and legs perfectly straight, bend the body forward, with the head towards the ground, and touch the feet with the points of the fingers. When this can be done with ease, touch the floor in the same position. This will be difficult at first, but it will soon be accomplished with a little practice. 6. Place the arms "akimbo;" that is, with the elbows out and the hands resting on the hips. Sink down to the floor until you sit upon your heels, and then rise to the erect position. Repeat this several times in succession. 7. Bring the right arm level with the shoulder; then throw it back, and whirl it round at full length from the body. Exercise the left arm and shoulder in the same way. Then begin by throwing the arm forward, and whirl it as before. Practise the same movements with both arms simultaneously. 8. With the hands on the hips, raise cach knee as high as you can, keeping the other leg perfectly straight. Then extend each leg sideways as far as possible, remaining a few seconds in that position. 9. Hop on one foot several times successively, then on the other, keeping the body erect. These exercises will do much for the beginner in gymnastics, and will also suggest others of a similar description which he may practise with advantage. We would remark here that the importance of regular walking exercise as a means of strengthening the frame and keeping the system in health must not be lost sight of, in the attention given to purely gymnastic pursuits. No exercise is more salutary in its effects, and it has the additional recommendation of taking the pedestrian into the fresh air, which is as necessary to the preservation of life and health as a proper supply of food. through which the bags may be thrown. This, however, is not necessary, although it tends to increase the interest of the players in the exercise. The design of the exercise is to give freedom to the muscles of the chest and arms, and promote a healthy movement of the body generally. For this purpose the bags are thrown from one player to the other, in a variety of positions, which may be left in some measure to their own taste and inclination, provided it be remembered, as a rule, to keep the legs perfectly straight, the body upright, and the chest well thrown forward. This position is exemplified in Fig. 1. Standing thus, the bag may be thrown first with the right arm, then with the left, then with left and right alternately; now, with both hands brought back behind the neck, throw the bag over the head; or, with the bag in the right hand, throw it from behind round the left arm, which is kept straight to the body; throw Fig. S. with the left hand in the same manner; and so on. Fig. 2 represents a more difficult position, from which the bag is thrown over the head. This will come easy to the learner with a little practice. We pass on now to the Ring Exercises, which have received very high eulogium, and prove highly amusing as well as beneficial to the players. The ring is made of wood, usually cherry, and is one inch in thickness and six inches in diameter. This is sufficient to enable two persons to grasp it and use it with freedom. All the ring exercises are for two players, who should We now come to be of equal or nearly equal strength. Two rings are required the various kinds of in the course of the exercises, each player grasping one in gymnastic exercises either hand. The rings should be well polished. They are which are practised inexpensive articles, being sold occasionally as low as one shilwith the aid of appa-ling per pair; and any wood-turner will supply them at a little ratus, and will men- more than this sum. tion first those which require only the simplest appliances, but are still of high utility. For the introduction of two of these Fig. 2. we are indebted to an American physician, Dr. Dio Lewis, who has bestowed great attention on gymnastics from a physiological point of view, and whose teaching and principles are being widely adopted in Europe as well as in America. These are the Bag and the Ring exercises, which we shall now describe. Fig. 1. The Bag Exercises, which may be used in families with great benefit, are practised simply with bags filled with beans, the directions for making which are given as follows by Dr. Lewis :-The material is a strong bed-ticking. Bags for young children should be, before sewing, seven inches square; for ladies, nine inches; for ladies and gentlemen exercising together, ten inches; for gentlemen alone, twelve inches. Sew them with strong linen or silk thread, doubled, nearly three-quarters of an inch from the edge, leaving a small opening at one corner to pour in the beans. Fill the bags three-quarters full, and they are ready for use. If used daily, once in two weeks they should be emptied and washed. To allow them to be played with after they are soiled is pretty sure to furnish much dust for the lungs of the players, beside soiling the hands and clothes. There cannot be too much care exercised in regard to this point of cleanliness. Before the beans are used the first time they should be rinsed with water until it runs from them quite clean, when they must be dried; and every month or two afterwards this cleansing should be repeated. The Bag Exercises should be performed by two persons practising together; and it is an advantage, when the practice is in-doors, to have suspended from the ceiling a hoop er rings, 0 We give two figures as examples of the exercises that may be practised with either one or both hands. In the first, the players, standing in the position shown in Fig. 3, both pull hard with the right hand, and draw the right arm from right to left and from left to right; afterwards performing the same movements with the ring held in their left hands. Remember to keep the head well up and the shoulders back, with the feet placed at right angles, in all these movements. In the second example, the players first stand back to back, with the rings held downwards; then each lunges forward with the right leg, and the hands are raised over the head, as shown in Fig. 4. They return to the back-to-back position, and step forward with the left leg in the same manner. Among other ring exercises may be mentioned the following: The players, standing face to face, and with one foot well advanced, the other thrown back, both pull with one hand and push with the other, alternately; one arm thus being extended to Fig. 4. its full length, and the other drawn back as far as possible, at each movement. Then, standing in the same way, draw back with both arms, your partner pushing his as far forward as he can, and each doing this alternately. Standing in an erect position, each raise one hand and lower the other as far as possible, being careful not to bend the elbows. Raise and lower the arms alternately from the position represented in Fig. 4. HISTORIC SKETCHES.