the great English people was formed, that the national character began to exhibit those peculiarities which it has ever since retained, and that our fathers became emphatically islanders-islanders not merely in geographical position, but in their politics, their feelings and their manners.

4. Then first appeared with distinctness that constitution which has ever since, through all changes, preserved its identity, that constitution of which all the other free constitutions in the world are copies, and which, in spite of some defects, deserves to be regarded as the best under which any great society has ever yet existed during many ages. Then it was that the House of Commons, the archetype of all the representative assemblies which now meet either in the Old or in the New World, held its first sittings. Then it was that the common law rose to the dignity of a science and rapidly became a not unworthy rival of the imperial jurisprudence.

5. Then it was that the courage of those sailors who manned the rude barks of the Cinque-ports first made the flag of England terrible on the seas. Then it was that the most ancient colleges which still exist at both the great national seats of learning were founded. Then was formed that language, less musical indeed than the languages of the south, but in force, in richness, in aptitude for all the highest purposes of the poet, the philosopher and the orator, inferior to the tongue of Greece alone. Then, too, appeared the first dawn of that noble literature, the most splendid and the most durable of the many glories of England. MACAULAY.

TO THE SKYLARK.

I.

HAIL to thee, blithe spirit!

Bird thou never wert,
That from heaven, or near it,

Pourest thy full heart,

In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.

Higher still and higher

II.

From the earth thou springest; Like a cloud of fire,

The blue deep thou wingest,

And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

All the earth and air

III.

With thy voice is loud;

As, when night is bare,

From one lonely cloud

The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflowed.

Teach us, sprite or bird,

IV.

What sweet thoughts are thine;

I have never heard

Praise of love or wine

That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.

V.

Chorus hymeneal,

Or triumphal chant,

Matched with thine would be all

But an empty vaunt—

A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.

VI.

With thy clear keen joyance

Languor cannot be;

Shadow of annoyance

Never came near thee;

Thou lovest, but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.

VII.

Better than all measures

Of delightful sound,
Better than all treasures

That in books are found,

Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!

VIII.

Teach me half the gladness

That thy brain must know,

Such harmonious madness

From my lips would flow,

The world should listen then, as I am listening now.

...

SHELLEY.

...

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.—Animosity: L. animos'itas; fr. an'imus, the mind; h., animadvert (v. AVERT), equanimity (æquus, equal), magnanimity (mag'nus, great), pusillanimous (fr. pusil'lus, very little, dim. of pu'sus, a little boy, dim. of pu'er, a boy), unanimous (u'nus, one). Archetype (ar'ke-): Gr. archětŭ'pòn, a pattern; fr. archětu'pos stamped first and as a model; fr. ar'chē (ȧpxý), beginning, and tu'pòs, stamp; fr. tup'tein, to strike. Cinque-ports (sínk-pōrts): F. cinque, five; fr. the L. quin'que, five. The Cinque-ports of England were originally those of Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover, Sandwich. . . . Continent: L. con'tinens; fr. contin'eo, conten'tum, to hold together; fr. con and ten'eo, I hold: v. TENURE. . . . Homogeneous: of the same kind: Gr. hömògē'nēs; fr. hōm'õs (òμós), the same, and gen'Ŏs (yévos), race, kind ;. fr. gèn'ein, to beget. . . . Hymeneal: fr. the L. Hy'men, the god of marriage. Imprecation: v. DEPRECATE... Inflict: L. infli'go, inflic'tum, to strike one thing on or against another: fr. in, upon, and fli'go, I strike; h., af-flict, con-flict, etc.... Jurisprudence: L. jurispruden'tia; fr. jus, ju'ris, right, law, and prudentia, a foreseeing: V. PROVIDENT; from jus come in-jure, juris-diction (v. DICTION), jurist, etc. Languid: L. lan'guidus, faint; fr. lan'gueo, I am faint; h., languish. Moral: L. mora'lis; fr. mos, mo'ris, manner, custom; h., demoralize, im-moral. . Obscure: L. obscu'rus, covered over, dark. . Peculiar: L. peculia'ris, of or relating to private property; fr. pec'us, cattle.... Reconcile: L. reconcil'io, reconcilia'tum, to bring together again; fr. re and concil'io; fr. concil'ium, a collection of people, a council; h., conciliate, etc. . . . Satiety : L. sati'etas; fr. sat'is, enough; h., in-satiable, satis-fy, saturate, etc. Sterile L. ster'ilis; fr. the Gr. stei'ros, stiff, hard.. Subaltern, an inferior officer; fr. the L. sub, under, alter, another.... Surmise: fr. the F. surmettre, to lay upon, to accuse; fr. the L. sup'er, upon, mis'sus, sent. Symptom: fr. the Gr. sumptōma, what happens with another thing, a casualty; fr. sun, together, and ptòma, a fall

...

