Edward presented the infant to the Welsh lords as their native Prince; certainly, he could not speak one word of English. The Welsh lords smiled at the trick, yet joyfully accepted the little prince for their future ruler.

It happened that the king's eldest son, Alphonso, died soon after: thus the little Edward became heir to the throne of England; and from that time the eldest son of the English king has been called Prince of Wales. Pray, remember how that title was acquired, and when it was first conferred.

Another very interesting event marked the reign of Edward the First. The king of Scotland, Alexander the Third, died, and left a grand-daughter to succeed him; but she also dying, the crown of Scotland was claimed by many competitors. Three of these had nearly equal claims: the three were John Hastings, John Baliol, and Robert Bruce. The pretensions of these were laid before Edward for his opinion, who, after some deliberation, astonished the claimants by declaring himself to be the rightful heir.

The Scots were not willing to admit this; but at last acknowledged his superiority, and received from his hands Baliol as their king. But Baliol, uneasy at the dominion exerted over him by Edward, made terms with Philip, king of France. New dissensions arose, and Baliol was made a prisoner by the English monarch, and confined in London. He was afterwards released, and spent the rest of his life in France, in peace and privacy. William Wallace, the illustrious Scottish hero, next tried to re-establish the freedom of his native land. But, after many glorious efforts he was betrayed, by a pretended friend, into the hands of Edward, brought to trial, and hanged-a most undeserved punishment for a man whose only political sin was his heroic patriotism!

Robert Bruce, grandson to that Robert who opposed Baliol, instructed and inspired by the gallant Wallace, resolved to emulate his deeds and rescue Scotland from

a state of vassalage. Edward was aware of his intentions, and surrounded him with spies. Bruce was warned of his danger by the ingenious present of a friend, who sent him a pair of gilt spurs and a purse full of money. Flight being thus hinted at, Bruce ordered his horse to be shod with the shoes turned the wrong way, to elude pursuit, and happily escaped. He afterwards fought so bravely, and planned so wisely, that he soon found himself at the head of a fine army. He was crowned King of Scotland at Scone; and the English were compelled to retire into their own country.

Edward, though advanced in age, was not enfeebled in mind, and immediately determined to humble the new monarch. He himself appeared at the head of his forces and, directing his anger against the Scottish nobles, he is represented as having acted with kindness and pity towards the Scottish peasantry. It is related that his marshall shut up the sister of Bruce in a wooden cage, and had his two brothers put to death.

But all further designs against the independence of Scotland were stopped by the decease of the king. Edward was taken ill at Burgh-on-the-Sands, near Carlisle, in Cumberland, and expired there, commanding his son to complete the reduction of Scotland. Edward lived and died a warrior; and with his latest breath desired to bequeath his spirit and his animosity to his successor.

DIVISIONS OF LAND AND WATER.

FROM what we last read about the Earth, it will be seen that it is divided into land and water. There is one continuous broad extent of water extending round the

lower portion of the globe, into which the continents thrust themselves, and sometimes seem to drive it into a narrow compass, as at the bottom of Africa and South America: but there are two large extents where it runs almost up to the North and down to the South Pole, and where its width is very great, so that it seems to occupy all those parts of the globe. These are the two great oceans, the Atlantic and Pacific-the former separating Europe and Africa from America,-the latter America from Asia and Australasia.

But, besides these vast expanses of ocean, there are smaller ones, which are shut in by land on all sides, except at some narrow channel, where they unite with the ocean, like that piece of water which separates Europe from Africa. These are called seas. Such are the Mediterranean Sea, which is the one I have mentioned the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the North Sea, the Irish Sea.

There are also large sheets of water that are entirely surrounded by land, and have no channel of communication with the ocean. These are called lakes, as the lakes of Geneva, in Switzerland, Ontário in Canada, Ládoga in Russia, &c.

In many places the ocean and seas run into the land, sometimes there is only a small opening for the water, which then widens out into a large basin, surrounded by land except just at the mouth. This is called a Gulf, as the Gulf of Venice and the Persian Gulf. Sometimes it runs in with a very wide mouth, narrowing towards the land with a sort of sweep: this we call a bay, as the Bay of Biscay and Bay of Naples. Sometimes it is only a small dent in the land, into which only little boats can run: then we call it a creek.

The streams which bring water into lakes, and carry it out of lakes into seas or oceans, and those which run into one another, till they make a broad deep stream and carry their water direct to the sea, are termed

rivers: as the Thames and Mersey in England, Mississippi and Missouri in America, and Ganges in India.

We have now learnt these divisions of water on the globe:

Ocean, a great collection of water without any entire separation of its parts by land, as the Atlantic and Pacific.

Sea, a smaller collection of water confined by land, but communicating with the ocean, as the Mediterranean. Lake, a smaller sheet of water, entirely surrounded by land, as the Lake of Lucerne, Lake of Gennesaret.

Strait, a narrow channel of sea, joining it to another sea, or to the ocean, as Straits of Dover and Gibraltar.

Gulf, part of the ocean or sea running up into the land, surrounded by land, except at the narrow mouth, where it communicates with the sea, as Gulf of Lepanto.

Bay, a part of the ocean or sea running a less distance into the land, and with a wide opening, as Bay of Biscay.

River, a running stream of fresh water, carrying water from the land to lakes or seas.

Land is similarly divided into tracts of larger and smaller extent.

Like the vast ocean, there is an almost continuous expanse of land, sometimes wide and sometimes narrow; but because of its main portions continuing, or holding together, they are called continents, as Europe, Asia, and Africa, which are all joined. Somewhat resembling them in size are the other two large pieces of land, and which are therefore also called continents, viz., America and Australia.

But besides these large tracts, answering to oceans, there are smaller ones, resembling seas, i.e., they are wide in extent, and are united to the large continents by narrow necks of land, just as seas are joined to oceans by straits. These we call Peninsulas, (almost islands), Spain and Portugal, Arabia and Italy, are examples.

Then, as lakes are pieces of water surrounded by land, so islands are pieces of land surrounded by water, of which there are many thousands on the globe, such as Great Britain, Ireland, the Isles of Man and Wight, Sicily, &c.

And as the sea sometimes runs into the land, so the land sometimes projects into the sea, and this jutting out of the land we call a promontory, and when it ends in a point, we style the point a cape. The lower part of the county of Cornwall is a promontory, so is the bottom of Africa and of South America, and their lowest points are the Cape of Good Hope, and Cape Horn.

Thus we get a similar division of the various portions of land:

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Continent, a large portion of land, without any entire separation of its parts by water, as Europe and Asia.

Island, a smaller part of land, quite surrounded by water, as Ireland.

Peninsula, a tract of land nearly surrounded by water, but attached by a narrow neck to a continent, as Arabia and the Morea in Greece.

Isthmus, the narrow neck of land joining a peninsula to a continent.

Promontory, a mountain or projection of land, stretching itself into the sea, as Land's End in Cornwall.

Cape, the extreme point of a promontory, as Cape Horn.

Coast or shore, that part of a country bordering on the sea.

The description of an ocean, you will see, resembles that of a continent: a lake, encompassed by land, is like an island surrounded by water: a peninsula is like a gulf of water; straits of water bear a great likeness to an isthmus of land, and a cape and promontory correspond to a bay and creek. Rev. J. Ridgway.