promontories, a thousand lakes, two thousand rivers, and ten thousand islands. She waves her hand, and five hundred thousand warriors march to battle, to conquer or to die.

She bends her head, and at the signal a thousand ships of war, and a hundred thousand sailors, perform her bidding on the ocean.

She walks upon the earth, and one hundred and twenty millions of human beings feel the slightest pressure of her footstep.

The Assyrian empire was not so wealthy. The Roman empire was not so populous. The Persian empire was not so extensive. The Arabian empire was not so powerful. The Carthaginian empire was not so much dreaded.

The Spanish empire was not so widely diffused. We have overrun a greater extent of country than Attila, that scourge of God, ever ruled.

We have subdued more empires, and dethroned more Kings, than Alexander of Macedon.

We have conquered more nations than Napoleon in the plenitude of his power ever subdued.

We have acquired a larger extent of territory than Tamerlane the Tartar ever spurred his horse's hoof across. Finch's Boundaries of Empires.

How great, therefore, must be the moral responsibility of Britain !

EARLY DAYS.

OCTOBER, 1847.

THE ANGEL'S VISIT.

THE earth was at rest, and the evening air
Seem'd like the breath of an infant sleeping,
And the stars stole forth, like fancies fair
That come in the light of the mother's prayer,
When love is her vigils keeping.

But the mother felt, in her trembling breast,
That the angel's presence was o'er her;
And she shook, with a nameless fear distress'd,
As she bow'd like a reed by the dews oppress'd,
To guard the dear babe before her.

The clouds gather'd dark as the funeral pall,
The midnight winds were sighing,

And the mother's tears like rain-drops fall,
She hath heard the soft notes of the angel's call,
And she knows that her babe is dying.

The sun was bright as the morning sky,
As when the first smile was given;
And the angel soars to his home on high,
While faith reveals to the mother's eye

That he bears her sweet child to heaven.

WAR-CHARIOTS.

THE Egyptians used horses in the equipment of an armed force, before Jacob and his sons had settled in Goshen: they had chariots of war, and mounted asses and mules, and therefore could not be ignorant of the art of riding; but for ages after that period, Arab nations rode on the bare back, and guided the animals with a wand. Others, and probably the shepherd-invaders, noosed a single rope in a slip-knot, round the lower jaw, forming an imperfect bridle, with only one rein; a practice still in vogue among the Bedouins. Thus cavalry were not very formidable, until a complete command over the horse was obtained by the discovery of a true bridle.

The ancient chariots of war consisted of a light pole, suspended between, and on the withers of a pair of horses, the after-end resting on a light axle-tree, with two low wheels. Upon the axle stood a light frame, open behind, and floored for the warrior and his charioteer, who both stood within. On the sides of the frame hung the warbow in its case, a large quiver with arrows, and a supply of darts. In early ages there were occasionally hooks or scytnes attached to the axles. In fighting from chariots, great dexterity was shown by the warrior, not only in handling his weapons, but also in stepping out upon the pole to the horses' shoulders; in order the better to take aim at his enemies: the charioteer was also an important person, sometimes equal in rank to the warrior himself.