Thus it was the Goths and Lombards put off their national fierceness; thus it was that the fanatic Arab was transmuted into the polished knight of Seville or Granada; and thus the Northman also softened both his name and his nature, and over his characteristic qualities,-the cruelty, the cunning, and romantic ambition of his barbarism, threw the fantastic garb of Christian chivalry.

The ordinary course of barbarian invasion is such as this: Certain tribes are in advance of the rest, being the van-guard of a large host, or the fugitives of unsuccessful war; they come down upon the country which is to be their prey in successive expeditions; like billows tumbling one over the other, they sweep through it; then, like waves, they retire, and then again, after an interval, they return.

Next, they exact contributions, and are again and again bought off. Next, either by violence or by treaty, they gain possession and occupation of some territory, and take their place as landed proprietors amid the old tenants and institutions of the soil. This turns out to be a more politic bribe than gold; it is a gift once for all; it puts them under teaching, and imposes on them responsibilities.

In a while, they are found to be happily influenced by the civilization, be it greater or less, into which they have thrust themselves. They imitate the customs and manners of their new country; they acquire a moral perception and a standard of judgment to which before they were utter strangers; they give up their old idolatry.

They trade and make money; they grow con

servative; they learn to be ashamed of the savage habits of their forefathers; they make common cause with the old inhabitants in repelling the fresh invasions of their own kindred.

Perhaps, they even act a charitable part towards the latter, sending them missionaries, or returning the captives or hostages whom they have taken, to teach them a purer faith and the arts of life.

These successive steps in the course of civilization took a character of their own in the remarkable race whose history has so intimate a bearing on the two islands of the North; and as we have, above, enlarged upon the terrible and revolting features of the Scandinavian character, so it is to our purpose now to speak of the singular alleviations with which its enormities were, as time went on, accompanied, till it changed into the chivalrous Norman.

Though of the same stock as the Saxons, the Northmen were gifted with a more heroic cast of soul. Perhaps it was the peculiar scenery and climate of their native homes which suggested to them such lofty aspirations, and such enthusiastic love of danger and hardship.

The stillness of the desert may fill the fierce Arab with a rapturous enjoyment, and the interminable forests of Britain or Germany might breathe profound mystery; but the icy mountains and the hoarse resounding waves of the North nurtured warriors of a princely stature, both in mind and body, befitting the future occupants of European thrones.

Cradled in the surge and storm, they were spared the temptation of indolence and luxury: they neither worshiped the vivifying powers of

nature with the Greek, nor with the Sabean did they kiss the hand to the bright stars of heaven; but, while they gave a personal presence and volition to the fearful or the beautiful spirits which haunted the mountains or lay in ambush in the mist, they understood by daily experience that good could not be had by the mere wishing.

They made it a first article in their creed that their reward was future, and that their present must be toil.

J. H. NEWMAN.

Spell and pronounce:-vivifying, rapturous, singular, heroic, aspirations, character, terrible, scenery, chivalrous, repelling, forefathers, judgment, invasions, contributions, Lombards, Seville, barbarian, and Granada.

John Henry Newman was born in London in 1801, and educated at Oxford. Newman is a voluminous writer, principally on moral and religious subjects. In combining strength, grace,

I remember, I remember

The house were I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon,
Nor brought too long a day;
But now I often wish the night

Had borne my breath away!

I remember, I remember

The roses red and white,
The violets and the lily-cups-

Those flowers made of light.
The lilacs where the robins built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday—

The tree is living yet!

I remember, I remember

Where I was used to swing,

And through the air would rush as fresh
As swallows on the wing;

My spirit flew on feathers then,

That is so heavy now;

And summer pool could hardly cool

The fever on my brow!

I remember, I remember

The fir-trees, dark and high;
I used to think their slender spires
Were close against the sky.

It was a childish ignorance

But now it is little joy

To know, I'm farther off from heaven,

Than when I was a boy.

THOMAS HOOD.

OUTLINE FOR COMPOSITION.

Subject: MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD.

1. Write your earliest recollections of places,-of home, farm, forest, or field; relate every little incident connected with these memories.

2. Describe your earliest impressions of people, father, etc.

of mother,

3. Think closely, and try to recall what emotion or circumstance connected with these incidents served to fix them in your mind; whether fear, joy, anger, or surprise.

4. What memory is dearest to you?

5. What memory is saddest to you?

Walter Scott, the author of the "Waverley Novels," which have given instruction and pleasure to thousands of young and old alike, was born in Edinburgh on August 15, 1771. In his infancy, he was attacked by a fever which impaired his health and left him permanently lame. On this account, he was sent to reside with his grandfather at SandyKnowe, on the Scottish Border. He has described the scene for us in the introduction to the third canto of "Marmion.”

"It was a barren scene and wild,

Where naked cliffs were rudely piled:

But ever and anon between

Lay velvet tufts of liveliest green:
And well the lonely infant knew
Recesses where the wall-flower grew,

And honeysuckle loved to crawl

Up the low crag, and ruin'd wall."

After a time spent at the High School, Edinburgh, Scott was sent to Kelso, where he found in his school-master a companion and friend. His early distinctions, however, were not gained in the school, but among his school-fellows, with whom his wonderful power of story-telling, and his enthusiasm in their sports and games, despite his lameness, made him a special favorite. Even then he was a devoted reader of old romance and his