'Horatius,' quoth the Consul,

'As thou say'st, so let it be.'
And straight against that great array
Forth went the dauntless three.
For Romans in Rome's quarrel
Spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,
In the brave days of old.

Then none was for a party;

Then all were for the State;

Then the great man helped the poor,
And the poor man loved the great ;
Then lands were fairly portioned;
Then spoils were fairly sold;
The Romans were like brothers

In the brave days of old.-Macaulay.

27. PEARLS AMONG THE ROMANS.

'Of all the articles of luxury and ostentation known to the Romans, pearls seem to have been the most esteemed. They were worn on all parts of the dress, and such was the diversity of their size, purity, and value, that they were found to suit all classes, from those of moderate to those of the most colossal fortune. The famous pearl earrings of Cleopatra are said to have been worth about 160,000l., and Julius Cæsar is said to have presented Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a pearl for which he had paid above 48,000l.; and though no reasonable doubt can be entertained in regard to the extreme exaggeration of these and similar statements, the fact that the largest and finest pearls brought immense prices is beyond all question. It has been said that the wish to become master of the pearls with which it was supposed to abound, was one of the motives which induced Julius Cæsar to invade Britain. But though a good many were met with in various parts of the country, they were of little or no value, being small and ill-coloured. After pearls and diamonds, the emerald held the highest place in the estimation of the Romans.'-M'Culloch.

28. MATERNAL LOVE.

They sin who tell us love can die;
With life all other passions fly,
All others are but vanity.

In heaven ambition cannot dwell,
Nor avarice in the vaults of hell;
Earthly these passions, as of earth,
They perish where they have their birth,
But love is indestructible;

Its holy flame for ever burneth ;

From heaven it came, to heaven returneth :
Too oft on earth a troubled guest,

At times deceived, at times oppressed,
It here is tried and purified,

And hath in heaven its perfect rest :
It soweth here with toil and care,
But the harvest time of love is there.
Oh! when a mother meets on high
The babe she lost in infancy,
Hath she not then for pains and fears,
The day of woe, the anxious night,
For all her sorrow, all her tears,

An overpayment of delight.—Southey.

29. THEY MANAGE THOSE THINGS BETTER IN RUSSIA.

An Odessa paper gives a lively illustration of the way certain things are managed in Russia. An inspector of forests, who did his work very conscientiously, happened to hear that, in one of the governments of his circuit, a hundred trees had been felled in violation of the laws. The circumstance was duly noted by the honest official, and a visit to the spot immediately resolved upon. Accompanied by the forest-master, he was at first carefully taken to those parts only of the wood that were all in perfect order. At last they came to a little by-path. The forest-master wished to keep straight on; the inspector insisted upon following the side-way; and the former had, consequently, to give in, after making numerous objections. short time they reached the very place that had been pointed

In a

out to the inspector. There were the trees sure enough, lying prostrate upon the ground. 'I thought you told me nothing had been felled in your forest,' said the inspector. 'And so there has been nothing felled,' returned the other. Then what is that I see yonder?' asked the astonished inspector, waxing a little wroth. 'That—why, that is hay!' 'You are not in your right senses, man,' cried the other; and turning round to the foresters who had attended them, repeated his question. 'Hay, hay, hay,' was the answer of one and all. It was getting late, and the inspector determined to return to the spot the following morning, when he could avail himself of the full light of day. He came accordingly very early, accompanied by a great crowd of persons, who were attracted by curiosity. He came, he saw; but he gained nothing by his motion. The felled trees had vanished one and all, and in their stead appeared half a hay-rick.

30. THE WRECK OF THE ROYAL CHARTER, 1859.-EPISODE.

I went to bed at eleven, and lay there till I heard Captain Withers say to a lady, 'I shall take your child: come directly.' There was some answer to this, and Captain Withers said, 'No, directly; there is no time to be lost.' His voice had awakened me, and I jumped out of bed. I heard it was half-past two o'clock. I then felt the ship as if rubbing along the ground, and then there were three or four violent concussions. I immediately ran up into the upper saloon. I found ladies and gentlemen in the greatest state of consternation. Mr. Hodge, the clergyman, was there; and they all prayed together. I went up to look for my nurse and child. The saloon was so crammed that there was no chance of my being able to find my child there. I eventually found them. The bumping of the vessel continued, and increased in rapidity and violence, and water began to come in in all directions, so that I was wet through for hours before I left the ship. I do not know what hour it was when I jumped overboard; but the man who saved me told me it was half-past seven. I was on deck when the vessel split. I was knocked down by the waves, and I saw Captain Taylor lying on the deck where he had been knocked down by a wave. He had a rope round his waist, and a log tied to the end of it.

