CAUTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR READING. SECTION 1.-Line 1: Avoid the verse-accent upon is.-Line 2: No accent upon as, which should be lightly run over.-Line 3: No accent on Upon. Avoid the verse-accent upon is; and place the emphasis on twice.-Line 5: Avoid the verse-accent upon it. -Line 6: Make a slight pause after better, and read than-hiscrown as one word. SECTION 2.-Line 1: Avoid the verse-accent upon is; and make a slight pause after mercy.-Line 2: No accent upon is. The emphatic word is hearts.-Line 3: Avoid the verse-accent upon is.-Line 4: Pause after then.-Line 6: Pause after That. Emphasis on none.-Line 7: The emphatic word is mercy.—Line 9 : Deeds is the emphatic word. EXERCISES.—1. Write a paraphrase of the first nine lines. 2. State in your own words the argument in favour of Mercy. IRON AND CIVILISATION. Mediæval, belonging to the Middle From Lat. medium, middle, and ævum, an age. The Middle Ages are the ages between what are called ancient and modern times, and are usually placed between 486 and 1494. Implements, tools. From Lat. implementum, that which fills up a want; from impleo, I fill up. Cognates: Complete; replete. Consummate, highest possible. From Lat. con (an intensive), and summus, highest. Cognates: Summit; summary. Andirons, the irons which supported logs of wood on the hearth. Invariably, without exception. K From Lat. in, not, and variabilis, variable. Surnames, names over and above Christian names. Sur is a contraction of the Lat. super, above. Multitudinous, very numerous. From Lat. multitudo, a multitude; from multi, many. Disguised, under a different wise or guise. Guise is a N. Fr. form of the English wise = manner. So guard is a N. Fr. form of ward; guardian of warden; guile of wile; and guarantee of warranty. Retainer, one who is retained in service. From Lat. re, back, and tenere, to hold. Congregated, brought together. From Lat. con, together, and grex (greg-is), a flock. Cog- | Delinquency, fault or crime. nates: Segregate (to take out of the flock); egregious (= ē, From Lat. delinquo, I leave (my duty). Cognate: Delinquent. Whittle, a kind of knife. A cog- Identity, sameness or individu nate of whit. Penetrated, pierced or went From Lat. pene through. trāre. Emerged, risen out of. From Lat. ē, out of, and mergo, I plunge. Cognates: Immerse, immersion, etc. Imported, brought in. From Lat. in, into, and porto, I carry. Cognates: Export; report; support; comport; deport, etc. Marauding, plundering. From Fr. maraud, a good-for-nothing fellow. Famine, scarcity. From Lat. fames, hunger. Feud, quarrel. From Low Lat. feida, a quarrel. From the O. E. verb feon, to hate. Cognates: Foe, fiend (= a hating person). ality. From Lat. idem, the same. Peril, danger. From Fr. péril; results from training. From From Lat. notāre, to mark. tions on both sides. From Lat. discutio (discuss-um), I shake about. Cognate: Concussion. 1. The medieval smith's tools were of many sorts; but the chief were his hammer, pincers, chisel, tongs, and anvil. It is astonishing what a variety of articles he turned out of his smithy by the help of these rude implements. In the tooling, chasing, and consummate knowledge of the capabilities of iron, he greatly surpassed the modern workman; for the medieval blacksmith was an artist as well as a workman. The numerous exquisite specimens of his handicraft which exist in our old gateways, church-doors, altar-railings, and ornamented dogs and andirons, still serve as types for continual reproduction. 2. He was indeed the most 'cunning workman' of his time. If a road had to be made, or a stream embanked, or a trench dug, he was invariably called upon to provide the tools, and often to direct the work. He was also the military engineer of his day, and as late as the reign of Edward III. we find the king repeatedly sending for smiths from the Forest of Dean to act as engineers for the royal army at the siege of Berwick. 3. The smith being thus the earliest and most important of mechanics, it will readily be understood how, at the time when surnames were adopted, his name should have been so common in all European countries. Hence the multitudinous family of Smiths in England, in some cases vainly disguised under the Smythe' or 'De Smijthe;' in Germany the Schmidts; in Italy the Fabri, Fabricii, or Fabbroni; in France the Le Febres or Lefevres; in Scotland the Gows, Gowans, or Cowans. 4. We have also among us the Brownsmiths, or makers of brown-bills; the Nasmyths, or nailsmiths; the Arrowsmiths, or makers of arrowheads; the Spearsmiths, or spear-makers; the Shoosmiths, or horseshoers; the Goldsmiths, or workers of gold; and many more. The smith proper was, however, the worker in iron; and hence this name exceeds in number that of all the others combined. 5. In course of time the smiths of particular districts began to distinguish themselves for their excellence in particular branches of ironwork. From being merely the retainer of some lordly or religious establishment, the smith worked to supply the general demand, and gradually became a manufacturer. Thus the makers of swords, tools, bits, and nails congregated at Birmingham, and the makers of knives and arrowheads at Sheffield. Chaucer speaks of the Miller of Trompington as provided with a Sheffield whittle : A Shefeld thytel bare he in his hose. 6. The common English arrowheads manufactured at Sheffield were long celebrated for their excellent temper, as Sheffield iron and steel plates are now. The battle of Homildon, fought in 1402, was won by the English mainly through their excellence. The historian records that they penetrated the armour of the Earl of Douglas, which had been three years in making, and they were 'so sharp and strong that no armour could repel them.' The same arrowheads were found equally efficient against French armour on the fields of Crecy and Agincourt. 7. Although Scotland is now one of the principal sources from which our supplies of iron are drawn, it was in ancient times greatly distressed for want of the metal. The people were as yet too little skilled to be able to turn their great mineral wealth to account. Even in the time of Wallace, they had scarcely emerged from the stone period, and were under the necessity of resisting their iron-armed English adversaries by means of rude weapons of that material. 8. To supply themselves with swords and spearheads, they imported steel from Flanders, and the rest they obtained by marauding excursions into England. The district of Furness in Lancashire-then, as now, an iron-producing district— was frequently ravaged with that object; and on such occasions the Scotch seized and carried off all the manufactured iron they could find, preferring it, though so heavy, to every other kind of, plunder. About the same period, however, iron must have been regarded as almost a precious metal even in England itself; for we find that in Edward the Third's reign the pots, spits, and frying-pans of the royal kitchen were classed among His Majesty's jewels. 9. The same famine of iron prevailed to a still greater extent in the Highlands of Scotland, where it was even more valued, as the clans lived chiefly by hunting, and were in an almost constant state of feud. Hence the smith was a man of indispensable importance among the Highlanders, and the possession of a skilful armourer was greatly valued by the chiefs. The story is told of some delinquency having been committed by a Highland smith, on whom justice must be done; but as the chief could not dispense with the smith, he generously offered to hang two weavers in his stead! This 10. At length a great armourer arose in the Highlands, who was able to forge armour that would resist the best Sheffield arrowheads, and to make swords that would vie with the best weapons of Toledo and Milan. was the famous Andrea de Ferrara, whose swords still maintain their ancient reputation. This workman is supposed to have learned his art in the Italian city after which he was called, and returned to practise it in secrecy among the Highland hills. 11. Before him, no man in Great Britain is said to have known how to temper a sword in such a way as to bend so that the point should touch the hilt and spring back uninjured. The swords of Andrea de Ferrara did this, and were accordingly in great request; for it was of every importance to the warrior that his weapon should be strong and sharp without being unwieldy, and that it should not be liable to snap in the act of combat, 12. This celebrated smith, whose personal identity has become merged in the Andrea de Ferrara swords of his manufacture, pursued his craft in the Highlands, where he employed a number of skilled workmen in forging weapons, devoting his own time principally to giving them their required temper. He is said to have worked in a dark cellar, the better to enable him to perceive the effects |