the reign of Charles I. is contained in the collection up-stairs. To meet the men of the Commonwealth, the leaders on both sides in the great fight between the King and the Commons, we have to retrace our steps, descend the staircase to the Lower Western Gallery. Here the heroic spirits look out upon us, and seem ready to renew the old struggle. There is Cromwell, and the men who stood with him; and there is the king as he sat at his trial in Westminster Hall. There is Bradshaw, who presided as chief judge; here is Hooker, who had charge of the king's person, and conducted him to the scaffold; and here is Archbishop Juxon, who administered the last spiritual consolation. In the Lower Eastern Gallery we meet the "merry" monarch, and those who figured at his court or in his time. More than satisfied with our visit to the National Portrait Gallery, we retire, wishing to stay longer, hoping soon to come again. It is a grand display of history on canvas, reaching all the way from the time of the Plantagenets down to that of James II. Jottings from the Insect World. THE GRASSHOPPER. MANY and varied are the sounds which greet the stroller in the country, and a great part of them are given forth by insects. One of the most distinct of these-one, to some persons, not the most agreeable-is the chirp or chirrup of the grasshopper. And truly, when an individual is crossing some grassy slope on a summer's day, while scarcely a breath of air is stirring, and the sun's rays seem as much concentrated upon that spot as if his majesty had nowhere else to shine, then, indeed, that monotonous note seems as if it went directly into the brain. During the middle of the day, however, grasshoppers, like birds, usually cease to be vocal. Those very creditable early risers who have wandered forth in July before daydawn, report that even at that hour the voice of the grasshopper may be heard, and as the JOTTINGS FROM THE INSECT WORLD. 203 these insects, and some others, may hear sounds which are quite unknown to us, and be affected by vibrations of the air which we do not perceive. To the discovery of the means by which they produce their peculiar note, much time and trouble have been given by different entomologists. That it is partly produced by rubbing the hind shank against the wing-case, using in turn the right and left leg, seems pretty well proved. But grasshoppers have also a special instrument which increases the sound. It is thus described by De Geer:-"On each side of the trunk there is a large, deep opening, rather oval in form, and partly closed by an irregular flat plate or lid, of a hard substance, but covered with a flexible, wrinkled membrane. The opening left by the lid is in the form of a half-moon. At the bottom of the cavity is a white membrane, shining like a mirror, and tightly stretched." Others have noted that there are certain muscles which enlarge or decrease the opening in the lid, through which opening the air passes, and striking the drum, produces the peculiar sound. This, singular to say, is very similar to the apparatus in the human ear for receiving sounds. Rennie on one occasion stopped up this hole with a bit of wafer in a specimen he caught, and a slight noise was still heard, but in a very different key. sects, they pass through successive One end served by the sound that is produced by these various chirpers is no doubt this, that they are enabled to find each other out among the thick herbage to which they often J. R. S. CLIFFORD. 66 GATHERED PEARLS. Through faith in His blood."-Rom. iii. 25. A traveller in Scotland observed some choice and rare plants growing on the edge of a precipice. He could not reach them, but offered to a little highland boy a handsome present if he would consent to be lowered to the spot by a rope round his waist. The boy hesitated. He looked at the money, and thought of all that it would purchase, for his parents were poor, and their home had but few of the comforts of life; but then, as he glanced at the terrible precipice, he shuddered and drew back. At length his eye brightened, and he said, with decision, "I'll go if father will hold the rope." And he went. "This boy's trust," says the Rev. Dr. Wise, "is a beautiful illustration of the faith which saves the soul; for as he put himself into his father's hands to be bound with the rope and lowered down the gorge to pluck the coveted flowers, so must you put yourself into Christ's hands to be pardoned. Binding yourself with the promises of God's mercy, you must give yourself into Christ's hands, to be lowered into that depth of self-abasement where grows in peerless beauty the sweet flower of forgiveness. And when your feet are removed from all human grounds of hope, when all consciousnsss of self-righteousness is gone from within you, then, as that boy found courage and peace and strength in thinking, 'My father knows this rope is strong; my father is able to hold it; my father loves me too well to let me fall,' so will you find pardon, peace, and power in thinking, 'My Father in heaven will not break this promise of mercy.'"