LESSONS IN PENMANSHIP.-XIV. IN Copy-slip No. 46 (page 196), an example was given of the letter x. This letter is formed of the letter C twice repeated; the first, or the one to the left, being turned upside down, while the second, or the one to the right, is formed in the ordinary way. The left half of the letter is commenced on the line cc with a hair-line which is turned at the top to the right, and brought downwards without being thickened by pressure on the pen. The hair-line is turned to the left as it approaches the line bb, carried round, and terminated in a dot about midway between the lines b b, c c. The right half is then added. It is made in precisely the same way as the letter C, the thick down-stroke touching the thin down-stroke of the turned C, and forming the thickened centre of the letter. In Copy-slip No. 48 the learner will find an example of the letter e, which is commenced on the central line, c c, by a hairstroke carried up in a slanting direction to the right. This hair-line is then turned at the top line, a a, and carried to the left, and the letter is finished in the same manner as the letter e or the right half of the letter ; but in making the thick down-stroke care must be taken to let it pass over the point in the line c c, at which the up-stroke forming the loop or bow of the letter e was commenced. Copy-slips Nos. 47 and 49, comprising the words tax and axe, are given to show the learner how the letters X and ✪ are connected with letters that precede or follow them. In the last lesson it was said that the letters C, X, and e are modifications of the letter o. The learner may prove this in a practical manner for his own satisfaction, if he will take the trouble to make the letter O in pencil, on a piece of ruled paper, and then trace the letter Core over it in ink; or otherwise, by making the letters c and e, and then adding to them the fine hair-stroke on the right side that is required to form the complete oval of the letter O. To show that x is a modification of o it will be necessary to make the letter o twice over, so that the right side of the first touches the right side of the second, and then trace the letter X over the double o thus formed; or, as in the case of c and e, the hair-stroke that is necessary to complete the oval of o may be added on the right and left of the letter X. In the letters C, X, and e, the bottom-turn is carried to the right, beyond the limit of the bottom-turn of the letter O, in order to join them the more readily to any letter that may follow them. Rule for the Multiplication of Decimals. Multiply the two numbers together, as in whole numbers, and cut off from the resulting product as many decimal places as the sum of the number of decimal places in the multiplier and multiplicand. Obs. When the number of significant figures in the product is not as great as the sum of the number of decimal places in the multiplier and multiplicand, we must prefix ciphers. EXAMPLE.--Multiply 013 by '02. Multiplying as in whole numbers, we get 26; but since there are 5 decimal places in the multiplier and multiplicand together, we prefix 3 ciphers to 26, and the required result is by the rule ⚫00026. The reason of this may also be seen analytically thus:- 20 100000 15. A square of flooring is equal to 272-25 square feet: how many square feet are there in 41.5 squares of flooring? 16. The old wine gallon was equal to 833 imperial gallons; convert 17636 wine gallons into imperial. 17. And the old ale gallon containing 1·017 imperial gallons, how many imperial gallons are there in 27-375 ale gallons ? 18. Convert 14365 imperial quarters of wheat into Winchester quarters (a measure still used in some of the colonies), the Winchester quarter being equal to 969 imperial quarters. 19. How many cubic inches are there in 77.24 imperial gallons ? 20. How many imperial miles are there in 365 geographical miles? 21. How many cubic inches of distilled water would there be in 1-727 cwt. ? 22. A Scots mile being equal to 1·123 imperial miles, how many imperial miles are there in 722-5 Scots miles ? 23. An Irish mile contained 1.272 imperial miles: how many imperial miles were there in 77.263 Irish miles ? 24. A Dutch pound weight is equal to 2.20 English pounds: how many English pounds would there be in 125 Dutch? 25. How many English pounds would there be in 20 maunds 39 seers Indian weight, the maund being equal to 82-28 lbs., and there being 40 seers to the maund? 26. The French hectare is equal to 2:47 English acres: how many acres are there in 77.6 hectares? 27. A Danish centner contains 110.25 lbs.: convert 67.375 centners into English weight. 28. A Russian chetwerk of grain contains 5.77 English bushels convert 11,733 chetwerks into English corn measure. 29. How many imperial gallons are there in 2227 old wine gallons ? 