-II. THOMAS À BECKET AND THE CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON. It was a grand scene that presented itself in Westminster Hall when, in the spring of the year 1163, King Henry II. met Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the rest of the bishops of England. On the one side appeared, in all the pomp and magnificence of prelates of the Roman Church, the whole of the representatives of spiritual power in the country; on the other appeared, in an equally magnificent simplicity, the highest representative of the temporal power. Church and State were confronted. Why? The king had a question to ask the bishops, one in which not he only, nor the people living at the time, but we also, had a keen personal interest; and in order that he might get their collective answer at one and the same time, he bade them meet him at Westminster in a body. The question he had to ask was very simple, but also very important: "Would the bishops conform to the law and ancient customs of the land, or would they not?" Timely warning had been given to the bishops of the nature of the question to be asked, and, under the guidance of the Archbishop of Canterbury, they had framed an answer. They would observe the law and the ancient customs of the realm, saving their own order. Only one prelate, Hilary, Bishop of Chichester, was found to give an unqualified answer in the affirmative, and for doing so he received the warm upbraidings of the primate. Henry, who thought by putting a straightforward question to get an equally straightforward answer, was exceedingly disgusted at the trick of the primate, which left the whole matter as much at large as it had been before the meeting. In vain he tried to change the mind of the bishops; and, baffled in his hope of binding them by their own admissions, he left the hall in a rage, and determined to take other means of bringing them to submission. To submission! But in what were the bishops opposed to him? What law or ancient custom of the kingdom had they disregarded? What need was there to summon them to Westminster, and to catechise them so severely? Above all, what harm was there in the saving clause inserted by the prelates in their answer, that it should so greatly incense the king? Let us see. For many years the clergy had been striving to effect in England what they had actually effected in other countries-an independence of the civil courts, and a recognition of their superiority above the civil power. Steadily they worked towards the attainment of these great objects, their doctrine of the superiority of the spiritual ever the temporal power ultimately blooming out into an assertion of right even to depose princes, and to absolve subjects from their allegiance. As yet this monstrous claim had not been advanced in England, but steps were being taken which were meant to lead up, and actually did lead up, to it. With some show of colour, perhaps, the clergy claimed that all questions of right to present to ecclesiastical benefices should be tried in the ecclesiastical courts. They also claimed that, as guardians of property which was held for religious purposes, they should not be taxed nor be compelled to do military service, whether in kind or by commutation, nor should they be obliged to sit with laymen in the grand council of the kingdom-that was to say, a House of Lords. The deans and chapters of cathedrals claimed the sole and exclusive right to elect the bishop of their see; privilege of sanctuary both to person and property was claimed for all churches and churchyards; and the clergy also asserted the unquestioned right to excommunicate whomsoever they pleased. These and certain other privileges, of which the tendency was to render clerks in holy orders independent of the state, were not, though perti naciously advanced, sufficient to arouse the resolute opposition of Henry II. There were two other claims of the churchmen which, if once allowed, would not only have made the clergy to be the exact opposite of what Henry had looked for in him. quite independent, but would have given them the opportunity The case which induced the king to try conclusions with and the means of wholly subverting the kingly power. They Becket and the clerical party was an exceedingly gross one. A said that if a man contracted with another to do a thing, and priest in Worcestershire had violated a gentleman's daughter, confirmed his promise by an oath, the fact that the oath was and afterwards murdered her father. When the scoundrel was binding only on the conscience gave them jurisdiction, and in about to be brought to trial before the king's justices, Becket this way they drew before the spiritual courts many questions claimed him as a clerk, and getting possession of him, degraded of ordinary contracts, disputes about which ought rightly to have him from his priest's office, and then insisted that he could not been tried in the king's courts of law, which were open to all be tried again in the king's court, for the same offence. comers, and from which an appeal lay to the king himself. The These were the circumstances under which King Henry