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THE Condition of the present inhabitants of this country is very different from that of their forefathers. These, generally divided into small states or societies, had few relations of amity with surrounding tribes, and their thoughts and interests were confined very much within their own little territories and rude habits. Now, however, everyone sees himself a member of one vast, civilized society, which covers the face of the earth, and no part of the earth is indifferent to him. In England, a man of small fortune may cast his regards around him, and say with truth and exultation : "I am lodged in a house that affords me conveniencies and comforts, which even a king could not command some centuries ago. There are ships crossing the seas in every direction, to bring what is useful to me, from all parts of the earth. In China, men are gathering the tea-leaf for me; in America, they are planting cotton for me; in the West-India islands, they are feeding silk-worms for me; in Saxony, they are shearing the sheep to make me clothing. At home, powerful steam

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engines are spinning and weaving for me, and making cutlery for me, and pumping the mines, that minerals, useful to me, may be procured. My patrimony is small, yet I have post-coaches running day and night on all roads to carry my correspondence; I have roads, and canals, and bridges, to bear the coal for my winter fire; nay, I have protecting fleets and armies around my happy country, to secure my enjoyments and repose. Then I have editors and printers, who daily send me an account of what is going on throughout the world, among all these people who serve me; and in a corner of my house, I have books, the miracle of all my possessions, more wonderful than the wishing cap of the Arabian Tales, for they transport me instantly, not only to all places, but to all times. By my books, I can conjure up before me, to vivid existence, all the great and good men of antiquity; and for my individual satisfaction, I can make them act over again the most renowned of their exploits: the orators declaim for me; the historians recite; the poets sing in a word, from the equator to the pole, and from the beginning of time until now, by my books, I can be where I please." This picture is not overcharged, and might be much extended; such being the miracle of God's goodness and providence, that each individual of the civilized millions that cover the earth, may have nearly the same enjoyments, as if he were the single lord of all.

ARNOTT.

LESSON XVI.

TIME AND ETERNITY.

FOR, stretch to life's extremest span
The brilliant course of earthly pleasure,
How looks the space assigned to man,
Lost in the vast eternal measure!

Rank, fortune, love, earth's highest bliss,
All life can yield, of sweet or splendid,
Are but a thing that scarcely is,
When lo! its mortal date is ended!

So swift is time, so briefly lost,
The fleeting joys of life's creation,
What seems the present, is the past,
Before the mind can mark its station.

On earth we hold the spirit blest,

That learns to bear affliction cheerly,
And what we call, and fancy rest,
Is brief annihilation merely.

"Tis vain to say in youthful ears,

Time flees, earth fades, with all its pleasures;

The ardent heart attentive hears,

But nought of transient counsel treasures.

'Tis heavenly grace alone, my child, The fruit of prayer attending duly,

Can firmly stem the tumult wild,

Of earthly passion rising newly.

Then shall we for so brief a world,

A speck in nature's vast dominion,
With hope's high banner basely furl'd,
Return to earth with slothful pinion!

Forbid it truth, forbid it love,

The faithful thought untold should perish; Forbid it all we hope above,

And all on earth we know and cherish.

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No part of Europe affords richer copper than Cornwall, though the mines have not been worked with considerable advantage much more than a century. It is there discovered in a vast variety of ores, the most common of which is of a yellow brass colour; the black, blue, and green ores yield but little; the grey contains more metal than the yellow, and the red more than the grey. There are, besides, in most of the mines, considerable quantities of malleable copper, which, from its

purity, the miners term virgin ore. This is combined and alloyed with various substances; sometimes with base crystal, sometimes with a gravelly clay, and sometimes with the rust of iron. Its figure is also various, being sometimes in thin plates, shaped like leaves; sometimes in drops and lumps; sometimes branched, fringed, or twisted into wires; sometimes crossed at the top like a dagger, and sometimes resembling hollow filligree. It has also been found in powder, little inferior in lustre to that of gold; in solid masses of several pounds weight, maturated, unmixed, and highly polished; and in a congeries of combined granules. The water in which the copper is washed, has been discovered to make blue vitriol of the best kind; and that which comes from the bottom of the mines, is so strongly impregnated with copper, that were it detained in proper receptacles, it would produce great quantities of malleable copper, without any hazard or attendance, and with little more charge than the purchase of a much less quantity of the most useless old iron; which, being immersed in this water, will, in about fourteen days, produce more than its weight of what is called copper mud, whence may be obtained a great proportion of pure copper.

SMITH'S WONDERS.

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