THE above engraving is a great curiosity. It is a perfect copy of a painting in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Trent, which represents the session of the celebrated Council of Trent within those walls, and is said to contain a number of portraits. We are indebted for this engraving to a print brought from Trent by Richard Hollier, Esq., and carefully compared by him with the original painting. We are also indebted to the same gentleman for a very connected and concise account of the council, which forms part of the Journal of his travels, and of which we have gladly availed ourselves.

hood, he determined to set himself first that council, by which the disputes and dis-
about their reformation; supposing that sensions that had formerly rent the church,
the submission again to his authority of instead of being removed by clear definitions,
Luther's followers would, after that was dered, on the contrary, more perplexed and in-
and wise and charitable decisions, were ren-
effected, happen as a matter of course.tricate, and were, in reality, propagated and
This good resolution Adrian was induced, multiplied, instead of being suppressed or di-
by the advice of those about him, to minished. Nor were these the only reasons of
forego, and, in its stead, sent a letter to complaint; for it must have been afflicting to
the Diet of Nuremberg, condemning those that had the cause of true religion and
Luther and his writings, and recommend Christian liberty at heart, to see all things de-
ing the princes there assembled to apply cided, in that assembly, according to the despo-
tic will of the Roman pontiff, without any re-
the old remedy of chains and flames. The gard to the dictates of truth, or the authority
Diet replied, that they forbore to execute of Scripture, its genuine and authentic source,
the edict of Worms against Luther, be- and to see the assembled fathers reduced to
cause the people were persuaded, by Lu- silence by the Roman legates, and deprived, by
ther's publications, that the court of these insolent representatives of the papacy, of
that influence and credit that might have ren-
Rome had brought many grievances on
Germany; and they concluded by de- the church. It was, moreover, a grievance
dered them capable of healing the wounds of
siring his holiness to call a godly, free, justly to be complained of, that the few wise
and Christian council, in some convenient and pious regulations that were made in that
place of the empire. This reply did not council were never supported by the authority
please the nuncio, and his was equally of the church, but were suffered to degene
distasteful to the members of the Diet, rate into a mere lifeless form, or shadow of
who refused to give any other answer. law, which was treated with indifference, and
The princes then drew out a list of their transgressed with impunity. To sum up all
in one word, the most candid and impartial
complaints, under a hundred separate observers of things consider the council of Trent
heads, which they called "Centum Gra- as an assembly that was more attentive to what
vamina," and sent them to the pope, with might maintain the despotic authority of the
a protestation that they neither could nor pontiff than solicitous about entering into the
would endure them any longer; never-
measures that were necessary to promote the
theless, before any thing was done in the
affair, Adrian ended his course.

"Julio de Medicis then ascended the papal throne, under the title of Clement the Seventh; and a diet held shortly after, in Nuremberg, afforded him an opportunity of making, by the means of his legate, Cardinal Campiggio, another attempt to compose the differences that still existed between the holy see and Germany. However, this ended, like the former, by the Diet demanding a free council to be held in the empire.'

This singular assembly was convened in 1545, by the pope (who first called himself Honorius the Fifth, but afterwards assumed the title of Paul the Third), ostensibly to correct, illustrate, and fix, with perspicuity, the doctrine of the church, to restore the vigour of its discipline, and to reform the lives of its ministers. When we have thus stated the Herculean task which the Council of Trent proposed to itself, it will not appear surprising that its session was protracted to a period of nineteen years; and that, at the dissolution of it, matters, both temporal and spiritual, were left much as it found them. It was primarily, though indirectly, brought about by the labours of Luther, and the early events of the reformation. That extraordinary man, than whom few, if any, have ever exercised so important an influence on the destinies of the world, commenced his intrepid labours to expose the iniquities of the Romish Church in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Disgusted with the conduct of Leo the Tenth, in replenishing his exhausted treasury by the most shameless sale of indulgencies and pardons, he boldly opposed it, and published his Ninety-five Conclusions on the subject. This drew upon him the concentrated animosity of Christendom. All the offensive weapons of papal power were put in requisition against him, and in the face of this dreadful array stood Martin Luther unmoved, and supported no less by the justice than by the brightening pros-cil dignified with the name of deliberapects of his cause. It is recorded, as a specimen of the undaunted demeanour of Luther, that when his friends advised him not to appear at the Diet of Worms, to which he had been summoned by the emperor, Charles the Fifth, he replied, "I would go if I were sure of meeting as many devils in Worms as there are tiles

on the houses."

