1834.] A SUM IN NUMERATION. 157 Q. 2. How did this king treat his former companions? Q. 3. How did he behave to the Lord Chief Justice, Sir William Gascoyne? Q. 4. What was the established religion in England at that time? Q. 5. What nobleman endeavoured to bring about a reformation of religion? Q. 6. How was he treated? Q. 7. How were those persons generally treated who opposed the Roman Catholic religion? Q. 8. By what means did the King endeavour to put a stop to those religious persecutions? Q. 9. Of what country did the King declare that he was the rightful heir? Q. 10. What great battle did he fight in France? and which side conquered? Q. 11. What agreement was entered into on peace being made between England and France? Q. 12. In what year did King Henry the Fifth die, and how old was he then? Q. 13. What was this King's chief pursuit, and what was his general character? Q. 14. Who was Wickliffe ? V. A SUM IN NUMERATION. NUMERATION is generally given as the first rule in arithmetic, because it is necessary to know how to set down such figures as express certain numbers, before we can make any arithmetical calculations. Mr. Wigram, in his excellent book of Arithmetic, has contrived to introduce to the little student a great deal of useful scriptural learning, in addition to that knowledge which his book professes to inculcate. Let one of my youngest readers take a slate and pencil in his hand, and try to write down the figures which express the dates here given in words; then let him try to remember them, and to question himself over and over again in them till they are fixed so firmly in his memory that they will not slip out; he will then have got a good deal of useful knowledge, besides having practised himself in the rule of Numeration. 1. God created the world four thousand and four years before our Saviour Jesus Christ was born.-Set down the date of the "Creation," in figures. 2. He sent a flood of waters over the earth two thousand three hundred and forty-nine years before the birth of Christ.-Write down the date of the "Deluge" in figures. 3. He called Abram to leave his father's house, and go into a strange country, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one years before Christ. Write down. the date of the "Call of Abram," in figures. 4. Jacob and his sons, and their families, went down into Egypt one thousand seven hundred and six years before Christ.-Set down the date of Jacob's going into Egypt. . 5. Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt in the year one thousand four hundred and ninety-one before Christ (B. C.)-Set down the date of the "Exodus"." 6. Saul, the first king of Israel, began to reign in the year one thousand and ninety-three, B. C.-Set down the date when the children of Israel first had a king. 7. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, carried away the Jews, prisoners to his own country, six hundred and six years, B. C. ; and in the year five hundred and thirtysix, B. C., God put it into the heart of Cyrus to let them return home again.-Set down the date of the carrying away into Babylon, and the year of the return home. RUSSIAN GIN-SHOPS. AT the outside of each of these gin-shops at Moscow are invariably stationed two or three young men, or big boys, dressed up in a pink-coloured coat which folds over the breast, and is tied with a sash at the waist, and loose blue trousers, which are tucked into clumsy boots. They wear their hair very long, reaching on each side more than half way down the arm, and divided in the centre. When any one passes near one of these gin-shops, these 1 EXODUS, means the GOING OUT. 1834.] SUICIDE. 159 decoy-ducks place themselves directly in his way, and commence a series of salutations, bowing almost to the ground, their hair falling down like a horse's tail each time, and entirely covering the face. Their appearance and manner is truly ludicrous.-Barrow's Sketches. The poor people of England do not require to be thus invited into the fine gin-shops which are provided for their ruin men, women, and sometimes children, will walk into these places of their own accord, and will spend as much money in this one way, as would have enabled them and their families to live in comfort, and cleanliness, and plenty. But a gin-drinker is generally a poor ragged miserable creature. And it must be so; for spirits injure the constitution, and weaken the mind, and empty the pocket. If any man who had long been in the habit of drinking spirits would consider how much money this practice had cost him, he would find that the amount of this enormous tax, which he has laid on himself, is quite sufficient to account for the poverty of which most gin-drinkers so loudly complain. SUICIDE 1. V. It is very common for those who set themselves against religion, to try to find every argument to excuse their opposition. They say that religion makes men melancholy, and that many people are so cast down by it, and are often brought into such a state of despair, as even to fly to self-destruction. It must indeed be a strange perversion of the Christian religion which can lead any one to act in total opposition to its spirit and its commands. The truth, however, is, that religion, instead of making men melancholy, really keeps them from that despair into which others sink, and it keeps them from those practices which bring such worldly difficulties as often drive men to destroy themselves. Where one man, even by a perversion of religion, is brought to despair, how many are brought to that state by gambling, drunkenness, and other kind of sins, from the practices of which religion would have entirely secured them. The following authentic list will show 1 Self-murder. how few, in comparison, are those whom even errors in religion (here called "fanaticism") have led to commit suicide. Suicides committed in London between the years 1770 and 1830:-From poverty, 905 men, 511 women; domestic grief, 728 men, 524 women; reverse of fortune, 322 men, 283 women; drunkenness and misconduct, 287 men, 208 women; gambling, 155 men, 141 women; dishonour and calumny, 125 men, 95 women; disappointed ambition, 122 men, 410 women; grief from love, 97 men, 157 women; envy and jealousy, 94 men, 53 women; wounded self-love, 53 men, 53 women; remorse, 49 men, 37 women; fanaticism, 16 men, 1 woman; misanthropy, 3 men, 3 women; causes unknown, 1381 men, 377 women. Total, 4337 men, 2853 women.-London Medical and Surgical Journal. V. LOTTERIES AND SAVINGS' BANKS. A MEMBER of the House of Commons not long ago, in his speech on the subject of lotteries, took occasion to point out the different effects produced by Lotteries, and Savings' Banks. He said, "let the house recollect what havoc these lotteries used to make among the small means of servants and others, who were constantly tempted to throw away their earnings upon the sixteenth of a lottery ticket, whilst now they place their earnings in those excellent institutions, the banks established for taking care of their savings." If a young man of eighteen years of age, were to begin to put into the bank one shilling a week, and go on till he was fifty years old, he would have at his command nearly a hundred and fifty pounds, (the exact sum would be 1497. 12s. 5d.) How many labouring men there are upwards of fifty years of age, who have, since the time they were eighteen, wasted more than a shilling a week, and now have seldom a shilling in their pockets, but are obliged to go to the parish for help whenever they have the least stoppage of their weekly gains, by sickness or want of work. 1834.] A LESSON TO GOSSIPERS. 161 But the satisfaction of mind arising from being above want, and the thankful feeling for having been kept from falling by the temptations which might have led to ruin; the happiness of now not being exposed to those temptations of distress which often lead to dishonesty; the good habits which have been growing all this time, these things are of still more value than the money. We do not wish to encourage the love of money, it is a sore evil; and, if a poor man, by giving all his mind to pinching and saving could get together hundreds of thousands of pounds, like John Biddle, who lately died with all this money, we should think it our duty to warn him against any such desire. But still, that prudence and consideration which teaches a man to make a good use of what he earns, and leads him to provide for a time when he may not be able to support himself, and gives him an honest desire to keep himself from being a burden to others, this we think it right to point out, not only as a means of comfort and happiness, but as a positive duty. By the last account of the Mary-le-bone Savings Bank, although not of quite four years' standing, there were (in November last) among the depositors more than a thousand servants. The following list gives the description of the depositors: Male and female servants Children Trust accounts, chiefly for children 1037 414 400 597 293 Small dealers 152 ABOUT the period when I first commenced business, the |