faire? 2. Je vais apprendre mes leçons. 3. N'allez vous pas écrire à vos connaissances? vais écrire à personne. 5. Qui vient de vous parler? 6. L'Irlandais vient de nous parler. 7. Quand l'Ecossaise va-t-elle vous enseigner la musique? 8. Elle va me l'enseigner l'année prochaine. 12. Qui 15. 9. Va-t-elle commencer mardi ou mercredi 10. Elle ne va commencer ni mardi ni mercredi, elle a l'intention de commencer jeudi, si elle a le temps. 11. Votre compagne va-t-elle à l'église tous les dimanches Elle y va tous les dimanches et tous les mercredis. 13. allez vous trouver? 14. Je ne vais trouver personne. N'avez vous pas l'intention de venir me trouver demain? 16. J'ai l'intention d'aller trouver votre teinturier. 17. Envoyez Vous chercher le médecin ? 18. Quand je suis malade, je l'envoie chercher. 19. Reste-t-il avec vous toute la journée? 20. Il ne reste chez moi que quelques minutes. 21. Allez vous à l'école le matin? 22. J'y vais le matin et l'après-midi. 23. Y allez vous tous les jours? 24. J'y vais tous les jours excepté le lundi et le dimanche. 25. Le samedi je reste chez nous, et le dimanche je vais à l'église. EXERCISE 50. LESSONS IN NATURAL HISTORY.-No. IV. THE WILD DOG. [Order CARNIVORA, genus CANIS, the dog tribe.] THE genus canis includes the dog, the wolf, the jackal, and the fox, closely assimilated as these animals are, both in anatomical structure and external character. They have the same kinds of teeth; the canine teeth being strong, conical, pointed, and curved slightly backwards; the incisors, or cutting teeth, are six above and below. There are five toes on the fore-feet, and four on the posterior, to which is sometimes added a small rudimentary claw. The appetite of these animals is decidedly carnivorous yet, in some instances, they are partial to vegetables: thus dogs will feed freely on them, and the old fable, in which Reynard is represented as saying "the grapes are sour," when they were out of his reach, was founded on an acquaintance with this fact. The chief dependence of this tribe of animals is, thrown in their way, for the discovery of which their acute however, the produce of the chase, or the carrion which is sense of smell is specially adapted. The strength of their jaws is very great; their appetite is ravenous, but they can well endure hunger and fatigue. When plenty is before them they gorge to repletion, and hide or bury the remainder for a future time. The habits of all, excepting the dog, are nocturnal: in the fox alone the pupil of the eye contracts in a linear manner; in the rest it is circular. The Esquimaux dog so closely resembles the wolf of its Inative wilds, that when seen at a little distance it is not easy to distinguish between them. In both the fur is deep and thick, both have the same erect ears, the same breadth of skull between them, and the same sharpness of muzzle; while, in its native wilds, the voice of the Esquimaux dog is not a bark, but a long melancholy howl. It has been sometimes supposed that the one is a domestic variety of the other; but this is an error. The Esquimaux dog hates and fears the wolf, and will only attack that animal when impelled by necessity, though it will rush on the bear with undaunted energy. The striking resemblance that subsists between the Esquimaux dog and the wolf is, however, not more remarkable than that which subsists between other varieties of the dog and some wild species of the same genus. To take an instance: the Hare-Indian's dog has a long, narrow, and pointed muzzle, erect The hair is fine and silky; in summer it is marked with sharp ears, and a bushy tail, only slightly curved upwards. patches of greyish black or slate-grey, intermingled with shades of brown; but it thickens in winter and becomes white, or nearly so. It is found on the banks of the Mackenzie river and of the Great Bear Lake, and so nearly does it resemble the arctic fox of its native regions, that the one has been supposed to be of the wild, and the other of the domesticated race. The Hare-Indian's dog is never known to bark in its native country, nor did the pair of these animals brought to England by Sir John Franklin and Dr. Richardson, and placed in the gardens of the Zoological Society; but one born there barked as loudly as any European dog of his size and age. A specimen of this dog, which had been allowed comretaken until he had given his pursuers as much trouble as a fox would have done. The Hare-Indian's dog is of great value to the bleak and dreary regions where the elk and reindeer are objects of the chase. It has not, indeed, sufficient power to pull down such game, but its light make and broad feet enable it to run over the snow without sinking, if the slightest crust be formed upon it, and thus easily to overtake the moose or rein deer, and keep them at bay until the hunters 1. What is the Irishman going to do? 2. He is going to teach music. 3. Has he just commenced his work? 4. He has just commenced it. 5. Who has just written to you? 6. The dyer has just written to me. 7. Does your little boy go to church every day? 8. No, Sir, he goes to church Sun-parative liberty in the gardens, set off one day, and was not days and he goes to school every day. 9. Do you go for the physician? 10. I send for him because (parceque) my sister is sick. 11. Do you go to my physician or to yours? 12. I go to mine, yours is not at home. 12. Where is he? 14. He is at your father's or at your brother's. 15. Do you intend to send for the physician? 