on another occasion he said, "Those who are resolved to excel must go to their work, willing or unwilling, morning, noon, and night; they will find it no play, but very hard labour." But although diligent application is no doubt absolutely necessary for the achievement of the highest distinction in art, it is equally true that without the inborn genius, no amount of mere industry, however well applied, will make an artist. The gift comes by nature, but is perfected by self-culture, which is of more avail than all the imparted education of the schools.

SMILES, "Self Help."

HABIT.

There is no degree of disguise or distortion which human nature may not be made to assume from habit ; it grows in every direction in which it is trained, and accommodates itself to every circumstance which caprice or design places in its way. It is a plant with such various aptitudes, and such opposite propensities, that it flourishes in a hothouse or the open air; is terrestrial, or aquatic; parasitical, or independent; looks well in exposed situations, thrives in protected ones; can bear its own luxuriance, admits of amputation; succeeds in perfect liberty, and can submit to be bent down into any of the forms of art: it is so flexible and ductile, so accommodating and vivacious, that of two methods of managing it completely opposite, neither the one nor the other need to be considered as mistaken and bad.

SYDNEY SMITH.

ANGLO-SAXON POETRY.

I.

Ballads, devoted to warlike deeds and mythological themes, which the minstrels sang to the music of the harp on festive occasions, and which depended entirely upon the memory for their preservation, were the only compositions of the Anglo-Saxons in the early stages of

their history. As Christianity extended its sway, the national poetry embraced a new class of subjects, and became imbued with a healthier influence, influential converts patronizing verses founded upon sacred events, and celebrating religious topics, as vehicles of instruction. Fragments of these productions have been handed down, the earliest extant being a humble effort of the moment, ascribed to Cædmon, a monk of Whitby, who died about the year 680.

II.

Bede relates that he sang the creation of the world, the origin of man, and all the history of Genesis, the incarnation, passion, resurrection of our Lord, and his ascension into heaven; by which “he endeavoured to turn away all men from the love of vice, and to excite in them the love of, and application to, good actions. By his verses the minds of many were often excited to despise the world, and aspire to heaven. Others after him attempted in the English nation to compose religious poems, but none could ever compare with him." vernacular poetry is characterized by the absence of terminal rhymes: the use of alliteration, or the recurrence of the initial letters of the words; the periphrasis, or accumulation of equivalent expressions; the omission of connecting particles, and an inverted style.

The

MILNER, "History of England."

THE VENERABLE BEDE.

I.

The great glory of the age was Bede (672-735), who wrote in Latin, and had a considerable acquaintance with Greek, and some knowledge of Hebrew. His voluminous works devoted to theology, science, history, biography, and miscellaneous topics, commemorate his varied acquirements and unwearied industry, while the integrity of his character is not less conspicuous, and the evangelical

nature of his views tinged to a far less extent with the errors of his time than what might have been expected. The Ecclesiastical History of his native land, the most important of his literary labours, will hand down his name to the latest generations as an accurate record of facts, combined with legends which afford a just transcript of the superstitious character of the age, the whole recommended by a charming artlessness of manner and fascinating powers of description.

II.

As incidental to the main story, several notices of interest are introduced respecting the habits of his contemporaries and the resources of the country, imperfectly as they were then developed. He speaks of its many veins of metals, copper, iron, lead, and silver, with black and sparkling jet; of the land excelling in grain and trees, and being well adapted for the feeding of cattle and beasts of burden; of vines being produced in some places, and of springs being plentiful, among which salt and hot springs are mentioned; of land and water-fowl abounding of various species; of the rivers being well stocked with fish, salmon, and eels; and of seals, dolphins, and also whales being taken along the coasts. The garments of the common people, we learn, were woollen, but linen was not uncommon; while clerical and ecclesiastical vestments were sometimes of silk.

MILNER, "History of England."

COMMITTING BEAUTIFUL PASSAGES TO MEMORY.

There is another practice which strikingly conduces towards facilitating expression and perfecting its form; we mean the learning by heart of the finest passages by great writers, and especially of the most musical poets, so as to be able to recite them at a single effort, at moments

of leisure, or during a solitary walk, when the mind so readily falls back upon its own resources. This practice, adopted in all schools, is particularly advantageous in rhetoric, and during the bright years of youth. At that age it is easy and agreeable, and he who aspires to the art of speaking ought never to neglect it. Besides furnishing the mind with all manner of fine thoughts, well expressed and well linked together, and thus nourishing, developing, and enriching it, it has the additional advantage of filling the understanding with graceful images, of forming the ear to the rhythm and number of the period, and of obtaining a sense of the harmony of speech, which is not without its own kind of music; for ideas, and even such as are the most abstract, enter the mind more readily, and sink into it more deeply, when presented in a pleasing fashion.

M. BAUTAIN, "The Art of Extempore Speaking."

HOW TO ACQUIRE A GOOD STYLE.

By dint of reading the beautiful lines of Corneille and Racine, Bossuet's majestic and pregnant sentences, the harmonious and cadenced compositions of Fénélon and Massillon, one gradually and without effort acquires a language approaching theirs, and imitates them instinctively through the natural attraction of the beautiful, and the propensity to reproduce whatever pleases; and, at last, by repeating this exercise daily for years, one attains a refined taste of the delicacies of language and the shades of style, just as a palate accustomed to the flavour of the most exquisite viands can no longer endure the coarser. But what is only a disadvantage in bodily taste, at least under certain circumstances, is always beneficial to the literary taste, which should seek its nutriment, like the bee, in the most aromatic portions of the flower, in order to combine them into delicious and perfumed honey.

M. BAUTAIN, "Extempore Speaking."

CHARACTER OF THE BENGALEE.

The physical organization of the Bengalee is feeble even to effeminacy. He lives in a constant vapour bath. His pursuits are sedentary, his limbs delicate, his movements languid. During many ages he has been trampled upon by men of bolder and more hardy breeds. Courage, independence, veracity, are qualities to which his constitution and his situation are equally unfavourable. His mind bears a singular analogy to his body. It is weak even to helplessness for purposes of manly resistance; but its suppleness and its tact move the children of sterner climates to admiration not unmingled with contempt. All those arts which are the natural defence of the weak are more familiar to this subtle race than to the Ionian of the time of Juvenal, or to the Jew of the dark ages. What the horns are to the buffalo, what the paw is to the tiger, what the sting is to the bee, what beauty, according to the old Greek song, is to woman, deceit is to the Bengalee. Large promises, smooth excuses, elaborate tissues of circumstantial falsehood, chicanery, perjury, forgery, are the weapons, offensive and defensive, of the people of the Lower Ganges.

Lord MACAULAY, "Essay on Warren Hastings."

SUBJECTION TO OUR PASSIONS.

Our senses, our appetites, and our passions, are our lawful and faithful guides, in most things that relate solely to this life; and, therefore, by the hourly necessity of consulting them, we gradually sink into an implicit submission and habitual confidence. Every act of compliance with their motions facilitates a second compliance, every new step towards depravity is made with less reluctance than the former, and thus the descent to life merely sensual is perpetually accelerated. The senses have not only that advantage over conscience which things necessary must always have over things chosen,