Wednesday-I rose early to go out fishing-said one Pater and Ave for morning prayers with "All ye Saints in the Calendar pray for me"-Bad sport-fish would not bite-Bought two fine Trout, and said I caught them myself-Dinner ready just as I got home. One course was the Grouse I shot on Monday—ten sat down to dinner-I only got a small piece of backbone-said I did not care about Grouse.—

Thursday-Ordered to return to College, pretended to have a bad cough—not permitted to go out all day—I wished the College at New South Wales-Eat a hearty Supper-could not sleep.

Friday-got up too late for the Coursing Party-They killed five Hares-Very much out of temper-Wished it was not Friday-no meat-Dined alone-Had my two Trouts to myself-Drank too much wine-fell asleep-awoke with a headache.

Saturday-Ordered to prepare to start for College on Monday, cough or no cough-miserable feeling came over me— went out shooting, but could hit nothing-Returned home at two-cried for an hour and three quarters, resolved not to go to Mass next day,-Cough returned, but no go!

Mr. Editor,

G....

Having by chance picked up the above, I forward it to you, to insert in the next number of the Downside Magazine, hoping it will amuse your readers as much as it

which our infantine and boyhood feet have trodden! With what delight do we look back to the scenes of pleasure, to the sports and pastimes of by-gone days! Not merely the scenes

in which we ourselves have taken part, but each legend of the place in which we have dwelt, and of the friends with whom we have lived, has a charm ineffable; and we listen with eager delight, to a fifty-times-told tale, which would have failed to arrest our attention had we not been familiar with the spot on which it happened, and with the dramatis persona who were engaged therein. None feel so strongly this poetic love of the past, as does the school-boy. Be his soul unbending as the stubborn steel, or his life a faithful imitation of the rigid Stoic race; be his ear inaccessible to the harmony of sweet sounds, or his eye a stranger to art and nature's beauties, he never fails to catch, from the burning breasts of those with whom he lives, some sparks of this infectious fire.-Gregorians yield to none, in the delight they feel when memory bids them fix their thoughts upon the scenes of a July jaunt, or of some boyish prank, when safe from Prefect's eye, they sought to purchase and to smuggle home, some goods illicit: or when in mood more serious, they call to mind, the contests they have had to secure some wished for prize, or to beat some rude competitor, whose aspiring mind would not allow them undisturbed possession of the post of honor they had gained; and how they studied day and night, and what manœuvres they contrived, to avoid the observation of their rivals. Downside has its tales, and though they are yearly told to many a listening circle, still the charm remains; and many a legend known by heart, is listened to with unabated eagerness, each time the conversation turns thereon. The "moonlight struggle" with one Billy Broom, (whom bold presumption led to think, that unmolested he might walk, by night within our walls, and lay his pilfering hand on what should most his vicious taste delight,) is a standing tale, and as long as Downside shall exist, will be remembered. Many such there are. Let me beg of all, who so dearly prize these local recollections, to make them live by constant repetition, and to hand them down, to gratify the minds of those, who, when we are scattered

o'er the world, will inherit our love for Alma Mater, and be charmed as we, by all her little legends.

CHASTITY-From Bürger.

He who encount'ring passion's flame
By lawless lust ne'er sapp'd his frame
An hero's motto proudly can
Repeat, and truly-I'm a man.

For he his fellows doth outshine
As stunted firs a mountain pine,
With graceful strength adorn'd, as trod
On classic land the Delphic god.

The spark divine his soul that fires
The soaring intellect inspires,
Borne upwards in its eagle flight
From murky depths to Heaven's light.

Enkindled by its piercing ray
He revels in the blaze of day;
The secret laws that Nature bind
Are clear to his capacious mind.

For he doth search and analyse
All that is lovely great and wise,
And with persuasive eloquence
Imparts it to each weaker sense.

O mark how full of Majesty
His stately figure passes by;
His Maker's image there he stands,
And sues for naught-for he commands.

And darkly bright his clear eyes gleam,
Like sunbeams on a hidden stream;
Stamp'd on his brow by Nature's hand
Sit firm resolve and high command.

That high resolve, that dauntless will
His mighty arm may well fulfil.
Impell❜d by sinews firm as oak
His sword falls like a thunder-stroke.

The untam'd courser panting see
Beneath the pressure of his knee;

A.

Despite his fury, blood and bone,
The stalwart rider makes him groan.

The noblest virgins in the land

Might deem them honour'd with his hand;
O let the happy maid rejoice,

On whom may fall his manly choice!

As bright as wine with roses crown'd,
Their happy years come gaily round;
Their steps thro' flow'ry pathways move
Of sweet benevolence and love.

They see their children round them rise
In health and strength and goodly size,
So Nimrod's boys around him stood,-
In stateliness a cedar wood.

And such reward doth virtue bring
To him and those that from him spring,
Whose soul to higher courses vow'd,
Unlawful passions never bow'd.

ON PROPORTION AND ITS DEFINITION.

C.

THE notion of proportion is common to all minds, to the weakest as well as to the most powerful. We daily hear it introduced into the most ordinary conversation. When two objects come beneath the observation of our vision, we usually, though without reverting to it, institute a comparison between them, that is to say, we consider the relative sizes of their several parts; this operation we designate by the name of Proportion.

It is proportion that directs our judgment when we distinguish between the beautiful and that which is offensive to the sight. The right proportion of all the parts of an object to one another constitutes beauty: ugliness consists in the disproportion of any of those parts; and the greater the disproportion, the greater the deformity. Yet how few are there that have anything more than a very vague conception of what they mean when they talk of proportion! Could one in ten-could

one in a thousand, if questioned, give a clear explanation of what he understood by the term? Most probably not; yet it is undoubtedly a definite conception of the mind, continually brought into play, and only requiring a moderate amount of consideration to determine it in a simple and precise form of

words.

The first occasion on which most students meet with a definition of the term, is on commencing the fifth book of Euclid; and here it comes upon them like a stumbling-block, for they find themselves called upon to place implicit reliance on a very prolix and abstruse statement, to form their ideas of what is the essence of proportion. They have nothing but the dictum of the old geometer, without any proof or any attempt to explain how the definition accords with the undetermined notion that already exists in their minds. An endeavour to supply, to a certain degree, this deficiency, will not, we think, be considered by our readers foreign to the purposes for which this Magazine was instituted. However, not to trespass too much on their patience, we shall take for granted, that they are more or less acquainted with what is meant by the term ratio, and with the existence of such things as incommensurable quantities; both of which would deserve an important place in a more extended treatise.

The best method of proceeding, in our opinion will be, to take some conversational expression in which proportion is referred to, and examine it in connection with different numbers. Thus it will be generally acknowledged, that "the taxes which people pay, ought to be in proportion to what they are worth." This granted, it will be evident, that "if A possesses 5 times as much property as B, he ought to pay 5 times as much in taxes." Again, "If A is worth only 5-sixths of what B is, A ought to pay only 5-sixths of what B's taxes are rated at." Lastly, "If A's property is 7 times and as much as B's, he ought to pay 7 times and as much in taxes as B does." From all this it will be immediately perceived, that proportion