4. Non, Monsieur, il n'a pas de velours de coton, il a du velours de soie. 5. Avez-vous de la viande ? 6. Oui, Monsieur, j'ai de la viande. 7. Le médecin n'a pas d'argent. 8. Qui a de l'argent ? 9. Le marchand n'a pas d'argent, mais il a du drap, du velours, et de la soie. 10. Avez-vous quelque chose? 11. Non, Monsieur, je n'ai rien du tout. 12. Le tailleur a-t-il deux boutons d'argent? 13. Non, Monsieur, il a deux boutons de soie. 14. Qui a votre chien ? 15. Le voisin a le chien de mon cousin. 16. N'a-t-il pas votre cheval aussi? 17. Non, Monsieur, il a le cheval de votre ami. 18. Avez-vous l'histoire de France? 19. Non, Madame, je n'ai ni l'histoire de France ni l'histoire d'Angleterre. 20. N'avez-vous ni le livre ni le papier ? 21. Non, Mademoiselle, je n'ai ni l'un ni l'autre. 22. Qui a du papier? 23. Le libraire n'a pas de papier. 24. Quelqu'un a-t-il un livre? 25. Personne n'a de livre.

EXERCISE 8.

1. Has the baker velvet? 2. No, Sir, the baker has no

velvet. 3. Who has silk velvet? 4. The hatter has silk velvet and a silk hat. 5. Have you two silver buttons? 6. No, Sir, I have a cloth coat, a silk hat, and a velvet shoe. 7. Has your neighbour a wooden table? 8. Yes, Sir, he has a mahogany table. 9. Has your cousin a history of England? 10. No, Sir, he has a history of France. 11. I have neither the cloth nor the velvet. 12. We have neither the meat nor the coffee. 13. Has any one a book? 14. Your cousin has a book, a velvet coat, and a silk hat. 15. Have you the physician's book? 16. Yes, Madam, I have the physician's book and the lady's gold pen. 17. Has the merchant cloth? 18. The merchant has no cloth, but he has money. 19. Who has your neighbour's dog? 20. Nobody has my neighbour's dog. 21. Has any one my book? 22. No one has your book. 23. Has your cousin's brother anything? 24. No, Sir, he has nothing. 25. Who has your friend's book? 26. Your brother has my cousin's book. 27. Has he the tailor's coat? 28. He has not the tailor's coat. 29. We have neither the cloth nor the silk.

LESSONS IN PENMANSHIP.-II.

In our last lesson we gave the student an example of the first stroke that should engage his attention in beginning to acquire the art of writing, and explained to him that it was a downstroke square at the top and brought downwards with an equal pressure of the pen until it narrows at the bottom into a fine hair-line, which is turned upwards towards the right. This down-stroke with a fine up-turn, or "pot-hook," as it is familiarly called, but which we shall term a bottom-turn for the sake of brevity, enters into the composition of no less than nine letters of the alphabet in writing, of which four-namely, i, u, t, 1—consist of this stroke only, with certain slight modiAcations. We mention this to the self-teacher to encourage him to perseverance in the task he has undertaken, for he will see plainly enough, after a little consideration, that when he is able to imitate this bottom-turn correctly, he has not only learnt to make this simple stroke itself, but has actually advanced more than half-way towards writing the four letters we have just named, besides five others that will be pointed out in the course of future lessons.

A brief examination of the copy-slips given in this page will be sufficient to prove the truth of our statement. The letter i, the simplest letter in the alphabet, is merely the elementary bottom-turn shown in Copy-slip No. 1, with a dot or point a little above it in the direction of the slope of the letter, or, in other words, immediately above the letter in a straight line which passes through the centre of the thick down-stroke from top to bottom. The letter u, again, is merely the bottom-turn twice repeated, the fine hair-stroke of the first bottom-turn

being joined to the thick down-stroke of the second in a line passing midway between the two horizontal lines within which the letter is written; while the letter t is formed by the bottomturn, commenced at the same distance above the upper of these horizontal lines as that at which the dot is placed above the letter i, and crossed a little above that line by a short horizontal hair-stroke.

It may be as well to say something about the form in which our Copy-slips are placed before our readers. The lines a a, b b, as in Copy-slip No. 4, are the lines between or within which what we may call the body of each letter is written. These lines and. the space between them resemble in some measure the staff in music, portions of certain letters being carried above the upper line a a in some cases, or below the lower one b b in others, as ledger notes are carried above or below the staff in musical notation. The line cc, midway between the lines a a, bb, is that in which the letters, or component parts of letters, should be joined together, while the line dd shows the distance above a a at which the letter t should be commenced, or the dot placed above the letter i. The diagonal lines sloping from right to left show the proper inclination of the thick down-strokes of the letters, and act as guide lines to enable beginners to make all their letters of the same slope, and keep the down-strokes parallel to one another. A little trouble taken at starting to keep on the same level the heads, loops, and tails of all letters that extend above or below the lines within which the body of each is written, will go far to ensure neatness and regularity when the learner can write with ease and rapidity, and his handwriting begins to assume a character peculiar to itself.