30. How many old wine gallons are there in 48375 imperial 1. Find the products of the following numbers, and point gallons? them according to rule : 1. 96 x 5 2. 358 × 096. 3. 1.0013 x 25. 4. 3'6051 x 4.1. 5. 1003 × 6.12. 6. 8'0004 × 004. 7. 0006 × 00012. 8. 3005 × *0035. 9. 100 0008 × 000306. 10. 25067823 × 0000001. 11. 394-20023 x 00000003. 12. 2564-21035 × 4300506. 13. 44 046 × 43. 14. 35 601 x 1.032. 15. 213-02 x 4.318. 31. Convert 76-382 Scots miles into imperial miles. 32. The Portuguese almude is equivalent to 3.64 English imperial gallons: how many imperial gallons are there in 148.5 almudes ? 33. Convert the result of Example 32 into old ale gallons. 34. And also into old wine gallons. 35. An arroba of Spanish port contains 3.54 English imperial gallons: how many gallons would there be in 15-8675 arrobas? 36. 16 Prussian metzen go to the scheffel, and a scheffel is equal to 1.51 English bushels: convert 626 scheffel 15 metzen into English measure. 37. And say how many cubic inches are contained in the result to Example 36. 38. A Polish pound is equal to 89 English pounds: how 2. In 1 rod there are 16.5 feet: how many feet are there in many Polish pounds are there in 1 cwt. 2 qrs. 26 lbs. ? 41.3 rods ? 3. In 1 degree of the earth's circumference there are 69.05 British miles: how many miles are there in 360 degrees? 4. In 1 barrel there are 31.5 gallons: how many gallons in 65.25 barrels ? 5. In 1 inch there are 2.25 nails: how many nails are there in 60.5 inches ? 6. In 1 square rod there are 30-25 square yards: how many square yards are there in 26.05 rods ? 7. In 1 square rod there are 272-25 square feet: how many square feet are there in 160 rods? 8. A standard imperial pound avoirdupois is equal to the weight of 27.727 cubic inches of distilled water: how many enbic inches of distilled water therefore are equivalent to the weight of 59 lbs. ? 9. A geographical mile being equal to 1·152 imperial miles, how many imperial miles are there in 76:432 geographical iniles? 10. An imperial gallon contains 277-274 cabic inches: how many cubic inches are there in a hogshead of 63 gallons? 11. An imperial bushel containing 2218-192 cubic inches, how many cubic inches are there in 46:38421 bushels ? 12. A chain is divided into 100 links, each link being equal to 7.92 inches: how many inches would there be in 7.333 chains. 13. 4 diamond grains being equal to 3.2 troy grains, how many troy grains are there in 424 diamond grains? 14. Convert the answer to Example 13 into avoirdupois weight-100 troy ounces being equal to 109 ounces avoirdupois. 39. A Turkish pik is equal to 27.90 English inches: how many inches are there in 27.896 piks? HISTORIC SKETCHES.-VII. THE RISING OF THE LABOURERS UNDER RICHARD II. ON Whit Monday, 1382, Sir Simon Burley, who is called by one historian a "favourite of King Richard II.," and by another " Knight of the King's Household," rode into Gravesend, and seeing one of the townsmen, claimed him as his slave. There was great dissatisfaction and open murmuring among the people, with whom the man was a favourite, and they protested against his removal. The townsman himself loudly declared that he never was slave to any one, to Sir Simon or another, and seeing the sympathy the crowd had with him, he appealed to them for help. Sir Simon claimed the man as the son of one of his female slaves, called niefs, and disregarding the earnest entreaty of the crowd, would not abate his claim unless he were paid three hundred pounds of silver-a price he well knew the friends of the bondman could not possibly raise. Some disorder ensuing, Sir Simon, who was attended by two serjeants of law and a following of armed men, pushed on through the crowd, and gave orders that the prisoner should be taken to Rochester Castle. As soon as the great man's train had left, the awe inspired by its presence died away, and the people, whom the seizure of their fellow had taken completely by surprise, and had also deprived them of their power to act, recovered their self-possession, and began to cry out with one voice, "Down with the tyrants! Let had died was of a piece with the rest of the treatment the us go to Rochester! Let us join our brethren of Essex!' The Essex men had already risen in arms, and were vowing vengeance on all the lords and owners of land, and especially against lawyers, whom they hated as the ministers of the law that crushed them. Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and some of the other home counties, had been infected with the same spirit. In them the bubbles of rebellion were beginning to rise to the surface and to break, though as yet there was nothing like united action. The above-mentioned claim of Sir Simon-which Wat Tyler of Maidstone, Jack Straw, Hob the Miller, Burley, made in spite of the ferment which was going on only on the opposite bank of the river, was the spark which fired the train of the Kentish men's anger. people received from those above them, they rent the air with shouts of approval, and proposed to march at once to Canterbury and join their brethren who were already under arms. John the Tiler was a working man, and the people he addressed were of the same class. To that class also belonged "the brethren," who were in rebellion all over the Eastern Counties; agricultural labourers, fishermen, and some artisans employed in towns, composed the army-if it could be so called Before time enough had elapsed to throw cold water on the ire, another and more serious offence had been given to the people of the county, which not only caused them to make common cause at once with the men of the Eastern Counties, but drew to the front men of a certain kind of ability-such as Wat Tyler and the priest John Ball-who marshalled the malcontents into something like order, and put them under leadership. This second cause of offence is well known by tradition to almost every one. A poll-tax, that is to say, a tax of so much a head-in this case it was fourpence-had been ordered to be levied on all persons above the age of fifteen. The tax was very unpopular in itself, but the manner in which it was raised rendered it almost unbearable. To begin with, it was not committed to the royal officers to collect the money, but men of influence about the Court gave the king a certain sum in lieu of the tax, and then were permitted to make as much profit as they could out of the tax-gathering itself. Under these circumstances it is no wonder the tax was hated; the farmers of it naturally strove to make the yield as large as possible, and they instructed their agents to see that no one who was liable to the tax-every man and woman above fifteen years of age was liable escaped payment. One of these agents came to Dartford, in Kent, and began to pursue his business. The household of John of Dartford, a hellier or tiler, consisted of himself, his wife, his daughter, and two other persons. John himself was from home, at his work roofing a house, when the tax-gatherer came and demanded the dues. John's wife paid for herself, her husband, and the two servants or apprentices, but claimed exemption for her daughter, as being under the taxable age. The man disputed the woman's statement about her daughter, who he averred must be quite fifteen, and to this he held, demanding the tax for her, in spite of her mother's statement, which was supported by the witness of all her neighbours. High words followed, the tiler's wife refusing to submit to an injustice, and the collector, presuming on his position and his authority, speaking in a most unseemly way about the maiden. A friend ran off to where John was working, and told him what was going on at home, and probably magnified the true state of the case, after the manner of rumour-bearers. Anyhow, John no sooner heard his neighbour's words than he jumped down from the work he was engaged upon, and snatching up his heavy helving hammer, ran away home. Arriving at his own door, he found a crowd assembled, the tax-man still insisting on the polltax for the maiden, and in the very act of taking an indecent liberty, for the purpose, as he said, of ascertaining whether she was of fall age or not. The same practice, it seems, had been pursued in other places, where the people had not had the strength or the spirit to resist it; but Dartford was not the place in which to try such a thing, and John the Tiler was the last man in Dartford to put up with it. The scoundrel collector had barely time to draw his sword, which was all too useless as a guard, when the enraged father attacked him. No fence, however well sustained, could ward off the tiler's blow. Quickly the hammer rose in the air, swung by sinewy arms; more quickly still it descended, cleaved a way through the idle guard, which it shivered and broke, and falling with tremendous force on the skull of the collector, dashed out his brains on to the adjacent wall. Without a struggle or a groan the man fell dead, and the people stood around wondering at what was done. Yet no man laid hands on the tiler, no man regarded him as a murderer, and when he broke the silence, and told them in a few short words how that his cause was theirs, that this act for which the collector With John Ball, and others, led to Rochester, Canterbury, and Blackheath, and bearded the king even in the Tower of London. Working men alone were concerned in the affair; none of the knights, clergy, lawyers, or landowners taking any part in it, except for its suppression. Had some such men put themselves at the head of the movement, they might have succeeded in restraining the fury of the multitude, and in directing its energy into a channel where it would have borne good fruit. But there was no Stephen de Langton-no prophet. The people merely knew they were oppressed both by the lords