NO AGE CONTENT; THAT OF CHILDHOOD THE HAPPIEST.

(Earl of Surrey.)

Born, 1516; beheaded, 1547. Poems of a miscellaneous character.

LAID in my quiet bed,

In study as I were,

I saw within my troubled head,
A heap of thoughts appear.

And every thought did show
So lively in mine eyes,

That now I sighed, and then I smiled,
As cause of thoughts did rise.

I saw the little boy,

In thought how oft that he
Did wish of God, to 'scape the rod,
A tall young man to be.

The young man eke that feels

His bones with pain opprest,
How he would be a rich old man,
To live and lie at rest.

The rich old man that sees
His end draw on so sore,
How he would be a boy again,
To live so much the more.

Whereat full oft I smiled,

To see how all these three,
From boy to man, from man to boy,
Would chop and change degree.

And musing thus, I think,

The case is very strange,

That man from wealth, to live in woe,
Doth ever seek to change.

Thus thoughtful as I lay,

I saw my withered skin,

How it doth show my dented thews,
The flesh was worn so thin;

And eke my toothless chaps,
The gates of my right way
That opes and shuts as I do speak,
Do thus unto me say:

The white and hoarish hairs,
The messengers of age,

That show, like lines of true belief,
That this life doth assuage;

Bids thee lay hand, and feel
Them hanging on my chin.
The which do write, two ages past,
The third now coming in.

Hang up, therefore, the bit

Of thy young wanton time,
And thou that therein beaten art,
The happiest life define.

Whereat I sighed, and said,
Farewell my wonted joy,

Truss up thy pack, and trudge from me,
То every little boy;

And tell them thus from me,

Their time most happy is,
If to their time they reason had,
To know the truth of this.

THE MEANS TO ATTAIN A HAPPY LIFE.

(Earl of Surrey.)

MARTIAL, the things that do attain
The happy life, be these, I find,
The riches left, not got with pain;
The fruitful ground, the quiet mind;

The equal friend; no grudge, no strife;
No charge of rule, nor governance;
Without disease, the healthful life;
The household of continuance :

The mean diet, no delicate fare;
True wisdom joined with simpleness;

The night discharged of all care;
Where wine the wit may not oppress.

F

The faithful wife-without debate;
Such sleeps as may beguile the night;
Contented with thine own estate,

Ne* wish for death, net fear his might.

dex-ter'-i-ty,

PERSIAN PREJUDICES.

'From All the Year Round, July 1863.)

skill em'-bas-sy, a public message and those who carry it

ra-pa'-ci-ty, the act of seizing by force, extortion

khan, a Persian governor
suc-cu-lent, juicy

Nes-to'-ri-ans, a sect of Christians re-
siding in Persia and the Levant, who
consider Mary as the mother of Jesus,
but not the mother of God
rec'-on-cile, to make to agree

in-tol'-er-ance, not allowing others to
have opinions of their own
fan-at'-i-cism, wildness of conduct in
respect to opinions

as-trol'-o-ger, one who pretends to pro-
phecy by studying the stars
lon-gev'-i-ty, length of life
O-ri-ent'-al, Eastern
ir-ri-gate, to water crops
fa-cil'-i-tate, to make easy
de-cliv'-i-ties, slopes

sub-ter-ra'-ne-an, underground

No rank or position in life is beyond the reach of the stick in Persia, and the people really seem only to admire and respect those who have the power and the will to use it. I have seen a Persian minister whose toe-nails had been beaten off by the Shah, and whose feet were so lacerated that they festered, and he was obliged to keep his bed for six months in consequence; but he seemed to feel no anger, irritation, or shame upon the subject, but spoke of it without hesitation or reserve. 'He is a very great king, the Shah! a very great king indeed!' he would say; 'look at my feet.'

When Lady MacNiell visited the royal harem by invitation, a number of young princes were at play in the apartments of their mothers, blindfolded. Lady MacNiell enquired why the

children were thus blindfolded, and their mothers composedly replied that they were merely practising to acquire dexterity, that in case their eyes should be put out when they became men, they might be able to walk about, and be less dependent in consequence of this early training.