At the death of Leo, which happened in 1521, Adrian succeeded to the papal chair, and, at his accession, found Italy in a state of universal commotion, chiefly occasioned by the incipient reformation; and Adrian, "thinking that the principal nerve of Luther's influence lay in the burdens imposed on the people by the priest

good of the church. In pursuance of this design, they made it their object to perpetuate, as far as possible, the ignorance of the people. For this purpose the ancient Latin translation of the Bible, commonly called the Vulgate, though it abounds with innumerable gross errors, and, in a great number of places, exhibits the most shocking barbarity of style, and the most impenetrable obscurity with respect to the sense of the inspired writers, was declared by a solemn decree of the council of Trent, an authentic-i. e., a faithful, accurate, and perfect translation, and was consequently recommended as a production beyond the reach of criticism or censure. It was easy to foresee that such a declaration was every way adapted It was not, however, until the year 1545, that the council met at Trent, and, to keep the people in ignorance, and to veil from their understandings the true meaning in its protracted sittings, exhibited per- of the sacred writings. It will not, therefore, haps the most monstrous example of appear surprising that there are certain doctors intrigue, bribery, and fraud, to be found of the Romish church who, instead of submiteven in the pages of ecclesiastical history. ting to the decisions of the council of Trent as It would be impossible to give a detail of an ultimate rule of faith, maintain, on the the endless bickerings and chicanery contrary, that these decisions are to be exwhich the reverend members of this Coun-plained by the dictates of Scripture, and the language of tradition. Nor, when all these things are duly considered, shall we have reason to wonder that this council has not throughout the same degree of credit and authority, even in those countries that profess the Roman Catholic religion.

tion. A tolerably accurate view of its
general results may be obtained from the
following observations of Mosheim :-

In the opinion of those who examine things
with impartiality, this assembly, instead of re-
forming ancient abuses, rather gave rise to
new enormities; and many transactions of
this council have excited the just complaints
of the wisest men in both communions. They
complain that many of the opinions of the
scholastic doctors on intricate points (that had
formerly been left undecided, and had been
wisely permitted as subjects of free debate)
were, by this council, absurdly adopted as
articles of faith, and recommended as such,
sciences of the people, under pain of excom-
nay, imposed, with violence, upon the con-
munication. They complain of the ambiguity
that reigns in the decrees and declarations of

NOTES ON THE ISLAND OF CUBA.
FROM THE UNPUBLISHED MEMORANDA OF A

TRAVELLER.
No. V.

IF, as the moralists tell us, the proportion of a happy spirit in a community is the proportion of virtue regulating the conduct in life, then people on earth; and, indeed, they have their the Spaniards would seem the most virtuous claim to this estimation in a certain way; for, as a happy disposition is the offspring of con

tentment and cheerfulness, it must excite sentiments under all circumstances favourable to the good order of society. That fire-side luxury, with which every domestic endearment has associated itself in the English character, has rendered the people a sort of home-lovers, unmindful in their state, as West Indian colonists, of the social out-of-door advantages of a tropical climate. While the evenings of the French and Spaniards partake of the luxurious revellings belonging to a love of the fields and flowers, and breathe that "spirit of the sweet south stealing and giving odours," to which the adventurers were accustomed in their early days, and to which inclination as well as social habit prompts them in their colonial character -the English, in the same soft hours of the land-breeze, still linger at the table as if to perpetuate rather the recollections of "the spicy nut-brown ale" than that more consistent portion of the old characteristic in which joy and happiness associated themselves with the "merry bells" and "the jocund rebec's sound,"

