She had not lived with Me

celebrated for her beauty. nelaus her husband more than three years before she was carried away by Paris, the son of Priam, king of Troy, which was, perhaps, the first occasion in which the Greeks united in one common cause. The inhabitants of Lacedæmon rendered themselves illustrious for their courage, intrepidity, and self-denial. From their valor in war, and their moderation and temperance at home, they were courted and revered by all the neighbouring princes. In the affairs of Greece the interest of the Lacedæmonians obtained a decided superiority for five hundred years. They were forbidden by the laws to visit foreign states, lest their habits should be softened, and their morals should be corrupted. They were remarkable for the great respect and reverence which they paid to old age. The women were as courageous as the men, and many a mother has celebrated with festivals the death of a son who had fallen in battle, or has coolly put him to death, if by shameful flight he brought disgrace upon his country. Among many festivals celebrated as Lacedæmon it was customary for the women to drag all the old batchelors round the altars, and beat them with their fists, that the shame and ignominy to which they were exposed might induce them to marry.

CORINTH was formed into a state, and governed by regular kings at a later period than the cities above mentioned. It was founded by Sifyphus, and received its name from Corinthus, the son of Pelops. The inhabitants were once very powerful, and had considerable influence among the Grecian states. They colonized Syracuse, in Sicily, and delivered it from the tyranny of its oppressors, by means of Timoleon. Corinth was burnt to the ground during the consulship of L. Mummius, 146 B. C. The riches which the Romans found there were immense.

MACEDONIA was founded by Caranus 814 B. C. and continued as a kingdom till the battle of Pydan. The Macedonian soldiers were always held in the highest repute: they resisted the repeated attacks of the bravest and most courageous enemies.

Such is the picture that Greece offers in its earliest infancy. A combination of little states, each governed by its respective sovereign, yet all uniting for their mutual safety and general advantage. Still, however, their intestine quarrels were carried on with great animosity; the jealousy of their princes was a continual cause of discord. The people, at length, worn out with the contentions of their sovereign, desired to free themselves from their wars in which they were involved by the ambition or folly of their leaders. A spirit of freedom prevailed universally over Greece, and a change of government was effected in every part of the country except in Macedonia. This monarchy gave way to a republican government, which was diversified into as many various form as there were different cities, according to the different genius and peculiar character of each people.

To

These cities, though seemingly different from each other in their laws and separate interests, were united with each other by a common language, one religion, and a degree of national pride, which taught them to consider all other nations as barbarous and feeble. stengthen this union games were instituted in different parts of the country, with rewards for excellence in every pursuit. These sports were intended for very serious and useful purposes: they afforded an opportunity for the several state to meet together; for exercising the youth in the business of war: and increasing that vigour and activity, which were of the utmost importence in deciding the fate of a battle.

To be continued.

CHAMOIS HUNTING.

THE chamois has been confined by its Maker to those icy palaces of Nature, amidst which that Maker's presence is more immediately and sensibly felt. It has always struck me that the ocean is the fittest emblem, and conveys the deepest impression of God's immensity and eternity-the Alps, of his unapproachable power, and everlasting unvariableness. In the sea, wave suc

ceeds wave for ever and for ever; billow swells upon billow, and you see no end thereof.—But magnificient a spectacle as ocean ever is, at all times, and under all aspects, still it cannot be enjoyed without some alloy. It must be seen either from a ship, in which man ventures too much; or from the land, which again breaks the unity of the idea.

