materials as will be found worthy of your serious consideration, both from their truth, from the instruction which they will convey, and the praiseworthy thirst after useful knowledge which they will gratify. Nor will your innocent amusement be unthought of, or unprovided for. Each number of the work will contain articles taken from the history of nations, or the lives of distinguished individuals, or those periodical works, which record the surprising and useful discoveries made from time to time by scientific men: so that you will be informed of those great events which have changed or destroyed the most powerful monarchs and their kingdoms; of those heroic qualities, or those destructive vices, which have delivered over the names of men to fame or infamy; and of those wonderful discoveries which prove the great capacity of the mind of man, sunk as it is in sin, and with its faculties impaired and clouded by the infirmities of the body.

By these means your minds, it is hoped, will be furnished with wholesome food, and not with the knowledge which puffeth up, and leads to the most lamentable forgetfulness of your station and your duty; your leisure time will be profitably and pleasingly provided for; and grateful feelings of kindliness will be raised towards those who have, by furnishing you with such resources against idleness, shown the interest which they take in your temporal and eternal welfare. We shall conclude these few well-meant observations, by offering you our hearty good wishes that all those hopes and expectations, with which the entrance of a new year so naturally furnishes every one, may be realized to you, so far as they shall have been formed in subjection to the will of God, and may be consistent with your eternal good. Hopes you will have, for hope is the immediate gift of Heaven -a gift which mercifully enlightens every portion of the unknown future; and far be it from us to darken or quench it by gloomy forbodings, or needless restraints: but let us entreat you to regulate its movements by reason and revelation—allow not your hope to begin and end with the things of time. Every follower and servant of Christ has an inheritance, to the possession of which he is called to look forward. Let your chief hope then be fixed on heaven, the Christian's home! Let it be always the companion and the familiar friend of faith and charity

so shall it encourage you in your efforts of industry, animate you in the performance of every duty, smooth the difficulties of this life, and brighten all its moments of sorrow, supporting you even in the valley of the shadow of death, and only quitting you when hope and faith have had their perfect work, and are swallowed up in the sea of eternal bliss.

A PRAYER TO BE USED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR.

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, who has not yet suffered me to fall into the grave; grant that I may so remember my past life, as to repent of the days and years which I have spent in forgetfulness of thy mercy, and neglect of my own salvation; and so use the time which Thou shalt yet allow me, as that I may become every day more diligent in the duties which in thy providence shall be assigned me; and that, when at last I shall be called to judgment, I may be received as a good and faithful servant into everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

JOHNSON.

A PRAYER TO BE USED ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND.

O ALMIGHTY GOD, who dost not willingly grieve the children of men, but in thy visitations rememberest mercy, teach me by thy grace, to bear the loss of that dear person whom thou hast taken from me, with patience and resignation, and to make a right use of the affliction which thy fatherly hand hath laid upon me. Thou hast given, and thou hast taken away: blessed

be thy holy name. Make me thankful, O Lord, for the comforts and blessings which I still enjoy; and sanctify to my soul all the sufferings which, in the course of this mortal life, thou shalt appoint for me.

Let the death of friends and relations help to keep me always mindful of my own mortality.

And grant that, by thy grace, I may here apply my heart to wisdom, and may hereafter, by thy mercy, be received into that everlasting kingdom, where all tears shall be wiped from all faces, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Hear me, O merciful Father, for the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ! Amen. MERRICK.

66

THE MONITOR LIZARD.

THERE is a beautiful species of the Lizard tribe, called the "Monitor," a native of South America, said to be so attached to the human race, that by a sort of loud and shrill whistle, it warns mankind of the approach of alligators, serpents, and other noxious animals. Southey, in his "Life of Nelson," intimates that the career of that immortal hero would, in all probability, have been much shorter, but for the timely warning of one of these friendly creatures. At an early period of his life, when about to attack the Castle of St. Juan, on a river of that name, one of his men was bitten under the eye by a snake, which darted upon him from the bough of a tree. He was unable to proceed from the violence of the pain; and when, after a short while, some of his comrades were sent back to assist him, he was dead, and the body already putrid. Nelson himself narrowly escaped a similar fate. He had ordered his hammock to be slung under some trees, being excessively fatigued, and was sleeping, when a monitory lizard passed across his face. The Indians happily observed the reptile, and knowing what it indicated, awoke him. He started up, and found one of the deadliest serpents of the country coiled up at his feet." In this happy country, fortunately, we can lie down to rest without needing the aid of this watchful animal; but, nevertheless, there is, to use the language of Scripture," the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world," against whom we can never be sufficiently on our guard, because," as a roaring lion he walketh about seeking whom he may devour;" and should he unhappily find any man spiritually asleep, unless conscience, like the lizard, should warn him of

his danger, or some friendly hand should rouse him, he may find, when too late, the deadly power of this insidious enemy.

H.

IF

To the Editor of the Family Monitor.

MR. EDITOR;

If you think that the following simple lines, expressing a trust in the protection of that God, "who is nigh to all who call upon him faithfully," are worthy of your notice, they are much at your service, from a well-wisher to your benevolent designs. They were written on the eve of departing to India. M.

"Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe!"—Psalm cxix. 117.

I.

Sweet words of Israel's bard divine,

Be ever graven on my heart;
Through all its gloomy chambers shine,

Till that which shuns their light depart;
While Faith's pure fires all fear dispelling,
Shall make that contrite heart their dwelling.

II.

Oh! when on burning plains I faint,
Beneath the fire of Indian skies,

Far from my soul be all complaint,

Or doubt of Him who marks the sighs,
The tears, the prayers of those he loveth,
And from them ev'ry ill removeth.

III.

In distant climes, in danger's hour,
Oh God! may I no refuge crave,
But firm reliance on thy power,

For ever nigh to guide and save:
Convinc'd, whatever woes o'ertake me,
Thou wilt not leave me, nor forsake me.

ANECDOTES OF HUMANITY.

WHEN the Jonge Thomas, a Dutch East Indiaman, was wrecked, in 1770, at the Cape of Good Hope, with two hundred and twelve souls on board, an old man of the name of Woltemad, by birth an European, resolved to ride his horse, which was a good swimmer, to the wreck, with a view of saving some of the distressed crew. He repeated this dangerous trip six times more, bringing each time two men alive on shore, and thus saved fourteen persons out of the sixty-three only which escaped. The horse by this time was so much fatigued, that he did not think it prudent to venture out again; but the cries and entreaties of the poor wretches on the wreck increasing, he ventured one trip more, which proved so unfortunate that he lost his own life; as, on this occasion, too many rushed upon him at once, some catching hold of the horse's tail, and others of the bridle, by which means the horse, wearied out, and too heavily laden, turned over, and all were lost together. The Dutch East India Company, to record this noble and heroic action of a superannuated old man, ordered one of their ships to be called the Woltemad, and the story of his humanity to be painted on the stern, and further provided for his descendants.

When his present Majesty was on the eve of sailing, for the first time, as commander from Plymouth, he was accosted in the Dock-yard by a poor boy, who did not know his rank, and who supplicated that he would give him a birth in his ship to save him from starving. Prince William (as he was then styled) being pleased with the countenance of the supplicant, told him to go on board the Pegasus and say the captain had sent him. His Highness afterwards ordered him to be completely clothed, and equipped as a midshipman, and to be rated as such.

When the Pegasus arrived at Newfoundland, the Prince met with another equally striking occasion of evincing his benevolence. He accidentally saw a poor widow who was burthened with a family of fourteen children, with scarcely any means of supporting them. Affected by their situation, the benevolent