over the whole globe, which it soon covered
from one pole to the other with an uninterrupted
mass of verdure. During the secondary and
tertiary epochs, the vegetable kingdom and the
animal kingdom divided the earth between them.
In the quaternary epoch, the human kingdom
appeared. Is it in the future destinies of our
planet to receive yet another lord? And after
the four kingdoms which now occupy it, is there
to be a new kingdom created, which will ever be
a mystery to us, but which will differ from man
in as great a degree as man differs from animals,
and plants from rocks?

We must be contented with suggesting,
without hoping to resolve this formidable problem.
This great mystery, according to Pliny's fine
expression, "is hidden in the majesty of nature;"
or, to speak more in the spirit of Christian
philosophy, it is hidden in the knowledge of the
Almighty Creator of the world, who formed the
universe.

         THE WORDS OF MAHARAVA.

SAITH the Hermit Maharava, in the Shaskru deeply
   learnèd,
Never at any time hath God by Man been dis-
   cernèd:
But, to each man, that which the man himself, in
   himself, is able
To conceive of God, God seemeth." Saith the Her-
   mit, " Hear this Fable:
In a certain land" (he saith) "is the Blind Men's
   City. There came
On a certain time" (he saith) "to the Blind Men's
   City the fame
Of an elephant marching by. So the Blind Ones
   arose, drew near,
And the elephant's trunk one seized, and another
   one seized his ear,
One of them seized his leg, and the tail of him one
   of them seized:
Each of them felt what he held, and each of them
   held what he pleased.
Then, returning all to the City, they sat in the gate,
   and began
Describing the elephant, each to speak of the crea-
   ture. The man
That had held the trunk of him, first, then said to
   the other ones, 'Know
That this creature is shapen the same as the
   plantain-tree.' 'Not so,'
Said he that had held the tail of him; ' rather,
   O friends, like a snake
Is the form of the beast.' ' Now surely, my brother
   doth either mistake
Or else he deceiveth, not truly affirming the truth,
   answer'd he
That had seized on the elephant's leg; ' for the ele-
   phant seemeth to me,
Having handled and felt him, much more like a
   pillar which hardly a man
With outstretcht arms may encompass.' ' A pillar?
   What next? 'tis a fan
Like the fan wherewith the Hindoo the soil'd rice
   cleaneth. I fear
That my brothers have drunken strong wine,' said
   the man who had felt the beast's ear,
Whereat they all wax'd wroth: each chiding his
   fellow: and each
Well assured. of himself: not one of them knowing
   save what to the reach
Of his hand 'twas accorded to hold. And the quarrel
   grew sorer apace
Twixt the blind men, teachers of blind men.
   Listening to those in the place
Where they wrangled, there chanced to be sitting a
   certain other blind man,
That had not follow'd the others, when after the
   elephant ran
Those blind men out of the City, because he was
   weak, being old.
He therefore, having in turn given ear to the story
   each told,
Made answer, and said, ' I perceive that each of
   you, truly, that gibeth
The words of his brother, himself hath but felt what
   himself describeth.
Each having felt some part of the whole,—none
   feeling it all.
Wherefore it seemeth to me that it may be, that
   which you call
Like the stem of the plantain-tree is the trunk of
   the elephant: that
Which seemeth to be like a snake is the tail of the
   elephant: what
In its bulk as a pillar appeareth, which hardly men's
   arms may span
Is haply the leg of the creature: moreover what
   seemeth a fan
Like the fan of the Hindoo wherewith the rice he
   cleaneth, may be
Peradventure the ear of the beast.' Thus cautiously
   answered he.
For the wise man neither denieth nor yet affirmeth
   what fools
Are loud to affirm and deny, in the folly of sects and
   schools.
But, in all creeds searching for truth, he findeth in
   every one
Some part of the truth which wholly compass'd he
   findeth in none:
To each mind partly apparent, by no mind fully
   discerned;"
Saith the Hermit Maharava, in the Shaskru deeply
   learned.

            CARRIAGES AND THEIR CHANGES.

"THE disappearance of pigtails and leather
breeches from the House of Commons, the rise and
fall of the Stanhope gig and cabriolet, the decline
of chariots, the extinction of the vis-a-vis, and the
introduction of the Brougham." This was the
answer of a desperate civil service candidate to
the question, "What were the most remarkable
social changes which followed the Reform Bill?"
According to the tradition of the Foreign Office
clerks, the freshness and truth of the reply
saved the modem Phaeton from the fatal
"plough."

There can be no doubt that amongst the many
remarkable social changes within the recollection
of our middle-aged men, none has been more
decisive than that in the character of our pleasure
carriages. Macadam was the first great
revolutionist in Long-acre. He made it possible to
dispense with the before inevitable four horses
on country roads; and by the smooth easy