12th February; and these, king and queen, were proclaimed 13th
February, 1688-9. February 19th, a Bill was brought in to call the
convention a parliament; it passed, and received royal assent 23rd
February. By this the lords and gentlemen who met 22nd January were
named the two houses of parliament, and the acts of this
convention-parliament were to date from 13th February. This hybrid
sat till 20th August, and having passed the Attainder Act was
adjourned to 20th September, and then 19th October, 1689. This
second session lasted till 27th January, 1689-90, when it was
stopped by a prorogation to the 2nd April; but before that day it
was dissolved, and a parliament summoned by writ, which met 20th
March, 1689, and as a first law, passed an act ratifying the
proceedings of the convention.

II. Literary and Historical Essays.

MEANS AND AIDS TO SELF-EDUCATION.

"What good were it for me to manufacture perfect iron while my own
breast is full of dross? What would it stead me to put properties
of land in order, while I am at variance with myself? To speak it
in a word: the cultivation of my individual self, here as I am, has
from my youth upwards been constantly though dimly my wish and my
purpose."

"Men are so inclined to content themselves with what is commonest;
the spirit and the senses so easily grow dead to the impressions of
the beautiful and perfect; that every one should study to nourish
in his mind the faculty of feeling these things by every method in
his power. For no man can bear to be entirely deprived of such
enjoyments; it is only because they are not used to taste of what
is excellent, that the generality of people take delight in silly
and insipid things, provided they be new. For this reason, he would
add, 'one ought at least every day to hear a little song, read a
good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a
few reasonable words.'"--_Goethe._

We have been often asked by certain of the Temperance Societies to give
them some advice on Self-Education. Lately we promised one of these
bodies to write some hints as to how the members of it could use their
association for their mental improvement.

We said, and say again, that the Temperance Societies can be made use
of by the people for their instruction as well as pleasure. Assemblies
of any kind a