entitled Le Nouveau Phosphore enflamme. A woman at Paris, who had been accustomed for three years to drink spirit of wine to such a degree that she used no other liquor, was one day found entirely reduced to ashes, except the skull and extremities of the fingers."

In chapter four we have a catalogue of diseases induced by drunkenness : Apoplexy, epilepsy, hysterics, convulsions, oneirodynia (or fearful dreams), phlegmasiæ, inflammatory diseases, as, phrenitis, brain fever, rheumatism, pleurisy; ophthalmia, carbuncles, and gutta rosacea, hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, gout, schirrus of the bowels, icterus, jaundice, dyspepsia, indigestion, dropsy, tabes, atrophia, syncope, diabetes, locked jaw, palsy, ulcers, madness and idiotism, melancholy, change of temperament, impotency, premature old age. I may close this list with what Shakespeare says on the subject.

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Reputation! reputation! reputation! O! I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part, Sir, of myself; and what remains is bestial. -Drunk? and speak parrot? and squabble? swagger? swear? and discourse fustian with one's own shadow? O, thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee-Devil!I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly: a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. -O! that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains; that we should with joy, revel, pleasure, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!-I will ask him for my place again he shall tell me I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all. To be now a sensible man,. by and by a fool, and presently a beast! O strange! Every inordinate cup is unblessed, and the ingredient is a devil."

The fifth and last chapter treats of the method of correcting the habit of intoxication.

the most dangerous nature, at once destroying the body, and depraving the mind, are the certain followers of habitual ebriety. Amidst all the evils of human life, no cause of disease has so wide a range, or so large a share, as the use of spirituous liquors. When we see dropsies, apoplexies, palsies, &c., multiplying in the bills of mortality, we must look to hard drinking as the principal agent in bringing on these maladies. More than one half of all the sudden deaths which happen, are in a fit of intoxication, softened into some milder name, not to ruffle the feelings of relations, in laying them before the public."

Many persons are of opinion that wine is a nourisher, although the book of inspiration has declared it "a mocker." Dr. Trotter observes:

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'It may now be asked, at what age ought a child to begin the use of wine? To this I must reply, that spirits, wine, and fermented liquors of all kinds ought to be excluded from the diet of infancy, childhood, and youth. Natural appetite requires no such stimulants. Human blood and healthful chyle do not acknowledge alcohol to be an ingredient in their composition. The use of these liquors is hurtful in proportion to the tender age in which it is begun. The laborious rustic, whose chief beverage is water, or milk, toils through the seasons, is never troubled with dyspeptic complaints, and never suffers from low spirits or hypochondriacal apprehensions. Why, then, will the better orders of life lay the foundation in infancy for what are to be constant troubles to their children while they live?

"When wine was first introduced into Great Britain, in the thirteenth century, it was confined to the shop of the apothecary: it would have been well had it been still confined there."

strength; but to a certainty bring on premature weariness and fatigue, with more inclination to sleep. Spirits have the same effects in a greater degree, and cause a greater consumption of pure air. In a warm season or climate, the best articles to use under severe corporeal hardships, are the acid fruits, such as the lemon and orange, apple, &c. ; or in lieu of them, vinegar and water, as practised by the Roman soldiers. In winter, plain diet, with a due admixture of animal food, and moderate exercise, are the sure security of preserving warmth of body. Spirituous liquors, though generally used, give but a temporary glow, and in the end render the effects of cold more speedily hurtful."

Let us listen once more to this temperance advocate of seventy years ago. The most stringent teetotaller of the present day could not say more.

"As far as my experience of mankind enables me to decide, I must give it as my opinion, that there is no safety in trusting the habitual inebriate with any limited portion of liquor. Wherever I have known the drunkard effectually reformed, he has at once abandoned his potations. That dangerous degree of debility which has been said to follow the subtraction of vinous stimulus, I have never met with, however universal the cry has been in its favour; it is the war-whoop of alarmists; the idle cant of arch theorists."

