33.

The Cunning Cutler.

There is at London, in a place called Charing-cross, a very fine statue in2 bronze of Charles the First on3orseback. After the revolution and the decapitation of that monarch, the statue was taken down and sold to a cutier, who undertook to demolish it. He immediately manufactured a great number of knives and forks with bronze handles, and exposed them in his shop as the produce 01 the statue which was supposed to have been melted. They were so rapidly bought, both by the friends and the enemies of the late monarch, that the cutler soon made fortune, and retired from business."

Soon after the restoration it was proposed to erect a new statue to the memory of the unfortunate king. Tne cutler, hearing of this, informed the government that he could spare them the trouble and expensel of casting a statue, as the old one was yet in his possession, and that he would sell it to them at a moderate price. The bargain was concluded; and the statue, which he had secretly preserved, was re-elevated on the pedestal at (in) Charingcross, where it now stands.

34.

Abstraction, or Absence of Mind.

Among the many curious examples of abstraction-ofmind, we have the following laughable one1 of the celebrated English philosopher, Newton.

Being one morning deeply engaged in the study of some difficult problem, he would not leave it to2 go and breakfast with the family. His housekeeper, however, fearing that long fasting might make him ill, sent one of the servants into his room, with an egg and a saucepan of water. The servant was told3 to boil the egg, and stay while her master ate it; but Newton, wishing to be alone,

sent her away, saying he would cook it himself. The servant, after placing it by-the-side-of his watch on the table, and telling him to let it boil three minutes, went out; but fearing he might forget," she returned soon after, and found him standing by the fire-side, with the egg in his hand, his watch boiling in, the saucepan, and he quite unconscious of the mistake he had committed.

35.

The Value of Time.

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King Alfred, who ascended the throne of England in1 871, and who, like Charlemagne, by his magnanimity and wise government, acquired the title of the Great, was a prudent economizer of time, well knowing that a moment lost can never be recovered. Alfred wished to divide the day into equal portions, in order to appropriate a certain space-of-time to the accomplishment of the different objects he had in view.

This was not an easy matter,5 as clocks were at that time nearly unknown in Europe, and quite unknown in England. It is true that in fine weather the flight of time could be marked, in some degree, by the course of the sun; but in the night, and when the sun was hidden by clouds, there were no means of judging.

The king, after much reflection and many experiments, ordered a certain quantity of wax to be made into six candles of equal length and thickness, which, being lighted one after the other (as he had found by experience), would last from midday to midday. On each of these candles he marked twelve divisions or inches, so that he knew nearly how the day was going, as the consumption of each candle marked the expiration of a sixth part, or about four hours, and each division or inch denoted the lapse of twenty minutes.

By these means Alfred obtained what he desired, an

exact admeasurement of time; and the improvements which took place during his reign, show that both the king and his people had learned11 to appreciate its value.

36.

The Bagpiper Revived.

The following event happened in London during the great plague, which in 1665 carried off nearly 100,000 of the inhabitants.

A Scotch bagpiper used to get his living by1 sitting and playing his bagpipes every day on the steps of St. Andrew's church2 in Holborn. In order to escape the contagion, he drank a great deal of gin; and, one day, having taken more than usual, he became so drunk that he fell fast asleep on the steps. It was the custom, during the prevalence of that terrible disease, to send carts about every night to collect the dead, and carry them to a common grave or deep pit, of which several had been made in the environs of London.

The men passing3 with the cart up3 Holborn-hill, and seeing the piper extended on the steps, naturally thought it was a dead body, and tossed him into the cart among the others, without observing that he had his bagpipe under his arm, and without paying any attention to3 his dog, which followed the cart, barking and howling most piteously.

The rumbling of the cart over the stones and the cries of the poor dog soon awoke the piper from his drunken lethargy, and not being able to discover where he was, he began squeezing his bagpipe and playing a Scotch air, to the great astonishment and terror of the carters, who im mediately fetched lights, and found the Scot sitting erect amid the dead bodies, playing his pipes. He was soon released and restored to his faithful dog. The piper be came, from this event, so celebrated, that one of the first

sculptors of that epoch made a statue of him and his dog which is still to be seen in London.

37.

Mercury and the Woodman.

A man was felling a tree on the bank of a river, and by chance let his hatchet slip out of his hand, which dropped nto the water and immediately sank to1 the bottom. Beng, therefore, in great distress for the loss of his tool, he sat down and bemoaned himself most lamentably.

Upon this, Mercury appeared to him, and, being informed of the cause of his complaint, dived to the bottom of the river, and, coming up again, showed the man a golden hatchet, demanding if that were his. He denied3 that it was. Upon which Mercury dived a second time, and brought up a silver one. The man refused it, alleging, likewise, that this was not his. He dived a third time, and fetched up the hatchet the man had lost; upon sight of which the poor man was overjoyed, and took it with all humility and thankfulness.

Mercury was so pleased with the fellow's honesty, that he gave him the other two into the bargain' as a reward for his just dealing. The man goes to his companions, and, giving them an account of what happened, one of them went presently to the river and let his hatchet fall designedly into the stream; then, sitting down upon the bank, he commenced weeping and lamenting, as if he had been really and sorely afflicted.

Mercury appeared as before, and, diving, brought hin up a golden hatchet, asking if that were the hatchet h had lost. Transported at the sight of the precious meta, he answered yes, and went to snatch it greedily. But tl god, detesting his abominable impudence, not only fused to give him that, but10 would not even let12 h n have his own hatchet again,12

38.

The Dog and the Eels.

A person1 had a poodle-dog so intelligent that he was frequently sent on errands; they2 used to write on a piece of paper what was wanted, and giving him a basket in his mouth, he would3 go3 and punctually execute3 his commission. One day the servants wished to have some sport with him, and writing an order for three pounds of live eels, sent poor Fidèle to fetch them, one of the servants following at some distance. The eels were put into the basket, and the poor dog trotted off with them; but he had not gone far, when he saw some of them slipping over the edge; he set the basket down and tapping them with his paw, made them go in: he then took up his load and set off towards home. In a few moments several of the eels were on the pavement, and poor Fidèle, beginning to be enraged, took them up in his mouth, shook them well, and put them again into the basket; which was scarcely done, wher others had crawled out. At length, quite out of patience, he put down the basket, and taking the eels one by one between his teeth, bit them till they were incapable of crawling out; after this he took them home, but from that day would never more go to market.

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39.

The Dervise and the Atheist.

Atheists are those ridiculous and impious persons who, contrary to the evidence of their senses, pretend not to believe in the existence of God.

One of them was disputing with a dervise, and said to nim: "You tell me that God is omnipresent, yet I cannot1 see him anywhere;3 show him to me, and I will believe it. Again I say that a man ought not to be punished for his crimes by your laws, since you say that everything is done