16. I intend to send for him. 17. Am I right to send for the Scotchman? 18. You are wrong to send for him, 19. Do you go to your father in the afternoon 20. I go to him in the morning. 21. Does your brother go to your uncle's every Monday? 22. He goes there every Sunday. 23. Are you going to learn music? 24. My niece is going to learn it, if she has time. 25. Am I going to read or to write? 26. You are going to read to-morrow. 27. Does he go to your house every day? 28. He comes to us every Wednesday. 29. At what hour? 30. At a quarter before nine. 31. Does he come early or late? 32. He comes at a quarter after nine. 33. What do you send for? 34. We send for wine, bread, butter, and cheese. 35. What do you go for? 36. We go for vegetables, meat and sugar. 37. We want sugar every morning. come up. A wild dog, called the Dhole, is found chiefly or wholly in one part of India (and even there only occasionally), of the size of a small greyhound; it has unusually brilliant eyes; its body, which is slender and deep-chested, is thinly covered with a coat of hair of a reddish brown or bay colour; its limbs are light, compact, strong, and equally calculated for speed and power; and its tail is dark towards the extremity. These dogs are said to be perfectly harmless, if unmolested. They do not willingly approach persons; but if they chance to meet any one in their course, they discover no particular anxiety to escape. They view the human race rather as ob jects of curiosity than of either apprehension or enmity. The natives who reside near the passes where they are seen, de an animal, these dogs may, from their custom of hunting in packs, easily overcome any smaller beast found in the wilds of India. They run mute, except that they sometimes utter a whimpering kind of note similar to that sometimes expressed by dogs, when approaching their prey. This may be expressive of their own gratification or anxiety, or may serve as a guide to other dholes to join in the chase. The speed of the dhole is so strongly marked in its form as to render it probable that no animal in the catalogue of game could escape him for any distance. Many of the dholes are destroyed in these contests; for the tiger, the elk, and the boar, and even many of the smaller classes of game, are capable of making a most obstinate defence. Hence the breed of the dholes is much circumscribed. The Thibet dog is bred in the table-land of the Himalaya mountains, bordering on the country from which it takes its name. The colour is of a deep black, slightly clouded on the sides, its feet alone and a spot over each scribe them as confining their attacks entirely to wild animals, and assert that they will not prey on sheep and goats; but others affirm that cattle are frequently lost by their depredations. "I am induced to believe," says Captain Williamson, "that the dhole is not particularly ceremonious, but will, when opportunity offers, and a meal is wanting, obtain it at the expense of the neighbouring village.' The peasants state likewise that the Dhole is eager in proportion to the size and power of the animals he hunts, preferring the elk to any other kind of deer, and particularly seeking the royal tiger. It is probable that the dhole is the principal check on the multiplication of the tiger; and although incapable individually, or perhaps in small numbers, to effect the destruction of so large and ferocious THE THUHET DOG. THE HARE-INDIAN'S DOG. eye being of a full tawny or bright brown hue. It has the broad short muzzle of the mastiff, and a singular looseness of the skin on every part. Many of these dogs are reared by the Bhoteas, and when they come down from the Himalaya mountains to the low countries at certain seasons of the year, to sell their borax and their musk, these animals remain at home and vigilantly guard the women and the flocks. They are also the defenders of almost every considerable mansion in Thibet. All who describe them speak of their noble size, their ferocity, and their antipathy to strangers. The wild dog of Nepal prevails through the whole of northern India, and even southward of the coast of Coromandel. It hunts its prey by night as well as by day, in packs of from six to ten individuals, maintaining the chase more by the scent than by the eye, and generally succeeding by dint of strength and perseverance. While hunting, it barks like the hound, yet the bark is peculiar and equally unlike that of the cultivated breed of dogs, and the cries of the jackal and the fox. In its form and its fur it resembles the latter animal, but it is larger and stronger. The packs of these dogs make tremendous havoc among the game of the hills, but this mischief they are said amply to repay by destroying wild beasts, and even tigers. A dog found wild in New South Wales, is called by the natives the Dingo. It resembles a large shepherd's dog, but the neck is thicker, and the whole body more strongly made. It has reddish shaggy hair, a bushy tail, and erect ears. It does not bark, but utters a melancholy howl. When it bites, whether in fighting or attacking its prey, it does not seize and keep hold, but snaps like a poodle. It is very destructive when among a flock of sheep, as it snaps at all in its way, and its bite is so severe, that the wounded almost invariably die. If these dogs be taken young, they may be trained to the chase of emus and kangaroos; but when domesticated, they remain addicted to destroying sheep and poultry. If