FACTS, HINTS, AND GEMS.

Facts, Hints, and Gems.

Facts.

OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

Extent. The dominions subject to the Crown of England rival the mightiest empires in ancient his.

tory.

In Europe, there are England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and the adjacent islands; Heligoland, Gibraltar, Malta, and the Ionian Islands.

In Asia, Aden on the coast of Arabia; the three Presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay in the East Indies; the island of Ceylon Penang and Singapore; Tavoy and other districts in Burmah; and Hong-Kong in China.

In Africa, Sierra Leone, Cape Coast Castle; Gambia, Cape Colony, Natal, St. Helena, Mauritius, As cension Island, and the Seychelles..

In America, Canada, New Bruns wick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, the Hudson Bay Settlements, Prince Edward's Island, Newfoundland, Bermudas, the West India Islands, British Guiana, Belize, and Falkland Islands.

In Oceania, Sarawak and Labuan, Australia, Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, and the Auckland Islands.

The population of Great Britain and Ireland is 27,019,578. The whole population of the British Empire is estimated at 130,000,000. Royal Family.-Queen Victoria, born May 24, 1819; married Feb. 10, 1840, to her cousin, Prince Albert, of Saxe Coburg, born August 26, 1819; and has issue :1. Victoria Adelaide Mary, Nov. 21, 1840.

HABITS.-Do not fear to undertake to form any habit that is desirable; for it can be formed, and that with more ease than you may at first suppose. Let the same thing, or the some duty, return at the same time every day, and it will soon become pleasant. No matter if it be irksome at first; but how irksome soever it be, only let it return periodically, every day, and that without any interruption for a time, and it will become a positive pleasure; in this way all our habits are formed.

TRUTH.-Truth is naturally so acceptable to man, so charming in born itself, that to make falsehood be received, we are compelled to dress it up in the snow white robes of truth; as in passing base coin, it must have the impress of the good ere it will pass current.

2. Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, born Nov. 9, 1841.

3. Alice Maud Mary, born April 25, 1813.

FACTS, HINTS, AND GEMS.

DELIBERATE long on what you can do but once; and never forget that You can live but once; You can die but once; ONCE lost, lost for ever!

LOITERERS. The best way to make a loiterer do his message quickly is to send him on the errand just before dinner.

FOLLY.-He is not so much a fool that hath unwise thoughts, as he who having them utters them.

Gems.

"A SAVIOUR! A SAVIOUR!"-When Titus the Roman Emperor delivered the enslaved Greeks from their bondage they celebrated the honour of their deliverer with music and dancing, crying out in raptures of delight, as they surrounded his tent, "A Saviour! a Saviour!" How much more rapturous should be our praise to the "Saviour, Christ the Lord?"

THE PRICE WHICH CHRIST PAID for the ransom of man was not silver and gold, but his own precious blood-a price inconceivably great, and of infiuite value. How precious my soul, ransomed at such a price! Let me take care for it.

CHRIST'S LOVE.-The pattern of it is the Father's love to him; as he said, "as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you." And as Christ was the Father's only and beloved son whom he loved with an infinite love, so Christ hath loved us with an infinite love.

THE REDEMPTION OF CHRIST was the fruit of his amazing love. It is free for all, complete in all its parts, and will be everlasting in its results; for " he hath obtained eternal Redemption for us."

THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST.-All the strength of believers, all their light, their life, their consolation, and their joy are in Christ, from Christ, and by Christ.

Poetic Selections.

THOUGHTS IN HEALTH.

WHEN sickness shall assail my earthly part,
And rush impetuous on my throbbing heart;
When pain possest of every nerve appears,
And livid paleness my sad visage wears;
And death in triumph toward his victim
When every wish for life shall be denied,

stride;

Then, O my Saviour, in that fatal hour,
Dispel all gloom, assure me of thy love,
Sustain my soul by thy Almighty power;
And let faith bear my soul to joys above:
There in immortal strains the praise I'll
sing,

Of my redeeming God and Saviour King.

CURIOUS EPITAPH

on a Tombstone, in Kingsbury Churchyard.
An here doth lie, bereaved of life,
Anchoret Horsey, a frugal wife,
Religious her name doth signify;
And so was she in all sincerity.
1719, the 9th September

Her soul unto God she did meekly sur-
render;

At 74 was enclosed in the earth
And great was the sorrow caused by her
Death,

Of dust was I made, on dust I fed ;
Dust was my tent, and dust is my bed.

TO THE PRINTING PRESS.
A STREAM with vitiated source
Will scatter woe and death, of course;
And he commits a grievous sin,
Who poisons what the mind drinks in ;
But he a goodly aim fulfils,
Who cheers it with celestial rills;
And such alone do thou emit
Pure, and for Zion's travellers fit,
Such, such alone as God will bless,
Thou flowing fountain, Printing Press.

THE TONGUE.

If thou wishest to be wise,

Keep these words before thine eyes;
What thou speak'st and how beware,
Of whom, to whom, when and where.
FLIGHT OF TIME.
WHILE winged with speed
The fleeting moments fly;
Remember, mortal,
Thou wert born to die.

