quiver about a head with more lightness of apprehension, no cook's pat up and proportion the side of a pasty with a more final eye. 4. "The whales," quoth old Chapman, speaking of Neptune, "The whales exulted under him, and knew their mighty king." The pigs did not exult, but they knew their king. Unwilling was their subjection, but " more in sorrow than in anger." They were too far gone for rage. Their case was hopeless. They did not see why they should proceed, but they felt themselves bound to do soforced, conglomerated, crowded onwards, irresistibly impelled by fate and Jenkins. 5. Often would they have bolted under any other master. They squeaked and grunted, as in ordinary; they sidled, they shuffled, they half stopped; they turned an eye to all the little outlets of escape; but in vain. There they stuck,-for their progress was a sort of sticking, charmed into the centre of his sphere of action; laying their heads together, but to no purpose; looking all as if they were shrugging their shoulders, and eschewing the tip end of the whip of office. Much eye had they to their left leg; shrewd backward glances ; not a little anticipative squeak, and sudden rush of avoidance. 6. It was a superfluous clutter, and they felt it; but a pig finds it more difficult than any other animal to accommodate himself to circumstances. Being out of his pale, he is in the highest state of wonderment and inaptitude. He is sluggish, obstinate, opinionate; not very social; has no desire of seeing foreign parts. Think of him in a multitude, forced to travel, and wondering what the mischief it is that drives him! Judge by this of the talents of his driver. 7. We beheld a man once-an inferior genius-inducting a pig into the other end of Long Lane, Smithfield. He had got him thus far towards the market. It was much. His air announced success in nine parts out of ten, and hope for the remainder. It had been a happy morning's work; he had only to look for the termination of it; and he looked, as a critic of an exalted turn of mind would say, in brightness and in joy. Then would he go to the public house, and indulge in porter and a pleasing security. 8. Perhaps he would not say much at first, being oppressed with the greatness of his success; but, by degrees, especially if interrogated, he would open out freely into all the circumstances of his journey and the perils that beset him. Profound would be his set out; full of tremor his middle course, high and skilful his progress; glorious, though with a quickened pulse, his triumphant entry. Delicate had been his situation in Ducking-pond Row, masterly his turn at Bell Alley. 9. We saw him with the radiance of some such thought on his countenance. He was just entering Long Lane. A gravity came upon him as he steered his touchy convoy into this his last thoroughfare. A dog moved him into a little agitation, darting along, but he resumed his course, not without a happy trepidation, hovering as he was on the borders of triumph. 10. The pig still required care. It was evidently a pig with all the peculiar turn of mind of his species-a fellow that would not move faster than he could help, irritable, retrospective, picking objections, and prone to boggle-a chap with a tendency to take every path but the proper one, and with a sidelong tact for the alleys. He bolts! He's off! 11. "Oh," exclaimed the man, dashing his hand against his head, lifting his knee in agony, and screaming with all the weight of a prophecy which the spectators felt to be too true, "he'll go up all manners of streets!" Poor fellow we think of him now, sometimes, driving up Duke Street, and not to be comforted in Barbican.Leigh Hunt. SUMMARY.-Talents may be discovered in the humblest walks of life, and this humorous sketch describes the way in which even a pig-driver can show his abilities. He was a genius in his own line of business, and was evidently born to command pigs if not men. He was firm, encouraging, and compelling. The pigs felt that he was their king, but their subjection was by no means willing. The pigs have a way of their own, but in this case they felt compelled to obey. Another driver's air announced that he felt himself almost a success, and was hopeful as to the rest. day's work was almost finished when suddenly the pig bolted, with a mind "to go up all manner of streets.' Poor pig-driver! Con-glom-er-at-ed, gathered in Man-cu-vre, to manage with a mass, or clustered together. E-lèves (pron. ā-lāv', French), pupils. Es-chew-ing, shunning. In-ter-ro-gate, to examine by address. Ob-sti-nate, willed. stubborn, His self Re-tro-spec-tive, tending to Su-per-flu-ous, more than is QUESTIONS. Who is the subject of this lesson? What thought is suggested at the outset? How did the pig driver show his skill? How did the pigs conduct themselves? How did they express their feelings? How were they controlled? How was the second driver disturbed? What accident happened at last? EXERCISES.-1. Parse and analyse-His air announced success in nine parts out of ten. 2. Adjectives are formed from nouns by adding ose, ous, some, and y, which mean "full of," as joke, jocose; joy, joyous; frolic, frolicsome; health, healthy. Make adjectives from the following-verb, glory, toil, pith. Make sentences to show the use of these words. [ROBERT BURNS (b. 1759, d. 1796), Scotland's greatest poet, was born near Ayr. He received but a limited English education, to which he afterwards added an acquaintance with Latin, French, and mathematics. After having been unfortunate in various attempts to gain a living by agricultural and other pursuits, he was appointed an excise officer. As a poet, his rich humour, pathos, and energy have never been surpassed. The following poem was composed by Burns on the anniversary of the day on which he was informed of the death of his early love, Mary Campbell.] 1. Thou lingering star! with lessening ray, That lov'st to greet the early morn, My Mary from my soul was torn. O Mary dear departed shade! Where is thy blissful place of rest? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? 2. That sacred hour can I forget— Can I forget the hallowed grove, Those records dear of transports past; Ah, little thought we 'twas our last! 3. Ayr gurgling kissed his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild woods, thickening, green; Twined amorous round the raptured scene. 4. Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes, Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? -Burns. SUMMARY.-The poet recalls the day of his parting with Mary Campbell, and dwells upon the scene with fervour. Never can he forget the hour nor the place. They had met beside the banks of Ayr, to spend one day of parting, little dreaming that they were never more to meet again. The river gurgled on its winding course, and the flowers sang sweetly on every o'erhanging bush. The poet's memory brings back the happy day with all its pleasant thoughts. Time only deepened the impressions which were then made, as the channels are deepened by the rivers in their course. Lingering star-Venus, commonly called the morning and evening star. This planet is the first star that appears after twilight in the evening, and the last that disappears in the morning. Ayr-A river of Ayrshire, which falls into the Frith of Clyde, at the town of Ayr. EXERCISES.-1. Parse and analyse-The glowing west proclaimed the speed of parting day. 2. Nouns are formed from other nouns or verbs, by adding ry, ary, ery, ory, which mean "the place where a thing is or is done:" as coal, colliery; nurse, nursery; grain, granary; observe, observatory. Make nouns in the same way from the following-found, dispense, nun, armour. Make sentences to show the use of these words. |