III.

Fitz-James looked round, yet scarce believed
The witness that his sight received;
Such apparition well might seem
Delusion of a dreadful dream.
Sir Roderick in suspense he eyed,
And to his look the chief replied:
"Fear naught-nay, that I need not say-
But doubt not aught from mine array.
Thou art my guest; I pledged my word
As far as Coilantogle ford;

Nor would I call a clansman's brand
For aid against one valiant hand,
Though on our strife lay every vale
Rent by the Saxon from the Gael.
So move we on; I only meant
To show the reed on which you leant,
Deeming this path you might pursue
Without a pass from Roderick Dhu."

IV.

They moved. I said Fitz-James was brave
As ever knight that belted glave,

Yet dare not say that now his blood
Kept on its wont and tempered flood,
As, following Roderick's stride, he drew
That seeming lonesome pathway through,
Which yet by fearful proof was rife
With lances that, to take his life,
Waited but signal from a guide
So late dishonored and defied.
Ever by stealth his eyes sought round
The vanished guardians of the ground,
And still from copse and heather deep
Fancy saw spear and broadsword peep,
And in the plover's silly strain
The signal whistle heard again.

Nor breathed he free till far behind
The pass was left; for then they wind
Along a wide and level green,

Where neither tree nor tuft was seen,

Nor rush nor bush of broom was near

To hide a bonnet or a spear.

SCOTT.

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SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Ambuscade: It. im-boscar, to set in bushes, to place in ambush; fr. the L. L. bos'cus or bus'cus, a wood; h., bosky, bush, etc.... Bracken, fern: Ger. bra'ke, brushwood; h., a thicket. Copse, Coppice: a wood of small growth; fr. the F. couper (koo-pā'), to cut. Daunt: old F. danter, now dompter (don-tā), to subdue; fr. L. dom'o, dom'itum, to tame; h., in-domitable, etc. . . . Glave or Glaive: L. glad'ius, a sword. . . . Infant: L. in'fans, one who cannot yet speak; fr in-, not, and far, fa'ri, fa'tus, to speak; h., affable (fr. af-fari ad-fari, to speak to), in-effable (unspeakable), in-fantry (foot-soldiers, as related to knights), pre-face (præfari, to speak beforehand), fate (fr. fa'tum, what is spoken or predetermined by the gods).... Shingle : L. scan'dula; fr. scan'do, I climb; so called from shingles resting on a roof like steps one above the other. In geology Shingles are loose, angular fragments of stone. Subterranean: L. sub and terra, earth; h., in-ter (to put into the earth), terrace (a platform of earth), terrestrial, territory, terrier (a dog that goes into the ground after animals that burrow). . . Threaten : A. S threatian.

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LXXI. QUEEN ISABELLA.

Pronounce Ximenes Zi-mēnēz, or, according to the Spanish, Hemă'něs.

1. HER person was of the middle height, and well proportioned. She had a clear, fresh complexion, with light blue eyes and auburn hair-a style of beauty exceedingly rare in Spain. Her features were regular, and universally allowed to be uncommonly handsome. The illusion which attaches to rank, more especially when united with engaging manners, might lead us to suspect some exaggeration in the encomiums so liberally lavished on her. But they would seem to be in a great measure justified by the portraits that remain of her, which combine a faultless symmetry of features with singular sweetness and intelligence of expression.

2. Her manners were most gracious and pleasing. They were marked by natural dignity and modest reserve, tempered by an affability which flowed from the kindness of her disposition. She was the last person to be approached with undue familiarity, yet the respect which she imposed was mingled with the strongest feelings of devotion and love. She showed great tact in accommodating herself to the peculiar situation and character of those around her.

3. She appeared in arms at the head of her troops, and shrank from none of the hardships of war. During the reforms introduced into the religious houses, she visited the nunneries in person, taking her needlework with her and passing the day in the society of the inmates. When traveling in Galicia, she attired herself in the costume of the country, borrowing for that purpose the jewels and other ornaments of the ladies there, and returning them with liberal additions. By this condescending and captivating deportment, as well as by her higher qualities, she gained an ascendency over her turbulent subjects which no king of Spain could ever boast.

4. She spoke the Castilian with much elegance and correctness. She had an easy fluency of discourse, which, though generally of a serious complexion, was occasionally seasoned with agreeable sallies, some of which have passed into proverbs. She was temperate even to abstemiousness in her diet, seldom or never tasting wine, and so frugal in her table that the daily expenses for herself and family did not exceed the moderate sum of forty ducats. She was equally simple and economical in her apparel. On all public occasions, indeed, she displayed a royal magnificence, but she had no relish for it in private, and she freely gave away her clothes and jewels as presents to her friends.

5. Naturally of a sedate though cheerful temper, she had little taste for the frivolous amusements which make up so much of a court life; and if she encouraged the presence of minstrels and musicians in her palace, it was to wean her young nobility from the coarser and less intellectual pleasures to which they were addicted. Among her moral qualities the

most conspicuous, perhaps, was her magnanimity. She betrayed nothing little or selfish in thought or action. Her schemes were vast and executed in the same noble spirit in which they were conceived.