sumlast and most important of the clerical claims, however, was moned the bishops to Westminster; and the, meaning of the that which asserted that no clergyman could be brought to trial words "saving our own order" is sufficiently clear. Henry left in the king's courts, civil or criminal, for any breach of agree the hall in a rage, but it was not an impotent one. By promises, ment, however gross, or for any crime, however heinous. If a by threats, by various means, he detached most of the prelates elerk was accused of crime, and was arraigned before the king's from their primate, and he won over the Archbishop of York by judges, the bishop of the diocese in which the prisoner dwelt significant hints about the next incumbent of the see of Cantersent an order to the judge, notifying him that the man was in bury. Last to give in was Becket, who yielded only to the orders, and requiring him to surrender the fellow to the bishop's universal pressure brought to bear upon him, and repented as officer. When brought before the spiritual court the prisoner soon as he had assented. But repentance or no repentance, he was often allowed to clear himself on his simple oath, uncorro- did assent, and with the rest of the prelates professed his borated by any witness, to the effect that he had not done that willingness to observe " the ancient customs of the kingdom"of which he was accused. If he confessed, or if the case was which did not recognise the clerical claims-and to withdraw clearly proved against him, he was put to penance, sometimes the saving clause. he was put in prison, and sometimes-but rarely-he was degraded from his ecclesiastical rank. In this way crimes of the most abominable kind, and which, if committed by laymen, were punishable with death, were done with comparative impunity when clerks were the offenders. Nor was this all. By means of an absurd test, persons who were not, nor ever meant to be, in holy orders, were admitted to the "benefit of clergy." | Ability to read or write, no matter how imperfectly, was taken to be of itself sufficient proof that a man was a clerk, so that a layman arraigned before the king's justices had only to show that he could read or write what was afterwards appropriately called "the neck verse," and he was forthwith handed over to the ordinary to be put to his purgation in the ecclesiastical court. This monstrous immunity, with its yet more monstrous abuses, was like the last straw that broke the camel's back. So flagrantly unjust was it, both in principle and practice, that all honest men were indignant, and cried aloud for some check upon it. The king, who was by means of it and the other pretended rights of the clergy gradually ceasing to be master in his own dominions, resolved to apply a curb, and to wipe away the scandal. From the time when he mounted the throne in 1154 he had striven to restrain the power of the clergy, and, aided by the clear head and bold hand of his bosom friend Thomas à Becket, had striven not unsuccessfully. Great had been the wrath poured on Becket's head when, as Lord Chancellor of England, he had made havoc altogether of many a pet clerical abuse. Under the idea that he would continue the same policy in a sphere where that policy would have the largest possible scope, Henry offered Becket the archbishopric of Canterbury when that see was vacant in 1161. Becket, it must in fairness be admitted, was very averse to accept the offer, and for thirteen months held out a persistent refusal. Finally, how ever, he yielded to the earnest solicitations and orders of the king, and was duly installed as Primate at Canterbury. To the surprise of all men, and to the infinite disgust of the king, Becket from the day of his consecration pursued a totally new course to that he had formerly taken. Nowhere was there so bold an asserter of clerical rights, nowhere a more untiring worker on behalf of the power of the Church. He claimed lands which had once belonged to the see of Canterbury, but which had long been independent and in laymen's hands; he excommunicated the owner of an advowson for ejecting a priest who had been presented by himself; he asserted the right of the spiritual courts to inquire into questions of contract confirmed by oath; and in every respect he proved himself * Excommunication was the expulsion of a man, by the highest ecclesiastical authority, from the communion of Christian men. The rights and comforts of the Church were refused to the excommunicated; the sacraments were not allowed to be administered to him; Henry knew with whom he had to deal. He knew that a confession of this sort was quite useless unless it could be embodied in some visible instrument. Taking advantage of his success, of the schism in the Papacy (there were at this time two Popes, one at Rome, the other in France, and Henry played off one against the other), and of the resolute support of the barons, who were only too glad to give the spiritual lords a kick down, Henry summoned the primate and all the bishops to meet him at Clarendon, a village in Wiltshire, and there, being backed, like Stephen de Langton on a later occasion, by "the whole nobility of England," he required their sworn assent to what have been called the Constitutions of Clarendon. The "Constitutions" were dreadfully hard eating for the bishops, divesting them as they did of nearly all their invidious privileges, some of which it must be confessed were sanctioned by those "ancient customs" which the king had sworn the bishops to observe. Suits concerning advowsons and rights of presentation were to be decided in the civil courts; no clerk, no matter of what rank, was to quit the kingdom without the royal permission; the pretended right to try questions of contracts made on oath was to be renounced; excommunicated persons were not to be made to find security for their residence in any appointed place; laymen were not to be tried in spiritual courts except by approved good witnesses; no chief tenant of the crown