and

The evenings of the Spaniards in Cuba are seldom passed without some exhibition of rational felicity, even in all the drawbacks of their political condition. The attention of the stranger, wandering in the first hours of starlight through the streets of their towns, is continually called aside to some festive party with the guitar, or to some happy knot of beings whose amusements are heightened by more varied music, where the dance is seen, and the measured tones of its national accompaniment, the favourite castanet, is heard. But, perhaps, the most interesting of these evening amusements, combining at once pleasure with surprise, is where the guitar is accompanied by the voice of the improvisatori singer. But improvisatori singing, which is peculiar to the Italians and Spaniards among European nations, has decided facilities arising out of the construction of these modern derivative languages of the Latin. The constraint of metrical structure in unpremeditated versification gives an idea of difficulty; but the continued interchange of vowels and consonants, and the accentuation and emphasis of every word, render the harmonious construction of lines easy in these languages; and rhyme, which most modern nations adopt to conceal defects or compensate for monotony, is entirely dispensed with by the improvisatori. Having a language, then, which possesses elegance, precision, and energy, and unfettered by the trammels of rhythm as an additional grace, the charms of poetical composition are secured to those who are sufficiently endued with the soul of melody to accompany the notes of music with the utterance of poetical sentiment. Preluding first, like the nightingale, who pours forth the commencement of her music "as if the sounds were cast to the dear leaves about her," the graceful turbanet of the matronly Senora, the bright eyes of the love-enticing Donzella, or the natural flowers with which the Spanish maidens always garland their dark tresses in the evening, is generally the inspiration of the song. I give here the poetical sentiments of a Catalan youth, who was remarkable for his improvisatori talent, as a specimen of one of these evening contests of love and gallantry, the nightly musical lessons with which mistresses task their lovers under the starlight skies of a West Indian April.

"Could I, inspired by ladies' eyes,

Gain by my song a garland flower
From some fair brow whose beauty vies
With her's who owned the Paphian bower,
How, in this soft and moonlight hour,

When eyes like stars around me shine,
Should the kind influence of their power
Give utterance to this song of
mine,
And win the wreath that poets won,
In times when gallant deeds were done.
Yes,-might the meed be what I ask,
I could not choose but win the prize,
For the sweet song can be no task
Inspired by love and ladies' eyes;
Then, gentle Inez, would I rise,
And claim from thee the garland now;
Nor would thy lovely hands despise

To place the wreath on Juan's brow;
For beauty knows the wreath she wears
Love and the minstrel claim as theirs."

Whilst speaking of the ostentatious devotion of the Spanish character I would not forget to remark the peculiarities of the Angelus Domini and the Ave Maria; more especially the effect which this observance produces, in the varied circumstances of a crowd, to the eyes of a stranger. A recent traveller in Spain has given a strikingly vivid description of it; and the observance is just as rigid in the colonies as in European Spain--the only Catholic country which still retains this vestige of the piety of the times of old ::

"At sunrise, a large soft-toned bell is tolled from the tower of the cathedral three times, summoning all the inhabitants, wherever they are, or however occupied, to devote a few moments to the performance of a short prayer, in honour of the Virgin, called the Angelus Domini. At the close of the evening the bell tolls again, and, to a foreigner, it is curious, and not uninteresting, to observe the sudden and fervent attention which is paid in the streets, within and without doors, in the alameda, on the river, by every body, high and low, the idler and the labourer, the horseman and the pedestrian, infancy and age, to this solemn sound. The crowds in the promenade all suddenly stop, and each group repeats within his own circle the consoling prayer. The lover suspends his compliments; the mistress changes her laughing eyes to a demure look, and closes up her face; the politician breaks off his argument; the young men are abashed in their gay discourse, and take off their hats; the carriages are drawn up; and all worldly business and amusement are forgotten, for about three minutes, till the cheerful tinkling of lighter bells announces that the orison is over."

