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undisturbed vista of the amplest pecuni- at twenty-one. We do not recommend ary resources before they will enter upon They forget that married men can work, and that marriage is a stimulus to work, and again and again elicits those latent activities of mind which produce not only competency, but affluence. Let us take the case of two great lawyers. Lord Cottenham formed in early life the resolution not to marry till his practice was £4,000 a-year, and he married at forty. Lord Eldon married upon nothing

the latter case for general adoption, but the two examples taken together show how absurd it is to lay down such stringent rules as are now fashionable on the subject of marriage. The issue is the same, under the most opposite circumstances, because both men were workers. And Lord Cottenham was not aided by his late marriage, and Lord Eldon was certainly not impeded by his early one.

LADY FRANKLIN'S PLAN S.

THE plan of Lady Franklin's Arctic Expedition is now arranged. A glance at any recent map of the Arctic regions shows that nearly the whole area east and west of the outlet of the Fish River has been swept by Government searching expeditions. Apart, then, from the fact that the Esquimaux reports point to a very limited locality where the great Arctic mystery lies concealed, we are warranted in hoping that a search, within an area embracing not more than 370 miles of coast, may be rewarded by the discovery of the Erebus and Terror. Capt. M'Clintock proposes to make his way down Prince Regent's Inlet, and thence through Bellot's Strait to the field of search; or, should the ice permit, to proceed direct to it by going down Peel Sound, which he has good reasons for believing to be a strait. If prevented by the ice from passing through Bellot's Strait, or going down Peel's Sound, he will abandon the idea of taking his ship through these channels, and, leaving her in safety in Prince Regent's Inlet, will proceed to search for the Erebus and Terror by sledging parties, so successfully used in the late Expedition, in conducting which Capt. M'Clintock particularly distinguished himself.

We regret to say, that a strong memorial, recently transmitted from the United States, praying our Admiralty to send the Resolute out on a final searching expedition, has failed to arouse official sympathy with a cause now stirring all England. This is the more surprising as the work which remains to be done is extremely small, and Arctic experience shows that the probable risk is slight. The rate of mortality of all the Arctic Expeditions since 1818 (exclusive of that of the missing Expedition) is less than 1 per cent. Sir Charles Wood, therefore, as the oracle of the Admiralty, has no foundation for saying that "he does not feel justified in exposing to the risks inseparable from such explorations the lives of further officers and men." Previous searching expeditions, which were necessarily dispatched to unknown regions, have, as we have seen, been singularly fortunate in regard to the slight mortality, and the proposed Expedition, which will have the advantage of being within easy reach of the large depots of stores and provisions at Beechey Island and Port Leopold, will certainly not be attended with greater risk than those which have preceded it. Great scientific interest attaches, moreover, to Lady Franklin's final search, as it will be

carried on in the neighborhood of the | a careful search be made for any possible North Magnetic Pole. Let us then hope survivor; that the bones of the dead be that the appeal of Lady Franklin will meet sought for; that their buried records be a ready response. "I have cherished the unearthed, or recovered from the hands hope," says Lady Franklin, in her letter of the Esquimaux; and above all, that to Lord Palmerston, "in common with their last written words, so precious to others, that we are not waiting in vain. their bereaved families and friends, be Should, however, that decision unfortun- saved from destruction. A mission so ately throw upon me the responsibility sacred is worthy of a Government which and the cost of sending out a vessel my- has grudged and spared nothing for its self, I beg to assure your lordship that I heroic solders and sailors in other fields of shall not shrink either from that weighty warfare, and will surely be approved by responsibility, or from the sacrifice of my our gracious queen, who overlooks none entire available fortune, for the purpose, of her loyal subjects, suffering and dying supported as I am in my convictions by for their country's honor." "This final such high authorities as those whose opin- and exhausting search is all I seek in ions are on record in your lordship's hands, behalf of the first and only martyrs to and by the hearty sympathy of many Arctic discovery in modern times, and it "Surely, then, I may plead that is all I ever intend to ask."

more."

LOOKING AND LEAPING.

furnish us matter for useful and entertaining talk rather than for idle questions. Accordingly, proverbs and names were written on slips of card, and the great delight and, in some cases, relief: "Look before you leap" came forth with Mr. Simpson's name. Never shall I forget the venerable old gentleman, as, raising his head, and collecting his thoughts for a minute, he began:

It was a bitterly cold winter's evening, I improvement, that the proverbs should and our little party nestled closer and closer round the blazing fire. No one felt inclined for reading; we all declared we were by far too cozy for that; and all seemed too happy to talk, or felt too much real joy at heart to laugh. So the question was started, as we rubbed our hands before the fire, and gave a pretty little shudder now and then, "What shall we do?" A mixed party of old and young, of both sexes, must necessarily be rather varied in tastes and inclinations, and ours proved no exception; so it was not till some time had elapsed that we all agreed in one thing, to submit our several plans to the patriarch of our circle, who had hitherto kept aloof from the discussion.

