know, papa, when I mention places where I have been, and fine things which I have seen, I feel as though I saw the things again, and as if I were here and there at the same time. I like to see beautiful places and objects for this reason: Because, afterwards, I can visit them any moment at my pleasure. And really, these visits, in thought, are very delightful. Alexander Selkirk, you know, papa, says:

'How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compar'd with the speed of its flight,
E'en the tempest itself lags behind,

And the swift-winged arrows of light.”

One of the first excursions we took, papa, was to the seat of a nobleman in the neighbourhood. He had disposed of the mansion and estate, and was going to reside in a distant part of the kingdom. The best pictures and articles of furniture were removed, so that we were not so much pleased as we expected. The house was a fine Gothic building, in the midst of a beautiful park of nearly four hundred acres."

"I should like to have been one of the party: I admire this ancient style of building," said Mr. H.

"There was a fine gallery, with the ceiling very richly ornamented. I was told it was one hundred and fifty feet long. There was an

oak staircase, papa, which was very large; and it was finely carved. If it had been yours, рара, I am sure you would not have had it daubed over with paint as it was. One part of it was shattered by a cannon-ball, which they showed us, and which they said Oliver Cromwell sent thither in search of his foes. You cannot think, papa, how easily I now keep my journal. See, I only wrote four words about this staircase: staircase; carved; painted; ball. Was not this the way you bade me keep it?"

"It was, my dear."

"There was such a quantity of needlework, you cannot think: it was very fine. There were chairs, and bed-furniture, and tapestry in abundance; and they told us, that a lady, who was mistress of the mansion, worked them all with her own hands, a great many years ago. I hardly could think, papa, that one lady could have done them all. Do you suppose she did?"

"Yes, it may be the case, Edwin. The ladies among our ancestors were eminent for their industry. Most likely it was the labour of her whole life."

"There was a very fine painting of king Charles the First and his queen, with two of

their children. The woman said, that it was the only picture in which that king appears without boots."

eye of a parent, the

"There is something peculiarly pleasing in family pictures. To the children always give a formances."

charm to such per

"We were shown the chamber in which king Charles slept; and the closet in which he was hid many days, though his enemies were in the house. I think, papa, I was more pleased with the park, and the great number of noble trees which every where met the eye, than with the house."

"No doubt: because the best pictures and furniture were removed, Edwin. Did you not say so?"

"Yes, papa; but if every thing had been in its place, I should have been most pleased, I think, with the park and the gardens."

"But why, Edwin?" "Because, you know, papa, one are the works of men, and the other are the works of God. There was a beautiful Portuguese laurel in the garden: every one admired it, papa. Mr. Wallace measured it, and said, that all around the branches it was about seventy yards. I often thought, that any one must be happy who could call this charming estate his own."

"That, my dear, is a very incorrect idea. The possession of such a domain as this, Edwin, is by no means essential to felicity. Happiness is dependent on nothing of an external nature: it arises from the state of the mind. The possessors of palaces and thrones may be, and have been, very miserable. He who knew what would satisfy the human mind, has affirmed, that the happiness of a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.' The desires of the human heart are infinite, and nothing less than the friendship and enjoyment of an infinite Being can possibly satiate them. Solomon, with his immensity of riches and pleasures, was still unblessed. Haman was wretched, though a vast empire was prostrate at his feet. Wolsey, in his dying moments, when things appear to men as they really are, acknowledged that he had mistaken the path to happiness; that, in the emphatic language of holy writ, he had spent his money for that which was not bread, and his labour for that which satisfieth not.' 'If I had served my God,' said he, 'as I have served my king, he would not have forsaken me in my old age.' Forget not, Edwin, that a good man must be happy in affliction or poverty, or even in death; and a bad man cannot be happy, although his circumstances may be ever so prosperous."

"The next thing, papa, mentioned in my journal, is the bees. Mr. Wallace has a fine apiary. I wish you would have one, papa. But then you must have a glass hive, or you could not look at the bees. I do not know, papa, that I was ever much more pleased than in looking at these wonderful little creatures. What a surprising thing is the honey-comb. Did you ever examine one?"

"Oh yes, many times. I have often thought, that it is not so surprising that men should build a fine city, as it is that this insect should build the honey-comb."

"How smooth and beautiful they make their cells, though they have nothing to work with but their feet and their two teeth. Who could have taught them to make their honey-cells. deeper and larger than the others? Mr. Wallace says they do so. It is delightful to see how they help one another, and how they follow and obey their queen and sovereign."

"Yes, it is. I do not know any insect that is so wonderful as the bee, Edwin. You shall have a hive. And I will lend you an excellent work, written by a sensible foreigner on this subject, whose name was Huber. It is the best treatise I have seen: it will give you almost all the information which you can wish for on the subject. I am glad, my dear boy, that you