James Thomson, the son of a Scotch clergyman, was born at Ednam, in Roxburghshire, and was educated at Jedburgh and at Edinburgh. Relinquishing his first intention of entering the church, he went to London, where, in 1726, he published his poem on "Winter," from which the following extract is taken. This was soon followed by "Summer," "Spring," and "Autumn.” These poems were published together under the title of "The Seasons." "The Seasons" and "The Castle of Indolence" are Thomson's best works. He died at Richmond in 1748.

Through the hush'd air the whitening shower descends,

At first thin wavering; till at last the flakes

Fall broad, and wide, and fast, dimming the day
With a continual flow. The cherish'd fields
Put on their winter robe of purest white.

'Tis brightness all, save where the new snow melts Along the mazy current. Low the woods

Bow their hoar head; and ere the languid sun
Faint from the west emits his evening ray,
Earth's universal face, deep hid and chill,
Is one wide dazzling waste, that buries wide
The works of man. Drooping, the labourer-ox
Stands cover'd o'er with snow, and then demands
The fruit of all his toil. The fowls of heaven,
Tamed by the cruel season, crowd around
The winnowing store, and claim the little boon
Which Providence assigns them. One alone,
The redbreast, sacred to the household gods,
Wisely regardful of th' embroiling sky,
In joyless fields, and thorny thickets, leaves
His shivering mates, and pays to trusted man
His annual visit. Half afraid, he first

Against the window beats; then, brisk, alights On the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the floor, Eyes all the smiling family askance,

And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is:
Till, more familiar grown, the table-crumbs
Attract his slender feet. The foodless wilds
Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare,
Though timorous of heart, and hard beset
By death in various forms, dark snares, and dogs,
And more unpitying men, the garden seeks,
Urged on by fearless want. The bleating kind
Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening earth,
With looks of dumb despair; then, sad dispersed,
Dig for the wither'd herb through heaps of snow.

they sweep On sounding skates, a thousand different ways, In circling poise, swift as the winds, along.

THE HOUSE OF HANOVER (6).

GEORGE III., 1760-1820.-REGENCY, 1811-1820.

Lat., publicatio, publica-
tion, from publico, pub-
lish; publicus, public.

Punctuality, Lat., punctum, a point;
punctò, in a moment.

Constructed, Lat., constructus, con-
truct; to build, to frame.
Sax., eorth, the earth;
cwacian, to shake.
Lat., privatus, private; a
man's own property.

Earthquake,
Privateer,

Canal,

MEANING.

The art of inoculating persons with the vaccine disease of cow-pox.

The act of communicating
disease to a person in health
by inserting contagious
matter in his skin or flesh,
as buds or grafts are in-
serted under the bark of a
tree.

The act of publishing or offer-
ing to public notice, either
by words, writing, or print-
ing.
Exactness, chiefly used in re-
gard to time; exact to a
moment.

Formed or built.

A shaking or trembling of the earth.

A vessel of war, equipped by private individuals at their own expense, to seize the ships of an enemy in time of war.

Lat., canalis, a channel. A channel, or passage for water, made by art.

Fr., canal.

The latter part of the 18th century was marked by many improvements and discoveries, of which the effects and results are very familiar to us. Vaccination was first successfully tried by Jenner in 1796. In 1798 he published his first work on the subject. The practice met at first with much opposition; but about a year after the publication of Jenner's book, seventy of the principal physicians and surgeons in London signed a declaration of their entire confidence in it. It is now compulsory on all; and small-pox is no longer so much dreaded as it once was.

The first Turnpike Act was passed in 1653, but the turnpike system was not extensively adopted for about a century after that time. In the latter half of the last century, turnpike roads multiplied rapidly; and superior modes of road-making also made some progress. When the post-office was first established, letters were conveyed by foot-posts and horse-posts, that were often attacked and robbed by highwaymen. In 1784 the system of mail coaches was introduced by Mr Palmer, who laid a plan before Mr Pitt, which was adopted by the Government. This greatly increased the punctuality, the speed, and the security of the post.

The origin of English canals dates from the year 1755, when an Act of Parliament was passed for constructing a canal 11 miles long from the mouth of Sankeybrook, in the river Mersey, to Gerrard's Bridge and St Helen's. Before this work was finished, the Duke of Bridgewater commenced his canal between Worsley and Manchester, which was constructed under the superintendence of Mr Brindley. Within forty-two years after the Duke's canal was opened, application had been made to Parliament for 165 Acts for cutting canals in Great Britain, at an expense of above £13,000,000. In 1842 the canals in this kingdom extended to about an aggregate length of 2500 miles, not including those in Ireland.

In 1767 a spinning machine was first invented by James Hargreaves, a weaver near Blackburn. It was improved by Arkwright in 1768, and he took out a patent for it in 1769. The machine was still further

improved by Mr Samuel Crompton in 1779. The first successful attempt to weave by means of machinery was made in 1785 by Dr Cartwright. In 1763, James Watt, a native of Greenock, was employed in repairing a working-model of a steam-engine belonging to the University of Glasgow; in the course of his work he saw the defects of the engine then in use, and made so many improvements upon it, that he has sometimes been described as the inventor, rather than the improver, of the steam-engine. He and his partner Boulton were the first to apply steam-power in the manufacture of cotton goods.

Various experiments were made from the year 1785 to apply steam to the purposes of navigation. In 1811 the first public steam vessel was constructed by Henry Bell, a citizen of Glasgow. It was named the "Comet," in consequence of the appearance of a large comet that year. The first trial of the "Comet" took place on the Clyde in January 1812. In 1814 the Times newspaper was for the first time printed by steam-power. In 1807 gas was first used for lighting the streets in London. Its introduction into houses was of a much later date.

The state of the prisons in Britain during the early part of the last century was a disgrace to a nation calling itself Christian, and the same evil existed over all the continent. Great reforms were effected by John Howard, a man of fortune, who devoted his life to the cause. In 1756, when going to visit Lisbon after the great earthquake, the vessel in which he sailed was taken prisoner by a French privateer, and