so easily defrauded of a friendly chat; he began at once, just as I had anticipated, to speak of the effect of the late rain on the turnips.

To all he said, I replied yes, or no, as the case required, and hoped that he would soon relapse into silence, but in this I was quite mistaken. Finding it impossible to evade his conversation, I tried to submit with a good grace, and endure patiently what I could not avoid. But here it will be well honestly to confess, that I thought very little of the farmer, and plumed myself highly on my superior knowledge. In short, I felt, in talking to my companion, like a man who confers a favour by his condescension. Such is the weakness, the folly, the pride, and the vanity of the human heart.

After speaking of the produce of the ground, of cattle, and of the high prices of some things, and the low prices of others, my companion ran into other topics, and so completely astonished me by the extent of his practical information, that I began to wonder wherever and however he had contrived to pick up so much knowledge.

He spoke of the value of human labour as compared to machinery, of the population and resources of the country, of its mines, its manufactures, and its commerce, of the poor laws, of capital, and of the influence of paper money. In

short, he got so far beyond me, that I felt like a schoolboy in the presence of his master. Yes, the very man whom I had estimated so low as to think myself greatly his superior, was as a giant on practical subjects, and I as a dwarf.

On inquiry, I ascertained that he was a man largely interested in mines, that the workmen employed by him, amounted to several thousands, that the advantage of his practical knowledge was sought by his Majesty's ministers, and that at the time when he travelled with me, he was on his way, with calculations of an important nature, to the first lord of the treasury, the prime minister of England.

I felt little in my own eyes. Oh, it does us good, when puffed up with an undue notion of our own importance, to meet with a reprimand like this. It was a rap on the knuckles that I shall not soon forget, nor do I think that from that time to this I have ever undervalued a man on account of his appearance. What my companion thought of me I cannot tell, but I know well what I thought of myself. It was altogether a humiliating affair, and taught me to prize more highly than I did before, the injunction of holy writ, "Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits," Rom. xii. 16.

ON THE

APPEARANCE OF THINGS.

THINGS are not exactly what they appear in any case; but, in some cases, they are as different from what they appear, as one thing can be from another. To know this in age is well, but could we know it in youth, it would be invaluable. This, however, cannot be expected : it is experience, and sometimes bitter experience only, that can correct our mistakes in this particular. Our very outward senses lead us astray, until they are assisted by knowledge and judgment, from the days of our infancy. A child thinks that the sun and the moon are no larger than they look to be; in his estimation, they are about the size of a pot-lid, or a wooden trencher. You may tell him, if you will, that they are bigger than the house; but you must tell him so many times over, before he will believe you.

A counterfeit may look very much like a golden coin, but there is a great difference between them, and when we have mistaken the one for the other,

we feel sadly disappointed. It is so with a thousand things in the world; they are not half so valuable as they seem to be.

In the days of my youth, when playing with half a dozen of my companions, we saw something at a distance that shone as brightly as a diamond; and a pretty scamper we had to get hold of it. A high hedge, a deep ditch, and a boggy field lay between us and that which had so much excited our attention; but had the hedge been higher than it was, the ditch deeper, and the field ten times more boggy, it would not have hindered us from obtaining the prize. After tearing our clothes, splashing ourselves up to the neck, and running till we were out of breath, we found that what glittered in the sun's rays like a diamond, was nothing more than a bit of glass; a piece of an old broken bottle! Now, I will venture to say, that you have many a time given yourself as much trouble as I did, and got nothing better than a piece of a broken bottle for your pains.

When a young man, Old Humphrey once saw a beautiful blue cloud resting on the side of a very high mountain in Cumberland, called the Skiddaw, and he thought it would be a very pleasant thing to climb up close to it; so he made the attempt: and if you have ever climbed up a mountain half as high, and as steep as he found the Skiddaw to

be, you will know that the undertaking was not an easy one. Oh, how many times did I turn my back to the mountain, to rest myself, before I had clambered half-way up its rugged sides! I did reach the cloud at last, but had not much reason to congratulate myself. That which appeared from Keswick vale a beautiful blue cloud, was, when I approached it, nothing more than a thick mist. Not only was it without beauty, but it hindered me from seeing any thing that was beautiful. The lovely valley, and the magnificent lake below me, were completely hidden from my view; and I came down from the Skiddaw, to my reproach be it spoken, in a much worse temper than that in which I had ascended it. Often since then have I got into a mist in following out the foolish inclinations of my heart. How has it been with you?

What a world of trouble we give ourselves to attain what is of little value! and disappointment works no cure; the failure of yesterday prevents not the expectation of to-day, and the blighted promise of to-day destroys not the hope of to

morrow.

Again I say, that things are not what they appear, and we willingly allow ourselves to be cheated from childhood to old age, by running after or climbing to obtain what is any thing but the thing we take it to be. Oh that we could use