so successful, that he has often spread his winnings on the ground, and rolled himself on them, in order that it might be said of him, "he wallowed in gold.' Such was his life for a considerable time; but, as he has often said, and I dare say every considerate man will join with him, "it was the most miserable part of it."

After some time, he was ordered on the recruiting duty, and, at Barcelona, he raised one hundred and fifty recruits for the regiment, though this was left entirely to his sergeant, that he might be more at leisure to attend to his darling passion. After some changes of good and ill luck, fortune declared so openly against him, that, in one unlucky run, he was totally stripped of his last farthing.

In this distress, he applied to a captain of the same regiment with himself for a loan of ten guineas; which was refused, with this speech: "What! lend my money to a professed gamester! No, sir, I must be excused: for, of necessity, I must lose either my money or my friend; I therefore choose to keep my money." With this taunting refusal, he retired to his lodgings; where he threw himself on the bed, to lay himself and his sorrows to a momentary rest, during the heat of the day.

A bug, gnat, or some such vermin, happening to bite him, he awoke; when his melancholy situation immediately presented itself to him. Without money! and no prospect how to get any to subsist himself and his recruits to the regiment, then at a great distance from him; and should they desert for want of their pay, he must be answerable for it; and he could expect nothing but cashiering, for disappointing the queen's service.

He had no friends; for he whom he had esteemed so, had not only refused to lend him money, but had added taunts to his refusal. He had no acquaintance there; and strangers, he knew, would not let him have

so large a sum as was answerable to his real necessity. This naturally led him to reflect seriously on what had induced him to commence gamester; and this, he presently perceived, was idleness. He had now found the cause, but the cure was still wanting: how was that to be effected so as to prevent a relapse? Something must be done; some method must be pursued, so effectually to employ his time as to prevent his having any to throw away at gaming.

It then occurred to him, that the adjutancy of the regiment was to be disposed of; and this he determined to purchase, as a post the most likely to find him a sufficient and laudable way of passing his time. He had letters of credit, to draw for what sum he pleased, for his promotion in the army, but not to throw away idly, or to encourage his extravagance.

This was well: but the main difficulty remained; and he must get to the regiment before he could take any steps towards the intended purchase, or draw for the sum to make it with. While he was endeavoring to fall upon some expedient to extricate himself out of this dilemma, his friend, who had refused him in the morning, came to pay him a visit. After a very cool reception on the colonel's side, the other began by asking him what steps he intended to take to relieve himself from the anxiety he plainly saw he was in.

The colonel then told him all he had thought upon that head, and the resolution he had made of purchasing the adjutancy, as soon as he could join the regiment. His friend, then getting up and embracing him, said, "My dear Daniel, I refused you in the morning in that abrupt manner, in order to bring you to a sense of the dangerous situation you were in, and to make you reflect seriously on the folly of the way of life you had got into. I heartily rejoice that it has had the desired effect. Pursue the laudable resolution you have made; for be assured, that idleness and gaming are the ruin of youth.

"My interest, advice, and purse, are now at your command; there, take it, and please yourself with what is necessary to subsist yourself, and your recruits to the regiment." This presently brought the colonel off the bed; and this afternoon's behavior entirely obliterated the harshness of his friend's morning refusal. He now viewed him in the agreeable light of a sincere friend, and for ever after esteemed and found him such.

In short, the colonel set out with his recruits for the regiment, where he gained great applause for his success, which, as well as his commission, he had well nigh lost by one morning's folly. He immediately solicited, and purchased the adjutancy; and, from that day forward, never touched cards or dice, but as they ought to be used, merely for diversion, or to unbend the mind, after too close an attention to serious affairs.

LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH.

What is Hope like?

Like a foam on the billow,

When it swells o'er the deep;

Like a tear on the pillow,

When we sigh, while we sleep;

Like the siren that sings

We ne'er can tell where,
Is the fond hope that brings
The night of despair.

Like the starlight of gladness

When it gleams in death's eye;

Like the meteor of madness

In the spirit's dark sky;

Like the zephyrs that perish
With the breath of their birth,
Are the hopes that we cherish
While poisoned on earth.

LESSON ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEENTH.

A King among Boys.

Before the birth of Cyrus, his grandfather, Astyages, king of the Medes, dreamed that he was raised to the throne in his own lifetime; and this so troubled him with fears for the safety of his crown, that he caused the infant, as soon as born, to be delivered to Harpagus, with strict orders to have it destroyed. Harpagus, willing to avoid the sin of so cruel a deed, entrusted the execution of it to the herdsman of Astyages; but the herdsman's wife, happening at the very time to lose her own infant child, prevailed on her husband to adopt the living child in its place.

When Cyrus (for such was the boy's name) grew up, he was particularly distinguished among his playmates, for his boldness and intelligence; and, as an honor justly due to superior merit, they conferred on him the title of king. Cyrus put the rush crown on his head with all the confidence of one who was entitled to a real one. He proceeded to appoint one playmate to be his prime minister; another to be his chamberlain; a third to be his sword bearer; so many to be his privy council; and so many to be his guards.

One of these boy-subjects, the son of a nobleman, happening to disobey some of the royal commands, Cyrus ordered him to be seized by his guards, and severely flogged. The lad, as soon as at liberty, ran home to his father, and complained bitterly of the treatment he had received. The father repaired to Astyages, and, showing him the bruised shoulders of

his son, "Is it thus, O king!" said he, "that we are treated by the son of thy bondsman and slave?"

Astyages sent for the herdsman and his supposed son; and, addressing the latter sternly, said, "How darest thou, being the son of such a father as this, treat in so vile a manner the son of one of my court?"

"Sire," answered Cyrus, with firmness, "I have done nothing unto him but what was fit. The country lads, of which he was one, chose me for their king, in play, because I seemed the most worthy of that dignity; but, when all the rest obeyed my commands, this boy alone regarded not what I said. For this he was punished; and if, on this account, I have merited to suffer any punishment, I am here ready to suffer it."

While Cyrus spoke, Astyages was so struck with the family resemblance of the boy's features, that he was tempted to make some particular inquiries of the herdsman; and pressed him so hard, that he at last extorted from him a confession of the truth. Dismissing them for the present, Astyages went and consulted the magi on the discovery he had made, revealing to them, at the same time, the purport of the dream which had given such trouble to his mind.

The magi, ingenious in behalf of humanity, declared that, in their opinion, all that the dream imported had been already realized, by the circumstance of Cyrus. having played the king in sport. This interpretation lulled the fears of Astyages; he became reconciled to the boy's existence; and, after acknowledging him as his grandson, sent him into Persia, to his father.-But, ere many years had elapsed, Cyrus stimulated the Persians to revolt, overcame Astyages, his grandfather, and united the empire of the Medes to that of the Persians.

In a visit which Cyrus made to his grandfather, shortly after his royal descent was recognised, Astyages was much charmed with his sprightliness and wit, and gave a sumptuous entertainment on his ac