The Spanish colonists do not possess the same gardening disposition as the French, at least they do not show the same attention to arrangement and exact management. The distinction, indeed, is that which we find in the difference of temperature in the respective places of their birth. The Spaniard derives his origin from a more riant soil and climate than the Frenchman, and is more associated with the orange groves of his own genial land than with the parterres and flower-beds of his more northerly neighbour. To every cottage of Cuba a garden is, however, attached; and, if not much characterized by order and neatness, it has yet an evident predilection for the fragrance and beauty of flowers, among which the rose, the lily, the jasmine, and the holyhock are conspicuous. There is also about its productions that sentiment of pleasure which attaches itself to the knowledge that the light There is this additional circumstance, howluxury of a fruit or vegetable supper, the uni-ever in the evening service to the Virgin in the versal evening meal of the Spaniard, is drawn colonies: the domestic slaves, at the conclusion from the toil of the cottager's own hands, or of the prayer, come into the presence of the from the active spirits of his little household. master, and, kneeling and bowing before him, solicit his benediction. If it is refused, the slave knows he has been guilty of some dereliction of duty, and does not fail either to make intercession for pardon, or, by diligence, to secure that forgiveness of which he is only sure when the benediction becomes a testimony that the sun no longer sets upon his master's wrath: the master, too, is very glad by this compromise to be able to say his Pater Noster with sincerity. It is after this orison that the salutation of good night is pronounced to all those encountered in the evening's walk or in the household. Aware of the practical morality which the evening bells of the Ave Maria call forth, it powerfully excites feelings of mutual charity and forbearance, and soothes the heart to meekness and to peace.

"Tum pensilis uva secundas

Et nux ornabat mensas cum duplice ficu:
Post hoc ludus erat cuppa potare magistrâ :
Ac venerata Ceres, ut culmo surgeret alto,
Explicuit vino contractæ seria frontis."-
s."-HOR.

It is scarcely worth while to note the com-
mon-place remark that in the observances and
formularies of the Catholic devotion, the
Spaniards are more exact, solemn, and osten-
tatious than any other people of the same reli-
gious faith; or that their women affect much
the serious and devout in worship, assuming
the sable garb as their religious costume.
This same spirit is found among them in the
colonies: the females are veiled during the
celebration of mass,-kneeling, or sitting like
the orientals, on little carpets carried to church
by their servants for that especial purpose.
Spanish courtesy assigns them the place near-
est the altar: there are no seats. There were
formerly in the colonies various sumptuary
laws regulating the dress of the women of the
mixed race, but society has fallen into a disuse
of these distinctions The regulation which
formerly existed, prohibiting coloured women
from kneeling on cushions at church, was fre-
quently abrogated for a price in favour of par-
ticular families, and the royal diploma rescind-
ing the degrading restraint operated politically,
and elevated those on whom it was conferred
to the rank and dignity of European subjects.
Misfortune has taught Spain to fix the perma-
nency of her colonial empire in the last of her
transatlantic possessions on a principle more
consistent with good policy than complexional
distinction, so that this prejudice is now no
longer regarded.

THE LATE SIR THOMAS STAMFORD
RAFFLES AND COLONIAL SLAVERY.

THE following extracts from a memoir by Mr. Fisher of the late Sir T. S. Raffles, published immediately after his decease, in the oldest of the British periodicals, exhibit the views of that enlightened and estimable public servant, with reference to this interesting subject. Mr. Raffles quitted England for India with a subordinate appointment in the service of the East India Company. His talents recommended him to Lord Minto, who appointed him his lieutenant in the government of the island of Java. On the cession of Java to the Dutch, Mr. T. S. Raffles was appointed by the company, lieutenant-governor of fort Marlbro', on the island of Sumatra. In each of these stations he exerted his influence and authority

Among the several laws and regulations which were established during the government of Mr. Raffles on Java, the act of the British parliament, declaring the slave trade to be a felony, was made a colonial law.

PORT MARLBRO' OR BENCOOLEN.

and profligacy and immorality obtruded them-
selves every where. In addition to these dis-
gusting features, the oppression and debauchery
which naturally spring from the system of
slavery, and are peculiar to it, filled up the
frightful picture of misrule which this new
connexion presented to its lieutenant-governor
cheerless and discouraging in the respects
on his arrival. Not only were his prospects
already mentioned, but he had to associate
with, and seek co-operation from, men who
had long acted under this system, so diametri-
cally opposed to his own views, and who might
through habit, to acquiese in the changes
therefore be reasonably supposed disinclined,
which it would be his wish to introduce.

