question of the authorship of the seventy-one golden verses may be, (called golden, be it remembered, not for the elegance of their composition or beauty of their flow, a popular notion which is quite erroneous, but for their purity of sentiment, and practical wisdom,) all will agree that they convey the doctrines of Pythagoras honestly; as for the symbols, and disjointed sayings, these all are believed to be traditionally authentic.

The reader will not be displeased to have a specimen of Pythagorean morals as contained in these golden verses, in their own metre: to transcribe the whole might be accounted more tedious than their curiosity would warrant.

First, honour thou the immortal gods, as a law of thy being:
Next, religiously keep thine oath, and reverence heroes:
Pay thou then the respect that is due to the dead, and their
demons:

Then honcur those who begat thee, and let thy nearest be dearest :

After all these get a friend, whoever is foremost in virtue: Yield to the modest excuse, and bow to the deeds of the useful: Hate not a friend, and cast him not off, for trivial offences : Do thy best; for fate dwells near to the line of thy power: See thou observe the above. Strive also to compass as follow: Conquer thy hunger, thy sloth, and thy lust; be master of anger: Do no deed of disgrace, whether others witness thine actions, Or thy conscience alone; above all things honour thy conscience.

In a similar strain of moral excellence, varied by sectarian peculiarity, runs the whole poem. One or

two of the riddles or symbols of Pythagoras are presented; they are too curious and too seldom to be met with to need apologetic introduction. "Sacrifice and worship with naked feet;" an evident allusion to Moses at the burning bush, and emblematical of renouncing the merit of works. " Speak not of Pythagorean doctrines in the dark :" meaning, without the light of initiation. "Stir not the fire with a sword,"-doubtless intended of angry contests, as "add not fuel to flame," with us. “Leap not over the yoke," applicable to the case of not resisting providences. "Wear not a ring," whether because among the Egyptians it symbolized eternity, or was a mark of rank, and so of pride, among the ancients, (see James, ii. 2,) does not appear. "Cut not a stick by the way," but go on your journey prepared. "Give not your right hand to any one;" so Polonius, in Hamlet,

"do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade."

"Eat not your heart," as the silent La Trappist, or lonely Stylite. "Abstain from beans,"-perhaps, because unwholesome, as pork was forbidden to the Jews; perhaps, meddle not with politics, because the bean was sometimes used for balloting: but more likely, from some hieroglyphical secret of Egypt now beyond our reach. The symbols extend to thirtynine, and some have thought that Pythagoras derived them from the priestess of the sacred island Delos.

CONFUCIUS.

-FOR thou art worthy, Seric Socrates,
Of the bright robe, and that fair coronet,
Meed of true goodness, on thy forehead set,
Worthy to walk in equal bliss with these

Thy peers, in Hades' dreamy valley met;
For thine were pure and patriot services

High worth, and generous love of doing good, Gilding the darkness of a barbarous clime That paid thee wages of ingratitude,

After the Balaam cunning of a foe

Had drown'd thine efforts in adulterous crime

For righteous weal exchanging sinful woe: Witness, ye spirits of the good and wise, None recks of greatness till the great man dies.

The substance of our motto, "We think scorn of goodness, while living familiarly with us, but praise and admire it when taken from us," a sentiment expressed by a diviner teacher in the saying, "No man is a prophet in his own country, nor in his father's house," was strangely exemplified in Confucius. This great man, who would have been a light in morals, and a champion in accomplishments even among the philosophers of Greece, flourished in wisdom among a people degraded by the grossest idolatries, about the sixth century before Christ. He was a native of Loo, one of the provinces of China, and was of royal descent. In this quarter of the world so little is popularly known of him, that it would not be difficult to find men of acquirements seriously imagining that Confutsee was a fabulous hero; but on consulting history it will be found that his character, for purity of life, genius, learning, simplicity, disinterested patriotism, and contempt of mere wealth, was one of the brightest ever produced by the heathen world. In addition to natural qualifications, there are some singular parallels to be drawn between Confucius and Socrates. Both were remarkably reformers of morals, and teachers of youth; both were accused of atheism for rejecting

the absurdities of pagan worship, and substituting natural religion; both made some advances even in anticipation of revealed truth; both were in life cast off, and in death all but worshipped by their countries; and both may be regarded as martyrs, although the death of Confucius was only a violent one ethically speaking,--for he died of grief that " he did no good, that his efforts were in vain, and the travail of life useless:" to complete the picture, both died nearly at the same age.

The reader will remember that Balaam recommended Balak (according to the New Testament commentary) to destroy the Israelites by alienating them from God by means of the Moabitish women: a fiendish counsel in which he was unwittingly followed by the king of a neighbouring province to that of Confucius, who undid all the reforms of the philanthropist by inundating his native country with the most abandoned females: in the same way Capua was a Cannæ to Hannibal; and indeed to Assyria under Sardanapalus, to the Greek states, the Roman empire, nay to the whole world in all ages, the same evils have ever operated for destruction, the same "Stetere causæ, cur perirent Funditus, imprimeretque muris Hostile aratrum exercitus insolens."

It is remarkable, that although Confucius left but one immediate descendant, a grandson, his posterity through seventy generations have lived and multiplied even to this day. They are said to enjoy many ho