king wine,
Wealth and pleasure will be mine.
The stronger the drink, the better the cheer--
Dreams of my destiny, appear, appear!'

"_Twenty-ninth of February._--This day, as it only occurs once in four
years, is peculiarly auspicious to those who desire to have a glance at
futurity, especially to young maidens burning with anxiety to know the
appearance and complexion of their future lords. The charm to be adopted
is the following: Stick twenty-seven of the smallest pins that are made,
three by three, into a tallow candle. Light it up at the wrong end, and
then place it in a candlestick made out of clay, which must be drawn from
a virgin's grave. Place this on the chimney-place, in the left-hand
corner, exactly as the clock strikes twelve, and go to bed immediately.
When the candle is burnt out, take the pins and put them into your left
shoe; and before nine nights have elapsed your fate will be revealed to
you."

We have now taken a hasty review of the various modes of seeking to
discover the future, especially as practised in modern times. The main
features of the folly appear essentially the same in all countries.
National character and peculiarities operate some difference of
interpretation. The mountaineer makes the natural phenomena which he most
frequently witnesses prognosticative of the future. The dweller in the
plains, in a similar manner, seeks to know his fate among the signs of the
things that surround him, and tints his superstition with the hues of his
own clime. The same spirit animates them all--the same desire to know that
which Infinite Mercy has concealed. There is but little probability that
the curiosity of mankind in this respect will ever be wholly eradicated.
Death and ill fortune are continual bugbears to the weak-minded, the
irreligious, and the ignorant; and while such exist in the world, divines
will preach upon its impiety and philosophers discourse upon its absurdity
in vain. Still it is evident that these follies have greatly diminished.
Soothsayers and prophets have lost the credit they formerly enjoyed, and
skulk in secret now where they once shewed their faces in the blaze of
day. So far there is manifest improvement.

THE MAGNETISERS.

Some deemed them wondrous wise, and some believed them mad.
_Beattie's Minstrel_.

[Illustration: T]

The wonderful influence of imagination in the cure of diseases is well
know