of society has imposed. We would all fain be the easy, pleasant, happy children which we think we once were, instead of the cold, artificial, heartless beings which we think we now are. But, in feeling thus, we forget that when we were children sporting with each other, we were perpetually giving and receiving offence, from rudeness of behavior among ourselves-in other words, from the want of a conventional system of respectful manners -and that thus we were often the most unhappy wretches in the world, frequently snarling at each other, sometimes getting sound thrashings from our offended companions, and sometimes giving them, perhaps for very little fault; and, in general, only prevented from being rude and riotous, nay, sometimes, from being rank spoliators and oppressors, by the fear of punishment from a stronger hand.

If the world were only gratified in its general desire of abjuring ceremony for one day, by way of experiment, it would soon, I apprehend, find the necessity of returning to a decent degree of affectation. Suppose a respectable gentleman going abroad that morning, full of the idea of doing all kinds of things in an easy way, as he used to do when a boy. He sees an old school-fellow a little way before him on the street, and, thinking it a good joke, runs up and knocks the hat off his head, making it spin far into the highway, and then turns about and laughs in the face of the injured party. The jokee, however, has a different idea of the matter from the joker; and whereas in school-boy days it would have been settled by a slight pommeling, rendering them rather sulky with each other for a day or two, nothing less will serve in these rational days of adolescence, than a regular interchange of shots at each other, at the distance of twelve or nine paces, as he case may be.

Suppose two ladies, intimate friends, meeting on the street. One admires the other's bonnet immensely, and, as might have happened long ago in the case of a pretty cap for a doll, she endeavors to snatch it from her friend's head. The other, however, defends her property at the point of the parasol, and the end of the joke is, that the two are taken to the police office. Suppose a dinner party meeting in the afternoon of this unceremonious day, if the day has lasted so long without a return to good breeding. Instead of each gentleman conducting a lady to the dining-room, which is a horrid piece of affectation, the whole male sex goes trooping off, in an easy candid way, leaving the women to come trolloping after. Of course, the respect of the men for the women is not increased by seeing them come in at the door pell-mell like a drove of sheep; and, therefore, there is the less disposition to accommodate them with seats, or to serve them with food. The fair part of the company soon become quite indignant at the men, and attack them with all the virulence of the ancient harpies. A scene ensues which there is no describing. The greatest confusion prevails. There is a squabbling of tongues enough to deafen Babel or Billingsgate. The air is darkened with flying plates and candlesticks. At last, within ten minutes after the ringing of the dinner bell, the ladies are seen pouring out of the house like enraged bedlamites, some with their bonnets and shawls, and more without them, and the want of a little ceremony is found to have

-broke up this mirth, marred this good meeting,
With most admired disorder."

In every department and contingency of life, the

Nest of the Tchitrec.
ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS.

One of the prettiest of the woven bird's nests is figured and described by Vaillant in his splendid work on African birds; though he is doubtful what species of bird was the mechanic. The following is his account of this beautiful nest.

"It is, I believe," says he, "the nest of the tchitrec; for though I have never captured the bird of this species on the nest, and am not therefore certain of the fact, my good Klaas, a faithful if not a profound observer, assured me that it was. In one of our journeys through a wood of mimosas, in the country of the Caffres, he discovered and brought me this nest, having seen, he said, and particularly observed a male and female tchitrec occupied in constructing it. It is remarkable for its peculiar form, bearing a strong resemblance to a small horn, suspended, with the point downwards, between two branches. Its greatest diameter was two inches and a half, and gradually diminishing towards the base. It would be difficult to explain the principle upon which such a nest had been built, particularly as three-fourths of it appeared to be entirely useless and idly made; for the part which was to contain the eggs, and which was alone indispensable, was not more than three inches from the surface. All the rest of this edifice, which was a tissue closely and laboriously woven of slender threads taken from the bark of certain shrubs, seemed to be totally useless, The interior of the nest was not furnished with any sort of soft material, such as down, wool, or hair, but as the female had not laid her eggs when Klaas brought it to me, it is probable that the nest was not quite finished; a fact indeed proved by the birds being still at work at the time."

BON MOT.-The late Dr. Barclay was a wit and a scholar, as well as a very great physiologist. When a happy illustration, or even a point of pretty broad humor, occurred to his mind, he hesitated not to

apply it to the subject in hand; and in this way
he frequently roused and rivetted attention, when
more abstract reasoning might have failed of its aim.
On one occasion he happened to dine in a large
party, composed chiefly of medical men. As the
wine cup circulated, the conversation accidentally
took a professional turn, and from the excitation of
the moment, or some other cause, two of the young-
est individuals present were the most forward in
delivering their opinions. Sir James Mackintosh
once told a political opponent, that so far from fol-
lowing his example of using hard words and soft
arguments, he would pass, if possible, into the oppo-

site extreme, and use soft words and hard argu-
ments. But our unfledged M.D.'s disregarded the
above salutary maxim, and made up in loudness
what they wanted in learning. At length, one of
them said something so emphatic-we mean as to
manner that a pointer dog started from his lair
beneath the table, and bow-wow-wowed so fiercely
that he fairly took the lead in the discussion. Dr.
Barclay eyed the hairy dialectician, and thinking
it high time to close the debate, gave the animal a
hearty push with his foot, and exclaimed, in good
broad Scotch," Lie still, ye brute; for I am sure
ye ken just as little about it as ony, o' them."