to do than to draw up an account of all the evidence we have heard, and lay it before his lordship. Jack, you may go home.

Jack. Pray, sir, let somebody go with me, for I am afraid of Riot, who has just been threatening me at the door.

Presid. Master Bold will please to go along with the boy.

The minutes of the court were then drawn up, and the President took them to the Judge's chamber. After the Judge had perused them, he ordered an indictment to be drawn up against Peter Riot, "for that he meanly, clandestinely, and with malice aforethought, had broken three panes in the window of Widow Careful, with a certain instrument called a top, whereby he had committed an atrocious injury on an innocent person, and had brought a disgrace upon the society to which he belonged."

At the same time he

sent an officer to inform Master Riot that his trial would come on the next morning.

Riot, who was with some of his gay companions, affected to treat the matter with great indifference, and even to make a jest of it. However, in the morning he thought it best to endeavour to make it up; and accordingly, when the Court were assembled, he sent one of his friends with a shilling, saying that he would not trouble them with any further inquiries, but would pay the sum that had been issued out of the public stock. On the receipt of this message, the Judge rose, with much severity in his countenance, and observed, that by such a contemptuous behaviour towards the Court the criminal had greatly added to his offence he ordered two officers with their staves immediately go and bring in Riot, and to use force if he should resist them. The culprit, thinking it best to submit, was presently led in between the two officers; when, being placed at the bar, the Judge thus addressed him :

to

"I am sorry, sir, that any member of this society

can be so little sensible of the nature of a crime, and so little acquainted with the principles of a court of justice, as you have shown yourself to be, by the proposal you took the improper liberty of sending to us. If you meant it as a confession of your guilt, you certainly ought to have waited to receive from us the penalty we thought proper to inflict, and not to have imagined that an offer of the mere payment of damages would satisfy the claims of justice against you. If you had broken the window only by accident, and, of your own accord, offered restitution, nothing less than the full damages could have been accepted. But you now stand charged with having done this mischief, meanly, secretly, and maliciously, and thereby have added a great deal of criminal intention to the act. Can you, then, think that a court like this, designed to watch over the morals, as well as protect the properties of our community, can so slightly pass over such aggravated offences? You can claim no merit from confessing the crime, now that you know so much evidence will appear against you. And if you choose still to plead not guilty, you are at liberty to do it, and we will proceed immediately to the trial, without taking any advantage of the confession implied by your offer of payment."

Riot stood silent for some time, and then begged to be allowed to consult with his friends, what was best for him to do. This was agreed to, and he was permitted to retire, though under guard of an officer. After a short absence, he returned with more humility in his looks, and said that he pleaded guilty, and threw himself on the mercy of the Court. The Judge then made a speech of some length, for the purpose of convincing the prisoner, as well as the by-standers, of the enormity of the crime. He then pronounced the following sentence:

'You, Peter Riot, are hereby sentenced to pay the sum of half a crown to the public treasury, as a satis faction for the mischief you have done, and your at

tempt to conceal it. You are to repair to the house of Widow Careful, accompanied by such witnesses as we shall appoint, and there having first paid her the sum you owe her, you shall ask her pardon for the insult you offered her. You shall likewise, to-morrow, after school, stand up in your place, and before all the scholars ask pardon for the disgrace you have been the means of bringing upon the society; and, in particular, you shall apologize to Master Luckless, for the disagreeable circumstance you were the means of bringing him into. Till all this is complied with, you shall not presume to come into the playground, or join in any of the diversions of the school; and all persons are hereby admonished not to keep your company till this is done."

Riot was then dismissed to his room; and in the afternoon he was taken to the widow's, who was pleased to receive his submission graciously, and at the same time to apologize for her own improper treatment of Master Luckless, to whom she sent a present of a nice ball, by way of amends.

Thus ended this important business.

FIFTEENTH EVENING.

THE LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.

Tutor-George-Harry.

G. WHAT a delightful scent!

H. Charming! It is sweeter than Mr. Essence's shop.

T. Do you know whence it comes ?

G. O-it is from the been-field on the other side of the hedge, I suppose.

T. It is. This is the month in which beans are in blossom. See-the stalks are full of their black and white flowers.

H. I see peas in blossom, too, on the other side of the field.

G. You told us some time ago of grass and corn flowers; but they make a poor figure compared to these.

T. They do. The glory of a corn-field is when it is ripe; but peas and beans look very shabbily at that time. But suppose we take a closer view of these blossoms. Go you, George, and bring me a beanplant; and you, Harry, a pea.

you

[They go and bring them. T. Now let us sit down and compare them. Do think these flowers much alike?

H. O no-very little.

G. Yes a good deal.

T. A little and a good deal! How can that be? Come, let us see. In the first place, they do not much resemble each other in size or colour.

G. No-but I think they do in shape.

T. True. They are both irregular flowers, and have the same distribution of parts. They are of the kind called papilionaceous; from papilio, the Latin word for a butterfly, which insect they are thought to resemble.

G. The pea does a little, but not much.

T. Some do much more than these. Well-you see first a broad leaf standing upright, but somewhat bent back; this is named the standard. On each side are two narrower, called the wings. The under-side of the flower is formed of a hollow part resembling a boat; this is called a keel.

G. It is very like a boat, indeed!

T. In some kinds, however, it is divided in the middle, and so is like a boat split in two. All these parts have claws, which unite to form a tube, set in a calyx or flower-cup. This tube, you observe, is longer in the bean than in the pea, and the proportions of the other parts are somewhat different; but the parts themselves are found in both.

I think them alike now.

H. So they are. T. That is the consequence of examining closely. Now, let us strip off all the leaves of this bean-flower but the keel. What do you think this boat contains ? G. It must be those little things you told us are in all flowers.

H. The chives and pistil.

T. Right. I will draw down the keel gently, and you shall see them.

H. How curious!

T. Here are a number of chives joining in their bodies so as to make a round tube, or cylinder, through which comes out a crooked thread, which is the pistil. I will now, with a pin, slit this cylinder. What do you see within it ?

G. Somewhat like a little pod.

T. True—and, to show you that it is a pod, I will open it, and you shall see the seeds within it.

H. What tiny things! Is this, then, what makes the bean-pod afterwards?

T. It is. When the blossom drops, this seed-vessel grows bigger and bigger, and at length hardens as the seeds grow ripe, becomes black and shrivelled, and would burst and shed the seeds, if they were not gathered.

G. I have seen several burst pods of our sweet-peas under the wall, with nothing left in them.

T. And it is common for the field-peas and beans to lose a great part of the seeds while they are getting in. H. At the bottom of this pea-stalk there are some pods set already.

T. Open one. You see that the pod is composed of two shells, and that all the seeds are fastened to one side of the pod, but alternately to cach shell.

G. Is it the same in beans ?

T. Yes, and in all other pods of the papilionaceous flowers. Well, this is the general structure of a very numerous and useful class of plants, called the legu minous or podded. Of these, in this country, the