tongue is loosed, and lie is heard to splutter; 

 presently to utter some silly word, on a small 

 scale —such as " Ta !" — then is his mother's 

 joy complete ! And now, her boy plays ; 

 and not only plays, but smiles ! What a 

 smile ! Say ye who are mothers, aye, or 

 fathers, was ever smile like to that on the 

 innocent brow of your first-born ? 



" Behold yon rosy baby ' play;' 



On his bright face the smile how fair ; 

 'Tw'd seem that golden sunbeams stray 



From Heaven, — their home, to linger there. 

 Yet plays that baby not alone — 

 An Angel's wing is round him thrown !" 



Some difference is there here between a 

 " Man " and a " Beast !" Let us cherish 

 and adore the thought. These things may, 

 on a cursory view, appear ridiculous. But 

 are they so ? By no means ! What we have 

 now given in outline, is being filled up in 

 detail, at this very instant, by many millions 

 of little units in this lower world of ours. 

 All of us have passed through a similar 

 state of helpless existence ; and we record 

 it, to show how different in eve?\i/ way are 

 WE from the brute creation. This is, I 

 think, " proven." 



Now, mark the progress of the child. 

 What at first is almost imperceptible by him, 

 soon begins to attract his sight. He gets a 

 toy ; pulls it about ; turns it over and over ; 

 and finally (for that is the upshot) tries to 

 break it — to see how it is made. These pur- 

 suits, by daily practice, give him pleasure, 

 awaken his curiosity. When one toy is 

 broken, he cries for another ; and again he 

 essays, by breaking it, to see how that, too, is 

 made. Thus do reason and inquiry first 

 become engendered in the dawning of the 

 mind. It is at this early period that the 

 child's future career may be said to " have 

 its foundation laid ;" for with some people 

 (we can ourselves date our first recollections 

 from the time we numbered five years) the 

 events of their early childhood live in active 

 remembrance, ineffaceable throughout their 

 entire existence. We do not, be it known, 

 set ourselves up for " moralists," but let us 

 hope that a word of advice by way of " pre- 

 cept," en passant, may be pardoned us. Tis 

 now that 



il Infant reason grows apace, and calls 



For the kind hand of an assiduous eare." 



Now, touching the progress of Reason, let 

 some of us who have the honor to be the 

 happy parents of good, intelligent, and pro- 

 perly-inquisitive children, remember when 

 on emerging from the nursery, and " coming 

 down stairs into the drawing-room," each 

 duodecimo of humanity has put us on our 

 metal to answer certain pertinent questions 

 — all arising from "thought," and the due 



exercise of reason. Have we not, let me ask, 

 been puzzled, times out of number, to give 

 a fitting reply to a natural and logical — 

 sometimes a theological question ? This 

 then shows decisively, that where proper 

 attention is paid to early education, and the 

 encouragement of youthful inquiries after 

 truth, knowledge is progressive. It is not 

 innate — not hereditary (as in the brute crea- 

 tion), but acquired ; and always thirsting for 

 still deeper draughts from the fountain head. 

 Therein then, in a few words, for Ave must 

 be brief, consists the precise difference be- 

 tween Instinct and Eeason. If we were to 

 adduce ten thousand other " parallels," we 

 could prove nothing more satisfactorily. 

 There can be no doubt that the supreme 

 intelligence made every living thing Avith 

 the capacity for enjoying itself. The brute 

 creation, Ave must all knoAv, is essentially 

 " happy ; " and Ave mortals, if unhappy, are 

 the sole cause of our OAvn unhappincss ! 



" Natura beatis 



Omnibus esse dedit ; si quis cognoverit uti." 



When, therefore, happiness eludes our 

 grasp, let us not blame fate, or reproach one 

 another ; but acknowledge at once that Ave 

 have sought her in an improper manner. 

 Most of our unhappy moments are attribu- 

 table to what Avith care might, and ought to 

 have been prevented. 



As regards the structure of the human 

 frame, the brain, more particularly — a 

 "study" for all eternity — it is worthy of 

 intense admiration and wonder. It is far 

 more liable, however, to derangement than 

 is the brain of animals generally. Hence it 

 has been said, that madness is a " privi- 

 lege (!) " peculiar to human nature. It is 

 quite clear, that from over study, undue 

 excitement, malformation of the brain, neg- 

 lected education, and other causes, madness 

 and eccentricity are noAv very rife amongst 

 us. It is indeed a harrowing sight, whilst 

 passing through our various asylums, to ob- 

 serve the morbid workings of a lunatic's 

 mind, and to gaze upon the many Avrecks of 

 humanity doomed to end their Avretched 

 lives there ! More still is there to marvel 

 at, Avhen you behold a man cum ratione in- 

 sanire — Avhen, as Festus said, " much learn- 

 ing hath made him mad." Dr. Winslow 

 gives us some extraordinary instances of the 

 aberrations of sensible men, and his remarks 

 afford food for much reflection. He tells us, 

 inter alia, that " very many minds endowed 

 Avith robust and splendid qualities cherish 

 some Avild and baseless belief, are haunted 

 by superstitious fears, or are the unresisting 

 victims of delusion. The confessionals of 

 medical men declare the fact, that the pre- 

 sence of signal and unequivocal eccentricity 