"Entering on his career of public duty at
Bencoolen, under such inauspicious circum-
stances, he nevertheless formed with cool-

Of

"A general registry of slaves was also introduced, and other measures adopted, with the concurrence of the principal inhabitants, which contemplated the final extinction of slavery on the island: and when called upon to resign the government, foreseeing that his object would be for a time defeated, by the restoration of the colony to the King of the Netherlands, and in the hope of interesting his successors in its final accomplishment, he estab-ness, and pursued with steadiness and perseverance, his plans of reform. He appears lished a voluntary society of persons friendly to have given his earliest attention to the to the measure, which he designated the subject of forced service and slavery. 'Java Benevolent Society.' the former he traced the history with great accuracy; the Malay law stipulated, it appeared, that after the decease of a debtor, his children, in the first instance, and, after their death, the village to which he belonged, should be still liable for the debt. Thus not only the original contractors were rendered slave debtors, as they are termed, but their offspring, and eventually the people in general, were reduced to the same hapless state. Under the plea of recovering debts, and considering the people as debtors, they were compelled to work; and as the colony, in fact, contained no equitable court for the impartial adjudication of all the numberless questions which would constantly arise between debtor and creditor, the system in its operation became one of lawless violence and oppression on the one hand, and of constantly recurring, though but too frequently unavailing, resistance on the other.

"It is well known that this residency was one of the East India Company's earliest possessions, and, having been formed on the bad principles which prevailed at the time when the company first took possession of it, was for more than a century cursed with all the abominations which attend the system of colonial slavery. Its population during that period consisted of a few demoralized Europeans, a small number of half-domesticated Malays, and a considerable body of native African slaves called Caffres, whose wasting numbers were from time to time recruited by the importation of fresh victims, obtained at an enormous expence. Of the latter description of persons the company possessed a considerable establishment, and all the other Europeans resident in the settlement were, of course, accustomed to the anomalous luxury of slave-service and property in human flesh. "The whole history of this settlement, if correctly written, would give an instructive view of the misery, folly, and commercial disap pointment which are the concomitants of this system. It is beyond all question that, for many years, Bencoolen afforded to its possessors no commercial advantage; on the contrary, by a reference to the annual parliamentary statements of the East India Company's affairs, it will appear that, for the forty years last past, it entailed upon them an annual loss, amounting frequently to more than 100,000!. "Yet it must be acknowledged that the spirit of enterprise was not backward to suggest plans, nor that of speculation to essay means, by which it was presumed the colony might eventually be rendered productive to its owners; but as the execution of all these plans rested on compulsory unremunerated labour, and property in the persons of men, the uniform result was disappointment, failure, and loss of capital.

"When Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles first took charge of this government, he found the settlement in the utmost poverty and wretchedness: for religious worship, or for the administration of justice, scarcely any provision existing, and education almost totally disregarded on the other hand, gaming and cockfighting not only permitted, but publicly patronised by the government. There was, in fact, neither security for person or property to be found. Murders were daily committed, and robberies perpetrated, which were never traced, nor indeed attempted to be traced:

matra that took place after his arrival, and, after explaining to them the principles and views of the British Government with regard to the abolition of slavery generally, he gave to each of the slaves a certificate of freedom. To the old and infirm, small stipends were also allotted for subsistence during the reconsiderable impression at the time, and promainder of their lives. This measure made a mised to be followed by the most favourable results. Indeed, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles continued long enough at Bencoolen to enjoy the satisfaction of passing a regulation, with which slavery was eventually abolished, and the entire concurrence of the native chiefs, by the laws regarding debtors so modified as to render them consistent with the principles of the British Government."

PULO NEAS.

