given; but when the little clerk found that the reverend incumbent evikently knew the stranger, and evinced eference and attention towards him,

misgivings vanished, and Johnny decided that his guest was merely an eccentric individual; perhaps a leetle zore than that, but perfectly safe 2nd harmless.' 'Poor gentleman,' Soliloquized Johnny, 'I am sure he as known great trouble; and when I put this, and when I put that, togecher, I think I can fathom his hisory. First, there are his lone ram

es in the forest, and sure he isn't ways a botanizing, 'cause don't I hear him apostrophizing of somecking continually? Secondly, don't

see him in that shady corner beeath the yew-tree, when he thinks o one sees him, bending over that grave which has only the name of Linette' on its headstone, dated twenty-five years ago? and didn't

e ask me when the rose-trees had died which used to grow all over it? and hasn't he planted more, and told

to attend carefully to them? And didn't he know where to find St. Hubert's well? So I put these things together, and come to the conlusion that he knew this place when fe was a youngster, and long afore I ddd; that his sweetheart is buried here, and that he hasn't been quite ight ever since.'

Johnny's sage deductions seemed Got altogether unwarrantable. Daaian, as the stranger gave his name, was an indefatigable labourer, paient in research day by day, gatherAng botanical treasures, classifying and arranging them each evening, and seldom ceasing to pursue most ardently his occupation, so that Johnny aften felt uncertain if the pre-occupied enthusiast gave any heed to his amble talk, for he had no secrets; and to speak of his hopes and wishes for the orphan boy was so natural and pleasant, for it must be confessed that Johnny liked a bit of gossip' now and then; so he also Confided his ambitious wishes respecting the church music, as leader

the choir on his flageolet, lamentng at the same time the ruinous condition of the sacred edifice.

Ah, poor fellow,' thought Johanmellinus, 'I have heard that unhappiness finds rest and relief in study;'

ad one evening, as he turned homewards from a distant part of the

forest, he was brought to a sudden halt, his suspicions confirmed, aud sympathies all excited, on hearing Damian's voice at rather a high pitch exclaiming,

'Most beautiful Linné! here, where nothing is heard save the rustling of the trees and the song of the birds, I apostrophize thee! What are the haughty flowers of the land in comparison with thee? Thou refusest to exchange the silent glen and the melancholy wood for the gay parterres of civilization; the mossy turf and the shady solitude is thy eternal bed; a fairy link and memento thou art of past happiness.'

Here Johnny could not resist peeping through the intervening boughs and leaves, and he felt quite awe-struck on beholding Damian kneeling beside a mossy knoll, whereon grew a delicate white flower. Surely it could not be that he was speaking to, yet he plucked a blossom, at the same time continuing,

Fair little lady, sweet woodland Linné, I feel absolute compunction in plucking thee, for thou wilt pine and die in my hands. It is truly a selfish and transitory gratification, for the tenderest care will not save thee when transplanted, and cultivation is thy death.'

Is it the flower or a spirit he is speaking to?' pondered Johannellinus. I declare it is as sugar sweet to hear him as it is to hear my flageolet, and 'most makes me cry.'

So saying, he took it from his pocket, breathing a wailing symphony, which caused the startled botanist to look hurriedly round, and to move quickly on; but not ere he had caught a glimpse of the inopportune musician peering through the leaves.

It might be this slight incident had ruffled or offended the stranger, but shortly after Damian took his leave of Laurisheim, disappearing as quietly and mysteriously as he came ; but previous to his departure he signified his wishes to the worthy sexton, respecting the peculiar attention he desired should be bestowed on the rose-trees replanted on the grave whose only memorial was the Christian name of a female. He backed this request by a munificent guerdon, saying that a similar one would be forthcoming yearly, provided his wishes were well attended to; adding

with a smile, that it would help Johnny to pay for his nephew's schooling.

The little clerk did indeed venture to question the clergyman concerning the departed guest, but he checked him so authoritatively, that Johnny never presumed to take such a liberty again.

More than a year had passed away, the roses were blooming in profusion on Linette's grave, the promised stipend had been duly conveyed to Johannellinus through an unknown channel, and the orphan boy had been placed at a superior school, when a new incumbent succeeded to the living of Laurisheim, aided in the performance of his duties by a curate. This latter personage was affable and communicative, and pleasantly consulted with Johnny respecting the details of reparation and renovation in progress at the old church; he also was the bearer of the now unasked permission of Johnny's flageolet leading the choir. It may readily be imagined that Johnny's heart warmed towards his new friend; never had he felt himself of such importance before, never had his cottage been so honoured by a guest since Damian had sojourned there. Often he would exclaim, in the fulness of his heart,-

"What a lucky fellow I am! how grateful I ought to be! Here I had three wishes, and all are gratified: my boy is becoming a great scholar, my flageolet leads the choir, and the dear old church is beautified. I do declare that if I was asked to wish for something else, I don't know what it could be; except, indeed,' he added thoughtfully, that I knew who my benefactor was.'

