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CAPTURE OF WARSAW.

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sea, but likewise in the air, though not so distinctly or well defined as the former objects of the sea. Lastly, if the air be slightly hazy and opaque, and at the same time dewy, and adapted to form the iris, then the above-mentioned objects will appear only at the surface of the sea, as in the first case; but all vividly coloured or fringed with red, green, blue, and other prismatic colours.

1. Where are the Straits of Messina?

2. Describe this aerial phenomenon as it appears on the sea of Reggio. 3. What is its appearance when the atmosphere is strongly impregnated with vapour?

4. How does it appear when the air is slightly hazy?

LESSON CCCXII.

NOVEMBER THE EIGHTH.

Capture of Warsaw.

On this day, in 1794, Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was taken by the Russians under Suwarof, after a most bloody action, in which 14,000 Poles were killed and 10,000 taken prisoners. The cruel Russian afterwards put to the sword 20,000 men, women, and children.

Suwarof was an extraordinary person, a singular mixture of the great man and the buffoon. He rose at four both in winter and summer. He often changed his shirt in the open air, in the midst of his camp, and his whole wardrobe consisted of regimentals and a sheep-skin jacket for dishabille. He was cleanly in his person, frequently , using the bath; but he banished every ornament, and never used a looking-glass. By his temperance and activity he preserved the fire of youth to advanced age.

He was very pious according to his mode, performing himself, and enjoining upon others, all the prescribed offices of devotion with great punctuality; and on Sundays and festivals he read lectures on religious subjects to those about him. He never gave the signal of battle without making the sign of the cross and kissing a little image of St. Nicholas, which he always carried with him. He was well acquainted with many modern languages, but declined all political or diplomatic correspondence, saying that a pen did not suit the hand of a soldier.

By his familiar and coarse manners, his disregard of luxury, and contempt of danger, he became the darling of his soldiers, while the principal officers were his secret

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enemies on account of the strict duty he exacted, and the privations to which he subjected them.

It was his maxim that a general should always be in front of his army, for that "the head should never wait for the tail." In such military apothegms he abounded. In courage, enterprise, and rapidity, he had no superior, unless, indeed, he was excelled in the last-mentioned quality by Buonaparte; but the critics in the art of war have censured him for want of depth in his combinations and skill in his manœuvres, as well as for violating humanity in his victories.

1. What took place on this day, in 1794 ?

2. What did Suwarof after he had taken the city?

3. By what did he become the darling of his soldiers? 4. For what have the critics censured him?

LESSON CCCXIII.

NOVEMBER THE NINTH.

Lord Mayor's Day.

KING RICHARD I., in the year 1189, first changed the bailiffs of London into Mayors, and by their example others were afterwards appointed. The order of the procession in the city of London, on Lord Mayor's Day, is well described in the following parody of a speech in Shakspeare's Henry V.

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Suppose that you have seen
The new-appointed MAYOR at QUEEN STAIRS
Embark his royalty: his own Company

With silken streamers the young gazers pleasing,
Painted with different fancies;-have beheld

Upon the golden galleries music playing,

And the horns echo, which do take the lead

Of other sounds: now view the city barge

Draw its huge bottom through the furrow'd Thames,
Breasting the adverse surge: O do but think
You stand in TEMPLE GARDENS, and behold
London herself in her proud stream afloat,
For so appears this fleet of magistracy
Holding due course to WESTMINSTER.'

Here the Lord Mayor lands, and proceeds to the Exchequer to be sworn; after this, he returns by water, and disembarks at Blackfriars. The cavalcade advances to Guildhall amidst admiring crowds of citizens, their wives and children. The following is a somewhat bombastic account of the ceremonies:

"Scarce the shrill trumpet or the echoing horn,
With zeal impatient, chides the tardy morn,

SCOTTISH MUSIC.

When Thames, meandering as tay channel strays,
Its ambient wave Augusta's Lord surveys:
No prouder triumphs when, with eastern pride,
The burnish'd galley bursts upon the tide,
Thy banks, O Cydnus! say-tho' Egypt's queen
With soft allurements graced the glowing scene;
Though silken streamers waved, and all was mute,
Save the soft trillings of the mellow lute;
Though spicy torches chased the lingering gloom,
And zephyrs blew in every gale perfume.

But soon, as pleased they win their watery way,
And dash from bending oars the scatter'd spray,
The dome wide spreading greets th' exploring eyes,
Where erst proud Rufus bade his courts arise.
Here borne, our Civic Chief the brazen store,
With pointing fingers, numbers o'er and o'er;
Then pleased, around him greets his jocund train,
And seeks in proud array his new domain.
Returning now, the ponderous coach of state
Rolls o'er the stones that groan beneath its weight;
And as, slow paced, amid the shouting throng,
Its massive frame majestic moves along,
The prancing steeds, with gilded trappings gay,
Proud of the load, their sceptred lord convey.
Behind, their posts a troop attendant gain,
Press the gay throng, and join the smiling train;
While martial bands with nodding plumes appear,
And waving streamers close the gay career.