By combining these symbols according to the following rules all numbers can be represented:

When two symbols are placed together, if the one denoting the less value is on the left of the other, then the less number is to be subtracted from the greater; if on the right hand, it is to be added to it. Thus IX denotes ten with one subtracted, or nine; XI denotes eleven; XL denotes forty; LX, sixty. If the symbols are of equal value, then they are simply to be added. Thus XX denotes twenty; CC, two hundred, etc. The value represented by I, is increased tenfold by every additional O placed on the right. Thus 5,000 is denoted by 100, and 50,000 by 1000. The value of the symbol CIO becomes increased tenfold by the addition of C and D, one on each side of the line I. Thus 100,000 is denoted by CCCIO00, 1,000,000 by CCCC, and so on. A straight line placed over any one of these symbols increases its value a thousand-fold. Thus I denotes 1,000; V, 5,000; L, 50,000; C, 100,000. 2,000 was usually denoted by CIOCIO, but sometimes by IICIO, or IIM, or MM. Similarly, 4,000 was denoted by IVCIO, etc.

The above remarks will sufficiently explain the following Table of Roman Numerals :

IV

8. Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine millions, nine hundred and ninetynine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine.

9. Write the number which follows this last one in order.

10. One trillion and three.

11. Eighty millions two hundred and three thousand and two. 12. Two hundred and two millions twenty thousand two hundred and two.

13. Twenty thousand millions. 14. Two hundred thousand and twenty millions two thousand. 15. The next number to thirty thousand billions nine hundred and ninety-nine thou sand.

XXI denotes twenty-one

I denotes one XI denotes eleven two XII twelve three XIII thirteen four XIV fourteen XV fifteen

etc.

fifty

This is got by putting down the two numbers one under the other, the units under the units, the tens under the tens, and so on; and then adding up the lower to the upper figure in each place, thus:

3452

4327

7779

DC

4. In the example we have taken, the sum of the numbers of the thousands amounts only to a number expressed by one figure, namely, 7; and similarly for the hundreds, the tens, and units.

Suppose, however, that we have a case in which this is not so; for instance, to add

8976 and 4368.

These are respectively equal to

8 thousands, 9 hundreds, 7 tens, and 6 units, 4 thousands, 3 hundreds, 6 tens, and 8 units;

or, added together, to

12 thousands, 12 hundreds, 13 tens, and 14 units. This, however, is not at present in a form which can be at once written down according to our system of notation. We must, therefore, alter its form.

Now 14 units are the same as 1 ten and 4 units; therefore 13 tens and 14 units are the same as 14 tens and 4 units. 12 hundreds and 14 tens are the same as 13 hundreds and But 14 tens are the same as 1 hundred and 4 tens; therefore

4 tens.

But 13 hundreds are the same as 1 thousand and 3 hundreds; therefore 12 thousands and 13 hundreds are the same as 13 thousands and 3 hundreds.

Hence we see that 12 thousands, 12 hundreds, 13 tens, and 14 units, are the same as 13 thousands, 3 hundreds, 4 tens, and 4 units, which, by our notation, is written 13344.

5. The preceding process will sufficiently explain the following Rule for Addition :

Write down the numbers under each other, so that units may stand under units, tens under tens, etc., and draw a line beneath them. Then, beginning with the units, add the columns sepa rately. Whenever the sum of the figures in a column is a number expressed by more than one figure, write down the right-hand figure of such number under the column, and add the other figure or figures into the next column. Proceed in this way

as he sees it growing in our climate? A poor tiny thing scarcely bigger than a geranium he would not term a tree, he would call it a shrub or a bush; nevertheless, this very same species of myrtle assumes under the more genial sun of Southern Europe and Northern Africa the dimensions of a goodly tree. Again, what would the reader term the mignonette? A plant, of course; yet in Northern Africa, along the Barbary coast, its stem becomes woody, and it assumes the aspect of a bush or shrub at least.

dragon-trees are amongst the largest and the oldest, if not the very largest and very oldest, of known trees. The great dragontree of Orotava, in the island of Teneriffe, an accurate representation of which is given below, was of such dimensions that ten full-grown men, joining hand to hand, were scarcely sufficient to encircle its base. It is now about four hundred and seventy years ago since the island of Teneriffe was first discovered. The great dragon-tree of Orotava was then, and until 1867, the twin wonder of that island, dividing its interest with that of

When the true relations subsisting between vegetables are well considered, we shall find that the mere size of a vegetable has nothing to do with its real nature: thus the sugar-cane, which grows to the elevation of fifteen or sixteen feet, is still to all intents and purposes a grass; as in like manner is the bamboo, which assumes the dimensions of a tree. Then, again, the lily tribe: does not the very sound of the word lily cause ideas to arise of some delicate herb-like growth, surmounted with drooping flowers? Of this kind are the lilies which grow in our climate; but all lilies are not thus. The great dragontree, as it is called, is still a lily; and as though Nature desired to confound our prejudices by one bold master-stroke, these

the stupendous peak. Precise accounts have been handed down of its size, from a consideration of which it appears that the monster increased but little in dimensions since the discovery of the island-a probability which is still further confirmed by

sixty miles S. W. from the coast of Marocco, belonging to Spain. They were supposed to have been known to the ancients as the

One of the Canary Islands, a group in the Atlantic Ocean, about

"Fortunate Isles." The earliest discovery, however, of these islands of which we have any authentic account was made by De Bethencourt, a Norman, about 1400, and they were purchased from his descendants and annexed to Spain about eighty years after. The celebrated dragontree was destroyed by a hurricane in the year 1867.