rudest amongst them; aud yet he could never see her though she was as conspicious to him as any; and even when she had teazed her neighbours to join her, he could not discover a fault in her though he punished them very severely.

Whilst witnessing the repeated cruelties and partialities thus exhibited, I gave way to reflections like the following;

The conductors of sunday schools, in general, profess as their object the improvement of the condition of the children, by instructing them in the duties of religion, and of their situation, and in giving them sufficient education to enable them to read the Sacred Volume and to write a letter to their friends. Doubtless their professions and their intentions correspond; but, how miserably defective is the plan which they pursue, for the accomplishment of those benevolent purposes! No man can teach what he has never learned; yet, we see men placed here as teachers whose capacity is in an inverse ratio with the importance of the duties they undertake to fulfil. No person ought to be allowed to teach who is not qualified by, at least, a respectable education; but here we see men who are more ignorant of the elements of the commonest stage of literature than many of the scholars placed as preceptors! The children should never have an idea of their being more respectable than their teachers, as that tends to destroy the subordination necessary in such establishments, but here we see the very dregs of society raised to the mock-importance of Sunday School Teachers! The preceptors of youth, should be men of humanity, and accustomed to act from the decrees of their own judgment; but the majority of these are accustomed to do every thing according to the di-, rections of their employers,-they, acknowledge no principle of action but those of fear, and are hence always either precipitate, and cruel, or else too imbecile to act at all. Generally, they think that by flogging and frightening that the child will crouch to them as they themselves are in the habit of doing to their employers. To the man who is accustomed to the exercise of authority; ease and dignity are familiar, when he is in the act of direct

ing, and such should be the case with the instructors of youth; but in Sunday Schools, we too often find men who are so elated by their metamorphosis from a trembling slave on Saturday night to -A demi-god

66

On Sunday sent to wield the rod,"

as to be incapable of using authority at all, or else, what is worse, of using it in an improper manner.

What can children learn under such circumstances that will be of any use to them? Can they learn the duties of religion ?—Will they not rather feel an aversion to it altogether, from seeing it connected with such unholy passions and such wanton cruelty. Can they learn propriety of manners from the most vulgar of mankind? Can they learn to read from the instructions of a man who cannot give a single word or a single letter its proper sound? Or can they learn the duties of their situation from the domineering of men who Occupy as low or a lower situation in life, and especially when they see that those people form their own duties, not from principle but from compulsion? Surely not!

I am happy to observe that there are, comparatively speaking, but few sunday schools in which these men are entrusted with the use of the rod; but it is a lamentable case that it does still par tially exist. I hope not only this grievance will be removed, but that such ignorance and unqualified persons will be prevented from degrading the honourable office of Sunday School Teachers, ere long, as a reformation is highly necessary to save the credit of such establishments,and of the teachers who are truly respectable and well qualified for their tasks.

wants of Nature as sleep, refreshment, &c. also take a good portion of time to. answer; and recreations of different kinds are also necessary, absolutely necessary. Thus the whole of mens' lives are occupied about indispensibles; and in proportion as civilization renders many of these indispensibles more expensive, (with time,) so far will it abridge the period allotted to recreation.

Whatever view we take of literature and the arts, they are not the business of the majority of men. To them they

come under the character of recreations. Now it is evident, that though this species of recreation may be introduced, the necessities of men will prevent them from becoming eminent in any recreation, as they would who have made that recreation their business.

Indeed, when civilization gets beyond a certain pitch, the trouble requisite for keeping person, furniture, grounds, &c. in suitable order, will take more time than the owner bestows upon them; he will then be obliged to call in assistance. All these people must be maintained, and those who are employed in cultivating the necessaries of life, must do more work to make up the deficiency. This deficiency increases by an increase of the numbers who leave the employ to attend the duties of civilization.

There will be no difficulty in conceiving that the number that leaves employ will throw such a burden on the remainder, that they will have no time left for recreation, nor even for more than the slightest refreshments. This seems to be the case in most countries where civilization proceeded by very rapid strides amongst the higher classes of society: the lower classes never had time to become civilized but in a very slight degree, and then the luxurious refinements upon the civilization of the higher classes have abridged the opportunities and stifled the designs of the lower..

It is my decided opinion that education is a very dangerous amusement amongst the lower classes; they are too apt to make it their business. They will fancy themselves adepts in that wherein they are mere novices, in the widest sense of the word. They learn to tamper with that very thing which should be most carefully kept from themthe art of deceiving them. Did the

In wild luxuriance round the lowering elm;
And the pale Jessamine, with emerald leaves
And fairy flowers, within whose spotless cnps
The dew of morning glittered, clustered round
A simple bower, within a lonely glen:
Where all was calm and silent, save the sound
Of the clear waters, as they rippled on
Bathing the silvery willows, and at times,
The clear, sweet cadence of the village bells,
Swelled on the rising gale. Oh! one was there
Whose heart was full of happiness, who gazed
On that bright sky, and on the summer flowers,
As if no cloud could ever dim the light
Or tempest blight the roses; all was fair
And lovely in his eyes, and yet he was,
No strippling youth, upon whose day of joy
No cloud or blight had fallen. He was one
Whose cheek was pall'd by sorrow, and the

light

Now sparkling in his eyes, seemed not their

To that lone bower within the silent glen.
Blue violets, bathed yet in the morning dew,
Broider'd its mossy seat, and as he gazed
He passed unconsciously a withered flower,
(Bound by a tress of bright and silken hair;)
Still closer to his heart. It once had bloomed
As fresh and fragrant on that mossy seat
As they did now, yet was it dearer to him
Than all their summer beauty; it had passed
With him through toil and danger, t'was the
gift

