recognised the peculiar beacon-light on the island of Inchkeith, which lies in the middle of the Firth. He took the helm, and steered accordingly, till he got the vessel to St Margaret's Hope, where he knew there was a British manof-war. On approaching that vessel, he called to its crew to send a party on board, as he had six prisoners to deliver. The Frenchmen, intimidated, and glad to be saved from the storm, made no effort to escape. When the party came from the war-vessel, they actually found the six Frenchmen already made prisoners by the boy, who had gathered all their arms beside him. The ship and cargo were saved for the owners.

There is need of a sprightly and vigilant mind to discern and lay hold on favourable junctures; a man must look before him, descry opportunities at a distance, keep his eye constantly upon them, observe all the motions they make towards him, make himself ready for their approach, and when he sees his time, lay fast hold, and not let go again, till he has done that which he aimed at doing.-CHARRON.

MODESTY.

WHEN any one praises himself, or speaks much of himself, or lets it in anyway be seen that he stands high in his own esteem, he is sure to be laughed at. We ought both to feel, and to appear to feel, humbly about ourselves; and even when others praise us, we should receive their approbation with humility. All good qualities are justly held to be set off and improved by modesty, while even the best qualities will be despised if they be shown in a boastful spirit. We shall be still more ridiculous if we pretend to knowledge, worth, or rank, which we do not possess. Such pretensions are easily detected, and then every one despises the pretender more than if he had been supposed to want those qualities altogether.

We ought also to check the disposition to think too highly of our own opinions, and too humbly of those of

D

other persons. Our neighbours may think rightly, though their opinions should appear to us absurd; and our own opinions may be wrong, though to us they appear right. Each man is but one out of millions, all of whom have their own peculiar opinions, and all of whom are as much entitled to think themselves right as he. It is a great point for any one to attain to know, and act as if he knew, that he may possibly be wrong.

THE JACKDAW IN BORROWED FEATHERS: A Fable.

A jackdaw was vain enough to imagine that he wanted nothing but the dress to render him as elegant a bird as the peacock. Puffed up with this wise conceit, he plumed himself with a sufficient quantity of their most beautiful feathers, and in this borrowed garb, forsaking his old companions, endeavoured to pass for a peacock. But he no sooner attempted to associate with those genteel creatures, than an affected strut betrayed the vain pretender. The offended peacocks, plucking from him their degraded feathers, soon stripped him of his gentility, reduced him to a mere jackdaw, and drove him back to his brethren, by whom he was now equally despised, and justly punished with general derision and disdain.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON.

Men of great learning and talent, whom all people admire and praise, are often found to be more modest than persons of inferior qualitics. Sir Isaac Newton, the eminent philosopher, was one of those great, and at the same time modest

men.

When a little boy at school, he surprised everybody by the curious little machines which he made with his own hands. He had a number of saws, hatchets, hammers, and other tools, which he used very cleverly. A windmill being put up near the place where he lived, he frequently went to look at it, and pried into every part of it, till he became thoroughly acquainted with it, and the way in which it moved. then began with his knife, and saws, and hammer, and made a small windmill, exactly like the large one: it was

He

a very neat and curious piece of workmanship. He sometimes set it upon the house-top, that the wind might turn it round. He also contrived to cause a mouse to turn his mill. This little animal being put inside a hollow wheel, its endeavours to get forward turned the wheel, and set the machinery in motion. There was also some corn placed above the wheel, and when the mouse tried to get at the corn, it made the mill go round.

Having got an old box from a friend, he made it into a water-clock-that is, a clock driven by a small fall of water. It was very like our common clocks, but much less, being only about four feet high. There was a dial-plate at top, with figures of the hours. The hour-hand was turned by a piece of wood, which either fell or rose by water dropping upon it. This stood in the room where he lay, and he took care, every morning, to supply it with plenty of water. It pointed out the hours so well, that the people in the house would go to see what was the hour by it. It was kept in the house as a curiosity long after Isaac went to the college. The room in which Isaac lodged was full of drawings of birds, beasts, men, ships, and mathematical figures all neatly made upon the wall with charcoal.

