ster joy, and asked him, 'in
what part of England the estate was situated that he was going to
purchase.' 'Are you mad?' replied the gentleman; 'it is not an estate,
but a horse, that I have just bargained for; and here is the owner of
him, to whom I am going to pay the money.' 'If there is any madness,
sir,' replied the steward, 'it certainly is not on my side; the sum you
have ordered me to calculate comes just to seventeen thousand four
hundred and seventy-six pounds, besides some shillings and pence; and
surely no man in his senses would give this price for a horse.' The
gentleman was more surprised than he had ever been before, to hear the
assertion of his steward; but when, upon examination, he found it no
more than the truth, he was very glad to compound for his foolish
agreement, by giving the horse-courser the two hundred guineas, and
dismissing him."

_Tommy._--This is quite incredible, that a farthing just doubled a few
times, should amount to such a prodigious sum; however, I am determined
to learn arithmetic, that I may not be imposed upon in this manner, for
I think a gentleman must look very silly in such a situation.

Thus had Tommy a new employment and diversion for the winter nights--the
learning arithmetic. Almost every night did Mr Barlow, and Harry, and
he, amuse themselves with little questions that related to numbers; by
which means Tommy became, in a short time, so expert, that he could add,
subtract, multiply, or divide almost any given sum, with little trouble
and great exactness. But he did not for this forget the employment of
observing the heavens, for every night when the stars appeared bright,
and the sky was unclouded, Harry and he observed the various figures and
positions of the constellations. Mr Barlow gave him a little paper
globe, as he had promised, and Tommy immediately marked out upon the
top his first and favourite constellation of Charles' Wain. A little
while after that, he observed on the other side of the Pole-star another
beautiful assemblage of stars, which was always opposite to Charles'
Wain; this, Mr Barlow told him, was called _Cassiopeia's_ Chair, and
this, in a short time, was added to the collection.

One night as Tommy was looking up to the sky in the southern part of the
heavens, he observed so remarkable a constellation that he could not
help particularly remarking it; four large and shining stars composed
the ends of the figure, which was almost square, and fu