monkey a rope-dancer; dogs are hunters; pigs, scavengers; and the torpedo and eel are electricians. If they were to turn authors, it has been suggested the eagle would excel in epic; the sheep in pastoral poetry; the horse in chivalry; the elephant in philosophy; the cow in agriculture; the dog in drama; the monkey in burlesque and low comedy; the cat in sly sarcasm; the goose in verbosity; the owl in epitaphs and elegies; the bear in waltzing; the hog in philosophic Bacon; the magpie and the parrot in plagiarism; the turkey in vanity.

102. POOR JANE.

Ann and I met a girl about eight years of age.

She looked

thin and pale, and was very poor. She told us that her name was Jane, and that she lived in the small thatched hut on the edge of the moor. We asked her why her father did not work to get her food. Tears came into her eyes, and she said that her father had been ill for a month, and was now dead, and that her mother was too weak to work. The cow had been sold, she said, to buy food for her father, and now there was no milk for the baby. She had eaten no food all that day, for there was none in her house. Ann wept when she heard all this, and we took her home to our mother. Mother was very kind to poor Jane, and went with her to the hut on the edge of the moor, and took care of her mother. We were very glad that we had met her, and we were glad to help her.-Chambers's Narrative Series.

103. THE DOGS.

How wretched our race is in this country!' said a poodle, who had been travelling. 'In that distant part of the world that men call India, there are some real dogs to be found yet; dogs, my brothers—you will hardly believe me, though I have seen it with my own eyes-dogs who are not even afraid of a lion, and boldly attack him.' 'But,' inquired a steady pointer, do they manage to gain the victory over the lion?' Gain the victory?' answered the poodle. 'I cannot exactly say that. Nevertheless, just consider, to attack a lion!' 'Oh!' continued the pointer, 'if they do not overcome the lion, your praised dogs

E

in India are but little better than we are, but certainly a good deal more stupid.'-Lessing.

104. A FUTURE MARSHAL.

While overlooking the construction of a battery, which the enemy endeavoured to interrupt by their fire, Bonaparte called for some one who could write, to dictate an order. Instantly a young man stepped out of the ranks, and, resting his paper on the breastwork, began to write. A shot from the enemy's battery covered the letter with earth the moment it was finished. 'Thank you,' said the military secretary, 'we shall want no sand to dry the ink.' The gaiety and courage of the remark drew Bonaparte's attention to the young man, who became the celebrated Marshal Junot, Duc d'Abrantes.—Cunningham.

105. LIEUTENANT CROISIER.

At Damanhour, near Cairo, our head-quarters, a small troop of Arabs came to insult us by their presence. Bonaparte, who was at the window, indignant at this audacity, turned to young Croisier, aide-de-camp in attendance, saying: 'Here, Croisier, take some of the guides, and disperse these ragamuffins.' In an instant Croisier appeared in the plain with fifteen guides. The little band engaged. We beheld the combat from the window. But there appeared in the orders and in the attack a hesitation unexpected by the general. After a short but pretty obstinate combat, in which our horsemen retired as the Arabs advanced, the latter finally withdrew, unmolested and without loss. Bonaparte's anger could not be restrained; it was vented without measure upon poor Croisier on his return, and so harshly that he retired in tears. 'I will not survive this,' said the youth. The word 'coward' had been pronounced. At the siege of Acre, Bonaparte was early in the trenches, attended by Croisier, who leaped upon a battery. 'Croisier !' exclaimed the general, come down-I command it to you-you have no business there.' The youth remained without returning an answer. An instant after a ball passed through his right thigh. Amputation was performed. The day of our departure he was placed upon a litter; but he died between Gaza and El Aryeh.

Seldom will his lonely resting-place be disturbed.—Bourrienne's Memoirs.

106. POPE SIXTUS V.

His father, whose name was Peretti, was a vine-dresser : not being able to bring up his son, he placed him with a farmer, who employed him in keeping his swine. A Franciscan friar, having met with him, took him for his guide in an unfrequented place, and pleased with the vivacity of his conversation, induced him to accompany him to his convent, where he was admitted. He soon manifested a love for learning, and afterwards acquired great reputation by his sermons. When raised to the Cardinalship, he took the name of Montalto, and retired from public affairs, appearing entirely devoted to study. From that time Montalto gradually assumed the appearance of a man bending under the weight of years; he walked with his head resting on one shoulder, leaning on a staff, and incessantly coughed, as if about to expire. The parties that divided the Roman States thought him the fittest of all men to be Pope, his easy temper giving them hopes that he would be Pope only by name, and that all the authority would devolve upon themselves; he was therefore elected in 1585.

