kills his son to escape the ridicule of having twins, or to avoid journeying more slowly; in fact, to avoid a little inconvenience !"

An Indian chief, called by the French Oiseau-Noir, ruled over the Mahas with a sway the most despotic: he had managed in such a manner, as to inspire them with the belief that he was possessed of supernatural powers; in council no chief durst oppose him; in war it was death to disobey. It is related of him at St. Louis, that a trader from that town arrived at the Mahas with an assortment of Indian goods; he applied to Blackbird for liberty to trade, who ordered that he should first bring all his goods into his lodge; and the order was obeyed. Blackbird commanded that all the packages should be opened in his presence, and from them he selected what goods he thought proper, amounting to nearly the fourth part of the whole; he caused them to be placed in a part of the lodge distinct from the rest, and addressed the trader to this effect:- Now, my son, the goods which I have chosen are mine, and those in your possession are your own. Don't cry, my son, my people shall trade with you for your goods at your own price.' He then spoke to his herald, who ascended to the top of the lodge, and commanded, in the name of the chief, that the Mahas should bring all their beaver, bear, otter, musk-rat, and other skins to his lodge, and not, on any account, to dispute the terms of exchange with the trader; who declared, on his return to St. Louis, that it was the most profitable voyage he had ever made. Mr. Tellier, a gentleman of respectability, who resided near St. Louis, and who had been formerly Indian agent there, declared that Blackbird obtained this influence over his nation by the means of arsenic, a

quantity of that article having been sold to him by a trader, who instructed him in the use of it. If afterwards any of his nation dared to oppose him in his arbitrary measures, he prophesied their death within a certain period, and took good care that his predictions should be verified. He died about the time that Louisiana was added to the United States; having previously made choice of a grave for his sepulchre, on the top of a hill near the Missouri, about eighteen miles below the Maha village: and by his order his body was placed on the back of his favourite horse, which was driven into the cave, the mouth closed up with stones, and a large heap was afterwards raised on the summit of the hill.

SELF-CONTROL.

THE following anecdote of early self-command, and of most praiseworthy prudence, in one little more than a child, is told much to the credit of the wellknown Whitfield, by Southey, in his Life of Wesley. He states, that the talents of that extraordinary character, whilst at school at Gloucester-talents which made him afterwards so great a performer in the pulpit, were in some danger of receiving a theatrical direction. The boys at the grammar-school were fond of acting plays; the master, "seeing how their vein ran," encouraged it, and composed a dramatic piece himself, which they represented before the corporation, and in which Whitfield acted a woman's part, appearing dressed in girl's clothes.

Though then not fifteen, yet the remembrance of it in after days, agreeable to his own account, often covered him with confusion of face; he, at the same

time, expressing a wish that it would do so even to the end of his life.

From any risk, however, of becoming a great actor, he was saved by his own good sense; for even at that early age, he reflected that his mother, whose sole property consisted in her exertions as mistress of a small public-house, could not keep him at the university; and therefore he persuaded her to take him from school, urging that more learning would only spoil him for a tradesman. Indeed her own circumstances were then so much on the decline, that when he re-turned to the maternal roof, he was obliged to perform even the lowest menial offices; and he himself says, that he "put on his blue apron and snuffers (scoggers), washed mops, cleaned rooms, and became a professed and common drawer." Yet, strange to say, in this interregnum of learning, as it may be called, he composed two or three sermons, and had the resolution to lay aside romances and story books, such as had been his delight hitherto, and studied Thomas-aKempis.

SELF-DEVOTION.

THE renowned Sultan Baber, grandfather of Akbar, the great Mogul Emperor, was particularly anxious for the recovery of his son and heir from an illness that threatened his life, whilst on his successful invasion of India. One day, during the progress of the disease, and when the malady was apparently at its crisis, the sorrowing Sultan was seated under the shade of the palm trees, on the banks of the river Jumna, surrounded by his courtiers, when one of the most learned

mirzas of his suit observed to the Sovereign, that he had read in the works of a learned author, that the most infallible cure for the malady under which his son laboured, was to propitiate the divine mercy by the oblational sacrifice of that which was pre-eminently valuable of all the possessions of the sick individual.

The Sultan instantly observed, that his own life was that which was most valuable in the eyes of his son, and therefore, in all the fervor of paternal affection, he at once determined to offer up that as an oblation at the throne of God; not, however, by actual and premeditated suicide, but by a solemn and formal devotion of himself to God's mercy.

The mirza, and all the other courtiers, now endeavoured to convince the monarch, that such a sacrifice was unnecessary, urging the Prince's good constitution, as a powerful chance of recovery, and at the same time observing, that if the article of greatest value which the Prince possessed were indeed required for an oblation, then such might be found in the immense and inestimable diamond which the Prince had taken from the Indian Emperor, and which the Sultan had generously permitted him to retain.

The anxiety of the parent rendered him deaf to all these representations; and with the most devoted constancy, he retired to his oratory, and thence to the mosque, where he performed all the directions laid down in the work quoted by the mirza, making a formal offer, in the humblest strain, to resign himself into the arms of death, as a propitiation for his child. The concluding part of the ceremony was particularly impressive, and sufficient to have overcome the strongest fortitude; for the self-devoted monarch now walked, with a slow and solemn demeanour, three times round

the apparently dying Prince, who soon after evinced symptoms of convalescence, and indeed lived to a good old age.

That such a ceremony was really efficacious, seems to be matter of belief with the Oriental historian, who also adds, with great confidence, that the effect both on father and son, was immediate; the latter instantly manifesting that the parental oblation was accepted, whilst the former gradually sunk into declining health, which soon after led him to his grave.

SERMONS.

EVERY one remembers the story of the three black crows-an incident something similar took place in regard to Dr. Paley, of whom it was currently reported, that when Mr. Pitt, after his elevation to the premiership in 1784, made his first appearance at St. Mary's, the Doctor chose the singular, but appropriate text from John vi. 9" There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?"

So prevalent was the report, that it actually appeared in a provincial newspaper, we believe in several, so that a lady once asked the Doctor if it was really true-"Why no, Madam," replied he; "I certainly never preached such a sermon; I was not at Cambridge at the time: but I remember that, one day, when I was riding out with a friend in the neighbourhood of Carlisle, and we were talking about the bustle and confusion which Mr. Pitt's appearance would then make in the University, I said that if I had been there, and asked to preach on the occasion, I would have taken that passage for my text."

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