122-Education of Boyhood. C.Q.-The following remarks, by Sir Walter Scott, in relation to the importance of boys improving their opportunities of learning, will show you its importance in the eyes of a great man. Boys, however, are too apt to consider school as a mere day-prison, to which they are sent that they may not be in the way of their parents. In narrating his personal history, Sir Walter thus writes :-"If it should ever fall to the lot of youth to peruse these pages, let such readers remember that it is with the deepest regret that I recollect in my manhood the opportunities of learning which I neglected in my youth; that through every part of my literary career I have felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance; and would this moment give half the reputation I have had the good fortune to acquire, if by so doing I could rest the remaining part upon a solid foundation of learning and science.'

123-Ancient Domestic Trade. M. E. 0.-A great part of the domestic trade of Britain was transacted in fairs. Some of these fairs were of long duration, frequented by prodigious multitudes of people from different countries and stored with commodities of all kinds. The fair of St. Giles' Hill, near Winchester, continued sixteen days, during which time all trade was prohibited in Winchester, Southampton, and every place within seven miles of the fair, which resembled a busy city laid out into regular streets of tents, inhabited by foreign and domestic traders, who exposed their various wares. such fairs the King, his prelates and great barons sent their factors, and others went in person, to purchase jewels, cloths, furniture, liquors, spices, cattle, corn, in short, everything that they needed, men and women not excepted, for it is an undoubted fact that slaves of both sexes were publicly sold in England near the close of the fourteenth century.

To

124-Walking. T. F.-To walk gracefully, the body must be erect, but not stiff, and the head held up in such a posture that the eyes are directed forward. The tendency of untaught walkers is to look towards the ground near the feet; and some persons appear always as if admiring their shoe-ties. The eyes should not thus be cast downward, neither should the chest bend forward to throw out the back, making what are termed round shoulders; on the contrary, the whole person must hold itself up, as if not afraid to look the world in the face, and the chest by all means be allowed to expand. At the same time, every thing like strutting or pomposity must be carefully avoided. An easy, firm, and erect posture, are alone desirable. In walking, it is necessary to bear in mind that the locomotion is to be performed entirely by the legs. Awkward persons rock from side to side, helping forward each leg alternately by advancing the haunches. This is not only ungraceful but fatiguing. Let the legs alone advance, bearing up the body.

125-Insects. P. D.-Insects have lymph instead of blood, and no bones, but hard coverings, to which the muscles are attached. They have no vertebræ. They do not breath through the mouth or nostrils, but have air-vessels along their sides, called spiracula, and connected with other vessels called bronchiæ. They have the organs of sense, and make all the discrimi

nations which accord with their physical powers and wants. They are oviparous; but scorpions and aphides are viviparous. The male is always smaller and more coloured than the female, who alone have stings; but males have horns. Insects have long memories, and reason in all they do. They assist each other in labour, and regulate their labour by the end in view. They make intelligent communications to one another. In short, they do whatever their wants, habits or powers render expedient. In proportion, the stag-beetle is stronger than the elephant, and the cock-roach than the horse. Fleas exhibit great strength and agility, and in proportion to the strength of a man, they leap as high as St. Paul's.

the

126-Gipsies. F. G. S.-This peculiar race of people first appeared in Germany about the year 1517, having quitted Egypt when attacked by the Turks. They are the descendants of a great body of Egyptians, who revolted from Turkish yoke, and being defeated, dispersed in small parties all over the world; while their supposed skill in the black art gave them a universal reception in that age of credulity and superstition. Although expelled from France in 1560, and from most countries soon after, they are yet found in every part of Europe as well as in Asia and Africa. Having recovered their footing, they have contrived to maintain it to this day. In England an Act was made against their itinerancy in 1530; and in the reign of Charles I. thirteen persons were executed at one assizes for having associated with gipsies for about a month, contrary to the statute. There were in Spain alone, previously to the year 1800, more than 120,000 gipsies, and many communities of them yet exist in England; and notwithstanding their intercourse with other nations, they are still, like the Jews, in their manners, customs, visage, and appearance wholly unchanged.

