A. First, That it has a wonderful copiousness of words. Second, That it is a language which abounds in compounds and derivatives. Third, That it enlarges and ennobles the human mind, by laying open the writings of the Greek philosophers, poets and historians. Q. What languages have had their rise from the Latin ? A. The Latin can boast a noble progeny; for she gave birth to the Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and a good part of the English. Q. Which are the daughters of the old Gothic tongue ? A. The two great branches, the Tuetonic and Saxon languages; from whence all the northern tongues, as so many grand-children, had their being; as the Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, high and low Dutch, Flemish, Scots and English. Q. Who invented that orderly arrangement of the letters which we call by the Greek name, Alphabet ?* A. Cadmus, king of Thebes, son of Agenor, king of Phenicia, in the year of the world 1620. The Hebrews, struck with admiration at this art, have called it Dikduk, that is, Subtle invention.. The Indians when they first saw a person read from a book, believed that the paper spoke. We are told that an Indian slave, being sent by his master with a basket of figs and a letter to a gentleman, ate on the way part of the fruit, and delivered the rest with the letter.-The gentleman having read the letter and not find. ing *From ALPHA, BETA, the two first Greek Letters. ing the quantity of figs it mentioned, accused the slave of eating those missing, and read him the letter; but the poor Indian protesting his innocence, cursed the paper and accused it of false evidence. Some time after he was sent on the same com mission, with a letter that expressly marked the number of figs he had to deliver. On the way he again ate a part, as before, but with this precaution, that he might not again be accused; he first hid the letter under a large stone, most firmly believing, that if it did not see him eat the figs, that it could not possibly be a witness against him. But the poor miserable wretch, accused more than ever, confessed the crime, and held in admiration the virtue of the paper. LESSON XI. THE MATHEMATICS. Q WHAT is meant by the mathematics ? A. A science that contemplates whatever is capable of being numbered or measured. It ranks the first of all sciences, because it consists only in demonstrations. Q. Of what use are the mathematics? A. They open and extend our ideas, strengthen and improve our understanding, fix our attention, and by teaching a habit of just reasoning, prepare us for all other kinds of studies and important employments of life. Q. How are the mathematics divided? A. Into arithmetic, geometry, architecture, astronomy and mechanics. ARITHMETIC. ARITHMETIC. Q. What is arithmetic ? A. The art of computing by numbers: Subtraction, Multiplication and Division, are its principal rules, all the others arising only from different applications of them. Q. What does Addition teach? A. To add many sums together, to know their total value. Example. 3 more 4 more 12 make 19 Which is the total value of these three numbers. What is Subtraction? A. A rule teaching us to take a less number from a greater, to know what remains. Example. From 58 Take 49 Remains 9 Which is the number demanded. Q. What is the use of Multiplication A. It teaches to increase the greater of two numbers given, as often as there are units in the less. Example. Multiply 15 And they will produce 60 Which is the third number required. Q. What is the fourth rule of Arithmetic? Q. What What does it teach? A. To find how often one number is contained in another; or to divide any number inte what parts you please. Divide 28 by 4, the answer will be 7. Example. What are the other rules of arithmetic! A. Reduction, rule of three, alligation, fellowship, extraction of roots, interest, &c. what relates to annuities, pensions, &c. with every thing concerning commerce, and merchants accounts. Q. To whom is this science necessary? A. To every person. It forms the mind, and disposes it to reason justly on all other sciences. It teaches us to set our affairs in order. word, arithmetic is the soul of commerce, and the mother of all the sciences. In a Q. At what age may a child begin to learn to number? A. When he is advanced in writing, and at least nine or ten years old. It is to no purpose for them to begin younger, for they will make no progress,let the master's care be ever so great; because the older they are, the more they are able to reflect with judgment. COMMERCE. Q. What is commerce? A. The art of exchanging one thing for another, or buying or selling merchandize, &c. with an intention to gain. Q. Has commerce been a long time carried on? A. It appears to be as ancient as the world. At first it consisted in nothing more than the exchange of things necessary for life, as it is at present practised on the coasts of Siberia, Norwegia, Lapland and Russian Lapland; amongst the different nations of Africa and Asia, and almost all of America. Q. Was money, which we find of such infinite utility in commerce, in use at that time? A. Not at all; it was in the succeeding ages. that it came into use, Q. What nations have made themselves most famous by their commerce? A A. The Phenicians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Athenians, Rhodians, Romans, Gauls and Flemings; at present the English, Dutch, Venetians, Genoese and Americans carry on the most ex tensive comimoura ❤URANA Yu woul GEOMETRY. Q. What is Geometry? A. A science teaching the mensuration of quantity in all its extents, length, breadth and thickness. Q. What is the meaning of the word geome try A. It is derived from the Greek, and signifies the art of measuring the earth. It had its rise among the Egyptians, who were, in a manner, compelled to invent it to remedy the disorders occasioned in their lands by the annual overflowings of the river Nile, which defaced every boundary. How is quantity distinguished? A. Into lines, superficies and solids. Q. What |