ADVANTAGES OF TEMPERANCE. THE physicians of ancient Egypt ascribed all diseases to the burthen of the stomach; and their prescriptions were limited to emetics, cathartics, and abstinence. The sure way to preserve constitutional health and vigour, is to eat less than we are able to digest with ease. Cheyne said well, that we must keep our stomachs clean, if we wish to keep our heads clear. A boy found in a forest, where his diet had been very simple, and his exercise strong, had a most acute sense of smell, by which he could distinguish all herbs and plants; this delicacy soon wore off, when he lived and fed like other men. A blind man is said to have distinguished colours by the touch, but could do this only when fasting. The ancient philosophers, from Pythagoras, all agreed to relieve the stomach by a careful abstemiousness, when they wished to call on reason, or the imagination, for the exercise of all their force. Mr. Pitt's dinner was cold mutton, before he went to the House to make his great orations. Mr. Burke was abstemious in eating. Law, the founder of paper credit, and a deep calculating financier, was remarkable for his temperance in eating; he carried his abstemiousness to a great pitch, when he wished to be clear and acute for the combinations of deep play. In this he is said to have been imitated in more recent cases. Newton confined himself to the slightest diet while he was composing his optics and dissertations on colours. Boerhaave remarked, that the oppression of food on the stomach, almost extinguishes the active powers of the mind. A mathematician will find that he can resolve a problem before dinner, which, after a full repast, he would be too dull and inactive to study, or demonstrate. Habitual over-eating causes dyspepsy, nausea, bile, headache, cholic, and surfeit; in some cases, sudden death. La Mitre fell dead at Lord Tyrconnel's, after gorging voraciously off a high-seasoned venison pasty. The quality of food and its preparation, are of as much influence as its quantity; in this we err in using too much grease, pepper, cayenne, essences, rich gravies, and other poisonous and oppressive condiments. A number of years since,

a Hanoverian physician, Zimmermann, published a sensible treatise on the habit of our feeding, considered as the principal cause of diseases. Temperance and simplicity in food, are health and vigour alike for.the physical and mental frame: when, as Mr. Malthus fears so much, the numbers of mankind shall press in any country on the means of their subsistence, they will be driven to discover new modes of economy in the preparation and use of food; and will be surprised to find that one half the substances they have been accustomed to waste in their solid and liquid diet, are sufficient to afford more strength of body and vigour of intellect, than the plethora of eating, with which their fathers "offuscated" all their faculties, plagued themselves with bile, and "clothed melancholy - in the lap of ease, luxury, and security.

"

SULKY DIGNITY. It may show, here and there, a self-mistaken man his likeness, to quote the following:-We sometimes meet with men who seem to think that any indulgence in an affectionate feeling is a weakness. They will return from a journey, and greet their families with a distant dignity, and move among their children with the cold and lofty splendour of an iceberg, surrounded by its broken fragments. There is hardly a more unnatural sight on earth than one of those families without a heart. A father had better extinguish a boy's eyes than take away his heart. Who that has experienced the joys of friendship, and values sympathy and affection, would not rather lose all that is beautiful in Nature's scenery than be robbed of the hidden treasure of his heart? Cherish, then, your heart's best affections. Indulge in the warm and gushing emotions of filial, parental, and fraternal love. Think it not a weakness. God is love. Love God, everybody, and everything that is lovely. Teach your children to love; to love the rose, the robin; to love their parents; to love their God. Let it be the studied object of their domestic culture, to give them warm hearts, and ardent affections. Bind your family together by these strong cords. You cannot make them too strong. Religion is love; love to God love to man.

DOMESTIC RECEIPTS.

Method of cooling Liquids.-An old-fashioned, yet a simple, receipt for cooling liquids is to wrap a moistened cloth round the bottle, and expose to the rays of the sun.-This will soon have the desired effect.-E. A. Copeland, Chelmsford.

Preserving Vinegar for Domestic Purposes.Cork it up in glass bottles, set them on the fire with cold water, and as much hay or straw as will prevent them from knocking together: when the water nearly boils, take off the pan, and let the bottles remain in the ley a quarter of an hour. Vinegar thus prepared never loses its virtue though kept many years, or occasionally left uncovered, and is peculiarly suitable for pickles. Recommended by J. R. S. Glasgow.

Caledonian Cream.-In the first series of the Family Friend, a receipt was given for Caledonian Cream. suggest this alteration which those who have tasted think a decided improvement:

Two teaspoonfuls white sugar,
One teaspoon raspberry jam,
Two whites of eggs,

Juice of one lemon,

beat for an hour, and serve up sprinkled with fancy biscuits.-E. A. Copeland, Chelmsford.

