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'A WORD IN 'SEASON. SOME years ago, a young man of social temper and affable manners was travelling by one of the stage coaches. He had early entered into the military life, had seen real service, and evinced by his deportment that he was no stranger to the society of gentlemen. He had, however, a fault too common, and too absurd, to find an advocate among men of sense; he was in the constant habit of swearing. While the horses were changing, a gentleman, who sat on the same seat with him, took him by the arm, and requested the favour of his company in a short walk. When they were so far retired as not to be overheard, his fellow-traveller observed, “ Although I have not the honour of your acquaintance, I perceive, sir, that your feelings are those of a gentleman; and that nothing can be more repugnant to your wishes than giving unnecessary pain to one of your company."

The young officer started, and replied, "Most certainly, sir; I hope I have committed no offence of that sort!" "You will pardon me,” replied the other, "for pointing out an instance in which you have not altogether avoided it." Sir," said he, "I shall be much your debtor for so friendly an act; for, upon my honour, I cannot conjecture in what I have transgressed." If you, sir," continued the gentleman, "had a dear friend, to whom you were under unspeakable obligations, should you not be deeply wounded by any disrespect to him, or even by hearing his name introduced and used with a frequency of repetition and a levity of air incompatible with the regard due to his character?" "Undoubtedly, and I should not permit it; but I know not that I am chargeable with indecorum to any of your friends." "Sir, my God is my best friend, to whom I am under infinite obligations. I think you must recollect that you have frequently, since we commenced our journey, taken His name in vain. This has given to me heartfelt pain." Sir," replied the young man, with a very ingenuous emphasis, "I have done wrong. I confess the impropriety. I am ashamed of a practice, which I am sensible has no excuse; but I have imperceptibly fallen into it; and I really make use of oaths without being conscious that I do So. I will endeavour to abstain from it in future, and as you sit next to me on the coach, I shall thank you to touch my elbow as often as I trespass."

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This was agreed upon. The horn sounded, and the travellers resumed their places. In the space of four or five miles, the officer's elbow was jogged every few seconds. He always coloured, but bowed, and received the hint without the least symptom of displeasure, and in a few miles more so mastered his propensity to swearing, that not an oath was heard from his lips during the remaining, which was the greater, part of the journey. H. W.

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THERE is small chance of truth at the goal, where there is not a child-like humility at the starting-post.-COLERIDGE. THE bark of a tree contains an oily juice, which, when it is in greater plenty than can be exhaled by the sun, renders the plant evergreen. Such is the state of the man whose virtue is proof against the scorching heats of temptation and persecution: he is "like a green olive tree," in the courts of the temple, "his leaf shall not wither."BISHOP HORNE.

DIVISION OF LABOUR IN MANUFACTURES. THE greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill with which it is any where directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour; which effects, in the business of society, will be better understood by considering how it operates in some particular manufactures.

It is commonly supposed that the division of labour is carried furthest in some trifling manufactures, which is an error probably founded upon this circumstance; that the number of workmen, in every branch of these manufactures, being small, may be collected in the same factory, and placed at once under the view of the spectator; whereas in those manufactures destined to supply the great wants of the people, we can seldom see at once more than those employed in one single branch: therefore the division may be greater, and yet not so obvious. Take an example of the division of labour; a person unacquainted with the business of pin-making, could scarcely make a single pin a day; but, by dividing the business into various branches, which are now distinct trades, each person may be considered as making 4800 pins a day.

In every other manufacture the effects of the division of labour are similar to what they are in this, though they may not be reducible to so great simplicity: hence the increase of the productive powers of labour; the advantages of which have caused the separation of different employments. This separation is carried furthest in countries most improved: what is the work of one man in a rude state of society being generally that of several in an improved one. Hence the different trades in the woollen and linen manufactures, from the growers of the wool or flax, to the dressers of the cloth.

Agriculture does not admit of so many subdivisions of labour as manufactures: the different sorts of labour, in the former, returning with seasons, no man can be constantly employed in any one of them; hence its unimproved state, in all countries, compared with manufactures. In agriculture, the labour of the rich country is not always much more productive than that of the poor. The corn of Poland is generally as good, and as cheap, as that of England, notwithstanding the improved state of the latter. But in manufactures, Poland can pretend to no such competition.

The increase in the quantity of work, which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances.

