Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][ocr errors][ocr errors]

THE TEMPLE OF SIVA AT CHITTORE.

THE most extraordinary buildings in Chittore are two minarets, or tower temples, dedicated to Siva. The smaller of these we only saw from a distance, and were told it was now ruinous; the largest, which resembles it in form, is a square tower nine stories high, of white marble most elaborately carved, surmounted by a cupola, and the two highest stories projecting, balconywise, beyond those beneath them, so that it stands on its smaller end. There is a steep and narrow but safe staircase of marble within, conducting to seven small and two large apartments, all richly and delicately carved with mythological figures, of which the most conspicuous and most frequently repeated are, Siva embracing Parvati, and Siva in his character of Destroyer, with a monstrous Cobra de Capello in each hand. Our guides said that the building was 500 years old, but from its beautiful state of preservation I should not suppose it half that age. It is, so far as I could judge by the eye, about 110 or 120 feet high. The view from the top is very extensive, but at the present season of the year there is so much dust and glare, that a distant prospect cannot be seen to advantage in this part of India.-Bishop Heber.

BOOKS.

MANY books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason;-they made no such demand upon those who wrote them! Those works therefore are the most valuable that set our thinking faculties in the fullest operation; for as the solar light calls forth all the latent powers, and dormant principles of vegetation contained in the kernel, but which, without such a stimulus, would neither have struck root downwards, nor borne fruit upwards, so it is with the light that is intellectual; it calls forth and awakens into energy those latent principles of thought in the minds of others, which without this stimulus, reflection would not have matured, nor examination improved, nor action embodied.

Lacon.

DEATH OF CHARLES IX, KING OF SWEDEN. ABOUT eleven of the clock, on the 12th of February, he took to his bed, and within an hour after died, having spent part of that short time in discourse with his servants; after which he was heard to say, "Lord, when I can no longer speak, hearken unto my sighs," and presently expired. Had he died as Charles XII. afterwards did, the world would have resounded with his fame, and yet how much more truly heroical was his conduct in thus calmly preparing to resign his spirit, upon so short a summons, and ending his life with such a prayer!

THE POINT OF COMPARISON.

As we cannot judge of the motion of the earth, by any thing within the earth, but by some radiant and celestial point that is beyond it; so the wicked by comparing themselves with the wicked, perceive not how far they are advanced in their iniquity; to know precisely what lengths they have gone, they must fix their attention on some bright and exalted character that is not of them, but above them. When all moves equally (says Paschal) nothing seems to move, as in a vessel under sail; and when all run by common consent into vice, none appear to do so. He that stops first, views as from a fixed point the horrible extravagance that transports the rest.

Lacon.

MANUAL LABOUR.

If we take a small piece of iron and calculate the value which manual labour will add to it, we may form some idea of the perfection of steel manufactures. A steel chain made at Woodstock, was sent to France; it weighed only two ounces, and was valued at £170. The labour of the workmen had increased the value of the farthing's worth of iron 163,200 times; this sum supported the iron-founder, the white steel polisher, the steelcutter, and the hardware merchant.

One pound of pig-iron which costs about a penny, can be manufactured into watch springs of the value of £250.

RIDICULE, NO TEST OF TRUTH.

As all who frequent any place of public worship, however they may differ from the doctrines there delivered, are expected to comport themselves with seriousness and gravity, so in religious controversies, ridicule ought never to be resorted to on either side; whenever a jest is introduced on such a subject, it is indisputably out of its place, and ridicule thus employed, so far from being a test of truth, is the surest test of error, in those who, on such an occasion, can stoop to have recourse unto it.-Lacon.

HINDOO METHOD OF GRINDING FLOUR.

FLOUR is ground by the hand by several castes of Hindoos, and not unfrequently by women. The stones are round, about three cubits in circumference, and are made rough on the face with a chisel, and laid one upon another, with a hole in the centre of the uppermost to let down the corn. A piece of wood as a handle is fastened in the uppermost, by taking hold of which the person turns it round, and the flour falls out at the edges.

SELF-WILL'S EPITAPH.

It may be written upon many a tomb-stone. "Here lies the body of S. W. because he would have his own will." R. C:

Southgate.

Words by Rev. A. M. Toplady. Music by Miss Julia C.

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

By Satan's rage I stand unshook,
My hopes are founded on a rock;
Christ is the stone on which I build,
My castle, guardian, helmet, shield.

JANUARY.

ART thou, reader, in life's dawn,
Gay and blithsome as the morn,
Casting oft an anxious eye
On to life's futurity?

Have thy museful wand'rings been
In imaginary scene,

Where the fanning zephyrs play,

Where the streamlets gently stray
O'er their beauteous pebbled beds;
Where the sun his splendour sheds
From the ever tranquil skies
Till his hour of brightness dies,
But to bring the mild serene
When night's placid silv'ry queen
In her full orb'd lustre glows,
Nature's calm and sweet repose?

In the blooming of thy youth
Listen to the voice of truth.
In each bosom is a grief

That from earth finds no relief,
Restless fever in each mind,
Hopes the world can never bind.
Paradise no longer spreads
Skies of bliss above our heads;
Sin has clouded o'er those skies
Ne'er again on earth to rise.
Sin has shed his bane on all
Since the hour of Adam's fall;
With the tear bedims the eye,
Heaves the bosom with the sigh.
Brightest hours on earth are those
Which the humble Christian knows,

Or in palace, or in cot,

When all earthly scenes forgot,

[merged small][ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »