this spot alone, in the early day, when the Tower is busy with martial doings, you may haply catch, in the hum which rises from the ditch and issues from the wall below you-broken by roll of drum, by blast of bugle, by tramp of soldiers-some echoes, as it were, of a faroff time; some hints of a May-day revel; of a state execution; of a royal entry. You may catch some sound which recals the thrum of a queen's virginal, the cry of a victim on the rack, the laughter of a bridal feast. 13. For all these sights and sounds-the dance of love and the dance of death-are part of that gay and tragic memory which clings around the Tower.

From the reign of Stephen down to that of Henry of Richmond, Cæsar's Tower (the great Norman keep, now called the White Tower) was a main part of the royal palace; and for that large interval of time, the story of the White Tower is in some sort that of our English society as well as of our English kings. 14. There were kept the royal wardrobe and the royal jewels; and hither came, with their goodly wares, the tiremen, the goldsmiths, the chasers and embroiderers, from Flanders, Italy, and Almaigne. Close by were the Mint, the lions' dens, the old archery-grounds, the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, the Queen's gardens, the royal banqueting-hall; so that art and trade, science and manners, literature and law, sport and politics, found themselves equally at home.

Hepworth Dixon (1821-1879).

EXERCISES.-1. Write a short paper on 'Her Majesty's Tower' from the following heads: (1) Its position. (2) Its appearance. (3) The rooms one would care most to see. (4) The books that have been written in the Tower. (5) Its date. (6) By whom commenced and built.

2. Explain the following sentences and phrases, and give synonyms for the single words: (1) The scene of our gayest

revels. (2) The soul is readily kindled by a human interest. (3) An attraction akin to that of the house in which we were born. (4) The nebulous ages. (5) Traditional fame. (6) Edifice. (7) Martial doings. (8) Virginal. (9) Interval of time. (10) Tiremen.

3. Parse the words in the following sentence: You may catch some sound which recals the thrum of a queen's virginal.'

4. Analyse the following sentence:

If it were done when 'tis done, it were well

It were done quickly.

5. Write down all the words you know which are in any way connected with the following English words: One; know; speech; gate1; home2; eye; spell; meet.

6. Write down all the words you know which come from the following Latin roots: Lego, I gather or read (root leg, stem lect); pello, I drive (stem puls).

7. Write down in columns the names and positions of the towns, palaces, and prisons mentioned in the above lesson.

1 Go; gang; gait; gaiter.

2 Ham in Rotherham, etc.

THE FISHER'S COTTAGE.

1. We sat by the fisher's cottage,

And looked at the stormy tide;
The evening mist came rising
And floating far and wide.

2. One by one in the lighthouse
The lamps shone out on high;
And far on the dim horizon1
A ship went sailing by.

3. We spoke of storm and shipwreck-
Of sailors, and how they live;

Of journeys 'twixt sky and water,
And the sorrows and joys they give.

4. We spoke of distant countries,
In regions strange and fair;
And of the wondrous beings

And curious customs there :

5. Of perfumed lamps on the Ganges,2

Which are launched in the twilight hour;
And the dark and silent Brahmins,3
Who worship the lotus flower*:

6. Of the wretched dwarfs of Lapland 5—
Broad-headed, white-mouthed and small—
Who crouch round their oil-fires, cooking,
And chatter, and scream, and bawl.

7. And the maidens earnestly listened,
Till at last we spoke no more;
The ship like a shadow had vanished,
And darkness fell deep on the shore.
Heinrich Heine (German, 1800-1856).

Translation of C. G. Leland.

NOTES.

1 Horizon, the bounding-line
where sea and sky seem to
meet. It comes from the
Greek word horizo, I limit.
2 Ganges, the great river of India.
It draws its waters from the
Himalayas, and flows into
the Bay of Bengal.
8 Brahmins,

the priests of

Brahma, one of the great gods of the Hindus.

4 The lotus flower, a kind of lily.

5

Lapland, the land of the Lapps; as Finland is the land of the Finns; Denmark, the mark or land of the Danes; and so on.

CAUTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR READING.

VERSE 4.-Line 3: Avoid the verse-accent upon of.

EXERCISES.-1. Paraphrase the first four verses.

2. Parse all the words in the first verse.

3. Analyse the third verse.

THE BRAVE SAILOR-BOY.

size as to take in much. From
Lat. capio, I take. Cognates:
Capable; capacity.
Intrepid, fearless. From Lat. in,

not, and trepidus, alarmed;

from a root trep, as in Gr. trěpo, I put to flight. Palpitating, quivering. From Lat. palpo, I touch softly. Cognate: Palpable.

sailor-boy, was born at His father was a fisher

1. Volney Beckner, an Irish Londonderry in the year 1748. man of that place, and so poor that he did not possess the means of giving his son a regular school education. What young Volney lost in this respect was in some measure compensated by his father's instructions at home. These instructions chiefly referred to a seafaring life, in which generosity of disposition, courage in encountering difficulties, and a readiness of resource on all occasions, are the well-known characteristics. 2. While yet a mere baby, his father taught him to move and guide himself in the middle of the waves, even when they were rolling very high. He used to throw the child from the stern of his boat into the sea, and encourage him to sustain himself by swimming; and only when he appeared to be sinking did he plunge in to his aid. In this way young Volney Beckner, from his very cradle, was taught to brave the dangers of the sea, in which, in time, he moved with the greatest ease and confidence. At four years of age he was able to swim a distance of three or four miles after his father's vessel, which he would not enter till he felt completely fatigued; he would then catch a rope which was thrown to him, and, clinging to it, mount safely to the deck.

3. When Volney was about nine years of age, he was placed apprentice in a merchant-ship, in which his father appears to have sometimes sailed, and in this situation he rendered himself exceedingly useful. In tempestuous weather, when the wind blew with violence, tore the sails, and made the timbers creak, and while the rain fell