ng upon his head. Turn it over, and see how comical it
looks--everything appears to have lost its gravity.

_Gravity_ means the power that holds us to the earth (as Papa's
loadstone attracts the needle): if it were not for gravity, we could
not move about. Some day you shall read in that nice book called the
"Evenings at Home," about gravity, and why an apple falls to the
ground. A great philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton, discovered why, as he
lay under a tree. At a future time you will learn about gravity and
many other things.

UNCOMMON VEGETATION.--Uncle Periwinkle was very kind; he loved
nature and his nephews dearly. He wore green spectacles, a
dressing-gown all covered with leaves, and a large straw hat; in
fact he was very fond of gardening, and reared all kinds of odd
plants--this his nephews knew, and determined to play a joke upon
him--not a cruel, heartless joke, that would hurt or destroy
anything: no! they were too kind for that. They only carefully tied
the carpenter's planes upon the plane-tree, as if it were fruit--and
some little boxes of all colours upon the box-tree, like blossom; so
that when the old gentleman beheld it, he exclaimed--"Uncommon
Vegetation!" upon which John and Walter came laughing out of the
greenhouse to receive a bunch of fine grapes for their pleasant
joke.

WONDER.--So, Master Ploughboy Giles, you are spending your penny and
your holiday at the fair. You seem not a little astonished at what
you have seen in that peep-show. Surely you cannot imagine that they
are real; it is the magnifying power of the glasses that makes the
pictures appear so large. The pyramids of Egypt are the largest
stone buildings in the world, and the oldest; the Behemoth, a huge
animal that existed thousands of years ago (but I do not think it
had wings like a butterfly, as in the showman's picture); Daniel
Lambert was an enormously fat man, who died a long time back. All
these things must be in miniature if they are to be seen in that
small box, very little larger than a dog's house.

XANTIPPE.--The comical event pictured here occurred more than
two thousand years ago: Xantippe, the wife of the great and
good philosopher Socrates, continually tormented him with her
ill-humour--using him very cruelly--one day emptying a vessel
of dirty water over her celebrated husband, whom she ought to
have loved: he only remarked, that "after thunder there generally
falls rain." Socrates lived in the refined cit