1. To the increase of dexterity in every particular workman, by reducing every man's business to one simple operation, and by making this operation the sole employment of his life. A common smith, unaccustomed to making of nails, cannot make more than two or three hundred nails a-day; whereas lads, under twenty years of age, who never exercised any other trade but that of making nails, can make 2300 nails in a day. Neither is this one of the simplest operations, and of course not one where the dexterity of the workman is the greatest.

2. To the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another. It is impossible to pass very quickly from one kind of work to another. A country weaver, who cultivates a small farm, must lose a deal of time in passing ters a little in turning his hand from one employment from the loom to the field. A man commonly saunto another; and when he first begins the new work, it is seldom with spirit; hence the habit of indolent

careless application acquired by every country workman, who is obliged to change his tools and work half hour. every

3. Labour is much abridged by the application of proper machinery. The invention of those machines, by which labour is so much facilitated and abridged, seems to have been owing to the division of labour: for men are likely to discover the readier methods of attaining any object, when their whole attention is directed towards that single object. It is natural also, that out of many workmen employed in each branch of labour, some one or other should find the readiest method of performing their own particular work. It is a fact, that a great part of the machines used in those manufactnres in which labour is most subdivided, were the inventions of common workmen. In steam-engines, one of the greatest improvements was discovered by a boy who wanted to save his labour. Many improvements in machinery have been made by the ingenuity of the makers of machines; and not a few by philosophers, or men of speculation; whose trade is not to do any thing, but to observe every thing. Philosophy, like other employments, is not only a trade, but is subdivided into several classes, which, as in every other business, improves dexterity, and saves time.

It is the great multiplication of the productions of the different arts, in consequence of the division of labour, which occasions, in a well-regulated society, that universal opulence which extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people.

Observe the accommodation of the artificer, or day-labourer, in a civilized and thriving state, and you will perceive that the number of people employed in procuring him accommodation exceeds all computation. What a variety of labour is necessary to produce the tools of the meanest workman; the shears, for instance, with which the shepherd clips the wool! We might examine also his dress, or furniture; reflect on the different hands employed in preparing his bread, and his beer, the glass, the window which lets in the light, and keeps out the wind and the rain; and it will appear, that without the assistance of many thousands, the very meanest person in a civilized country could not be accommodated, in what is falsely called an easy and simple manner. Wealth of Nations.

WHAT an immense workman is God! in miniature as well as in the great. With the one hand, perhaps, he is making a ring of one hundred thousand miles in diameter, to revolve round a planet like Saturn, and with the other is forming a tooth in the ray of the feather of a Hummingbird, or a point in the claw of the foot of a microscopic insect. When he works in miniature, every thing is gilded, polished, and perfect, but whatever is made by human art, as a needle, &c., when viewed by a microscope, appears rough, and coarse, and bungling.-BISHOP LAW.

A PAGAN moralist hath represented the folly of an attachment to this world, almost as strongly as a Christian could express it. "Thou art a passenger," says he, " and thy ship hath put into a harbour for a few hours. The tide and the wind serve, and the pilot calls thee to depart, and thou❘ art amusing thyself, and gathering shells and pebbles on the shore, till they set sail without thee." So is every Christian, who, being upon his voyage to a happy eternity, delays, and loiters, and thinks, and acts, as if he were to dwell here for ever.-JORTIN.

THE friendship of high and sanctified spirits, loses nothing by death but its alloy; failings disappear, and the virtues of those, whose "faces we shall behold no more," appear greater and more sacred when beheld through the shades of the sepulchre.-ROBERT HAll.

NIGHT.

NIGHT is the time for rest;

How sweet when labours close,
To gather round an aching breast
The curtain of repose;

Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head
Upon our own delightful bed!

Night is the time for dreams;

The gay romance of life,

When truth that is, and truth that seems,
Blend in fantastic strife;

Ah! visions less beguiling far
Than waking dreams by daylight are!
Night is the time for toil;

To plough the classic field,
Intent to find the buried spoil

Its wealthy furrows yield;
Till all is ours that sages taught,
That poets sang, or heroes wrought.
Night is the time to weep;

To wet with unseen tears
Those graves of memory where sleep
The joys of other years;

Hopes that were angels in their birth,
But perished young, like things on earth!
Night is the time to watch;

Ön Ocean's dark expanse,

To hail the Pleiades, or catch

The full Moon's earliest glance, That brings unto the home-sick mind All we have loved and left behind. Night is the time for care;

Brooding on hours mis-spent,
To see the spectre of Despair
Come to our loncly tent;

Like Brutus 'midst his slumbering host,
Startled by Cæsar's stalwart ghost.
Night is the time to muse!

Then from the eye the soul

Takes flight, and with expanding views
Beyond the starry pole,

Descries athwart the abyss of night
The dawn of uncreated light.
Night is the time to pray;

Our Saviour oft withdrew
To desert mountains far away,
So will his followers do;

Steal from the throng to haunts untrod,
And hold communion there with GOD.
Night is the time for death;

When all around is peace,
Calmly to yield the weary breath

From sin and suffering cease; Think of Heaven's bliss, and give the sign To parting friends-such death be mine! JAMES MONTGOMERY.

THE LAND-CRAB. (Cancer ruricola). THE Land-Crab is a native of the Bahama Islands, where it is found in immense numbers. The habits of this animal are unlike those of the rest of its class, and highly curious in themselves.

Land-crabs do not, like most other crustaceous animals, live near salt water, but take up their abode for the greatest part of the year in holes in the ground, hollow trunks of trees, and other places of the same description, and inhabit the mountainous districts of the islands, many miles from the seashore; but although they make these places their usual haunt, it is necessary for them, once a year, to repair to the sea for the purpose of depositing their spawn. They prepare for their annual migration about the month of April or May, and having mustered in immense numbers, the procession sets forward with all the regularity of an army, under the guidance of an experienced commander.

Their destination being the sea, they instinctively move in a direct line to the nearest coast: no obstacle

which they can possib.y surmount will induce them | be considered delicious food. In about six weeks, to turn from their course, for if even a house stands in their way, they endeavour to scale its walls, in which they sometimes succeed; and should a window remain open, they are not unlikely to direct their march over the bed of some heedless sleeper. If, however, a large river crosses their track, they continue to follow its course without attempting to cross it.

THE LAND CRAB,

It is said, that they are commonly divided into three battalions, of which the first consists of the strongest and boldest males, who, like pioneers, march forward to clear the route. They are often obliged to halt for want of rain, and go into the most convenient encampment till the weather changes. The main body consists of females, who never leave the mountains till the rain has set in for some time; they then descend in regular order, formed into columns of the breadth of fifty paces and three miles in depth, and so close that they almost cover the ground. Three or four days after this, the rear guard follows; a straggling undisciplined tribe, consisting of males and females, but neither so robust or vigorous as the former parties. The night is their chief time of proceeding. When terrified they march back in a confused manner, holding up their nippers and clattering them loudly, to intimidate their enemies. Their general food consists of vegetables; but if any of their companions should become maimed, and unable to proceed, they are greedily devoured by the rest.

After a march of two, and sometimes three months, in this manner, they arrive at their destined spot on the sea-coast; they immediately enter the water, and after the waves have washed over them several times, retire to holes in the rocks, and other hiding-places, where they remain until the period of spawning. They then once more seek the water, and shaking off their eggs, leave them to the chance of being hatched, or devoured by tribes of hungry fish, who have already repaired to the spot in countless shoals, in expectation of their annual treat. The eggs that escape are hatched under the sand; and, soon after, millions at a time of the little crabs are seen quitting the shore, and slowly travelling up to the mountains. The old ones, however, are not so active to return: they have become so feeble and and lean, that they can hardly crawl about. Most of them, therefore, are obliged to continue in the flat parts of the country till they recover; making holes in the earth, into which they creep, and cover themselves up with leaves and dirt: here they throw off their old shells, which they leave behind them, nearly whole. At this time they are quite naked, and continue almost without motion for about six days, during which time they become so fat, as to

the new shell has become tolerably hard, and the creatures may be seen slowly returning to their mountain-haunts. In some of the sugar-islands, it is said they form no inconsiderable portion of the food of the negroes, who are extremely dexterous in their mode of seizing them, so as to avoid their nippers. ANNIVERSARIES IN SEPTEMBER. MONDAY, 23rd.

AUTUMNAL QUARTER begins; the Sun enters the sign Libra. 768 Pepin, founder of the Carlovingian race, died; he was the first regularly consecrated King of France.

1803 Agra and Delhi taken by the British. TUESDAY, 24th.

1640 Charles I. convoked the Parliament by which he was eventually dethroned.

WEDNESDAY, 25th.

1492 Columbus sailed from Cadiz on his second voyage of discovery. THURSDAY, 26th.

ST. CYPRIAN, Bishop of Carthage, was converted to Christianity by Cæcilius, and became highly eminent, both as a preacher and writer. In the persecution under Decius he was proscribed, but saved himself by flight; he also escaped infection during the plague which raged in Carthage, though he exposed himself constantly to it by a diligent attention on the sick. He was banished by Valerian, but recalled, and condemned to death, by Galerius Maximus, Proconsul of Africa, in 258. His works remain, and have been translated into English by Dr. Marshall.

