sure; but I suppose his left hand knows all that his right hand does. Can any one tell me of his secret benevolences?" “ Maria Hall,” Helen Prime says, 66 seems all goodness; but for my part, I would rather that people would seem what they arc. I detest fruit with a fair outside and a hollow heart." "Lizzy Price," Helen says, "is devoted to her rich, old, disagrecable uncle-old, disagreeable, and rich." Helen fancies that what is unanswered is proved. It is difficult to specify Mr So-and-So's secret benefactions. Maria Hall's goodness is apparent to every one; but it is not easy to disprove the assertion that she is hollow-hearted. Lizzy Price's uncle is undeniably rich; but no one but Helen Prime ever ventured to say, or, I believe, ever thought, that she was the more devoted to him on that account. If we would avoid this cruel fault of Helen Prime, we must keep the fountain of our thoughts pure-we must "think no evil.” Nothing enlarges the heart more than a generous faith in others. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. -Ninth Commandment (Exodus, xx. 16). Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.-Proverbs, xxiv. 28. He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips, the king shall be his friend.-Proverbs, xxii. 11. The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.-Proverbs, xii. 19. Sharp-sighted, or what are called quick-witted people, are very apt to take a pride in spying defects that are not obvious to common observers. Such keenness as this may sharpen the wit, but it hardens the heart, and prevents the growth of that sweet grace-humility. Keep as sharp a look-out as you please for good qualities, good deeds, and kind words; and be not like those who would seem to prefer looking at the spots on the sun, to enjoying its light. Those people who value themselves on their sharp INSURRECTION OF THE JACQUERIE IN FRANCE. 113 sightedness, are always on the outlook lest they be duped, or, as they express it, taken in. Better is it to be a dupe through life, than to be suspicious and distrustful of your fellow-beings. The credulity which has faith in goodness, is a sign of goodness.-MISS SEDGEWICK. mmmmmmm CONSCIENTIOUSNESS-RESPECTING THE EVERY man has a right by nature to his personal freedom. He is entitled to do what he pleases that is not offensive or hurtful to others. He is entitled to think on any subject as he pleases, and also to express his thoughts, if he does not thereby tend to endanger the public peace. Therefore, for one man to make another a slave, or to attempt to control his actions or his thoughts when he is not doing harm to any one, is as great a breach of conscientiousness as to seize his land or filch his purse. INSURRECTION OF THE JACQUERIE IN France. Kings, nobles, and all others who have much power or influence over their fellow-creatures, ought to use that power with mildness and equity, and, as far as in them lies, for the benefit of those beneath them. When they do otherwise, the results are often dreadful; for though the people are generally disposed to submit to a just and beneficent rule, they become infuriated under oppression and injustice. Of this we find a memorable instance in the wars of the Jacquerie, which took place in France in the fourteenth century, as thus described by Sir Walter Scott: "This Jacquerie, or war of the peasants, so called because the gentry gave to them the contemptuous name of Jacques Bonhomme, or Goodman James, was the most dreadful scourge which had yet ravaged France. It arose from the oppression, scorn, and injury which the peasants, or culti H vators of the soil, had long sustained at the hands of the nobility and gentry. The latter saw in the peasantry creatures whom they deemed of an inferior species to themselves, and whose property and persons they held alike at their disposal. What little protection the common people had received from the crown, was now at an end, by the king's captivity, and the general confusion throughout the kingdom. In these sad days, each noble or knight became the uncontrolled tyrant of the estate which belonged to him; and most of them were induced, by the intoxication attending the possession of arbitrary power, to make a harsh and tyrannical use of their privileges, each practising on his vassals the most unlimited oppression. The effects of such absolute power at length drove to despair the peasantry, who were themselves starving, while, as an insult to their misery, they saw their lords revelling in the excess of luxury and ill-timed extravagance. Seizing such rustic arms as pitchforks, scythes, clubs, and reaping-hooks, they rose with fury, and joined together in large bodies, resolving to destroy all the nobility and gentry in the kingdom. "This insurrection took place in several provinces; and, as is usually the case in a war of such a description, where an oppressed and ignorant people burst suddenly from their bondage, and revel in every license