For warfare all unfit; He whispered to the royal dunce, And gained a settlement at once; 3. One summer, by some fatal spell, And swept the beasts by thousands off. Loved his own people from his heart, To soothe Apollo's rage. 4. Quoth lion: "We are sinners all, Poor innocent! his blood so sweet! I find resistance vain. 5. "Now to be candid, I must own The sheep are weak and I am strong, One trespass from your view; My appetite is made so keen, 6. "Then let us all our sins confess, And if on me should fall the lot, 7. The council with applauses rung, Let us like subjects true Swear, as before your feet we fall, 8. "But please your majesty, I deem, You hold in far too high esteem And howsoe'er I tax my mind, For lions to devour. 9. "And as for eating now and then, As well the shepherd as the sheep,— Expect with you the peace to keep? 'Tis time their blustering boast to stem, 10. And now the noble peers begin, And, cheered with such examples bright, Some midnight murder brought to light; Each blood-hound is a saint. 11. When each had told his tale in turn, The long-eared beast of burden came, I passed, not thinking of a crime, His lure some tempting demon spread, 12. "Oh, monster! villain!" Reynard cried,"No longer seek the victim, sire; Nor why your subjects thus have died, To expiate Apollo's ire." The council with one voice decreed; All joined to execrate the deed,— "What, steal another's grass!" The blackest crime their lives could show, COLORING THINGS TOO HIGHLY. 1. "If there be any one mannerism," says Ephraim Holding, "that is universal among mankind, it is that of coloring too highly things we describe. We cannot be content with a simple relation of truth-we must exaggerate—we must overdraw-we must have 'a little too much red in the brush.' Who ever heard of a dark night that was not 'pitch dark?” -of a stout man that was not 'strong as a horse ?'—or of a miry road that was not 'up to the knees?' I would walk 'fifty miles on foot' to see the man who never caricatures the subject on which he speaks; but where is such a one to be found? 2. "From 'rosy morn to dewy eve,' in our common conversation, we are constantly outraging the truth. If somewhat wakeful in the night, we have 'scarcely had a wink of sleep;' if our sleeves get a little damp in a shower, we are 'as wet as if dragged through a brook;' if a breeze blow up while we are in the 'chops of the Channel,' the waves are sure to 'run mountains high;' and if a man grow rich, we all say that he rolls in money.' No later than yesterday, a friend of mine, who would shrink from a wilful misrepresentation, told me hastily, as he passed, that the newspaper had 'nothing in it but advertisements,' and that he had just sent off, by the Shrewsbury coach, a codfish as 'big as a jackass!' 3. "Every newspaper has its 'Bargains,' its 'Great Savings,' and its Immense Sacrifices.' 'Fish all alive' is not too strong a term for the unbearably tainted, scaly fry offered for sale. The Irish cloth of the mercer is 'fine as cambric;'the stale meat of the butcher 'sweet as a nut'-and the cheese-monger's hard, tough, lean cheese, 'as fat as butter.' METAPHYSICS-A LUMINOUS CONVERSATION. 1. "PRAY, Doctor," said Uncle Tim, "tell me something about metaphysics; I have often heard of that science, but never for my life could find out what it was.” 66 Metaphysics," said the Doctor, "is the science of abstrac tions." "I'm no wiser for that explanation," said Uncle Tim. "It treats," said the Doctor, "of matters most profound and sublime, a little difficult perhaps for a common intellect, or an unschooled capacity to fathom, but not the less important on that account to all living beings." 2. "What does it teach ?" asked the schoolmaster. "It is not applied so much to the operation of teaching," answered the Doctor, "as to that of inquiring; and the chief inquiry is, whether things are, or whether they are not." "I don't understand the question," said Uncle Tim, taking the pipe out of his mouth. "For example, whether this earth on which we tread,” said the Doctor, giving a heavy stamp on the floor, and setting his foot slap on the cat's tail," whether this earth does really exist, or whether it does not exist." 3. "That is a point of considerable consequence to settle," said my grandfather. "Especially," added the schoolmaster, "to the holders of real estate." "Now the earth," continued the Doctor, "may exist—” "Who the dogs ever doubted that ?" asked Uncle Tim. "A great many men," said the Doctor, "and some very learned ones." 4. Uncle Tim stared a moment, and then began to fill up his pipe, whistling the tune of High Betty Martin, while the Doctor went on : "The earth, I say, may exist, although Bishop Berkeley has proved beyond all possible gainsaying or denial, that it |