Of her he lov'd, and love and hope had twin'd
A talisman around it; he had sigh'd

O'er it in distant climes, and imaged forth
The smile of her who gave it, till his life
And it seem'd twin'd together. "Oh, again!
Land of my fathers does the wanderer rest
Within thy peaceful vallies?" As he past
A well known tree, around whose stem the rose
Now spread her crimsoning flowers, a simple

Forth from the sacred porch, a youthful train
In bridal joyfulness; and as they past
He blessed the youthful bride, for fancy traced
In the blue eyes the glance of her he loved,
When first she smiled on him. But far away
From that gay train, a fair and pensive girl
Scattered a few faint violets o'er a tomb,
O'er which a pale white rose was raised, to show
A maiden slumber'd there, a wither'd wreath
With sable ribbons twined, the funeral garland
Hung on its foilage and that silent girl
Wept o'er it as they flutter'din the gale,
And Everard gazed on her; the twining curls
And soft dark eyes he knew! Oh, why
Eunice! my sister! wherefore mourn'st thou
here?

A glance upon that tomb, a sudden shriek
From that fair girl. My Brother! and no more,
The grave was "Eva's;" and the funeral

wreath

Through pestilential fevered breath
I walk unhurt; nor feel alarm'd
At sickness, misery or death;-

But more with christian courage armed
My God protects-the fever's power
The plague and every ill beside
Shall rage while he prolongs their hour;
Yet through them all my God willguide.
Yes though the man who friendship broke,
And urged professions form'd of air,
Whose honied lips in baseness spoke,-
Should vent his gall:-I will not care.
My God protects1-thou monster fly
And contemplate thy hideous heart!
Nor dare to meet heaven's vengeful eye,
Lest thence indignant justice dart!
Leeds.

T. S. D.

THE FAREWELL.

"Oh grief! beyond all other griefs, when fate,
First leaves the young heart lorn and desolate,
In this wide world without that only tie,
For which it loved to live, or feared to die!"
Lalla Rookh.

Thou hast said we must part,' and 'tis vain to contend,

With the feelings that nature has given: Farewell to the names, then, of lover and friend! Farewell to a love-made heaven!

The moments have rapidly flown since I knew
The joy giving power of thy smile!
Too quickly, alas! the young fantasy flew,
And planted its sting there the while!

Ah why, my lone heart! dost thou beat in my breast

And languishing pine in thy cell?
What thus has destroyed thy once loved rest
Come, Flutterer! and candidly tell.

My heart soon replies, 'tis the loss of my love,
Whose image still plays round my heart,
With the form of an angel that's come from
above,
To bring me
Leeds.

—a two-penny tart! EUGENIUS.

I cross'd in its beauty thy Dee's Druid water, The waves as I passed rippled lowly and lone; For the brave on their borders had perished in slaughter,

The noble were vanished, the gifted were gone! I passed by the pillar, firm rooted to waken Long memory of chiefs that in battle had sunk; But the earthquake of ruin, its basis had shaken, The voice of the thunder had shattered its trunk!

I passed by the castle, once mirthful and splendid,

Its court was too truly the emblem of thine; I passed by the abbey-its worship was ended, The ivy hung dark over portal and shrine Yet weep not fair Cambria, though shorn of thy glory,

Thy star shall yet rise in ascendance again; Song and science are treasuring the leaves of thy

story,

Not a page shall appeal to our bosoms in vain

Varieties.

Reply to COMMON SENSE'S Query.We have received several replies to the query proposed in our 20th number, by an old friend, COMMON SENSE; but the following solution by T. S. D. seems to us to unite simplicity with philosophical precision.

"The fact, must be admitted by every one who has attended to the phenomenon: and I think, the latter question may be simply answered by supposing the atmospheric air in the room to be too much rarefied by the heat of the sun's rays, to constitute a pabulum for the support of conbustion."

The Manufacture of Ink.-With a bad pen, and bad ink, Pope could not have translated the Iliad, nor Newton have written his Principia. For our

own parts, we always find, that however full our brain may be with "thoughts that breathe, and words that burn," yet still, without tolerable specimens of these " res necessariæ," they issue more even than commonly "sans taste, sans every thing." To keep our friends as free as possible from this evil of literary life, we have gleaned the recommendations of several philosophers for the composing of this potent fluid. As to the manufacturing of a pen, we recommend Mr. Millington, and other distinguished members of the mechanical world, to turn their attention to the construction of a portable pen-making machine.

