"Excellent Heart."

Take a good-sized, tender heart. Extract all seeds of selfishness, and proceed to stuff as follows:—

1 lb. crumbs of comfort.

1 quart milk of human kindness.

Several drops essence of goodness and happiness.

Good dripping from the eaves of Love's dwelling.

Blend these well with a little of the oil of Time to mellow and soften.

Place the heart on a warm hearth with Love's rays full upon it and some of the light of other days. Move it now and then, but do not probe it. Keep the world's cold blasts from it if possible, but do not allow it to be absorbed in its own juices. It will take time to prepare, but when ready is fit for king or peasant and welcome at any table.

sauce for above.

Pint or more good spirits, a few honeyed words; a little cream of society may improve, but is not necessary. Carefully avoid cold water, vinegar, or pepper, or acidity in any form.

The above will keep for years.—S. L.

Contented.—If you can live free from want, care for no more, for the rest is vanity.

The Storms of Adversity.—A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner, neither do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify anyone for usefulness and happiness. The storms of adversity, like the storms of the ocean, arouse the faculties and excite the intention, prudence, skill and fortitude of the voyager.

A Wise Mother.—The celebrated Orientalist, Sir William Jones, when a mere child was very inquisitive. His mother was a woman of great intelligence, and he would apply to her for the information which he desired; but her constant reply was: "Read, and you will know." This gave him a passion for books, which was one of the principal means of making him what he was.

Twenty-four Notes in One Bow.—The Daily Post of February 22nd, 1732, contains a curious announcement with regard to Castrucci, the violinist, namely, that he would play a solo "in which he engages himself to execute twenty-four notes in one bow." This piece of charlatanism, so misplaced in a truly able musician, was excellently capped on the following day by a nameless fiddler advertising his intention to play twenty-five notes in one bow.

A Cat Story.—There was a favourite Tom cat owned by a family in Callander, in Scotland, and it had on several occasions shown more than ordinary sagacity. One day Tom made off with a piece of beef, and the servant followed him cautiously, with the intention of catching him and administering a little wholesome correction. To her amazement, she saw the cat go into a corner of the yard, in which she knew a rat-hole existed, and lay the beef down by the side of it. Leaving the beef there, puss hid himself a short distance off and watched until a rat made its appearance. Tom's tail then began to wag, and just as the rat was moving away with the bait he sprang upon it and killed it.

Hearing with Difficulty.—"Dr. Willis tells us," says Burney, in his "History of Music," "of a lady who could hear only while a drum was beating; insomuch that her husband actually hired a drummer as a servant in order to enjoy the pleasure of her conversation."

Courage.—Courage which grows from constitution often forsakes people when they have occasion for it; courage that arises from a sense of duty acts in a uniform manner.

The Influence of Fortune.—Fortune, good or ill, does not change men or women; it but developes their character.

Weak Minds.—Two things indicate a weak mind—to be silent when it is proper to speak, and to speak when it is proper to be silent.—Persian Proverb.

A Successful Wedding.—A New York girl has just enjoyed the triumph of having the biggest wedding given in that city for years. She whispered around that the man she was to marry had a red-haired wife somewhere, who would be at hand to interrupt the ceremony. The church was crowded.

Two Sides to Pleasure.—Pleasure is to woman what the sun is to the flower; if modestly enjoyed it beautifies, it refreshes and improves; if immoderately, it withers and destroys.—Colton.

The Ills of Life.—There are three modes of bearing the ills of life: by indifference, which is the most common; by philosophy, which is the most ostentatious; and by religion, which is the most effectual.

An Observation on Rogues.—After long experience of the world, I affirm, before God, I never knew a rogue who was not unhappy.—Junius.

Answer To Double Acrostic (p. 30).

Lambert Simnel. Perkin Warbeck.

(a). His adage was "Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, magis tamen amica veritas." From his custom of delivering instruction whilst walking, his disciples were styled "Peripatetics."

(b). Familiarly pronounced "rosin."

(c). Left-handed.

(d). Indicator Major, the great honeybird of South Africa.

(e). See 1 Samuel, xviii.

(f). Lo(c)k.

Edited by CHARLES PETERS.

The Poems are written by the Author of "John Halifax Gentleman," Sarah Doudney, Helen Marion Burnside, F. E. Weatherly, Annie Matheson, Anne Beale, Mrs. G. LinnÆus Banks, the Rev. W. Cowan, Sydney Grey, Edward Oxenford, Isabella Fyvie Mayo, Clara Thwaites, Harriet L. Childe-Pemberton, the Dowager Lady Barrow, and others.

Illustrated by Frank Dicksee, A.R.A., M. Ellen Edwards, W. J. Hennessy, Davidson Knowles, John C. Staples, Robert Barnes, Charles Green, Arthur Hopkins, William Small, Frank Dadd, the late Cecil Lawson, and others.

"As A Crown of Flowers is carefully printed upon fine paper, full value is given to the engravings, which is one of the features of the magazine from which they are selected, and shows what a marked advance has been made of recent years in the character of such illustrations, which will, in the present instance, vie with anything of the kind produced on this or the other side of the Atlantic."—The Pictorial World.