nor an alarming sight in the camp of the Crusaders. When, however, the little insignificant figure we have described approached so nigh as to receive some interruption from the warders, he dashed his dusky green turban from his head, showed that his beard and eyebrows were shaved like those of a professed buffoon, and that the expression of his fantastic and writhen features, as well as of his little black eyes, which glittered like jet, was that of a crazed imagination. 12. 'Dance, marabout,' cried the soldiers, acquainted with the manners of these wandering enthusiasts'dance, or we will scourge thee with our bow-strings, till thou spin as never top did under schoolboy's lash.' Thus shouted the reckless warders, as much delighted at having a subject to tease, as a child when he catches a butterfly, or a schoolboy on discovering a bird's nest. 13. The marabout, as if happy to do their behests, bounded from the earth, and spun his giddy round before them with singular agility, which, when contrasted with his slight and wasted figure and diminutive appearance, made him resemble a withered leaf twirled round and around at the pleasure of the winter's breeze. His single lock of hair streamed upwards from his bald and shaven head, as if some genie upheld him by it; and indeed it seemed as if supernatural art were necessary to the execution of the wild whirling dance, in which scarce the tiptoe of the performer was seen to touch the ground. 14. Amid the vagaries of his performance, he flew here and there, from one spot to another, still approaching, however, though almost imperceptibly, to the entrance of the royal tent; so that, when at length he sunk exhausted on the earth, after two or three bounds still higher than those which he had yet executed, he was not above thirty yards from the king's person. Nu'-bi-an, a native of Nubia, the country to the south of Egypt. Sur-vey', to see or look over; through the Fr. from Lat. super, and video, I see. Ex'-quis-ite, very fine. Lit. sought out; from Lat. ex, and quæro, I seek. Pro-me'-theus. According to an ancient myth, Prometheus stole fire from heaven, with which he put life into human forms, which he had fashioned out of clay. Lin'-gua Fran'-ca, Latin for the lan guage of the Franks or French. Pa'-gan, a heathen. From Lat. paganus, a countryman, pagus, a district. The Lat. paganus came to mean heathen, because the people of the country districts continued to be heathen, after the townsmen had been converted to Christianity. Mu'-til-at-ed, maimed, deprived. From Lat. mutilus, maimed. Heath'-en, here applied to the Saracens, against whom King Richard was fighting. Heathen properly means a dweller on the heath, originally applied to unbelievers, because the people in the heaths and moors were late in being converted to Christianity. Chiv'-al-rous, gallant, generous, suitable to chivalry. Chivalry were the knights or chevaliers of the Middle Ages; it meant also the usages practised by those knights. Chivalry comes through the French; Fr. cheval, a horse, from Lat. caballus, a horse. The knights went to war on horseback, while the common soldiers fought on foot. Knave. This word originally meant a boy or youth, as it still does in modern German. Cham'-ber, a room. Through Fr. from Lat. camera. The Latin c frequently becomes ch in passing into the French; as chien, from canis; cheval, from caballus. Sol'-dan, sultan. Pros'-trat-ed, threw himself forward on the ground. From Lat. pro, forward, and sterno, to throw on the ground. Un-sul'-lied, free from soil or stain. Peas'-ant-ry, country-people. From Fr. paysan, from Lat. pagus, a village, from which also comes our word pagan. De-rog'-a-tor-y from, taking from, injurious to. From Lat. derogo, to repeal part of a law, from de, from, and rogo, to propose a law. Hau'-berk, a kind of coat of mail. Brig'-an-dine, a coat of mail. Buck'-ler, a shield. Re-con-noi'-tring, finding out the position or movements of an Mis'-sile, thrown or hurled. From corner. Pen'-sive, thoughtful. Mar'-a-bout, san'-ton, a Mohammedan saint. Con'-tu-mel-y, great rudeness. EXERCISES.-1. Explain the following: (1) The most exquisite workmanship; (2) waiting life from the touch of a Prometheus; (3) well pleased with the thews, sinews, and symmetry of him whom he now surveyed; (4) resumed his posture of motionless humility; (5) details of incidents mortifying to his pride, and derogatory from his authority; (6) the horrors of civil discord; (7) a more effectual protection against missile weapons; (8) a motley concourse. 