of friends, seen and unseen, I doubt if he was ever so happy as when lying at her feet, wrapped in the warm sheepskin, in the little sunny parlour at Sandy Knowe. When you read his books-and it is a great thing to say that children may read them-you will remember all these little stories I have been telling you about his childhood; and that, when he came to die, full of age and honours, this is what he said to his son, as he stood by his bedside: "My dear, be a good man; be virtuous, be religious-be a good man. Nothing else will give you any real comfort when you come to lie here." FANNY FERN. 'ponder, to weigh in the mind; consider. 2stratagem, a trick. 3 Horace and Virgil, two famous Latin poets who lived about the time of Christ. SELECTIONS FROM SCOTT'S POEMS. THE LAST MINSTREL. THE way was long, the wind was cold, No more on prancing 3palfrey borne, The 'unpremeditated lay: Old times were changed, old manners gone, The bigots of the iron time Had called his harmless art a crime. The harp a king had loved to hear. 4 'tresses, locks of hair. 2 Border chivalry, the valiant deeds of knights on horseback during the wars which took place between England and Scotland on the borders of the two countries, before they were united under one sovereign. 3palfrey, a horse used for purposes of State, and for carrying ladies. unpremeditated, not thought of or composed beforehand; extempore. 5 a stranger, William III., who became king of England and Scotland after James II., who belonged to the Stuart line, had been driven from the throne. MELROSE ABBEY. Ir thou would'st view fair 'Melrose aright, For the gay beams of lightsome day When the broken arches are black in night, Seem framed of 'obon and ivory; When silver edges the imagery, And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; When distant Tweed is heard to rave, And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave; Then view 'St. David's ruined pile; 2 1 Melrose, Melrose Abbey, a beautiful ruin situated near the banks of the River Tweed, in Scotland. flout, mock, insult. 3 shafted, having shafts, or columns. oriel, a large projecting bay window. 5 buttress, a prop or support to the wall of a building. ebon, ebony, a kind of hard wood, generally deep black in colour, obtained from trees which flourish in the East Indies. 7 St. David, the Abbey of Melrose was dedicated to St. David. soothly, truly. 6 LOVE OF ONE'S COUNTRY. BREATHES there the man, with soul so dead, Meet nurse, for a poetic child ! Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, That knit me to thy rugged strand? Seems as, to me, of all "bereft : Sole friends thy woods and streams are left; And thus I love them better still, Even in extremity of ill. By "Yarrow's stream still let me stray, Though none should guide my feeble way; Still feel the breeze down 'Ettrick break, Although it chill my withered cheek; Still lay my head by Teviot stone, The Bard may draw his parting groan. 1 strand, shore or bank of the sea, of a lake, or of a large river. 2 pelf, money; riches. 3 concentred in self, having self as the centre of his thoughts; thinking only of himself. + Caledonia, the ancient Roman name of Scotland, as Britannia is that of England. 5 bereft, bereaved, deprived. Yarrow, a beautiful stream flowing into the Ettrick. Ettrick, a tributary of the Tweed. 7 6 YOUNG LOCHINVAR. OH! young Lochinvar is come out of the west: So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, There never was knight like the young Lochinvar. The bride had consented, the gallant came late; Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar. So boldly he entered the Netherby Hall, Among bride's-men, and kinsmen, and brothers, and all. |