which ignorance and revenge can suggest to them, they burnt or pulled down the houses of the nobility, stormed their castles by main force, maltreated their wives and daughters, put them to various modes of death, equally cruel and protracted, and, in short, behaved like fierce bandogs, suddenly unloosed from their chain, and equally incapable of judgment and of humanity. Wo willingly leave these horrors in oblivion, only remarking, that it is a double curse of slavery and oppression that for a time it renders its victims, after they have succeeded in breaking their bonds, incapable of thinking like human beings." THOMAS CLARKSON. Previously to the year 1785, scarcely any one had publicly questioned the propriety of keeping slaves in the West Indies, or of annually adding thousands to their number THE MILAN DOOR-KEEPER. 105 punished when it is detected. One who is inclined to steal, is apt to suppose that he will escape detection, and not be punished. But of this he never can be sure. Crimes are every day discovered in ways that the criminal could never have thought of. Hence no one ever thrives long by taking what is not his own. Honesty is always found ultimately to be the best policy. THE ROBBER SPARROW. A martin had built a nice nest for himself in the upper corner of a window, leaving a little hole to go out and in at. As the martin had taken all the trouble of building the nest, it was rightfully his property; it belonged to no other bird, for no other bird had had any of the trouble of building it. A sparrow, of felonious dispositions, chose to pop into the martin's nest when the martin was from home: and when the martin returned, he found his place occupied by the sparrow, who, looking out of the hole, pecked at him fiercely, and would not on any account let him get into his own house. The martin, who is a gentle bird, found himself no match for the sparrow; but it is supposed that he went and related his case to a few of his friends, for in a little while a number of martins were observed to come to the spot, as if to endeavour to persuade the sparrow to retire. The intruder, however, still kept his place, easily defending himself against them all. They then went off again, and returning each with a little mud in his bill, proceeded to build up the entrance to the nest, so that the sparrow soon died for want of food and air, and was thus punished for his roguery and violence. THE MILAN DOOR-KEEPER. Whatever belongs to any one, continues to be always his, till he relinquishes it of his own free-will, or till he forfeits it by the award of the law. If we find, therefore, anything which another has lost, it is not our property: we are bound to give it back to him who lost it, if he can be found. A poor man who kept the door of a lodging-house at Milan, found a purse with two hundred crowns in it; and so The far from thinking of keeping it to himself, he immediately gave public notice of his having found it by means of the town-crier. The gentleman who had lost the purse came to the door-keeper, and on his giving proof that it belonged to him, it was restored. Grateful to the finder, he offered the poor man twenty crowns; but the door-keeper said he had only done his duty, and desired no reward. gentleman intreated him to take ten-then five-but found him determined on accepting nothing for merely doing what he ought to have done. This greatly distressed the owner of the purse, and throwing it on the ground, he exclaimed, "Nay, then, it is not mine, and I will have nothing to do with it, since you refuse to accept anything." The honest door-keeper was then prevailed on to take five crowns, which he immediately gave away to the poor. LEONARD. At the age of twelve, Leonard had the misfortune to lose his father. His mother was unable to work for him, and he had no other friend to depend upon. He resolved to be a burden to no one, but to make his own way in the world. "I can read pretty well," said he to himself; "I can also write a little, and cast accounts: if I am honest and industrious, why should I not be able to carn my own bread?" He therefore took leave of his mother, and went to a neighbouring town, where he inquired for a certain merchant, who had been a friend of his father. He begged of Mr Benson, for this was the name of the merchant, that he would take him into his employment, and promised to serve him with zeal and fidelity. The merchant, having then need of an apprentice, willingly took charge of Leonard, who did everything in his power to give satisfaction to his master. If he ever happened to forget any duty, or to make any error in writing, he frankly confessed his fault, and sought to repair it by, if possible, still greater zeal and activity. Mr Benson could not be otherwise than pleased with so faithful an apprentice, and soon began to place much confidence in him. Leonard would have now been quite happy, if he had not chanced to excite the hatred of Mr Benson's house |