by those of Calypso and Circe, the enchantresses of the Greek poets?

4. Robbery and piracy were honourable in both, so far were they from reflecting any discredit on the ancient or modern" redressors of wrongs." What account can be given of this but that in the feudal times and in the early days of Greece, when Government was weak and unable to redress the frequent injuries of petty sovereigns, it would be glorious for private adventurers to undertake this work, and if they could accomplish it in no other way, to pay them in kind by downright plunder and rapine?

5. With the greatest fierceness and savageness of character the utmost generosity, hospitality and courtesy were imputed to the heroic ages. Achilles was at once the most relentless, vindictive, implacable and the friendliest of men. We have the very same representation in the Gothic romances. As in those lawless times dangers and distresses of all sorts abounded, there would be the same demand for compassion, gentleness, and generous attachments to the unfortunate, those especially of their own clan, as of resentment, rage and animosity against their enemies.

6. Again, the martial games celebrated in ancient Greece on great and solemn occasions had the same origin and the same purpose as the tournaments of the Gothic warriors.

7. Lastly, the passions for adventures, so natural in their situation, would be as naturally attended with the love of praise and glory, hence the same encouragement in the old Greek and Gothic times to panegyrists and poets.

I am aware that in the affair of religion and gallantry the resemblance between the hero and the knight is not so striking. But the religious character of the knight was an accident of the times, and no proper effect of his civil condition. And that his devotion for the sex should

THE more sides a man has to his mind, the more certain he may be of receiving blows on all of them, from one party or other,

so far surpass that of the hero is a fresh confirmation of my system.

For the consideration had of the females in the feudal constitution will, of itself, account for this difference. It made them capable of succeeding to fiefs as well as the men. And does not one see, on the instant, what respect and dependance this privilege would draw upon them?

It was of mighty consequence who should obtain the grace of a rich heiress; and though, in the strict feudal times, she was supposed to be in the power and disposal of her superior lord, yet this rigid state of things did not last long. Hence we find some distressed damsel was the spring and mover of every knight's adventure. She was to be rescued by his arms, or won by the fame and admiration of his prowess. The meaning of all which was this: that as in those turbulent feudal times a protector was necessary to the weakness of the sex, so the courteous and valorous knight was to prove himself fully qualified for that office.

It may be observed, that the two poems of Homer were intended to expose the mischiefs and inconveences arising from the political state of old Greece: the "Iliad," the dissensions that naturally spring up among independent chiefs; and the 'Odyssey," the insolence of their greater subjects, more especially when unrestrained by the presence of their Sovereign.

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And can anything more exactly resemble the condition of the feudal times, when, on occasion of any great enterprize, as that of the Crusades, the designs of the confederate Christian States were perpetually frustrated, or interrupted at least, by the dissensions of their leaders, and their affairs at home as perpetually distressed and disordered by the rebellious usurpations of their greater vassals? Jerusalem was to the Euro pean, what Troy had been to the Gre cian princes.-Letters on Chivalry.

THE worst education, which teaches self-denial, is better than the best which teaches everything else, and not that,

THE Romans were near 460 years without knowing any other division of the day than morning, noon and night. The laws of the twelve tables even mention only sun-rise and sun-set; it was not till some years afterwards that an officer of the consuls proclaimed mid-day aloud, which the Romans then distinguished only in fine weather and by the height of the

sun.

Pliny reports, on the credit of an ancient author, that the first instrument which the Romans had to divide the hours was a sun-dial, which L. Papirius Cursor placed in the court of the Temple of Quirinus twelve years before the war against Pyrrhus; but he seems to doubt the truth of this relation. He weakens it himself; and to give something more certain and better acknowledged, he says (after Varro) that it was during the first Punic war that the first dial was exposed to public view at Rome. Marcus Valerius Messala brought it from Sicily after the taking of Catana, thirty years after Papirius, the year of Rome 477.