Mr. Simpson smiled at our appeal, and bent his dear old silvered head to listen to our suggestions as, one by one, they were urged on him by their ardent proposers. At last it was agreed that a game of proverbs should be played, with this

"My dear young friends, it is strange that Providence has given me this little duty to-night? Truly in my lifetime I have seen many a leap and some few looks. The pleasures of a green memory almost repay the other disadvantages of age, and make one bless God for being one of his sheaves near harvest-time. Let us look into the subject a little"-mentally, I suppose, for our expositor took off his spectacles: "it seems to divide mankind into three classes-those who continually look and never leap; those who leap and never

look; and the few who look well and often before they leap.

"He who leaps before he looks often involuntarily looks back after, and then, just in time to be too late, sees his own folly and feels its effects. The rash and inconsiderate, if they have any feelings at all, are always habitual, and, what is worse, useless penitents. The die is cast; they have taken an irrevocable step, and that without thought. It is a sad sight to see a man grieving without hope for an event which a momentary glance beforehand might have obviated.

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'Act in the living present; Heart within, and God o'erhead.'

Death will at last surprise these donothings, and then they will see how worthless an existence of mere looking is. They have been the world's lumber, useless to themselves, and a stumbling-block in other people's way."

"But the third set, Mr. Simpson? don't be so dismal, please."

gret the deeper that there are not more of them. The man who looks carefully, deliberately, and, above all, conscientiously before he leaps, will preserve himself from numerous troubles, and will afford a valuable example to the world around him. I do not refer to a mere worldlywise glance about him, but to the habit of weighing his future actions by the only standard of right-God's revealed will. That man who ponders the influence, for good or evil, of his doings, and invokes his Maker's blessing upon them, will spend a happy life; and when called to take a solemn look at the dread leap of death before him-when preparing earnestly and prayerfully for the great chance that is ever impending, guided by God's good's Spirit, he can not but experience a safe and happy transition into the eternal world.

"Our proverb recommends a medium course between rashness and over-caution. It pictures neither the character of the man who rushes at a chasm, and desperately flings himself over or down it; nor yet him who swings his body to and fro on the brink, who ponders and intends, intends and ponders, till the curtain of night falls, and he finds himself not an inch nearer his destination than he was at sunrise; but it pictures the man who looks thoughtfully, measures distance and force, and leaps with a brave heart and steady eye.

"Remember, my friends, the leaping; "Well, the third set certainly does but above all things, never forget the brighten the picture, which makes me re-looking."

DIMENSIONS OF THE AMERICAN LAKES. | miles; mean depth, 800 feet; elevation, -The latest measurements of these fresh water seas are as follows: The greatest length of Lake Superior is 335 miles; the greatest breadth is 160 miles; mean depth, 988 feet; elevation, 627 feet; area, 23,000 square miles. The greatest length of Lake Michigan is 360 miles; its greatest breadth, 108 miles; mean depth, 900 feet; elevation, 687 feet; area, 23,000 square miles. The greatest length of Lake Huron is 200 miles; the greatest breadth is 160

474 feet; area, 20,000 square miles. The greatest length of Lake Erie is 250 miles;. its greatest breadth is 80 miles; its mean depth, 200 feet; elevation, 555 feet; area, 6000 square miles. The greatest length of Lake Ontario is 180 miles; its greatest breadth is 65 miles; its mean depth is 500 feet; elevation, 262 feet; area, 6000 square miles. The total length of all five is 1584 miles, covering an area altogether of upward of 90,000 square miles.

THE SHAH OF PERSIA.

THE present number of our journal is embellished with a portrait of his Majesty, the Shah of Persia. It was originally painted and engraved for the royal family of England. Mr. Sartain has copied it very accurately and beautifully, from a London print. He appears on a state occasion, wearing his triple crown, radiant and sparkling with precious gems and innumerable diamonds of the purest water, and of immense value, which blaze around his neck, shoulders, and arms; thus exhibiting and illustrating the splendor of oriental magnificence. As an oriental monarch, over the empire of Persia, and recently at war with England, whose embassador was received, a few months since, with great consideration at the imperial court of France, his portrait in the splendor of Eastern costume is an object of interest and curiosity, with which we trust our readers will be pleased. We only add a brief biographical sketch of this illustrious personage.

