arose the fiction, of the planet being quite in love with the man.

He must, I think, have been pleased with this: what was his name?

Endymion; and because Atreus paid equal attention to the revolution of the sun, they invented a story about that orb's going back, at the entertainment which he gave to his brother. Who was the first Grecian that travelled into Egypt?

Thales.

At what period?

About six hundred years before Christ.
Did he remain in Egypt, or return to Greece?

He returned to his native country with his mind richly furnished with all the treasures of Egyptian learning, but peculiarly so with astronomical information.

Would you object to giving me some examples of the great attainments of this philosopher?

He was able to measure with exactness, the vast height and extent of a pyramid, merely by its shadow. Water he regarded as the grand principle of every thing. He calculated with Accuracy a solar eclipse. He taught the Greeks the true time of the equinoxes, and recommended the division of the year into 365 days. It is also asserted, that he was the inventor of the five imaginary zones that bind the celestial sphere. He was the founder of the Ionic sect.

I hope from this school, some pupils came forth, worthy of so great a master.

Yes, several: Anaximander, one of them, was not inferior to his preceptor in his love of astronomy.

When did he flourish?

In the year 568 before Christ.

What did he teach respecting the earth? He asserted that it was of a cylindrical form, and situated in the centre of the system.

Did he think of any thing that manifested as much astronomical information, as the division of the globe into five zones, by Thales?

The invention of the gnomon is ascribed to him, though it is probable he only brought it from Babylon, and made use of it in marking the tropics, and equinoxes.

Is the gnomon, then, an astronomical in

strument?

A gnomon is the hand or pin of a dial. The gnomon of every dial is supposed to represent the axis of the earth, and therefore the two ends or extremities must directly answer to the north and south pole.

Did he make any other discoveries?

Yes; he discovered the obliquity of the ecliptic.

Will you tell me something about the other pupils of Thales?

I do not know that that is necessary, but I

will give you some information respecting the great philosopher Pythagoras, who entered this world, at about the period Anaximander was quitting it.

At what period was that?

Five hundred and forty-seven years before Christ.

Did this philosopher also go into Egypt?

Yes; but not till after he had spent the years of his youth, in the most diligent exertions at the academy at Samos. From thence he returned to Sidon, his native place, where he was initiated into all the mysterious rites and sciences of Phoenicia.

And then did he go into Egypt?

Yes: and, under a severity of discipline not easy to be described, he continued the prosecution of his studies, for the additional period of twenty-two years.

This brought him, it may be supposed, beyond the age of forty: so much study was, I hope, of use to him?

He received a reward much greater, I apprehend, than he expected. For you must understand that the Indians, Chinese, and Persians, the Egyptians and Greeks, preserved the most profound secrecy on all religious matters. That no stranger or person of inferior rank should comprehend their mysteries, there were not only the ordinary barriers, of midnight gloom, se

crecy, and difficulty of access, but they also used double language, and cultivated a twofold doctrine, one for the regulation of the great mass of the community, which was called external; the other understood only by the priesthood, and called internal. Of the facts connected with this subject, one of the most interesting with which I am acquainted, I will this evening read to you*.

The question I am going to propose is not astronomical, but may I ask, is that the way clergymen preach to us? Do they say one thing from the pulpit, and another when they converse alone? Does the Bible employ one kind of language for the priest, and another for the people?

No; the plan of the Bible is altogether dif

ferent, and I know not a more satisfactory evidence of the divine origin of our holy religion, than that it destroys in man (in exact proportion as it infuses its holiness into his character) that vile love of self, which where it is not known, universally prevails. In fact, Christianity introduces the human character to us under an aspect altogether new. Instead of the self-deified, and egoistic misanthrope, whose greatness consists in a studied reserve, whose authority arises from the dark and subtle artifices of despotism; we see a noble disinterestedness, in which no personal consideration has

Memorandum I,

weight, but as it is subservient to the benefit of mankind. You behold the children of this heaven-born family, when you look at a Howard, a Brainerd, a Buchanan, a Brown, a Thompson, a Corie. But to return to Pythagoras.

Will you tell me what unexpected reward he had for his long study?

Yes; the Egyptian priests were so much astonished and delighted at the severity of his application to learning, that they waved their established rule of secrecy to strangers, and unfolded to him all their mysteries, and all their sciences.

And did he then go back to Greece to instruct his own people?

No. He had heard of the Chaldean, and Persian Magi, and the renowned Brachmanes of India, and he was impatient to explore the hallowed caves of the former, and the consecrated forests of the latter.

And did he visit these places?

He did, and thereby greatly enlarged his measure of information, besides enjoying again a very unexpected remuneration for all his toils. What was that?

In Chaldea he was not only received with delight, by the Magi in general; but the prophet Ezekiel, and the second Zoroaster, were there at the same time.

How long did he stop here?