"The first of these measures was the conclusion of a treaty or treaties with the chiefs of a small island, situated off the south coast of Sumatra, called Pulo Neas. This treaty was a measure rather of benevolence than of policy. The inhabitants of the island, who rank among the most beautiful and well-formed specimens of the human family, have, from that very all the Mahommedan chiefs in the neighbourcircumstance, excited the cupidity of almost hood; who, it is believed, have been long in and the most shocking scenes of plunder and the practice of trading to this island for slaves, rapine have been the necessary consequence. So extensive has been the traffic in the illstarred inhabitants of Pulo Neas, that Neas

slaves are well known all over the east, and highly prized for their superior comeliness and artless manners, which qualities have every where obtained for them the highest price. It was chiefly for the purpose of putting an end to this hateful traffic, in connexion with some not very great commercial advantages which it was thought would result from the arrange

which was never confirmed."

SINGAPORE.

On this island Sir Stamford Raffles hoisted

the British flag on the 29th of February, 1819.

"Of the African slaves, or Caffres, the pro-ment, that Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles took perty of government, there were, when Sir the island under British protection, by a treaty, Thomas Stamford Raffles arrived (men, women, and children), upwards of 200; being mostly the children of slaves originally purchased by the East India Company; that mode of keeping up or augmenting their num- "In legislating for this settlement, the slaveber having of course been discontinued, in obe- trade and slavery were expressly prohibited. dience to the act of the British_legislature No individual could be imported for sale, which abolished the slave-trade. The Caffres transferred, or sold as a slave, after the estab had been considered as indispensable for the lishment of the settlement; or, having his or duties of the place; they were employed in her fixed residence in the island, can now be loading and unloading the Company's ships, considered or treated as a slave under any deand other hard work, for which free labourers nomination, condition, colour, or pretence might have been engaged with great advantage whatever.' The usages respecting bond debtto the employer. No care was taken of the ors were of course materially modified, and a morals of the Caffres; in consequence of continued residence of twelve months at Sinwhich, most of them were dissolute and de-gapore was declared to constitute a fixed repraved, the women living in promiscuous intercourse with the public convicts. This, it was stated, was permitted for the purpose of 'keeping up the breed;' but the children, in the few cases where children were produced, were left in a state of nature, vice, and wretched ness; and the whole establishment had for many years been on the decline, both as it respects numbers and efficiency.

"Yet were there not wanting persons in Bencoolen, as in England, who eulogised this system as the perfection of human policy, and asserted that the Company's Caffres were happier than free men. Such were not the views of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who, fully convinced of the contrary, caused the whole of the Company's slaves to be brought before the first assembly of the native chiefs of Su

sidence, and to entitle the party to all the benefits of the British constitution.

"A most convincing proof of the intelligence displayed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles in the establishment of Singapore, is the excellent constitution of government under which he placed it, and which has been already briefly described. His wisdom and discernment were no doubt apparent in the choice of the spot selected by him for the settlement. The energy of his character was manifested by the promptitude and decision with which he executed his design, and obtained possession of the island. But if there be one circumstance more than any other which shows a combination of those qualities with a high degree of benevolent feeling, which manifests great intelligence and great benignity united, it is the care which

he took to guard his infant establishment against that bane of all colonial speculation, slavery.

"The result has been such as every wise man and sound politician would expect, and is well calculated to impart a lesson of wisdom even to the most untractable and besotted advocates of the odious system so long pursued in the western world. Had Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, instead of holding out to the inhabitants of Singapore the liberty and personal security which are proper to the British constitution, and ought to be enjoyed in all countries which bear that name, and instead of admitting them to colonize on the easiest imaginable terms, proceeded to people the island by importations of African or any other slaves, and had he transcribed for their government a few pages of the Jamaica or any other of the slave codes (matured, as we are told those codes have been, by the wisdom of experience!)-there would have been at this day, in Singapore, just as many inhabitants as its rulers could find chains to hold there, and just as much work done by them as could be extorted from unwilling labourers by the mechanical operation of the lash or the thumb-screw; or rather, which is more probable, the East India Company, true to their interests, and wise to discern them, and profiting also by their long experience at Bencoolen, would ere this have abandoned the island, writing off the expense it had occasioned to them, as a heavy disbursement connected with an abortive attempt, to profit and loss. But such has not been, and it is confidently hoped never will be, the case with Singapore. There, a free, well-protected commerce creates wealth, and wealth commands industry, to any extent which the exigencies of that commerce may require. The people come and go at their pleasure. All ranks enjoy the cheering sunshine of hope, and feel that powerful motive to exertion in full operation among them; and as the effect of such principles has hitherto been, so it may be presumed that it will continue to be, prosperity." The following concluding lines are highly descriptive, and honourable to the subject of the memoir of which they form a part.

