And a thousand and one in their defence,' replied Puck. 'What especial sore point is irritating you?'

'When they are not making either fools or machines of themselves they eat and drink all manner of new things, and they have all manner of new complaints, justifying what was preached by Antiphanes, who used to say that all diseases originated from the variety of food that was eaten.'

'They may have new complaints,' said Puck, but they know how to cure them, and they know how to cure the old ones, which is more than Antiphanes knew; and if they have new complaints they have new pleasures; and all the complaints now do not kill as many as they used, because there are now physicians in the place of impostors who pretended to cure by charms. You are all too full of wise saws and ancient instances, whereas it is the modern instances that are more valuable. You only try to show how great the old people

were, and this every age attempts to prove of itself. I think I could show you from their own history how small they were. What can you say for the wisdom of the people who heard Aristarchus of Samos? He taught that the earth turned round its axis and revolved round the sun, and it nearly proved fatal to him. He was accused of disturbing the peace of the gods. People used to be so stupid that they became famous for it. You know the celebrated grammarian of Samos left two sons who were both famous for their stupidity, and for nothing else. Then there was Amphistides, who was so naturally destitute of intellect that he seldom remembered he ever had a father. He wished to learn arithmetic, but he could never comprehend beyond the figure 4. Anaximenes, the philosopher, considered the earth as a plain, and the heavens as a solid concave figure, on which the stars were fixed like nails; and the people, of course, believed him. You know there was a comic writer in the age of Demetrius who said that philosophers were wise only in their speeches, and fools in their actions; but here, to my mind, was a philosopher who was a fool in his speech. Cretensis, another wise ass, wrote a book in praise of drunkenness. I will

mention, too, the famous geometrician of Syracuse, who believed that by means of his machines he could move the earth with ease, if placed on a fixed spot near it. If placed on a fixed spot near it! Don't you admire that? Do not think I rely on solitary instances. I can give you a case of universal stupidity. You remember that a report once prevailed in Amycle that the enemies were coming to storm it. The rumour was false, and the inhabitants made a law that forbade such a report to be credited; and when the enemy really did arrive no one mentioned it or took up arms in his own defence, and the town was easily taken. If you have not had enough, I can give you more.'

that position, which is considered the first social link. Even their landlord they call 'batiushka,' or 'little father.' Cheerfully they toil in the fields, singing at their work:

With merry smile, a jovial song,
Chattering all the six days long,
The Russians work, a happy throng,
Keep the fast, and keep the feast,
And rest from Saturday to Monday.'

We might almost compare Russia to a kaleidoscope, so various are its dialects, Lithuanian, TartoFinnic, and Polish; so mixed its race, Mongols, Manaschoures, Samojedis, and Ostiaks mingling their blood in one common stream; so diverse its climate, hot, cold, and temperate; and over what an immense tract of land it extends! Its sway is owned from the golden Ural mountains, and the chilling marshes which border the White and Frozen Seas, to the fertile plains of the Crimea, the paradise of Russia; from Tartary on the east to the dim Baltic, on whose barren coasts lies Finland, that 'land of twilight,' where, as Custine observes, 'the religious gloom of midnight is forgotten, where the sun of the north, like an alabaster lamp, burns nights and days without interruption. Like a melancholy light over a vault it scarcely enlightens-like a poet wrapt in a vision, and hoary in years. It is Ossian who remembers his loves no more, and listens only to the 'voices of the tomb.'

In the dark ages of the fifteenth century, one of the wild hordes on the banks of the Dnieper and Volkhof, hearing of the rich plains of the Volga, came up in large numbers, and established themselves where the city Kier now stands. They were called Slavi, and gradually spread as far as the Baltic. Many tribes submitted to them; but the Novogodians, who had been their allies, bethought to be their masters, and, after fierce engage

ments, subjugated them, and established a monarchy under Ruric, 860 B.C. By a clever stratagem, his successor, Oleg, acquired possession of Kier. Disguising himself as a Novogorod merchant going on commercial business to Byzantium, he asked permission to pass through the town, and, feigning illness, begged the princes to pay him a visit. The royal brothers agreed, and arrived on the banks of the river but slightly attended. Oleg's followers, who lay concealed in the boats, darted out and killed them, exclaiming, Let Kier be mother of all the Russian cities!'

