'Border Antiquities of England and Scotland;' and has edited the Works of John Dryden; Lord Somers' Collection of Tracts; Sir Ralph Sadler's State Papers; Poetical Works of Anne Seward; the Works of Jonathan Swift, and the Edinburgh Annual Register. He has also published a History of Scotland, Tales of a Grandfather, and Life of Napoleon.

The works by which Scott is most extensively known, are the Waverly Novels. These form a series of the most remarkable works of fiction that the world has ever witnessed. They were ushered into the world like a work of enchantment. The wand by which they were made to rise, one after another, in quick succession, and pass before us in their splendour and in their power, was, for a long time concealed. All of the series which came out previously to the 'Fair Maid of Perth,' came from the hand of the Great Unknown. To this Scott set his own name,

The circumstances which led to the disclosure of the great secret, were, a failure in some commercial concerns in which he had been engaged, and the bankruptcy of his booksellers. The first public disclosure was

made, Feb. 24, 1827, at the Annual Dinner of the Edinburgh Theatrical Fund. Here, in presence of three hundred gentlemen, Scott disclosed the secret, which, though confided to twenty persons, had been well kept. He declared himself the sole and undivided author of all the Waverly Novels." "The wand," says he, "is now broken and the rod buried."

Sir Walter Scott was the first person who received the honor of knighthood from his late Majesty, on his ascending the throne it was highly honorable to both parties. This was in the early part of 1820, soon after the publication of Ivanhoe.

Sir Walter inherited from his father and mother a very considerable property. The different offices he held were very lucrative; and the various sums which are known to have been given for his works, were beyond all precedent. A very large portion of his property he expended on his estates in Roxburgshire, where he resided. He was one of the principal landed proprietors in that part of the country, and enjoyed the blessings of a rural life, to which his disposition was evidently inclined. He rose early, and

though lame, he frequently, both in walking and riding, tired out his stoutest guests in fact, as a pedestrian or equestrian, there were few equal to him. Near his mansion

were many scenes dear alike to the antiquary, the patriot, and the poet:-these he was particularly delighted in contemplating. In general society he was rather reserved in his manners.

In political opinion, although he vigorously supported the administration, and was undoubtedly a very loyal subject and magistrate, he was known to be warmly attached to the Stuarts.

As a man, Sir Walter was prudent without being avaricious, and generous without being prodigal. Many circumstances of his life are recorded in the hearts of his friends, exemplifying the noblest and purest benevolence; and he was always solicitous that the honey-dew of his charity should fall in silence on its object, and not be ostentatiously blazoned by the trump of fame.

This wonderful man is now gathered to his fathers. The illness which terminated in his death began in 1831. He visited the Continent for the recovery of his health;

Amidst the splend

but with little success. id temples of Rome, the honors which were paid to him at Naples, and the beauties of Nature and Art which every where surrounded him, he sighed for his own 'sweet home,' and hastened thither to give up his life in the bosom of his family. He died at Abbottsford on the 21 September, 1832, and "was buried at Dryburgh, on Wednesday, September 25. The hills were covered, and the villages were filled with mournHe was borne from the hearse by his own domestics, and laid in the grave by the hands of his children."

ers.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,

A CELEBRATED philosopher and statesman, was born in Boston, January 17,1706. At the age of eight years he was put to the Boston grammar school, and from the aptness which he displayed, his father conceived the idea of educating him for the church, but wanting

the means, he took him home at the age of ten, to assist him in his business. At the age oftwelve he was put an apprentice to his elder brother, J. Franklin, who then published the Boston Gazette. This paper was the second which appeared in America.

It was, however, the paper called the Courant,' afterwards emitted by his brother, which became so famous for the effusions of his brother Benjamin. Young Franklin early evinced an uncommon taste for reading, and an attachment to books. His writings brought him into notice, and gave him encouragement to continue his literary labors. When only seventeen years of age, he left his native town and went to Philadelphia, an entire stranger, without letters, and with but a slender provision of money. He made his entrance on Sunday morning, and sauntered through the streets in search for lodgings,his pockets stuffed with shirts and stockings, and a large roll of bread under each arm, and eating a third. Who would have dreamed,' exclaimed Brissot de Warville in his panegyric, that this miserable wanderer would become one of the legislators of America; the ornament of the new world; the pride of