Here too a chief the opening ranks display,
Whose radiant armour shoots a beamy ray;
So Britain erst beheld her troops advance,
And prostrate myriads crouch beneath her lance;
But though no more when threat'ning danger's nigh,
The glittering cuisses clash the warrior's thigh, -
Aloft no more the nodding plumage bows,
Or polish'd helm bedecks his manly brows,-
A patriot band still generous Britain boasts,
To guard her altars and protect her coasts;
From rude attacks her sacred name to shield,
And now, as ever, teach her foe to yield."

LESSON CCCXIV.

.NOVEMBER THE TENTH.
Scottish Music.

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THE Highlands of Scotland are a picturesque, but, in general, a melancholy country. Long tracts of mountainous deserts, covered with dark heath, and often obscured by misty weather; narrow valleys, thinly inhabited, and bounded by precipices resounding with the fall of torrents; a soil so rugged, and a clime so dreary, as in many parts to admit neither the amusements of pasturage nor

the labours of agriculture; the mournful dashing of waves along the friths and lakes that intersect the country; the portentous noises which every change of the wind, and every increase and diminution of the waters, are apt to raise in a lonely region, full of echoes, and rocks, and caverns; the grotesque and ghastly appearance of such a landscape by the light of the moon: objects like these diffuse a gloom over the fancy which may be compatible enough with occasional and social merriment, but cannot fail to tincture the thoughts of a native in the hour of silence and solitude. If these people, notwithstanding their reformation in religion, and more frequent intercourse with strangers, still retain many of their old superstitions, we need not doubt but in former times they must have been much more enslaved to the horrors of imagination, when beset with the bugbear of Popery and the darkness of Paganism.

What, then, would it be reasonable to expect from the fanciful tribe, from the musicians and poets, of such a region? Strains expressive of joy, tranquillity, or the softer passions? No; their style must have been better suited to their circumstances. And so we find, in fact, that their music is. The wildest irregularity appears in its composition: the expression is warlike and melancholy, and approaches even to the terrible. And that their poetry is almost uniformly mournful, and their views of nature dark and dreary, will be allowed by all who admit the authenticity of Ossian, and not doubted by any who believe those fragments of Highland poetry to be genuine, which many old people, now alive, of that country, remember to have heard in their youth, and were then taught to refer to a pretty high antiquity.

Some of the southern provinces of Scotland present a very different prospect. Smooth and lofty hills covered with verdure; clear streams winding through long and beautiful valleys; trees produced without culture, here straggling or single, and there crowding into little groves and bowers; with other circumstances peculiar to the districts alluded to, render them fit for pasturage and favourable to romantic leisure and tender passion. Several of the old Scotch songs take their names from the rivulets, villages, and hills, adjoining to the Tweed, near Melrose -a region which is distinguished by charming varieties of rural scenery, and which, whether we consider the face of the country or the genius of the people, may properly enough, be termed the Arcadia of Scotland.

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And all their songs are sweetly and powerfully expressive of love and tenderness, and other emotions suited to the tranquillity of pastoral life.

1. What is the characteristic expression of Highland music?

2. Describe the appearance of the more Southern provinces of Scotland.

3. Of what are their songs sweetly and powerfully expressive?

LESSON CCCXV.-NOVEMBER THE ELEVENTH.

Opium.

OPIUM is the inspissated juice of a species of poppy (the Papaver somniferum of Linnæus), and is a native of Turkey and other Eastern countries, but now naturalized in many parts of Europe. Opium is the most energetic of narcotics, and at the same time one of the most valuable of medicines; but we have the authority of some of the most eminent physicians for asserting, that the habitual use of it is infinitely more injurious to the health than ardent spirits are, and that it has of late been greatly on the increase in this country. Indeed, so notorious is this fact, that the subject had called forth the particular attention of the different insurance offices, who found that they had sustained considerable loss from, as well as that a new risk had been created by, the enormous increase in the consumption of opium.

Dr. Madden, in his Travels in Turkey, &c. speaking of the opium-eaters of Constantinople, whom he saw in a coffee-house frequented by them, says, "Their gestures were frightful; those who were completely under the influence of the opium talked incoherently; their features were flushed; their eyes had an unnatural brilliancy, and the general expression of their countenances was horribly wild. The effect is usually produced in two hours, and lasts four or five. The debility, both moral and physical, attendant on its excitement, is terrible; the appetite is soon destroyed, and every fibre in the body trembles; the nerves of the neck become affected, and the muscles get rigid: several I have seen in this place who had wry necks and contracted fingers, but still cannot abandon the custom. They are miserable till the hour arrives for taking their daily dose."

The opium of commerce is in masses of different sizes It is somewhat hard, of a brown colour, and a bitter, acrid.

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