vessel of war in various parts of the world, but retired from active service in 1790. In 1818 Prince William, then Duke of Clarence, was married to the Princess Adelaide, daughter of the Duke of SaxeMeiningen, a most amiable and excellent princess. As queen, she was a liberal benefactress of the poor, and was much beloved and respected.

The course of events during the reign of William IV. derived its direction and character from the memorable movements on the continent of Europe with which the accession of a new king in England chanced to be coincident. The publication of the ordinances of Charles X. against the press in France took place exactly a month after King William's accession; then rapidly followed the revolution of the three days in Paris, the dethronement of Charles, the transference of the French crown to Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, and, after the lapse of another month, the commencement of the similar revolution in Brussels, which terminated in the separation of Holland and Belgium. In England, the first symptom of wide-spread popular uneasiness, disaffection, and tendency to outbreak, was given by the numerous incendiary fires which alarmed the country in the months of September and October. The new Parliament, elected since the accession of the new king, met on the 26th of October. The Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, and the other ministers resigned, and the Grey administration came into office under the banner of Parliamentary Reform. On the 1st of March 1831, Lord John Russell moved in the House of Commons the first reading of the first Re

form Bill. He failed to carry it, and it was resolved to apply to the people by dissolving Parliament. In the new Parliament the Reform Bill was carried in the House of Commons, but was rejected in the Upper House. During the next session Lord John Russell introduced the third Reform Bill, which was carried in both Houses, and received the royal assent in 1832.

In the first Reformed Parliament negro slavery was abolished in the British colonies at the cost of twenty millions, as compensation to the slave owners. The charter of the Bank of England was renewed upon what was considered advantageous terms for the public. The trade to India and China was thrown open, and the East India Company were deprived of some of their privileges. A new system of poor laws was also adopted. Several measures proposed on various subjects were interrupted by the death of William IV. at Windsor, on the 20th of June 1837.

SUMMARY.-George IV. was succeeded by his brother William IV., who had served many years in the Royal Navy. He had married in 1818 the Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. During the reign of King William revolutions and disturbances took place on the continent. Numerous incendiary fires caused alarm in England. After several failures, the Reform Bill was carried in 1832. Negro slavery was abolished in the British colonies, and many other reforms took place. William IV. died on the 20th of June 1837.

QUESTIONS.

When was William IV. born? When did he succeed his brother? In what naval engagement was he present? Whom did he marry? What great events took place on the continent during his reign? How was the popular discontent shown in England? When did Lord John Russell move the first reading of the Reform Bill; and when was it at length passed? When was negro slavery abolished. in the British colonies? When did William IV. die?

Hans (John) Gensfleisch Gutenberg von Sorgeloch, or Sulgeloch, was of noble birth. He was born at Mentz about the year 1400. Of his numerous names he preferred the name of his mother, which was Gutenberg, and by it he is generally known. At the period when Gutenberg was born, Mentz, Strasburg, and other municipal towns on the Rhine, governed themselves as small federal republics, under the sovereignty of the empire. There was a constant war going on in these towns between the patricians and the burgesses, the working classes vacillating between

these two classes that alternately oppressed and courted them.

In the struggles between the nobles and plebeians, Gutenberg, born noble, took part with the patricians, and was twice banished from Mentz, whence he went to Strasburg.

He entered into partnership with some wealthy inhabitants of Strasburg, and worked together with them as a jeweller and clockmaker. Continuing in secret his experiments in printing, he also employed himself in cutting precious stones and polishing Venetian glass for mirrors. In this way he gained funds to accomplish and perfect his great design.

It was past midnight. A lamp was burning in a room of a small house in Strasburg. It was in this apartment that Gutenberg, plunged in deep thought, was seated at an old table. On this large table were lying some specimens of the art of printing in the rude, imperfect state in which it was then carried on. There were prints, made from wood blocks, of human figures-some of one or two figures, some of several figures. There were prints of scriptural and historical subjects, with explanations in letters, cut in the wooden blocks from which the works were printed. The printed pages of these books were arranged in pairs facing each other; and as one side only of each leaf was printed upon, the pages which had nothing upon them also faced each other, and were generally pasted together; and thus the book was something like a book in a more modern style of printing.

"If I wished, in the present state of printing, to print so large a work as a Bible," said Gutenberg, half aloud to himself, taking up one of the imperfect books of the period, and turning over its roughly-executed leaves, "I should have to cut or engrave several thousands of wood blocks-a block for each page. It would be a truly laborious task, and would take more than the whole of a man's life to accomplish. Could I not perform the work better by cutting each letter which is used out of a separate small piece of wood? By thus forming each letter or character of the alphabet separately, I shall be able to use them together to form words, and then pages; and after I have printed what I want from these pages, I can take these pages, these words, to pieces, and separate every letter, and thus be able to use the letters over again to form other words and pages, print as many copies as I want from them a second time, and so on with fresh pages, formed by using the same letters over and over again. This will save the tedious labour and fearful loss of time caused by cutting new blocks of types for every new page. In fact, it is like using the same alphabet over and over again to form different words."

An expression of intense delight beamed in his countenance, and he resolved to carry out his most important yet simple idea, that led to what is called letterpress printing, or the art of printing books with moveable types, which may be considered one of the greatest of human inventions.

Gutenberg's types were at first all formed of wood, and individually cut by the hand. With these move