Oh, woful now was the old man's look, ‘Now, Randolph, tell thy · tidings, Woe is written on thy 'visage, Right bitter was the agony Ay ! ye may It was guarded well and long, Steeped in such a costly dye ;- Where no other shroud shall lie. For the stain ye see upon it Was the life-blood of your King!" Woe, woe and lamentation ! What a 'piteous cry was there! 1 Till the oak that fell last winter ag'ony, añ'guish. har'ness, ar'mour. 1 Our gallant King.—James IV. suc- 2 The beacons.-Signals were most conveniently telegraphed in olden times by means of beacon-fires kindled on hill-tops and on lofty buildings. In Lord Macaulay's historical lay, The Armada, there is a graphic description of how the news of the approach of the Spanish fleet was conveyed by signal-fires from the south to the north of England in a few hours. The "warning radiance" first shone on St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, and it W. E. AYTOUN. (6) straight, immediately. trem'bling, quiv'ering. passed from peak to peak, and from tower And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle." 3 The northern streamers.-The aurora borealis. (See p. 110, and p. 113, Note 2.) The superstition that unusual appearances in the heavens foretold the death of great men is expressed by Shakespeare in Julius Cæsar, Act ii., Scene 2:"When beggars die, there are no comets seen: The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes." 4 The city band.-Before the days of standing armies, each town maintained a train-band, or company of militia, for its own defence. These men were placed at the King's disposal in time of war. 5 The Provost--the chief magistrate; a title corresponding with the English mayor. Both titles are of French origin: provost from Fr. prevôt, or prevost, which is from Lat. præpositus, placed before or over; mayor from Fr. maire, which is from Lat. major, greater. 6 Dunë'din.-An old name of Edinburgh, strictly of its castle. Dun is a Celtic word meaning a hill or fort; DunEdin, the hill or fort of Edwin (King of Northumbria, 617 A.D.). The suffix burgh, meaning latterly a corporate town borough, meant originally a fortress. It is the Teutonic burg, a fortress, from O. Eng. beorgan, to protect. Hence Dun-Edin and Edin-burgh have the same meaning. ΟΙ ROUND THE WORLD-OVERLAND. To be read before a Map of the World.* A VOYAGE round the world can be made only by means of the Southern Seas.1 A vessel from England, to accomplish this, must sail down the Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope, cross the Indian Ocean to Australia and New Zealand, cross the South Pacific to Cape Horn, and then sail up the Atlantic to England again. This voyage is generally prolonged by numerous stoppages and unforeseen delays, so that it often occupies the greater part of a year; but there is now a great overland route, by which the journey round the globe may be performed in considerably less than three months. Our starting-point for this extensive tour is Liverpool, the great commercial capital of England. The rapid progress of this city is one of the marvels of the nineteenth century. In 1701 it was an insignificant little sea-port with 8000 inhabitants. In 1801 its population had increased to 77,000, and it is now close upon half a million! It is the second city in the British Empire, and, as a commercial port, has no equal in the world. Its docks cover seven hundred acres; and its wharfage, or quay space, extends to seventeen miles. Leaving Liverpool by one of the famous transatlantic "lines" of steamers, the Cunard, the Inman, or the Guion line,— in nine days we reach New York, the Liverpool of the West. This city is built on an island, twenty-two square miles in area, at the mouth of the Hudson river. Its outline forms a broken triangle, and for the most part it consists of handsome and regular thoroughfares, the chief of which-Broadwayintersects the city, and is nearly four miles in length. New York is the eastern terminus of the Atlantic and Pacific Railway,2 as San Francisco is the western; and between these two cities a great overland journey of 3215 miles may be performed in 154 hours, or about six days and a half. This gigantic line of railway carries the traveller through every variety of scenery, and the most diverse zones of vegetation, and brings him in contact with nearly every grade of civilization. It takes him through highly-cultivated agricultural districts, wooded bluffs, and rolling prairies; through gravelly deserts and rocky passes; through valleys rich in pasture, orchards, vineyards, gardens, and * As reading from a newspaper or other modern narrative is of the greatest importance in the present day, this lesson and those on The Overland Route and Great Ocean Routes have been specially prepared to afford the necessary practice. nurseries. As the line rounds some lofty promontory, or spans some deep gorge, he may see a group of Red Indians, clad in skins