Cleaning Combs.-SIR,-"I beg leave, through your valuable periodical, to offer a plan that will do away with the cleaning of a comb,' or at least in a great measure lessen that disagreeable duty. Cut a bit of coarse flannel the size of the comb, (small-tooth comb I mean) and before you use it work the flannel on to one edge of the comb, push it about halfway up the teeth, when you have used it, draw the flannel off, and the comb will easily be made perfectly clean by being rinsed in water. I keep bits of flannel cut always with my comb."

S. K. Y.

Useful Properties of Charcoal.-"Mr. Editor, -Many of your readers may be unacquainted with the real value of charcoal as a purifier, I therefore send you the following:-All sorts of glass vessels and other utensils may be purified from long-retained smells of every kind, in the easiest and most perfect manner, by rinsing them out well with charcoal powder, after the grosser impurities have been scoured off with sand and potash. Rubbing the teeth, and washing out the mouth with fine charcoal powder, will render the teeth beautifully white, and the breath perfectly sweet, where an offensive breath has been owing to a scorbutic disposition of the gums. Putrid water is immediately deprived of its bad smell by charcoal. When meat, fish, &c., from intense heat, or long keeping, are likely to pass into a state of corruption, a simple and pure mode of keeping them sound and healthful is, by putting a few pieces of charcoal, each the size of an egg, into the pot or saucepan wherein the fish or flesh are to be boiled. Among others, an experiment of this kind was tried upon a turbot, which appeared to be too far gone to be eatable: the cook, as advised, put three or four pieces of charcoal, each the size of an egg, under the strainer, in the fish kettle: after boiling the proper time, the turbot came to the table perfectly sweet and firm."-S. J. R., Torquay.

A Varnish for Wood that will resist the action of Boiling Water." Your readers will find the following receipt extremely useful." J. Burton. Leeds. Take a pound and a half of linseed oil, and boil it in a copper vessel, not tinned, suspending in the oil a small linen bag, containing five ounces of litharge and three ounces of minium, both pulverised, taking care that the bag does not touch the bottom of the vessel. Continue the ebullition till the oil acquires a deep brown colour; then take out the bag, and substitute another bag containing a clove of garlic. Continue the ebullition, and renew the garlic seven or eight times, or else put the whole in at once. Then throw into the vessel a pound of yellow amber, after having melted it in the following manner. To a pound of well pulverised amber add two ounces of linseed oil, and place the whole on a strong fire. When the fusion is complete, pour it boiling hot into the prepared linseed oil, and let it continue to boil for two or three minutes, stirring it well. Let it rest, decant the composition, and preserve it, when cold, in well-stopped bottles. After having polished the wood on which this varnish is to be applied, the wood is to have the desired colour given to it; for example, for walnut-tree, a slight coat of a mixture of soot with oil of turpentine. When this colour is perfectly dry, lay on a coat of varnish with a fine sponge, in order to distribute it equally. Repeat these coats four times, always taking care to let one coat dry before the next is applied.

When

Effectual method of curing the stings of Bees and Wasps.-The sting of a bee is generally more virulent than that of a wasp, and with some people attended with very violent effects. The sting of a bee is barbed at the end, and, consequently, always left in the wound that of a wasp, is pointed only so that they can sting more than once, which a bee cannot do. When any person is stung by a bee, let the sting, in the first place, be instantly pulled out; for the longer it remains in the wound, the deeper it will pierce, owing to its peculiar form, and emit more of the poison. The sting is hollow, and the poison flows through it, which is the sole cause of the pain and inflammation. The pulling out of the sting should be done carefully, and with a steady hand, for if any part of it breaks in, all remedies then, in a great measure, will be ineffectual. the sting is extracted, suck the wounded part, if possible, and very little inflammation, if any, will ensue. If hartshorn drops are immediately afterwards rubbed on the part, the cure will be more complete. All notions of the efficacy of sweet oil, bruised parsley, burnet, tobacco, &c., appear, on various trials, to be totally groundless. O some people, the sting of bees and wasps have no effect, it is therefore of little consequence what remedy they apply to the wound. However, the effect of stings greatly depends on the habit of body a person is of; at one time a sting shall take little or no effect, though no remedy is used, which at another time will be "I have had very virulent on the same person. occasion to test this remedy several times, and I can safely avouch its efficacy. The exposure to which persons are subjected during the hot summer months, will no doubt render this advice very useful, its very simplicity making it more acceptable."-W. F. C., Islington.

RECREATIONS IN SCIENCE.

To cause water to boil on the surface of Ice.To effect this, first freeze a quantity of water in the bottom of a long glass tube, closed at one end, either by exposure to cold air, or by means of a freezing mixture; say equal parts of nitrate of ammonia and water. Then cover the cake of ice by a quantity of water, and hold the tube (without handling the part of it containing the ice) in such a manner over a lamp, that the surface of the water may be heated to the point of boiling: for this, the tube requires to be placed in a diagonal direction, which is such as allows the water at the top of it to be heated, while the ice remains unheated below.

