirty musicians was engaged on the occasion. "The church is one of the finest and largest built in modern times, and is dedicated under the invocation of St. Theresa." The Romish missions in the East Indies have received strong reinforcements. Eleven missionaries, all monks, arrived at Bombay the month of May last. Since then, Dr. Fenelly, a bishop, has sailed from London for Madras, "accompanied SOME one has said, "Add a feather to a shaft, and it becomes an arrow. Old Roger Ascham, however, finds in the goose, to which we are chiefly indebted for feathers, a subject on which he may dilate. "Well fare the gentle goose," he says, "which bringeth to a man, even to his door, so many exceeding commodities. For the goose is man's comfort in war, in peace, sleeping and waking: what prayse soever be given to shooting, the goose may challenge best part in it. How well doth she make a man fare at his table; how easily doth she make a man lie in his bed; how fit even as her feathers be, for shooting, so be her quills fit only for writing." English archers, in war, always had their arrows plumed with white. Their rapid and thick flight is often illustrated by the old historians, by the figure of a snow storm. Froissart, when describing the battle of Cressy, paints the confusion of the Genoese bowmen, in the pay of the French, as arising from the English archers, who "stepped forth one pace, and let fly their arrows so wholly together, that it seemed as snow piercing through heads and breasts. The French knights then rushed in to slay the Genoese for their cowardice; but the 'deadly snow' of the English slew them and their horses too.” The distance to which a practised archer would send his shaft, was far greater than might be imagined. According to an act of Henry VIII., no man who had reached the age of twenty-four years, was permitted to shoot at any mark less than two hundred and twenty yards off; and Carew states that the Cornish archers shot with ease four hundred and eighty yards. There are some accounts of the shaft being sent the distance of half a mile, by some of the strong-armed bowmen of olden time. The prizes for archery appear to have been various. We often hear of a complete suit of forest green, a deer, or a butt of wine. When the latter was the prize, the butt was commonly set up for a mark, and it was gained by him who cleft the bung. A round-headed arrow, called a bolt, was used for this purpose. The sign of a well-known inn, in London, the "Bolt in Tun," refers to this custom; and as inns are remarkable for retaining their original signs, it is not improbable that its first owner had gained a butt of wine by his archery. It would be easy to continue such statements they serve to throw light on the character and habits of the people of former days; but our space forbids. It must suffice to remark, that intemperance in any is an awful evil, and that every benevolent mind must desire that war may for ever cease. Would that with the disuse of arrows, men had laid aside the sinful passions of which they were sometimes the instruments, and which at others they tended to excite! The oldest certain account of quills being used for pens, is said to be in some writings of Isidore, who died in 636. When enumerating the materials used in writing, he mentions not only reeds, but feathers. A poem on a pen, formed from a quill, was written in the same century, and is still extant. For a long time, however, quills for such purposes were very scarce. A physician of Coventry, named Philemon Holland, translated Pliny's Natural History into English with a single pen; and in the following verse he celebrates his performance : To communicate valuable knowledge, especially that which is calculated to lead the mind, under a sense of sin, to the only Saviour, is indeed to use it well. For such a service great genius is not required; persons of humble powers may, in this way, be useful. An old writer has said, "The letter from a Christian friend, which has nothing about Christ in it, is not worth the postage, though it stated that he who received it was entitled to a valuable estate." Let it then be the concern of every reader, to obtain a personal interest in the Saviour, and by all the means that can be employed, to urge others to seek his mercy. A sentence, a few words, even a single word, has been rendered effectual by the Holy Spirit, to a sinner's salvation.-W. THE OLD IRISH SAILING-PACKET Was a small trader, schooner or sloop; the cabin, of very limited extent, was lined with "berths;" a curtain portioned off those that were appropriated to ladies. In the centre was a table, seldom used, the formality of a dinner being a rare event, each passenger having laid in his own supply of" sea store," to which he resorted when hungered or athirst; finding, however, very often, when his appetite returned, that his basket had been impoverished by the visits of unscrupulous voyagers who were proof against seasickness. The steward was almost invariably an awkward boy, whose only recommendation was the activity with which he answered the calls of unhappy sufferers; and the voyage across was a kind of purgatory for the time being, to be endured only in cases of absolute neHad not others, since his day, used these articles far more freely, a house in cessity. It was not alone the miserable Shoe Lane, London, would not have cut, difference to the comfort of the passengers paucity of accommodation and utter inas it has done, about six millions of pens that made the voyage an intolerable evil. yearly. About six years since, notwith-Though it usually occupied but three or standing the extensive use of steel pens, the number produced was greater than that of any former year. "With one sole pen I wrote this book, The pen may be used for good or evil. Cowper says: "The sacred implement I now employ, Might prove a mischief, or at best a toy; Instances are not wanting, unhappily, in which it has been used for the worst purposes: it is well that there are others in which it has been employed for the best. four days, frequently as many weeks were expended in making it. It was once our lot to pass a month between the ports of Bristol and Cork; putting back, every now and then, to the wretched village of Pill, and, not daring to leave it even for an hour, lest the wind should change and the packet weigh anchor. But with us, it was "holiday time;" and our case was far less dismal than that of an officer to whom we recently related it— his two months' leave of absence had expired the very day he reached his Irish home.