Mr. Stoddard hearing there was to be a great race, and having duly cautioned his people against it at the close of the service, which notice had the effect of making the event more known and of calling a larger number together, on his return from church ordered Jethro to saddle his horse, and started off for the race-ground. There were two roads that led to it, ➡a short one that run to the foot of the race-ground, and a longer one that led to its head. Mr. Stoddard took the latter, and Je, thro, suspecting that his master was going to forbid the race and lecture the racers, ran down on the former. He found the men on their horses, and all prepared for the trial of speed; but great was their consternation on hearing of Mr. Stoddard's approach. Recollecting, however, that his horse was always eager for the race, they rode up hastily to the head of the race. ground, placed themselves in order, and the moment that Mr. Stoddard came up the word was given, and off the horses started, and, in spite of all he could do, Mr. Stoddard's with them. He clutched the mane, and held on. His horse came out ahead; and the first thing he saw was Jethro, swinging his hat and shouting out, "Massa Stoddard 's beat 'em all!" Mr. Stoddard thought it prudent forthwith to retire, but he never heard the last of his horse-racing on Sunday.

A WOMAN'S ARTIFICE.

IN the time of the Bloody Mary, the Protestants resorted to all arts to screen one another from the cruel persecutions upon which that queen was bent. Burnet, in his History of the Reformation, tells a pleasant story, which we must give in his own words. "Nor were they satisfied with all these arts of cruelty in England; but hearing that there were Protestants in Ireland, one Cole was sent over with a commission to set a persecution on foot there. When he was at Chester, the corporation waited on him, in respect to his being sent by the queen.

He showed them his powers and letters to the government of Ireland; but leaving his papers on the table when he went, in respect to this body, to conduct them down stairs, the mistress of the house, being secretly a zealous woman, did, with a particular address, make up a packet like his, in which she put a pack of cards, the knave of clubs being turned uppermost; and so she took away his papers, putting this in stead of them. He, suspecting nothing, nor looking into them, proceeded on to Dublin, and delivered his message and packet to the council there, which were certainly received with scorn and indignation. He came back to London and got new papers a few days before the queen's death; for the news of it overtook him before he had his passage. The levity of this story made me at first suspect it, till I found it in several books, in which it is said that the woman had for this service a pension from Queen Elizabeth."Burnet's Reformation, Vol. III. p. 26.

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S ESCAPE.

WRITING of the time referred to in the preceding extract, Hume says: "The common net at that time for catching of Protestants was the real presence, and this net was used to catch the Lady Elizabeth. For being asked one time what she thought of the words of Christ, This is my body, whether she thought it the true body of Christ that was in the sacrament, it is said, that, after some pausing, she thus answered:

Christ was the word that spake it,

He took the bread and brake it,

And what the word did make it,

That I believe and take it';

which, though it may seem but a slight expression, yet hath it more solidness than at first sight appears; at least, it served her turn at that time to escape the net, which by direct answer she could not have done." p. 474.

Hume, Vol. IV.

A MAN PASSES FOR THAT HE IS WORTH.

"VERY idle is all curiosity concerning other people's estimate of us, and idle is all fear of remaining unknown. If a man know that he can do any thing, that he can do it better than any one else, he has the pledge of the acknowledgment of that fact by all persons. The world is full of judgment-days, and into every assembly that a man enters, in every action he attempts, he is gauged and stamped. In every troop of boys that whoop and run in each yard and square, a new-comer is as well and accurately weighed in the balance, in the course of a few days, and stamped with his right number, as if he had undergone a formal trial of his strength, speed, and temper. A stranger comes from a distant school, with better dress, with trinkets in his pockets, with airs, and pretensions: an old boy sniffs thereat, and says to himself, ' It 's of no use; we shall find him out to-morrow." 'What hath he done?' is the divine question which searches men, and transpierces every false reputation. A fop may sit in any chair of the world, nor be distinguished for his hour from Homer and Washington; but there can never be any doubt concerning the respective ability of human beings, when we seek the truth. Pretension may sit still, but cannot act. Pretension never feigned an act of real greatness. Pretension never wrote an Iliad, nor drove back Xerxes, nor Christianized the world, nor abolished slavery. Always as much virtue as there is, so much appears; as much goodness as there is, so much reverence it commands. All the devils respect virtue. The high, the generous, the self-devoted sect will always instruct and command mankind. Never a sincere word was utterly lost. Never a magnanimity fell to the ground. Always the heart of man greets it and accepts it unexpectedly. A man passes for that he is worth. What he is engraves itself on his face, on his form, on his fortunes, in letters of light which all men may read but himself. Conceal.