REBUS.

A GIRL'S name, a negative; a double tooth; a portion of the staff of life; a town of Sweden; part of the finger; a noisy quack. The initials of these form the name of a country in Europe, and the finals the name of a division of the same country.

ORNITHOLOGICAL ENIGMA.

The bird we can't do without when we dine,
And the bird that's an angler royal,
The bird that is often used to draw wine,
And the bird that is sent up on trial;
The bird that is often the cause of fun,
And the bird that to babes is a foe,
The bird that thro' meadows doth sweetly run,
And the bird that on ice-plants doth grow.

SCIENTIFIC ENIGMA.

I am a fluid looking glass; a looking-glass, but I cannot be seen! I am all important, a witness to almost everything done upon earth. My age is unknown, as well as my height or breadth; it is only known that the latter is greater than the former. I am often represented as a god, having for my wife a lovely planet, and for my daughter, an agent indispensable with in nature, who is, however, indebted to me for her existence, as most children are to their parents; but it is only fair to add, that this duty is shared by some one else beside myself. F. J. HUGHES.

CHARADE.

My first a county town will name,

Whose ancient buildings have withstood Full many a murderous deed of Fame,

When she march'd through its neighbourhood: Leading her warriors, fill'd with ire,

Who mark'd their way by sword and flame.
Let this suffice-for, I should tire,

If all their deeds I here should name.
Thus much premised, I'll try to show,
As best I can, what riddles ought-
The signs by which my next you'll know-
And means by which it may be sought.
It is, then, either sad or gay

As, onward, through th' ecliptic's sphere,
The rolling sun pursues his way

Unwearied still from year to year.
Sometimes, bedeck'd with varied hues,
At others, clothed in one 'tis seen.
But, mark! whate'er the owner's views,
The garb it first assumes is green.
My whole was man of mortal mould,
Worthy his meed of mortal praise.
His writings speak truths, plainly told,

And greatly served his name to raise.-C. J. L.

RIDDLES.

1.

My origin is humble, but very ancient, having had existence shortly after the Creation; I have assisted man in his acts of devotion ever since to the present time, and shall continue his faithful and devoted friend as long as the world lasts. There are very few things that can be done without my assistance. It is reported by some that I have my habitation in the bowels of the earth; true it is I keep my food there, but I am mostly to be found associated with mankind where I dwell as his reputed servant, although I am most frequently waited upon, and if nourished and watched over, ever prove myself grateful by devoting myself to his comforts; but if treated with neglect, my indignation is aroused, and it fares hard with him who suffers me to get the upper hand of him. My power on these occasions is universally acknowledged, and will be felt unto the end of time, and even when time shall be no more. G. W. T.

MARCUS WARLAND;

OR, THE LONG MOSS-SPRING.. (Continued from page 128.)

"HE certainly feels a deep interest in that quarter," thought Marcus, but he said nothing. The sun was then but a crimson are on the horizon, and he required rest before the hilarity of the evening commenced. The day had been sultry and oppressive, even in the open air, much more so in the crowded walls he had just quitted. But as usual in southern latitudes, a soft, cool breeze came stealing over the dewy grass, reviving the languid spirit, and preparing it for new enjoyment. Marcus was emphatically the lion of the night, and whatever higher distinctions he attained in after life, he certainly looked back to this evening as the most brilliant epoch of his youth. He was not vain or elated. He had arrived at no eminence he had not fully expected to attain, for he had a full, rejoicing consciousness of his own powers, and he knew, if he kept them free from pollution, and healthy and vigorous from exercise, they were capable of any exertion he would be called upon to make. From earliest childhood, when asked if he could do any thing, the ready, unhesitating answer was, I can." And the earnest purpose, the brave resolve, the firm yet modest confidence, were expressed in every feature of his face, in every movement of his form. It was this invincible self-reliance, this soul-felt strength, that gave an energy, a vitality and living warmth to his character, and diffused around him an atmosphere of light and joy. Never had Marcus known but one hour of despair, and that was the morning after his father's perry, when he bowed his young head over the Long Moss-Spring, and mingled his bitter tears with its waters. And then, when that father came, and, sitting down by him in penitence and humiliation, told him of his heavenappointed mission, the magic words "I can-I will," rang like an ancient war-cry of victory in his ears, and led him on to a triumphant future. The girl of the fountain had cast a bewildering influence over him, and for a little while he doubted his

VOL. VII.-NO. LXXVIII.

