----Heus inquit, juvenes monstrate mearum Vidistis usquam hic errantem forte sororum Succinctam pharetra, et maculosæ tegmine lyncis, Aut spumantis apri cursum clamore prementem?--EN. I. 325. Ho, strangers! have you lately seen, she said, One of my sisters, like myself array’d, Who cross’d the lawn or in the forest stray’d? A painted quiver at her back she bore; Varied with spots, a lynx’s hide she wore; And at full cry pursued the tusky boar.--DRYDEN. [4] A note in Miss Brooke’s translations informs us that “Finn was reproached with deriving all his courage from his foreknowledge of events, and chewing his thumb for prophetic information.” [5] Quadrangular--the ancient cup of the Irish, called _meadar_. Specimens of it may be seen in the Antiquarian Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. * * * * * DISCRETION.--This is a nice perception of what is right and proper under the circumstances in which a person is called to act. It may be illustrated by the _feelers_ of the cat, which are long hairs placed upon her nose, with which she readily measures the space between sticks and stones through which she desires to pass, and thus determines, by a delicate touch, whether it is sufficiently large to let her go through without being scratched. Thus discretion appreciates difficulties, dangers, and obstructions around, and enables a person to decide upon the proper course of action. “There are many more shining qualities in the mind of man, but there is none so useful as discretion. It is this which gives a value to all the rest, which sets them at work, and turns them to the advantage of the person who is possessed of them. Without it, learning is pedantry and wit impertinence; nay, virtue itself often looks like weakness. Discretion not only shows itself in words, but in all the circumstances of action; and is like an agent of Providence, to guide and direct us in the ordinary chances of life.” But how shall discretion be cultivated in children? Chiefly by example. It is a virtue especially committed to the cultivation of the mother. She may do much to promote it, by rebuking acts of imprudence, and bestowing due encouragement upon acts of discretion. Let the mother remember that discretion is important to men, and see that she cherishes it in her sons; let her remember that it is essential to women, and make sure of it in her daughters.--_Dr Channing._ THE IRISH MATCHMAKER. BY WILLIAM CARLETON.