a man of thirty might be expected to look- married as he is to the woman of his choice, and in the possession of an easy fortune. 3. Poor fellow! I did not know that his wife EI was a precisian.EI The first hint I received of the fact was from Mr. S., who, removing my hat from the first peg in the hall to the fourth, observed, " My wife is a little particular in these matters; the first peg is for my hat, the second for William's, the third for Tom's, and you can reserve the fourth, if you please, for your own: ladies, you know, do not like to have their arrangements interfered with." 4. I promised to do my best to recollect the order of pre-ce'dence with respect to the hats, and walked up stairs, impressed with an awful veneration for a lady who had contrived to impose so rigid a discipline on a man formerly the most disorderly of mortals. I mentally resolved to obtain her favor by the most studious observance of her wishes. 5. I might as well have determined to be Emperor of China! Before the week was at an end, I was a lost man. I always reckon myself tolerably tidy; never leaving more than half my clothes on the floor of my dressing-room, nor more than a dozen books about any apartment I may happen to occupy for an hour. I do not lose more than a dozen handkerchiefs in a month; nor have more than a quarter of an hour's hunt for my hat or gloves, whenever I am going out in a hurry. ΕΙ 6. I found all this was but as dust in the balance. The first 35 time I sat down to dinner, I made a horrible blunder; for, in my haste to help my friend to some asparagus, I pulled a dish a little out of its place, thereby derānging the exact hexag'onal "I order in which the said dishes were arranged. I discovered my mishap on hearing Mr. S. sharply rebuked for a similar offence. ΕΙ 7. Secondly, I sat, the whole evening, with the cushion a full finger's length beyond the cane-work of my chair; and, what is worse, I do not know that I should have been aware of my delinquency, if the agony of the lady's feelings had not overpowered every consideration, and at last compelled her to burst forth, "Excuse me, Mr. ,* but do, pray, put your cushion straight: it annoys me beyond measure to see it otherwise!" ΕΙ 8. My third offence was displacing the snuffer-stand from its central position between the candlesticks; my fourth, leaving a pamphlet I had been perusing on the pianoforte; its proper place being a table in the middle of the room, on which all books *In reading aloud, the word Blank may be sometimes substituted (as in this instance) for a mark of Ellipsis. See ¶ 147, Part I. THE PARTICULAR LADY. 135 in present use were ordered to repose; my fifth-but, in short, I should never have done, were I to enumerate every separate enormity of which I was guilty. My friend S.'s drawing-room has as good a right to exhibit a placard of "steel traps and spring guns as any park I am acquainted with. ΕΙ EI 9. Even those chartered libertines," the children and dogs, were taught to be as demure 1 and hypocritical as the ma'tronly tabby-cat herself, who sat with her two fore-feet together and her tail curled round her, as exactly as if she had been worked in an urn-rug, instead of being a living mouser. It was the utmost stretch of my friend's măr'ital authority to get his favorite spaniel admitted to the honor of the parlor ; I and even this privilege is only granted in his master's presence. If Carlo happens to pop his unlucky brown nose into the room when S. is from home, he retreats directly, with as much consciousness in his ears as if he had been convicted of larceny in the kitchen, and anticipated the application of the broomstick. 10. As to the children, I believe that they look forward to their evening visit to the drawing-room with much the same sort of feeling. Not that Mrs. S. is an unkind mother, or, I should rather say, not that she means to be so; but she has taken it into her head that, as young people have sometimes short memories, it is necessary to put them verbally in mind of their duties," from morn till dewy eve." 33 11. So it is with her servants. If one of them leaves a broom or a duster out of its place for a second, she hears of it for a month afterwards. I wonder how they endure it! I have sometimes thought that, from long practice, they do not heed it, as a friend of mine who lives in a bustling street in the city tells me he does not hear the noise of the coaches and carts in front of his house, nor even of a brazier who hammers away in his near neighborhood from morning till night. EI 12. The worst of it is, that while Mrs. S. never allows a moment's peace to her husband, children, or servants, she thinks herself a jewel of a wife; but such jewels are too costly for every-day wear. I am sure poor S. thinks so in his heart, and would be content to exchange half a dozen of his wife's tormenting good qualities, for the sake of being allowed a little commonplace repose. 13. I never shall forget the delight I felt on entering my own house, after enduring her thraldom E for two months. I absolutely revelled in disorder. I tossed my hat one way, my gloves another; pushed all the chairs into the middle of the room, and narrowly escaped cuffing my faithful Christopher for offering to put it in order" again" straightening," as they call it in Cheshire. That awful 97 ❝ spirit of order"! For my own part, I do so execrate the phrase, that if I were a member of the House of Commons, and the "order" of the day were called for, I should make it a "rule" to walk out. LIII.-THE FATHER'S RETURN FROM A FOREIGN LAND. 1. O JOYFUL hour when to our longing home The long-expected wheels at length drew nigh! When the first sound went forth, "They come, they come!" "Never had man whom Heaven would heap with bliss 2. Aloft on yonder bench, with arms dispread, My boy stood, shouting there his father's name, And there, a younger group, his sisters came; 3. Soon each and all came crowding round to share Life hath no purer, deeper happiness. 4. Bring forth the treasures now, a proud display, For rich as Eastern merchants we return! ΕΙ ΕΙ ΕΙ 5. The tumbler, loose of limb; the wrestlers twain 6. It was a group which Richter, I had he viewed, ODE TO PEACE. 7. The aged friend serene, with quiet smile, Who in their pleasure finds her own delight With glib and noisy tongue performed the showman's part! 8. Scoff ye who will! but let me, gracious Heaven, Shall still direct and cheer me on my way, SOUTHEY. 137 THE bird, let loose in Eastern skies, when hastening fondly home, Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies where idle warblers roam; But high she shoots through air and light, above all low delay, Where nothing earthly bounds her flight, nor shadow dims her way. So grant me, God, from every care and stain of passion free, 3. The great, the gay, shall they partake That murmurs through the dewy mead, 4. For thee I panted, thee I prized, Whate'er 141 I loved before; And shall I see thee start away, And, helpless, hopeless, hear thee say- COWPER. LVI.-SPIRIT THE MOTIVE POWER OF THE BODY. 1. A MACHINE is a combination of parts composed of material substances, solid or fluid, or bōth, as the case may be; having certain definite forms and arrangements, and possessing certain capabilities of transmitting force or motion. Its objects are to move, press, sustain, combine, divide, or otherwise, those substances to which it is applied. But the machine itself, merely as such, cannot accomplish this. ΕΙ 2. It possesses not its own principle of motion; it cannot urge its own lēvers, or stretch its own cords, or turn its own wheels, or put its own fluids into circulation. The application of some efficient cause, extrinsic to and altogether distinct from the machine itself, is necessary to accomplish this. This extrinsic cause, whatever it be,. from which the machine derives its motion and efficacy, is called the prime mover. 3. The point on which I desire now to fix your attention is, that this prime mover is altogether distinct from and independent of the machine; that it possesses, or at least may possess, no property in common with it; and that its existence, or nonexistence, is not decided by the existence or non-existence of the machine. 4. The machine may be broken, destroyed, worn by age, or otherwise disabled, and yet the prime mover may still retain its original energy. Thus a steam-engine is moved by fire, a mill by wind or water; the steam-engine may de-te'riorate by age, and the mill be broken by accident, and yet the fire, and the wind, and the water, will still preserve their powers. 5. These observations, which correctly describe a machine, may with propriety be applied to the human body. This body is also a combination of parts, composed of material substances, solid and fluid, having certain definite forms and arrangements, possessing certain capabilities of motion and force, destined and |