either side of his reading-desk;
and the reading-desk itself, whereon there always lies some book of
monstrous size, wide open, which no one has ever had the courage to
read from beginning to end, or could comprehend if he did.

In the languages he is very expert; speaking French with such
clearness and distinctness, that any native-born Frenchman, with a
fair knowledge of the English, can with but little difficulty
understand more than half he says; and in German he is scarcely less
fluent and ready; while his Latin is the envy of all who know only
their mother-tongue. In mathematics, his skill is such, that you might
give him a sum, the working-out of which would cover three or four
large slates; and he would never fail to arrive at the answer, let him
but take his time.

In astronomy, he is perfectly at home among the fixed stars; can
distinguish them at a single glance, and that, too, without the help
of his spectacles, from the wandering planets; and is as familiar with
the motion and changes of the moon, as if he had been in the habit for
the last forty years of spending the hot summer months at some of the
fashionable watering-places of that amiable and interesting orb. But
it is in the history of the nations and great men of the earth that
Uncle Juvinell most excels, as shall be proved to your entire
satisfaction before reaching the end of this volume.

And yet, notwithstanding the vastness of his learning and the gigantic
powers of his mind, he can, when it so pleases him, disburden himself
of these great matters, and descend from his lofty height to the
comprehension of the little folks, with as much ease as a huge
balloon, soaring amidst the clouds, can let off its gas, and sink down
to the level of the kites, air-balls, and sky-rockets wherewith they
are wont to amuse themselves.

Being an old bachelor, as before noticed, he, of course, has no
children of his own; but, like the philosopher that he is, he always
consoles himself for this misfortune with the reflection, that, had he
been so favored, much of his love and affection must needs have been
wasted on his own six, eight, or ten, as the case might have been,
instead of being divided without measure among the hundreds and
thousands of little ones that gladden the wedded life, and fill with
their music the homes of others more blessed.

Living, as all his brothers do, in easy circumstances, he has abundant
time and leisure to devote himself to the