TIME AND ETERNITY.
TIME! Whither dost thou flee?
I travel to Eternity.

Eternity! what art thou? say!
Time past, time present, time to come-
To-Day.

THE beams of the Summer are browning the moor,
The sweet briar blooms at the neat cottage door,
And sheds on its inmates a fragrant scent,
As over their morning repast they are bent.
The milk from the pipkin they carefully drain,
The crumbs are collected, no fragments remain,
The father arising prepares to depart,
To fetch him his basket, the little ones start.
The scythe on his shoulder is carefully swung,
And when on its handle his jacket is hung,

He gives to his children a cheerful farewell,

And hies with light heart to the daisy-deck'd dell.

Brisk Willie calls Rover to come along faster,

Who paws on his waistcoat and barks to his master,

For Willie and Rover are off to the sheep,

And there through the day they must both of them keep.

The grandfather sits in the garden to read,

He teaches the young ones to pull up the weed,

And bids them to notice how industry thrives.

In the busy brown tenants that swarm from the hives:

Or warns to beware of the sting of the bee,

The sweet little girl that is placed on his knee;
Where are Patty and Peggy? They're filling their laps,
With sticks where the hedger is mending the gaps.
And each with delight will bring home in her hand
A nosegay that in the blue pitcher must stand;
And each has a tale to claim father's kind smile,
When they see him at night coming over the stile.
With shouts of loud laughter they join in the race
And contend for the first and the fondest embrace.

Poetic Manual.

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1

THE LAST HOURS OF "OLD HUMPHREY." THERE is a natural desire in the human mind to become acquainted with those who have instructed and delighted us by their writings; and the feeling of curiosity is the stronger when a mysterious disguise has been thrown over their persons and positions in life. Many have been the inquiries, "Who is Old Humphrey?" and not a few have been the ingenious devices to penetrate behind the veil which he had modestly drawn around him. While living there were reasons why his incognito should be maintained; but now he has laid down his pen, and uttered his last words to the world, that veil may be raised, that those who admired his cheerful and godly counsels may be permitted to cherish the memory of his name with affectionate respect. There is also a duty to the sacred cause of religion, when a good man' dies-one who has wielded a powerful influence over the feelings and sentiments of thousands-to present some record, however brief, of the grace of God as it was manifested in his life and labours. That service of christian love we now attempt to discharge.

Mr. George Mogridge was a native of Ashted, near Birmingham, and was born on the 17th of February, 1787. At the age of fourteen he was placed out as an apprentice; but his thoughts and aspirations soon soared above the ordinary engagements of trade. His first-fledged effort in writing was an address to a recently raised statue to Lord Nelson: this appeared in a local newspaper. Encouraged by his early attempts to secure the public notice he soon became a contributor to several of the periodicals of the day. We have not now space to record his progress as an author; it must suffice to say that in due time, under the evident leadings of Divine Providence,

THE LAST HOURS OF "OLD HUMPHREY."

he relinquished the pursuits of business for those of a literary nature, and for which the qualities of his heart and peculiar talents so eminently qualified him.

About the year 1814 the attention of Mr. Mogridge was directed to publications of an irreligious and objectionable kind, which found a large circulation among the manufacturing and rustic classes. With a warmth of generous concern and ardent zeal he set about counteracting the evil consequences which so fearfully presented themselves in the habits and morals of the people. The result was the tract, "History of Thomas Brown; or, the Sabbath-breaker Reclaimed," written in sing-song stanzas, which, from its style and sentiment, at once met the tastes and comprehension of the country people, among whom it soon obtained the stamp of popularity. This poetical effusion was the first link in a chain which brought him into connection with the Religious Tract Society, in furtherance of whose objects it was his happiness to labour for nearly thirty years. Other tracts in rhyme were in due course written, all marked with the same originality, and securing for them a demand which is as active now as when they were first issued to the world.

But it was chiefly under the appellation of "Old Humphrey" that he became generally known to the readers of the Society's periodicals. The pieces to which this name was affixed appeared regularly in a fugitive form, and were subsequently collected into volumes. Of these, his Observations," "Addresses," "Thoughts for the Thoughtful," "Walks in London," "Country Strolls," "Pithy Papers," "Half Hours, and "Friendly Appeals," have been perused by delighted thousands in almost every part of the world. In addition to these, ten smaller volumes, for children, form a part of the "Old Humphrey Series." But his versatile pen necessitated that he should assume different characters. Other volumes were sent out under the names of "Grandfather Gregory," "Old Alan Gray," "The Old Sea Captain," "Old Anthony," "Ephraim Holding," "Amos Armfield,” and other aliases too numerous to particularize. When more suited to his purpose he dropped the masculine gender and adopted the feminine: hence we have "Grandmamma Gilbert" and "Aunt Upton among his appellations. Nor must we omit his useful class of books, "Learning to Think," " Learning to Feel," "Learning to Act," and "Learning to Converse." The number of separate publications on the Society's catalogue of which he was