now we have to introduce one of the saddest passages in Cranmer's life-the only one, indeed, for which no palliation can be offered. The most distinguished of those who suffered during this persecution was Joan Bocher, a Kentish woman, of good education and of respectable rank in life. Her case is thus given by Dr. Southey, himself a High-churchman :-"In an evil hour she was accused of maintaining a fanatic and long-forgotten notion concerning our Saricur-that, though born of the Virgin, he partook of humanity only in appearance, having but an apparent, and not a real body; and for this she was condemned to die. It is a goodly matter to consider your ignorance,' said the undaunted woman to those who sat in judgment on her. Not long ago you burnt Anne Askew for a piece of bread, and yet came yourselves soon after to believe and profess the same doctrine for which you burnt her; and now, forsooth, you will needs burn me for a piece of flesh; and in the end you will come to believe this also, when ye have read the Scriptures and understood them.' This appeal ought to have stricken Cranmer with compunction. The council called upon Cranmer to obtain a warrant for her execution." The sequel is, perhaps, one of the most painful and humiliating circumstances in the whole of our history. Had Cranmer not given his consent, and even constrained the youthful king to give the fatal order, he might have preserved the Efe of this woman; but, consenting to her death, he so far influenced the young Edward as to induce him to sign the warrant for her execution. Let it be said, however, to the honour of the young king, that he did not attach his signature to that document without remonstrances and tears, assuring the archbishop, at the same time, that upon him would rest the responsibility of the act. King Edward, when he thus reluctantly signed the warrant, had not completed his fourteenth year, and yet so much did he excel the best and wisest of his counsellors in the wisdom of the heart.

In the year 1554, with the help of a few select divines, Cranmer prepared a series of doctrinal articles-the forty-two articles of religion; and these, having received the royal sanction, were forthwith published by royal proclamation. Subscription to these articles was immediately required from all the clergy. Six weeks only were allowed to those who scrupled, and, on refusing, they were ejected from their church livings.

• The confidant of Catherine, the sixth and favourite queen of Henry. She was martyred, June, 1546, on the charge of denying the doctrine of transubstantiation.

It is from this period-the imposition of the Liturgy and ceremonies by Cranmer and the council of Edward VI.—that British Nonconformity, in its modern form, may be dated.

Staffordshire.

INSECT INTELLIGENCE.

FROM OLD JONATHAN.

THE following graphic comment upon the counsel of Holy Writ-" Go to the ant, learn her ways, and be wise”—we submit to the intelligent reader. Some, who are led away by the "philosophy of science," falsely so called, would do well, instead of flying to the infidel arguments of modern essayists, to take a look into an ant's nest, and there learn wisdom. The Apostle of God, writing to the infidels of his day, says, by the Holy Ghost's teachings, that "the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." An ant's nest is a miniature world-a microcosm -and testifies to the skill of insect architecture. Shall we deny to God the honour bestowed upon an insect? God forbid! "For the Lord is a great God and a great King. In his hands are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land." Now for our extract, which is as follows:

"The insect, Termes Bellicosus, is one of the plagues and blessings of Africa, and, as one of the extraordinary phenomena of natural history, we must not pass it without observation. We could not forget it in Africa, for there it obtrudes itself upon our attention in a variety of ways. It is an incessant pest to the traveller when he rests for the night. He cannot lay any of his boxes or traps on the ground for fear of their being eaten into, or wholly devoured by white ants. They are very fond of soft wood, and will spoil a good plank in one night. They throw up mould against the object of their attack, and under this covered way they carry on their depredations with extraordinary despatch. Suppose you have left a box on the earth, or against the side of a hut, for a few days; when you come to look at it, you will find a little mould cleaving to it, and, as it were, gluing it to the earth or clay wall. On removing it, you find all the under part of the wood gone, a thin surface alone remaining, which falls into dust on being touched. The cunning insects do not make holes quite through the wood, lest their operations should be discovered.