I said, 'O, Captain

Taylor, what a fearful scene this is!' He did not reply. Another wave came in on me. I flung off my greatcoat, and jumped overboard. I got hold of a log of wood, but was washed off it twice. I was washed to the rock, and grasped the weed, but was twice washed away with weed in my hands. I was carried in a third time, and two or three men caught me by the points of the fingers, and prevented me from being carried out again. A man named Robert Lewis had me carried to his house, where I was treated with the greatest kindness by him and his wife. My little daughter and also her nurse were lost.

man.

31. How To GET ON IN THE WORLD.

First of all you must have a character. Character is worth more than reputation; the former will bear any scorching blasts of temptation: but the latter might be tainted by the world's calumny; character is worth, and worth makes the Garibaldi in his red shirt on the lone rocks of Italy is braver-nobler-more kingly than the craven monarch of Naples enslaving a people, and cursing a fair nation. Then you must work. Some young men talk about luck. Good luck is to get up at six o'clock in the morning-good luck, if you have only a shilling a week, is to live upon elevenpence and save a penny-good luck is to trouble your heads with your own business and to let your neighbour's alone-good luck is to do unto other people as we wish them to do unto us. You must not only work, but wait. You must plod and persevere. Pence must be taken care of, because they are the seeds of guineas. To get on in the world you must take care of home, sweep your own doorways clean, try and help other people, avoid temptations, and have faith in truth and God.—De Fraine.

32. THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

Immediately before the Duke rode Taillefer, the minstrel, singing, with a loud and clear voice, the lay of Charlemagne and Roland, and the emprises of the Paladins who had fallen in the dolorous pass of Roncevaux. Taillefer, as his guerdon, had craved permission to strike the first blow; for he was a valiant

warrior, emulating the deeds which he sung: his appellation, Taille-fer, is probably to be considered not as his real name, but as an epithet derived from his strength and prowess; and he fully justified his demand, by transfixing the first Englishman whom he attacked, and by felling the second to the ground. The battle now became general, and raged with the greatest fury. The Normans advanced beyond the English lines, but they were driven back, and forced into a trench, where horses and riders fell upon each other in fearful confusion. More Normans were slain here than in any other part of the field. The alarm spread; the light troops left in charge of the baggage and the stores thought that all was lost, and were about to take flight; but the fierce Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the Duke's half-brother, and who was better fitted for the shield than for the mitre, succeeded in reassuring them; and then, returning to the field, and rushing into that part where the battle was hottest, he fought as the stoutest of the warriors engaged in the conflict.

From nine in the morning till three in the afternoon the successes on either side were nearly balanced. The charges of the Norman cavalry gave them great advantage, but the English phalanx repelled their enemies; and the soldiers were so well protected by their targets, that the artillery of the Normans was long discharged in vain. The bowmen, seeing that they had failed to make any impression, altered the direction of their shafts; and, instead of shooting point-blank, the flights of arrows were directed upwards, so that the points came down upon the heads of the men of England, and the iron shower fell with murderous effect. The English ranks were exceedingly distressed by the volleys, yet they still stood firm, and the Normans now employed a stratagem to decoy their opponents out of their intrenchments. A feigned retreat on their part induced the English to pursue them with great heat. The Normans suddenly wheeled about, and a new and fiercer battle was urged. The field was covered with separate bands of foemen, each engaged with one another. Here, the English yielded; there they conquered. One English thane, armed with a battleaxe, spread dismay amongst the Frenchmen. He was cut down by Roger de Montgomery. The Normans have preserved the name of the Norman baron, but that of the Englishman is lost in