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the pitchfork; and I am sorry to say this homely simile could as frequently be applied with equal justice to high-born young ladies as it was to poor Sally Tomkins. — Julia, look for my scissars, I think I left them on the other table. Thank you, my dear; but where is the sheath? You should never carry pointed scissars without their sheath, for fear of an accident: suppose your foot had slipped, or you had otherwise fallen with them in your hand, you might have been seriously hurt, perhaps, even lost an eye; so pray remember, and be more careful for the future."

"Oh, grandmamma," inquired Emily, "where were these pretty scissars made ?"

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Why, at Sheffield, of course,” replied her brother; "all our best cutlery is manufactured there."

"Now here is an instance, Henry, of little boys answering questions addressed to other people, and answering them wrongly," continued Mrs. Beauchamp; "for though you are right in saying Sheffield is celebrated for its cutlery, you are wrong in saying this particular pair of scissars were made there; they were not even made in England."

"Not in England!" exclaimed the boy; "why I thought no other country equalled it

for instruments of steel, without-let me recollect, yes, I think Mr. Gardner said Damascus was also celebrated."

"Very true," replied his grandmother, "so it was for poinards, sword-blades, &c. but not for the useful and also ornamental articles manufactured in Britain, which no country has ever rivalled for its needles. However, to return to these scissars: they were made at Langres, said to be the highest inhabited town in France. If you will look at your map, you will see it is situated in the department of the Haute Marne; it is strongly fortified, and from its elevated position you look down upon the source of three different rivers, that are each lost in a different sea:-the Meuse in the German Ocean; the Marne, whose waters join the Seine, and are thus received by the English Channel; and the Vingeanne, a smaller stream lost in the Soane, which falls into the Mediterranean Sea. Langres is a very ancient town, and was once a Roman station; and during the seventeenth century, when the fortifications were repaired, many Roman, antiquities were dug up by the workmen. The town was burnt during the passage of Attila with his army, and again experienced the same fate from the Vandals in the year 407. It is allowed to be the Sheffield of France; and these scissars, re

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presenting, as you see, the exact form of a woodcock, (the long beak acting as the points), were speedily copied from those manufactured in our own country: the workmanship, if examined together, will not bear an equally minute inspection in point of elegance of finish, but in price there was a very material difference, for in London, when first in fashion, I paid a guinea for what, at Langres, I procured for five francs, or four and two-pence."

"I think, grandmamma," said Emily, “I have seen knives in the shape of horses, dogs, owls, and all kinds of animals; and I know Aunt Ellinore has a pair of scissars like a very fat bulfinch."

"I believe, Emily," replied Mrs. Beauchamp, "they are made to resemble various animals. But did you ever hear of a pair in the possession of Mr. Thomas Imber, a cutler residing once in Hereford, manufactured by his father at the age (I think) of seventy, and when he had entirely lost one eye by an accident, and the sight of the other was very much impaired. These scissars were probably the smallest ever made, being only three-twentieths of an inch in length; each part about the thickness of a horse-hair, firmly rivetted, and opening and shutting freely. They were contained in a common-sized stocking-needle,