But now he had found one to whom he might speak, and it was not long ere he disburdened his mind, and related all he knew concerning Damian. The reverend gentleman could afford no definite information; but when they had often conversed together on the subject, a new light seemed to spring up in the latter's mind, and by degrees he unfolded the following facts to the wondering Johnny, leaving him to draw his own inference.

The lord of St. Hubert's Priory held the living of Laurisheim in his own gift; he was known to be an

eccentric nobleman, and had not long returned to his native land, after many years' absence. He was unmarried, led a hermit's life, and was signalized by abstruse botanical discoveries. It was whispered that an early tragical story, attending some lost love, had once blighted reason; but nothing was known on that score with certainty.

'But of this I can speak positively,' continued the narrator, 'that it was at St. Hubert's particular request your flageolet, Johnny, usurped the place of a small organ once in contemplation for the old church; its repairs also were accelerated through the same instrumentality. With regard to the forest - scene you accidentally witnessed, when Damian addressed the wild flower, perhaps you are not aware that Linné is the name of a beautiful weed, originally selected by a great botanist to bear his appellation, and that it is also the endearing abbreviation for Linette. All attempts to transplant this delicate flower from its woodland solitude have proved failures, it dies immediately; and I have heard that enthusiastic botanists seek the shady forest depths for weeks together, where alone they can examine the shrinking beauty in its full perfection of growth and maturity. Now, friend Johnny, your clever brain may not find much difficulty in solving the problem of Damian's visit to your cottage. Perhaps, also. he entertained private recollections attached to the spot, which peculiarly endeared it to his memory, associating the fair lady of the woods with one who had borne its name in the days of his early and happy youth.'

That evening, far down the peaceful valley, were heard the strains of the flageolet, and the prolonged echoes were slow and solemn, so that folks said one to another,

'Johannellinus is practising for the Sabbath-won't it be grand to have such fine church music?'

The roses still continued to bloom on the grave, whose headstone recorded the name of Linette,' years after Johnny the Diminutive had found a last resting-place close at hand-years after Johnny's orphan nephew had become a good, a wise, and a great man.

WE

E have two books before us worthy of consideration, and deserving of elaborate notice, but difficult to deal with in such compass as the pages of a monthly magazine afford. We consequently pretend to do little more than draw attention to these works, and offer some suggestions with regard to them which may haply induce the lover of truth, and the student of the means and appliances whereby it may be best and most easily arrived at, to search them thoroughly. They will reward his trouble. The first is An Essay on the Influence of Authority in Matters of Opinion, by George Cornewall Lewis, a gentleman who has of yore translated more than one work on political science, who has written several original books, and filled several official situations of trust, and is now, we believe, an Under Secretary of State for the Home Depart

ment.

The essay now before us is simply, gracefully, and candidly written, as befits a solemn subject, and bears evidence on every page that it is the production of an accomplished scholar and a sincere and careful thinker. It displays especial mark, too, of being the work of one who has been bred to a public career, and from his youth upward aspired to become a statesman. As to its purpose, it is to add a new link to the chain of effusions touching the fundamental processes of thought connected with reasoning which have been drawn down from the Novum Organum of Lord Bacon to the present hour, and notably by the labours of Archbishop Whately, Dr. Whewell, and Mr. John Mill.

The first chapter is on the nature of authority in matters of opinion; and Mr. Lewis commences by laying down what portion of the subjects of belief is understood to be included under this appellation of matters of opinion, and what is the meaning of the generally-received distinction between matters of opinion and matters of fact. He says accordingly,―

even

By a matter of fact, I understand anything of which we obtain a conviction from our internal consciousness or any individual event or phenomenon which is the object of sensation. It is true that the simplest sensations involve some judgment; when a witness reports he saw an object of a certain shape and size, or at a certain distance, he describes more than a mere impression of his sense of sight, and his statement implies a theory and explanation of the bare phenomenon. When, however, this judg ment is of so simple a kind as to become wholly unconscious, and the interpretation of the appearances is a matter of general agreement, the object of sensation may, for our present purpose, be considered a fact. A fact, as so defined, must be limited to individual sensible objects, and not extended to general expressions or formulas, descriptive of classes of facts, or sequences of phenomena, such as, the blood circulates, the sun attracts the planets, and the like.