After devoting some time to these pursuits, he naturally passed on to their apral philosophy. He soon distinguished plication, and gave his attention to natuhimself by the ingenuity of his experiments, and raised his reputation above all competition by two treatises, the one on the equilibrium of fluids, and the other on the weight of the atmosphere.

versal philosophers that has appeared in who was his intimate friend, and a very BLAISE PASCAL, one of the most uni- | have been written by the father of Pascal, any age or nation, was born in Clermont, able mathematician. in France, June 19th, 1623. From his infancy he manifested extraordinary powin every branch of study to which he ers of mind, and made great proficiency turned his attention. His early predilections seemed to lean to mathematics, and the most singular accounts are preserved of the aptitude that he manifested in childhood for the exact sciences. His "The practices and principles which he father, perceiving the bent of his mind, sought to extirpate were cruelty, tyranny, and unwilling that he should be so abfraud, and ignorance; those which it appears sorbed by his favourite study as to negledge and justice, by the efficient administra-lect the languages and other necessary tion of equal laws, the recognition of personal departments of education, threw obstacles and relative rights, the total abolition of bond service and slavery, and by education."

to have been his wish to introduce were know

AN ELEPHANT.

AN elephant, belonging to Mr. Boddam, of the Bengal civil service, at Gyat, used every day to pass over a small bridge leading from his master's house into the town of Gyat. He one day refused to go over it, and it was with difficulty, and by goring him most cruelly, that the driver could get him to venture on the bridge, the strength of which he first tried with his trunk, showing clearly that he suspected it was not sufficiently strong. At last he went on, and before he could get over the bridge gave way, and they were precipitated into the ditch, which killed the driver, and considerably injured the elephant. It is reasonable to suppose that the elephant must have perceived its feeble state when he last passed over it. It is a well-known fact that elephants will seldom or never go over strange bridges without first trying with their trunks if they be sufficiently strong to bear their weight, nor will they ever go into a boat without doing

the same.

in the way of his improvement, and
locked up all books which treated on those
subjects. He could not, however, divert
him at work with charcoal on his cham-
his son's thoughts, and one day surprised
ber floor, and in the midst of figures. On
learning from him what he was doing, he
discovered, to his utter amazement, that,
without any knowledge of the technicali-
ties of the science, nor of its axioms
further than he had determined them by
reflection, he had discovered the proof of
the thirty-second proposition of the first
book of Euclid, that the three angles of
every triangle are equal to two right
angles!

indulge in mathematical pursuits. He
From this time, he had full liberty to
understood Euclid's Elements at first
sight, and at sixteen years of age he
wrote a "Treatise on Conic Sections;"
which Des Cartes read, and supposed to

impressed with his vast superiority, that
So deeply was the scientific world now
they submitted to him questions involving
the greatest difficulties; and one of these
problems gave occasion to perhaps the
happiest exertion of his mathematical
talent. It was to determine the curve
described in the air by the nail of a
tion; which curve was thence called a
coach-wheel while the machine is in mo-
roullette, but is now commonly known
as the cycloid. Pascal offered a reward
of forty pistoles to any one who should
give a satisfactory answer to it. No per-
son having succeeded, he published his
own at Paris, which he composed during
a sleepless night, and tortured with tooth-
ache! At twenty-four years of age, he
entirely forsook these studies, as unwor-
thy the attention of a life, and devoted
himself to the solitary pursuit of morals.
by which he nearly lost his life, in riding
and religion. It is said that an accident,
over the Pont Neuf, at Paris, was the
means of first turning his attention to the
affairs of religion, and from this time he
became a perfect devotee. He was not,