Although this dial, drawn for the latitude of Catana, which was dif ferent from that of Rome, could not show the hours justly; yet, as imperfect as it was, the Romans conformed to it for the space of ninety-nine years, till Quintus Marcus Philippus, who was censor with Paulus Æmilius, gave them another more exact. This, of all the acts of his censorship, was that which obtained him the greatest applause. These sorts of clocks were of use only in the day, and in clear weather. Scipio Nasica, five years after, in the year of Rome 595, first brought into use and placed under cover a water-clock, which showed the hours equally by day and night. There were twelve in the day and as many in the night, without distinction of seasons.

Vitruvius attributes the invention of water-clocks to Ctesibius, a native of Alexandria. He lived under the

two first Ptolemies. The Romans had different kinds of them, which marked the hours in different ways. They called them “horologium hibernum," winter-clock; and sometimes, also," horologium nocturnum," nightclock, in opposition to the dials, which were of no use in the night and of very little in winter, when the rays of the sun are often intercepted by clouds.

To form an idea of these clocks, we may conceive a pretty large basin, filled with water, which, by a little hole contrived in the bottom, emptied itself into another vessel of nearly the same capacity in the space of twelve hours; and where the water, rising gradually, brought up perpendicularly a bit of cork, or the figure of a genius pointing to the hours, which were marked one above another on columns or pilasters.

These clocks were different from those which the ancients called "clepsydra." This was a glass filled with water, of a pyramidal figure, in the form of a cone. The base was pierced, the upper orifice very narrow and lengthened into a point; on the water swam a piece of cork bearing a needle to mark the hours traced along the vase by descending gradually as it

ran out.

Dials, clepsydra and water-clocks were all the Romans knew. They were ignorant of the use of clocks with wheels. As useful as they are, many ages passed before the art of making them was discovered. We are even uncertain of the time and the author of that invention. The present which the Calif Aaron Rachid made to Charlemagne of a strikingclock was looked on as a wonder. Eginard says that it was a waterclock which marked the hours by the fall of some balls of metal upon a bell, and by some figures of men, which opened and shut certain doors contrived in the clock according to the number of the hours.

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THE BIBLE IN THE FAMILY.-The mother of a family was married to an infidel, who made a jest of religion in the presence of his own children; yet she succeeded in bringing them up in the fear of the Lord. I one day asked her how she preserved them from the influence of a father whose sentiments were so openly opposed to her own. This was the answer: Because to the authority of a father I did not oppose the authority of a mother, but that of God. From their earliest years my children have always seen the Bible upon my table. This holy book has constituted the whole of their religious instruction. Did they propose a question? did they commit a fault? did they perform any good action? I opened the Bible, and the Bible answered, reproved or encouraged them. The constant reading of the Scriptures has alone wrought the prodigy which surprises you."

RULES FOR HOME EDUCATION. -We extract the following rules from an American paper. They contain thoughts which almost every parent needs to be reminded of frequently.

1. From your children's earliest infancy inculcate the necessity of instant obedience.

2. Unite firmness with gentleness. Let your children understand that you mean exactly what you say.

3. Never promise them anything, unless you are quite sure you can give them what you promise.

4. If you tell a little child to do something, show him how to do it, and see that it is done.

5. Always punish your children for wilfully disobeying you, but never punish them in anger.

6. Never let them perceive that they can vex you or make you lose your self-command.

7. If they give way to petulance and temper, wait till they are calm, and then gently reason with them on the impropriety of their conduct.

8. Remember that a little present punishment when the occasion arises is much more effectual than the

threatening of a greater punishment should the fault be renewed.

9. Never give your children anything because they cry for it.

10. On no account allow them to do at one time what you have forbidden, under the same circumstances, at another.

11. Teach them that the only sure and easy way to appear good is to be good.

12. Accustom them to make their little recitals with perfect truth.

13. Never allow of tale-bearing.

A TOKEN OF GOD'S FAVOUR.-Mr. John Newton had a very happy talent of administering reproof. Hearing that a person in whose welfare he was greatly interested had met with peculiar success in business, and was deeply immersed in worldly engagements, the first time he called on him, which was usually once a month, he took him by the hand, and drawing him on one side, into the counting-house, told him of his apprehensions of his spiritual welfare. His friend, without making any reply, called down his partner in life, who came with her eyes suffused with tears, and unable to speak. Inquiring the cause, he was told that she had just been sent for to one of her children, that was out to nurse, and supposed to be in dying circumstances. Clasping her hands immediately in his, Mr. N. cried, "God be thanked, he has not forsaken you! I do not wish your babe to suffer, but I am happy to find he gives you the token of his favour."