-" Pictorial Handbills." "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go."-Psa. xxxii. 8. In approaching the Notch of the White Mountain from one direction the traveller finds himself in the midst of conical hills, which seem to surround him as he advances, and forbid further progress. He can see but a short distance along his winding road; it seems as if his journey must stop at the base of these barriers. He begins to think of turning back his horse, to escape from a hopeless enclosure among impassable barriers. But let him advance, and he finds that the road curves around the frowning hill before him, and leads him into other and still other straits, from which he finds escape simply by advancing. Every new discovery of a passage around the obstructions of his path teaches him to hope in the practicability of his road. He cannot see far ahead at any time, but a passage discovers itself, and he advances. Such is often the journey of life. We can see but a very little distance before us, and it seems as if we could then proceed no farther. But let us only press on, looking to God who guides us, and the way will open for us. Be it ours humbly to obey, and ever put our trust in His wisdom and love, WESTWARD HO! BY UNCLE HARRY. an old soldier. Your roundabout brings us back to the same thing. The fact is, you really do want to hear something about my trip to Cornwall. I can assure you it gives me very great pleasure at all times to do my best to interest and instruct you. "Well, not to waste words or time, I went by rail to Penzance, and a very long ride that was. One of my fellow-travellers was an old lady, whom I shall call Mrs. Graveairs. She was a singular person. Not a smile all the way and I am certain that even Harry, with his funny ways and speeches, could not have moved a muscle of the old lady's face." "I should have tried," said mocked in dialects still more barHarry. 6 barous.' 666 "I have no doubt of that, but 'Ah, sir,' said the old lady, with you would not have succeeded. all the gravity imaginable, that She complained sadly of the hard-puts me in mind of a family that my ships and fatigues of railway tra- grandfather used to tell me of. They velling. If I were young again, could see other people's faults better I would never trouble coaches or than their own. Well, one day one railway trains any more. I haven't of them at the tea-table said to his patience,' said she, with people mother, "Please give me a piece now-a-days, especially the young more bread and bupper.” "Can't folks. Time was when people would you speak any bapper than that?" get up early in the morning and "Well!" said the third, laughing walk to business, or wherever they right out, "you have mended the were going, and be the better for it. mapper.' Thus it is,' added the But now, in London, whenever you old lady, putting on, if possible, a see an omnibus, there are sure to be graver air than ever-'thus it is; a dozen lazy souls mounted aloft, we do blame others while we are as while the same number is packed much at fault ourselves.' within. Pity,' added the old lady, indignantly,—' pity their fathers don't teach them for what purpose their legs were given them."" "I would have sooner had her room than her company," said Harry. "Although I felt that there is very much truth and sound sense in what my grave companion said, I could not help reminding her that Jeanie Deans travelled by the marrow-bone stage from Edinburgh to London in the reign of George the Second; and I suggested whether she would be willing to return from Penzance to London by the same mode of conveyance. "Oh no, indeed,' said she; 'and is it true that any woman performed so wonderful a feat?' "It is, madam,' I replied; 'and we are told that the resolute heroine travelled from county to county as though she were travelling through distinct countries, her personal appearance exciting many à laugh, and her broad Scotch being at times 666 "Quite true, madam,' I replied; and while you and I can ride from London to Penzance, I do not think we shall imitate Jeanie Deans, or blame others for doing what we are only, after all, too glad to do ourselves.' "We had now arrived at our journey's end, and I bade my grave companion a polite good morning. "But," continued Uncle Harry, "for all that I have said, I would advise young people, when they live within walking distance of business, not to ride; for I am quite sure the more the limbs are exercised, the stronger they will become. "I am thankful, however, for the great conveniences we now have for visiting our friends at a distance, and of becoming acquainted with the rugged and the beautiful por tions of the land in which we live. But now about Penzance. "It is the most westerly town of England-thriving, bustling, and queerly built. It was sacked by the |