and by the law which the lords had made; they knew not how to provide a remedy. Goaded to desperation, they turned and kicked, as a worm will twist when trampled on, and they became drunk in their fury, and turned away even such sympathy as otherwise there might have been in the breasts of their rulers. blind guides, demagogues, and men whose heads were turned by the possession of power," the Commons of England" went from place to place, committing all sorts of excesses, cutting off the heads of all lawyers they could lay hands on, burning books and records, houses and colleges, opening the prisons, getting very drunk on the wine for which they ransacked the cellars of castles and mansions, and, for the purpose of enjoying the contrast, making earls, barons, and knights attend upon them in the capacity of servants and stable-men. To women, however, it is not reported that they did any harm, though they sadly frightened the Princess Dowager of Wales, widow of the Black Prince, and mother of King Richard, by detaining her on her journey from Canterbury to London, and declining to let her proceed until she had kissed some of them, which she did, the old chroniclers report, with a very ill grace, though glad to get away at such a price. But what was the cause of this rising of the Commons? The end of it we know. The rebels marched from all the home counties to London, sacked the Temple, the Duke of Lancaster's Palace of the Savoy, and burnt many other houses; they broke into the Tower, cut off the head of the Archbishop of Canterbury, with that of the Prior of St. John's, and some other noblemen; and proposed to do the like to all the knights and lords in the country, though they still professed affection for the king, and rallied to the cry of " King Richard and the true Commons." Then came the end of all. Many of the insurgents had left London with charters of liberties which they obtained from the king, but Wat Tyler, at the head of several thousands, chiefly Kentish men, remained, and venturing to be insolent to the king himself at an interview which took place in Smithfield, was slain in view of his host by Sir William Walworth, the Lord Mayor of London. The men, disconcerted by the fall of their leader, were partly cajoled, partly driven from the metropolis, and when they were dispersed, commissions were issued for the trial and punishment of the leaders, the charters already granted were taken away, and the people were reduced to a state of bondage worse than before. The commissions to punish were carried out with so much excessive zeal, that even in those days, when might was not over squeamish about the way in which it kicked right against the pricks, an Act of Indemnity was thought necessary to hide the acts of the officers of the Crown. But what was the cause of the rebellion? We have seen a part of it in the odious claim made by Sir Simon Burley at Gravesend, and in the outrageous conduct of the tax-gatherer at Dartford. These, however, were only the outward, visible signs of a very oppressive state of things which had their foundation in the laws and institutions of the country. In King John's time (1199-1215), when the population of England was under two millions, there were upwards of one million villeins, that is to say, half the population were in a state of bondage. A villein was one, man or woman, who was sold as a separate chattel, or with the stock on the land-one who, in the terse language of the chronicler, "knew not in the evening ** what he was to do in the morning, but he was bound to do whatever he was commanded." His children were slaves like himself-hence Sir Simon Burley's claim to the Gravesend man -he might be beaten, chained, ill-fed, over-worked; his master might do anything to him short of killing him. The whole of the agricultural labourers were of this condition. In towns there were free workmen and free labourers, but their number was not large, and their influence was a creature of slow growth. Their wages were, moreover, fixed not by the means of competition in an open market, but by regulations made by those who employed them. Thus, in the reign of Edward I. (A.D. 1272), the wages of carpenters, tilers, masons, and plasterers, in London, where the terms were probably more liberal than in the provinces, were fixed at fourpence a day. As time went on, the number of free men increased, both in town and country, chiefly through the medium of the Church, which gradually emancipated a large number of those whom it claimed as its villeins. were fixed, for weekly or daily labourers, at from five a.m. till between seven and eight p.m., between the middle of March and the middle of September, two hours and a half being allowed for meals and refreshment. Such was the state of things till 1813, except that there were besides some very objectionable laws, punishing with great severity