P. R.

127-Ancient Spinning and Spinsters. -In the time of Edward the Elder, weaving and embroidery were much practised. He had his daughters taught to use the needle and distaff. Indeed spinning was the common occupation of the Anglo-Saxon ladies. Alfred, in his will, calls the female portion of his family the "spining-side." So, too, Egbert, when entailing his estates on his male descendants to the exclusion of females, said, "To the spear-side, and not to the spindle-side." Of the skill and industry of the ancient spinsters, we have an extraordinary instance in the tapestry which is still preserved in the Cathedral of Payeux. This curious relic of antiquity, is a vast linen web 214 feet long, and two broad, on which is embroidered the history of the Conquest. It is supposed to have been executed by English women under the direction of Matilda, wife of William I. Many of the figures are without stockings, though none are without shoes: which makes it probable that shoes were more generally used than stockings, in this period. The common people, for the most part, had no stockings, nor any other covering on their legs, and even the clergy celebrated, mass with their legs hare, till a law was made against the practice in 785. Wooden shoes, which are now esteemed the marks of indigence and misery, were worn by the greatest princes of Europe in the ninth and tenth centuries, as they are now worn amongst the weavers of Lancashire.

128-Diversity of Natures. R. G.-Much depends upon the constitutional temperament of the animals referred to. "A bird deprived of food," says Liebig, "dies on the third day, while a serpent with its sluggish respiration, can live without food three months or longer."

129-Bogs. H. R.-They are the remains of fallen forests, covered with peat and loose soil. Moving bogs are slips of land carried to lower levels by accumulated water. The bog-land of Ireland is estimated at three millions of acres; that of Scotland at upwards of two millions; and that of England at nearly one million of

acres.

130-The Hair of Brushes. C. A.-The hair made use of by brush-makers is hog's bristles, vast quantities of which are yearly imported from Russia and Germany; but whalebone split very fine, so as to resemble bristles, is very generally substituted, particularly in the blackcoloured brushes, where it is often mixed with the black hair. Some brushes are made of whalebone entirely. These are cheaper but not so durable.

131-New Year's Day. L. R.-Its institution as a feast or day of rejoicing, is the oldest upon authentic record transmitted down to our times, and still observed. The feast was instituted by Numa, and dedicated to Janus, who presided over the new year, 713 years before Christ. On this day the Romans laid aside all old grudges and ill-humour, and took care not to speak so much as one ominous or untoward word. The first of January is more observed as a feast day in Scotland than it is in England.

132-The Why and the Wherefore. U. R.Cheapness is certainly desirable; but then it has to be considered in connection with the means of purchasing. The story of the Irishman illustrates this point exactly. "Eggs for a shilling the dozen!" exclaimed Pat; "Why in Ireland, I could buy a score for sixpence." "Why then," answered the tradesman, did you not stay in Ireland?" "Oh!" replied Pat, "because I could not get the sixpence there." The moral to be drawn from this is, that persons possessing health and strength should not consider, so much, the cheapness of a locality, where a small income will support them, but rather turn their minds to improve their means by the exercise of the talents they possess.

133-The habit of setting to work. M. S.-We cannot say how it is, but it is, certainly, much to your disadvantage to allow yourself to be so completely outdone in the comparison. Our advice is for you to endeavour strenuously to acquire the habit of setting to work quietly, promptly, and resolutely, and a short time will prove to you that that your inferiority proceeds rather from a want of habit and method than from any constitutional defect of temperament. We have seen one sister half through a task that was not agreeable to either, whilst, as, perhaps, in your case, the other was neglecting the necessity of doing it, and considering how to get through it with the least amount of trouble. Those who talk much of what they do, or are going to do, are not those who accomplish the most.

134-Reception of Teachers. A. B.-We grant you, that there is some degree of art necessary to make a teacher of delicate feelings entirely at home on his visits; but the best way to receive

him is as your particular guest, with a serious, polite, and deferential manner, readily entering into conversation with him till he chooses to begin your lesson Then devote your whole attention to the business in hand, remembering that the labour of teaching the best scholar is irksome enough, and that you must reward your master by your progress no less than by your money. The greatest delicacy is required in consulting the interests of a teacher without hurting his feelings, but you should never forget that time is money to him, and if you keep him waiting, let the loss be yours, not his, and never overrun the allotted hour to make it up.

135-The voice and fermented liquors. F. A. No. There is no beverage with which we are acquainted equal to good water, to sing on. We state this upon the authority of a gentleman who as a singer stands high in his profession and who has experimentally proved this satisfactorily, times out of number. He has tried distilled as well as malt liquors, and drank the former diluted as well as neat; eat oysters as an accompaniment to porter and found them all inferior to the common beverage for giving a clear and confident tone to vocal enunciation. We have heard it pretty confidently asserted that porter in par ticular gives strength to the voice; but if the voice is not there by nature, all the porter in the breweries of London will fail in creating it. Practice, and practice alone, will give strength to the voice, upon the same principle that walking imparts it to the limbs of the pedestrian, or the swing of the hammer to the arm of the blacksmith.

136-The Wedge. G. S.When the compression of a block of wood is completed by the means of driving in a wedge, it then splits, and it is on this principle that the action of the wedge is founded. In the annexed diagram you will see the explanation of the law. The point of the engine has been inserted by the blow of a hammer into a block of wood, and the wood, by compression, has been displaced, and the block is rending because it can suffer no more compression. All the various kinds of cutting and piercing tools as axes, knives, scissors, nails, pins, awls, are modifications of the wedge. The angle, in these cases, is more or less acute, according to the purpose to which it is applied.

137-Scolding Domestics. A. C. E.-This practice has long been considered ungenteel, and is now, we believe, except with the uneducated, obsolete. In any well-regulated dwelling such a thing is never heard. There everything is conducted on the Family Friend principle, which is such as teaches us to dwell in peace and love with one another. Finding fault in a severe or pettish tone never does any good, and is the last way in the world to make any one sorry for an omission, mistake, or accident. When any offence must be noticed, it is better to begin by a kind and gentle inquiry, why and how it occurred. This affords the person an opportunity of justifying herself when right; and when in the wrong, she will be the more likely to see and allow it, if she is questioned instead of blamed. If you feel

your temper rising, by anything that has happened, never open your lips to a domestic until it has entirely subsided, for you may inflict a wound which you can never heal, and lose more respect than you can ever win back again.

138-Cross and Pile. T. R.-Anciently the coin of England was stamped with a cross on one side, the reverse of the coin was called pile; but etymologists differ about the derivation of the word. It has been said to be from the Latin pilum, an arrow, or pileus, a hat or cap, or from the old French pile, a ship, and from the English pillar,-from these various figures having been successively impressed upon the coin. The word pile, however derived, became a term denoting the reverse of a coin, whatever such reverse bore, -and hence the game of chance called cross and pile took its origin; being simply the tossing up of the coin by one person, the other calling cross or pile, and, if his call lies uppermost, he wins the stake played for, and loses it if otherwise. It is now called heads and tails, and various other names, and its origin may be traced to the Greek Ostrachinda. A cross is also a figurative name for money generally. Hudibras says,

"That you as sure may pick and choose, As cross I win, and pile, you lose." 139-Aquarius. T. B. -The form which Aquarius, or the Water-carrier, takes in the heavens, is best illustrated by the annexed diagram. It belongs to the month of January, and is believed to refer to the showery character of that month, from its being a derivative of the Latin word aqua, signifying water.

However this may be, we have no reason to believe that the name assigned to it as a constellation, symbolizes any benefac tor of our species or any one who has signalized himself amongst mankind by the exertion of uncommon qualities. At least,

on this point, the ages of the past have transmitted to us no light whatever.

140-Models. G. C.-The first models were figures of living persons, and Dibutates the Corinthian, was the inventor of those in clay. His daughter, known by the designation of the Corinthian maid, being about to be separated from her lover, who was going on a distant journey, traced his profile, by his shadow on the wall; her father filled up the outline with clay, which he afterwards baked, and thus produced a figure of the object of her affection, giving rise to an art till then unknown, about nine hundred and eighty-five years before Christ. One of the most surprising efforts ever achieved by human industry was that undertaken by General Pliffner, to model the mountains of Switzerland. It was begun in 1766, and completed in 1785, a period of nearly twenty years. Bonaparte was a patron and lover of this art, many admirable performances, in which, as a reward to the artist, he purchased, weight for

weight, according to their bulk, in silver or gold. On one occasion, a humble price of 400 francs being set upon a work, he erased the word francs, in lieu of which he inserted Napoleons, and directed them to be paid.

