years more, the annual crop of each tree averaging from three to four hundred pounds' weight. Not only man, but all the animals of the desert, can feed on the date. The fruit is easily preserved by packing it closely in woolen bags; and when thus compressed into solid masses, it will keep for several years. Sometimes a tree is tapped for the sake of its sap, which is much relished as a beverage, and when allowed to ferment forms a drink resembling cider. A single tree will yield fourteen or fifteen quarts a day for two years, but will die if the drain be continued longer. Every part of the date palm is turned to profitable account. The wood is used for building and every species of carpenter-work, the fibre is twisted into ropes, baskets are made of the branches and sheep are fattened with the pounded stones of the fruit.

7. The population of the desert is necessarily sparse and scanty in comparison with its enormous area. It consists of various tribes of two distinct nations—the Berbers, made up of descendants of ancient Libyans, the Romans and the Vandals; and the Arabs, originally invaders, and who yet retain, in no small degree, their original characteristics. The Berbers are the settled inhabitants of the oases, where the men cultivate the ground and the women manage the manufactures. They maintain amicable relations with their nomadic brethren, to whom they are in the habit of confiding the care of such cattle as they possess, and of whose property they undertake the custody during the wanderings of the owners. The oasis generally contains a village (ksar), built of stone, and, together with the gardens, walled in. Nothing is grown but what will produce food of some kind or other, and the utmost use is made of every foot of land and drop of water.

....

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.—Arid : L. ări'dus, dry. . . . Aver: F. av'erer, to maintain as true; fr. L. ad, to, and ver'us, true; h., verity. . . Carpenter: L. carpenta'rius, a wagon-maker; fr. carpen'tum, a wagon. . . . Consist : L. consis'to, I stand still; fr. con, intens., and sis'to, I stand; h., as-sist, de-sist, ex-ist, in-con-sistent, in-sist, per-sist, re-sist, sub-sist, etc. . . . Custody : L. custo'dia; fr. cus'tos, a guard. ... Desert: L. deser'tum; fr. de'sero, deser'tum, to undo; h., to abandon; fr. de and se'ro, I join or bind together;

h., as-sert, dis-sertation, ex-ert, in-sert, series, sermon, etc. . . . Destitute : L destitu'tus; fr. destituo, destitu'tum, to place down, to forsake; fr. de and stat'uo, statu'tum, to put or station; fr. sto, stat'um to stand, stans, stanʼtis, standing; h., ar-rest (fr. ad and re-sto, I stay back), circum-stance (lit., a standing around), con-stant, con-stitute, contra-st, di-stant (standing apart), e-stablish, ex-tant, in-stant (standing on, urgent), in-stead, in-stitute, interstice, ob-stacle, ob-stinale, pro-stitute, rest, sol-stice (sol, the sun), stable, stamen (pl. stamina), stand, stanza, state, station, stationary, stationer (so called because formerly having a stand or station in the market), stationery, statue stature, statule, steady, sub-stance (the underneath thing), substitute, superstition, etc. . . . Equator: fr. L. œ'quo, æqua'tum, to make level or equal; fr. æ'quus, equal. . . . Granite: F. granit; fr. L. gra'num, a grain; h., granary, granulate. . Gravitate: fr. L. gravitas, weight; fr. grav'is, heavy; h., ag-grieve, grave, grief. . . Indurate: L. indu'ro, indura'tum, to make hard; fr. in and du'rus, hard; h., durable, durance, duration, endure, ob-durate, etc.... Nomadic, wandering: Gr. nomad'ikõs; fr. nõm'as, nom'ados, pasturing; fr. nom'os, a pasture... Oasis, pl. Oases: Gr. ŏ-a'sis, a very fertile spot. ... Obliterate: L. oblit'ero, oblitera'tum, to blot out; fr. ob'lino, I smear over. . . . Pasture: L. pastu'ra; fr. pas'co, pas'tum, to pasture; h., pastor, re-past.. Position: L. posi'tio; fr. po'no, pos'itum, to put, to place; h., ap-posite, com-pose, de-ponent, de-pose, de-posit, de-pôt, dis-pose, ex-pose, ex-pound, im-position, inter-pose, op-ponent, op-posite, pose, posit, positive, post, post-pone (v. post, p. 35), posture, pro-pose, pro-pound, pur-pose (v. pur, p. 35), re-pose, sup-pose, trans-pose, etc. . . . Route: F.; fr. L. rup'ta, broken; h., a broken or beaten way. . . . Surface: L. superf¥ cies; fr. sur = super (v. p. 35) and fă'cies, make; fr. fa'cio, I make.

...

...

XLII.-ODE TO DUTY.

I.

STERN daughter of the voice of God!
O Duty! if that name thou love
Who art a light to guide, a rod
To check the erring and reprove;
Thou who art victory and law

When empty terrors overawe,—

From vain temptations dost set free,

And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity—

There are who ask not if thine eye

Be on them; who in love and truth,
Where no misgiving is, rely
Upon the genial sense of youth;
Glad hearts, without reproach or blot,
Who do thy work and know it not;

Long may the kindly impulse last!

But thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast.

II.

Serene will be our days, and bright,
And happy will our nature be
When love is an unerring light,
And joy its own security.
And they a blissful course may hold
Even now, who, not unwisely bold,
Live in the spirit of this creed,

Yet find that other strength according to their need.

