simplicity; it is only an image of it, and cannot represent its greatness. Those who cannot find the substance pursue the shadow, and shadow as it is, it has a charm, for it bears some resemblance to the reality they have missed. A person full of defects who does not attempt to hide them, who does not seek to dazzle, who does not affect either talents or virtue, who does not appear to think of himself more than of others, but to have lost sight of this self of which we are so jealous, pleases greatly in spite of his defects, for this false simplicity is taken for the true. On the contrary, a person full of talents, of virtues and of exterior graces, if he appear artificial, if he seem to be thinking of himself-though he may affect the very best things-is a tedious and wearisome companion whom no one likes.

8. True simplicity manifests itself not only in the inward but in the outward man. As the mind is freed from its besetting selfhood we act more naturally, all art ceases, and, by a sort of directness of purpose that is inexplicable to those who have not experienced it, we act aright without thinking of what we are doing. To shallow observers we may appear less simple than those who have a more grave and practiced manner; but such misconceptions arise from taking the affectation of modesty for modesty itself, from an ignorance of genuine simplicity. This genuine simplicity may sometimes appear careless and irregular, but it has the charm of truth and candor, and sheds around it I know not what of pure and innocent, of cheerful and peaceful, a loveliness that must ever win us when we see it intimately and with pure eyes. How desirable is this simplicity! Who will give it to me? I will surrender all else for this one precious possession. It is the pearl of great price. FÉNELON.

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Engross: to make great, h. to absorb; fr. en and gross; fr. the F. gros, large; L. L. gros'sus, L. cras'sus, thick. To engross may also mean to copy in a large hand. . . . Vouchsafe: fr. vouch and safe; L. vo'co sal'vum, I call and warrant safe; F. sauf, safe.

Lexington, fourteen miles distant, by stage, and from Lynchburg, by canal boat, thirty-six miles. "It is on the ascent of a hill," says Jefferson, "which seems to have been cloven through its length by some great convulsion. The fissure just at the bridge is, by some admeasurements, 270 feet deep, by others only 205. It is about forty-five wide at the bottom and ninety feet at the top; its breadth at the middle is about sixty feet, but more at the ends, and the thickness of the mass at the summit of the arch is about forty feet. A part of this thickness is constituted by a coat of earth which gives growth to many large trees. The residue, with the hill on both sides, is one solid rock of limestone.

2. "Though the sides of this bridge," continues Jefferson, are provided in some parts with a parapet of fixed rocks, yet few men have resolution to walk to them and look over into the abyss. You involuntarily fall on your hands and feet, creep to them and peep over." Notwithstanding this, tradition relates that Miss Randolph, a young Virginia belle, once showed that she could perform the feat of walking or rather bounding to the edge without losing her head. A party of young ladies and gentlemen were standing aloof from this dizzy brink, when one of the gallants, pointing to the broken stump of a huge cedar on the jagged abutment, separated by an intervening cleft from the main structure, remarked that probably no one could be found so daring as to venture to stand upright on that stump.

3. Hardly had the words been uttered when, with a mocking laugh, Miss Randolph brushed by him, her silken scarf fluttering in the air, and at one bound reached and stood erect on the dizzy pinnacle. Her companions grew pale with dismay at seeing her, so inevitable did death appear. For an instant she stood there, riding-whip in hand, her eyes sparkling with mischievous triumph, and then, with a single bound, she regained her former position, and asked if any gentleman could do as much. They all showed their good sense by declining to make the attempt.

4. Several venturesome persons have tried to reach the sum

mit of the great arch by climbing the rocky sides. This has never yet been done, but a considerable distance has been attained by bold climbers, who have recorded their prowess by cutting their names on the surface at the highest point reached by them. High up among these, it is said, may be found the name of George Washington, who, while yet a youth, made the hazardous attempt. And there is a story of a lad who climbed so high that though he could hear the voices he could not hear the words of his companions below. With his knife he made niches in the rock for his feet, but at last the blade was used up and he knew of no way of either ascending or descending in safety. While in this predicament the report of his situation brought neighbors and members of his own family to his relief, and at last a rope with a noose was lowered to him, and with a last convulsive effort the half-swooning boy succeeded in securing it under his arms, so that he was safely drawn up on to the bridge out of harm's way.

5. In the year 1818, Mr. James Piper, then a student of Washington College, is said to have reached a point which, to his companions far beneath, seemed directly under the great arch. He was far above the names cut on the stone-fully fifty feet above that of Washington—and, standing upon a ledge which appeared to his fellow-students but a few inches in width, he shouted aloud, waving one hand in triumph while with the other he clung to the face of the precipice. They shouted back to him, begging him to descend, but he only replied by laughter. They then saw him continue the ascent, clinging to every object at hand, until he reached a cleft almost directly beneath the cedar stump which we have mentioned as the scene of Miss Randolph's daring adventure. His ambition, however, was not satisfied yet.

6. He had not ascended the rock to inscribe his name upon it, but with the design of immortalizing himself by mounting from the bottom to the top of the Natural Bridge. He accordingly continued, working his way up through clefts in the huge mass of rock. These were just sufficient, in many places, to permit the passage of his body. Huge roots from

the trees above, protruding through splits in the mass, intertwined and half obstructed the openings. Without venturing to look into the hideous gulf beneath him, the young man fought his way on, piercing by main force the dark clefts, crawling along narrow ledges, springing from abutment to abutment, until finally he stopped at an elevation of one hundred and seventy feet from the earth below.

7. Here he was seen to look upward, but he did not move. His heart had failed him. Instead of designing any farther ascent, his only ambition now was, plainly, to descend in safety, if possible, from his frightful perch. To look beneath would have been certain death. The first glance would have made him dizzy. Under these circumstances he acted with nerve and presence of mind. He slowly and cautiously took off first one shoe and then the other, next drew off his coat, and these he threw from him into the gulf beneath, without daring to look in the direction in which they fell. Then clinging close to the face of the precipice, and balancing his body carefully as he placed each foot down and raised it up, he tottered along inch by inch, hanging between life and death, until he reached a friendly cleft.

8. Here pausing for a moment to brace his nerves, he continued his way in the same cautious manner, followed by the eyes of his pale and terrified friends, when, all at once sinking from view in a cleft, he re-appeared there no more. A cry arose from beneath; he was lost, it seemed-must have fallen into one of the huge fissures and been dashed to pieces. His friends gave him up, and anguish had succeeded to their long suspense, when, suddenly, from behind a clump of evergreens extending like a screen across the narrow opening between two towering rocks, appeared the young student, safe, sound and smiling after his perilous feat, during which he had stood face to face with the most terrible of deaths.

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Belle: F.; fr. L. bellus, beautiful. . . . Cedar : L. ce'drus; Gr. kěd'ros. Dismay: Sp. desmayo, a fainting fit. . . Parapet: a wali breast high; It. parapetto; fr. para, a defence, and petto. the breast. Prowess: F. prouesse; fr. L. prod-es'se, to be of use. Scarf: F. escharpe, a beggar's scrip or bag, a scarf.

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