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Extract from Archbishop Secker.

225

solid foundation, but that which is established on the principle so concisely and truly described by a French writer.

“I fear God, dear captain, I have no other fear." He scruples, therefore, to give his vote according to that code of honour, which requires a man to be received as a gentleman, merely because he will not allow the unguarded sally of an innocent joke to be expiated by any thing less than the blood of a fellow creature, perhaps heretofore his friend. Neither will he wish for the praise of prizefighters, as if they were judges of true courage. The effect of these fights upon the spectators, can be only that of inuring them to look upon horrid sights with pleasure; and upon the performers that of accustoming them to prefer dishonourable gain, to honourable industry, and quite to mistake the character of a bold and undaunted Briton.

R. R.

EPITAPH.

Life is the path to death, its gayest bloom
Tends to the gloomy shadows of the tomb,
But haste by faith the Lamb of God to see,
And death shall prove the path of life to thee.

H.

EXTRACT FROM ARCHBISHOP SECKER.

"Servants obey in all things your Masters." "FROM servants is due, in the first place, respectful and ready obedience; diligence joined with care that no business be neglected, or delayed, or mismanaged; honesty, truth, and secrecy; sobriety and chastity; peaceableness and good temper. These are the duties of servants: and, as the faithful performance of them is the surest way of serv

ing themselves, and being happy in this world, so, if it proceeds from a true principle of conscience, God will accept it, as done to himself, and make them eternally happy in the next: whereas, wilfully transgressing, and negligently slighting the things which they ought to do, whatever pleasure, or whatever advantage it may promise or produce to them for a while, will seldom fail of bringing them at last to shame and ruin even here, and will certainly bring them, unless they repent and amend, to misery hereafter."

FROM BISHOP HORNE.
"Go and sin no more."

"DESPAIR not, thou, whosoever thou art, whom temptation has drawn into sin; thou art in the hands of one who desireth not the death of a sinner; of one who died for thy sake, to procure for thee forgiveness, grace, and glory. Return to Him, pray to Him, love Him, and serve Him, all the remaining days of thy life. Let the remembrance of what is past teach thee how bitter are the fruits of sin, fear, sorrow, shame, and confusion; and henceforth learn, by experience, (for nothing else can truly inform thee) how sweet are the fruits of righteousness, peace, and hope, and joy, and holy confidence so shall thy brethren receive thee, as one alive from the dead, and angels themselves shall join in celebrating that mercy which has been extended to thee. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth.'

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JOHN OSTLER.

JOHN HENDERSON was ostler at the Blue Bell stables, in a large town in Hampshire, the name of

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which I shall not mention. The farmers all put up their horses, on market day, at these stables, because they knew John Ostler to be a civil, steady, honest fellow. They were sure that their horses would be well taken care of, and that John would give them whatever was ordered. John had a wife and two children, both girls, and there was not a tidier woman, or two more clean and neat looking children in all the town. The wife was not, however, fine. in her dress, or fond of tawdry ornaments, but plain and neat, just as she should be; and so were her children, for Mrs. Henderson could not bear the sight of feathers and flowers, and beads and curlpapers, and such sort of nonsense. Her children looked rosy and healthy, with faces well washed, and hair well cut, and clothes well mended; and not a rag was ever to be seen on John Ostler, or John Ostler's wife, or on either of their children. John earned a good livelihood, and he brought his. earnings home, and this enabled his wife to have every thing comfortable for him and his children, and to make home the pleasantest place that John could go to. And they laid by something too; so that, when John once got a kick from a horse, and was kept at home for some weeks, he was able to maintain himself, during that time, without going to the parish, of which he always had a great dislike. Now what in the world could make John Henderson discontented? Why, one day, the ostler at the Black Lion, a great Inn in the town, came to John's stable to look at a horse that was left there for sale; and, instead of finishing his business, and then going home again, he would enter into conversation with John at the Blue Bell. This great ostler began to ask John what sort of people came to his stables, and how much they gave him, and all such particulars of his place; and when John told him, he wondered, he said, that John should be contented with such a place as that, when he

might get a place at some great crack Inn, where noblemen, and fine gentlemen, and fine carriages came, and where he would get a great deal more money, and bethought much more of than at the Blue Bell stables, where great people were never to be seen, and where there was hardly ever a companion in the yard to speak to. John listened to this advice; and there was soon an ostler wanted at the Saracen's Head, the other great Inn in the same town. Now here John Henderson was hired; and, at first, he thought he had changed for the better, He got more money, and he had plenty of company, for the yard was always full of gentlemen's grooms and coachmen; and the footmen would come into the stable to talk to John, and sometimes the gentlemen travellers would come to see their horses fed, and would often get into conversation about horses, with civil John, the ostler. But the unlucky thing of all was, that there was a tap-room in the yard-and this was commonly full of company; and John began to think it quite unsociable not to make one of them.

He sees no com

John saves no money now. fort at home. His wife misses him. His children cry for him. There is nothing coming in to make home cheerful and happy. The old customers of the Blue Bell ask what is become of John Ostler. What! is he gone? Did not he know when he was well off?" Go farther and fare worse!" "Go

higher to fall lower!" John is ruined.

"Rise

V.

QUESTION IN GEOLOGY.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR,

THE Psalmist says, that "they that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great wa

Question in Geology.

229

ters, these men see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep"-but we country people also sometimes see the wonders of the Lord, and find that they are in the depths of the earth, as well as in the depths of the sea. I'll tell you an instance of this, which has happened to myself. I have for some time past been at work in a gravelpit, where I and my mates have raised, I may say, some thousand loads of as clear hard gravel as any gentleman would wish to see laid in his gardenwalks, and not even a vein of sand have we met with in the whole pit, which is now a pretty large one; but about a month ago we were surprized by coming all on a sudden, at the depth of about ten feet from the surface, to a vein of clear white clay without a single stone in it, and so soft and solid, that our master thinks it may be fit for the pipemakers; it is about two feet thick, and immediately under it is a vein of bright yellow clay about the same thickness and in all respects of the same nature, and the one lies upon the other without being at all mixed, just as you might lay a slice of Derby cheese upon a slice of Cheshire, But what seemed to me the most remarkable thing, was that in the white clay we found at first a great number of shells; how they should have come there I can't tell, for the place is twelve or fourteen miles from the sea, as the crow flies. My neighbour, Solomon Digwell, says it has been so ever since the flood, when the land and the water changed places in a most surprizing manner; and I suppose this must be the case, for the ground has certainly never been moved before; and, if it had, no mortal man could ever have laid these two veins one on the top of the other, and then sucha large body of gravel above all, without their mixing in one with the other-but I should be very glad, Sir, if you or any of the gentlemen who read your book, (as I am told many do)

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