some of these dogs, when living in the gardens of the Zoological society, have lost a portion of their native ferocity, it has been retained in its utmost force by others. One that was brought hither broke its chain at night, scoured the surrounding country, and before dawn, had destroyed several sheep. A disposition is sometimes displayed by the dog, as also by the cat, to abandon the domestic, and to return to the savage state. Of this, the following is one of many instances. A dog was left by a smuggling vessel on the coast of Northumberland. Finding himself deserted, he began to worry sheep, and did so much mischief as to create considerable alarm in the surrounding country. Several of the sheep which he mangled were found alive by the shepherds; and, by proper attention, some not only recovered, but had lambs. He was frequently pursued by hounds and greyhounds, but when the dogs came up with him, he lay down on his back, as if asking for mercy, and in that position they never hurt him; he therefore continued to lie quietly till the hunters approached, when he made off without being followed by the hounds, till they were again excited to the pursuit, which always terminated unsuccessfully. He was one day pursued from Howick to a distance of more than thirty miles, but returned thither, and killed a sheep the same evening. His general residence was upon the Heugh-hill, near Howick, where he had a view of four roads th it approached it; and where, after many fruitless attempts, he was at last shot. Happily, however, in numerous instances, man maintains the power which he has acquired over the creatures of this large tribe, and renders them subservient to different purposes. When our traveller Burchell was in Africa, a pack of dogs of various descriptions formed a part of his caravan, to provide him occasionally with food, but more frequently to defend him from robbers and wild beasts. With great force he remarks :"While almost every other quadruped fears man as his most formidable enemy, there is one who regards him as his companion, and follows him as his friend. We must not mistake the nature of the case. It is not because we train him to our use, and have made choice of him in preference to other animals, but because this particular species of animal feels a natural desire to be useful to man, and from spontaneous impulse attaches himself to him. Were it not so, we should see in various countries an equal familiarity with other quadrupeds, according to their habits, and the taste or caprices of different nations; but everywhere it is the dog only that takes delight in associating with us, and in sharing our abode. It is he who knows us personally, watches over us, and warns us of danger. It is impossible not for the naturalist to feel a conviction that this friendship between creatures so different from each other must be the result of the laws of nature; nor can the humane and feeling mind avoid the belief that kindness to these animals, from which he derives continued and essential assistance, is part of the moral duty of man. "Often in the silence of the night, when all my people have been fast asleep around the fire, have I stood to contemplate these faithful animals watching by their side, and have learned to esteem them for their social inclination towards mankind. When wandering over pathless deserts, oppressed with vexation and distress at the conduct of my own men, I have turned to these as my only friends, and felt how much inferior to them was man when actuated only by selfish views." And so he is, it may be added, in other circumstances. It has been justly observed by Sir Walter Scott: "The Almighty, who gave the dog to be the companion of our pleasures and our trials, hath invested him with a nature noble and incapable of deceit. He forgets neither friend nor foeremembers, and with accuracy, both benefit and injury. He hath a share of man's intelligence, but no share of man's falsehood. You may bribe a soldier to slay a man with his sword, or a witness to take away life by false accusation, but you cannot make a hound tear his benefactor. He is the friend of man, save when man justly incurs his enmity," THE teazle is a plant which is probably not a native of this country, but like canary-grass, woad, and some others, was originally introduced by some of the numerous foreign artisans who have at various times found an asylum or been encouraged to settle in England. It has been essential, and still is, to our woollen manufactures. The teazle is cultivated in some of the strong clay lands of Wilts, Essex, Gloucester, and Somerset. that the top of the root actually dies away, and then a horizontal root is formed. No virtues can be now found in the remainder of the root or herb. The sweet woodruff, with its clear white cluster of small flowers, and its rings of green leaves, blooms in May, around the roots of trees. Its fresh leaves are almost scentless, but Sweet Woodruff. Of the madder there are several varieties. The field madder has a small root, numerous spreading stems, leaves six and whorl, and pale purplish-blue flowers. It is common in corn and fallow fields, flowering from May to July. The prepared root of the cultivated plant is extensively used as a red dye stuff. It yields colours of the greatest permanence, and is employed for dying linen and cotton red. It is also employed in calico printing, and in making madder lakes. We have five wild species of plantain; one of the