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these letters of fire, Orion thus counsels the querist : Be merry. Quarrel not. Keep your temper, and your children, too. You are a good man, but try to be better. I am wanted. Let me go."

Besides Orion, there is a spirit whom we never had the advantage of hearing of before-his name is GEGO. He is not quite so clever as Orion, or the Egyptian magicians. However we learn from him that in the Preadamite era the world did not go round the Sun, which is something worth knowing, and would be satisfactory information for Dr. Cullen. He also says, that "The Babylon mentioned in the Revelations did not allude to Rome but to London."

Without troubling Orion or Gego any further, we turn to a few deceased celebrities who were at different times summoned into the Crystal, and hear what they have to tell us.

Milton relates that the idea of "Paradise Lost" was suggested to him in a dream, by his guardian angel. Homer was born in Athens, and knows Virgil. Tacitus, who is eminently modest, prefers Cæsar's account of the Britons to his own, and says that the Druids were "stupid fellows in general." Sir Isaac Newton says, that "Electricity is partly the cause of the moon's motions," and that “the nature of light will be discovered, but not for a long time."

The following specimens of colloquies heard by large parties of amazed, titled, and believing listeners, are copied from the Almanac literatim :

"Are you Pharaoh, that was King of Egypt ?—Yes. Where do you dwell now?-In Jupiter. How long have you been there?-About thirty years. Where did you dwell till then?-In the Atmosphere, and was undergoing punishment till then. Were you King of Egypt when Moses was there?—Yes, and Aaron too. Did you build

the Pyramids ?-Some. Were any built before your time? -Yes. Do you know how long the first was built before Christ?-About three hundred years after Adam; it was building then. Do you mean that it was built before the flood?—No, it was not finished; the flood destroyed them. What was the principal object of them?-To hold the Kings of Egypt. Were there Kings of Egypt so soon after the creation?—Yes; that was the first country Kings were in. Were you drowned in the Red Sea ?—Yes."

"On a certain Sunday Alexander the Great appeared on horseback-in armor; the horse also in armor, &c. He is undergoing his punishment, but looks to be released next Sunday. Deeply regrets killing Clitus, and all the murders he perpetrated. Has seen his father once only; not allowed intercourse with any spirit till after next Sunday. Amuses himself in fighting his battles over again."

In another Crystal dialogue, Emmanuel Swedenborg objects to capital punishments, and also to paying tithes to clergymen. He volunteers information about Sir John Franklin, which Zadkiel says he should like to see "for his wife's sake," and not at all with any hope of reward from the Admiralty!

"What do you wish?" asks Swedenborg. What is the best to communicate with him? replies Zadkiel. way

"By.

the natives; they speak to him sometimes."—Will he be home next summer? "No."-Why? "Because he cannot help himself; he is stopped by ice, but his heart does not fail him? he wants to explore."-How will he do for provisions? "He will find bears, dogs, and wolves."-Will he find the passage? "No; there is a continent there."—But there is also a passage? "There is one, but he will not find it." What latitude does it lie in chiefly? "I do not know good bye."

It appears odd that Swedenborg, who knew so much, did not know this; but we learn in another place, that "Spirits do not well understand about latitude and longitude." Orion seems to have been a trifle more explicit, for he places the expedition "to the north-east of Melville Island," where certain young gentlemen of Zadkiel's acquaintance had just killed a bear. The voyagers, we are further told, get" a kind of wolves" (to eat) and" a kind of turf full of gas" (perhaps to drink).

According to the seer, Socrates, for he has rather a French taste in dress, came forward in this guise: A tall, middle-aged man, rather bald, dressed with striped coarse trowsers, very loose at the top and tight near the feet; a kind of frock, open in the front, and without sleeves." He is generally employed in " singing praises," but he was not quite happy. Like no other Spirits, he is very polite, for when going, he said, "Many happy returns of your Birthday." ("It was," says Zadkiel, "the seer's thirteenth birthday.") It was this young gentleman who proved a traitor, and proclaimed that he had imposed on Zadkiel and all his friends.

It may be objected that the miserable stuff which we have quoted must prove its own antidote; but, when we find that its author boasts of the scores of thousands which he has sold of his vapid publication, and sets forth the example set by the higher classes with the view of selling more—an example which always finds a certain number of imitators -we hold, that the pernicious tendency of the publication calls for exposure Observe the direct effect of the following paragraph, with which Zadkiel sums up the nature of the success he has experienced in the course of a few months-the italics are his own :

"In concluding this account, I may remark that numerous children have seen these visions, some of them the sons and daughters of per

sons of high rank; and that several adults have also seen visions, one of them a lady of title, another a member of one of the highest families in England. It will be easily seen that delicacy prevents my publicly naming individuals; but I can assure my readers that above one hundred of the nobility, and several hundreds of other highly respectable ladies and gentlemen, have examined this wonderful phenomenon, and have expressed the highest gratification and astonishment."

What is likely to be the future career of "children" who have been trained to a system of imposture? And what may not be the influence upon persons of weak minds, of the opinions expressed by "hundreds of highly respectable ladies and gentlemen," in a community who hold "respectability" in so much reverence? If" above one hundred of the nobility" are not likely to find imitation, amongst their dependents alone, why do we see daily the shrewdest, money-making tradesmen of London advertising the "nobility "as encouragers of their professions, or purchasers of their wares? The answer is obvious.

ON

The Private Bistory of the Palace of Glass.

N New Year's Day, in the year 1837, a traveller was proceeding, in a native boat, on a difficult exploration up the river Berbice in Demerara, when, on arriving at a point where the river expanded and formed a currentless basin, his attention was attracted to the southern margin of the lake by an extraordinary object. He caused his crew to paddle quickly towards it. The nearer he approached, the higher his curiosity was raised. Though an accomplished botanist, and especially familiar with the Flora of South America, he had never seen any thing like it before. It was a Titanic water-plant, in size and shape unlike any other known plant. "I felt as a botanist," says Sir Robert Schomburgk, "and felt myself rewarded! All calamities were forgotten. A gigantic leaf, from five to six feet in diameter, salver-shaped, with a broad rim, of a light green above, and a vivid crimson below, rested upon the water! Quite in character with the wonderful leaf was the luxuriant flower, consisting of an immense number of petals, passing in alternate tints from pure white to rose and pink"