times to make use of it; and we very well knew, that by getting on the wrong side, he meant doing what would ensure us a sound basting: we of course took especial care to mind which the right side was, in matters that were to come under his scrutiny. But I have often since seen some one or other of my old classmates, groping along on the wrong side of the Hedge, and faring far more miserably than they would have fared in our days of scholarship, by being found there.

But I was reminded the other day of this old maxim, by rather a whimsical incident. I rode over in the morning to the vendue at the Chesnut-hill place, where all the people round had collected, to purchase bargains and talk over the affairs of the neighbourhood. When I reached the house, the people had just returned from the meadow where the crier had been selling off some stock; and old seventy-six John, the weaver, from over the creek, had got into a cart, and with his hat off, was making a speech to the people, after the manner, I suppose, of Poor Richard.

He had told them, among other things, it seems, that they should "Keep on the safe side of the Hedge ;" and some wag, to lengthen out the scene, had just inquired what that meant, when I came up. "Do you see," said the old veteran, twisting his chew of tobacco three or four times round; "Do you see, there's Dick Donothing, who bought a barrel and a half of old whiskey this morning, and gave his note for it, as he had'nt the money to pay; I don't say he's on the safe side of the Hedge. And there's Tom Trustall, who went his security on the note: I dont say he keeps on the safe side. And there's". "But answer the question," said a dozen voices, not knowing whose turn might come next; "What is keeping on the safe side?"

"Why, do you see Sam Steady there," replied John, "driving home two fine milch cows, which he bought low, paid the money for, and will make a nice penny out of: he has kept on the safe side of the Hedge. It means, at vendues, to buy only what you want, what you can get at a reasonable price, and what you can pay for." The people all clapped hands, and the old man kept himself on the safe side, by ending his speech when he had done, and while the current ran in his favour.

There appeared to me to be a good deal of pith in what the old man said.-I have often thought of it since, and I believe the maxim might be profitably applied to numberless cases; for instance :-the man who becomes an indorser or a surety for another, except under very peculiar circumstances, gets on the wrong side of the Hedge, and on a very dangerous one too, from which, ten chances to one, he does not escape with whole bones.

The man who stands waiting, with his hands in his pockets, for a windfall, or the death of a relation; who neglects providing himself with shoes, in hopes of wearing other people's, has got on the wrong side of the Hedge; and he will, in all probability, stand till he sticks fast there.

Many people who have sold fast estate in this country, and gone to hunt a better living abroad, have travelled all the way on a slippery side of the Hedge; and four out of five of them fell in the dirt ere they got back.

But I have not room to enlarge; nor is it necessary, as every one who reads may make his own additions, inferences and comments. I close with suggesting to my reader the importance of often inquiring both in regard to his temporal and eternal concerns-" Am I on the safe side of the Hedge?"

LESSON L.

Of exercising Attention in Reading.-UPHAM.

IF attention be the foundation of memory, then we are furnished with a practical rule of considerable importance. The rule is, not to give a hasty and careless reading of authors, but to read them with a degree of deliberation and thought.- -It is the fault of some persons, that they are too quickly weary, that they skip from one author to another, and from one sort of knowledge to another. It is true, there are many things to be known; we would not have a person limit himself entirely to one science, but it is highly important, that he should guard against

that rapid and careless transition from subject to subject, which has been mentioned.

And why is it important? The intimation at the head of this section, that there cannot be memory without attention, or rather that the degree of memory will vary with the degree of attention, suggests the answer. By yielding to the desire of becoming acquainted with a greater variety of departments of knowledge, than the understanding is able to master, and, as a necessary consequence, by bestowing upon each of them only a very slight attention, we remain essentially ignorant of the whole.

The person, who pursues such a course, finds himself unable to recal what he has been over; he has a great many half-formed notions floating in his mind, but these are so ill shaped and so little under his control, as to be but little better than sheer ignorance. This is one evil result of reading authors and of going over sciences in the careless way, which has been specified, that the knowtedge thus acquired, if it can be called knowledge, is of very little practical benefit, in consequence of being so poorly digested and so little under control.

But there is another and perhaps more serious evil; -this practice greatly disqualifies one for all intellectual pursuits; the mind, having been so long left at liberty to wander from object to object, without being called to account and subjected to the rules of salutary discipline, entirely loses at last the ability to dwell upon the subjects of its thoughts and to examine them. And when this. power is once lost, there is but little ground to expect any solid attainments.

LESSON LI.

Means of improving the Memory.-UPHAM.

WE are, in the first place, to make a selection among the particulars of our knowledge.—It is unwise to try to remember every thing. A memory thus loaded may be compared to what Milton calls the Fathers, a drag-net, which comes floating down to us on the stream of time, and bearing articles of most disproportionate value, shells and

shell-fish, jewels and pebbles, sticks and straws, seaweeds and mud. It is important, therefore, to distinguish things aright; and in the multitude of particulars of greater and less value, to retain those only, which are of some real worth.

We are to refer our knowledge, as much as possible, to general principles.-To refer our knowledge to general principles is much the same as to classify it; at least this is the best mode of classification. If a lawyer or merchant were to throw all their papers together promiscuously, they could not calculate on much readiness in finding what they might at any time want.

If a man of letters were to record in a common-placebook all the ideas and facts, which occurred to him, without any method, he would experience the greatest difficulty in applying them to use. It is the same with a memory, where there is no classification. Whoever fixes upon some general principle, whether political, literary, or philosophical, and collects facts in illustration of it, will find no difficulty in remembering them, however numerous; when without such general principle the recollection of them would have been extremely burdensome.

"No

Never be satisfied with a partial or half acquaintance with things.-There is no less a tendency to intellectual, than to bodily inactivity; students, in order to avoid intellectual toil, are too much inclined to pass on in a hurried and careless manner. This is injurious to the memory. thing, (says Dugald Stuart) has such a tendency to weaken, not only the powers of invention, but the intellectual powers in general, as a habit of extensive and various reading without reflection." Always make it a rule fully to understand what is gone over.

Those, who are determined to grapple with the subject in hand, whatever may be its nature, and to become master of it, soon feel a great interest; truths, which were at first obscure, become clear and familiar. The consequence of this increased clearness and interest is an increase of attention; and the natural result of this is, that the truths are very strongly fixed in the memory. A perpetual vacillation between the honours and toils of science is a species of "halting between two opinions," that is not less injurious in learning, than in religion.

The memory may be strengthened by exercise-It is found, that all the mental susceptibilities are strengthened by exercise, much the same as our bodily powers; and the faculty of memory certainly not less than others. This fact, which seems to be an ultimate law of our constitution, reminds one of a certain Milo, an inhabitant of Crotona. This man is said to have carried an ox on his shoulders; but he could do it, only by beginning with carrying a calf.

He practised this every day; as the animal grew in size, the firmness of his joints and his muscular strength increased also; and thus he gradually became able to sup→ port such an enormous burden. And, in the same way, our minds when left to sloth and inactivity, lose all their vigour; but when they are kept in exercise, and, after performing what was before them, are tasked with new requisitions, it is not easy to assign limits to their ability.

Consider the nature of the study, and make use of those helps which are thus afforded.-This rule may be illustrated by the mention of some departments of science. Thus, in acquiring a knowledge of geography, the study is to be pursued, as much as possible, with the aid of good globes, charts, and maps. It requires a great effort of memory, and generally an unsuccessful one, to recollect the relative extent and situation of places, the numerous physical and political divisions of the earth, from the book.

The advantages of studying geography with maps, globes, &c. are two, First-The form, relative situation, and extent of countries become, in this case, ideas, or rather conceptions of sight; such conceptions are very vivid, and are more easily recalled to remembrance, than others. Second, Our remembrances are assisted by the law of contiguity in place, which is known to be one of the most efficient aids.

When we have once, from having a map or globe before us, formed an acquaintance with the general visible appearance of an island, a gulph, an ocean, or a continent, nothing is more easy than to remember the subordinate divisions or parts. Whenever we have examined, and fixed in our minds the general appearance or outlines of a particular country, we do not easily forget the situation of those countries, which are contiguous.

We find another illustration of the rule in the reading of history.There is such a multitude of facts in histor