Hence all the infinite variety of sunshine, of cold and of shower, which more especially distinguishes the temperate zones and our own variable sky in particular; where they exert such constant and commanding influence upon our comfort and well-being, as to become almost interwoven with our very existence.

Though clouds are of such endless diversity of figure and appearance, they have been classed by Howard under three primary forms, and four modifications. The three primary forms are; 1, the Cirrus, composed of fibrous-like stripes, parallel, flexuous or diverging and extensible in all directions: 2, the Cumulus, heaped together in convex or in conical masses, and increasing upwards from a horizontal base: 3, the Stratus, spreading horizontally in a continuous layer, increasing from below.

"The first of these forms, the Cirrus, is confined, chiefly, to the higher regions of the atmosphere. The second form, the Cumulus, occupies a lower but still an elevated station: while the third form, the Stratus, usually rests on the surface of the earth; constituting the mists already described.

"Of the four modified forms of clouds, two are intermediate and two are composite.

"The first of the intermediate forms, is the Cirro-cumulus, consisting of small roundish and well defined masses in close horizontal arrangement. The masses that compose the second intermediate form of clouds, the Cirro-stratus, are likewise small and rounded, but attenuated towards a part or towards the whole of their circumference. They are sometimes separate; when in groups, their arrangement is either horizontal or slightly inclined, and the masses are either bent downwards, or are undulated.

"Of the two composite forms of clouds, the first is the cumulostratus, made up of the cirro-stratus, blended with the cumulus; the cirro-stratus being either intermingled with the larger masses of the cumulus; or widely enlarging the cumulous base.

“The second composite form, and the last of the four modifications of clouds, is the Cumulo-cirro-stratus, or Nimbus, the rain cloud; being that cloud or system of clouds, from which rain is falling. The Nimbus is a horizontal layer of aqueous vapour, over which clouds of the cirrous form are spread; while other clouds of the cumulous form enter it laterally, and form beneath. A little attention will enable any one to discriminate these varieties

that they will not know it. Some men have grown old in the service of religion, art, science, or literature; and the utmost of their attainments has just enabled them, like Moses in the mount, to see wherein they have come short of their duties and desires, and to write their own epitaphs as unprofitable servants.' But the old child never reaches this position even; he thinks himself every thing when he is nothing, and hopes, every day and every hour, to realize all that the experience of ages has proved to be unattainable; or perhaps he knows not actually of what he is in search-hoping still

In something onward; something far beyond

He fain would grasp.'

"Oh, father," said Edward, "no man, I should think, would labour without an object."

“Nor should I think it," he replied, "if it were a matter with which mere opinion was concerned. But we read it in almost every page of the world's history. It is fact, and not conjecture. Nor is it confined to any one department or pursuit. The old child may be a warrior, and in the very idea of wars and fightings, there is something that savours strongly of the peevishness and bickerings of the nursery

'Let dogs delight to bark and bite,

For 'tis their nature to.'

And thus much we can say of little children. But what nature has done, grace should undo; and it is only those who know not the influence of the gospel, that can so treat their fellowcreatures. At present, however, I am only speaking of the childishness of war; and shall, perhaps, view it in a stronger light hereafter. You know, Tommy," he continued, turning to the merriest of his merry little party, "the story of the recruiting serjeant, and Bob Williams of the Holm? "Will you fight for the king?' said he, after a long flourish in praise of this wholesale kind of murder. Fight for the king!' said Bob, in his simplicity, smacking his whip and staring with all his might-'what! he a'nt fallen out with any body, surely, have he?'"

His little audience burst simultaneously into laughter.

"How it strikes a stranger!" said Mary, when their merriment had subsided.

"It brings those lines to mind," said Tom, "that I was lately reading somewhere

What are you fighting for?-now tell me true;

Because his eyes are black, and mine are blue!'

""Tis my turn to laugh now," resumed my uncle; “and I should do it with a better grace if the subject were not so fraught with misery to thousands. Nothing can justify fighting in the face of that simple command-' I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.' I wonder, then, upon what plea any man can argue for mere wars of opinion; and such are many of those which of late years have disgraced the earth, and especially that portion of it, whose inhabitants profess and call themselves Christians.' Those who claim this lofty title should depart from all iniquity;' but instead of walking wisely, soberly, and godly, to those that are without, they bring a scandal upon the holy name, and give occasion to its enemies to blaspheme. I tremble when I think that theft, treachery, drunkenness, and profanity, are often the only things that distinguish the English traveller abroad, and make the white man's name a curse instead of a blessing, in every country under heaven."