-Hall's Ireland. ON SOME REMARKABLE BOWER-BUILD- The shyness of this bird is so great, and its disposition is so suspicious, that travellers not in quest of objects of natural history may traverse its native districts without observing it; and it is only under peculiar circumstances that it can be approached near enough to distinguish its colours. When its haunts are intruded upon, it utters a harsh, grating, scolding note, and betakes itself to the topmost branches of the loftiest trees, or at once darts off, on rapid wings, to a distant locality. Its voice often betrays its presence, when it is concealed from sight.. THE spotted bower bird, (Chlamydera maculata,) though placed in a distinct generic group, is closely allied to the satin bower bird, which it greatly resembles in habits and manners. It is, however, less in size, being little larger than the common thrush. The general colour above is dark brown, each feather being tipped with buff, which produces an elegantly mottled plumage. The under parts are yellowish or greyish white. At the back of the head there is Mr. Gould observes, "I found the a broad, fan-like, pendant crest, com- readiest way of obtaining specimens was posed of elongated feathers, and of a by watching at the water holes where fine bright rose pink. This crest or frill they come to drink; and on one occasion, is present in both sexes, but is wanting near the termination of a long drought, in birds of the year. young The spotted I was guided by a native to a deep basin bower bird inhabits the interior of the in a rock which still held water from the country, leaving the mountain ranges and rains of many months before, and where the coast to the preceding species. It numbers of these birds, as well as honeyhas probably a wide range over the cen- suckers and parrots, were constantly astral portions of Australia. Mr. Gould, sembling throughout the day. This during his excursion into the interior, natural reservoir had seldom, probably found it in tolerable abundance at Brezi, never, been before visited by the white on the river Mokai, to the northward of man, being situated in a remote mounthe Liverpool plains. It was also nu- tain, and presenting no attraction to any merous throughout the low bushy ranges person but a naturalist. in the neighbourhood of the river Namoi, as well as in the open tracts of bush which intersect the plains stretching from its borders. MAY, 1842. "My presence was evidently regarded with suspicion by the feathered visitants to the spot; but while I remained lying on the ground, close to the I water, and perfectly motionless, their "In some of the larger bowers, which thirst overpowering their fear, they had evidently been resorted to for many would dash down past me, and eagerly years, I have seen nearly half a bushel of take their fill, although an enormous bones and shells at each of the entrances. black snake was lying coiled upon a "In some instances, small bowers, piece of wood near the edge of the pool. composed almost entirely of grasses, apOf the numerous assemblage here con-parently the commencement of a new gregated, the spotted bower birds were place of rendezvous were observable. by far the shyest of the whole; yet six frequently found these structures at a or eight of these displaying their beauti- considerable distance from the rivers, ful necks, were often perched within a few from the borders of which alone they feet of me. The scanty supply of water could have procured the shells and small remaining on the cavity must soon have round pebbly stones. The collection and been exhausted by the thousands of birds transportation of these materials must, that daily resorted to it, had not the rains, therefore, be a task of great labour and so long withheld, descended soon after- difficulty. wards in torrents, filling every watercourse, and overflowing the banks of the largest rivers." The arched avenue which this beautiful species constructs is more extraordinary than that of the satin bower bird, and it is ornamented in a different style. In the first place, the bower is far more extensive, often exceeding three feet in the length of the run; in the second place, grasses are used as a lining; and, thirdly, the ornaments consist of pebbles, bleached shells, and bones whitened by exposure to the sun and air. These bowers are found both on the plains studded with myalls, a species of acacia, (Acacia pendula,) and other small trees, and on the bushy slopes of the lower hills; and no one who sees them for the first time, ignorant of their architects, would imagine those architects to be birds. Outwardly they are built of twigs, but their inner lining consists of tall smooth grass, beautifully arranged, and so disposed, that their bending heads nearly or completely meet, overcanopying the avenue; while around them are hoarded shells, and bones, and pebbles, the latter of which form the floor of the avenue, as well as of the surrounding court-yard. "As these birds feed almost entirely upon seeds and fruits, the shells and bones cannot have been collected for any other purpose than that of ornament; besides, it is only those that have been bleached perfectly white in the sun, or such as have been roasted by the natives, and by this means whitened, that attract their attention. I fully ascertained that these runs, like those of the satin bower bird, formed the rendezvous of many individuals; for, after secreting myself for a short space of time near one of them, I killed two males which I had previously seen running through the avenue.' The great bower bird (Chlamydera nuchalis) is closely allied to the preceding species, differing principally in size, being larger, and in a greyer tone of general colouring. It was first described by Sir W. Jardine and Mr. Selby, from some specimens in the museum of the Linnean Society; but neither the part of Australia of which it is a native, nor any particulars relative to its habits were known to those naturalists. It is now ascertained that this bird inhabits the north-west coast, a portion of Australia which has been as yet but little visited. Specimens were procured by Messrs. Bynoe and Dring, two of the officers of the Beagle; but they could learn no account of its economy. "Evident and beautiful indications of design are manifest throughout the whole of the decorated bower, formed by this Captain Grey on his return from an species, particularly in the manner in expedition to the north-west coast, inwhich the stones are placed within it, formed Mr. Gould that he had frequently apparently to keep the grasses, with found, during his rambles, a most singuwhich it is lined, fixed firmly on their lar bower, made in every way like that of places. These stones diverge from the the spotted bower bird, and which was mouth of the run, on each side so as always an object of great interest to him. to form little paths, while the immense Unable to satisfy himself as to what collection of decorative materials, bones animal had constructed it, or even wheand shells, are placed in a heap before ther it was the work of a bird or quadthe entrance of the avenue, this arrange-ruped, he felt inclined to attribute it to ment being the same at both ends. the latter, but without direct evidence. |