And then your blushing cup she kissed,
Before she turned to go; -

Ah, many a secret of delight

Your cunning flowerets know!

Was it a little, lightsome kiss,
Of such as sisters pay?
Or was it a longer, warmer one,
For him that's far away?

The little floweret looked at me,
And slyly smiling said:

Art sure thou art the proper one

To whom it should be paid?

For know, there's love 'twixt girls and flowers,

As well as that that's sent.

Well, this she said: The time has come!

And blushed, and away she went.

Now, were I not the proper one,
And should the message miss,
Yet would I gladly take the same,
The message and the kiss;

So down I stooped with drunken joy,
Down to the floweret fair,

And snatched away the sugared kiss
Left by the maiden there.

-Translation for Tait's Magazine.

IOGENES, LAERTIUS, a Greek philosopher; supposed by some to have received his sur

name from the town of Laerte, in Cilicia, where he was born, and by others from the Roman family of the Laertii. He lived, as near as can be determined, just previous to 200 A.D.

Of his youth, education, and general circumstances of his life, very little is known. Even the period in which he wrote-probably during the reign of Septimius Severus (193-121)—is altogether a matter of conjecture, and his personal opinions are equally uncertain. Some good authorities claim that he was a Christian, but from recent researches it is more probable that he was an Epicurean. He is known to have been the author of a biographical work giving an account of the lives and sayings of the Greek philosophers. While the best that can be said of this work. is that it is an uncritical and unphilosophical compilation, yet its value, in so far as it gives us an insight into the private life of the Greek sages, is great. Montaigne stated succinctly the importance of this work when he said: "I wish that instead of one Laertius there had been a dozen." The beginning of the work classes the philosophers into the Ionic and Italic Schools, the former class beginning with the biography of Anaximander and ending with Clitomachus, Theophrastus, and Chrysippus; the latter class beginning with Pythagoras and ending with Epicurus. The Socratic School and its branches is treated with the Ionic; the Eleatics and Sceptics are classed with the Italic. The entire last book is given to Epicurus. From the statements of Burlaeus it would appear that

the text of Laertius was much fuller than that which we now have, and hopes are still entertained of finding a more complete copy. A very good modern edition is that of Hübner, published in two volumes at Leipsic in 1828-31.

Professor Stahr, of Oldenburg, thus expresses the opinion of many scholars concerning the historical value of Diogenes Laertius: "The love of scandal and anecdotes, which had arisen from petty views of men and things, at a time when all political freedom was gone, and among a people which had become demoralized, had crept into literature also, and such compilations as those of Phlegon, Ptolemæus, Chennus, Athenæus, Ælian, and Diogenes Laertius, display this taste of a decaying literature. All the defects of such a period, however, are so glaring in the work of Diogenes, that in order to rescue the common sense of the writer, critics have had recourse to the hypothesis that the present work is a mutilated abridgment of the original production." "The compilation of Diogenes is of incalculable value to us as a source of information concerning the history of Greek philosophy." "It contains a rich store of living features, which serve to illustrate the private life of the Greeks, and a considerable number of fragments of works which are lost."

THE WIFE OF SOCRATES.

It happened that Xanthippe reviled him, and afterward threw dirty water upon him; upon which he said, "I told thee, when it thundered, that it would presently rain." And when Alcibiades said that Xanthippe was a scold beyond all endurance, he answered, "I am used to it, as to the constant creaking of a pulley; and you yourself put up with the cackling of geese." "Why,

yes," rejoined Alcibiades; "for these supply me with eggs and young geese." 'And so," added Socrates, 'does Xanthippe bear me children." It happened that being in the agora, she pulled his cloak off from him; and his friends counselled him with manly force to defend himself. "Yea, by Jove," said he, so that while we are fighting, ye may cry out, Bravo, Socrates!' 'Well done, Xanthippe!' He would say that he made the same use of Xanthippe as trainers made of fiery horses; "For as they, in getting the better of one, learn to control others, so I, becoming accustomed to Xanthippe, learn to get along with all."- From the Life of Socrates.

ISRAELI, BENJAMIN, EARL of BEACONSFIELD; an English statesman and novelist; born at London, December 21, 1804; died there April 19, 1881. He was the eldest son of Isaac Disraeli. After receiving a private education, he was placed in a solicitor's office, but he preferred literature to law, and in 1826-27 produced a novel, Vivian Grey, which was well received in England, and was translated into several languages. The Voyage of Captain Pompanilla, a flimsy satire, followed in 1828. The young author then travelled for two years in Europe, Syria, and Egypt. On his return he published The Young Duke (1831), and Contarini Fleming (1832), the latter of which was highly praised by Heine, Goethe, and Beckford. An Oriental romance, The Wondrous Tale of Alroy, another The Rise of Iskander, and Ixion in Heaven, were published in 1833. The Revolutionary Epic (1834), in which the Genius of Feudalism and the Genius of Federalism plead their cause before the