dred and eighteen pupils; and five colleges with seven hundred and eighteen students, to which last classes of institutions seven hundred and twenty thousand dollars have mensuration and the clementary principles of navigation. In the 3rd, all the useful sciences, in their highest degree. To all of which is added a selection from the elementary schools of subjects of the most promising genius, been given, and the whole appropriations whose parents are too poor to give them fur- for education estimated at two and a half ther education, to be carried at the public ex- millions of dollars! What a pigmy to this is pense through the college and university. The Virginia becoming, with a population almost object is to bring into action that mass of tal-equal to that of New York. And whence ent which lies buried in poverty in every this difference? From the difference rulers county for want of the means of develop.nent, set on the value of knowledge, and the pros and thus give activity to a mass of mind perity it produces." which in proportion to our population, shall be the double or treble what it is in most countries. The expense of the elementary schools is proposed to be levied on the wealth of the county, and all children, rich and poor, to be educated at these three years gratis. The expense of the colleges and university, admitting two professors to each of the former, and ten to the latter, can be completely and permanently established with a sum of five hundred thousand dollars in addition to the pres Moral Education. In addition to the physical and intellectual, we must mention moral education. Unless based on correct moral principle, the two former will prove a curse, rather than a blesreal interests of those who have acquired sing to society, and can not much further the them. I wish to impress this sentiment upon ent fund of our central college. Our literary your minds. Could I write it there with a fund has already on hand, and appropriated pen of diamond, it would not be too indelibly to these purposes, a sum of seven hundred fixed. Young people are apt to be dazzled by thousand dollars, and that increasing yearly. appearances. But remember, the intellectualThis is, in fact and substance, the plan I pro- is much wisdom in the following lines from ly great are not always to be admired. There posed in a bill forty years ago, but accommodated to the circumstances of this, instead of Pope: that day." To Joseph C. Cabell, Nov. 28, 1820: "Surely Gov. Clinton's display of the gigantic efforts of New York towards the education of her citizens, will stimulate the pride as well as patriotism of our legislature, to look to the reputation and safety of their own country, to rescue it from becoming the Barbary of the Union, and falling into the ranks of our own negroes. To that condition it is fast sinking. We shall be in the hands of the other States, what our indigenous predecessors were when invaded by the sciences and arts of Europe. The man of education in Virginia, before the Revolution, placed her with the foremost of her sister colonies. What is her education now? Where is it? * Six thousand common schools in New York, fifty pupils in each: three hundred thousand in all; one hundred and sixty thousand dollars annually paid to the masters; forty established academies, with two thousand two hun "If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined, If all, united, thy ambition call, The whole amount of their enormous fame, Man has an elevated nature. He is a moral being. In this department, we reckon on the desires, the affections, self-love, the will, conscience, and the moral relation of man towards the Deity. Every system of education must of necessity be defective, which omits the cultivation of these principles. On this analysis of man as a moral being, much might be offered. We might represent the necessity of controlling the desires, of placing the affections on suitable objects, of confining self love within reasonable bounds, of regulating specimen of humanity is quickened into a the will by correct principles, and of listening new mental as well as moral life. Even the mind which was previously alive and vigorous, becomes conscious of a new impulse to activity, and of a new sphere in which to spend it. In finding a God, man finds the centre of all things, and henceforth the tendency of his mind is ever to harmonize the discordant, to arrange the displaced, and to assign to everything its right position in the great circle which surrounds the Deity. In finding the truth,' he finds an infallible standard by which everything is to be tested;henceforth he would fain try every pretension, weigh every claim, by its relation to this standard, and estimate everything accordingly. Unless, therefore, you do violence to the mind, and repress its activity, moral education to some extent, becomes a necessity." "The man who lives under an habitual sense of his moral responsibilities," says Ad to the admonitions of an enlightened conscience. These are all involved in a sound system of moral education, and by attending to them, we will render ourselves useful to the world. But I can not forbear particularly adverting to man's relation towards his Maker, inasmuch as on his attention to this particular, will materially depend the advantage to which his intellectual attainments may be applied. The late Dr. Thomas Arnold, who was one of the most successful teachers of modern times, kept prominently before his pupils the great fact of their responsibility to God. His "Life and Correspondence," a work with which every young man ought to be acquainted, furnishes abundant evidence of his zeal in this respect, and the beneficial effects of it upon the young people committed to his care. His biographer says of him, that "He did not attempt merely to give theo-dison, "no sooner steps aside from the busy logical instruction, or to introduce sacred words into school admonitions: his design arose out of the very nature of his office. The relation of an instructor to his pupils was to him, like all other relations of human life, only in a healthy state, when subordinate to their common relation to God. The idea of a Christian school was to him the natural result of the very idea of a school in itself. The intellectual training was not for a moment underrated, and the machinery of the school was left to have its own way. But he looked on the whole as bearing on the advancement of the one end of all instruction and education; the boys were still treated as school boys, but as school boys who must grow up to be Christian men; whose age did not prevent their faults from being sins, or their excellencies from being noble and Christian virtues; whose situation did not of itself make the application of Christian pinciples to their daily lives an impracticable vision." The eloquent and erudite Dr. Harris has very forcibly presented the value of revealed truth in awakening the energies of the human mind, and calling into exercise all its faculties in the acquisition of knowledge : "Let the gospel obtain admission into the mind, and from that moment the most torpid scenes of life, than his heart burns with devotion, swells with hope, and triumphs in the consciousness of that presence which everywhere surrounds him; or, on the contrary, pours out its fears, its sorrows, its apprehensions, to the great supporter of his existence." -Journal of Education for Upper Canada. Lines by Milton in his Old Age. THIS sublime and affecting production was but lately discovered among the remains of our great epic poet,—and is published in the recent Oxford edition of Milton's works :— I am old and blind! Men point at me as smitten by God's frown; Yet I am not cast down. I am weak, yet strong; I murmur not that I no longer see; O merciful One! When men are farthest, then Thou art most near; Thy glorious face THIRTY five years since, at which time Trade Sales date their origin, Philadelphia did the leading publishing business in America. At that time publishing was a slow and solemn business. There was a stiffness of etiquette observed in the intercourse among the Trade unknown to the present day. Innovators were springing up in out-of-the-way places, violating all the old traditions, in defiance of the nabobs. and hanging out their impertinent signs of "Half-Price Book Store," right in the face of the public. Small publishers soon poached upon the large publishers, and got ont cheap editions, and then the large publishers in very desperation got our cheaper editions still. Matthew Carey & Son were startled by the Harpers, then, as now, little respectful toward constructive ownership, who got out rival Waverleys. Railroads were not in fashion then, and the tradition is still preserved of Matthew Carey riding express from Philadelphia to New York with two wagons full of new books, and disturbing the repose of a Jersey inn-keeper at midnight for a mug of cider. New books were for several years generally sold in sheets folded and collated, and were offered mostly in that form at the Trade Sales. They had in those years what are called Trade books. These were large and expensive publications, such, for instance as Gibbon's Rome, which were published at the cost conjointly of several booksellers, who subscribed each for a certain number of copies, and paid the proportionate expense. Most of the business done between the cities of Philadelphia, New York and Boston was by trading or swapping, the money coming almost entirely from the sellers in smaller towns. Trade Sales, which were perhaps first suggested by their obvious convenience of getting rid of "dead" as well as "live" stock, had the effect of determining the commercial value of different books. It is apparent that the measure of value is not to be reached by reference to size of book and quality of paper, printing and binding. The contents may either add to, or detract from their value. Without probing the problem further, we may observe that books, like other articles of commerce, are worth what they will fetch; not what they will fetch in especial cases, but in the current market. A collection of booksellers from all parts of the country, in competition for their purchase, soon established their commercial value. In the early Trade Sales there were general rules subject to certain exceptions. Generally all amounts purchased over $100 were entitled to credit; but as the buyers made their settlements with the seller, and not with the auctioneer as at present, it was often times the case that an invoice was excepted from the general regulations and sold only for cash. The auctioneer of the first Trade Sales in Philadelphia was Moses Thomas, who, having failed as a bookseller through two editions of Johnson's Dictionary, 4to. and Svo., commenced business as an auctioneer by selling his own stock. The sales have always been, at least nominally, under the direction of a committee of publishers; but, nevertheless, the on a Game of Chess. auctioneer necessarily exercises an important The Discovery of the New World Hinging influence. This is especially to be presumed in view of his present peculiar relations. Formerly he was merely the crier; subse- ACCORDING to the old Spanish tradition, quently, the inconvenience arising from each Columbus' discovery of America is mainly invoice keeping its own separate account, sug- due to a hard-fought game of chess. Ferdigested the propriety of getting an auctioneer, nand of Spain passed the later hours of the who, for a certain commission, would take day over the chequered board; his principal the responsibility upon himself. After va- antagonist being an old grandee, whose skill rious modifications the system in present put the monarch's powers to a severe test.