own power over elements so strange and apparently inharmonious as hers; but now, since he had seen her mind magnetized by his, swaying in his breath of eloquence, as the leafy branch in the rushing wind, when he repeated to himself the interrogation she herself had made, "Canst thou seize the lightning's chain, and imprison it in thy grasp?"-he could answer with the same conquering, unconquerable resolution, "I can- -I will." L'Eclair sat at the upper end of the hall, in the full blaze of the chandelier, and she well represented the night of "starry climes and cloudless skies." The style of her dress was more juvenile than that she had worn during the day, though more showy than the maidens that surrounded her. It was of some exquisitely-transparent texture, while the brilliant rubies on her neck and arms suited well the rich darkness of her complexion. Marcus immediately approached her, and requested her hand for the opening dance. He asked it with a smiling assurance of welcome, and certainly was not repulsed. So quickly the music commenced, and they were called upon to take their places on the floor, there was no embarrassing pause, after the first frank greeting. head of the dance was yielded to Marcus, as a compliment to one whose initials were traced in green leaves, within an oaken garland, on the wall. Marcus excelled in the graceful art of dancing, and no nymph of the wood, no naïad of the stream, no muse of Parnassian bowers, ever possessed more of the music, the poetry, the eloquence of motion, than the wild and spirited L'éclair. Her movements seemed to flow into each other, like the moonlight waves, gently, undulatingly; yet one felt when gazing, that there was a bounding will, a latent strength, like those waves when driven by the storm. The same figure, that moved with such measured grace, obeying the mandates of music, might spring like the antelope, and fly like the deer, in the freedom of the forest and the plain.

The

When they stood at the foot of the dance, while the band kept up their exhilarating strains, Marcus turned to his partner, who, instead of panting with flushed cheeks, as most of the young maidens did after their flight through

K

the hall, appeared as calm and unwearied as a bird just lighted on a spray.

"Now let me thank you for the honour you have conferred upon me," said he "an honour, I assure you, that has not been lightly prized."

"How can you consider that an honour," she carelessly answered, "which I should have been obliged to bestow on any young gentleman in the room, who first requested it?"

"I do not allude to the dance. I do not consider that in the light of an honour, but a pleasure. No young lady would have refused my hand; so if there be any honour, it is conferred on her who was selected first, in a group so fair as this." "Really, fair sir, you seem to appreciate your attentions very highly. Do you imagine others attach to them the same value?"

"I think you would have been disappointed, if I had not sought the earliest opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to the inspiring genius of the fountain, to her who writes with the lightning's pen, and makes viewless messengers the vassals of her will."

"Thanks are oppressive when unmerited and undesired," she replied, assuming an air of haughty reserve. "You owe me no gratitude, for allowing me to make you the plaything of a reckless mood, in an hour of ennui and idleness."

"Believe me, bright L'Eclair, you have found no plaything in me," answered Marcus, with a proud smile. "Young as I am, and little versed in the wiles and caprices of woman, I can parry her keenest weapons, and foil her most covert attacks." L'éclair turned quickly, and fixed her dazzling eyes upon his face, with a look of unutterable astonishment. He met it with such calm and radiant intensity, that, baffled and disconcerted, she exclaimed in a tone of vexation, "You are indeed an enigma. Give me the clue, if you please, to the intricate labyrinth of your mind?"

ness.

"Well, I am going to test your frank Do you not think me very bold?" "Shall I tell you what I think of you, without fear of giving displeasure, even if it be an affirmative to your singular question?"

66

Certainly; I should like exceedingly to know your opinion of me, though it is a matter of perfect indifference what it is."

"Is it? Then I shall not tell you."

"Really!" she cried, with a smile of inconceivable brightness; "I do think I have found a spirit as haughty and unmanageable as my own. Well then, victor orator of the day and most provokingly self-sufficient young man, I do care to know what you think of me, good, bad, or indifferent."

"Let us sit down by the pine boughs that luxuriate in this corner of the room, leaving the floor for the present to others. You have given me a long task to perform."

With an assenting motion, she suffered Marcus to lead her to the mimic bower, where, with mock gravity on her brow and arch defiance on her lips, she waited his exposition of her character.

"I need not tell you that you are young, beautiful, and fascinating," began Marcus, with an air of graceful seriousness, "that you know but too well already. That you have wit and genius you also know, and are fully aware of their dazzling power. Added to these lavish gifts of nature, you have the splendid endowments of wealth, which in the eyes of the world would gild with transcendent brightness far meaner charms. These are the brilliant lights of the picture-now for its counter shades."

"Yes! give me the shades. I have listened with impatience to an enumeration of advantages too highly coloured for the sober truth you promised."

"Nay, mysterious damsel, no tint that ever glowed on the palette of the artist ever gave a hue too bright for the lights I have endeavoured to flash upon your perception. But when I tell you that you

"Who ever heard of a young girl requiring a key to the thoughts of one as frank and ingenuous as myself?"

wear them, not as their grateful recipient, but as their arbitrary possessor; that you feel born to rule rather than to win; that you glory in your power, rather than