The present Sovereign, Mohammed Nassr-ed-din-Shah, ascended the throne in April, 1849. He was then sixteen years of age, and lived away from the court with one of his uncles, the governor of Tabriz. He succeded to the throne in virtue of his being the nearest of kin in the collateral line of the celebrated Feth ali-Shah, or Baba-khan. Nassr-eddin-Shah is the fourth sovereign of the Turcoman dynasty of the Kadjars, the origin of whom is curious. The dynasty which preceded that of the Kadjars was founded in the following manner: Under the reign of the Sophis there lived a cameldriver whose bravery procured for him the obedience of a number of his companions, who formed themselves into a band, and under his direction crowned several most successful expeditions with the conquest of the province of Khorasan. Their leader, Nadir, usurped the throne of Persia on the death of Abas III., and caused himself to be proclaimed Shah, or Sovereign of Persia. Nadir Shah brought under

subjection Candahar, Cabul, and several provinces of the Mogul Empire. He was killed, in 1747, by his first lieutenant, whose eyes he had the intention of putting out. His successor, Thamasp-Kouli Khan II., reigned only a few years. Fearful disorders broke out at his death in Persia, and several pretenders to the throne arose. Amongst these was a member of the tribe of Kadjars, which signifies fugitives, named Mohammed Macan-Khan, who conquered Mazandaran and other provinces, and captured Ispahan; he was on the point of conquering all Persia when he fell into the hands of a rival, who beheaded him in 1758. His son, Aga Mohammed Khan, succeeded in proclaiming himself Shah of Persia, in 1794, and he founded the present dynasty. Since 1705, the Court of Persia resides at Teheran; formerly Ispahan had been the capital of the kingdom. In summer the court is driven away from Teheran by the heat, and encamps from June 1 to September 30 at the foot of the Elboorz mountains, in the valley of Goolahek. The embassadors and great authorities, with the richest inhabitants of the town, accompany the court, and form a magnificent canvas town. The present Shah is of a very mild disposition, and is deeply attached to his mother, who governs his private household. She is only about forty years of age, and is still very beautiful. She has for a secretary a French woman, who married, in Paris, a Persian nobleman, and accompanied her husband to his native home, after having embraced his religion. The Shah has five children, to whom he is greatly attached. His eldest son died a few weeks ago.

THE PERSIAN EMBASSADOR IN PARIS.His Excellency Feroukh Khan, embassa dor for Persia, received a public audience on the 24th from the Emperor, in the throneroom at the Tuileries, and presented the letters accrediting him to his imperial Majesty.

Feroukh Khan, after having presented | to their Majesties the persons attached to his suit, handed to the Emperor, in the name and on the part of his sovereign, the Royal Order of Persia, and presents for the Empress and the Imperial Prince. The embassador wore a magnificent cashmere gown, trimmed with fur, and ornamented with diamond clasps, white kerseymere pantaloons with gold stripes, and the Astrakan cap. Two of his suite wore the same costume. The rest were in military uniform.

The Times correspondent, speaking of the embassador, says: "He promises to be the admired of all admirers, and to completely efface the traces left in our memories by the majestic proportions of Count Orloff and the brilliancy of his diamonds. In personal advantages, Feroukh Khan may fairly bear a comparison with the other foreign diplomatists. He appears to be a man about forty years of age, or a little more. He wears a beard, black and rich, such as few diplomatic chins could grow, and which excites the envy and despair of the unfledged attachés of the older missions, who gaze on him with admiration. His eyes are black and

piercing, and his figure graceful. Among those who accompany him are said to be two cousins of the Sovereign of Persia ; and they wear a white scarf over their rich uniforms, no doubt as a sign of their being born in the purple chamber.” ” The embassador was, doubtless, ignorant of the simple grandeur of the Imperial Court, and in the indifference for show and splendor which characterizes our courtiers, otherwise he would not have come laden, as he is said to be, with many and rich gifts. He has brought, it seems, a whole cargo of Cashmere shawls and other such articles for presents, so that among an influential portion of the Persian population his beaux yeux are not the only charms which will insure him a welcome. Among his attachés are one or two literary gentlemen. It would be curious to hear their opinions of men and things in this capital of European civilization, and we may yet be gratified with another series of "Persian letters," surpassing in interest the genuine correspondence which bears the name of Montesquieu. We have an Usbeck and a Ricon on the spot, and they must have left many a Roustan and an Ibben in Teheran, to whom they can confide their thoughts.

THE SONG OF THE MOUNTAIN

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STREAM.

I'll creep round the roots of the old oak-trees,
And call to the cattle their thirst to appease.
Lambs shall come skipping,

Birds shall stoop sipping;

All shall be glad for my pure limpid flowing."

List to the song of the mountain stream,
As it rolls with its heaving motion,
Calmly reflecting the sun's last beam,
Ere it loses itself in the ocean.

"No more through the beautiful vale I'll wend;
I have finished life's changeful story;
Peacefully-thankfully seeking the end,

Where, with the main, my small tribute shall blend,

Mingling-not dying,

Smiling-not sighing,

Singing for ever His greatness and glory."

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