— usage is for the auctioneer to pay all contrib- Columbus had long been dancing attendance utors the amount of their sales in thirty days at the court in pursuit of the one aim of his after the sales have closed, and himself to take life-the grant of an expedition in search of notes from the buyers at four months. The a new world-and although he had hitherto character of this regulation clearly implies a failed in his aim, yet he had enlisted the symcertain confidential pecuniary relation between pathies and support of the good Isabella. contributors and the auctioneer, by which the Ferdinand was one of those matter-of-fact latter acquires considerable strength, and by men who objected to furthering the schemes the operation of which, in the opinion of some, of enthusiasts, and withheld his consent to a the sales have been sustained. The auction- New World expedition being formed. Poor eer, in fact, advances money which opens up Columbus would long before have sought aspretty clearly the main points of considera-sistance elsewhere, but Isabella prevented tion. him, and redoubled her efforts with her hus Otherwise the Trade Sales have developed band. The day arrived when the great navinew fields for the disposal of books. Many gator was to receive his final answer; he who attend these auctions are themselves auc-wended his way toward the palace at nighttioneers, and taking their accumulated stock, fall, more with the intention of bidding adieu get rid of it in a similar manner in the remote to his royal patroness, than from any hope of towns, or even in the large cities, at a paying success with Ferdinand. profit. Thus, the publisher finds the sales not only useful in securing a wide distribution for his selling books, but a means of getting something higher in a legitimate way, without much sacrifice of personal pride, for that for which he would be apt else to get nothing. Estimating the amount sold at the last mentioned auctioneer's and that to be sold next week in Philadelphia and Cincinnati,as making altogether $300,000, which is most probably below the mark, we shall have $600,000, as wholesale value of books sold at Trade Sales this month; this with the Spring sales would perhaps make an annual sale of $1,000,000 worth of books outside of the regular commerce between manufacturers, jobbers, and the retail sellers. These figures are amply sufficient to prove the importance of Trade Sales, and to show how this branch of the book business has increased within the last thirty-five years.-Am. Pub. Circular. Isabella had not, however, resigned herself and Columbus to defeat, and, on the latter's arriving, she immediately sought the King, who, being absorbed in a hard-fought game with the aforementioned old noble, was not in a likely mood to be bothered by the application of an importunate sailor. The Queen's interruption had the effect of merely distracting the monarch's attention, causing him to lose his principal piece, which was followed by a volley of imprecations on suitors in general, and Columbus in particular. The game grew worse and worse, and defeat seemed im inent. Now, Isabella, without ever playing, had picked up considerable knowledge of the game by watching her husband and the nobles, and when Ferdinand told her that her protege should be successful or otherwise, accordbent all her energies upon the board. The ing as the game resulted, she immediately contest had been unusually long, and the THERE is nothing certain in law except ex- courtiers clustered round the table, amused at penses and delay. the excitement of the King and the quiet sat "Sir Hilary charged at Agincourt Sooth 'twas an awful day; And though at that old age of sport Had little time to pray. My First to all the brave and proud Who see to-morrow's sun; My Next with her cold and quiet cloud Before to-day's be done; That weep when a warrior nobly dies." Some years ago we gave in the Bulletin a solution of this charade, and challenged any one to give a better or prove it was not correct. Latterly we have been repeatedly asked to republish this solution and we now comply with the request: Written for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. SOLUTION. When the two hosts, at Agincourt, Met in their fierce array, Had formed a wet and "dewy shroud" Cease all your vain regrets and fears, Looks sadly o'er the slain, And then recalls the prayer he made, With upward looks, "REST, RAIN!" Those who will study the charade and the solution, will see that the one fits the other exactly. The battle of Agincourt occured on a rainy day, or, as we often describe it, "an awful day," using the very words that Praed uses, though his for the sake of increasing the difficulty, are made to seem to have reference to the battle. The mud incommoded the English soldiers and made their horses slip, and Sir Hilary and all other "rufflers of the camp and court," who, we all know, were not piously inclined, would be more apt to pray for a cessation of the rain than for any divine interposition; so he exclaimed-"Rest Rain!" Any one who chooses to investigate the matter more minutely, may see that this solution meets all the other difficulties of the charade. Rest is promised for those that live till the morrow, and Rain together with "a dewy shroud" for those who fall that day; and what more natural than to beg the mourner over a dead warrior to restrain her grief? Till somebody finds a better solution than this, we must insist on its being the correct one.—Philadelphia Bul letin. True virtue is like precious odours-sweeter, the more incensed and crushed. |