141-Distinguished

names ending in ON. G. F.-The letters O. N. might be supposed to possess some mysterious charm, as they form the termination of some of the most distinguished names in history. No other letters of the alphabet will furnish so remarkable a coincidence as that which may be found in the following list:-Philosophers, Critics, and Miscellaneous Writers: -Bacon, Newton, Johnson, Addison, Crichton, Porson, Buffon, Monfauçon. Bishops: Tillotson, Tenison, Fenelon, Massillon, Pearson, Wilson, Warburton, Nicholson, Sanderson, Leighton, Newton, Walton, Gibson, Watson, Middleton, Barrington. Other Divines and Theological Writers: Gerson, Mabillon, Melancthor. Wotton, Manton, Jackson, Whiston, Hutching son. Poets: Anacreon, Ben Jonson, Milton, Thomson, Chatterton, Byron. Historians: Xenophon, Clarendon, Gibbon, Robertson. Naval and Military Commanders: Nelson, Vernon, Washington, Napoleon, Wellington. Other eminent names, with similar terminations, might be inserted in the above list, such as the following from the Sacred Writings, and Grecian History:-Aaron, Solomon, Agamemnon, Solon, Bion, Phocion, &c.

142-Sir Walter Scott. P. L.-We should say not. All his works, both poetry and prose, show a deficiency in the organ of concentrativeness. There is a mild summer or autumnal beauty. however, in all his poetical pictures, which amply compensates for their minuteness or diffusion. Where is there a more charming sketch of a landscape to be found than in the following few lines:

"The summer dawn's reflected hue

To purple changed Loch Katrine's blue;
Mutely and soft the western breeze
Just kiss'd the lake, just stirr'd the trees,
And the pleased lake, like maiden coy,
Trembled but dimpled not for joy.
The mountain shadows on her breast,
Were neither broken nor at rest,
In bright uncertainty they lie
Like future joys to Fancy's eye;
The water-lily to the light

Her chalice rear'd of silver bright;
The doe awoke and to the lawn,
Begemm'd with dew-drops, led her fawn;
The gray mist left the mountain-side,
The torrent show'd its glistening pride.
Invisible in fleckéd sky

The lark sent down her revelry;

The blackbird and the speckled thrush
Good-morrow gave from brake and bush;
In answer coo'd the cushat-dove,

Her notes of peace, and rest, and love." Besides the public character of Sir Walter as a poet and prose writer of fiction, we must remember that he possessed in an eminent degree many of the very warmest and most affectionate attributes. As a HOME COMPANION and FAMILY FRIEND, no individual could exemplify more congenial qualities, or lead us into a spirit of affectionate admiration for him, with more graceful and manly familiarity.

143-Legality of Marriage. A. X. M.-We believe that no inaccuracy of the kind would affect the legality of the marriage or settlements. However, we recommend you to make application to some legal authority in your own town. 144-The Quern. H. L.-The quern, or handmill, is of Roman, or as some say of Irish invention; but the latter is not likely, as Roman querns have been found in Yorkshire; and it is said by others that the Romans found querns there.

145-Mahogany Polish. D.L.D.-Two ounces of yellow bees'-wax dissolved in the same quantity of spirits of turpentine. If for dark wood, colour it to your wish with rose-pink or alkanet root, or one part virgin white wax to eight parts of oil petroleum.

146-Bones in Sugar. D. E. B.-Bones are used in the process of refining sugar, owing to the properties which animal charcoal (bone black) possesses of destroying vegetable colouring matter. In the manner it is applied there is nothing deleterious.

147-To Renovate a Black Coat. C. A.-Boil half-a-pound of logwood and a little copperas chips in three pints of water until reduced to a quart. When cold, strain it, and add a wineglass full of gin and half the quantity of spirits of wine. Mix well; apply it to the cloth with a nail-brush, and when dry brush with a soft brush. 148-Germination of Seeds. P. H.-Wheat and millet-seed germinate in one day; barley, in seven; cabbage, in ten; almond, chesnut, and peach, require twelve months, and rose and filbert twenty-four months. Seeds buried in old garden grounds, and turned up after many years become plants; and deep ploughing always produces a latent crop of anciently buried seeds. A bulbous root, found in the hand of a mummy, above two thousand years old, produced a plant. 149-Hereditary Corns. G. A.-Yes, it is asserted that these excrescences are in many instances hereditary, for they have been found on infants on the same parts of the foot as they have afflicted the parents, and on the same foot, when only one foot has been affected. In such cases, though partial relief may often be given, even in advanced life, yet it were better if parents were careful to have them eradicated in infancy, before an hereditary taint becomes decidedly constitutional.

will remove the tightest ring without difficulty, however much swollen the finger may be.

152-Speckles on the Nails. D. U.-These occur when some of the particles of the juice which nourishes the nail happen to be intercepted in different places under its substance. They sometimes go off of their own accord, by the growing of the nail, which, as it shoots out in length, carries the speckles along with it; but this is not always the case, therefore we must have recourse to means to disperse them. Accordingly apply over the nail a compress, wet in spirits of wine and camphor, and leave it there several days,. wetting it from time to time in spirits of wine, but taking care to remove it as soon as the marbling disappears.

153-4 Gentleman. R. T.-He is generally distinguished by the neatness of his attire, the goodness of the material, personal cleanliness, and an unaffected carriage. This is the pattern which persons of inferior degree should imitate, avoiding a display of rings and brooches, and any outré foppishness, which is a certain sign of inferior intellect, and instead of exciting admiration, in many cases induces contempt. For general wear invisible green for coats is an unobtrusive and enduring colour; but a suit of black is convenient to keep at hand, being always dress for an evening, and ready on occasions of private or public mourning.

154-Sea Shells. D. F.-To prepare these requires much care and experience. The shells are first burned, to get rid of the animal matter that remains in them. Their rough outside is next removed by mechanical means. They are then carefully treated, some with nitric, others with muriatic acid, according to their nature, until the proper surface is reached. This is then polished by friction with leather and the hand. Should you be unpractised in the art of conchological manipulation we should recommend the shells being sent to a regular practitioner, for if you attempt to polish them yourself, you will surely spoil them.

155-The Shamrock. C. C.-It is disputed. Some say that the shamrock used by the Irish was introduced by Patrick McAlpine, since called St. Patrick, as a simile of the Trinity, about the year 432. When he could not make them understand him in words, he showed the Irish a stem of clover, or trefoil, thereby exhibiting an ocular demonstration of the possibility of three uniting in one, and one in three. The trefoil was denominated the sham-rock, in contra-distinction to Peter the true rock, as represented by the Romish church. This, however, is said by Spencer to be an error, shamrock being the Irish name for three-leaved grass.

151-How to get off a tight ring. P. A.Thread a needle flat in the eye with a strong thread, pass the head of the needle with care under the ring, and pull the thread through a few inches towards the hand; wrap the long end of the thread tightly round the finger regularly all down the nail to reduce its size, then lay hold of the short end and unwind it. The thread repassing against the ring, will gradually remove it from the finger. This never-failing method

We have bazaars that close at five, and markets at noon; shops in one town closing at seven, in another at ten, in one neighbourhood at eight, in another at eleven. In Edinburgh bookshops close at five o'clock on Saturdays, whilst in other towns they are usually kept open an hour later on those days than others. This variety, then, would seem to prove that the hours of business might be greatly curtailed, if the practice was only energetically introduced and systematically acted upon.

157-To make Muffins. M. R.-Mix together a quarter of a pint of thick yeast and one pint of warm milk; strain and add as much fine flour as will make a batter, and set it in a warm place, covered with a flannel cloth until it has risen. Rub an ounce of butter in some flour quite fine, to this add a quarter of a pint of warm milk, and mix well together. Add, then, sufficient flour to make it into dough, knead it and cover it over, letting it stand for half an hour longer. Work it up again, break the dough into small pieces, roll them up quite round, and cover them over for about twenty minutes, when they will be light and porous; then bake on a hot hearth, or plank, turning them when one side is done.

158-Foreign Ants, G. N.-Ten times larger. In Brazil ants are almost masters of the country, and in Africa they are not less formidable. In all tropical countries they are infinitely more numerous than in northern latitudes, and sometimes measure an inch or an inch and a half. They raise mounds of an elliptical figure to the height of three or four feet, and are so numerous that they frequently extend over plains as far as the eye can reach. They especially abound in districts which produce sour grass. The cones become so hard that they support three or four men, and even a loaded wagon. Internally, they are of a spongy structure, and completely saturated with oil.

