and every thing seemed to have been quite forgotten, till the dismal moment approached, that the reckoning was called for. As this solemn business concerns only the gentlemen, the ladies kept a profound silence; and, when the terrible account was brought, they left the paymaster undisturbed, to enjoy the misery by himself: only the old lady had the hardiness to squint at the sum total, and declared, "it was pretty reasonable considering."

Our citizen bore his misfortunes with a tolerable degree of patience. He shook his head as he run over every article, and swore he would never buy meat by the ounce again. At length, when he had carefully summed up every figure, he bade the drawer bring change for sixpence: then, pulling out a leathern purse from a snug pocket in the inside of his waistcoat, he drew out slowly, piece by piece, thirteen shillings; which he regularly placed in two rows upon the table. When the change was brought, after counting it very carefully, he laid down four halfpence in the same exact order; then calling the waiter, —“ There," says he, "there's your damagethirteen and two pence And hearkye, there's threepence over for yourself." The remaining penny he put into his coat pocket: and chinking it—“This," says he, "will serve me to morrow to buy a paper of tobacco."

The family now prepared themselves for going; and, as there were some slight drops of rain, madam buttoned up the old gentleman's coat, that he might not spoil his laced waistcoat; and made him flap his hat, over which she tied his pocket handkerchief, to save his wig: and as the coat itself, she said, had never been worn but three Sundays, she even parted with her own cardinal, and spread it the wrong side out over his shoulders. In these accoutrements he sallied forth, accompanied by his wife, with her upper petticoat thrown over her head, and his daughters, with the skirts of their gowns turned up, and their heads in coloured handkerchiefs. I fol

up

lowed them quite out of the garden: and, as they were waiting for their back to draw up, the youngest miss asked, "When shall we come again, papa?" "Come again?" said be. "What a pox would you ruin me? Once in one's life is enough: and I think I have done very handsome. Why it would not have cost me above four pence halfpenny to have spent my evening at Sot's Hole : and what with the cursed coach-hire, and all together, here's almost pound gone, and nothing to show for it." "Fye, Mr. Rose, I am quite ashamed for you," replies the old lady. You are always grudging me and your girls the least bit of pleasure: and you cannot help grumbling, if we do but go to Little Hornsey to drink tea.. I am sure, now they are women grown up, they ought to see a little of the world; and they shall." The old don was not willing to pursue the argument any farther; and the coach coming up, he was glad to put an end to the dispute by saying, "Come, come, let us make haste, wife; or we shall not get home time enough to have my best wig combed out again; and to morrow, you know, is Sunday." CONNOISSEUR.

A PETITION TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE SUPERINTENDENCY OF EDUCATION.

I ADDRESS myself to all the friends of youth, and conjure them to direct their compassionate regards to my unhappy fate, in order to remove the prejudices of which I am the victim. There are twin sisters of us; and the two eyes of man do not more resemble, nor are capable of being upon better terms with each other, than my sister and myself, were it not for the partiality of our parents, who make the most injurious distinctions between us. From my infancy, I have been led to consider my sister as a being of a more elevated rank. I was suffered to grow up without the least instruction, while nothing was

spared in her education. She had masters to teach her writing, drawing, music, and other accomplishments; but if by chance I touched a pencil, a pen, or a needle, I was bitterly rebuked and more than once I have been beaten for being awkward, and wanting a graceful manner. It is true, my sister associated me with her upon some occasions; but she always made a point of taking the lead, call. ing upon me only from necessity, or to figure by her side.

But conceive not, sirs, that my complaints are instigated merely by vanity-No; my uneasiness is occasioned by an object much more serious. It is the practice in our family, that the whole business of providing for it's subsistence falls upon my sister and myself. If any indisposition should attack my sister (and I mention it in confidence upon this occasion, that she is subject to the gout, the rheumatism, and cramp, without making mention of other accidents), what would be the fate of our poor family? Must not the regret of our parents be excessive, at having placed so great a difference between sisters, who are so perfectly equal? Alas! we must perish from distress: for it would not be in my power even to scrawl a suppliant petition for relief, having been obliged to employ the hand of another in transcribing the request, which I have now the honour to prefer to you.

Condescend, sirs, to make my parents sensible of the injustice of an exclusive tenderness, and of the necessity of distributing their care and affection among all their children equally.

I am, with a profound respect,

Sirs,

Your obedient servant,

The Left Hand.

Dr. FRANKLIN.

BOOK IV.

DESCRIPTIVE AND PATHETIC.

DESCRIPTION OF ANCIENT GERMANY.

ANCIENT Germany, excluding from it's independent limits the province westward of the Rhine, which had submitted to the Roman yoke, extended itself over a third part of Europe. Almost the whole of modern Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Livonia, Prussia, and the greater part of Poland, were peopled by the various tribes of one great nation, whose complexion, manners, and language, denoted a common origin, and preserved a striking resemblance. On the west, ancient Germany was divided by the Rhine from the Gallic, and on the south, by the Danube, from the Illyrian provinces of the empire. A ridge of hills rising from the Danube, and called the Carpathian mountains, covered Germany on the side of Dacia, or Hungary. The eastern frontier was faintly marked by the mutual fears of the Germans and the Sarmatians, and was often confounded by the mixture of warring and confederating tribes of the two nations. In the remote darkness of the north, the ancients imperfectly descried a frozen ocean, that lay beyond the Baltic sea, and beyond the peninsula, or islands of Scandinavia.

Some ingenious writers have suspected, that Europe was much colder formerly than it is at present; and the most ancient descriptions of the climate of Germany tend exceedingly to confirm their theory. The general com

plaints of intense frost, and eternal winter, are, perhaps, little to be regarded, since we have no method of reducing to the accurate standard of the thermometer, the feelings or the expressions of an orator born in the happier regions of Greece or Asia. But I shall select two remarkable circumstances, of a less equivocal nature. 1st, The great rivers, which covered the Roman provinces, the Rhine and the Danube, were frequently frozen over, and capable of supporting the most enormous weights. The Barbarians, who often chose that severe season for their inroads, transported, without apprehension or danger, their numerous armies, their cavalry, and their heavy waggons, over a vast and solid bridge of ice. Modern ages have not presented an instance of a like phenomenon. 2dly, The rein-deer, that useful animal, from whom the savage of the north derives the best comforts of his dreary life, is of a constitution, that supports, and even requires the most intense cold. He is found on the rock of Spitzberg, within ten degrees of the pole. He seems to delight in the snows of Lapland and Siberia; but at present he cannot subsist, much less multiply, in any country to the south of the Baltic. In the time of Cæsar, the rein-deer, as well as the elk and the wild bull, was a native of the Hercynian forest, which then overshadowed a great part of Germany and Poland. The modern improvements sufficiently explain the causes of the diminution of the cold. These immense woods have been gradually cleared, which, intercepted from the earth the rays of the sun. The morasses have been drained, and, in proportion as the soil has been cultivated, the air has become more temperate. Canada, at this day, is an exact picture of ancient Germany. AIM though situate in the same parallel with the finest provinces. of France and England, that country experiences the mostrigorous cold. The rein-deer are very numerous, the ground is covered with deep and lasting snow, and the