The following anecdote of how a lady was cured of her inebriety is very striking::

"A friend of mine, an eminent physician in the north, was consulted by a gentleman on the subject of correcting an unfortunate attachment to the bottle, in the wife of his bosom. They formally sat down to deliberate, and the doctor listened with much patience to all the ways and means that had been devised by the distressed and affectionate husband to reclaim his cara sposa. So much had been done, and so many expedients tried in vain, that the physician declared nothing further could be attempted, but to place a hogshead of brandy before her, and let her drink till she gave up the ghost! The last

part of the sentence was pronounced with considerable emphasis. It so happened that the lady, suspecting the subject of consultation to be herself, was concealed in an adjoining room, and overheard every word. The words of the physician strongly affected her; her pride was wounded, and her resentment roused to the In the

highest pitch imaginable. whirlwind of passion the chain of habit was broken in an instant; female delicacy resumed its ascendency over her actions; and from that moment she abjured the intoxicating charm. I am sorry to add, my honest friend was never after beheld with complaisance by the fair convert, though he had proved to be her best benefactor."

How to sober a drunken husband: Buffon says:

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Among the savages in the Isthmus of America, the women throw their drunk husbands into the rivers, in order the more speedily to remove the effects of intoxication.

This practice among these savages was probably tried at first as a punishment; but having observed its good effects, it was continued as a remedy. The custom of ducking a drunken husband, common enough in different parts of this island, had most likely a similar origin. It is much to be lamented that our fair country-women do not exercise their privilege much oftener."

It is sad, sad, sad, that the fine intellect of man should be clouded by drink. That the body which is designed to be the temple of the Holy Ghost, should be abused, and the term of its existence shortened by the intoxicating cup. To every one in danger I would say, Abstain! To those who are in no danger, Oh, my brother, "Drink no wine while the world standeth, if it maketh thy brother to offend."

issued from the press under the editorial supervision of two venerable ministers of the gospel, the Rev. J. A. James of Birmingham, and the Rev. Dr. Redford of Worcester, was the son of a stonemason, and apprenticed to his father, with a view to his following the same occupation. Young Jay and his father worked at the Abbey of Fonthill, in the designing, erecting, and furnishing of which, Mr. Beckford, its proprietor, lavished an enormous expenditure. It was at this period, whilst yet a lad, that Jay heard the "glad tidings of great joy,' which reached his heart, effected his conversion, brought him under the notice of the late Rev. Cornelius Winter, led to his early engagement in the great work of his preaching, and to his settlement in Bath, in the bloom of manhood, as the pastor of a church, an office which he continued for the long period of sixty-three years to sustain over the same people. During that period he wrote and published, as well as preached, much. One of his works fell into the hands of Mr. Beckford, who wrote many notes upon it, and who occasionally attended the ministry of its author.

"This man's mind," says Beckford, in these notes, "is no petty reservoir supplied him by laborious pumpings; it is a clear, transparent spring, flowing so freely as to impress the idea of its being inexhaustible. In many of these pages the stream of eloquence is so full, so rapid, that we are fairly borne down and laid prostrate at the feet of the preacher, whose arguments in these moments appear as if they could not be controverted, and we must yield to them. The voice which calls us to look into ourselves, and prepare for judgment, is too piercing, too powerful, to be resisted; and we attempt, for worldly and sensual considerations, to shut our ears in vain."

Let us glance at the career of the individual whose conscience pronounced this judgment upon a writer who had once been occupied in executing works for the gratification of the wealthy man's taste. We take it as we find it, from the volume before

us.