159-Our Manufacturing System. M. O.— Spinning and weaving of fibrous materials and the manipulation of metallic ores, constitute what is meant by our manufacturing system. We make many other articles such as glass, earthenware, and machinery, but they do not embrace such masses of the population as to come under the heading. Bread, cheese, beer, and spirits, we may manufacture, but they are not peculiar features for export. In fact what we call our manufacturing system had its origin between 1785 and 1790, when some successes in the invention of secret machinery led to the expectation that we might manufacture for all the world, and by the sale of our fabrics, command the wealth and natural productions of all nations. 160-Lobsters. W. M.-We, who never eat lobsters, grant all that you say, but there are tens of thousands who see in their claws nothing but waving lines of beauty, and associate with sucking them, all that is delicious. Like our metropolitan postmen or Favourite 'bussman, it gets a new coat once a year, and previous to laying aside the old one it appears sick, languid, and restless. Whether these are a lobster's manifes tations of joy, sorrow, or pride, we cannot tell, but such they are, and it mounts its new coat in a few days. During the change of its habiliments it seeks a very lonely spot, lest the temptation of its uncovered skin should tempt its brethren to devour it in its defenceless condition. "It is hard however to conceive, observes Travis, "how lobsters, in casting their shells, are able to draw the flesh of their large claws out, leaving the shell entire and attached to their body, in which state they are constantly found." Fishermen state that the lobster pines before casting its shell, till the flesh of its large claw is no thicker than a goose-quill, a circumstance which enables them to draw its parts through the joints and narrow passages near the trunk. The new shell, as at first, quite membraneous, but, by degrees,

becomes hardened. The lobster only grows while the shell is in this soft state. 161-The Safety lamp. T. A.-The safetylamp was invented by Sir Humphrey Davy, and was constructed so as to burn without any danger in an explosive atmosphere. It has been clearly described in the Familiar Lectures on Chemistry in the Family Tutor, published by Houlston and Stoneman, whence we take the following explanation to illustrate the figure which we give of it: "The safety-lamp merely a common oil-lamp, the frame of which is enclosed in a cylindrical cage of wire-gauze, sometimes made double at the upper part where the hottest portion of the gas collects, and containing about 400 apertures to the square inch. The wick is trimmed by means of a bent wire, passing tightly through the body of the lamp, so that when the lamp has been sup plied with oil, the wick may be kept burning for any length of time with out unscrewing the cage. When this lamp is immersed in an explosive mixture of marsh-gas or coalgas and common air, the gauze cylinder becomes filled with a blue flame, arising from the combustion of the gas within; but the flame does not communicate to the outside, even though the gauze may be heated to less redness."

162-Names. C. H.-A great point is, not to give your children such high-sounding names as may in after life make them appear Indicrous in the eyes of the world when pursuing an ordinary or common occupation. For example, we know a lady who had in her girlhood been an inveterate reader of novels and plays, from which she had gathered all the long-winded, high-sounding, and chivalrous names which are usually found to belong to the heroes and heroines of such productions. These she unhesitatingly appropriated and treasured in her memory till the happy time would arrive when she should have an opportunity of conferring some of them upon her own offspring. Accordingly this period did arrive, but the novel and play-reading lady had united herself to a butcher, and she came to stand in the public market selling the meat which her husband had slaughtered. She had a large family, and these she had designated, to the great horror of her husband, after the Orlandos, Dianas, Desde monas, and the like. This being the case, on a busy day, she might be heard crying at her stall from the one end of the market alley to the other, "Orlando, Roderigo, Alexander Smith, fetch the cleaver?" Than this, nothing could be more absurd. Custom had familiarized it to the ears of the surrounding butchers, but the auricular organs of a stranger must have been singularly tickled by hearing such an assemblage of dignified appellations being employed in so common an occupation.-It is perfectly true that Plato re commended it to parents to give happy names to their children, and that Pythagoras taught that the minds, actions, and successes of men, were according to their names, genius, and fate; but such a doctrine is wholly untenable by any rational system of philosophy.