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bred, they must undergo vast devastation somehow, and somewhere; for the birds that return yearly bear no manner of proportion to the birds that retire.

"Natural History of Selborne," by GILBERT WHITE.

1. HIRUNDINES, a name given to all the swallow tribe, from the Latin name for swallow, Hirundo; the tribe includes swallows, swifts, martins, and sand-martins.

2. NIDIFICATION, the act of building a nest, of hatching and rearing young ones. (Lat. nidus, a nest; and facio, to make.) 3. TENACIOUS, apt to stick; holding fast. (Lat. teneo, to hold.) 4. FULCRUM, the fixed point on which a lever moves.

5. PROTUBERANCES, swellings; roughness rising in lumps. (Lat. pro, forward; tuber, a swelling.)

6. ORIFICE, an opening resembling a mouth.

7. SLEIGHT, cunning; dexterity.

8. VIBRATORY, shaking; trembling; swinging from side to side. (Lat. vibro, to shake.)

9. AIT a small island in a river or lake.

MERCY.

1

THE quality of mercy is not strained, 1——
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd,-
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute 2 to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings:
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,-
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God Himself:

And earthly power doth then show likest God's,

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,—
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.

SHAKESPEARE -"The Merchant of Venice."

1. STRAINED, restrained, limited in any way.

2. ATTRIBUTE, that which belongs to, or is ascribed to. (Lat. ad, to; tribuo, to give.)

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER'S SPEECH.

BRAVE peers of England, pillars of the state,
To you Duke Humphrey 1 must unfold his grief,—
Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What did my brother Henry spend his youth,
His valour, coin, and people, in the wars?
Did he so often lodge in open field,

In winter's cold, and summer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford 2 toil his wits,
To keep by policy what Henry got?
Have you yourselves, Somerset, Buckingham,
Brave York, Salisbury, and victorious Warwick,
Receiv'd deep scars in France and Normandy?
Or hath mine uncle Beaufort and myself,
With all the learned council of the realm,
Studied so long, sat in the council-house

Early and late, debating to and fro

How France and Frenchmen might be kept in awe? And hath his highness in his infancy

Been crowned in Paris, in despite of foes?

D

4

And shall these labours, and these honours, die?
Shall Henry's conquest, Bedford's vigilance,
Your deeds of war, and all our counsel, die?
O peers of England, shameful is this league!
Fatal this marriage cancelling your fame,
Blotting your names from books of memory,
Razing the characters of your renown,
Defacing monuments of conquer'd France,
Undoing all, as all had never been!

SHAKESPEARE.-"King Henry VI.," Part II.

1. DUKE HUMPHREY, the Duke of Glo'ster, brother of King Henry V., and uncle and guardian of Henry VI.

2. BEDFORD, John Duke of Bedford: brother to Henry V. and the Duke of Glo'ster.

3. THIS MARRIAGE. The proposed marriage between Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou, by which the English were to give to her father (Regnier, titular King of Naples, &c.) the provinces of Maine and Anjou, which they had won from the French.

4. CANCEL, to cross, to erase. (Lat. cancelli, lattice-work.)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GIBBON THE HISTORIAN.

EDWARD GIBBON was born at Putney in Surrey, in the year 1737, and died in 1794.

He early showed a great taste for study, and in 1761 published an essay on the "Study of Literature,” which gave him at once a place in the learned world. His most famous work is the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." This history shows great learning and much deep research. The work has been translated into nearly all the languages of Europe.

After the death of Gibbon, his friend, Lord Sheffield, published his "Miscellaneous Works," from which the following extract is taken.

REMARKS ON READING.

READING is the nourishment of the mind; for by reading we know our Creator, His works, ourselves chiefly and our fellow-creatures. But this nourishment is easily converted into poison.

Let us read with method and propose to ourselves an end to which all our studies may point. Through neglect of this rule, gross ignorance often disgraces great readers, who, by skipping hastily and irregularly from one subject to another, render themselves incapable of combining their ideas. So many detached parcels of knowledge cannot form a whole. This inconstancy weakens the energies of the mind, creates in it a dislike to application, and even robs it of the advantages of natural good

sense.

Yet let us avoid the contrary extreme, and respect method, without rendering ourselves its slaves. While we propose an end in our reading, let not this end be too remote; and when once we have attained, let our attention be directed to a different subject. Inconstancy weakens the understanding; a long and exclusive application to a single object hardens and contracts it. Our ideas no longer change easily into a different channel, and the course of reading to which we have too long accustomed ourselves is the only one that we can pursue with pleasure.

The use of our reading is to aid us in thinking; thus it often happens, that the perusal of a particular work gives rise to ideas unconnected with the subject of which it treats, and the results of these ideas may be very profitable.

To read with attention, exactly to define the ex

pressions of our author, never to admit a conclusion without comprehending its reason, often to pause, reflect and interrogate ourselves, this is advice which it is easy to give, but difficult to follow.

But what ought we to read? Each individual must answer this question for himself, agreeably to the object of his studies. The only general precept that I would venture to give, is that of Pliny,1 "to read much, rather than many things;" to make a careful selection of the best works, and to render them familiar to us by attentive and repeated perusals. GIBBON.

1. PLINY, there were two famous Roman scholars and philosophers of this name. The elder Pliny was born 23 A.D., and was killed in an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. His nephew, Pliny the younger, was born 62 A.D., and died 110 A.D., after a life devoted to the noblest pursuits and enjoyments. It is the younger Pliny who is referred to in this passage.

THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.

THERE is no doubt that our Saxon ancestors brought with them from their German forests a form of government which was free in most essential points, and it is highly probable that to the Saxon Witenagemot, or meeting of wise men, the English parliament owes its origin. Public assemblies were certainly held in England from very early Saxon times, for the discussion of public affairs.

After the Norman Conquest great public councils were repeatedly summoned by the Norman kings, but these councils appear to have been exclusively composed of the great barons, and churchmen of high rank.

Richard I. held five parliaments, of bishops and barons, but many edicts were made by him without any mention of their being enacted by the advice and consent of his

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