by the recollections of early life. There is a beautiful incident, iilustrating the strength of this same feeling in Pollock's Course of Time.

"Four trees I pass not by

Which o'er our house their evening shadows threw,
Three of ash and one of elm. Tall trees they were
And old, and had been old a century

Before my day. None living could say aught
About their youth; but they were goodly trees :
And oft I wondered-as I sat and thought
Beneath their summer shade, or, in the night

Of winter, heard the spirits of the wind

Growling among their boughs-how they had grown
So high, in such a rough, tempestuous place;
And when a hapless branch, torn by the blast,
Fell down, I mourned, as if a friend had fallen."

Who has not experienced similar feelings? Who has not the same tender attachment to all the scenes and things which his infancy knew? Such an one, like he who forgets his own mother, must be a hardened rake, in whose heart love has burnt down to the socket, and who is fit only for stratagem and spoils! Let me never fall into his hands.

Under the impulse of the same feelings one keeps the cane, or the shoebuckles of his father, and another a ring from her mother's hand, as a wealth which no man's dollars and cents could buy. These are shown to friends, while the glistening eye and the beating heart proclaim the deep interest which is felt in them.

We have in sacred history some beautiful specimens of this kind of devout and tender attachment to that which is old and which has passed away. You will at once think of the mournful song of the Jews in their captivity-when God, as a punishment for their disobedience, permitted their enemies to tear them away from their land, their temple, and their altars. Like us the sea shell, upon the mantle, sighs for the ocean from which it has been torn, so did the captive Jews mourn for the pleasant things of their temple and their worship. "By the rivers. of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof, for there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." Thus, in the beautiful language of Jeremiah, the weeping prophet-thus, "Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries, all the pleasant things that she had in the days of old."

As religion is the deepest interest of life, it is plain that religious associations must be tenderest and strongest. Those things, therefore, with which our religious feelings have been conversant in the past, are longest and most fondly remembered. It is altogether natural, therefore, that we should feel attached to the old Church in which our fathers worshipped, to which they directed our infant feet; where we heard, with youthful reverence, those solemn and momentous announcements which inspire the holy wonder of angels-where we knelt, in the ardor of our

first religious love, and dedicated ourselves to God in the vows of an everlasting covenant.

There is, moreover, something peculiar in the solemn fashion of those few remaining churches which were erected a century ago. They have nothing in common, so far as appearance is concerned, with modern churches. Their sharp antique roofs carry our thoughts back at once into the olden time. Their strong, thick, massive walls, remind us that our fathers built in faith.

Through coarse gray plaster might be seen
Oak timbers, large and strong,

And those who reared them must have been
Stout men when they were young-
For oft I've heard my grandsire speak,

How men were growing thin and weak.

The inside too, is generally after a fashion all its own-and hath its like no more. It reveals, in all its parts, the earnest, plain, every-day character of the men who lived in the age that is past; and every attempt to modernize some of its features, presents some of the same incongruity as when a harlequin sits in a solemn assembly, but illy suppressing his own true character.

Its pews of obdurate pine, straight-backed and tall,
Its gallary, mounted high three sides around—
Its pulpit, goblet formed, half up the wall,

The sounding board above with acorn crowned.

Out from the pulpit's height, deep browed and grave,.
The man of God ensconced, half bust was shown.

As you meet, here and there, an old man, who can talk to you of times before the Revolutionary war, so you find here and there an old church, built in colonial times--and which, in spite of frequent remodeling, still presents traces of those times of stern faith and simple manners. But for them too, the end comes! In the beautiful language of another:

They all are passing from the land,

Those churches old and gray,

In which our fathers use to stand,

In years gone by, to pray

There meekly knelt those stern old men,
Who worshipped at our altars then

My Grandsire's heart was twined, I do believe
Round every timber there-

For memory loved a web to weave

Of all the young and fair,

Who gathered there with him to pray
For many a long, long Sabbath-duy.

It is a commendable spirit which cultivates reverence for those things, old and sacred, bound up with the memories of the past. The danger has been that in our fast age these feelings should lose their hold on the people's minds and hearts; but there seems to be a growing tendency in the right direction. As the country grows older, objects of ancient interest become fewer, and this induces a desire to preserve as sacred what remains. The farmer begins to take pride in having "one of the oldest trees" on his farm, and prefers the old home-house in which his sire and grandsire lived, to a more spacious one of modern shape and fashion.

So also christians begin to take better care of these venerable churches; and to worship in a quaint colonial building, is no longer regarded as "behind the age." Let this feeling be cultivated. As we desire to keep father and mother as long as we may, so let us keep in sacred and honorable preservation the objects of interest on which their eyes looked and which their hearts loved, so shall our days be long in the land which the Lord our God giveth us.

HISTORY OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

THE PRINCE OF WALES, K. G.

His Royal Highness Albert Edward Prince of Wales, Duke of Saxony, Prince of Saxe Coburg Gotha, Duke of Cornwall and Rothsay, Earl of Chester, Carrick and Dublin, Baron Renfrew, and Lord of the Isles, K. G., and Heir-Apparent to the throne of England, was born at Buckingham Palace on the 9th of November, 1841.

The rank and position of His Royal Highness are thus explained in "Dod":"The Prince of Wales has been at all times regarded as the first subject in the realm, the nearest to the throne, the most dignified of the Peers of Parliament, and though not exercising any political power beyond his vote as a legislator, yet regarded by all men as the most eminent personage in the State, next after the sovereign; the Prince of Wales is the heir-apparent; the heir presumptive may be brother, uncle, nephew, niece, or even a more distant relative of the sovereign; but the prospect which an heir-presumptive may possess of eventually succeeding to the throne, gives him no place in the scale of precedency; the rank he holds is merely derived from consanguinity. But the station of the Prince of Wales is clearly and indisputably that of the first and highest of her Majesty's subjects."

