on some occasions contributed to the wreck of the vessel."

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Spin them round," said Mrs. Seymour. The vicar complied; exclaiming at the same. moment, "Vos ite solutæ. Ite deæ pelagi! They are positively converted into sea-nymphs. 'mirabile monstrum!' "" cried Mr. Twaddleton.

"Here is another classical device; the representation of Eurydice, as she fell lifeless at the moment Orpheus turned round to gaze on her," said Mrs. Seymour.

"Charming! charming! I perceive that it is a copy from the splendid print of Didot in the Paris edition of Virgil."

"Turn it round, vicar."

"See! see! she revives, she opens her eyes, and throws her arms around the neck of her frantic lover truly, Mrs. Seymour, this is a most interesting toy," said Mr. Twaddleton.

Mr. Seymour here observed that he had written an epigram to accompany the subject they had just witnessed, and he trusted that he had given to it a classical turn.

"By all means read it; the subject admits of much classical decoration," observed the vicar.

Louisa received the epigram from the hands of her father, and read as follows:

"By turning round, 'tis said, that Orpheus lost his wife; Let him turn round again, and she'll return to life."

It could not be expected that Mr. Twaddleton should have admired lines so burdened with puns; but he quietly observed, "I should have preferred a quotation from the fourth Georgic, so beautifully descriptive of the fable.”

The next card that was presented for inspection exhibited the metamorphosis of Daphne into a laurel. As the figure revolved, the leaves were seen sprouting from her fingers, and her arms lengthening into branches.

"Come now," said Mr. Seymour, "let us exhibit the figure which has been designed at my request: the change which it will undergo during its revolution may, I trust, on some day be realised; I only regret that it is not in my power to give the vicar so good a turn.

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Really, if like Crambe, in Martinus Scriblerus, thou hadst a word for every day in the year, I should certainly say that you were this day under the dominion of the word turn.”

"You know this resemblance ?" said Mr.

Seymour, as he showed the figure, painted on one side of the card, to his daughter.

"It is the vicar!" exclaimed Louisa.

It was, indeed, a portrait of that most excellent character, represented in the costume in which he usually appeared.

"Turn it round," said Mrs. Seymour.

"Louisa twirled the cord, and the whole party burst into a paroxysm of laughter; for the effect of the rotation was to convert the humble vicar into the dignified bishop; his meagre form was instantly changed into a corpulent figure, which was still farther inflated by the addition of the episcopal robe and lawn sleeves, while his angular features were softened by the graceful curves of an immense wig.

"I will give you a motto for it," said the major, "and may it be prophetic! - RAPID PREFERMENT."

"Now," said Mrs. Seymour, "I will show you the improvement which I have made in the construction and use of this toy. It consists in altering the axis of rotation while the card revolves, and thus brings the images on the opposite sides in different positions with respect to each other."

"There cannot be any doubt that such would be the effect, if it were possible to change the axis in the way you propose; but how is this to be effected?" said the vicar.

"At first I attempted to effect the change by the addition of other strings; but I soon found that, in order to avail myself of this expedient, I should be obliged to stop the card before I could change its axis, whereas my object was to produce the alteration while the card was in the act of spinning."

"And that, I fear, must be the case, whatever expedient you may adopt," observed Mr. Twad'dleton.

"No, indeed; I have surmounted the difficulty by a very simple process."

Mrs. Seymour then exhibited her contrivance, which we shall endeavour to explain by the assistance of the annexed diagram.

α

e

e

ee is a frame-work of card, in which the disc a cb is made to traverse freely; the position of its two strings is seen at a b, which having been fastened, at those points, to the central card, are carried through openings in the frame-work at c d. As the card revolves, the strings are pulled with a certain degree of force which causes it to change its position, until the point a shall coincide with c, and b with d. Mrs. Seymour having explained the construction of her apparatus, proceeded to display the effects of its action.

"Here," said she, "you perceive a horse; on turning it round you will observe a jockey seated on its back."

While the party were steadfastly observing the change thus produced, the exhibiter tightened the strings, the card changed its position, and the jockey was, in an instant, canted over the head of his charger, to the no small delight of the children, and to the utter amazement of the vicar and major, who simultaneously declared it to be one of the most magical effects they had ever witnessed. Several other subjects were then submitted to a similar operation;