2. Analyse and parse the following: 'Thou couldst develop-if that withered tongue 3. Name all the derivatives you know from the following Latin roots (1) Quæro, I seek; (2) capio, captum, to take; (3) dico, dictum, I say, I speak; (4) experior, I try. KING RICHARD, THE NUBIAN, AND THE ASSASSIN-IL 1. For the space of a quarter of an hour, or longer, after the incident related, all remained perfectly quiet in the front of the royal habitation. The king read and mused in the entrance of his pavilion; behind, and with his back turned to the same entrance, the Nubian slave still burnished the ample pavesse; in front of all, at an hundred paces distant, the yeomen of the guard stood, sat, or lay extended on the grass, attentive to their own sports, but pursuing them in silence; while on the esplanade betwixt them and the front of the tent, lay, scarcely to be distinguished from a bundle of rags, the senseless form of the marabout. 2. But the Nubian had the advantage of a mirror, from the brilliant reflection which the surface of the highly polished shield now afforded, by means of which he beheld, to his alarm and surprise, that the marabout raised his head gently from the ground, so as to survey all around him, moving with a well-adjusted precaution, which seemed entirely inconsistent with a state of ebriety. He couched his head instantly, as if satisfied he was unobserved, and began, with the slightest possible appearance of voluntary effort, to drag himself, as if by chance, ever nearer and nearer to the king, but stopping and remaining fixed at intervals, like the spider, which, moving towards her object, collapses into apparent lifelessness when she thinks she is the subject of observation. This species of movement appeared suspicious to the Ethiopian, who, on his part, prepared himself as quietly as possible to interfere, the instant that interference should seem to be necessary. 3. The marabout meanwhile glided on gradually and imperceptibly, serpent-like, or rather snail-like, till he was about ten yards' distance from Richard's person, when, starting on his feet, he sprung forward with the bound of a tiger, stood at the king's back in less than an instant, and brandished aloft the cangiar, or poniard, which he had hidden in his sleeve. 4. Not the presence of his whole army could have saved their heroic monarch; but the motions of the Nubian had been as well calculated as those of the enthusiast, and ere the latter could strike, the former caught his uplifted arm. Turning his fanatical wrath upon what thus unexpectedly interposed betwixt him and his object, the assassin, for such was the seeming marabout, dealt the Nubian a blow with the dagger, which, however, only grazed his arm, while the far superior strength of the Ethiopian easily dashed him to the ground. 5. Aware of what had passed, Richard had now arisen, and with little more of surprise, anger, or interest of any kind in his countenance, than an ordinary man would show in brushing off and crushing an intrusive wasp, caught up the stool on which he had been sitting, and exclaiming only, 'Ha, dog!' dashed almost to pieces the skull of the assassin, who uttered twice, once in a loud and once in a broken tone, the words 'Allah ackbar!' (God is victorious), and expired at the king's feet. 6. Ye are careful warders,' said Richard to his archers, in a tone of scornful reproach, as, aroused by the bustle of what had passed, in terror and tumult they now rushed into his tent; 'watchful sentinels ye are, to leave me to do such hangman's work with my own hand. Be silent all of you, and cease your senseless clamour! Saw ye never a dead Turk before? Here-cast that carrion out of the camp, strike the head from the trunk, and stick it on a lance, taking care to turn the face to Mecca, that he may the easier tell the foul impostor, on whose inspiration he came hither, how he has sped on his errand. -For thee, my swart and silent friend,' he added, turning to the Ethiopian 'But how's this? thou art wounded, and with a poisoned weapon, I warrant me, for by force of stab so weak an animal as that could scarce hope to do more than rase the lion's hide. Suck the poison from his wound, one of you: the venom is harmless on the lips, though fatal when it mingles with the blood.' 7. The yeomen looked on each other confusedly and with hesitation, the apprehension of so strange a danger prevailing with those who feared no other. 'How now, sirrahs?' continued the king, are you dainty-lipped, or do you fear death, that you dally thus?' 'Not the death of a man,' said Long Allan, to whom |