all workmen who combined to raise the price of their labour, and to make an open market. These laws were, however, repealed in 1825, since which date the workman has been as free as the merchant to buy and sell his labour in the best market, and even to a great extent to make the market. He is now, politically speaking, the equal of any of his fellow countrymen, and as far removed in every respect from his prototype as he existed in the days of King Richard II. as the freeman is from the slave. SYNOPSIS OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF RICHARD II. Richard II. was the son of the famous Black Prince, and the grandson of Edward III. He was the twelfth King of England after the Norman Conquest, and the eighth and last of the Plantagenet dynasty. 1376 Born at Bordeaux Jan. 6, 1367 by the Lord Mayor of Lon- June 15, 1381 In the reign of Edward III., however, another cause operated to enlarge their ranks. A dreadful disease, known as the Black Death, which appears to have originated in China, in which country thirteen millions of men, women, and children are said to have died, swept across Europe from the East, and coming to England, destroyed half the population. Villeins were left without masters, masters without villeins, and death in many cases inade equal the high and low. After the Black Death went away, the number of workmen were found to be much reduced; Wat Tyler slain in Smithfield the price of their labour, therefore, ought to have been much higher, in accordance with the law of supply and demand, since the demand had increased while the supply had diminished. In the country, which the ravages of the plague had been desolating, there was a cry for more wages, and the number of men who were freed by their owners' death from bondage made the number of wages-takers formidable. The men would not work without" outrageous and excessive hire," as the employers said; so a Parliament, consisting wholly of employers, passed a law, called The Statute of Labourers, by which the wages of agriculturists were fixed at the price they had been before the plague. An ox-herd had six shillings and eightpence a year; a farm bailiff, thirteen shillings and fourpence; and a shepherd, ten shillings a year and clothing; and no man was to quit his work without leave, under pain of being put in the stocks." An ordinance, made about the year 1370, ordered that saddlers, skinners, and tanners should be "chastised for charging excessively." Thus we find that among the principal causes of the rising of the labouring classes in 1382, were the practice of villeinage, which was not yet extinct, the unfair and oppressive regulations about wages, the dearness of living, and the demands, barbarously made, and frequently brutally enforced, for taxes out of the people, notwithstanding. As has been said, the people got little at the moment by their rebellion, the disastrous conduct and termination of which left them with the fetters of bondage more firmly riveted on their necks. A fresh and more stringent Statute of Labourers was passed, and the poor people in country places suffered on for many years. In towns the workmen were better off-better able to defend themselves-and the interests of the employers could not there be advanced without a corresponding advantage to the men. Some Acts of Henry VII. (1485-1509) and Henry VIII. (1509-1547), which aimed at fixing the price of skilled labour, proved to be abortive, and things remained on the old basis till 1563, when a law was passed, which remained unrepealed till 1813, though it must have become inoperative in many places before that date. This was, perhaps, one of the most exceptionable laws ever put on the statute roll. Justices of the peace in the country, and the mayor, sheriffs, or other authorities in towns, were to meet every year after Easter, and taking into consideration the price of living, and of house-rent, the demand and supply for labour, were to fix the wages of all workmen and labourers for the ensuing year. Any one giving more than these wages was to be fined five pounds, and put in prison for ten days; any one taking more was to be imprisoned for three weeks. No workman or labourer was to leave his work without a passport sealed with the town seal, and approved by two householders. If he did so he was liable to scourging, exposure in the stocks, and imprisonment. The hours of labour SOVEREIGNS CONTEMPORARY WITH RICHARD II. Denmark, Sovereigns of. Germany, Emperors of. | Clement Olaus V. Margaret "Union of Calmar' by which Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are united under Margaret and Eric of Norway. 1397 (anti-pope). 1391 1376 Charles IV. 1347 1387 Wenceslas. 