When the work is concluded, a general view of the whole may be gone through, with comparative ease: the important passages must be recollected, or referred to. A sort of abridgment might be formed in the mind, and a collection of useful hints treasured there, which may be resorted to, and called forth, as occasion requires. The memory ought to be strengthened, by reviewing what it has selected again and again, and no other book entered upon, till the ends proposed by the perusal of the former have been in some measure answered.

Read for eternity: time will soon be at an end; time is to be accounted for; and the leisure of youth prepares a harvest for eternal ages. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." As reading is improved to enrich the mind, to ennoble the character, to increase the talents for the service of God here, so much greater will be the capacity for happiness, and probably for higher, nobler service, throughout a boundless eternity.

C.

IDLENESS.

God hath given every man work enough to do, that there should be no room for idleness; and yet hath so ordered the world, that there shall be space for devotion. He that hath the least business of the world is called upon to spend more time in the dressing of his soul; and he that hath the most affairs may so order then that they shall be a service of God: whilst at certain periods they are blessed with prayers and actions of religion, and all day long hallowed by a holy intention.

However, so long as idleness is quite shut out from our lives, all the sins of wantonness, softness, and effeminacy are prevented; and there is but little room left for temptation. Therefore, to a busy man, temptation is fain to climb up together with his businesses, and sins creep upon him only by accidents and occasions; whereas, to an idle person they come in a full body, and with open violence, and the impu

Idleness is called "the sin of Sodom and her daughters," and indeed "is the burial of a living man ;" an idle person being so useless to any purposes of God and man, that he is like one that is dead, unconcerned in the changes and necessities of the world; and he only lives to spend his time and eat the fruits of the earth like vermin or a wolf. When their time comes, the idle die and perish, and in the mean time do no good. They neither plough nor carry burdens. All they do is either unprofitable or mischievous.

Idleness is the greatest prodigality in the world. It throws away that which is invaluable in respect to its present use, and irreparable when it is past, being to be recovered by no power of art or nature.-Bishop Taylor.

THE LITTLE BOSTONIAN.

IN the year 1819, a decent-looking man, residing at Sturbridge, in the interior of Massachusetts, called at the house of a coloured woman in Boston, and inquired if she had not a son whom she was willing to place on his farm in the country.

He promised to feed and clothe him, and give him an ordinary school education. The poor woman, rejoiced at the prospect of obtaining so advantageous a situation for her child, gladly gave her consent, without inquiring into his character, as she ought to have done; and, furnishing the boy with all his best clothing, dispatched him on his jour ney for the country, with, as he thought, his future master. Instead of taking him to Sturbridge, as he had promised, this man placed him on board a vessel bound to New-York, and set sail with him the same day for that place.

Immediately on his arrival there, he inquired for a vessel bound and ready to sail for a southern port. He soon found one on the eve of departing for Savannah, and took the boy on board; but a change of wind prevented them sailing until the next day. In the mean time he went on shore to amuse himself, and left orders for the boy to remain in the forecastle, stating to the sailors that he was his

When the work is concluded, a general view of the whole may be gone through, with comparative ease: the important passages must be recollected, or referred to. A sort of abridgment might be formed in the mind, and a collection of useful hints treasured there, which may be resorted to, and called forth, as occasion requires. The memory ought to be strengthened, by reviewing what it has selected again and again, and no other book entered upon, till the ends proposed by the perusal of the former have been in some measure answered.

Read for eternity: time will soon be at an end; time is to be accounted for; and the leisure of youth prepares a harvest for eternal ages. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." As reading is improved to enrich the mind, to ennoble the character, to increase the talents for the service of God here, so much greater will be the capacity for happiness, and probably for higher, nobler service, throughout a boundless eternity.

C.

IDLENESS.

GOD hath given every man work enough to do, that there should be no room for idleness; and yet hath so ordered the world, that there shall be space for devotion. He that hath the least business of the world is called upon to spend more time in the dressing of his soul; and he that hath the most affairs may so order thein that they shall be a service of God: whilst at certain periods they are blessed with prayers and actions of religion, and all day long hallowed by a holy intention.

However, so long as idleness is quite shut out from our lives, all the sins of wantonness, softness, and effeminacy are prevented; and there is but little room left for temptation. Therefore, to a busy man, temptation is fain to climb up together with his businesses, and sins creep upon him only by accidents and occasions; whereas, to an idle person they come in a full body, and with open violence, and the impu

Idleness is called "the sin of Sodom and her daughters," and indeed "is the burial of a living man ;" an idle person being so useless to any purposes of God and man, that he is like one that is dead, unconcerned in the changes and necessities of the world; and he only lives to spend his time and eat the fruits of the earth like vermin or a wolf. When their time comes, the idle die and perish, and in the mean time do no good. They neither plough nor carry burdens. All they do is either unprofitable or mischievous.

Idleness is the greatest prodigality in the world. It throws away that which is invaluable in respect to its present use, and irreparable when it is past, being to be recovered by no power of art or nature.-Bishop Taylor.

THE LITTLE BOSTONIAN.

In the year 1819, a decent-looking man, residing at Sturbridge, in the interior of Massachusetts, called at the house of a coloured woman in Boston, and inquired if she had not a son whom she was willing to place on his farm in the country.

He promised to feed and clothe him, and give him an ordinary school education. The poor woman, rejoiced at the prospect of obtaining so advantageous a situation for her child, gladly gave her consent, without inquiring into his character, as she ought to have done; and, furnishing the boy with all his best clothing, dispatched him on his journey for the country, with, as he thought, his future master. Instead of taking him to Sturbridge, as he had promised, this man placed him on board a vessel bound to New-York, and set sail with him the same day for that place.

Immediately on his arrival there, he inquired for a vessel bound and ready to sail for a southern port. He soon found one on the eve of departing for Savannah, and took the boy on board; but a change of wind prevented them sailing until the next day. In the mean time he went on shore to amuse himself, and left orders for the boy to remain in the forecastle, stating to the sailors that he was his

lest he should be lost. The poor child remained there according to his directions, ignorant of the fate that awaited him; fearful that something was wrong, but still not suspecting that he could meet with any injury from the person to whom his only surviving parent had entrusted him, with the strongest injunctions of obedience. While he was in that situation, and at times manifesting his grief by tears, the pilot who was employed to take the ship to sea, when he came on board in the morning, attracted by his interesting appearance, and the mournful expression of his countenance, inquired of him the cause of his being there alone, (for the kidnapper was still on shore,) where he was going, and what was the matter with him. The boy told him his story in the simplicity of his heart; that he had left his mother to go into the country upon a farm; and that the man whom he was going with had gone away, and left him alone. The humane pilot immediately suspected the truth, took him by the hand, and led him up to a member of the New-York Manumission Society, who made himself acquainted with the particulars of his situation, and promised him his protection. Shortly after the kidnapper made his appearance in pursuit of his prey; and upon his arrival was taken before the Police Justices of the city, and committed for his offence. The boy was afterwards returned to his mother. The miserable wretch who had brought him away, in consequence of the interference and solicitations of his friends, was permitted to return home; although it was manifestly his design to place this poor child in perpetual slavery.

SPECIMENS OF OLD ENGLISH. No. XI.

A STRANGE piece of worke, and almost incredible, was brought to passe by an Englishman, borne within the citie of London, and a Clarke of the Chancerie, named Peter Bales, who by his industrie and practize of his pen, contrived and writ, within the compasse of a penie, in Latin, the Lord's Prayer, the Creede, the Ten Commandements, a