fair and impartial vindication; and, at last, brought him to that cruel death which they all along designed, and which is recited at large in our annals, to the perpetual infamy and reproach of all that acted therein.

FIRES IN KENT.

To the Editor of the Family Monitor.

SIR, East Kent. WHEN I see and read of burnings, riotous meetings of the peasantry, demands of higher wages, and so forth, in this and adjoining counties, of which the papers have been unhappily too full the last few months, I cannot help being struck with the folly (putting aside for a moment the iniquity) of such proceedings. For what can be more foolish than to set fire to the produce of the land, and then ask for employment? To destroy corn, and then ask for bread? To impoverish a man, and then ask him for more money? The interests of servants and labourers, Mr. Editor, are so blended with those of their employers, that they must stand or fall with them; and if their object is to effect the ruin of their masters, they are only bringing upon themselves swift destruction-the most short-sighted policy, even if it could be accomplished by. more worthy means; and so the discontented will soon find to their cost.

I must, however, do the lower classes of the country the justice to say, I do not believe such atrocious proceedings emanated among them, and that they never could have had the heart to commit such dark deeds, had not their minds been worked upon by deep and designing persons, who care nothing about the distress of the people, but whose only aim is to create confusion, and who would without scruple destroy both the bodies and souls of the peasantry in furtherance of their diabolical principles.

I will not, however, trust myself further on this subject, lest I should say more than you may like to see in your pages; but if you will give my sentiments a place in your "Monitor," or even point out the evil that must result from such doings, you will greatly oblige

Dec. 10.

A YEOMAN.

We do not profess to be great politicians, nor is it our wish at any time to make our pages a vehicle of feelings that may be at all inconsistent with those of a peaceful Christian, still there are times and seasons when we must all earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. When we must boldly oppose the blasphemies of the unbeliever, and the ravings of the radical, and show to the world, not only that there is a Saviour in whom we trust, but that we value and will maintain the blessings and privileges we enjoy under our excellent constitution. Without, however, entering into a disquisition on its merits, or even those of our correspondent's letter, let us go back to the first principles of a government, the necessity of which these lawless men appear disposed to deny.

Perhaps we cannot do it more plainly, than by calling to the remembrance of our readers the following fable:~" In times of old, when every part of the body could think and act for itself, and each had a separate will of its own, they all, with common consent, resolved to revolt against the belly. They knew no reason, they said, why they should toil from morning till night in its service; while the belly, in the meantime, lay at its ease in the midst of them all, and indolently grew fat upon their labour: : accordingly, one and all, they agreed to befriend it no more. The feet vowed they would no longer carry the head, the hands vowed they would not feed it, and the teeth declared they would not chew its food. Thus resolved, they all, for some time, showed their spirit, and kept their word; but soon found, that instead of mortifying the belly by these means, they only undid themselves; they languished for a while, and perceived, when too late, that it was owing to the belly that they had strength to work and courage to mutiny."

EXTRACT FROM THE SPECTATOR.

MAN is a creature designed for two different states of being, or rather for two different lives. His first life is short and transient; his second permanent and lasting. The question we are all concerned in is this, in which of those two lives it is our chief interest to make ourselves happy? Or, in other

words, whether we should endeavour to secure to ourselves the pleasures and gratifications of a life which is uncertain and precarious, and at its utmost length of a very inconsiderable duration ; or to secure to ourselves the pleasures of a life which is fixed and settled, and will never end? Every man, upon the first hearing of this question, knows very well which side of it he ought to close with. But however right we are in theory, it is plain that in practice we adhere to the wrong side of the question. We make provision for this life, as though it were never to have an end, and for the other life as though it were never to have a beginning.

A CHINESE PRESCRIPTION.

THE Chinese physicians never prescribe bleeding, but allay the heat of the blood by abstinence, diet, and cooling herbs; saying, that if the pot boil too fast, it is better to lessen the fuel, than lade out the water.