1529 Vienna besieged by the Turks under Solyman the Magnificent. He was the first Ottoman prince who penetrated so far into the heart of Europe.

1777 General Howe, with the British troops, entered Philadelphia the American congress having removed to Lancaster. FRIDAY, 27th.

1087 William Rufus crowned at Westminster. 1136 Battle of Tinchebray, in which Robert, eldest son of William. the Conqueror, was defeated and taken prisoner by his brother, Henry II. of England, who kept him confined the remainder of his life.

1590 Urban VII. died at Rome, having enjoyed the Pontificate but twelve days.

1729 Fire at Constantinople, in which 12,000 houses were consumed, and more than 7000 human beings perished.

SUNDAY, 29th.

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

MICHAELMAS DAY.-The Festival of St. Michael and All Angels was instituted in the year 487, to commemorate the ministry of these Holy Angels, the messengers of good-will towards men.

At the Reformation, though the worship of angels was expressly condemned as superstitious and idolatrous, this festival was preserved, but restrained to its original intent, of returning thanks to God, who, (to use the words of the Collect for the day,)" has constituted the service of men and angels in a wonderful order," and to pray that they may be appointed to succour and defend us on earth as they do constantly serve God in heaven.

Michaelmas is the third quarter, or term, for the payment of rents, and the custom of entertaining those who came to pay rent with a &c., and stands in the place of Martinmas, the old or cross quarter; fat goose was transferred to it.

1560 Died, at Stockholm, aged seventy, Gustavus Vasa, the deliverer of his country from the Danish yoke. 1613 The New River, planned and executed by Sir Hugh Myddelton, completed. 1827 Captain Parry, from his arctic expedition, and Captain Franklin, from a voyage of discovery in North America, arrived at the Admiralty within an hour of each other.

THE diffusion of seeds over the face of the earth is accomplished by means very wonderful, and is among the many proofs of the wisdom of God. Such seeds as are heavy, and immoveable by more obvious means, such as the stones and seeds of fruits, are commonly swallowed both by birds and beasts, and conveyed in their stomachs whithersoever they rove; and are ultimately planted, not only in the neighbouring fields and countries, but also in more distant regions. Others, of considerable weight, together with the seed contained in it, is easily separated are lodged permanently in a large and light husk, which, after the seed has become ripe, and blown by the wind over extensive tracts. Others still are winged and feathered in such a manner as to be easily wafted in the breeze, and spread through all the surrounding country. A young gentleman once, in my presence, examining a seed of a particular kind of grass, and finding a beautiful feather thus adhering to it, was so struck with this contrivance for the dispersion of such seeds over the earth, that he exclaimed, "the man must be a brute, who does not be lieve in the existence of a God."-DWIGHT.

LONDON:

JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND, PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PAR PRICE SIXPENCE, AND Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom,

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UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

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THE BATTLE OF AZINCOURT. AFTER the expiration of a truce with France, Henry the Fifth determined, with the advice of his Council, to prosecute his pretensions to the crown of that kingdom, by virtue of his descent from Isabella, daughter of Philip the Fair. He was, at this period, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, and the third of his reign. Grave and gentle in his deportment, he mingled a becoming affability with the dignity which belonged to his rank; and the impartiality with which he administered justice to the lowest as well as the highest of his subjects, endeared him to all classes. His piety was sincere; and his attention to devotional exercises constant and fervent.

Henry sailed from Southampton with a fleet of 1600 ships, on the 19th of August, 1415, and landed at Havre de Grace, in Normandy, on the 21st. His army consisted of 36,000 men; 6000 of whom were cavalry, 23,000 archers, and the remainder cannoniers, pioneers, waggoners, suttlers, &c. They were armed with bows, battle-axes, swords, and maces or malls; and the horsemen, in armour, had lances.

His first attempt was upon Harfleur, a fortified town in Normandy, of considerable strength; it made a vigorous resistance, but capitulated after a short siege. Having secured his conquest by expelling the native inhabitants, and planting an English colony in their stead, the king challenged the Dauphin of France to single combat, but it does not appear that that prince returned any answer to the challenge. Soon after the surrender of Harfleur, the dysentery broke out in the English army, and made such havoc among the troops, that not more than a fourth part were able to bear arms. The Bishop of Norwich and the Earl of Suffolk died of it; and the Duke of Clarence, the Earl of Arundel, and many officers of distinction, were obliged to return to England, accompanied with about 10,000 of the troops, which, with those that had already fallen, reduced the army to about 20,000 men.

