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2. “Impossible'!" “Năy, but it's really true';

I had it from good hands, and so may you."
“From whose', I pray'?” So, having named the man,
Straight to inquire his curious comrade ran.
“Sir', did you tell”—relating the affair -
"Yes', sir', I did'; and if it's worth your care,
Ask Mr. Such-a-one'; he told it me;

But, by-the-by, 'twas two' black crows, not three'."
3. Resolved to trace so wondrous an event,

Whip to the third the virtuoso went.
“Sir”-and so forth—“Why, yes; the thing is fact,
Though in regard to number not exact;
It was not two black crows'; 'twas only one';
The truth of that you may depend' upon:
The gentleman himself told me the case.'

“Where may I find' him ?” “Why, in such a place.”
4. Away he goes, and having found him out-

“Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt."
Then to his last informant he referred,
And begged to know if true what he had heard.
“Did you, sir, throw up a black crow' ?” “Not' I'!”
“Bless' me! how people propagate a lie'!
Black crows have been thrown up, three, two, and one,
And here I find at last all comes to none !
Did you say nothing of a crow at all'?”
“Crów-crow-perhaps I might', now I recall
The matter over'.” “And pray, sir, what was 't ?”
“Why, I was horrid sick, and, at the last,
I did throw up, and told my neighbor' so,
Something that was as black, sir, as a crow.”—BYROM.

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LESSON VII.-WHAT IS A GENTLEMAN? 1. A GENTLEMAN is just a gentle-man; no more, no less; a diamond polished, that was first a diamond in the rough. A

A gentleman is gentle. A gentleman is modest. A gentleman is courteous. A gentleman is generous. A gentleman is slow to take offense, as being one that never gives it. A gentleman is slow to surmise evil, as being one that never thinks it. A gentleman goes armed only in consciousness of right. A gentleman subjects his appetites. A gentleman refines his taste. A gentleman subdues his feelings. A gentleman deems every other better than himself.

2. Sir Philip Sidney was never so much a gentleman-mirror though he was of England's knighthood—as when, upon the field of Zutphen, as he lay in his own blood, he waived the draught of cold spring water that was brought to quench

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his mortal thirst in favor of a dying soldier. St. Paul described a gentleman when he exhorted the Philippian Christians: “Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”—G. W. DOANE.

LESSON VIII.—WHAT IS TIME ? 1. I ASKED an aged man, a man of cares,

Wrinkled and curved, and white with hoary hairs ;

*Time is the warp of life,” he said : “oh tell
The young, the fair, the gay, to weave it well.!”
I asked the ancient venerable dead',
Sages who wrote', and warriors who bled';
From the cold grave a hollow murmur flowed,

“ Time sowed the seed we reap in this abode !"
2. I asked a dying sinner, ere the tide

Of life had left his veins: “Time!” he replied,
" I've lost' it! ah! the treasure'!" and he died.
I asked the golden sun, and silver spheres,
Those bright chronometers of days and years :
They answered, “ Time is but a meteor glare !"

And bade us for eternity prepare.
3. I asked a spirit lost'; but oh the shriek

That pierced my soul'! I shudder while I speak!
It cried, “A particle'! a speck'! a mite
Of endless years, duration infinite !"
Of things inanimate, my dial I
Consulted, and it made me this reply :
“Time is the season fair of living well',

The path of glory', or the path of hell'."
4. I asked old Father Time himself, at last,

But in a moment he flew swiftly past;
His chariot was a cloud, the viewless wind
His noiseless steeds, which left no trace behind.
I asked the mighty angel, who shall stand
One foot on sea, and one on solid land;
“By heavens !” he cried, “I swear the mystery's o'er;
Time was,” he cried, “but TIME SHALL BE NO MORE!”

MARSDEN.

TIME is the cradle of hope', but the grave of ambition'; the salutary counselor of the wise', but the stern corrector of fools'. Wisdom walks before it', opportunity with it', and repentance behind' it: he that has made it his friend', will have little to fear from his enemies'; but he that has made it his enemy', will have but little to hope from his friends'.-LACON.

PART II.

THIRD DIVISION OF ZOOLOGY;

EMBRACING

HERPETOLOGY,
OR THE NATURAL HISTORY OF REPTILES.

