parts; and there I had my liberty restored, along with a handsome reward for my services. I got from thence to China, and from China to the English settlements in the East Indies, where the sight of my countrymen, and the sound of my native tongue, made me fancy myself almost at home again, though still separated from it by half the globe. Having remained here a considerable time, I, at length, gladly set my face homewards, and joined a company who undertook the long and perilous journey to Europe overland. We crossed vast tracts, both desert and cultivated, and sandy plains parched with heat, and infested by bands of robbers. I have seen a well of muddy water more valued than ten camel-loads of treasure; and a few halfnaked horsemen strike more terror than a king with all his guards. As I came nearer my native land, I grew more and more impatient to reach it; and when I had set foot on it, I was still more restless till I should see again my beloved home.

"Here I am at last, safe and sound, and have brought enough of my honest gains to furnish a small farm in this district, where I mean to settle and spend the rest of my days, in the midst of those whom I love better than all the world besides."

THE FATE OF THE OAK.

THE Owl to her mate is calling;

The river his hoarse song sings;
But the oak is marked for falling,

That has stood for a hundred springs.

Hark! a blow, and a dull sound follows;
A second-he bows his head;

A third-and the wood's dark hollows
Now know that their king is dead.

His arms from his trunk are riven ;
His body all barked and squared;
And now, like a felon he's driven
In chains to the strong dockyard!
He's sawn through the middle, and framed
For the ribs of a frigate free;

And he's caulked, and pitched, and named 'And now-he is fit for sea!

Oh! now-with his wings outspread,
Like a ghost (if a ghost may be),
He will triumph again, though dead,
And be dreaded in every sea :
The lightning will blaze about,
And wrap him in flaming pride:
And the thunder-loud cannon will shout,
In the fight, from his bold broad-side.

And when he has fought, and won,

And been honoured from shore to shore; And his journey on earth is done,

Why, what can he ask for more? There is nought that a king can claim, Or a poet or warrior bold,

Save a rhyme and a short-lived name,

And to mix with the common mould!

THE STARS.

called, which

be seen in one

You cannot tell me how many stars there are in the sky; there are more than any of us could count. And yet they are all as large as, or much larger than, the world we live on. They look so small, because they are so far away— millions and millions of miles. Astronomers, as we call those who study the stars, have divided them into. groups, and given to each group a name, such as the Great Bear, the Lion, the Eagle, Orion, and the Southern Cross. These stars do not move, although, as the earth keeps turning round from west to east, they seem, like the sun and moon, to rise in the east and to set in the west. But there are some stars in the sky, or planets as they are do really move, so that sometimes they may of the groups of stars, and sometimes in another. There are upwards of twenty of these planets, but they are all too small to be seen by the naked eye, excepting eight, of which our Earth is one, the others being Jupiter, which is the largest, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Venus, Mars, and Mercury. I have said that our earth is one of the planets; and so, of course, if we could view it from such a distance as we view the rest, it would look to us, just as they do, like a common star. All these planets move round and round the sun-which is a great deal larger than any of them; and several of them, like our earth, have moons which move round them, just as they move round the sun. It is the bright light of the sun shining upon these planets, and their moons, which makes them look so bright. If the sun did not shine upon them, we should not see them at all. Our moon is not nearly so large as the sun, nor even nearly so large as the earth itself. It takes a month to complete its journey round the earth, while the earth takes a year

When the moon

to complete its journey round the sun. gets between the earth and the sun, it hides some of the sun's light from us, and we say there is an eclipse of the sun; and when the earth is between the sun and the moon, it in like manner hides the sun's light from the moon, and we say there is an eclipse of the moon. When the moon is so placed that we can only see a small part of the sun's light which shines upon it, we call it new moon; and when we can see all the sun's light upon it, we call it full moon.

Besides the fixed stars, and the sun, and the planets, and their moons, there is a kind of strange wandering stars, called comets, which are only seen for a short time now and then, -sometimes at intervals of years. These look much like the stars, but sometimes have very long fiery-looking tails, or trains, behind them, and sometimes they are surrounded by fiery streamers, which give them a hairy appearance. Such are some of the wonders you behold, when you look up at the starry sky.

THE TWO BROTHERS.

A LONG time ago, when many people went to South America, in the hope of finding mines of gold and silver, there was a young Spaniard, named Pizarro, who had a great desire to try his fortune like the rest; but, as he had an elder brother of whom he was very fond, he went to him to tell him of his design, and said if he would go with him, he would gladly give him half of all the treasures he should find. This brother, whose name was Alonzo, was a wise and contented man, and did not much approve of his brother's plans; but, as he could not persuade Pizarro to

give them up, he at last agreed to go with him, but told him at the same time, that he wanted no part of the riches, and would ask no more than to be allowed to take his baggage and a few servants on board the vessel with him. Pizarro then sold all that he had, bought a vessel, and embarked with some others, who, like himself, expected soon to become very rich. As to Alonzo, he took nothing with him but a few ploughs, harrows, and other tools, and some corn, together with a large quantity of potatoes, and some vegetable seed.

After sailing for some time with fair winds, they put into the last port at which they were to stop before they came to the country where they were to search for gold. Here Pizarro bought a great number more of pickaxes, shovels, and various other tools for digging, melting, and refining the gold he expected to find. Alonzo, on the contrary, bought only a few sheep and four stout oxen with their harness.

As it happened, they met with a prosperous voyage, and all landed in perfect health in America. Alonzo then told his brother, that as he had only come to accompany him and serve him, he would stay near the shore with his servants and cattle, while he went to search for gold; and that as soon as he had got as much gold as he wished for, he should be quite ready to return with him again to Spain.

Pizarro and his party then set out. They travelled several days' march across the country; sometimes obliged to cross rivers; at others, to pass mountains and traverse forests, where they could find no paths; sometimes scorched by the violent heat of the sun, and then wetted to the skin by violent showers of rain. All this, however, did not discourage them from trying in several places for gold; and