The effect of the scenes among which the chamoishunter lives, is weakened by no such intrusion as this. Man's works enter not there. From the moment he quits the chalet in which he has taken his short rest, until his return, he sees no trace of man; but dwells amid scenery stamped only with its Creator's omnipotence and immutability. Nature is always interesting. Elsewhere she is lovely, beautiful; here she is awful, sublime. -Elsewhere she shrouds all things in a temporary repose, again to clothe them with surpassing beauty and verdure. But here there is no change; such as the first winter beheld them, after they sprang from the hands of their Great Architect, such they still are; like himself, unchangeable and unaproachable. Nor summer's heat, nor winter's cold have any effect on their everlasting hues; nor can the track or works of man stain the purity of their unsullied snows! His voice may not even reach that upper air to disturb "the sacred calm that breathes around"-that stilly silence which holds for ever, save when the lauwine wakes it with the voice of thunder! In such situations, it is impossible not to feel as far elevated in mind as in body, above the petty cares, the frivolous pursuits, "the low ambition," of this nether world. If any one desire really to feel that all is vanity here below; if he wish to catch a glimpse of the yet undeveloped capabilities of his nature, of those mysterious longings, after which the heart of man so vainly, yet so earnestly aspires,—let him wander amongst the higher Alps, and alone.

Scenes like these must be seen and felt; they cannot be described. Languages were formed in the plain; and they have no words adequately to represent the sensations which all must have experienced among

mountain scenery. A man may pass all his life in town, and the haunts of men, without knowing he possesses within him such feelings as a single day's chamois-hunting will awaken. A lighter and purer air is breathed there and the body, being invigorated by exercise and temperance, renders the mind more capable of enjoy. ment. Though earthly sounds there are none, I have often remarked, amid this solemn silence, an undefinable ium, which yet is not sound, but seems, as it were the still small voice of Nature communing with the heart, through other senses than we are at present conscious of possessing.

If ever my earthly spirit has been roused to a more worthy contemplation of the Almighy Author of Creation, it has been at such moments as these; when I have looked around on a vast amphitheatre of rocks, torn by ten thousand storms, and of Alps clothed with the spotless mantle of everlasting snow. Above me, was the clear blue vault of heaven, which at such elevations seems so perceptibly nearer and more azure: far below me, the vast glacier, fron whose chill bosom issues the future river, which is there commencing its long course to the ocean; high over head, those icy pinnacles on which countless winters have spread their dazzling honors; who is there that could see himself surround by objects such as these, and not feel his soul elevated from Nature to Nature's God? Yes, land of the mountain and the torrent! land of the glacier and the avalanche! who could wander amidst thy solitudes of unrivalled magnificence without catching a portion, at least, of the inspiration they are so calculated to excite ? I wonder not that thy sons, cradled among thy evermatchless scenery, should cling with such filial affection to the mountain breast that nursed them and yearn for their native cot amid the luxuries of foreign cities; when even a stranger, born in softer lands, and passing but a few months' pilgrimage within thy borders, yet felt himself at once attached to thee as to a second home; nor yet can hear without emotion the sounds that remind him of thy hills of freedom!

EXAMPLES FROM HISTORY.

HUMANITY.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

HUMANITY, or Mercy, is the first great attribute of the Deity, "who maketh his rain to fall upon the just and unjust." Consequently there is nothing that can bring a man to so near a likeness to his Maker.

A good hearted man is easy in himself, and studies to make others so; and a denial from him is better relished by his obliging regret in doing it, than a favor granted by another.

That scourge of the human race, War, is totally repugnant to his generous attribute: but it presents innumerable opportunities of its being exercised; and he who spares a cruel enemy when in his power, gains more honor than by winning a battle.

EXAMPLES.

The Senate of the Areopagites being assembled together in a mountain without any roof but heaven, the senators perceived a bird of prey, which pursued a little sparrow that came to save itself in the bosom of one of the company. This man, who naturally was harsh, threw it from him so roughly that he killed it; at which the court was offended, and a decree was made, to banish him from the Senate. The judicious may observe, that this company, which was at that time one of the gravest in the world, did it not for the care they had to make a law concerning sparrows; but it was to show that clemency, and a merciful inclination, were so necessary in a state, that a man destitute of them was not worthy to hold any place in government, he having, as it were, renounced humanity.

MARCUS ANTONIUS, the philosopher and emperor, excelled most other men in that excellent virtue; as he manifestly showed in that glorious action of his towards Avidius Cassius and his family who had rebelled against him in Egypt. For as the Senate bitterly prosecuted Avidius and all his relations, Antonius, as if they had