Propositions of this sort, though descriptive of realities, and, therefore, in one sense, of matters of fact, relate to large classes of phenomena, which cannot be grasped by a single sensation, which can only be determined by a long series of observations, and are established by a long series of intricate reasoning. Taken in this sense, matters of fact are decided by an appeal to our own consciousness or sensation, or to the testimony, direct or indirect, of the original and percipient witnesses. Doubts, indeed, frequently arise as to the existence of a matter of fact, in consequence of the diversity of the reports made by the original witnesses, or the suspiciousness of their testimony. A matter of fact may again be doubtful, in consequence of the different constructions which may be put upon admitted facts and appearances, in a case of proof by (what is termed) circumstantial evidence. Whenever such doubts exist, they cannot be settled by a direct appeal to testimony, and can only be resolved by reasoning; instances of which are afforded by the pleadings of lawyers and the disquisitions of historians upon contested facts. When an individual fact is doubted upon reasonable grounds, its existence becomes a matter of opinion. The existence of such a fact, however, is not a general or scientific truth, but a question to be decided by a consideration of the testimony of witnesses. Matters

of opinion not being disputed questions of fact, are general propositions or theorems relating to laws of nature or mind, principles and rules of human conduct, future probabilities, deductions from hypotheses, and the like, about which a doubt may reasonably exist. All doubtful questions, whether of speculation or practice, are matters of opinion. With regard to these, the ultimate source of our belief is always a process of reasoning.

Having set forth this statement, he then proceeds to declare that he proposes to inquire how far our opinions may be properly influenced by the mere authority of others, independently of our own conviction founded upon appropriate reasoning.' But before we follow him further, it is necessary to observe in what sense he uses the word authority. It is in accordance with its sense in classical writers. He observes,

One of the meanings of auctoritas is explained by Facciolati as follows:-Item pro pondere ac momento quod habent res legitime, sapienter, ac prudenter constitutæ ut sunt leges, decreta senatus, dicta prudentum, res præclare gestæ, sententiæ clarorum virorum. (See Cic. Top. c. 19.) An auctor meant the originator or creator of anything. Hence Virgil speaks of the deified Augustus as Auctorem frugum tempestatumque potentem (Georg. i. 27); and Sallust says that unequal glory attends scriptorem et auctorem rerum. (Cat. c. 11.) Hence any person who determines our belief even as a witness, is called an auctor. Thus Tacitus, in quoting Julius Cæsar as a witness with respect to the former state of the Gauls, call him summus auctorum (Germ. c. 28); i.e. the highest of authorities. As writers, particularly of history, were the authorities for facts, auctor came to mean a writer. Hence Juvenal speaks of a preceptor of the Roman youth being required ut legat historias, auctores noverit omnes, tanquam ungues digitosque suos (viii. 231).*

It is well, moreover, to know preliminarily, that whenever in the course of the essay Mr. Lewis speaks of the principle of authority, he wishes to be understood as meaning the principle of adopting the belief of others on a matter of opinion without reference to the particular grounds on which that belief may rest. Of course a large

portion of the general opinions of human kind are derived from mere authority, particularly in childhood and early youth; and thus, in Wordsworth's phrase, the boy is father to the man.' We derive our first opinion from our parents or guardians, and our associates in the nursery and the play-ground - from their precepts, practice, and habitudes; and these, perhaps, for their enduring potency, are the leading opinions of our lives for good or evil, whether in the form of true guides and impulses of action, or as prejudices of this our first rudimental education; Tamen usque recurrunt, to whatever successive processes of mental culture we may be subsequently subjected, and through whatever scenes of varied and many-coloured existence we may in after days pass. The boy who in childhood is imbued with ungenerous, mean, or sordid feelings, never will expand into a gentleman. Lacquer the image as you may, sooner or later the yellow clay will break out surely. Moreover, in questions of a practical nature throughout life we are all compelled, however well informed generally, to lean upon the advice of professional and other skilled persons, who have devoted themselves to the details as well as the principles of some one pursuit. If you fall sick, albeit well aware of the nature of your disease, and of the character of the remedies which should be applied to it, you betake yourself to the physician for the nice and particular management thereof, and yield a plenary_obedience to his prescriptions: if Jones or Brown, or some other vile cabbager some sartor putidus — sues you for some trifle wrongfully, you turn aside and set your attorney at the reptile-a thief to phlebotomize a thief! In either case you are under the authority of the individual you employ, so far forth as you accord your belief to his opinions, whereof you have no accurate power of verification; and if these opinions be erroneous, you, too, are led into error: so that all you can reasonably hope for, when you have thus to im