When Isaac grew a little older, and went to college, he had a great desire to know something about the air, the water, the tides, and the sun, moon, and stars. One day, when he was sitting alone in his garden, an apple happened to fall from a tree to the ground. He then began to ask himself, what is the cause of the apple falling down? Is it from some power or force in the apple itself, or is the power in the carth which draws the apple down? When he had long thought about this subject, he found out that it was the earth that attracted, or drew the apple down, and that this power of attraction is one of the laws of nature. By it, loose objects are retained upon the surface of the earth, instead of flying abroad through space. It is attraction which gives weight to objects; hence it is sometimes called gravitation, which means nearly the same thing as weight. Isaac Newton also discovered that all objects whatever have an attraction for each other, and always in proportion to their size, and the distance at which they are

placed. Thus the moon, though a large globe, is under the attraction of the earth, and the planets are under the attraction of the sun. And it is by attraction they are all made to keep their proper distances from each other. These discoveries were justly considered as among the most important ever made; and reflecting men will ever venerate the name of Newton for his having made them.

Isaac Newton was also the first who showed that every ray of white light from the sun consists of seven different colours, and he made known many other curious and wonderful things which were never known before. He was of a mild and equal temper, and was seldom or never seen in a passion. He had a little dog, which he called Diamond. He was one day called out of his study, where all his papers and writings were lying upon a table. His dog Diamond happened to jump upon the table, and overturned a lighted candle, which set fire to all his papers, and consumed them in a few moments. In this way he lost the labours of many years. But when he came into his study, and saw what had happened, he did not strike the little dog, but only said, "Ah, Diamond, Diamond! thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done!" Though Isaac Newton was a very wise and learned man, he was not proud of his learning, but was very meek and humble. He was kind to all, even to the poorest and meanest men. Though he was wiser than most other men, yet he said, a little before he died, that all his knowledge was as nothing when compared with what he had yet to learn. He was sometimes so much engaged in thinking, that his dinner has been often three hours ready for him before he could be brought to table. He died in the year 1727, at the age of eighty-five.

THE BOASTFUL SCHOLAR.

Professor Porson, who was a very learned man, of somewhat odd character and appearance, was once travelling in a stage-coach, along with several persons who did not know who he was. A young student from Oxford amused the ladies with a variety of talk, and amongst other things, with a quotation, as he said, from Sophocles. A Greek quota

THE BOASTFUL SCHOLAR.

53

tion, and in a coach too, roused the slumbering professor from a kind of dog-sleep in a snug corner of the vehicle. Shaking his ears, and rubbing his eyes, "I think, young gentleman," said he, "you favoured us just now with a quotation from Sophocles; I do not happen to recollect it there." "Oh, sir," replied our tyro, "the quotation is word for word as I have repeated it, and in Sophocles too; but I suspect, sir, that it is some time since you were at college." The professor, applying his hand to his greatcoat, and taking out a small pocket edition of Sophocles, quietly asked him. if he would be kind enough to show him the passage in question in that little book. After rummaging the leaves for some time, he replied, "Upon second thoughts, I now recollect that the passage is in Euripides." "Then perhaps, sir," said the professor, putting his hand again into his pocket, and handing him a similar edition of Euripides, "you will be so good as to find it for me in that little book." The young Oxonian returned again to his task, but with no better success. The tittering of the ladies informed him that he had got into a hobble. At last, "Bless me, sir,” said he, "how dull I am! I recollect now; yes, yes, I perfectly remember that the passage is in schylus." The inexorable professor returned again to his inexhaustible pocket, and was in the act of handing him an Eschylus, when our astonished student vociferated, "Stop the coach! -holloa, coachman, let me out, I say, instantly-let me out! There's a fellow here has got the whole Bodleian library in his pocket!"

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.-Proverbs, xvi. 18, 19.

Christ says Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.-Matt. xi. 29.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.-Matt. xviii. 4.