"When spring came on with bud and bell,

Among these rocks did I

Before you hang my wreath to tell
That gentle days were nigh!
And in the sultry summer hours
I shelter'd you with leaves and flowers;
And in my leaves now shed and gone
The linnet lodg'd, and for us two
Chanted his pretty songs, when you
Had little voice or none."

What more he said, I cannot tell.
The stream came thundering down the dell,
And gallop'd loud and fast ;

I listen'd, nor aught else could hear:
The brier quak'd, and much I fear
Those accents were his last.

WORDSWORTH.

GOLDFINCHES.

GOLDFINCHES are much esteemed for their docility and the sweetness of their note. They are fond of orchards, and frequently build their elegant mossy nest in an apple or pear tree. They commence this operation about the month of April, when the fruit-trees are in blossom. The nest is small: its outside consists of fine moss curiously interwoven with other soft materials; and the inside is lined with grass, horse-hair, wool, feathers, and down. The eggs are five in number, of a white colour, speckled and marked with reddish brown.

These birds may be caught in great numbers, at almost any season of the year, either with limed twigs or the clap-net; but the best time is said to be about Michaelmas. They are readily tamed; and it requires very little trouble to teach them to perform several movements with accuracy; to fire a cracker, and to draw up small cups containing their food and drink.

Some years ago the Sieur Roman exhibited in this country the wonderful performances of his birds. These were goldfinches, linnets, and canary-birds. One appeared dead, and was held up by the tail or claw without exhibiting any signs of life. A second stood on its head,

with its claws in the air. A third imitated a Dutch milkmaid going to market, with pails on its shoulders. A fourth mimicked a Venetian girl looking out at a window. A fifth appeared as a soldier, and mounted guard as a sentinel. The sixth was a cannoneer, with a cap on its head, a firelock on its shoulder, and a match in its claw, and discharged a small cannon. The same bird also acted as if it had been wounded: it was wheeled in a little barrow, to convey it (as it were) to the hospital; after which it flew away before the company. The seventh

turned a kind of windmill. And the last stood in the midst of some fireworks, which were discharged all round it; and this without exhibiting the least sign of fear.

In solitude the goldfinch delights to view its image in a mirror; fancying, probably, that it sees another of its own species and this attachment to society seems to equal the cravings of nature; for it is often observed to pick up the hemp-seed, grain by grain, and advance to eat it at the mirror, imagining, no doubt, that it is thus feeding in company. If a young goldfinch be educated under a canary-bird, a woodlark, or any other singing bird, it will readily catch its song. Mr Albin mentions a lady who had a goldfinch which was even able to speak several words with great distinctness. Towards winter these birds usually assemble in flocks. They feed on various kinds of seeds, but are more partial to those of the thistle than any others. They have been known to arrive at the age of twenty years.

Calendar of Flora.

DETACHED PIECES.

MYLO, forbear to call him blest,
That only boasts a large estate,
Should all the treasures of the west
Meet, and conspire to make him great.
Let a broad stream with golden sands
Through all his meadows roll;
He's but a wretch, with all his lands,
That wears a narrow soul.

Were I so tall as reach the pole,
Or grasp the ocean with my span,

B

I must be measured by my soul:
The mind's the standard of the man!

WATTS.

WHAT is our duty here? To tend

From good to better-thence to best:
Grateful to drink life's cup,-then bend
Unmurmuring to our bed of rest;
To pluck the flowers that round us blow,
Scattering our fragrance as we go.

And so to live, that when the sun
Of our existence sinks in night,
Memorials sweet of mercies done

May shrine our names in memory's light;
And the blest seeds we scattered, bloom
A hundred fold in days to come.

FORGIVE thy foes ;-nor that alone
Their evil deeds with good repay;
Fill those with joy who leave thee none,
And kiss the hand upraised to slay.
So does the fragrant Sandal bow
In meek forgiveness to its doom,

And o'er the axe at every blow
Sheds in abundance rich perfume!

BOWRING.

H. KNOWLES.

THE wretch who digs the mine for bread,-
Or ploughs that others may be fed—
Feels less fatigue than that decreed
To him that cannot think or read!

HANNAH MORE.

WHEN he who dies is free from sin,
Why should we call it death?
When happy life will then begin,
Why fear the parting breath?
When he who lives loves wickedness,
Why should we call it life?

A life passed through in sinfulness
Is but a death-like strife!

If pride and folly be our doom,

And sin be our delight,

Better our cradle were our tomb

Or life one endless night.

"Good deeds are the grey hairs of man,"

Thus sung the Hebrew sage;

Virtue will lengthen out life's span,

Wisdom alone is age!

The New Year's Gift.

THE golden palace of my God
Towering above the clouds I see:
Beyond the cherub's bright abode,
Higher than angels' thoughts can be!
How can I in those courts appear
Without a wedding-garment on?
Conduct me, Thou life-giver, there,
Conduct me to thy glorious throne!
And clothe me with thy robes of light,
And lead me through sin's darksome night.

BOWRING-Russian Poetry.

THE WHALE.

THE whale is beyond dispute the largest animal of wh ch we have any certain account. The great Greenland whale, indeed, is of so enormous a size that it usually measures from sixty to seventy feet in length. The cleft of the mouth is about twenty feet long, which in general is about a third part of the animal's length. The tail is about twenty-four feet broad, and its stroke is sometimes tremendous. The catching of whales in the Greenland seas, among masses of ice frequently more than a mile long and above a hundred feet in thickness, affords one of the strangest spectacles that can be imagined. Every ship employed in this business is provided with six boats, to each of which six men are appointed for rowing, and a harpooner for striking the whale. Two of these boats are constantly kept on the watch at some distance from the ship. As soon as the whale is discovered both the boats set out in pursuit of it; and if either of them can come up before the fish descends, which is known by his throwing up his tail, the har

pooner darts his harpoon at him.

As soon as he is struck,

the men make a signal to the ship, and the watchman alarms all the rest with the cry of " Fall, fall !" when all the other boats are immediately sent out to the assistance of the first. The whale, as soon as he finds himself wounded, runs off with amazing rapidity. Sometimes he descends straight downwards, and sometimes goes off at a small depth below the surface. The rope that is fastened to the harpoon is about two hundred fathoms long. If the whole line belonging to one boat be run out, that of another is immediately fastened to it. This is repeated as necessity requires; and instances have been met with where all the rope belonging to the six boats has been necessary. When the whale descends, and has run some hundred fathoms deep, he is obliged to come up for air, and then makes so dreadful a noise with his spouting, that some have compared it to the firing of cannon. As soon as he appears on the surface of the water, some of the harpooners fix another harpoon in him, upon which he plunges again into the deep; and on his coming up a second time, they pierce him with spears, till he spouts out streams of blood instead of water, beating the waves with his fins and his tail, till the sea is all in a foam. When dying he turns himself on his back, and is drawn on shore, or to the ship if at a distance from land. National School Collection.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAN AND THE INFERIOR

ANIMALS.

THE chief difference between man and the other animals consists in this, that the former has reason, whereas the latter have only instinct; but in order to understand what we mean by the terms reason and instinet, it will be necessary to mention three things, in which the difference very distinctly appears.

Let us first, to bring the parties as nearly on a level as possible, consider man in a savage state, wholly occupied, like the beasts of the field, in providing for the wants of his animal nature; and here the first distinction that appears between him and the creatures around him