The King of Persia is called 'King of Kings,' and' The Centre of the World.' He often concludes an official document with the information that if the receiver does not obey the commands contained in it, he shall have a kick from which he will not recover in this world.

A kind and merciful man was, not long ago, appointed governor of a province through the influence of one of the European embassies, and he had got, somehow, many new-fangled ideas into his head. Among other things, he desired to govern with justice and moderation, as far as the rapacity of the court would allow him; and for some time, he could not understand how it was that he was so universally unpopular. There was no overlooking the fact that the people not only disliked, but they despised him. In his perplexity, he asked counsel of one of the oldest inhabitants of the city which was the seat of his government. The venerable sage, who had been brought to his presence with some difficulty, eyed him slyly. We are,' said he, 'accustomed to be beaten, and you do not beat us: we, therefore, naturally suppose that you cannot and dare not do so, and we consider it as an affront that a person of so little consequence has been appointed to rule over us.' 'If this is the case,' returned the governor, reconverted at once to the faith and customs of his country by an argument so unanswerable, 'you shall be satisfied to your heart's content; and, to mark my respect for your person, I will have you beaten first.' The old man made no objection, and, some time after, hobbled away with sore feet to tell his admirers that the governor was not really such a contemptible person as he seemed. This opinion was confirmed on the following day, when all the chief merchants were seized and flogged, after which the governor got on very well with them, till, in due time, he was, of course, replaced by one who had no European prejudices at all. These stories would have no salt in them if they were not true, but, indeed, the stick is the principal element in the life of a Persian. There was a khan with whom I was in the habit of dining while in Persia, and one day it must be confessed that the pilaff was less succulent than could have been wished. I innocently confided my sentiments upon the subject to my entertainer, and, shortly afterwards we heard some shrill cries. 'It is,' said my host politely, in answer to my enquiring glance, the cook; we shall have a better pilaff next time.' And, in truth, when I dined with the khan again, the pilaff was

quite a gastronomic triumph. The stick and its uses are so well known in Persia, that it is considered the extreme of ill manners to enter a house with a cane in one's hand.

In the Persian method of bastinadoing, the ankles of the culprit are bound to a pole from ten to fifteen feet long; he is then thrown down on his back upon the pavement, and the pole is raised and supported by men at the two ends. The culprit thus lies entirely helpless, however much he may struggle, and his legs, extending upwards, the bottoms of his feet present a fine flat surface to the application of the rod. An officer brings forward a large bundle of rods, perhaps a hundred in number, six or eight feet long, from the storehouse of the magistrate, in which they are always kept ready; three or four other officers take each a rod, and thump away till it is worn out, and then renew it from the bundle.

The late prime minister received three thousand blows with sticks on the soles of his feet for striking one of the king's servants. He was then minister for war. He was laid up for a long time, and lost all his toe-nails.

Of course the effects of torture in obtaining confessions from accused people are such as may be imagined. "How much did you steal? enquired a judge of one quivering state criminal. The man shrieked out in his agony that he had stolen one hundred thousand tomauns. The sum missed, however, was only twenty-one thousand, and he was tortured again till he named that sum. Of course such a state of things as this could only exist together with extreme ignorance, and truly the ignorance of the Persians can hardly be surpassed, though they have indeed great natural wit.

Some innocent American missionaries, who founded a school among the Nestorians, were much delighted by the cheerfulness and regularity with which three scholars, the sons of a widow, attended at their seminary, and the comfort and benefit they were glad to declare that they derived upon all occasions from the instruction provided for them. This agreeable state of affairs lasted about three weeks, when, the old lady, their mother, sent in a bill for their attendance; and upon the astonished missionaries making some objections to pay a demand so unexpected, she at once removed them from the school, saying, that they were not slaves to work all day for nothing, and that the politeness which they had hitherto shown in reading the missionaries' books for them had its limits, and was now exhausted.' The ignorance of the Persians is not less than their intolerance and fanaticism.

A Persian nobleman, who was very sick, was induced by the example of the court to consult a Frank doctor, but he begged that a Persian might be allowed to prepare the medicine which