"William Beckford, Esq., was the

proprietor. designer, and builder of the splendid Fonthill Abbey, which cost in its erection £273,000, and the pictures, library, and furniture of which were valued at more than a million. He was the son of the famous Beckford, twice Lord Mayor of London, who reproved King George the Third on his throne, when he insulted a deputation of the citizens. Mr. Beckford, the son, who was placed, at his father's death, under the care of the first Earl of Chatham, became an accomplished man and distinguished author. His gorgeous tale, Vathek,' was written in French when he was barely twenty-two, at one sitting of three days and two nights. Byron said of it, that ‘even Rasselas must bow before it.' He wrote also Letters on Spain and Italy, Observations on Celebrated Painters,' &c. &c. He was universally esteemed a man of exquisite

His

taste and of keen discernment. splendid fortune was spent in the gratification of his taste for the fine arts and literature. Over his mantelpiece, in his dining parlour, was a picture of St. Catherine, by Raffaelle, which cost him £3,000. One who knew him well says, 'I had many conversations with him upon the subject of religion, for he was rather fond of controversy. I should say that he was an orthodox Catholic; but, like many, professed a faith he did not practise.'

He was famous for a most sumptuous .entertainment he gave to Admiral Lord Nelson. But though he . was accounted in his day the richest commoner in England, yet he sustained, long before his death, immense losses of property, and the abbey was sold to Mr. Farquhar for £330,000. The sale of its contents created an excitement throughout the nation, and during its continuance of thirty-three days, such was the influx of visitors, that not a lodging was to be had for many miles round. It is recorded that between seven and eight thousand catalogues were sold at a guinea each.

After this calamity, Mr. Beckford retired to Bath, where he ended hi days, at very nearly the same age as Mr. Jay, and where, probably, he

Well may we with Hargrave Jenning, ask, "What is life?" and reply with him, "It is but a walk to and fro upon our grave; and yet we scarcely discern the fact by reason of the verdure and flowers which hide the dark clods of the valley from view; so that we tread unconcerned and unalarmed to-day, where tomorrow we may start and writhe in our death agony; then die and be interred in our tombs."

Like flowers we wither; like leaves we fade; like butterflies we perish; for the summer of our mortal existence is soon over.

"Are not my days few?" But how am I spending them? sunning myself in sin? or living beneath the smile of the eternal God? in luxurious ease? or Christian philanthropy? in doing no harm (if such be possible), or in doing good? The noblest and divinest of these two brief delineations is life in reality; only

Life that can send

A challenge to the end, And when it comes, say "Welcome, friend!" Are these lines before the eyes of an ungodly reader? Here are thoughts that should make you tremble, and lead you at once to flee from the wrath to come. Diseases are raging; accidents are continually occurring; in fact, the chances of living a single day are fewer than the chances of dying; and what mortal wishes to stand before God an enemy to Him, and hear that dread sentence, "Depart ye cursed?"

Servant of Christ, how do these thoughts impress you? Think of the havock death has made in the circle of your friends during the last twelve months. Forget not those who died unprepared, of whom you have no hope to meet again in glory; and cease not your efforts for those who are still alive. Live righteously before them, pray for them, and plead with them.

Remember too, the regrets of those who passed away to heaven; the work they left unfinished; and act so that your regrets may be very few. Speak of eternal things more often; rebuke in love; make people feel that you are what you profess to be; be watchful; be prayerful; be useful.

There is no time to waste in idleness, or to fritter away in folly. Here is December, 1869. What have we done for Jesus? Has the fig-tree only borne leaves? Shall you, shall I, see the light of another year on earth? God only knows. Our passage through the world is swift as the flight of an arrow; the arrow falls, and our bodies must soon lie among the clods. This very hour we are nearer the grave than we were; and this may be the very last magazine we shall ever read. In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh."

Life is brief, but let it gleam with the light of holy deeds. The place

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that now knows us shall soon know us no more for ever;" but the shorter our existence here, the longer our existence in heaven. A devoted life brings nothing but glory to God. Let us live like this, and when we are dead it shall be said of us,

“The memory of the just is blessed." ALBERT.

Poetry.

ON THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR. LINES WRITTEN IN 1848, BY A LOCAL PREACHER, WHO PASSED TO HIS FINAL HOME, MAR. 28, 1869, AGED 84 YEARS.

AMIDST the cares of every day,
Our weeks and months soon pass away,
And bring us-though we often fear-
Safely to close another year.

