chain, and seals and dangles of every sort, of useful and useless kind, and my mother's initials were on the watch. My father had a silver flute, and to the music of it we had such a dance, the strange figure, now considerably lighter, joining in it without uttering a word.

6. During the dance one of my sisters, a very sharp-eyed puss, espied about halfway up the monster two bright eyes looking out of a shadowy depth of something like the skirts of a great coat. She peeped and peeped, and at length, with a perfect scream of exultation, cried out, "It's Uncle Peter! It's Uncle Peter!" The music ceased, the dance was forgotten; we flew upon him like a pack of hungry wolves; we tore him to the ground, despoiled him of coats and plaids and elevating sticks, and discovered the kernel of the beneficent monster in the person of real Uncle Peter; which, after all, was the best present he could have brought us on Christmas eve, for we had been very dull for want of him, and had been wondering why he did not come. GEORGE MACDONALD.

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Castle: L. castel'lum, a fortified place; fr. L.

cas'tra, a camp. . . . Dilemma: a difficult alternative; Gr.; fr. dis, twice, and lèm'ma, anything received, an assumption. . . . Epic: Gr. ĕp'ikõs; fr. ép'òs, a word, a song. . . . Expostulate: L. expos'tulo; fr. ex and pos'tulo, postula'tum, to ask; h., postulate or postula'tum, the thing demanded in argument without proof, something to be assumed or taken for granted... Fee: A. S. feoh, cattle; h., property, possession; fee-simple, an estate in lands or tenements of which the owner has the fullest power of disposing which the law allows. Grotesque: F.; fr. grotte, a grotto; lit., the style in which grottoes were ornamented; extravagant, whimsical.... Prepare: L. præ'paro; fr. præ, before, and păr'o, para'tum, to make ready; h., ap-paratus, ap-parel, dis-sever, em-peror (L. im-pera'tor; fr. im-pero = in-paro, I order), em-pire, im-perative, im-perial, imperious, in-se-parable, ir-re-parable, parade, pre-paratory, ram-part, re-pair, re-paration, se-parate, sever, several (L. L. se-paralis), etc. . . . Skirmish: fr. the Old High German, skerman, to defend against an attack. . . . Ticket: fr. the Ger. steck'en (stek'en), to stick; F. étiquette, a little note or ticket. . . . . Uncle: F. oncle; L. avun'culus.

Among common nouns there are many of foreign origin, the meaning of which has suffered sadly in the course of time. Giving precedence to the sex, we find that the belle dame of the French was by Spenser already written in shorter English form, but used as yet for "fair lady." Soon after Gallic courtesy transferred the term to grandmothers, and it now appears as Beldame, a word which at last sank to designate a hag or a witch.-DE VERE.

EVANDER is said to have built at the foot of the Palatine Hill, on the Tiber, a town which was incorporated with Rome. He taught the arts of peace. HORACE and VIRGIL were celebrated Latin poets who flourished within the century before Christ. LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS received his surname of Brutus, or brute, because he feigned idiocy in order to escape the tyranny of King Tarquin. Finally he threw off his pretended insanity, and roused the Romans to expel tyranny and establish a republic. See the story of VIRGINIUS on page 134. CINCINNATUS was a consul of ancient Rome, who was taken from the plow to assume the highest offices of state.

I.

I AM in Rome! Oft as the morning ray

Visits these eyes, waking, at once I cry,

Whence this excess of joy? What has befallen me?

And from within a thrilling voice replies,

Thou art in Rome! A thousand busy thoughts

Rush on my mind-a thousand images

And I spring up as girt to run a race.

п.

Thou art in Rome! the city that so long
Reigned absolute, the mistress of the world;
Thou art in Rome! the city where the Gauls,
Entering at sunrise through her open gates,
And through her streets silent and desolate,
Marching to slay, thought they saw gods, not men;
The city that by temperance, fortitude

And love of glory towered above the clouds,
Then fell-but, falling, kept the highest seat,
And in her loneliness, her pomp of woe,

Where now she dwells, withdrawn into the wild,
Still o'er the mind maintains, from age to age,
Her empire undiminished.

III.

There, as though

Grandeur attracted grandeur, are beheld
All things that strike, ennoble-from-the depths
Of Egypt, from the classic fields of Greece,
Her groves, her temples-all things that inspire
Wonder, delight! Who would not say the forms
Most perfect, most divine, had by consent
Flocked thither to abide eternally

Within those silent chambers where they dwell
In happy intercourse?

IV.

And I am there!

