though many of them grew oats, and a coarser kind of grain, in the times of Julius Cæsar,-yet no man had any land to call his own; their families were forced every year to remove to some new spot. Like most savages, they loved to be strong and to fight. They would bathe themselves and their little children in the frozen rivers, that they might become hardy; and would hardly wear any clothes, even when it was cold. They were still savage people in the year 430, when the Romans left Britain. They had, already, fought many, many hard battles with the Romans. They had once taken the city-and now that they knew Italy to be a warm, pleasant country, and Rome a very beautiful place, they determined to go there, and were travelling from the north to the south of Europe by thousands and tens of thousands. Not only these people. Mighty streams of men, from other northern and eastern countries, rushed down, and pressed them forward. Just as the heavy waters of some grand river, which has been swelled by the rains, and is overflowing, move on to find a resting-placefirst, coming with silence, at last, with a roar and a crash, sweeping on everything before them; so, from the cold countries came crowds of wild and grizzly men, opening wide their round eyes to see strange places; and, with the force of the deep stream, new races and tribes pressed on like strong waves to the south of Europe, to swallow up the city of ROME. W. How the Britains who went to Rome must have had to fight! P. Hear of the barbarians! They came to the snowy Alps. From these high mountains they looked down on the fruitful valleys of Italy. Then, as they felt the pushing and pressure behind, they moved forward, and, pouring down in continual torrents, soon the city of the Romans, and the countries they had conquered, were filled with Goths, Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Suevians, Burgundians, and all manner of big, burly fellows, who destroyed the beautiful cities, and danced on the ruins they had made, as delighted, as fierce, and as savage as bears! Ion. Was England conquered too, papa? P. You shall hear. England, you know, is an island, and must be reached by boats, or ships. These barbarians were now only spreading themselves over the continent. Our German ancestors, whom I spoke of, were living at the North, and were divided into many tribes. A tribe called SAXONS lived the life of pirates, for they had ships in which they used to put out to sea, and rob other nations. These Saxons one day received a message from the Britons, asking them to come over to their island. Ion. Did the Britons ask them, papa? That was a dangerous invitation. I would never invite a robber to come and see me. P. Do not be sure, Ion. You do not know what you might have done. In the next lesson you shall hear why they did so, and what happened. AN EGG.* M. How many parts can you find in this egg, Ion? Ion. Please give it to me, mamma, I will see. There is the outsideyou gave me another name for outside once-the "exterior." The inside, or "interior." Then, the outside has a smooth face. | certain. It is smocth. Let me tap it. It is hard. I wonder what shape it is. Round, I think. No, not round exactly-it is a long round; I will call it oval. The egg-shell is thin. I can't observe that without breaking the egg. Now, Ion, please to repeat the qualities of the shell for me. Ion. The EGG-SHELL is white, L. That is called the surface. smooth, hard, oval, and thin. But Ion. Then, there is the shell you have left out something-it itself, the white of the egg, the yel-breaks with sharp edges, it is brittle. low part-I forget the name for that, mamma. M. The yolk. Ion. Yes, the yolk; and I don't think I can find any more parts. W. Don't you remember, that when you open the egg, you find a thin skin inside the shell ?-that is another part. M. And there is another part inside, which is intended to become a chicken. You can hardly tell it from the white of the egg. We will call it the embryo. Ion. Then, there are seven parts in the egg. I will say them. The exterior, the interior, the surface, the shell, the skin, the white, the yolk, and the embryo. W. I did not think it had so many parts. Please, mamma, to let me have it now, and I will find out its qualities. Come, sir, what sort of an egg have you? M. You had better examine one part at a time, Willie. W. Then I will take its shell first, mamma. It is white-that is The author has to acknowledge that the idea of these lessons is obtained from Miss Mayo's "Lessons on Objects;" and that, as he has often chosen the same subjects, the details are, necessarily, in some respects similar. May I break it, mamma? Then Willie will see, for I want to examine the white of the egg. M. Yes-here is a cup. Ion. There-crack! See how brittle it is. How quickly the white flowed into the cup-it is fluid, that is certain. And, it is sticky, for it is sticking to my finger. M. It is more