most common is the broad-leaved kind, the greater plantain, the seeds of which are so frequently given to cage-birds. The leaves of this species are often applied to wounds. The Highlanders call it the healing plant. The ribwort plantain frequently appears in our meadows and pastures, flowering, like the former, during June and July, and indicating wherever it abounds, a dry soil. When it grows among grass, its leaves rise to a considerable height, but they are shorter, broader, more spreading, and sometimes of a silvery hue, on barren soils. The Welsh call another species, common on our seacoasts, the "Suet-producing," from its being much relished by sheep. This plant flowers at the time already mentioned. TETRAGYNIA. The holly-the pond-weeds-the tassel-grass-the peariworts-and a few other species of plants, are found in this order. CLASS V. PENTANDRIA. Plants bearing flowers with Fire Stamens, ORDER I. MONOGYNIA. One Pistil. There are four kinds of gromwell. The corn gromwell, a plant about a foot high, with narrow-pointed leaves, covered with white hairs and very hard seeds, is, in the month of June, very general in the corn fields and waste places. The creeping or purple gromwell is rare, growing in mountainous and woody pastures in Wales and the south of England, and flowering in April and May. The common gromwell grows in dry gravelly places, and flowers in May; but is not common, as its name denotes. The sea gromwell flowers in July and August; grows on gravelly beaches on the sea-shore in the north of we have no native flower which so long retains its odour whe|England, in Ireland, and in Scotland. The Cultivated Madder: its flower and seed. The comfrey, a very rough-leaved plant, blossoms in May, chiefly on the banks of rivers or other moist grounds. It bears clusters of yellowish-white drooping bells. A variety has purple flowers. The rough foliage is spotted like the lungs of animals, and hence it was supposed that it was intended to heal pulmonary complaints The roots are glutinous and mucilaginous, and are frequently used by villagers for coughs. The tuberous comfrey, rare in England but common in Scotland, grows on the banks of rivers and ditches, and flowers in July. The flowers are drooping, of a yellowish white, and tinged with green. In May, the small bugloss, with its bright blue flowers, is not uncommon on hedge-banks and in corn fields. It is one of several rough-leaved plants, which bloom at the same time. The hairs on its leaves are very strong and sharp, and each one is seated on a white tubercle. Its flowers are especially attractive to bees. The roots contain a great quantity of mucilage; we use them but little; but in China, where the plant is abundant, they form an important medicine. The viper's bugloss grows on the chalky hill, the barren wall, the heap of rubbish, and too frequently on the cornands. Alluding to its being found in barren places near the sea, Crabbe says, "Here poppies, nodding, mock the hopes of toil- It flowers in June, and then appears in singular beauty. So to this the fancy must be traced, as well as that which led to the notion that the plant was designed to heal the bite of that reptile. The borage grows in waste ground, near houses, and flowers in June and July. Its flowers are of a beautiful blue. The whole plant is covered with very pungent bristles. Some singular facts have been discovered in reference to this plant. Thus, if a decoction of its leaves be evaporated to a syrup, and kept for some days, it yields salt crystals, partly in the forms of needles, and partly cubical; the needles are proved to be perfect nitre, and the cubical ones sea-salt. If, too, a dried piece of this plant be held in a flame, it emits, from the nitre it contains, a kind of coruscation, attended by a slight noise. It is, in consequence, sometimes an ingredient of match-paper. The primrose varies in colour, from the common pale sulphur-yellow to white, on the one hand, and to bright yellow and purple on the other. Clare exclaimed, as he gazed upon it, "How much thy presence beautifies the ground: Glows on the sunny bank and wood's warm side! The welcome news of sweet returning spring!" The primrose is in its greatest beauty in May, but occasional plants may be found in flower from Michaelmas, and even throughout the winter. But the number of plants in this order are far too numerous to be now described; including, as it does, the forget-me-not, the pimpernel, known as the poor man's weather-glass, the wild convolvuluses, the bell flowers, the violets, the nightshades, the honeysuckles, the currants, the ivy, and the large class of umbelliferous plants, of which the cowparsley and hemlock are examples; and therefore we must content ourselves with the specimens already given. Very numerous, too, are the plants which are ranged under the five following orders of the same class; but for these the reader must be referred to works on botany, particularly that of Withering, condensed by Macgillivray. LESSONS IN ENGLISH.