KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



331 



not reflect on the anatomical fact, that the 

 brain of an infant is not the brain of a 

 man ; that the one is confirmed, and can bear 

 exertion, the other is growing, and requires 

 repose ; that to force the attention to ab- 

 stract facts, to load the memory with chrono- 

 logical and historical or scientific detail ; in 

 short, to expect a child's brain to bear with 

 impunity the exertions of a man's — is just as 

 rational as it would be to hazard the same 

 sort of experiment on its muscles. 



The first eight or ten years of life should 

 be devoted to the education of the heart, to 

 the formation of principles, rather than to 

 the acquirement of what is usually termed 

 knowledge. Nature herself points out such 

 a course ; for the emotions are then the 

 liveliest, and most easily moulded, being as 

 yet unalloyed by passion. It is from this 

 source that the mass of men are hereafter to 

 draw their sum of happiness or misery ; the 

 actions of the immense majority are, under 

 all circumstances, determined much more by 

 feeling than by reflection ; in truth, life pre- 

 sents an infinity of occasions where it is 

 essential to happiness that we should feel 

 rightly — very few where it is at all necessary 

 that we should think profoundly. 



THE HORRORS OF PRIDE. 



BY CHARLES SWAIN. 



Though Pride may show some nobleness 



When honor's its ally, 

 Yet there is such a thing on earth 



As holding heads too high ! 

 The sweetest bird builds near the ground, 



The loveliest flower springs low ; 

 And we must stoop for happiness, 



If we its worth would know. 



Like water that encrusts the rose, 



Still hard'ning to its core, 

 So Pride encases human hearts 



Until they feel no more. 

 Shut up within themselves they live, 



And selfishly they end 

 A life, that never kindness did 



To kindred, or to friend ! 



Whilst Virtue, like the dew of Heaven 



Upon the heart descends, 

 And draws its hidden sweetness out, 



The more — as more it bends ! 

 For there's a strength in lowliness 



Which nerves us to endure ; — 

 A heroism in distress 



Which renders victory sure ! 



The humblest being born, is great, 



If true to his degree ; 

 His virtue illustrates his fate, 



Whatever that may be ! — 

 Thus, let us daily learn to love 



Simplicity and worth ; — 

 For not the eagle, but the Dove, 



Brought peace unto the earth ! 



THE YEW TREE. 



This beautiful tree is supposed, in 

 former ages, to have prevailed in Ireland, as 

 an aboriginal, by the number discovered in 

 a fossil state ; though at present, there are 

 said to be none but planted yews in that 

 country. Those trees, situated in the acces- 

 sible parts of the mountains, are generally 

 cut down and brought to market for chairs 

 and steps of ladders ; for which use their dura- 

 bility renders them valuable, while others un- 

 assailable by man, for a number of years, 

 bid defiance to 



The raging tempests and the mountains' roar, 

 Which bind them to their native hills the more. 



Strutt, in his " Sylva Britannica," gives 

 some admirable representations of these in- 

 teresting trees : as the very ancient ones at 

 Fountain Abbey, Yorkshire, supposed to 

 have existed anterior to the foundation of 

 the monastery, or at least coeval with that 

 date (1128). Of six remaining, one measures 

 26 feet in girt at 3 feet from the ground ; and 

 the Fortingal Yew, in the churchyard, amid 

 the Grampian mountains, though now dis- 

 joined by the lapse of many centuries, when 

 entire, according to Pennant, was 56 feet in 

 circumference. At Marthy, Worcestershire, 

 grows one twelve yards round ; and an ex- 

 traordinary tree of the same kind may yet be 

 seen in the palace garden at Eichmond, 

 planted three days before the birth of Queen 

 Elizabeth. But still more interesting is the 

 justly celebrated yew, at Ankerwyke, near 

 Staines (fifty feet high, and in girt, three 

 feet above the ground, twenty-seven feet), to 

 which, and the current tradition connected 

 therewith, as standing in the vicinity of Run- 

 nymede, Fitzgerald thus alludes : 



Here patriot barons might have musing stood, 

 And planned the charter for their country's good. 



. But for an unrivalled poetical description 

 of extraordinary yew trees, we are indebted 

 to the muse of Wordsworth : — 



There is a yew tree, pride of Lorton Vale, 



Which to this day stands single in the midst 



Of its own darkness, as it stood of yore, 



Nor loth to furnish weapons in the hands 



Of Umphraville or Percy, ere they marched 



To Scotland's heaths, or those that cross 'd the 



sea, 

 And drew their sounding bows at Azincour ; 

 Perhaps of early Cressy — or Poictiers. 

 Of vast circumference, and gloom profound, 

 This solitary tree ! a living thing, 

 Produced too slowly ever to decay ; 

 Of form and aspect too magnificent 

 To be destroyed — but worthier still of note 

 Are those fraternal four of Borrow Dale, 

 Joined in one solemn and capacious grove ; 

 Huge trunks ! and each particular trunk a growth 

 Of intertwisted fibres serpentine, 

 Upcoiling, and inocterately convolved, 

 Nor uninformed with phantasy, and looks 



