rather to incur blame by confessing myself culpable, when I have been so, than to load my soul with guilt, by seeking to veil the truth by a falsehood; for well do I know that no character is more injurious to society in general, and to the circle of domestic life in particular, than a liar. Every liar, like Cain, the first human liar, should have some distinctive mark upon him, by which all who saw him might scorn, detest, and avoid him.

What is a liar? It is one who speaks the "thing that is not with a desire and an intention to be believed. Mark, Sir, the emphasis. With an intention to be believed. If, therefore, I amuse children with hyperbole, as I have before said that I sometimes do without any wish of being believed, I am no more a liar than Esop, or Gay, who make all creatures talk, think, and act as men; or than Jotham, who, in the Bible, makes the trees go to elect a King to reign over them. By hyperbole I excite wonder and astonishment, which cause enquiry, and that opens the channel for information. Before I give you an instance, I must premise, that the answers which I put in words were made to me by signs, and that in speaking myself, I am obliged to make long pauses between every few words.

On Saturday last I stood with two children on the steps that are just within the gate which leads to Westwell Street.

"What creatures are they?" said I, pointing to

two Cows which were feeding in the fields beyond

the Garden.

"They are Cows."

"Cows! you surely are mistaken: are they not Elephants ?"

"No: they are Cows."

"How do you know that they are Cows, and not Elephants?"

"Because they have horns, are like all other Cows, and have no trunk."

"Yes: now I see that they are not Elephants, for I observe that they have no trunk, and are less than Elephants. But what sort of a creature is an Elephant, and of what use is its trunk?

"We do not know. Tell us." *

Thus invited, I sat down on the steps, and related as much as I knew of the natural history of the Elephant. I explained the uses of its trunk, the value of its teeth, its food, its habits: the methods of catching and training them, their power, their sagacity, their remembrance of injuries, and their humanity. In illustration of these last two qualities I related two interesting anecdotes of the Elephant, and had the satisfaction of leaving my little auditors highly gratified by what they had heard.

On entering the Workhouse I found a system of signs in use there, which had been introduced by a boy who had been deaf, and consequently dumb, from infancy. This system was known to nearly all the children, for it was very simple. I soon learnt it, and by its means could understand, and make myself understood very readily.

Hyperbole itself can invent nothing so astonishing as the wonders which really exist in nature What child would not think I fabled, if I told it that a butterfly has upwards of thirty-four thousand eyes; and that its wings are garnished with feathers? "And yet," says Sturm, "nothing is more certain. That which is commonly called dust on their wings is found to be feathers; and all these feathers have a quill at the end. If the wing be roughly handled the more delicate part of the feathers will be destroyed." Wonderful as this is, I presume it is undoubted matter of fact, or it would not have been mentioned by such an author as Sturm.*

I am, Sir, very respectfully,

I intimated in my last that I thought there were more wonders in the world than are generally supposed. What folly it is to talk of the seven, or

• Vide Sturm's Reflections, translated by A. Clarke, L.L.D,

the hundred wonders of the world, when he, who views things with the eye of reason and philosophy, knows that the world abounds in wonders, of which not the least wonderful is man. The real wonders of the world are not thought to be such by men of common minds, because they are familiar with them, or have paid no attention to them. But the Christian and Philosopher behold wonders in creation, where others see none; and compared to which, the boasted productions of art, as the Rhodian Colossus, or the Egyptian Pyramids, were mean and contemptible.

A man, whose mind is cast in the common mould, may be delighted with a curious piece of mechanism, or other production of art, but cannot appreciate or enjoy the wonderful works of God in Nature and Providence; though the latter surpass the former vastly more than the Andes surpass the Pyramids in altitude.

A man used to contemplation, and he only, sees things as they should be seen; while others, whirled about in the giddy vortex of business, fashion, and frivolity, cannot comprehend how there should be any thing wonderful in that which they behold every day; and consider that only as such, which is novel, rare, singular, or with which they are unacquainted.

Were one of those people, which are supposed to inhabit the moon, to visit the earth, or were a

Japanese to visit England, he would undoubtedly remark many wonderful things among us which we do not consider as such because they are common. Neither would he fail to think many of our customs ⚫ and manners singular and ridiculous, which we suppose to be very natural and necessary. I recollect an anecdote to the purpose, which you, Sir, will permit me to relate.

When, in the last century, the prince of Anamaboo was in England, walking out in St. James's Park in the afternoon he observed one of his acquaintance driving in a phaeton with four horses.The prince burst into a violent fit of laughter. When he was asked what was the occasion of his mirth," Vat de d-1," said he, in his broken English, "has that fellow eat so much dinner that it now takes four horses to carry him?-I rode out with him this morning, and he was then so light that van little horse ran away with him.— He must either be a great fool or a great glutton." Another time the friends of the prince insisted on his going to the play. He went; but was soon tired of it, and returned to his companions. "Well prince," said they, "what did you see?"-" Vat did I see," replied he, with the utmost contempt, I did see some men playing de fiddle, and some men playing de fool." *

The wonderful and ridiculous is merely relative, and depends on circumstance of time and place,

Brydone's Tour.