The King of France was not idle during these operations. He issued proclamations, calling upon his nobles to collect their vassals and repair to his standard The prospect of this armament, the bad state of his troops, and the approach of winter, concurred to induce Henry to think of retreating; he resolved, however, not to re-embark at Havre, but at Calais, lest his retreat should appear too much like a flight. Leaving, therefore, 3000 men as a garrison at Harfleur; he set out for Calais, a most difficult and dangerous undertaking; for the French had broken down the bridges, cut up the roads, and destroyed, or removed into the fortified places, all the provisions and forage in their line of march.

On arriving at the Somme, Henry found it rendered impracticable by sharp stakes fixed in the river, All the bridges were destroyed, and the fords guarded by troops, intrenched on the opposite side. The dysentery still preyed upon his army, and, to complete their misfortunes, the king of France, sent forward a reinforcement of 14,000 men, and the flower and chivalry of France flocked to the Royal Standard. A council of war was held at Rouen, consisting of the chief nobles of France, at which it was resolved to give the English battle; but being confident of victory, it was determined to allow them to pass the Somme, and to arrest their progress on the road to Calais.

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King Henry, with his army, at length passed the river; and soon after he had effected the passage, three Heralds arrived at his camp from the French Princes, offering him battle, and leaving him to choose the time and place. Henry's reply was as follows.

"Mine intent is to do as it pleases God. I will not seek your master at this time, but if he or his seek me, I will meet with them, God willing. If any of your nation once attempt to stop me on my march now to Calais, at their jeopardy be it; and yet wish I not any of you so unadvised as to be the occasion that I dye your tawny ground with your red blood!”

Finding, however, that it was not possible to avoid fighting, Henry resolved to prepare for battle, and on the 22nd of October, the French generals sent him word by a herald, that on the Friday following they would give him battle.

During the three days previous to the battle, Henry occupied himself in mingling with his troops, stimulating their courage by the promise of rewards and honours, and reminding them of the glory obtained by their ancestors at the famous battles of Cressy and Poictiers. Such was the effect of his exertions, that both officers and soldiers, far from dreading the approaching conflict, were eager to engage. The day before the battle, David Gam, a Welch captain, having been sent to reconnoitre the enemy, gallantly reported, "There are enough to be killed, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away."

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The disparity between the two armies, indeed, might well have appalled the bravest hearts. the best accounts extant, French as well as English, the French army amounted to 150,000 men, 60,000 of whom were horsemen, clad in complete armour, all well armed, well, clothed, and well fed; suffering no privations, on their own ground, and at liberty to fight in the most advantageous situation. army was commanded by almost all the princes and nobles of France, and a vast proportion of the troops were men of quality. So certain were they of victory, that they spent the night before the battle in rejoicing, the officers arranging how to divide the spoil, and the soldiers playing at dice for the prisoners, Some of the princes had procured a sort of chariot, to convey their royal captive, the king of England, in triumph to Paris; and orders were sent to the different towns, to make large preparations to celebrate a glorious victory over the English.

The English army, on the contrary, consisted, at the utmost, of 15,000 men, of whom only 2000 were horse. Nearly all were affected, in some degree, with the dysentery, which inconvenienced them so much, that they actually fought naked from the waist downwards, They were harassed with a tedious march, in bad weather, destitute of provisions, and barely clothed. Hollinshed describes their condition in the following quaint but forcible language. "Rest could they none take, their enemies with alarms did so infest them; daily it rained, and nightly it freezed; of fuel there was great scarcity, of fluxes plenty, money enough, but wares for their relief to bestow it had they none, &c." So far were they from entertaining sanguine expectations of the victory, that they spent the evening previous to the battle, "in making their peace with God, by confessing their sins, taking the sacrament, and other acts of devotion, as men who looked for certain death on the morrow."

On the 25th of October, the day appointed for the conflict, the two armies were drawn up as soon as it was light. The Constable d'Albret committed on this occasion, one of those blunders which appear the result of infatuation. In taking up his position, he chose à narrow piece of ground, flanked on one side by a rivulet, and on the other by a large wood, thereby sacrificing all the advantages which the superiority of numbers, especially in cavalry, could give him. He divided his army into three bodies, the first of which he commanded him

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