How rich the blessings to us given
While we are on our road to heaven!
Though death, we know, is always near,
We're spared to close another year.
Many who joined with us in prayer
In the beginning of this year,
Have laid their clay-made* cottage down,
And took possession of their crown :-
That crown prepared by God above
For all who know the Saviour's love;
For those who live to him on earth,
And prove they are of heavenly birth.
Oh, happy change! O blessed day!
When we shall leave our mortal clay;
Our happy spirits then shall rise,
To join the chorus of the skies;
Shall meet our friends who went before,
And God in Christ shall there adore;
Shout victory through redeeming blood,
And bask before the throne of God.

*Job iv. 19.

J. S. Senr.

Phenomena of the Months.

DECEMBER.

DECEMBER оpens with a temperature at the average of 43 degrees, Fahr., and closes at an average of 38 degrees; the mean temperature of the whole month standing at 40 degrees.

The rainfall in December averages rather more than 2 inches. In December, 1867, there was only about half that quantity.

It is interesting to notice how the system of taking averages brings out the fact of the regular and uniform gradation of heat and cold during the year. Early in January we find an average daily temperature of 36 degrees; from this, by slow advances, it rises to 63 degrees in July and August; and from thence declines as gradually to 36 degrees again in January. There is no chance in all this it is the arrangement of a beneficent Providence, which adapts all things, according to a wise plan, for the convenience and comfort of man.

The sun rises on the 1st at four minutes before eight, and sets at eight minutes before four; on the 15th it rises at one minute after eight, and sets at eleven minutes before four; and on the 31st it rises at nine minutes after eight, and sets at twelve minutes before four. The length of day on the 1st is eight hours and eight minutes; on the 21st it is seven hours and forty-five minutes, and on the 31st, seven hours and forty-nine minutes; the total variation in its length being only twenty-three minutes.

The moon is new on the 3rd, at forty-one minutes after ten in the morning, and full on the 18th, at ten minutes before midnight. On the first Sunday it sets two hours after sunset; on the second Sunday it

shines until half an hour after midnight; on the third Sunday it rises at twenty minutes before five in the evening; and on the fourth Sunday it does not rise until soon after midnight.

The moon is near to Mercury on the 2nd, to Saturn on the 3rd, to Mars on the 5th, to Venus on the 7th, to Jupiter on the fifteenth, to Aldebaran in Taurus on the 17th, to

Uranus on the 20th, to Regulus in Leo on the 23rd, and to Saturn a second time on the 31st.

Mercury is a morning star until the 10th, but does not begin to set after the sun until the 18th, and then becomes an evening star. It sets forty-one minutes after the sun on the 31st, and is unfavourably situated for observation all the month.

Venus, brilliant and conspicuous in the western sky, sets more than three hours after the sun at the beginning, and more than four hours after it at the end of the month.

Mars sets a little more than an hour and a quarter after the sun all the month.

Jupiter rises before sunset, and sets before sunrise. This fine planet has very little apparent motion among the stars during December, and by the 5th of January, reaches a point in its orbit when it is apparently stationary to the eye of an observer on the earth, it being then at the western extremity of the elongated ellipse or loop which it apparently describes annually in the heavens to our view. After that date its motion will again begin to be towards the east.

Saturn is too near the sun for favourable observation. Sun and planet set together on the 14th.

Passing Events.

G. B. C.

Is the index ready?" inquired the printer. "Yes." The eleven months were done on that general holiday, when the world of London turned out to see the Queen open Blackfriars Bridge and the Holborn Viaduct. Yes, while our neighbours got out, we had to be at home, engaged in the very prosaic work of preparing the index. "There is a good deal of trouble in the world," a shrewd man said to us on one occasion, and went on to remark," I am one of those who wish to get through it with as little as possible." An index should not be too brief, nor too prolix. Whether we have hit the happy medium it is not for us to say. The index, however, brings with it the end of the year.

Leaving for the present the em