and crested with feathers, watching with wondering interest the progress of the iron horse. The line crosses the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 8242 feet above the level of the sea-the highest point,3 without exception, which the ⚫ locomotive has yet reached. In this and other elevated regions the line is protected by massive snow-sheds, built of the strongest timber. These, along with the tunnels by which the rocks are pierced, make the line appear to be tunnel and. nothing else for many miles at a time. The line consists of four great sections: first, from New York to Chica'go; second, from Chicago to O'maha; third, from Omaha to Og'den; and fourth, from Ogden to San Francis'co. Chicago, on Lake Michigan, the commercial centre of the Western States, is reached from New York by any of the trunk lines through the States in thirty hours. This city is the most striking example which even the West can afford of narvellously rapid growth. In 1831 it was but an Indian tradingpost. In 1840, its population was only 5000. It had grown, in a single generation, to a city of 300,000 inhabitants, and to the position of the greatest timber and grain mart in the world, when, in 1871, a fire, more rapid and destructive than that of Moscow, laid one-third of the city in ruins. From Chicago to Omaha is a stretch of five hundred miles, through thriving villages and growing towns, in the midst of coal-fields and corn-fields which are fast encroaching on the prairie land. The most considerable town on the route is Burlington, on the Mississippi river, which gives its name to this section of the line. Omaha is on the western bank of the Missouri river. The proper terminus of the Burlington section, however, is at Council Bluffs,4 four miles distant, on the eastern side of the river. Omaha is another instance of the remarkable progress of American cities. Its origin dates only from 1854, yet it has now a population of 25,000. It is a great railway junction, northern and southern, as well as eastern and western trunk lines meeting there; and it bids fair to become, ere long, the chief inland city of the Western States. West of Omaha is the valley of the Platte river, and the great prairie region. What are these prairies? Leagues upon leagues of undulating meadow-land, sometimes as level as a verdant pasture-sometimes broken up by considerable ridges or valleys-nearly always, to the eye, as boundless as the sea. Almost the entire area-we are here speaking in general terms -is covered with long rank grass of tender green, and lighted up by flowers, which charm with their beauty and fill the air with fragrance. Occasionally, the more monotonous breadths of the grassy plain are relieved by the ripple of a brook; and animation is given to the landscape by the frequent appearance of herds of bison, deer, and antelopes. At times, in the remote districts, the prairie wolves may be observed in their leafy coverts on the watch for prey; or flights of birds darken the air, and tempt the traveller with the promise of abundant provision. The distances are sometimes varied by blue mounds, sometimes broken by rugged bluffs. At intervals we come upon barren tracts of sand, covered with the settlements of the prairie-dog. Yet everything-whether grassy plain, or sandy desert, or distant promontory-contributes to the idea of vastness, which is the overpowering feature of the prairies. Over all there is a sparkling atmosphere and a cloudless sky, while the hottest season is tempered by the never-failing breeze. 5 Another noticeable characteristic of these plains is, that they receive millions of human inhabitants, and yet are always waiting for more. They have room for all the teeming hosts that have poured in, or could pour in, from the great plains of Asia and the overstocked cities of Central Europe. Twice as large as Hindostan, more temperate, more habitable, Nature has placed them here, hedgeless, gateless, free to all—a green field for the support of half the human race, unclaimed, untouched, and offering a smiling welcome both to busy hands and to the • civilizing plough. Leaving the prairie level behind, the train begins to scale the heights and thread the passes of the Rocky Mountains. The highest station on the line, to which we have already referred, is about half way between Omaha and Ogden, and is named Sherman," after the great American general. For the next five hundred miles the line continues at a mean level of 6500 feet above the sea. Within forty miles of Ogden it enters Echo Creek,7 one of the most picturesque scenes on the whole route. It is a deep, rocky, and rugged ravine, some seven miles in length, and from half to three-quarters of a mile in width at its head. On the right hand it is flanked by bold, 'precipitous, and buttressed cliffs, from 300 to 800 feet high, denuded and water-worn by the storms which beat against them during the southerly gales. The |