regarding the young rebel's punishment, and the little negro went off beseeching his young master not to cry.

13. On account of a certain drollery and humour which exhibited itself in the lad, and a liking for some of the old man's pursuits, the first of the twins was the grandfather's favourite and companion, and would laugh and talk out all his infantine heart to the old gentleman, to whom the younger had seldom a word to say.

14. George was a demure, studious boy, and his senses seemed to brighten up in the library, where his brother was so gloomy. He knew the books before he could wellnigh carry them, and read in them long before he could understand them. Harry, on the other hand, was all alive in the stables or in the wood, eager for all parties of hunting and fishing, and promised to be a good sportsman from a very early age.

15. At length the time came when Mr. Esmond was to have done with the affairs of this life, and he laid them down as if glad to be rid of their burden. All who read and heard that discourse, wondered where Parson Broadbent of James Town found the eloquence and the Latin which adorned it. Perhaps Mr. Dempster knew, the boy's Scotch tutor, who corrected the proofs of the oration, which was printed, by the desire of his Excellency and many persons of honour, at Mr. Franklin's press in Philadelphia.

16. No such sumptuous funeral had ever been seen in the country as that which Madame Esmond Warrington ordained for her father, who would have been the first to smile at that pompous grief.

17. The little lads of Castlewood, almost smothered in black trains and hat-bands, headed the procession, and were followed by my Lord Fairfax, from Greenway Court,

by his Excellency the Governor of Virginia (with his coach), by the Randolphs, the Careys, the Harrisons, the Washingtons, and many others; for the whole country esteemed the departed gentleman, whose goodness, whose high talents, whose benevolence and unobtrusive urbanity, had earned for him the just respect of his neighbours.

18. When informed of the event, the family of Colonel Esmond's step-son, the Lord Castlewood of Hampshire in England, asked to be at the charges of the marble slab which recorded the names and virtues of his lordship's mother and her husband; and after due time of preparation, the monument was set up, exhibiting the arms and coronet of the Esmonds, supported by a little, chubby group of weeping cherubs, and reciting an epitaph which for once did not tell any falsehoods.-W. M. Thackeray.

SUMMARY.-The scene of this descriptive sketch is laid in Virginia, in the United States, at that time a loyal English colony. Mr. Esmond had come from the old country, and the resident gentry of the neighbourhood were also allied to English families. Their mode of life was almost like that of the patriarchs. Their servants were either slaves, or those who had been assigned, and were subject to the orders of the master. They were hospitable to the stranger and friendly to their neighbours. Slavery prevailed, but they were not unkind to the black people on the whole. The Esmond family are described minutely in this sketch. The two boys, George and Harry, were not unlike each other in person, but very different in temper and disposition. George was peaceful and studious, while Harry was warlike and noisy. Roundhead-was the epithet applied to the Puritans by the Cavaliers in the time of Charles I. It arose from the practice among the Puritans of cropping their hair peculiarly.

Patriarchal Feudal-The Jewish patriarch, in olden times, and the head of a noble family in Europe, during the Middle Ages, when the "Feudal System," as it is called, existed, both held almost despotic sway, the one over his great number of descendants and relations, and the other over a vast body of subjects or retainers. Both patriarch and feudal lord were less restricted than the modern king, and the feudal lord especially lived in a state of great magnificence.

I.R. V.

M

An-ces-tors, forefathers.
De-mure', modest, quiet.

E-man-ci-pa-tion, act of setting free.

Ep-i-taph, that which is written

on a tombstone. Im-plored', asked earnestly.

In-flex-i-ble, firm, not to be bent.
Mel-an-chol-y, sad, low-spirited.
Ob-se-qui-ous, excessively atten-
tive.

Scep-ti-cal, doubtful.

Sump-tu-ous, showy, splendid.
Ur-ban-i-ty, politeness.

QUESTIONS.

did the lads differ from each other? Why was George preferred by the old man? How did Harry occupy his time? How was Mr. Esmond esteemed by his neighbours?