Although the receipts for making writing-ink are numerous and varied, yet that of Dr. Lewis, we find by experience, is to be preferred as to the proportions, for the constituents cannot vary. For one quart of ink, the following ingredients are necessary, which may be all procured for one shilling.:

8 oz. of finely powdered galls.

1 do. of sulphate of iron (green vitriol.)
1 do. of logwood chips.

1 do. of powdered gum-arabic. And a quart of the softest water procurable; these shoud be admixed in a stone or glass vessel, the mouth of which must be only covered with a piece of porous gauze, and the liquid must be repeatedly shaken. To prevent it from becoming mouldy, Professor Hoffman

recommends half a dozen cloves to be pounded with the gum-arabic before admixture. Professor Brande, of the Royal Institution, directs the menstruum used to be half water and half vinegar; the "quality of the ink," he observes, "is materially improved by dissolving a stick of Indian ink, and ten grains of corrosive sublimate, in every quart." The addition of a portion of sugar renders ink slow in drying-advantage is taken of this property, where numerous copies of the same letter or document are required; when the characters of old writing are rendered illegible by time or by fraudulent means, they may be restored by penciling them over with a solution of Prussiate of potass, and then a dilute solution of sulphuric or muriatic acid.

Gas. It has been found that oil of bitumen, or coal tar, which is considered as waste by those who make and burn gas, if mixed with dry saw-dust, exhausted logwood, or fustic, to the consistence of paste, and allowed to remain until the water is drained off,-2 cwt. of the mass being put into the retort, instead of coal, will produce more gas, and be less offensive, than the same quantity of canal coal; and the process may be repeated until the whole of the tar is consumed.

Musty Flour and Bread.-Carbonate of Magnesia will correct the musty smell and taste of damaged flour. The proportion to be used are 30 grains of magnesia to one pound of the flour.The process of making and baking it is the same.

Stringed Instruments.-Platinum wire, used instead of brass and steel in the strings of musical instruments, produces a much finer tone, besides retaining its metallic brilliancy in a damp atmosphere.

Love-Token.-The following is useful to those Ladies who occasionally wish to give a "love-token" to their "Friend:" mark a Neckerchief with their own hair, to give as a "keepsake." It is translated from an article on felting, by the venerable M. Monge, in the Annals de Chimie.

"A tight knot, made in the middle of a hair, is very difficult to untie by the usual means, on account of the extreme thinness of the hair; but, if we place the hair in the bend of the hand, so that the knot is in a line with the

little finger; and, after grasping the hair by closing the hand, we strike the fist several times against the knee, the asperities of one end of the hair being now in a contrary direction to those of the other, each of the ends recedes a little, one of them one way and the other the contrary way; the knot is thereby opened, and by introducing a pin into the eye which is thereby formed, it is very eary to finish untying it.”

Attempt at Theory.-Dr. Bardsley, of Manchester, in an Essay on Popular Sports, alludes to some very singular ones in Lancashire. It appeared in evidence, he says, in a case lately brought forward at the Manchester Sessions, "that two persons upon some trifling dispute at a public-house, agreed to lock themselves up in a room with the land. lord, and fight it out according to the Bolton method." This contest lasted a long time, and was only terminated by the loss of the greatest part of the nose, and a part of an ear, belonging to one of the parties, which were actually bitten off by the other during the fight. The sufferer exhibited at the trial part of the ear so torn off; and when asked by the counsel what had become of that part of his nose which was missing-he replied with perfect naivete-"That he believed his antagonist had swallowed it!!" "It has," adds the Doctor, "happened to the writer of these remarks to witness, in more than one instance, the picking up in the streets lacerated portions of ears and fingers." The late Mr. Windham, who was a great theorist in his way, attributed the superior bravery of the people of Lancashire to their fondness for bull-baiting. As, however, they held an equally distinguished place for acuteness, may not this be traced to this constant necessity, for persons being on the alert, and keeping a sharp look out, who may not choose that their noses, ears, or

fingers, should serve as a meal either for their friends or the pigs?

We have been requested to insert the following question:

"What is A.'s chance of being drawn last when there are three other chances, B. C. D. and it has the advantage of not being put into the bag until B. shall be drawn ?"

Anecdote of Mr. Windham.—It was mentioned to Mr. Windham, some years since, that the College of Physicians and the Licentiates were going to law. "Is not this very idle," asked Mr. W. "since they have means of warfare in their own hands? Why don't they prescribe for one another ?"

To Correspondents.

A press of matter, which appears from its var rious dates to have prior claim upon our attention, compels us to postpone our promised series of Every-day-Scenes' till the commencement of a new volume.

Juvenis, and S. J. of Preston.-T. S. D.-J. A.Lines on a Primrose.-Sonnet to the Month of March.-Winter Sunset on Snowdon.-The Mind's Invocation,- And the Sunrise after a Storm in the German Ocean,—are received and shall be attended to in due time.

'A Morning Exercise of the Laureate,' (not before published,) we shall give shortly.

Our thanks are due to Coinmon Sense for his

remarks on Amusements: they shall appear before the close of the present colume, if possible.

Rusticus shall appear next week.

Our Sheffield Correspondent P. W. will oblige by transmitting the Articles he mentions in his friendly letter, sometime prior to the first of May.