"But this source of annoyance is also a means of promoting public ! good. The termes is one of Nature's scavengers. The immense mass of

wood which falls in the African forests and plains would produce a pestilence if left to rot slowly on the surface of the ground; the routes, also, would be obstructed. But now, as soon as a branch or tree comes down, it is attacked by the white ants, which soon devour its pith and fibre, so that the first heavy rain breaks the thin shell, and mixes its débris with the soil, and the whole soon disappears. So do native towns when they have been deserted for a short time. The rafters of bamboo which supported the thatch of the huts are destroyed by the termites; the roofs fall in and become a prey; the walls of unburnt clay are washed down by pitiless showers; and nothing remains of the late habitations of men save a few mounds of earth which the white ants now occupy.

"Look at these earthen cones! Some of them are several feet high, and almost as big as a small hut. If you could examine one of them by first getting rid of its inhabitants, you would be surprised at the accuracy and beauty of its internal structure. It is composed of arched chambers, galleries, and magazines, all of them communicating with one another and with the royal apartments in the centre. It has roads, bridges, and staircases—not excavated, but built in the most scientific manner. The skill of the termes probably exceeds that of any other creature except civilized man.

"Each town or colony consists of three distinct orders of termites. The highest class, or nobility, are the only perfect insects, as having wings. They are of great size, being equal in bulk to thirty of the labourers, and seem to enjoy a short life of ease, as they neither work nor fight: but their honours are of short duration. As soon as their four wings have grown to maturity, they either sally forth, or are driven out, to seek and form new settlements. Then the air is full of them. They fy at random, knocking against your face, and everything else that comes in their way. In a few hours their aerial flights are terminated, and all their soaring is gone for ever. They lose their wings, and become the

prey of birds, insects, and reptiles, or they fall into the water and perish. They are also captured, roasted, and eaten by the negro. A few pairs only, out of many millions, survive, and being found by some of the lower class who are at work, are by them elected kings and queens. One pair founds a colony. The new sovereigns are immediately enclosed in a large chamber of clay, from which they have no gress, and which protects them from enemies. Their willing subjects

Emperor?-how each comes to know its own functions and fill its own place?-how they understand architecture, and even the building of arches, which the ancient Egyptians did not know ?-to these and all other queries we can only reply, that they are amongst the mysteries of Nature. The facts are so. Let him who thinks that such a marvellous economy could be produced by chance or developed from inert matter, explain it if he can. We see in it the work of an Omnipresent Deity.

"Some naturalists say that the termite passes through each stage of being and rank; being at first a labourer, afterwards a soldier, and finally a king. Thus there is, after all, a perfect equality in original capability; and each little termite, if he knew his origin and his destiny, might say, 'Well, though a poor labourer now, I am the son of a king; and ere long I, too, shall rise from my present low position to the rank of a soldier, with good pay and no work; and after that I shall ascend to the still more exalted rank of a monarch.' But alas! such are the dangers and catastrophes among ants, that not one in ten thousand lives long enough to become a king."

SCIENCE IN PLAYTHINGS.-No. I.

BY THE REV. T. MILLS.

THE Emperor Augustus, in whose reign the Lord Jesus was born, played at "ring-taw;" but he and his playfellows used nuts. In later times little round stones were used, and in modern times taws, or little bails of brown clay, hardened in fire, which were called taws from their taway colour. The Dutch made their little play-balls of alabaster, brought them down the river Rhine, and circulated them all over Europe, and in India and China. They were called marbles, from the material of which they were made.

You shoot a marble by giving it force. The force which a marble in motion contains is resisted by air, and by the rough surface on which it rolls, until the force is spent. If a marble in motion strikes another, it gives to it part of its own force, and, in doing so, it loses just as much force as it gives. The marble which thus receives force then rolls along, and the marble which gives it rolls just as much less as it causes the other to roll. It receives as hard a blow as it gives; and the motion which was in one is now divided between two. If a little marble strikes a large one, it loses all its force, staggers as though it were hurt, and then, as though it were exhausted, it stands still; but the large marble moves just as many times less than the little one as it is many times larger; and the reason is, that the inertia, or stand-still force, is so much greater in the large marble than the moving force in the little one.