We are not prepared to support this system as a general rule; still there is so much truth in the saying, that we venture to recommend all persons, who are in the habit of taking little or no exercise, and at the same time freely indulging their appetites, to give this prescription a trial, whenever they feel a head-ache, fulness, or any inflammatory symptoms.

Bleeding, we believe, is confined to men and horses, for next to the human species, there is, perhaps, no other animal liable to so many diseases.

A late eminent practitioner attributed most of the cases brought before him, to an intemperate and improper mode of living, well knowing that half the diseases of the present day would have been unheard of, had we retained the simple fare and manners of our forefathers. It is the same with horses: when pampered, and confined in a heated atmosphere, many complaints are engendered, which, in a state of nature, would have been unknown!

A.

PAPER-MAKING.

WHILE mankind were arriving by slow degrees at the art of fabricating this valuable substance, the wasp family, in the construction of their nests, were making it before their eyes, by very much the same process as that by which human hands now manufacture it with the best aid of chemistry and machinery. While some nations carved their records on wood, and stone, and brass, and leaden tablets; others, more advanced, wrote with a style on wax; others employed the inner bark of trees; and others, the skins of animals rudely prepared; the wasp was manufacturing a firm and durable paper. Even when the papyrus was rendered more fit, by a process of art, for the transmission of ideas in writing, the wasp was a better artisan than the Egyptians; for the early attempts at papermaking were so rude, that the substance produced was almost useless, from being very easily crumbled.

The paper of the papyrus was formed of the leaves of the plant of that name, dried, pressed, and polished. The wasp alone knew how to reduce vegetable fibres to a pulp, and then unite them by a size or glue, spreading the substance out into a smooth and delicate leaf.

This is exactly the process of paper-making.

It would seem that the wasp knows, as the modern papermakers now know, that the fibres of rags, whether linen or cotton, are not the only materials that can be used in the formation of paper: she employs other vegetable matters, converting them into a proper consistency by her assiduous exertions. In some respects she is even more skilful than our papermakers, for she takes care to retain her fibres of sufficient length, by which she renders her paper as strong as she requires. Many manufacturers of the present day cut their material into small bits, and thus produce a rotten article. One great distinction between good and bad paper is its toughness; and this difference is invariably produced by the fibre of which it is composed being long, and therefore tough; or short, and therefore brittle.

The wasp has been labouring at her manufacture of paper from her first creation, with precisely the same instruments and the same materials; and her success has been unvarying. Her machinery is very simple, and therefore never out of order. She learns nothing, and she forgets nothing. Men, from time to time, lose their excellence in particular arts, and they are slow in finding out real improvements.

Such improvements are often the effect of accident. Paper is now manufactured very extensively by machinery, in all its stages, and thus, instead of a single sheet made by the hand, a stream of paper is poured out which will form a roll large enough to extend round the globe, if such a length were desirable.

The inventors of this machinery, Messrs. Fourdinier, it is said, spent the enormous sum of 40,000l. in vain attempts to render the machine capable of determining with precision the width of the roll; and at last accomplished their object at the suggestion of a bystander, by a strap revolving upon an axis, at the cost of three shillings and sixpence.-Insect Architecture— Library of Entertaining Knowledge.

EXTRAVAGANCE OF FEMALE SERVANTS.

CONSIDERING the great depreciation of property within the last few years, and the reductions that have taken place, from various causes, in the incomes of most families, the wages of domestics have scarcely, if at all, fallen in proportion. Yet, notwithstanding the cheapness of every article of clothing, the freedom of all care, and the few real wants of servants, a very small number either of men or women save any money. How their wages go, we shall at some future opportunity take the liberty of pointing out; in the meantime, as a hint to female servants, we give the following extracts from a communication sent to us by a lady.

"I have often recommended my servants, Mr. Editor, to lay by a little sum every year against future exigences, and have been as often told, that it was impossible, they had not a shilling to spare;' and yet gown after gown, cap after cap, and other