And Xerxes, in a single bark, Where late his thousand ships were dark, Must all their fury dare: What a revenge-a trophy, this For thee, immortal Salamis ! LESSON L. Pairing Time anticipated.-CowPER. Ir chanced, upon a winter's day, And with much twitter and much chatter, At length, a bulfinch, who could boast I fear we shall have winter yet.” A finch, whose tongue knew no control, With golden wing and satin poll, A last year's bird, who ne'er had tried What marriage means, thus pert replied "Methinks the gentleman," quoth she, "Opposite in the apple-tree, : By his good will, would keep us single 7hich is likelier to befall) leath exterminate us all. ry without more ado: ear Dick Redcap, what say you?" ck heard, and tweedling, ogling, bridling, n immediate conjugation. r sentiments, so well expressed, enced mightily the rest : aired, and each pair built a nest. it, though the birds were thus in haste, wind-of late breathed gently forth- d shelter them from rain or snow: mselves were chilled, their eggs were addled: , every father bird and mother v quarrelsome, and pecked each other, MORAL. Misses, the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry ; Choose not alone a proper mate, LESSON LI. Influence of Christianity in elevating the Character of Females.-J. G. CARTER. THERE is one topic, intimately connected with the introduction and decline of Christianity, and subsequently with its revival in Europe, which the occasion strongly suggests, and which I cannot forbear briefly to touch upon. I allude to the new and more interesting character assumed by woman since those events. In the heathen world, and under the Jewish dispensation, she was the slave of man. Christianity constituted her his companion. But as our religion gradually lost its power, in the dark ages, she sunk down again to her deep moral degradation. The age of chivalry, indeed, exalted her to be an object of adoration. But it was a profane adoration, not founded upon the respect due to a being of immortal hopes and destinies as well as man. This high character has been conceded to her at a later period, as she has slowly attained the rank ordained for her by Heaven. Although this change, in the relation of woman to man and to society, is both an evidence and a consequence of an improvement in the human condition, yet now her character is a cause operating to produce a still greater improvement. And if there be any one cause, to which we may look with more confidence than to others, for hastening the approach of a more perfect state of society, that cause is the elevated character of woman, as displayed in the full developement of all her moral and intellectual powers. The influence of the female character, is now felt and acknowledged in all the relations of her life. I speak not now of those distinguished women, who instruct their age through the public press; nor of those, whose devout strains we take upon our lips when we worship; but of a much larger class; of those, whose influence is felt in the relations of neighbor, friend, daughter, wife, mother. Who waits at the couch of the sick, to administer tender charities while life lingers, or to perform the last acts of kindness when death "here shall we look for those examples of friend■ost adorn our nature? those abiding friendships, even when betrayed, and survive all changes of Where shall we find the brightest illustrations of Have you ever seen a daughter, herself, perhaps, elpless, watching the decline of an aged parent, out, with heroic fortitude, to anticipate his wishes, er to his wants, and to sustain his tottering steps borders of the grave? o relation does woman exercise so deep an influimmediately and prospectively, as in that of mothr is committed the inmortal treasure of the infant on her devolves the care of the first stages of that discipline, which is to form, of a being perhaps ail and helpless in the world, the fearless ruler of reation, and the devout adorer of its great Creator. call into exercise the first affections that spring hearts. She cherishes and expands the earliest our intellects. She breathes over us her deepest She lifts our little hands, and teaches our little lisp in prayer. She watches over us, like a guarand protects us through all our helpless years, know not of her cares and her anxieties on our She follows us into the world of men, and lives in esses us, when she lives not otherwise upon the onstitutes the centre of every home? Whither do its turn, when our feet are weary with wandering, earts sick with disappointment? Where shall the forgetful husband go for sympathy, unalloyed and sign, but to the bosom of her, who is ever ready g to share in his adversity or his prosperity? And › a tribunal, where the sins and the follies of a fromay hope for pardon and forgiveness, this side hat tribunal is the heart of a fond and devoted LESSON LII. Letter on Watering-Places.-MRS. BARBAULD. I AM a country gentleman, and enjoy an estate in Northamptonshire, which formerly enabled its possessors to assume some degree of consequence in the country; but which, for several generations, has been growing less, only because it has not grown bigger. I mean, that, though I have not yet been obliged to mortgage my land, or fell my timber, its relative value is every day diminishing by the prodigious influx of wealth, real and artificial, which, for some time past, has been pouring into this kingdom. Hitherto, however, I have found my income equal to my wants. It has enabled me to inhabit a good house in town, for four months of the year, and to reside amongst my tenants and neighbors, for the remaining eight, with credit and hospitality. I am, indeed, myself so fond of the country, and so averse in my nature to every thing of hurry and bustle, that, if I consulted only my own taste, I should never feel a wish to leave the shelter of my own oaks in the dreariest season of the year; but I looked upon our annual visit to London as a proper compliance with the gayer disposition of my wife, and the natural curiosity of the younger part of the family. Besides, to say the truth, it had its advantages in avoiding a round of dinners and card-parties, which we must otherwise have engaged in for the winter season, or have been branded with the appellation of unsociable. Our journey gave me an opportunity of furnishing my study with some new books and prints, and my wife of gratifying her neighbors with some ornamental trifles, before their value was sunk by becoming common, or of producing at her table or in her furniture some new-invented refinement of fashionable elegance. Our hall was the first that was lighted by an Argand lamp; and I still remember how we were gratified by the astonishment of our guests, when my wife, with an audible voice, called to the footman for the tongs to help to the asparagus with. We found it pleasant, too, to be enabled to talk of capital artists and favorite actors; and I |