after him; and so on.d Admirable institution! The only recsick, ommendation that young men could have on this occasion was exportheir virtue and the services done their country. He who had Spinet

the greatest share of these endowments chose which girl he liked out of the whole nation. Love, beauty, chastity, virtue, birth, and even wealth itself, were all, in some measure, the dowry of virtue. A nobler and grander recompense, less chargeable to a petty state, and more capable of influencing both sexes, could scarcely be imagined.

The Samnites were descended from the Lacedæmonians; and Plato, whose institutes are only an improvement of those of Lycurgus, enacted nearly the same law.e

17.-Of Female Administration

It is contrary to reason and nature that women should reign in families, as was customary among the Egyptians; but not that they should govern an empire. In the former case the state of their natural weakness does not permit them to have the pre-eminence; in the latter their very weakness generally gives them more lenity and moderation, qualifications fitter for a good administration than roughness and severity.

In the Indies they are very easy under a female government; and it is settled that if the male issue be not of a mother of the same blood, the females born of a mother of the bloodroyal must succeed. And then they have a certain number of persons who assist them to bear the weight of the government. According to Mr. Smith,g they are very easy in Africa under female administration. If to this we add the example of England and Russia, we shall find that they succeed alike both in moderate and despotic governments.

d Fragment of Nicolaus Damascenus, taken from Stobæus in the collection of Constantine Porphyrogenitus.

e He even permits them to have a more frequent interview with one another.

f" Edifying Letters," 14th collection. g" Voyage to Guinea," part the second, of the kingdom of Angola, on the Golden Coast.

CHOICE EXAMPLES OF EARLY PRINTING AND

ENGRAVING.

Fac-similes from Rare and Curious Books.

A PAGE FROM THE MONTE SANTO DI DIO.

Betini's Monte Santo di Dio was published in Florence in 1477, by Nicholas of Brestul, German, who became by far the most celebrated of Florentine printers. Thus work exhibits the first example of illustration by means of engraved meral plates. The letter-press of the work as shown in this fac-simile is extremely regular and effective.