M. DE L'ENCLOS.-M. de L'Enclos, a man of talents in Paris, educated his daughter, Ninon, with a view to the gay world. On his death-bed, when she was about fifteen, he addressed her in this language: "Draw near, Ninon! You see, my dear child, that nothing more remains for me than the sad remembrance of those enjoyments which I am about to quit for ever. But, alas! my regrets are useless as vain. You, who will survive me, must make the best use of your precious time.”

NOTES, CRITICAL, ILLUSTRATIVE AND PRACTICAL, ON THE BOOK OF JOB, with a New Translation and Introductory Dissertation. By Rev. ALBERT BARNES. Printed from the Author's Revised Edition. With a Preface by Rev. E. HENDERSON, D.D. In two volumes. London Partridge and Oakey.

No part of the sacred Scripture has received more critical attention than the Book of Job. Its venerable antiquity, its deeply-interesting themes, its sublime poetry and eloquence, and its graphic portraiture of the manners, customs and philosophy which characterize those remote ages which synchronize with the patriarchal era, have attracted the minds of the most profound scholars to its pages. Mr. Barnes has the advantage of coming after a host of learned men who have employed their erudition to illustrate the contents of this profoundly interesting book; and while he has largely availed himself of their labours, he has exercised his own independent judgment, and brought to bear all his natural and acquired resources to shed additional light upon this venerable portion of the inspired writings. He has done this with great success. Almost

every part which we have examined bears the impress of deep research, elaborate investigation, and various learning. In addition to his critical interpretation and practical application of the sacred text, we have an elaborate introduction, extending to 114 pages of closely-printed matter, and a new translation of the entire book. The faithful and judicious preface by Dr. Henderson is an important and valuable addition.

An examination of the book, however, reminds us of Elihu's remark, that "Great men are not always wise." We do not concur with all the interpretations of Mr. Barnes. We object to his notion that Job and good men of his time were so ignorant respecting a future state of being, and much more do we object that certain passages indicate a state of disbelief in the resurrection of the body.

Was not Enoch, before the Deluge, a preacher of righteousness? and did he not prophecy of the day of judgment and retribution in the eternal world? Has not one of these prophecies come down to our own times, as recorded in Jude, verse 15? Was not Enoch himself, in his translation, a wonderful manifestation of the doctrine of a future

state and the glorification of man's whole nature, both body and soul? Was it not the design of Providence, by this event, to hold up before the attention of mankind the doctrine of man's immortality? Are we, then, to suppose this doctrine to have become obliterated, or nearly so, within so short a time?

The patriarchs lived, at least, as early as the time of Job, and inspired authority informs us they had such views of a future state that they regarded the promised Canaan as a type of a better inheritance. They "desired a better country, that is a heavenly. They looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." And if they had such a belief of the soul's immortality, and such cheering hopes of heaven, why should we suppose pious Job to be so ignorant of these realities?

That remarkable passage, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," &c. (xix. 25-27), we regard as distinctly referring to the resurrection of the body and the future state of being; and all that Mr. Barnes has said to the contrary does not alter our views. Indeed, after a careful examination of every word in the original and a consideration of all Mr. Barnes' objections, we are but the more thoroughly satisfied that the true rendering is substantially given in our own version. Without perplexing the general reader by the insertion of the Hebrew words, or a minute and formal statement of mere verbal criticism, let us take a broad and common-sense view of the passage, based upon that general meaning which the several terms are acknowledged to have.

It is plain that Job makes an affecting reference to his approaching dissolution. He speaks of his skin being already in a state of disease or destruction, as, indeed, it must have been when covered with sore boils from head to foot; and this being his present state, he expects the process of disease to go on until his reins should "be consumed within him." That is, until the vital parts of his frame should be destroyed, and death ensue. In fact, his language contains an impressive reference to complete dissolution.

It is equally plain that while he contemplates himself as a dying man, he contemplates his Redeemer as one who does not die, but who is emphatically one who lives. "I know that my Re