TUESDAY EVENING. 477 



Then twig ; then sapling ; and, as century rolled 

 Slow after century, a giant bulk 

 Of girth enormous, with moss-cushioned root 

 Upheaved above the soil, and sides embossed 

 With prominent wens globose till at the last 

 The rottenness, which Time is charged to inflict 

 On other mighty ones, found also thee. 



What exhibitions various hath the world 

 Witnessed, of mutability in all 

 That we account most durable below ! 

 Change is the diet on which all subsist, 

 Created changeable, and change at last 

 Destroys them. Skies uncertain now the heat 

 Transmitting cloudless, and the solar beam 

 Now quenching in a boundless sea of clouds ; 

 Calm and alternate storm, moisture and drought, 

 Invigorate by turns the springs of life 

 In all that live, plant, animal, and man, 

 And in conclusion rnar them. Nature's threads, 

 Fine passing thought, even in her coarsest works, 

 Delight in agitation, yet sustain 

 The force that agitates, not unimpaired ; 

 But worn by frequent impulse, to the cause 

 Of their best tone their dissolution owe.' 



Mrs Miller's little Christmas volume, Cats and Dogs, 

 which has since been highly popular, was then passing 

 through the press. Mr Miller took a lively interest in 

 it, and gave a warmly favourable opinion of its qualities. 

 He now asked the children if they knew Cowper's lines 

 To a Retired Cat, and, on their answering in the nega- 

 tive, read them with sprightly appreciation. The cat, it 

 may be remembered, finding an open drawer, lined with 

 the softest linen, concludes that it has been prepared 

 expressly for her accommodation, falls fast asleep in it, 

 is immured by the chambermaid, and is in danger of 

 being starved. 



'That night, by chance, the poet watching, 

 Heard an inexplicable scratching ; 

 His noble heart went pit-a-pat, 

 And to himself he said" What's that ? " 

 He drew the curtain at his side, 

 And forth he peep'd, but nothing spied ; 