III.

I, loving freedom, and untried,
No sport of every random gust,
Yet being to myself a guide,
Too blindly have reposed my trust;
And oft when in my heart was heard
Thy timely mandate, I deferred

The task, in smoother walks to stray;
But thee I now would serve more strictly if I may.

IV.

Through no disturbance of my soul,
Or strong compunction in me wrought,
I supplicate for thy control,

But in the quietness of thought;
Me this unchartered freedom tires;

I feel the weight of chance desires;

My hopes no more must change their name,

I long for a repose that ever is the same.

V.

Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace!
Nor know we anything so fair
As is the smile upon thy face;

Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,

And fragrance in thy footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,

And the most ancient heavens through thee are fresh and strong.

VI.

To humbler functions, awful Power,
I call thee; I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;
Oh let my weakness have an end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice-
The confidence of reason give,

And, in the light of truth, thy bondman let me live.

WORDSWORTH.

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Benignant : L. benig’nus, kind........ Commend : L. commen'do, commenda'tum, to intrust to; fr. com cum and man'do (fr. man'us, hand, and do, dāt'um, to give), I give into one's hand, commit to one's charge; h., com-mand, counter-mand, de-mand, manda'mus (we command), mandate, mandatory (conveying a command), re-commend, re-mand, etc.... Compunction: fr. L. compun'go, compunctum, to perforate on all sides; fr. com = con, intens., and pun'go, punc'tum, to prick; h., ap-point (apad), dis-ap-point, ex-punge (lit., to prick out), point, poniard, punch, punctilious, punctual (on the point), punctuate, puncture, pungent (piercing), etc.... Creed: fr. L. cre'do, cred'itum, to believe: h., credential, credible, credit, credulous, in-credible, etc. . . . Defer: L. de'fero, I bear away or from; fr. de and fèr'o, fèr'rē, tŭ'li, la'tum, to bear, to carry; h., circum-ference (cir'cum, around), con-fer, de-ference, dif-fer (dif = dis, asunder, apart), fertile (bearing), in-dif-ferent, in-fer, Lucifer (light-bringer; fr. lux, lu'cis, light), of-fer (of = ob), pre-fer, prof-fer (prof = pro), re-fer, suf-fer (to underbear; suf sub, under), etc.: for derivations fr. la'tum, v. RELATION. . . . Disturb : L. distur'bo; fr. dis and tur'bo, I confuse; fr. tur'ba, a tumult; h., per-turb, im-per-turbable, turbid, turbulent, etc. . . . Duty: fr. due; fr. the French dû, p. p. of devoir (děv-wor), to owe; fr. the L. de'beo, de'bilum, to owe; fr. de and hab'eo, I have; h., děbit, debt, etc. . . . Function: L. functio; fr. fun'gor, func'tus, to perform; h., de-funct (fr. de-fungor, I have done with), per-functory (getting through with; h., careless, superficial), etc.... Ode: Gr. Ŏ-dě, a song; fr. aei'dein, to sing; h., com-edy (kō'mõs, a merry-making), mel-ody (mělõs, a tune), mon-ody (mõn'òs, alone), par-ody (par'a, beside), pros‐ody (pròs, to, or in addition to; h., prosody relates to the quantity of syllables and measure of verse), psalm-ody, rhaps-ody (rhap'tō, I put together), trag-edy (trag'õs, a goat, tragō'dia, a goat song). . . Rely (prefix re and lie) to rest with confidence on. . . . Temptation: L. tenta'tio; fr. ten'to, tenta'tum, to try (fr. ten'do, I stretch); h., attempt, tempt, tentative (experimental).

...

XLIII.-THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

1. You will remember, gentlemen, that in the beginning of the American war (that era of calamity, disgrace and downfall- |—an era which no feeling mind will ever mention without a tear for England) you were greatly divided. A very strong body, if not the strongest, opposed itself to the madness which every art and every power were employed to render popular. This opposition continued till after our great but most unfortunate victory on Long Island.* Then all the mounds and banks of our constancy were borne down at once, and the frenzy of the American war broke in upon us like a deluge.

2. This victory, which seemed to put an immediate end to all difficulties, perfected us in that spirit of domination which our unparalleled prosperity had but too long nurtured. Our headlong desires became our politics and our morals. All men who wished for peace or retained any sentiments of moderation were overborne or silenced. But time at length has made us all of one opinion, and we have all opened our eyes on the true nature of the American war-of all its successes and all its failures.

3. Do you remember our commission? We sent out a solemn embassy across the Atlantic Ocean, to lay the Crown, the Peerage, the Commons of Great Britain at the feet of the American Congress. My Lord Carlisle, once the mover of a haughty address against America, was put in the front of this embassy of submission. Mr. Eden was taken from the office of Lord Suffolk, to whom he was then under-secretary of state-taken from the office of that Lord Suffolk who, but a few weeks before, in his place in Parliament, did not deign to inquire where "a congress of vagrants" was to be found. This Lord Suffolk sent Mr. Eden to find out these "vagrants," without knowing where His Majesty's generals were to be found, who were joined in the same commission of supplicating those whom they were sent out to subdue!

* In August, 1776, the British followed up their success by the occupation of New York.