...

...

LIV. SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

1. We have a faith in the imperishable dignity of man; in the high vocation to which, throughout this his earthly history, he has been appointed. However it may be with individual nations, whatever melancholic speculators may assert, it seems a well-ascertained fact that in all times the happiness and greatness of mankind at large have been continually progressive.

2. Doubtless this age also is advancing. Its very unrest, its ceaseless activity, its discontent, contain matter of promise. Knowledge, education, are opening the eyes of the humblest— are increasing the number of thinking minds without limit. Indications we see, in other countries and in our own, that mechanism is not always to be our hard task-master, but one day to be our pliant, all-ministering servant; that a new and brighter spiritual era is slowly evolving itself for all men.

3. This is as it should be; for not in turning back, not in resisting, but only in resolutely struggling forward, does our life consist. Nay, after all, our spiritual maladies are but of opinion; we are but fettered by chains of our own forging, and which ourselves also can rend asunder. Not the invisible world is wanting, for it dwells in man's soul, and this last is still here..

4. Meanwhile, that great outward changes are in progress can be doubtful to no one. The time is sick and out of joint. Many things have reached their height, and it is a wise adage that tells us, "The darkest hour is nearest the dawn." Wherever we can gather indication of the public thought, whether from printed books or from rebellions and political tumults, the voice it utters is the same. The thinking minds of all nations call for change. There is a deep-lying struggle in the whole fabric of society, a boundless, grinding collision of the new with the old.

5. The French Revolution, as now visible enough, was not the parent of this mighty movement, but its offspring. Those two hostile influences which always exist in human things, and on the constant intercommunion of which depend their health

and safety, had lain in separate masses, accumulating through generations, and France was the scene of their fiercest explosion; but the final issue was not unfolded in that country; nay, it is not yet anywhere unfolded.

6. Political freedom is hitherto the object of these efforts; but they will not and cannot stop there. It is toward a higher freedom than mere freedom from oppression from his fellowmortal that man dimly aims. Of this higher, heavenly freedom, which is man's "reasonable service," all his noble institutions, his faithful endeavors and loftiest attainments are but the body and more and more approximated emblem.

7. On the whole, as this wondrous planet, earth, is journeying with its fellows through infinite space, so are the wondrous destinies embarked on it journeying through infinite time, under a higher guidance than ours. For the present, as our astronomy informs us, its path lies toward Hercules, the constellation of physical power. But that is not our most pressing concern. Go where it will, the deep heaven will be around it. Therein let us have hope and sure faith. To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know that the only solid, though a far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself. CARLYLE.

i.

...

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Adage : L. ădă'gium; lit., a saying apt for acting, e., suitable for use; fr. ad, to, and ag'o, ac'tum, to move, to act: v. EXACT. Approximate: L. approx'imo; fr. ad and prox'imus, nearest, superl. of prop'ior, nearer, fr. prop'e, near; h., approach, propinquity, propitious, proximate, reproach (lit., to come back to in blame), etc. . . . Collision: L. collis'io; fr. colli'do, colli'sum, to clash, to collide; fr. con, together, and læ'do, I strike; h., e-lision (a striking out), etc. . . . Destiny: fr. the L. de'stino, I make fast, I appoint. . . . Emblem: Gr. ěmblēma, that which is put in or on; fr. em=en, in, and bal'lein, to throw. . . . Explosion: L. explo'sio; fr. explo'do, explo'sum, to drive out or off by clapping; originally, a scenic word said of a player; fr. ex, out, and plau'do, plau'sum, to clap; h., ap-plause (ap=ad), explode, plaudit, plausible (fitted to win applause), etc. Hercules: a constellation so called fr. the most famous of the Greek heroes. Hostile: L. hosti'lis; fr. hos'tis, an enemy... 7. ... Indication: L. indica'tio; fr. in'dico, indica'tum, to point out; fr. in and dic'o, dica'tum (an intens. form of di'co, dic'tum, to say), to proclaim, to give up, to devote; h., ab-dicate (to proclaim that a thing does not belong to one), dě-dicate, in-dex, in-dicate, preach, pre-dicate (to assert to belong to something), pre

...