Eu'rope, Med-i-ter-ra'ne-an, At-lanʼtic, Rus'sian, Fin'land, Swe'den, Nor'way, Den'mark, Turk'ey, It'a-ly, Port'u-gal, Neth'er-lands, Swit'zer-land, Prus'si-a, Aus'tri-a, Eu-ro-pe'an, Ger'ma-ny.

EUROPE is bounded by the Frozen Ocean on the north, by Asia on the east, by the Mediterranean sea on the south, and by the Atlantic Ocean on the west. It is the smallest of the four principal divisions formerly termed the quarters of the globe, but the most thickly populated. The ingenuity, industry, and intelligence of the inhabitants, and the progress they have made in learning, in science, and in the arts, render it by far the most important division of the world. Its climate is more agreeable, and better adapted to the health and vigour of the human frame, than that of any other portion of the globe of equal extent.

The extensive territory of the Russian Empire forms the eastern half of Europe. Northern Europe is occupied by the northern part of Russia, and by Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The south of Europe consists of three peninsulas; the most eastern of which is Turkey; the middle is Italy; and the western is divided between Spain and Portugal. In the middle regions of Europe, we find the Netherlands and France upon the coast; the numerous states of Germany, and the little republics of Switzerland, border upon these on the east; and the powerful states of Prussia and Austria succeed, separating the rest of Europe from Russia. On the western coast are the islands which form the United Kingdom of great Britain and Ireland.

All other civilized countries of the world were peopled from Europe; and all the European nations except Germany, Prussia, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, possess colonies in the other quarters of the globe. There are few countries on the

continent well provided with schools for the instruction of the poor, and the lower classes are generally in a state of great ignorance and poverty. The higher classes are mostly well educated and refined; but indolent and luxurious.

So far as we can read the future designs of Providence from the present aspect of affairs, it is from the nations of Europe that all efforts to enlighten the nations, which still dwell in darkness, and in the region of the shadow of death, must proceed.

Pow'der-y, dusty; brit'tle, easily broken; plat'i-na, the heaviest metal; coun'ter-feit, not genuine; a-dul'ter-a-ted, corrupted; em-broi'der-y, kind of needle work; tar'nish, lose brightness.

GOLD and silver are denominated perfect metals, because they cannot be destroyed by fire. Other metals, if kept a considerable time in the fire, change by degrees, into a powdery or scaly matter called cala. Calx is that drossy film which collects upon the surface of lead after it has been kept melting a while, and in time, the whole lead would change to such a substance. When a poker, or piece of iron, is made red hot, some scales separate from it, which are brittle and drossy. All metals undergo these changes, except gold and silver; but these, if kept ever so long in the hottest fire, undergo no loss or change, and are therefore per

fect metals. Besides this, gold has several other remarkable properties. It is between nineteen and twenty times as heavy as an equal bulk of water, and, therefore, is the heaviest of all metals except platina. This weight is a ready means of discovering counterfeit gold coin from genuine; for, as gold must be adulterated with something much lighter than itself, a false coin, if, of the same weight with the true, will be sensibly bigger.

Gold is the most malleable of all metals. Leaf-gold is made by beating a plate of gold, placed between pieces of skin, with heavy hammers, till it is spread out to the utmost degree of thinness. And so great is its capability of being extended, that a single grain of the metal, which would scarcely be bigger than a pin's head, may be beaten out to a surface of fifty square inches; and is so very thin, that it will almost float upon the air.

Gold is also the most ductile of all metals. Gold-wire as it is called, is made with silver, over-laid with a small proportion of gold, which is drawn out along with it. In the wire commonly used for laces, embroidery, and the like, a grain of gold is made to cover a length of three hundred and fifty-two feet; and when it is stretched still farther by flatting, it will reach four hundred and one feet. The gold of a guinea, at that rate, would reach above nine miles and a half. property in gold of being capable of extension to so extraordinary a degree, is owing to its great tenacity or cohesion of particles, which is such, that you can scarcely break a piece of gold wire by twisting it; and a wire of gold will sustain a greater weight than one equally thick of any other metal.

This

Another good quality of gold is its fine colour. Scarcely any thing makes a more splendid appearance than gilding,

and a particular advantage of it is, that gold, if kept free from salt, is not liable to rust or tarnish, as other metals are. It will keep its colour in a pure and clear air for a great

many years.

Gold is next in softness to lead, and, therefore, when it is made into coin, or used for any common purposes, it is mixed with a small portion of some other metal, in order to harden it. This is called alloy. Our gold coin has one-twelfth part of alloy, which is a mixture of silver and copper.

The countries that yield most gold, are South America, the East Indies, and the coast of Africa. Europe affords but little, yet a moderate quantity is got every year from Hungary. It is probable that gold was first discovered in some of the countries of Western Asia, for we may infer from Genesis ii. 11, 12, that it was either found in the sands of one of the rivers which watered the garden of Eden, or dug from mines in the surrounding country.

Abridged from Evenings at Home.

5.-The refining of Gold.

HAST thou observed how the curious hand
Of the refiner, seeks to understand
The unadulterate pureness of his gold?
He weighs it first: and after does enfold
In lead and then commits it to the fire.

And as the lead consumes, the gold draws nigher
To its perfection, without waste or loss

Of its own substance—but its weight—its dross.
The great Refiner of man's baser heart
Uses the like-nay, shews the selfsame art.
He weighs it first, and finding it too full

Of trash and earth, he wraps it in some dull
And leaden cross of punishment, or sin.
Then tries it in affliction's fire, wherein
The lead and dross evaporate together,

And leave the heart refined and quit of either.
Thus, tho' man's heart be lessened by the cross,
And lighter-'tis but lighter by the dross.

Quarles.

6.-The Oak Tree.

MAJESTIC monarch of the forest scene,

The wood-birds love thy shade, thou noble tree;
And, nestling in thy foliage rich and green,
Wake the sweet echoes with their melody,
Half through the branches seen.

And when the sun is blazing in the sky,
And earth is faint beneath its fervent heat,
The deer will leave the open plains, and fly
To seek for shelter at thy rugged feet
Where the brook wanders by.

Each passing day in beauty didst thou grow,

And now three hundred years thy form has stood,

But soon thy goodly beauty must be low-

Low in the dust, proud monarch of the wood!
Fell'd by the axe's blow.

A change comes o'er thy lot;-and can it be
That this brave vessel which in harbour rides,
Is formed and fashioned of the noble tree,

To be the sport of waves, and winds, and tides-
A traveller of the sea?

F