The chief stepped on the shore; in his blood-red hand,

What once was a banner he joyously waved:

A fluttering rag-'tis the enemy's flag

Our own in the deep with the leader is saved.

Forty-three went down the river

Singing merrily, singing merrily;
Twenty-three came up the river

Singing merrily, singing merrily.' Elated with success, he next cast an envious eye on Byzantium, the queen of the Euxine Sea, who sat calmly at the entrance, holding the keys of its commerce in her hands. Quickly raising an army, he led it through perils, labours, and fatigues, which none but barbarians could have overcome, across the death-like Steppes, where nothing is to be seen but the canopy of sky above and the green grass below. Ridges of hills lie on either side, here and there interspersed with conically-shaped mounds, on which the traveller of the present day sees weird statues made of stone, found 400 miles from the spot where they are erected. It is said these deserts extend over a space of 600,000 square miles. Having traversed the wild country of Boeotia, he came at last in sight of the city, then governed by Leo the Philosopher. Rumours of the

approach of the invading force had already reached the inhabitants, and all was confusion and dismay. In haste Leo assembled his counsellors, to deliberate what measures to take against the threatened danger, when the town was thrown into still greater consternation by the news that 2000 barks were on their way to besiege it by sea. To frustrate this attempt, a heavy iron chain was swung across the harbour, when, to their utter amazement, they saw the barks advancing by land on wheels affixed below the keels, which were flat, and in this manner navigating a track to the very gates. Byzantium, awed at this proof of Oleg's ready wit and ingenuity, submitted to the conqueror, who with his victorious army entered triumphantly, and hung his shield over the entrance as a trophy. A treaty was soon arranged between him and Leo, by which the latter was bound to deliver up various tributes connected with the traffic of the Baltic, and, laden with spoils, he returned in triumph to his country, where he was ever after highly reverenced. We find his successor, Igo, making war against the Drevilians, but without achieving any brilliant victories. At his death his son, Sviastoslaf, being but a child, his mother, Olga, assumed the reins of power, and by trick and artifice reduced tribe after tribe. She finally drew up her army before the capital of the Drevilians, and, after a siege of several weeks, it still continuing to hold out, and both parties being wearied, she proposed to capitulate, on condition that they should send all their pigeons to her, in those days carrier-pigeons being much employed as a means of communication. To this they agreed. Certainly Olga

was not an exception to the saying, 'that there is a fell wild animal in every woman;' for, on their ap

pearance, they were seized, lighted matches tied to their tails, and with this appendage sent back to their homes, and the whole town was speedily in a state of conflagration. Perchance this cruel act filled her with remorse; for on her return she embraced Christianity, which for some time had been creeping along with gentle strides, and was baptized under the name of Helen. She is numbered among the saints of the Russian calendar, and died at an advanced age in 969.

We will not trace the history through the next few reigns, during which wars and rumours of wars' prevailed, especially against the Poles, Swedes, and Tartars, who were perpetually invading the country. We will merely remark, that Vladimir the Great was the first king who became a Christian, after being a most bigoted heathen. His martial fame had spread far and wide, and this, together with his bad character (for he lived openly with six wives), excited a great rivalry among the four religions for the honour of his conversion. Mahometanism' he rejected, as it prohibited the use of wine; the Roman Catholic he refused, because it had a man, the Pope, at the head of it; and Judaism was to him out of the question, as he saw no sense in obeying a nation under the ban of heaven. In the mean time his emissaries returned from Byzantium with such a brilliant account of the Greek worship as practised in that rich city, that he was delighted, and embraced it instantaneously, broke down his idols, threw them into the Dnieper, and ordered the people to be baptized in the river on a fixed day. Millions flocked to this compulsory baptism. In the present day immersion in cold water is not adopted; warm water is substituted, and the babe is blown on three times, which is