1378 Norway, Kings of. Benedict XIII. 1343 1380 Scotland, Kings of. 1387 Robert II. Spain, Kings of 1370 1384 Eastern Empire. France, Kings of. Louis John I. 1370 Sweden united to 1378 Denmark 1 It will be noticed that the word "anti-pope" is added to the names of two of the Popes of Rome above. The anti-pope was a pope chosen by the will of some king, or the intrigues of a party hostile to the reigning pope, who had been elected by the College of Cardinals. Urban VI., for instance, had been chosen by the cardinals to please the people of Rome, who wished for an Italian pope, who would reside in the Eternal City, and not at Avignon or elsewhere, as some of the popes who preceded him had done. On his election, the French and Spanish cardinals retired to Provence, and chose Robert of Geneva to occupy the papal chair. This ecclesiastic assumed the title of Clement VII., and as soon as his election was made known Christendom was riven asunder, and presented the appearance of a house divided against itself, France, Spain, Scotland, and Savoy declaring for Clement VII., while Italy, Germany, England, and other parts of Europe acknowledged Urban VI. as the visible head of the Church. As a matter of course, these rivals for the enjoyment and management of the temporalities of the "Vicar of Christ," as the bishops of Rome delight to style themselves, utterly ignored the "new commandment" of the meek and gentle Master whom they professed to follow. They solemnly cursed each other by bell, book, and candle, and each declared his opponent, and those who supported him, excommunicated. The quarrels of the angry claimants for the chair of St. Peter, in the persons of the popes and anti-popes, kindled the spark that smouldered till the sixteenth century, and then suddenly broke forth into the glorious blaze of the Reformation. nected with mental operations. Their uses have more relation to our animal than to our intellectual life, and the appetites which arise from a desire to gratify these senses have always been considered to be less refined and more sensual than those which pertain to the senses of sight and hearing. It is true that a spurious delicacy and refinement of the sense of smell have caused the wealthier classes in times of high civilisation to delight in costly and rare essences and scents; but the extensive use of these has been the characteristic of effeminate races, and of times when civilisation, in its highest sense, had begun to succumb to luxury. When Rome boasted of her I. VERTICAL SECTION OF HUMAN HEAD, SHOWING THE RELATION OF THE PASSAGES FOR AIR AND FOOD. II. FRAMEWORK OF THE NOSE. III. MUSCLES OF THE NOSE. IV. SEPTUM OF THE NOSE AND ITS NERVES. Ref, to Nos. in Figs.-I. 1, upper turbinated bone; 2, middle do. ; 3, lower do. ; 4, hole leading to the canal which drains the eye; 5, Eustachian hole; 6, palate; 7, uvula; 8, epiglottis; 9, pharynx; 10, larynx; 11, cricoid cartilage; 12, thyroid cartilage; 13, cavity of the mouth. II. 1, part of upper jaw bone; 2, nose bone; 3, upper side cartilage; 4, lower do.; 5, cellular tissue. III. 1, pyramidal muscle of the nose; 2, muscle to lift the side cartilages; 3, compressor of the nose; 4, front dilator of the nostril; 5, small compressor of the nostril; 6, hind dilator of the nostril; 7, muscle to pull down the side cartilages. IV. 1, nerve of the lobe of nose; 2, olfactory lobe; 3, nerves of the septum; 4, nerve of palate. they proceed. These vibrations, therefore, can inform the mind concerning objects far removed from its instrument, the body, with an accuracy which makes us scorn the idea that we can be deceived in that which our eyes have seen and our ears heard. Through these avenues the human mind extends itself, till it touches, and by the aid of reason may be said to grasp, the universe; and the highest powers of the mind are employed in interpreting the messages brought to us by light and Bound. In marked contrast to these are the remaining senses of which we have to write-namely, those of smell, taste, and touch. These senses are excited by material particles applied directly to those parts of the body which can take note of their peculiar qualities, and hence they are far less necessarily con15-N.E costly perfumes, she had almost ceased from the prouder boast of being mistress of the world; and the more manly tone of modern and western society has decided between Hotspur and the fop, to the prejudice of the latter. Matter or material substances exist in three forms-the solid, liquid, and gaseous; and almost all substances can be made to assume each of these forms. Thus ice may be transformed into water and into steam. When the particles of matter hang together so closely and rigidly that they will not move over one another without the application of force, they form a solid. When the particles hang together so loosely that they will move over and round each other with the slightest force, so that they can scarcely be said to hang together at all, the substance is called a liquid. When the particles not only do |