Ah! little thought I, when in school I sat,
A schoolboy on his bench, at early dawn,
Glowing with Roman story, I should live
To tread the Appian, once an avenue
Of monuments most glorious, palaces,
Their doors sealed up and silent as the night,
The dwellings of the illustrious dead; to turn
Toward Tiber, and beyond the city gate

Pour out my unpremeditated verse
Where on his mule I might have met so oft
Horace himself; or climb the Palatine,
Dreaming of old Evander and his guest,
Inscribe my name on some broad aloe-leaf
That shoots and spreads within those very walls
Where Virgil read aloud his tale divine,
Where his voice faltered, and a mother wept
Tears of delight!

V.

But what a narrow space

Just underneath! In many a heap the ground
Heaves, as though Ruin in a frantic mood
Had done his utmost. Here and there appears,
As left to show his handiwork, not ours,

An idle column, a half-buried arch,

A wall of some great temple. It was once
The Forum, whence a mandate, eagle-winged,
Went to the ends of the earth. Let us descend

Slowly. At every step much may be lost.
The very dust we tread stirs as with life,
And not the slightest breath that sends not up
Something of human grandeur. We are come,
Are now where once the mightiest spirits met
In terrible conflict; this, while Rome was free,
The noblest theatre on this side heaven!

VI.

Here the first Brutus stood—when o'er the corse
Of her so chaste all mourned-and from his cloud
Burst like a god. Here, holding up the knife
That ran with blood-the blood of his own child-
Virginius called down vengeance.

Here Cincinnatus passed, his plow the while
Left in the furrow; and how many more

Whose laurels fade not, who still walk the earth,

Consuls, dictators, still in curule pomp

Sit and decide, and, as of old in Rome,
Name but their names, set every heart on fire!

VII.

Now all is changed, and here, as in the wild,
The day is silent, dreary as the night;
None stirring, save the herdsman and his herd,
Savage alike, or they that would explore,
And learnedly discuss; or they that come

(And there are many who have crossed the earth)
That they may give the hours to meditation,
And wander, often saying to themselves,
"This was the Roman Forum!"

ROGERS.

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SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Chamber: L. cam'era, a vault. . . . Classic: L. classicus; fr. class'is, class; relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the first class; h., the term classic is applied to Greek and Latin authors of confirmed celebrity. . . . Column: L. colum'na; fr. cello, cel'sus, to urge on, to raise; h., colonnade. . . . Curule: L. curu'lis, of or pertaining to a chariot; fr. cur'rus, a chariot; fr. cur'ro, cur'sus, to run; h., car, career, carry, con-course, con-cur, corridor, courier, course, current, curricle, cursory, dis-course, dis-cursive, ex-cursion, in-cur, intercourse, oc-cur (oc = ob), pre-cursor, re-course, suc-cor (suc sub), etc.... Descend: L. descen'do, descen'sum, to come down; fr. de and scan'do, I climb: v. ASCEND. . . . Discuss: L. discù'tio, discus'sum, to shake asunder; fr. dis, and cut'io, cus'sum (a form of quăt'io, quas'sum) to shake; h., con-cussion, per-cussion, res-cue (res re), etc. Exceed: L. exce'do, exces'sum, to go out; fr. ex, out, and ce'do, ces'sum, tó go, to yield; h., ac-cede, an-cestor (an an'te), ante-cedent (an'te, before), cease, cede, cession, con-cede, de-cease, in-cessant, inter-cede, pre-cede, pre-cedent, pre-de-cessor, pro-ceed, re-cede, se-cede, suc-ceed, suc-cess, suc-cession, sur-cease, etc. . . . Fortitude: L. fortitudo, strength; fr. for'lis, strong; h., comfort, to make strong, effort, force, fort, fortify, etc. Illustrious: L. illustris, lighted up: v. ILLUMINATE. . . . Image: L. ima'go, ima'ginis; allied to im'itor, imita'tus, to imitate; h., imagination, inimitable, etc. . . . Inscribe: L. inscribo, inscrip-tum, to write in or upon; fr. in and scribo, I write; h., a-scribe (a== ad), circum-scribe, de-scribe, de-scriptive, im-pre-scriptible, manu-script (ma'nus, hand), pre-scribe, pro-scribe, scribble, scribe, scrip, Scripture, subscribe, tran-scribe. Maintain: F. maintenir (main and tenir); fr. the L. man'us, a hand, ten'eo, I hold; to hold in hand; to keep. . . . Massacre: F. massacrer, to slaughter; probably connected with L. macellum, a meat market. Mausoleum : fr. the gorgeous tomb of Mau'solus, king of Caria, which his widow erected. Modern: F. moderne; fr. L. mō'do,

Just now, but of late.