THE ICELANDERS.

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SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE and Dr. Holland, who visited Iceland in the year 1810, give an interesting narrative of their journey. At the present time,' Dr. Holland remarks, “there are many individuals living on this remote spot, and from their situation exposed to innumerable privations, whose talents and acquirements would grace the most refined circles of civilized society. The business of education is systematically carried on among all classes of the inhabitants; and the degree of information existing even among the lower classes, is probably greater than in almost any part of continental Europe. The instruction of his children forms one of the Icelander's stated occupations; and while the little earthen hut which he inhabits is almost buried in the snow, and while darkness and desolation are universally spreading around, the light of an oil lamp illumines the page from which he reads to his family lessons of knowledge, religion, and virtue.

The attainments of the Icelanders with respect to languages, are very wonderful, and are among the circumstances which most forcibly attract the attention of a stranger, "He sees men whose habitations bespeak a condition little removed from the savage state; men who are deprived of almost every comfort, and who amid the storms of the surrounding ocean, seek in their little boats the scanty provisions on which their families depend. Among these very men, he finds an acquaintance with the classical writings of antiquity, a taste formed on the models of Greece and Rome, and a susceptibility to all the beauties which these models

disclose. While traversing the country, he is often attended by guides who can communicate with him in Latin; and arriving at his place of rest for the night, he not unfrequently draws forth from his little smithy, a man who addresses him in Latin with great fluency and elegance."

The importance that is attached to knowledge by all ranks, is attested by a very singular article in the ecclesiastical code of this country, which grants to bishops, or even to the inferior clergy, the power of preventing any marriage where the woman is unable to read. The books in possession of the lower classes are chiefly of a religious nature. In many parishes, there is a small library belonging to the church, from which, under the superintendence of the minister, every family in the district may derive some little addition to its means of instruction and improvement. How wonderful is all this, in a country where nature, aided by the utmost efforts of human industry, seems hardly adequate to provide for the articles of first necessity!

GOOD FEELING.—It was some time after the battle of Waterloo, when so many maimed and wounded officers were to be seen in the streets, that a gentleman passing along Bond street, was somewhat forcibly pushed against the wall by a porter. In the irritation of the moment, he raised a small cane he had in his hand, and gave the porter a smart cut across the shoulders. The man instantly turned round, and threw himself in an attitude of attack; but perceiving his adversary had recently lost his right arm, he took off his hat, and without saying a word, passed on his way.

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RESIGNATION.

My path, O Lord! is clouded o'er,
Lone, dreary, dark, appears my lot,
But while to me life smiles no more,
Altho' I mourn, I murmur not.

For oh! this contrite, broken heart,
Must in thy wrath, thy mercy own;
And though my tears in anguish start,
They flow from conscious sin alone.

Then let my path be clouded o'er,
Let gloom o'erhang my future lot;
Thy justice I shall still adore,

And though I mourn, must murmur not.

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Yes, all thy waves have o'er me gone;" "The weeds are wrapped about my head;" "Thy water floods” are rolling on,

Thy thickest night is round me spread.

But still, Great God! in this dread hour,
With thankful heart I meet my lot;
Thy justice own, my sins deplore,
And though I mourn, I MURMUr not.

INTEMPERANCE.

THERE is no vice which more debilitates and degrades a human being than Intemperance. While the virtuous eat and drink to live, the intemperate live to eat and drink. In the horrid sin of excess, their health, property, reason, and peace, are swallowed up and lost. How many thousands, alas! around us, are ruined by Intemperance? Let youth then, who would shun the paths of destruction, stand constantly on their guard, against the baits and snares of luxury.

Alexander, having invited several of his friends and general officers to supper, proposed a crown as a reward for him who should drink most. He who conquered on this occasion was Promachus, who swallowed fourteen measures of wine, that is, about eighteen or twenty pints. After receiving the prize, which was worth about a thousand crowns, he survived his victory but three days. Of the rest of the guests, forty died of their intemperate drinking.

The native Indians of America are known to be remarkably addicted to intoxicating liquors; but there are some instances, in which the power of religion has gained the better of this propensity. The preaching of Brainerd turned many to a sober life who before had been the worst slaves of Intemperance. We have a more recent example in Skenandon, the famous Oneida chief, who died March 11, 1816, at the advanced age of one hundred and ten years! In the revolutionary contest he joined the Americans, and rendered them eminent services. Being present at the treaty made in 1755, at Albany, in the evening he was excessively intoxicated, and next morning found himself in the

street, stripped of all his ornaments, and even of his clothes. Ashamed of this self-degradation he resolved that he would never again give himself up to the power of strong water. This resolution was strengthened and confirmed by the benevolent instructions of the late Rev. Mr. Hirland, Missionary to his tribe. Skenandon lived more than sixty years after, and died full of Christian hope.

He was long distinguished among the Indians by the appellation of " the white man's friend." In extreme old age he became blind. The expression used by him a short time before his departure, is peculiarly characteristic of the once wild woodland chief, and that which follows not less of the simplicity of the Christian. I am an aged tree. The winds of more than a hundred winters have whistled through my branches. I am dead at top. The generation to which I belonged have run away and left me. Why I live the great good Spirit only knows; pray to my Jesus that I may have patience to wait for my appointed time to die."

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SINGULAR ANECDOTE.- Birds often choose singular places for building their nests, but none more singular than that we are about to record. A coal vessel from Newcastle, or some place in that neighbourhood, having lately been at Nairn, two sparrows were frequently seen to light on the top of the vessel's mast; and the crew, after being several hours at sea, were much astonished at seeing the two creatures following the sloop. After being exhausted with flying, they perched themselves on the top of the mast. Crumbs

of bread were thrown on the deck with a view of alluring them down; but they resisted the temptation for a considerable time. Pressed by Tunger, they at last