ment avails him nothing, boasting, nothing. There is confession in the glances of our eyes, in our smiles, in salutations, and the grasp of hands. His sin bedaubs him, mars all his good impression. Men know not why they do not trust him; but they do not trust him. His vice glasses his eye, demeans his cheek, pinches the nose, sets the mark of the beast on the back of the head, and writes, O fool! fool! on the forehead of a king."— R. W. Emerson.

SWIFT'S MEDITATION ON A BROOMSTICK.

"In the yearly visits which Swift made to London, he passed much of his time at Lord Berkeley's, officiating as chaplain to the family, and attending Lady Berkeley in her private devo tions, after which the Doctor, by her desire, used to read to her some moral or religious discourse. The Countess had at this time taken a great liking to Mr. Boyle's Meditations, and was determined to go through them in that manner; but as Swift had by no means the same relish for that kind of writing which her Ladyship had, he soon grew weary of the task; and a whim coming into his head, he resolved to get rid of it in a way which might occasion some sport in the family, for which they had as high relish as himself. The next time he was em ployed in reading one of these Meditations, he took an opportunity of conveying away the book, and dexterously inserted a leaf, on which he had written his own Meditation on a Broomstick,' after which he took care to have the book restored to its proper place; and in his next attendance on my lady, when he was desired to proceed to the next Meditation, Swift opened upon the place where the leaf had been inserted, and, with great composure of countenance, read the title, 'A Meditation on a Broomstick.' Lady Berkeley, a little surprised at the oddity of the title, stopped him, repeating the words, 'A Meditation on a Broomstick! Bless me, what a strange sub

ject! But there is no knowing what useful lessons of instruction this wonderful man may draw from things apparently the most trivial. Pray, let us hear what he says upon it.' Swift then, with an inflexible gravity of countenance, proceeded to read the Meditation in the same solemn tone which he had used in delivering the former. Lady Berkeley, not at all suspecting a trick, in the fulness of her prepossession, was every now and then, during the reading of it, expressing her admiration of this extraordinary man, who could draw such fine moral reflections from so contemptible a subject; with which, though Swift must have been inwardly not a little tickled, yet he preserved a most perfect composure of features, so that she had not the least room to suspect any deceit. Soon after, some company coming in, Swift pretended business and withdrew, foreseeing what was to follow. Lady Berkeley, full of the subject, soon entered upon the praises of those heavenly Meditations of Mr. Boyle. But,' said she,' the Doctor has been just reading one to me which has surprised me more than all the rest.' One of the company asked which of the Meditations she meant. She answered directly, in the simplicity of her heart, 'I mean that excellent Meditation on a Broomstick.' The company looked at each other with some surprise, and could scarce refrain from laughing. But they all agreed that they had never heard of such a Meditation before. Upon my word,' said my lady,' there it is; look into that book and convince yourselves.' One of them opened the book, and found it there indeed, but in Swift's handwriting; upon which a general burst of laughter ensued, and my lady, when the first surprise was over, enjoyed the joke as much as any of them, saying, 'What a vile trick has that rogue played me! But it is his way, he never balks his humor in any thing.' The affair ended in a great deal of harmless mirth, and Swift, you may be sure, was not asked to proceed any farther in the Medita tions." Sheridan's Life of Swift.

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