As soon as the tiara was placed upon his head, he threw away his staff, walked erect, and chanted Te Deum with a voice so strong that the roof of the chapel re-echoed with the sound. -Aikin.

107. DRESS AND TALENT.

Gérard, the famous French painter, when very young, was the bearer of a letter of introduction to Lanjuinais, then of the Council of Napoleon. The young painter was shabbily attired, and his reception was extremely cold; but Lanjuinais discovered in him such striking proofs of talent, good sense, and amiability, that on Gérard rising to take leave, he rose too, and accompanied his visitor to the ante-chamber. The change was so striking that Gérard could not avoid an expression of surprise. "My young friend,' said Lanjuinais, 'we receive an unknown person according to his dress-we take leave of him according to his merit.'

108. THE ARAB CHIEFTAIN.

An Arab chieftain, one of the most powerful of the princes of the desert, had come to behold for the first time a steamship. What impression the sight made on him it was impossible to judge. No indications of surprise escaped him; every muscle preserved its wonted calmness of expression; and on quitting, he merely observed, 'It is well; but you have not brought a man to life yet!'-Mrs. Inchbald.

109. DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.

Columbus was the first European who set foot on the new world which he had discovered. He landed in a rich dress, and with a naked sword in his hand. His men followed, and, kneeling down, they all kissed the ground which they had so long desired to see. They next erected a crucifix, and pros-trating themselves before it, returned thanks to God for conducting their voyage to such a happy issue. They then took solemn possession of the country for the crown of Castile and Leon, with all the formalities which the Portuguese were accustomed to observe in acts of this kind in their new discoveries. -Robertson's History of America.

110. THE WISE OWL.

'Oh,' said an old owl, who sat on a tree, 'how silly men are! Indeed I think no one is wise but me. They all go out in the sun, and they do not seem to know that the sun shines only to put us all to sleep. It is very strange, for they hear me hoot at night, and they might think I should not be out if night were not the best time for going out. There are no mice to be had in the day. What can men do, I should like to know, without mice? I know where there is a fat old mouse. I shall eat him to-night. He will not see me in the dark.' 'Oh, oh,” said a fat mouse who was near, 'I wonder if it is me the owl means to eat? I will go out then, before it is dark, and take my supper.' So the mouse took his supper by daylight, and the owl had no supper at all that night. Such a wise bird as the owl is! But I think she should Chambers's Narrative Series.

not talk so loud.

III. THE TREES AND THE AXE.

A woodman came into a forest to ask the trees to give him a handle for his axe. It seemed so modest a request that the principal trees at once agreed to it, and it was settled among them that the plain homely ash should furnish what was wanted. No sooner had the woodman fitted the staff to his purpose, than he began laying about him on all sides, felling the noblest trees in the wood. The oak now seeing the whole matter too late, whispered to the cedar, 'The first concession has lost all; if we had not sacrificed our humble neighbour, we might have yet stood for ages ourselves.'-Fanny.

112. THE BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS.

Murad Bey, at the head of 6,000 Mamelukes, and a host of Arabs and Fellahs, was intrenched at the village of Embabeh, awaiting the arrival of the French; General Desaix arrived soon after within two miles of the spot. The heat was at this moment intense, and the soldiers were excessively fatigued, which induced Bonaparte to order his troops to halt. But as soon as the Mamelukes perceived the enemy's forces, they formed upon the plain in front of the right wing of the French. To the left of the Republicans rose the venerable Pyramids, whose imperishable masses have survived the fate of so many vast empires, braving the outrages of time; behind their right flowed the Nile, and in the distance appeared the city of Cairo, the hills of Mokattan, and the fields of ancient Memphis. Napoleon, having issued his orders, placed himself in front of his army, and, pointing to the Pyramids, he exclaimed in a loud voice Soldiers, think that from the height of those monuments forty centuries look down upon you.'-A. Cunningham.

113. THE PUPILS OF THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL.

During the siege of Paris in 1814, the French artillery was served by the pupils of the Polytechnic School, young men between seventeen and twenty, who fought like lions. They were in want of shot, when a covered waggon chanced to arrive within sight; they eagerly ran to seize on it, but finding that it contained nothing but bread, 'We do not want bread,'