"I was much struck," I said, "with an incident which I met with in reading the other day. One of our missionaries, a zealous and holy man, had penetrated into the regions of Abyssinia, to carry thither the gospel of the grace of God. A stranger in a strange land, he thought often, and with deep interest, on his native valleys, his countrymen, and the accents of his mother tongue, that had broken so frequently in pleasant music on his ear, as he held sweet communion with those he loved and cherished. David had not longed with more anxiety to slake his thirst with the waters of the well of Bethlehem, than did this worn and homeless exile, to hear again the tones that had so often fallen with grateful cadence on his ear at home. But he sought in vain. At last amongst the noisy crowd around him in a mountain village, he fancied that he caught some sound which seemed familiar. He pressed into the heart of this babbling concourse, and heard a language that he understood--his own he would have called it; but the words were words of blasphemy and shame, and he shuddered

and turned away in sorrow, when he found his native dialect only known as a vehicle of the profanest curses, and his far-off and much-loved land as a country of profligates and swearers."

"A touching and a very humbling truth," said my uncle with unusual seriousness. "One could scarcely believe that a land, so ready in dispensing the blessings of the gospel to other countries, should put so fearful a negative on its requirements. From the uttermost parts of the earth we have heard songs and gladness, even glory to the righteous; whilst the cry of Britain is, ' My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!' But we were speaking, my dear little ones, of wars and warriors-childishness and childrento use no harsher terms; and let us see what we can find so manly in the game of wrestling for an earthly crown. The embryo ruler of the world is, perhaps, a tyrant in his youngest days; perhaps he is vain; perhaps he is ambitious; perhaps he is daring and impetuous. He wants to be something, but he knows not what. He might have heard of an object worth striving for in the incorruptible crown' offered in the gospel, and of a more excellent way than that which he has chosen ; but he spurns them both, and turns towards a mark, of which he knows no more than that it has disappointed every one before him who has aimed at its attainment. He reaches man's estate, and circumstances open to him some prospect of military glory. He heads an army; he makes offers which he has no power to perform, and gives away what is not his own, and having robbed his neighbours, and destroyed his fellow creatures; deserves a name for deceit, falsehood, dishonesty, theft, and murder, and obtains one for courage and noble enterprise. His opponent will perhaps out-master him by the superior cunning of some favourite general. He buys him over with money that he has stolen, or promises that will never be made good; but you must not say, Charles," added he, with a look that told his real meaning, “that he pays a premium on treachery, or takes an unfair advantage. We should call it, in the nursery, by these harsh names; but the battle-field has its peculiar dialect—and there it is honour, ability, or admirable policy. The armies meet, look at each other, hesitate, retire, advance, reconnoitre, resolve, and re-resolve; but they are, of course, not wanting in bravery or decision. They are only anxious to take unfair advantage of each other, and accomplish by stratagem what their bravery is unequal

to. But the words in their language, which describe this line of conduct, are good generalship,' or 'admirable tact.'”

"It was Alexander the Great," remarked Charles, "who said it would be base to steal a victory, and that if he conquered, it must be in the open day, and without guile."

"But he did not always call things by their right names," replied my uncle. "You are perhaps thinking that, whatever other warriors might be, there was a grandeur and a manliness in his conduct that distinguished him from the generality. I imagine, however, that we shall see something of his littleness, if we look at the pitiful vanity that led him to expect divine honours from his attendants, and to court, with all the weakness of poor erring humanity, the plaudits of the servile train around him. Motive is every thing; and his object was the praise of men. It is a hard lesson to study to be quiet;' but when we are disposed to court notice, we should do well to remember that the Christian's praise is not of man, but of God. It was Theudas who boasted himself to be somebody; it was Christ who could not be hid.' There is great danger in this love of approbation; for to this very feeling we owe most of the wrong and outrage which disgrace our earth.

To be observed, some scrambled up to thrones,
And sat in vestures dripping-wet with gore;

The warrior dipped his sword in blood, and wrote

His name on lands and cities desolate ;

The rich bought fields, and houses built, and raised

The monumental piles up to the clouds,

And called them by their names; and, strange to tell,

Rather than be unknown, and pass away

Obscurely to the grave, some, small of soul,
That else had perished unobserved, acquired
Considerable renown by oaths profane,

And jesting boldly with all sacred things.'

,,,

"With all proper deference, father,” said Henry, “ I think you have not met Charles's inuendo. He meant to say, that Alexander was no such child as you would make him. You cannot have forgotten his calmness and courage on the eve of his engagement with Darius. In what light,' he said to his officers, " can you look on us but as conquerors, seeing we have no longer to traverse VOL. IX. 3rd SERIES.

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