6. She never employed doubtful agents or sinister measures, but the most direct and open policy. She scorned to avail herself of advantages offered by the perfidy of others. Where she had once given her confidence, she gave her hearty and steady support, and she was scrupulous to redeem any pledge she had made to those who ventured in her cause, however unpopular. She sustained Ximenes in all his obnoxious but salutary reforms. She seconded Columbus in the prosecution of his arduous enterprise, and shielded him from the calumnies of his enemies. She did the same good service to her favorite, Gonsalvo de Cordova, and the day of her death was felt-and, as it proved, truly felt-by both as the last of their good fortune. Artifice and duplicity were so abhorrent to her character and so averse from her domestic policy that when they appear in the foreign relations of Spain, it is certainly not imputable to her. She was incapable of harboring any petty distrust or latent malice; and although stern in the execution and exaction of public justice, she made the most generous allowance, and even sometimes advances, to those who had personally injured her.

7. But the principle which gave a peculiar coloring to every feature of Isabella's mind was piety. It shone forth from the very depths of her soul with a heavenly radiance which illuminated her whole character. Fortunately, her earliest years had been passed in the rugged school of adversity, under the eye of a mother who implanted in her serious mind such strong principles of religion as nothing in after life had power to shake. At an early age, in the flower of youth and beauty, she was introduced to her brother's court, but its blandishments, so dazzling to a young imagination, had no power over hers, for she was surrounded by a moral atmosphere of purity, driving far off each thing of sin and guilt. Such was the decorum of her manners that though encompassed by false

1

friends and open enemies, not the slightest reproach was breathed on her fair name in this corrupt and calumnious W. H. PRESCOTT.

court.

==

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Abhorrent: fr. L. abhor'reo; fr. ab and hor'reo, I stand on end, I bristle; h., horrible, horrid. ... Abstemious: L. abste'mius, abstaining from intoxicating drinks; fr. abs ab, and from te'mum, mead, wine, etc. . . . Arduous: L. ar'duus, steep, high. . . . Artifice: L. artifi'cium; fr. ars, ar'tis, art, and fă'cio, I make; h., artful, artisan, artist, in-ert (L. in-ers, in-er'tis, unskilled in any art). Blandish: L. blan'dior; fr. blan'dus, fondling, soothing; h., bland. ... Calumny: L. calum'nia. . . . Color: L. col'or. .. Decorum: L.; fr. dec'or, comeliness; h., decorate, decorous, in-decorous. Ducat: v. SUBDUE.. Economy:

...

...

Gr. oikonomia, the management of a household; fr. oikos, house, and nom'os, law, usage. . . . Encomium: fr. Gr. ĕngkō'mios, at home; h., it was made to relate to praise of a conquerer returning home; h., eulogy.

...

...

Exaggerate: L. exag'gero, exaggera'tum, to heap up; fr. ex and ag'ger, a heap. . . . Frugal: L. fruga'lis; fr. frux, fru'gis, fruits of the earth. Illuminate: L. illu'mino, illumina'tum; fr. il― in and lu'mino, I light up; fr. lu'men, light; fr. lu'ceo, I shine; fr. lux, lu'cis, light; h., e-lucidate, illume, il-lustrate, il-lustrious, lucid, Lucifer (light-bearing: v. DEFER), luminary, luminous, lunar (fr. lu'na, the moon), lunatic, lustration, lustre, lustrum (a purification once in five years; h., a period of five years), pel-lucid (pel = pcr), trans-lucent, etc. . . . Justice: L. justi'tia; fr. jus'tus, just; h., ad-just, in-justice, justify, un-just.... Latent: L. lat'ens; p. pr. cf lat'eo, I lurk, I lie hid.. Musical: L. mu'sicus; Gr. mou'sikos, a votary of the muses, a musician. . . Ornament : L. ornamen'tum; fr. or'no, orna'tum, to fit out, to deck; h., ad-orn, ornate, sub-orn (lit., to fit out or furnish privately), etc. . . . Second: L. secun'dus. Sedate: v. PRESIDE.... Singular: L. sin'gulus, one to each, separate; h., single. . . . Sinister: L.; left, on the left hand, unlucky. . . . Tact: L. tac'tus; fr. tan'go, tac'tum, to touch; h., at-tain, con-tact, con-tagion, con-tiguous, con-tingent (touching, bordering on; h., that may or may not happen), dis-integrate, entire (fr. in'teger, untouched), in-tangible, in-tegral, in-tegrate (to make entire), in-tegrity, tactile, tangent, tangible, tax (L. tax'o, taxa'tum, to touch sharply), etc.

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A large number of words in English have undergone a serious contraction, either from misapprehension of their original form or from sheer caprice and abuse. Thus pierre (stone) became Pier; baluster, from the French balustre, is now called and spelt Banister; the hysemblas of Holland, meaning the bladder of the fish called hysin, our sturgeon, is now Isinglass. Not so very long ago Shuttlecock was used correctly as shuttle cork; but Stirrup has long since superseded the Anglo-Saxon stig rap, from stigan, to step up, and rap, a rope, which in Saxon days served the purpose. What we now call Shamefaced had originally nothing to do with a face, but was shamefast, formed after the manner of steadfast, and printed thus in Chaucer, Froissart and the first authorized version of the Bible (1 Tim. ii. 9). Greek names of plants furnish glu'kus rhiza (the sweet root), which was once glycorys, and is now liquorice or Licorice.-De Vere.