the waters and received a name; and passing through various adventures-storm and sunshine, battle and wreck-we come at last to its old age, the hulk. So you see, its life is, after all, not unlike that of a man. Although it does not take long to read the history of a ship, many, many years have passed away since the morning of its birth. And here again, we may trace a likeness; for the story of a long life, full of events, and crowded with strange and remarkable incidents by sea and land, the romance of travel, and the far more interesting romance of thought and feeling, may be read in a single day.

Summer and winter have come and gone again, oh, many times; and though the ship is getting older, and less and less able to withstand the wear and tear of time, the mighty ocean is the same as ever; its waves yet rise and fall, and beat upon the rocky shores and sands, just as they did six thousand years ago and so they will continue, when you and I, and all the living world, shall be no more, till the last trump shall sound, and the sea is summoned to give up its dead.

The hulk represented in the picture is probably a tender. A tender is a vessel which is used to receive sailors and officers till the ships in which they are to sail are prepared to start upon their voyages. But it is not always an old vessel which is used for this purpose; sometimes it is an

unfinished one.

You see there is a steamer and several small boats near the hulk, which make the place look quite lively, in spite of the dull appearance of the old craft itself.

I have spoken hitherto of ships of war-Her Majesty's navy, as it is called; but there are thousands of vessels of all sorts and sizes, which

are employed in carrying goods and passengers from one part of the world to another. These ships are the property of companies of merchants, as the East and West India Company-or of private individuals. There are hundreds engaged in different trades-as the Whale Fishery in the South Seas; the great sugar trade; the coal trade, the timber trade; and, in fact, in all branches of commerce, from the smallest to the greatest. It would take a considerable space simply to state the various things which are brought in ships from foreign countries. If you just look round your breakfast-table you will soon perceive that, without ships and commerce, you could not even get a meal. And the vessels of war are designed for the protection of these merchant-men from pirates and enemies.

Though pride is a false and stupid passion, when excited by little things, we can very easily forgive the pride of Englishmen, whose ships are abroad upon every sea, and on whose wide dominions the bright sun never sets.

THE MISER AND HIS TREASURE.

A FABLE.

MISER having scraped together a considerable sum of money, by denying himself the common conveniences of life, was much embarrassed where to lodge it most securely. After many perplexing debates with himself, he at length fixed upon a corner in a retired field, where he deposited his treasure, and with it

his heart, in a hole which he dug for that purpose. His mind was now for a moment at ease; but he had not proceeded many paces on his way home, when all his anxiety returned; and he could not forbear going back to see that everything was safe. He repeated his visits daily, and sometimes more than once in the day, till at last he was observed by a labourer who was mending a hedge in an adjacent meadow. The fellow, concluding that something extraordinary must be the occasion of these frequent visitations, marked the spot; and, coming in the night to examine it, discovered the prize, and bore it off unmolested. Early the next morning, the miser again renewed his visit; when finding his treasure gone, he broke out into the most bitter exclamations. A traveller, who happened to be passing by at the time, was moved by his complaints to inquire into the cause of them. "Alas!" replied the miser, "I have sustained the most cruel loss. Some villain has robbed me of a sum of money, which, a short time ago, I buried under this stone." "Buried!" returned the traveller with surprise; "a very extraordinary method truly, of disposing of your riches. Why did you not rather keep them in your house, that they might be ready for your daily occasions?"—"Daily occasions!" resumed the miser, with an air of much indignation; "do you imagine I know so little the value of money, as to suffer it to be run away with by occasions? On the contrary, I had prudently resolved not to touch a single shilling of it?""If that was your wise resolution," answered the traveller, "I see no sort of reason for your being thus afflicted. It is but putting this stone in the place of your treasure, and paying the same daily devotion to it; it will answer all your purposes fully as well, and you will continue to be as rich as ever."

WILLIAM CAXTON.

HE name of William Caxton is celebrated as that of the first English printer. He was born in Kent, in the year 1412. He had a good mother, who taught him to read; and he was apprenticed to a mercer named Robert Large, who died in 1441, leaving Caxton a legacy of twenty-four marks. He afterwards went to the continent, and resided there nearly thirty years, principally in Holland and Flanders. He is supposed to have acted as agent to the company of mercers, by which means he acquired sufficient

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credit to receive an appointment from Edward IV. as one of the commissioners to conclude a treaty of commerce with the duke of Burgundy. A marriage between the king's sister and the young duke having taken place, Caxton came to England in the suite of Lady Margaret. To this lady he was indebted for many valuable presents; and he translated a French work for her relating to the siege of Troy, which was printed at Mentz, in Germany.

It is supposed that Caxton formed a connexion with Wynkin de Worde, Theodoric Rood, and Thomas Hunte, who were printers at Cologne. De Worde came to England with him, and the others went to Oxford not long after. It is by no means certain when Caxton established himself in this country as a printer, but it has been conjectured it was about 1474; and his residence was at Westminster, where some of his books were printed in the Abbey, through the generous encouragement of Abbot Milling, who assigned him the almonry as his office. The government seems to have justly appreciated the value of this art; and in the reign of Richard III. an act of parliament was passed, which permitted the importation of printed books for sale; and a subsequent statute expressly mentions, that there were but few printers in England expert in the use of types.

The "Game of Chess" is supposed to have been the first book printed in England. It was printed at the office in Westminster, and dedicated to George Duke of Clarence, the eldest surviving brother of king Edward.

Besides the labour necessarily attached to his business as a printer, Caxton translated from the French language no fewer than five thousand closely-printed folio pages.

A curious volume was printed by Caxton, about