which, by the laws of that country, was the period of majority for the crown, all the great men of his court, and the governors of the provinces, according to established custom, laid at his feet presents, consisting of the most costly products of art and nature that they had been able to procure. One offered a casket of the most precious jewels of Golconda; another, a curious piece of clock-work, made by a European artist; another, a piece of the richest silk from the looms of China; another, a Bezoar stone, said to be a sovereign antidote against all poisons and infectious diseases; another, a choice piece of the most fragrant rose-wood in a box of ebony, inlaid with pearls; another, a golden cruse, full of genuine balsam of Mecca; another, a courser of the purest breed of Arabia; and another, a female slave of exquisite beauty. The whole court of the palace was overspread with rarities; and long rows of slaves were continually passing loaded with vessels and utensils of gold and silver, and other articles of high price.

At length an aged magistrate, from a distant province, made his appearance. He was simply clad in a long cotton robe, and his hoary beard waved on his breast. He made his obeisance before the young monarch, and, holding forth an embroidered silken bag, he thus addressed him :

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Deign, great king, to accept the faithful homage and fervent good wishes of thy servant on this important day, and with them, the small present I hold in my hand. Small, indeed, it is in show, but not so, I trust, in value. Others have offered what may decorate thy person-here is what will impart perpetual grace and lustre to thy features. Others have presented thee with rich perfumes-here is what will make thy name sweet and fragrant to the latest ages. Others have given what may afford pleasure to thine eyes here is what will nourish a source of neverfailing pleasure within thy breast. Others have furnished thee with preservatives against bodily contagion

-here is what will preserve thy better parts uncontaminated. Others have heaped around thee the riches of a temporal kingdom-this will secure thee the treasures of an eternal one."

He said, and drew from the purse a book containing the Moral Precepts of the sage Zendar, the wisest and most virtuous man the East had ever beheld.

If," he proceeded, " my gracious sovereign will condescend to make this his constant companion, not an hour will pass in which its perusal may not be a comfort and a blessing. In the arduous duties of thy station, it will prove a faithful guide and counsellor. Amidst the allurements of pleasure and the incitements of passion, it will be an incorruptible monitor, that will never suffer thee to err without warning thee of thy error. It will render thee a blessing to thy people, and blessed in thyself; for what sovereign can be the one without the other ?"

He then returned the book to its place, and kneeling gave it into the hands of the king. The young sovereign received it with respect and benignity, and history affirms that the use he made of it corresponded with the wishes of the donor.

ON EARTHS AND STONES.

Tutor-George-Harry.

Harry. I WONDER what all this heap of stones is for. George. I can tell you-it is for the limekiln; don't you see it just by?

H. O yes, I do. But what is to be done to them there ?

G. Why, they are to be burned into lime. Don't know that?

you

H. But what is lime, and what are its uses?

G. I can tell you one; they lay it on the fields, for manure. Don't you remember we saw a number of little heaps of it, that we took for sheep at a distance, and wondered they did not move? However, I be

lieve we had better ask our tutor about it. Will you please, sir, to give us some information about lime?

Tutor. Willingly. But suppose, as we talked about all sorts of metals some time ago, I should now give you a lecture about stones and earths of all kinds, which are equally valuable, and much more common, than metals.

G. Pray do, sir.

H. I shall be very glad to hear it.

T. Well, then; in the first place, the ground we tread upon, to as great a depth as it has been dug, consists, for the most part, of matter of various appearance and hardness, called by the general name of earths. In common language, indeed, only the soft and powdery substances are so named, while the hard and solid are called stone or rock; but chemists use the same term for all; as, in fact, earth is only crumbled stone, and stone only consolidated earth.

H. What!-has the mould of my garden ever been stone ?

T. The black earth, or mould, which covers the surface wherever plants grow, consists mostly of parts of rotted vegetables, such as stalks, leaves, and roots, mixed with sand or loose clay; but this reaches only a little way; and beneath it you always come to a bed of gravel, or clay, or stone, of some kind. Now these earths and stones are distinguished into several species, but principally into three, the properties of which make them useful to man for very different purposes, and are, therefore, very well worth knowing. As you begin with asking me about lime, I shall first mention that class of earths from which it is obtained. These have derived their name of calcareous from this very circumstance, calx being lime, in Latin; and lime is got from them all in the same way, by burning them in a strong fire. There are many kinds of calcareous earths. One of them is marble; you know what that is? G. O yes! our parlour chimney-piece and hearth are marble.

H. And so are the monuments in the church.

T. True. There are various kinds of it; white, black, yellow, grey, mottled, and veined, with different colours; but all of them are hard and heavy stones, admitting a fine polish, on which account, they are much used in ornamental works.

G. I think statues are made of it.

T. Yes; and where it is plentiful, columns, and porticos, and sometimes whole buildings. Marble is the luxury of architecture.

H. Where does marble come from? T. From a great many countries. Great Britain produces some, but mostly of inferior kinds. What we use chiefly comes from Italy. The Greek islands yield some fine sorts. That of Paros is of ancient fame for whiteness and purity; and the finest antique statues have been made of Parian marble.

H. I suppose black marble will not burn into white lime ?

T. Yes, it will. A violent heat will expel most of the colouring matter of marbles, and make them white. Chalk is another kind of calcareous earth. This is of a much softer consistence than marble, being easily cut with a knife, and marking things on which it is rubbed. It is found in great beds in the earth; and, in some parts of England, whole hills are composed of it.

G. Are chalk and whiting the same?

T. Whiting is made of the finer and purer particles of chalk washed out from the rest, and then dried in lumps. This, you know, is quite soft and crumbly. There are, besides, a great variety of stones in the earth, harder than clalk, but softer than marble, which will burn to lime, and are, therefore, called limestones. These differ much in colour and other properties, and accordingly furnish lime of different qualities. In general, the harder the limestone is, the firmer the lime made from it. Whole ridges of mountains in various parts are composed of limestone, and it is found plentifully in most of the hilly counties of England, to the great advantage of the inhabitants.

G. Will not oyster-shells burn into lime? I think I have heard of oyster-shell lime.

T. They will; and this is another source of calcareous earth. The shells of all animals, both land and sea, as oysters, mussels, cockles, crabs, lobsters, snails, and the like, and also egg-shells of all kinds, consist of this earth; and so does coral, which is formed by insects under the sea,, and is very abundant in some countries. Vast quantities of shells are often found deep in the earth, in the midst of chalk and limestone beds; whence some have supposed that all calcareous earth is originally an animal production.

H. But where could animals enow ever have lived, to make mountains of their shells ?

But there are

T. That, indeed, I cannot answer. sufficient proofs that our world must long have existed in a very different state from the present. Wellbut, besides these purer calcareous earths, it is very frequently found mingled in different proportions with other earths. Thus marl, which is so much used in manuring land, and of which there are a great many kinds, all consist of calcareous earth, united with clay and sand; and the more of this earth it contains, the richer manure it generally makes.

G. Is there any way of discovering it, when it is mixed in this manner with other things?

T. Yes there is an easy and sure method of discovering the smallest portion of it. All calcareous earth has the property of dissolving in acids, and effervescing with them; that is, they bubble and hiss when acids are poured upon them. You may readily try this at any time with a piece of chalk or an oystershell.

G. I will pour some vinegar upon an oyster-shell as soon as I get home. But, now I think of it, I have often done so in eating oysters, and I never observed it to hiss or bubble.

T. Vinegar is not an acid strong enough to act upon a thing so solid as a shell. But aqua-fortis, or