-No. III. THESE two words form what is called a proposition; they form a simple proposition. Proposition is a word of Latin origin, signifying something that is put before you. As being something that is put before you, it is a statement; it is a statement of a fact or a thought; a statement of something in the mind, or something out of the mind. Here the statement is that Alfred reads. Such a statement is also termed a sentence. Sentence is also from the Latin, and signifies a form of words comprising a thought or sentiment. These words, then, namely, sentence, proposition, and statement, have the same signification; and they each denote an utterance, the utterance of a fact, an idea, an emotion. Observe that both words are essential to the proposition. Take away Alfred, you then have reads, but reads is no proposition; for nothing is stated. Take away reads, you leave Alfred; but Alfred by itself says nothing, makes no statement, and therefore forms no proposition or sentence. The two words must concur to make a proposition. If so, less than two words do not make a proposition; and a proposition or sentence may consist of not more than two words. In these simple statements you have in the germ the substance of the doctrine of sentences. If you understand what I have now said, you have laid the foundation for a thorough acquaintance with language in general, and with the English language in particular; for to a form of words similar in simplicity to that which stands at the head of this lesson, is all speech reducible; and that model presents the germ out of which are evolved the long and involved sentences of our old English divines, and the full and lofty eloquence of Milton's immortal essay on behalf of the liberty of the press. The sentence, as it stands, is what is called an affirmative proposition; that is, it affirms or declares something; it affirms or declares that Alfred reads. The term affirmative is used in opposition to the term negative. Negative propositions are those in which something is denied. An affirmative may become a negative proposition by the introduction of the adverb In English it is more common to not; thus, Alfred reads not. employ also the emphatic does, as Alfred does not read. You thus see that the words does (do, or dost, as may be required) and not convert an affirmative into a negative proposition. Sentences in which a question is asked we term interrogative; as, does Alfred read? Here by the help of the emphatic form does, and the inversion of the terms does and Alfred, we make sentence we introduce the negative not, we have an interrogaan affirmative into an interrogative sentence. If into this last tive negative sentence, as does not Alfred read? We put these four forms of a proposition together. You thus see an example of the ease and extent with which the original form may be changed and multiplied. The proposition, Alfred reads, is a simple proposition. Propositions are up of two or more simple propositions. Of compound proposi either simple or compound. Compound propositions are made tions I shall speak in detail hereafter. Here only a few words may be allowed in order to illustrate what is meant by a simple to, I should employ a compound proposition. In these words proposition. If I were to say, When Alfred reads, he is listened there are two statements, and consequently two sentences. These two statements are, Alfred reads, and Alfred is listened to. The two statements, united by the term when, constitute a compound sentence. In one form, at least, a compound proposition may easily be mistaken for a simple proposition; namely, in this-Alfred reads and writes. have a compound sentence, for when analysed, these words Here, in reality, we are equivalent to these two statements, Alfred reads, and Alfred writes. There being in the sentence these two statements, the proposition is compound. Let us now consider the two words in their own individual character-Alfred reads. The first obviously represents a person, the second as clearly represents an act. Now, in grammar, words which represent persons and things, are called nouns ; and words which represent acts, are called verbs. Noun is a Latin term, and signifies name; hence you see the noun is the Latins, we should not employ a foreign word, but call nouns name of any person or thing; and were we as wise as were the simply names. Thus Alfred is the name of a person. Book, also, is a name; so is house; so is pen; so is paper; these are each the name or vocal sign by which Englishmen distinguish and agree to call these objects severally. Nor is there any mystery in the term vocal. Here, too, we have a Latin term which signifies simply word. With the Latins the verb was the word; that is, the chief word in a sentence. By us the verb might be termed the word. Had English grammarians employed as their scientific terms, words of Saxon origin, the study of English grammar would have been very easy. We shall endeavour to simplify it, by translating the Latin terms, unhappily now become indispensable, into their English equivalents. That the verb is the word, the chief word of a sentence, you may learn by reflecting on the proposition, Alfred reads. forms the very essence of the statement It is reads, you see, that guishes this statement from other statements, as Alfred runs, Reads, too, distinAlfred sings. Look back on the several instances of propositions I have given, and endeavour to ascertain what is the quality in which they all agree. They have a common quality. That quality is averment. something. This they do by means of their verbs. Accordingly, They all aver or declare averment is the essential quality of the verb. Every verb is a word which makes an averment. the noun names, and the verb avers. Here, then, we learn that By these tokens may all nouns and all verbs be known. Whatever names is a noun; whatever avers is a verb. Chair is a noun, because it is the |