It is obviously impossible, at the present time, to furnish anything worthy the name of a biography of the young Prince. The materials which, in future days, will be at hand to enable a biographer to write a history, are not yet to be found. The achievements of his manhood are yet to be enacted. At this time we can only congratulate the young Prince upon the wide field for good which it is his fortune to inherit; a field for which he has been most carefully prepared by wise training under the care of his royal mother. If the example of good and virtuous actions in a parent is to have its accustomed influence, and if the watchful culture of the better qualities of our nature yield but their average good, we may look for a worthy career in that of the Prince of Wales. That he may have a long, a happy, and a peaceful life, is the prayer of every English heart.

As already stated, the education of the Prince of Wales has been conducted under the care of her Majesty. In the languages, classics,

natural philosophy, mathematics, jurisprudence, and other branches of study, his Royal Highness has been assisted by private tutors selected on account of their ability to convey instruction. It is understood that the Prince will continue his education by a course of study both at Cambridge and Oxford.

On the ninth of November, 1858, the Prince having on that day completed his seventeenth year, was appointed Colonel in the army. The Gazette of the following Friday contained the subjoined announcement: "The Queen taking into her royal consideration that his Royal Highness Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and, by virtue of the statutes of the said Order, a constituent member thereof, has not as yet assumed the stall assigned to the Prince of Wales in the Royal Chapel of St. George at Windsor, and having, as sovereign of the said Order, the inherent right of dispensing with all statutes, and regulations in regard to installation, her Majesty has been pleased, by letters patent, under her Royal sign and manual, and the Great seal of the Order, bearing date this day, to give and grant unto his Royal Highness Albert Edward Prince of Wales, full power and authority to wear and use the star, and also to wear and use the collar and all other ornaments belonging to the said most noble Order, and to sit in the stall assigned to the Prince of Wales, in our Royal Chapel of St. George, at Windsor, and to exercise all rights and privileges belonging to a Knight Companion of the said most noble Order, in as full and ample manner as if His Royal Highness had been formally installed; any decree, rule or usage, to the contrary notwithstanding."

Having thus fairly entered upon the duties of manhood, His Royal Highness determined upon pursuing his studies, for a time at least, at Rome. Accordingly, after a brief visit to his illustrious sister at Berlin, the Princess Frederick William of Prussia, he proceeded on his journey to Italy. On his way, he performed the first public act of his life, by presenting colors to the Hundredth, or Prince of Wales' Royal Canadian Regiment of Foot, then stationed at Shorucliffe, near Folkestone. His Royal Highness took occasion to make the following appropriate speech to the assembled officers and men:

"Lord Melville, Colonel de Rottenberg, and officers and soldiers of the Hundredth Regiment: It is most gratifying to me that, by the Queen's gracious permission, my first public act since I have had the honor of holding a commission in the British army, should be the presentation of colors to a Regiment which is the spontaneous offering of the loyal and spirited Canadian people, and with which, at their desire, my name has been especially associated. The ceremonial in which we are now engaged, possesses a peculiar significance and solemnity, because in confiding to you for the first time this emblem of military fidelity and valor, I not only recognize emphatically your enrollment into our national force, but celebrate an act which proclaims and strengthens the unity of the various parts of this vast empire, under the sway of our common Sovereign. Although, owing to my youth and inexperience, I can but very imperfectly give expression to the sentiments which this occasion is calculated to awaken with reference to yourselves and to the great and flourishing Province of Canada, you may rest assured that I shall ever watch the progress and achievements of your gallant corps with deep

interest, and that I heartily wish you all honor and success in the prosecution of the noble career on which you have entered."

The Prince arrived in the Eternal City in the latter part of January, 1859, and having spent some time in exploring ancient and modern Rome proceeded quietly to his studies. Before doing so, he paid a visit to the Pope. His appearance at the Vatican is worthy of note, inasmuch as a Prince of the blood royal of England, had not made a similar visit for some centuries. Agreeably to the expressed wish of her Majesty, the reception was conducted with little ceremony. His Holiness rose on the entry of the Prince, and coming forward to the door of the apartment to meet him, conducted him in the most affable manner to a seat, and entered into a conversation with him in French. Colonel Bruce was the only other person present at the interview, which was brief, and limited to complimentary expressions and subjects of local interest, but perfectly satisfactory to all parties. On the Prince rising to take his leave, the Pope conducted him again to the door with the same warmth of manner which he had testified on receiving him. The stay of his Royal Highness in Rome being interrupted by the outbreak of the war in Italy, he traveled to Gibraltar, and from thence to Spain and Portugal. He returned to England on June 25, 1859. His subsequent departure and arrival in this country need not be recounted here.

The Prince has frequently expressed himself delighted, not merely with the heartiness of the reception he has met with from the inhabitants of Canada, but with the good taste displayed in most of their arrangements. Chiefly, however, he has been surprised by the evidences of civilization and national prosperity.

His Royal Highness by no means confines his observations to the ceremonials laid down in the official programmes, or his physical exercise to the prescribed plans. He takes frequent opportunities of conversing with those who have the honor of being presented to him, and often proceeds into the country in plain clothes, on a tour of inspection. He has invariably charmed those with whom he has conversed, and shown himself possessed of discrimination and an excellent education. He rides well, and seems passionately fond of music. His manner in public, is courteous; in private, animated.

The Psalmist said in his haste, "All men are liars"; and we are tempted to exclaim in the same spirit, All men are gamblers! Such a general and everywhere prevalent desire to obtain that for which no equivalent is rendered, surely never before was witnessed in all the changes of our changing world.