[For the 1st and 2d Divisions of Zoology, see Third and Fourth Readers.)

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FOUR ORDERS OF THE REPTILE RACE. — The Lizard; the Freshwater Terrapin, or Turtle; the Adder; and a South American Frog, with “horned eyelids."

LESSON I.-INTRODUCTORY VIEW. 1. The two divisions of animal life already described in the Third and Fourth Readers embrace the Mammalia and the Birds, which are called the warm-blooded Vertebrates, 1 because they have warm blood, and a jointed back-bone or spinal column. The third division, which is composed of the REPTILES, and the fourth, which is composed of the FISHES, embrace the cold-blooded Vertebrates, which are so called because a spinal column, more or less apparent,2 is found in all of them, and their natural temperature,3 although

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their blood is red, is but little, if at all, above that of the atmosphere or water in which they dwell. To our touch they appear decidedly cold. In this and a few succeeding lessons we are to treat of Herpetology, or the natural history of reptiles.

2. “It can not be denied,” says Swainson,“ that the form which nature has assumed in this division of animal life is associated in most minds with deformity or with horror. Yet, however the bulk of mankind may turn with disgust from the contemplation of these creatures, the philosophic observer, who knows that every thing which has proceeded from the hand of Omnipotence is, in its kind, good and perfect, will patiently investigate their history, and will endeavor to illustrate, in these despised and repulsive animals, those sublime truths of UNITY OF PLAN, which are as perfect and apparent in the character of a loathsome reptile as in the formation of a Paradise-bird.”

3. The skeleton of reptiles presents much greater variations in structures than are found in the warm-blooded vertebrates. Indeed, all the parts of which the skeleton of reptiles is composed, excepting the head and the vertebrated column and ribs, are wanting in one or another group; yet in such of the bones as are found we may trace a striking resemblance to the corresponding bones of mammalia and birds. Throughout all the divisions of animal life the changes of form are very gradual.

4. Although reptiles, with the exception of amphibians during a part of their existence, breathe by means of lungs, their circulating apparatus is not so perfect as in the mammalia and birds; for although the heart, in all but the amphibians, has two auricles, it has but one ventricle,8 into which both of the auricles open, and where the pure and impure blood are mingled, and then sent in part to the lungs, and in part to the body. The veins and arteries of reptiles, therefore, are not filled with pure red blood, like those of the mammalia and birds, but with an imperfect fluid not so well adapted to give them a high degree of life and vigor. Hence, as the animal heat is always in proportion to the quantity of respiration—to the amount of oxygen or fuel consumed reptiles are comparatively cold-blooded. Their lungs are small; their circulation is slow; and as they consume less air than the mammalia, they are capable of living for a longer time without it.

5. In all cold blooded animals, the vital principle is much

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stronger than in those whose blood is warm. Their heart pulsates, in some cases, for many hours after it has been removed from the body; the tortoise will continue to live, and exhibit voluntary motion, for a considerable time after having lost its head. The physiologist Lewes affirms that a frog moved about voluntarily the day after he had removed its brain; and one was kept alive forty days after having been subjected to the total deprivation of its lungs. As might be expected from the character of their blood, its slow circulation, and the smallness of the brain, reptiles are in general sluggish and indolent in their habits of life, and obtuse in their sensations; and in cold countries they pass a great part of the winter in a dormant10 state. Almost all reptiles are carnivorous.11 They produce their young from eggs, which they generally deposit in warm sandy places, leaving them to be hatched by the warmth of the atmosphere.

6. Reptiles have been divided, by most naturalists, into the following four orders or classes: first, the Chelonians, or tortoises; second, the Saurians, or lizards, which embrace the crocodiles; third, the Ophidians, or serpents; and fourth, the Amphibians, which embrace the frogs, toads, salamanders, and sirens-animals which undergo a wonderful transformation12 at a certain period of their lives, from the nature and habits of fishes to those of the true land reptiles. Think not that the study of the nature, character, and habits of such creatures is unworthy the human intellect: they form links in the great chain of animated nature; and the great whole of this most interesting portion of God's creation can not be understood without a knowledge of the parts of which it is composed. We may well apply to this subject Pope's celebrated lines