100 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



imagine, cannot properly be included among the highest pro- 

 ductions of genius. Yet this particular work has so distinctive 

 a place in the poetic literature of England, and is so associated 

 in the general mind with the achievements of the national 

 intellect, that it was difficult to omit it. Perhaps the best 

 of Thomson's poems is "The Castle of Indolence," where the 

 imitation of Spenser's manner sometimes passes beyond mere 

 imitation, and reproduces, if only by reflection, the rich and 

 many-coloured splendour of " The Faery Queene." But the 

 most popular work of Thomson is undoubtedly that which 

 describes the appearances of Nature at the four leading periods 

 of the year. 



The style, in itself, is not of the best. It abounds too much 

 in that species of phraseology which our ancestors termed 

 " poetic diction," and which Wordsworth, in his reforming 

 zeal, denounced as thrusting out of view the simple truth 

 of things. For the original of that style, we must look to 

 a very great man indeed. The blank verse of Thomson, and 

 the general character of his construction in these poems, 

 is Miltonic, but Miltonic by an aggravation of whatever was 

 most academic and self-conscious in the " Paradise Lost." 

 That much of "The Seasons" is inflated, pedantic, and 

 pretentious, with artificial inversions, cumbrous elaborations 

 of expression, and a method of delivery which too often over- 

 lays the thought with the mere literary art of ceremonious 

 presentation, is not to be denied ; yet it is none the less true 

 that the poetic feeling is frequently genuine and subtle. It is 

 curious to observe how the poet will labour round and round an 

 idea through a long array of lines, without doing much more 

 than accumulating a heap of sonorous words ; and then, by 

 some happy instinct, will suddenly plunge down upon the precise 

 image that was wanted to produce the desired effect. A passage 

 in the poem on Spring will sufficiently illustrate this combina- 

 tion of weakness and strength : 



" Hence, in old dusky time, a deluge came, 

 When the deep-cleft, disparting orb, that arch'd 

 The central waters round, impetuous rush'd, 

 With universal burst, into the gulf, 

 And o'er the high-piled hills of fractured earth 

 Wide dash'd the waves in undulation vast ; 

 Till, from the centre to the streaming clouds, 

 A shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe." 



The prevailing character of this description is verbose ; it is 

 only in the last line that the poet really feels his subject. 

 Thomson, however, was often very felicitous in his phrase- 

 ology; for instance, in such expressions as "The ceaseless 

 winds blow ice," or 



" The deep-fermenting tempest, brcw'd 

 In the grim evening sky." 



The poet is at his best when he writes from his own natural 

 observation of the universe, and abstains from the superficial 

 vein of moralising which he seems to have considered neces- 

 sary. After all drawbacks have been made, many will ratify 

 the criticism of Johnson, that " The reader wonders that he 

 never saw before what Thomson shows him, and that he never 

 yet felt what Thomson impresses." 



LESSONS IN BOOKKEEPING. XIX. 



FOREIGN TRADE. 



HAVING allowed our students time to study the principles and 

 practice of Bookkeeping as applicable to the transactions of 

 Home Trade, wo now proceed to lay before them a series of 

 transactions in Foreign Trade, and afterwards to show them 

 how to enter these transactions into the proper books, as we 

 have done in our preceding lessons in reference to Home Trade. 

 The following Memoranda of Transactions are to be entered in 

 the same manner as before : 1st. All Receipts and Payments of 

 Cash in the Cash Book. Here, however, the transactions with 

 the Bank are to be entered along with the Cash transactions in 

 business ; but they are not recorded in the Memoranda, because 

 they would take up a quantity of unnecessary space, and the 

 student can easily judge for himself how much money must be 

 drawn from the Bank each day for the Payments, or how 

 much should be lodged in the Bank from the Receipts. For 

 this purpose, of course, he will make the proper entries in the 

 separate columns appointed for the Bank transactions as shown 

 in the Cash Book under the head of Home Trade. This process 



renders it unnecessary for ttie merchant to keep a separate 

 Bank account or Bank Book ; and it shows by the balances at 

 the end of the month, or of any other period when they are 

 taken, how the Bank and Business Cash transactions operate as 

 a check on each other, the difference between these balances 

 being always the amount of cash in hand. 



2nd. All Drafts and Remittances of Bills are entered in the 

 Bills Receivable Book, and all Acceptances of Bills in the Bills 

 Payable Book. In these two books, the columns for the various 

 particulars relating to the Bills are more numerous than those 

 shown in the Bill Books under the head of Home Trade. The 

 student will, of course, be directed by the titles of these columns 

 to insert every particular in its proper place. 3rd. The particu- 

 lars of all the other transactions relating to the Foreign Trade 

 are entered in the Day Book ; but many of these particulars are 

 copied from other books usually kept in a merchant's counting- 

 house ; viz., the Invoice Book, the Account Sales Book, the Ac- 

 count Cmrent Bool, the Insurance Book, etc. 



MEMORANDA OF TRANSACTIONS. 

 July 1st, 1881. 



Inventory of the Assets and Liabilities of the House of White, 

 Smith, and Company, Merchants, London, as per Balance Sheet of 

 Ledger B. 



ASSETS. 



Cash in the Union Bank 2550 



Exchequer Bills 5310 



Bills Receivable 7300 15 



Three per Cents. Stock 6000 at 90 per Cent. . . 5400 



Debentures 513 



Ship Victoria, our i share 3000 



Adventure in Scotch Linen ...... 2167 



Richard O'Brien and Co., Dublin 3530 12 



Peter Hutchinson and Co., Liverpool .... 1350 10 



Thomas Brown and Co., Falmouth .... 970 10 



32391 17 10 

 LIABILITIES. 



Bills Payable 2350 10 



Insurance, premiums due . ..... 1880 15 



Nathan Herschell, Barbadoes 1370 5 



John Henderson, Berbice 720 5 



Samuel Morley, London 960 15 



Schofield, Halse, and Co., Jamaica .... 1150 10 



Fox, Tennaut, and Co., Liverpool . . - . . 320 15 



8753 15 



4th. 



Effected by Andrew Lloyd, an insurance on 7 hhds. 

 of Sugar, valued at 25 per hhd., from Berbice to 

 London, at 3 per cent., the amount of premium being 



Policy duty 



550 

 10 6 



5 15 G 



4th. 

 Effected on account of Nathan Herschell, Barbadoes, the 



foregoing Insurance : 



Premium and Policy on 175 . . . . . 5 15 6 

 Commission, on do., at \ per cent. . . . . 17 6 



6 13 



6th. 



Received of David Anderson for freight per ship Victoria 175 3 

 8th. 



Effected by Andrew Lloyd, an Insurance on 700, on 20 

 tierces of Coffee, valued at 35 per tierce, from Berbice 

 to London, at 2i per cent, premium .... 17 10 



Policy . 1 16 



8th. 



19 G 9 



Effected on account of John Henderson, Berbice the 



foregoing Insurance : 



Premium and Policy on 700 ..... 19 j 9 



Commission on do., at ^ per cent. . . . . . 3 10 



12th. 

 Paid Bill No. 101, Robert Simpson . 



18th. 

 Received in Cash for Bill No. 551 on Richard Sykes 



29th. 

 Took out of Cash for Petty Cash. ... 



2S 13 9 



. 1145 10 C 



. 1200 



, 10 