than sticky, Ion. It will even fasten two substances together. There are many things which are sticky, and yet will not join two substances. L. Yes, mamma, butter is, and lard. They are sticky; but you could not fasten a letter with either of them. W. Tallow is only sticky, and oil and treacle. The juice of oranges, too, and of gooseberries. M. But when any substance has so much stickiness in it that it will fasten two things together, it is called adhesive. This word adhesive" is made from the Latin word "adhærere"- -to stick to. Now think of some adhesive substances. L. Gum, mamma. They put it and that is why they are called on envelopes to fasten them. Ah, "adhesive envelopes." W. Glue, paste, wafers, and postage-stamps are adhesive. Jon. How can that be, Willie ! the stamps are made of paper You mean that the gum at the back of them is adhesive. M. No, Ion. Willie was right, for the gum, you must remember, is a part of the stamps; but you are forgetting the white of the egg. Ion. Well, the white is fluid, sticky, and adhesive. I can see through it so it is transparent; but, when you boil it, it is not-it is opaque then. And when you boil it, it is not fluid-it is solid. graphy lesson. You have learned, too, that the snail's and crab's shells are made from lime. At the time for laying eggs, the hens may often be seen looking about for lime, which they eat to form shells. Is it not curious that the hens should know that mortar contains lime? If they find a piece on the ground, they will "peck away" at it, and will even pick out the mortar from a brick wall. Pigeons will also do this. W. Now I will say Ion's "qualities" for him. The WHITE is fluid, sticky, adhesive, and transparent; but when boiled, it is solid, and opaque. Here is the cup, Lucy-mals, come from eggs. you must describe the yolk. You know that the egg, if warmed for a long time, will change into a chicken; and not only chickens, but the young of many other ani L. The yolk has a smell-so it is odorous. It has a colour-it is yellow. You cannot see through it, so it is opaque. There! The YOLK is odorous, yellow, and opaque. Please, mamma, I am very anxious to hear the egg's history; for I often wonder how the hens can make so many eggs, and all exactly of the same shape. Ion. And they always seem so pleased when they've made one. They sing out such a cackle and noise afterwards, and seem to think they have done something wonderful. W. Yes, at uncle's farm in the country there was one young hen in particular who was very proud She would persuade some other hens to help her, and would "go on" for half an hour, as much as to say, "Come and see what I have made isn't it a beauty!" But, mamma, where do they get the nice stuff to make such fine white shells? - W. Yes, mamma. Young birds do-and the butterfly, or rather the caterpillar, is born in an egg. And fishes. You told me once that the little round things in the roe of the herring were eggs. Ion. And flies lay eggs, and lobsters, and shrimps. M. Ah! and many more animals. Fleas, scorpions, black beetles, snails, snakes, frogs, crocodiles, bees, and all insects. I could tell you some curious tales about eggs, but we must leave off now, and make up the lesson. Lesson 6. AN EGG. (1.) The egg has an exterior, interior, surface, shell, skin, white, yolk, and an embryo. (2.) The SHELL is white, smooth, hard, oval, thin, and brittle. (3.) The WHITE is fluid, sticky, adhesive, and transparent; but, when boiled, it is solid, and opaque. (4.) The YoLK is odorous, yellow, and opaque. (5.) Eggs are made by birds, and other animals, for the purpose of producing young ones. Fishes, Reptiles, and Insects, lay eggs. M. That "nice stuff" is chiefly rrocured from the lime which you (6.) Eggs are also useful to manpheard in your Physical Geo-kind, who eat them. THE TRAVELLER THROUGH ENGLAND. MY DEAR CHILDREN,— ALNWICK CASTLE is a fine place. The Duke of Northumberland lives in it. Some of the Alnwick people seemed very proud of their castle. They told me that it was first built by the Romans, and that it is the most splendid old castle in England, except WINDSOR CASTLE, where THE QUEEN lives. However, I did not stop to look at it, but set off again early in the morning, as I had written to a gentleman in Newcastle-a coalfactor-to say, that I intended to call on him next day, and to visit a coal-mine. I passed five more castles, and another island, called COQUET ISLE, which, I heard, was famous for rabbits. There was a large castle, also, at the large town, MORPETH, where I slept. On Thursday morning, I arrived at NEWCASTLE, which is the "capital" of the county. The word capital, you know, means the chief town. After finding a stable for "Peg," I took a walk by the side of the River Tyne, on which the town is situated,-just as London is situated on the Thames. Near the quays, which are places where ships are unladen, I saw a great number of heavy looking vessels, called "Keels," or "Colliers." There were, also, more than a hundred strong, rough men, with black hands and faces, who were called "Keelmen." They were busy lading their keels and barges with coals, which were to be taken down the river. "Where are all these coals sent to ?" I said to a keelman, who was standing still for a minute. "Sent to, sir? Sent everywhere, to be sure. At least, I suppose so. In one year, sir, we have exported' from this place as much as 1,562,340 tons of coals-that's pretty well, sir, arn't it? Round about here, sir, and in a great part of Durham, is what we call The Great Northern Coal-field, from which most of the London folks procure their coal.” "There are a great number of you keelmen," I said. "Yes, sir, a great number. Most of us live at Gateshead, in Durham, a place which you may see on the other side of the bridge." "Thank you," I said. "Good morning!" I then took a walk through the town. Some of the streets were very dirty and narrow; but other parts were newer-more modern, as we say-and handsome. I stopped to look at the large new Market-place. Then, I went to see the old Castle, where EDWARD I. once lived, and where DAVID BRUCE was kept prisoner. I saw some large iron foundries, glass works, and manufactories where machinery was made. In the afternoon, I called for my friend the coal-merchant at his place of business, as I had promised, and we went together to see one of the coal-mines. We had not to go a very great distance. On our road, we saw the ruins of a very old and thick stone wall, which my friend pointed out to me. We soon came to the entrance to the mine. This entrance was a pit, which looked like a broad, dark well, and was called "the shaft." An engine-house with a tall chimney was built over the shaft; and, not far off, we saw long rows of smaller houses, in which the miners lived, and another building, with two tall chimnies. Round about us, there were trains of square trucks on railroads -some were empty, and others were full of coals, which had been "screened," and were ready to be carried away. Ion. I wonder what screened means. I will ask papa when I see him. Inside the engine-house, I heard an engine coughing and puffing away, as though it had some hard work to do. I found that it was busy pumping out water from the mine; for there are always springs under the earth which would soon fill the mines with water, if it were not pumped out. There was another engine trying to be as active as his neighbour, for-all day long, without stopping-he went on, in his own regular way, letting down empty baskets, and drawing up full ones. The ropes to which the great baskets were tied were made of twisted iron wire. When I saw this, I did not feel afraid that they would break, so my friend and I stepped into an empty one. One of the colliers-that is, a man who works in the coal-trade - came with us, and down we went. "Hold fast to the rope, sir," said the collier. "How dark it is!" "How cold it feels!" I said. "What a curious smell!" "What a singing in my ears!" "Here we are, gentlemen." I stepped out, and felt very giddy, but managed to walk a little distance; I then saw that we were in long, dark passage, or gallery; and that there were great pillars of coal, which were left to support the roof. I also noticed the curious lamp in the hand of the collier;it was made of iron wire, and he called it his "Davy." In time, we came to a busy scene of miners working with pickaxes and shovels. There were men and boys filling the trucks with eoal. Men and horses drawing them along. After seeing many parts of the mine, we sat down to rest. I then made no less than four pages of notes; for my friend, the coal-merchant, and the collier, told me many things about mining, the Davy lamp, and accidents in mines from water and fire-dainp,—all of which you shall read one day, when I have time to write you some letters on Trades. Soon afterwards, we found our way back to the shaft; our friend, the engine, pulled us up again, and I went home quickly to my friend's house, with a bad headache. We were both very glad to have a cup of tea. "Are there many more coalmines in Northumberland ?" I said to my friend after tea. "Yes. There are many around Newcastle, and in other parts. There are, besides, iron and lead mines. Most of the riches of this county are found under the ground but very little grows on it. In many parts you may dig, and plough the land, and sow vegetables, but, as they spring up the cold east winds nip them, and make them grow very slowly." Ion. Anybody could tell that they would have a cold north-east wind, in Northumberland, for,look at the Map. See how the wind must blow from the North Pole across the Northern Ocean. I wonder what they call land when it is not fruitful. W. It is then called barren; and fruitful land is called fertile. L. Yes; the letter says so-listen! "There are," said my friend, "some parts which are fertile. If |