At night, the flames again arose in the north and west quarters of the city. As the greater part of the houses were built of wood, the conflagration spread with the most dreadful rapidity. This was at first imputed to the blazing brands and sparkles which were carried by the wind; but at length it was observed, that as often as the wind changed—and it changed three times in that terrible night-new flames broke always forth in that direction where the existing gale was calculated to direct them on the Kremlin. These horrors were increased by the chance of explosion. There was,

though as yet unknown to the French, a magazine of powder in the Kremlin; besides that, a park of artillery, with its ammunition, was drawn up under the emperor's window.

7. Morning came, and with it a dreadful scene. During the whole night the metropolis had glared with an untimely and unnatural light. It was now covered with a thick and suffocating atmosphere of almost palpable smoke. The flames defied the efforts of the French soldiery; and it is said that the fountains of the city had been rendered inaccessible, the water-pipes cut, and the fire-engines destroyed or carried off.

8. Then came the reports of fireballs having been found burning in deserted houses; of men and women, that, like demons, had been seen openly spreading flames, and who were said to be furnished with combustibles for rendering their dreadful work more secure. Several wretches, against whom such acts had been charged, were seized upon, and, probably without much inquiry, were shot on the spot. While it was almost impossible to keep the roof of the Kremlin clear of the burning brands which showered down the wind, Napoleon watched from the windows the course of the

fire which devoured his fair conquest, and the exclamation burst from him: These are indeed Scythians!'

9. The equinoctial gales rose higher and higher upon the third night, and extended the flames, with which

Napoleon watching the Burning of Moscow.

there was no longer any human power of contending. At the dead hour of midnight, the Kremlin itself was found to be on fire. A soldier of the Russian police, charged with being the incendiary, was turned over to

the summary vengeance of the Imperial Guard. Bonaparte was then, at length, persuaded by the entreaties of all around him, to relinquish his quarters in the Kremlin, to which, as the visible mark of his conquest, he had seemed to cling with the tenacity of a lion holding a fragment of his prey.

10. He encountered both difficulty and danger in retiring from the palace, and before he could gain the city gate, he had to traverse, with his suite, streets arched with fire, and in which the very air they breathed was suffocating. At length he gained the open country, and took up his abode in a palace of the czar's, called Petrowsky, about a French league from the city. As he looked back on the fire, which, under the influence of the autumnal wind, swelled and surged round the Kremlin, like an infernal ocean around a sable Pandemonium, he could not suppress the ominous expression: This bodes us great misfortune!'

11. The fire continued to triumph unopposed, and consumed in a few days what it had cost centuries to raise. Palaces and temples,' says a Russian author, 'monuments of art, and miracles of luxury, the remains of ages which had passed away, and those which had been the creation of yesterday; the tombs of ancestors, and the nursery-cradles of the present generation, were indiscriminately destroyed. Nothing was left of Moscow save the remembrance of the city, and the deep resolution to avenge its fall.'

The fire raged till the 19th with unabated violence, and then began to slacken for want of fuel. It is said four-fifths of this great city were laid in ruins.

E-vac'-u-at-ing, leaving. From Lat.
e, out, and vacuus, empty.
Arch-i-tect'-ure, style of building.

From Gr. archi, chief, and tektōn, a builder.

Tri-an'-gu-lar, in the form of a

Tu'-mult, confused noise, uproar.
From Lat. tumeo, I swell.
Sub'-urb, district on the outskirts
of a city. Lat., from sub,
under, near, and urbs, city.
Her-ed'-i-ta-ry, handed down from
father to son. Lit. that which
one falls heir to, from Lat.
heres, an heir.
Mag-a-zine', a storehouse of things.
Ar-til-ler-y, cannon. It was a word

once used for all the great
weapons of war. From Lat.
ars, art. A park of artillery is
a collection of cannon with all
the necessary equipment.

Me-trop'-o-lis, chief city. Lit.
mother-city, from Gr. mētēr,
mother, and polis, city.
Suf'-fo-cat-ing, choking. From pre-
fix suf- (Lat. sub), and Lat.
fauces, the throat.

Pal'-pa-ble, that may be touched.
From Lat. palpo, I touch
softly.

Scyth'-i-ans, savage people who once inhabited the country now called Russia.

E-qui-noc'-tial, at time of equal day
and night. From Lat. æquus,
equal, and nox, night.

In-cen'-di-ar-y, one who wilfully
sets fire to a building. From
Lat. incendo, I kindle.
Sum'-mar-y, brief, without delay.
Ten-ac'-i-ty, stubbornness. From

Lat. tenex, holding on, from
teneo, I hold.

Om'-in-ous, boding ill.
In-dis-crim'-in-ate-ly, without dis-

tinction. From Lat. in, not,
dis, asunder, and cerno, I sift,
perceive.

EXERCISES.-1. Explain the following: (1) In the act of evacuating Moscow; (2) the progress of the flames was subdued by the exertions of the French soldiers; (3) an apparently immense superiority; (4) palpable smoke; (5) the equinoctial gales; (6) were indiscriminately destroyed; (7) with unabated violence.

2. Analyse and parse the following: 'It is quite clear that the evil might reach, and probably in this very case has reached, a point at which undivided responsibility can neither be discovered nor enforced.'

3. Name all the words you know connected with the following English words: (1) Appear; (2) fragment; (3) violence; (4) propose; (5) native; (6) disposal.

AUTUMN.

[This is a poetical lament for the passing of the year, written in 1820 by the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1823).]

The warm sun is failing, the bleak wind is wailing,
The bare boughs are sighing, the pale flowers are dying,
And the year,

On the earth her deathbed, in a shroud of leaves dead,
Is lying.

Come, months, come away,

From November to May,

In your saddest array;
Follow the bier

Of the dead-cold year,

And like dim shadows watch by her sepulchre.

The chill rain is falling, the night-worm is crawling,
The rivers are swelling, the thunder is knelling

For the year;

The blithe swallows are flown, and the lizards each gone To his dwelling ;

Come, months, come away,

Put on white, black, and gray,

Let your light sisters play-
To follow the bier

Of the dead-cold year,

And make her grave green with tear on tear.

Au'-tumn, season of harvest. Lat.

autumnus, from augeo, auctum, to increase.

Bier, a carriage or frame of wood

for carrying the dead. From bear, to carry.

Shelley.