Where is Virginia? What family is described in this sketch? What were the chief peculiarities of Mr. Esmond? Madame Esmond? George? Harry? In what ways EXERCISES.-1. Parse and analyse-His high talents, benevolence, and unobtrusive urbanity, had earned for him the great respect of his neighbours.

2. Nouns are formed from other nouns, by adding cle, cule, ule, and kin, which are called diminutives, because they lessen the meanings of the nouns; as part, particle; animal, animalcule; globe, globule; lamb, lambkin. Form other nouns from the following in the same way-convent (venio, I come); ice, rete (a net); grain, pipe. Make sentences to show the use of these words.

XLV. THE SNOW-STORM.

daz-zling win-try fa-mil-iar wav-er-ing in-hab-it-ants de-scends' bel-low-ing labour-er whit-en-ing neigh-bour-ing hop-ping bil-low-y Prov-i-dence win-now-ing u-ni-vers-al whirlwind em-broil-ing tim-or-ous con-tin-u-al un-pit-y-ing

[JAMES THOMSON (b. 1700, d. 1748) was born at Ednam, Roxburghshire, Scotland. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and afterwards studied for the ministry, but in a short time changed his plans, and devoted himself to literature. His early poems are quite insignificant, but "The Seasons," from which the following selection is taken, and the "Castle of Indolence," are masterpieces of English poetry.]

1. Through the bushed air the whitening shower descends,
At first thin wavering; till at last the flakes
Fall broad and white and fast, dimming the day,
With a continual flow. The cherished fields
Put on their winter-robe of purest white.

'Tis brightness all: save where the new snow melts
Along the mazy current.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Low the woods

Bow their hoar head; and ere the languid sun
Faint from the west emits its evening ray,
Earth's universal face, deep-hid and chill,
Is one wild dazzling waste, that buries wide
The works of man.

Drooping, the labourer-ox

Stands covered o'er with snow, and then demands The fruit of all his toil.

The fowls of heaven,

Tamed by the cruel season, crowd around

The winnowing store, and claim the little boon
Which Providence assigns them.

One alone,
The Redbreast, sacred to the household gods,
Wisely regardful of the embroiling sky,
In joyless fields and thorny thickets leaves
His shivering mates, and pays to trusted man
His annual visit.

Half-afraid, he first

Against the window beats; then, brisk, alights
On the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the floor,
Eyes all the smiling family askance,

And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is;
Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs

Attract his slender feet.

The foodless wilds

Pour forth their brown inhabitants. The hare,
Though timorous of heart, and hard beset
By death in various forms, dark suares and dogs,
And more unpitying men, the garden seeks,
Urged on by fearless want. The bleating kind
Eye the bleak heaven, and next the glistening earth,
With looks of dumb despair; then sad dispersed,
Dig for the withered herb through heaps of snow.

7. Now, shepherds, to your helpless charge be kind,
Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens

With food at will; lodge them below the storm,
And watch them strict; for from the bellowing east
In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing
Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains.
In one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks,
Hid in the hollow of two neighbouring hills,
The billowy tempest 'whelms; till, upward urged,
The valley to a shining mountain swells,

Tipped with a wreath high-curling in the sky.

-James Thomson.

SUMMARY.-The fields are white with the falling snow. The trees are bent, and before nightfall the ground is completely covered. The birds are tamed by hunger, and gather round the granaries for a little corn. The redbreast leaves the thicket and pays his yearly visit to the house where he is always welcome to the crumbs. The hare forgets its fears in search of food and seeks the haunts of men. The shepherd has to be careful in the stormy season lest the snow should cover his flocks, for the wintry wind piles it high both in the hills and in the valleys.

EXERCISES.-1. Parse and analyse-The foodless wilds pour forth their brown inhabitants.

2. Nouns are formed from other nouns by adding et, let, ock, and ling, which are called diminutives, because they lessen the meaning of the nouns; as flower, floweret; stream, streamlet; bull, bullock; duck, duckling. In the same way form other nouns from the following--tower, leaf, hill, goose. Make interrogative sentences to show the use of these words.