to be excommunicated without the king's assent; the final appeal in all spiritual causes to be in the king; prelates to be regarded as barons of the realm, and to be taxed accordingly; bishops not to be elected without the royal assent; the privilege of sanctuary to be curtailed; and clerks accused of any crime to be tried in the king's courts, like other men. The Great Council of the barons unanimously approved the Constitutions, and, sour as the food was, all the prelates, except the primate, swore to accept it "legally, with good faith, and without fraud or reserve." Becket was resolute, though alone; friends as well as foes besieged his constancy, still he held out; and it was not till Richard de Hastings, Grand Prior of the Templars, a man who seldom bent his knee, even in prayer, went down on his knees and besought him, that he gave in. Unwillingly, and in hope of getting the Pope to annul his oath, he swore like the rest to accept the Constitutions "with good faith, and without fraud or reserve." Pope Alexander refused to ratify the treaty; he released all who had sworn from their oaths, and threatened to excommunicate everybody who should try to support the king's demands. A long trial of strength ensued. Becket got over to France, and plotted there against his former friend; Henry took the revenues of the hostile bishops into his own hands, and by dint of perseverance managed to keep the clergy in check; and it is probable he would have done very much more than he did had it not been for the brutal murder of Thomas à Becket, which was a blunder as well as a crime. In the autumn of 1170 Becket had returned to Canterbury, he was reckoned accursed; and, in times of superstition, he was sup nominally reconciled to the king; but the old question-which posed to be eternally lost if he died without absolution. Excommunication was the great weapon of ecclesiastics, and it was a powerful one in the age of ignorance and moral darkness. should be the greater-being revived, Henry is reported to have said in a hasty moment, "Is there not one of those who eat my bread that will rid me of this trouble ?" To Canterbury with their followers went four knights of Henry's court, and, acting entirely on their own responsibility, slew the archbishop on the steps of the altar. The outcry raised in England, where the archbishop was looked upon with favour, not only on account of his bold conduct in standing up for his order, but also because he was supposed to be the champion of the Anglo-Saxon against the Norman Englishman, was loud and sincere. Abroad, the feeling of grief was more than equalled by anger, and a sort of holy horror was felt at the bare notion of slaying an archbishop. King Henry, there is every reason to think, was genuinely sorry for the violence that had been done. Though his "guide and his companion, and his own familiar friend" had proved to be the sharpest thorn in his side, he 'remembered too well the former days to wish him any personal harm. Notwithstanding, on him was charged the whole guilt of the murder. Penance the most severe, disclaimers the most solemn, and ceremonies the most humiliating scarcely served to clear him. Purposely the Papal Court, which saw in Henry the strongest opponent of its pretensions, availed itself of the handle given to it, and strove to crush the king under a load of obloquy. To a very great extent it succeeded. Never again did Henry appear as the same strong champion of State rights as when he forced an assent to the Constitutions of Clarendon. The ghost of Thomas à Becket, now St. Thomas of Canterbury, haunted him, and the dead man's hand deprived the conqueror of his victory. The Constitutions of Clarendon were disregarded, the death of Becket making it impossible for the king to fly in the face of the papal veto upon them. Some little submission of the clerical to the kingly power was made, but the work marked out by Henry II., the entire subjection of the clergy to the head of the state, was left unaccomplished till the dawn of the Reformation in England, when it was renewed and carried out in the fullest possible manner by that "stately lord who broke the bonds of Rome," and who was saved by natural causes from committing, in the case of Cardinal Wolsey, the egregious blunder committed by the knights of Henry II. when they plunged their swords into the bosom of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury. 3. You must stop only as long as you can count one, two, three, four. 4. You must pronounce the word which is immediately before a period, with the falling inflection of the voice. 5. The falling inflection (or bending) of the voice is commonly marked by the grave accent, thus, Examples. Charles has bought a new hat. I have lost my gloves. Exercise and temperance strengthen the constitution. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. ? 6. The note or mark of Interrogation is a round dot with a hook above it, which is always put at the end of a question. 7. In reading, when you come to a note of interrogation, you must stop as if you waited for an answer. 8. You must stop only as long as you do at the period. 9. You must in most cases pronounce the word which is placed immediately before a note of interrogation, with the rising inflection of the voice. 10. The rising inflection of the voice is commonly marked by the acute accent, thus, Interrogative. Is your father well? Declaratory. My father is well. Interrogative. Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? 12. Sometimes the sentence which ends with a note of interrogation should be read with the falling inflection of the voice. Examples. What o'clock is it? How do you do to-dày? How much did he give for his book? How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? Where wast thou, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Sometimes the first part of an interrogative sentence should be read with the rising inflection of the voice, and the last part with the falling inflection. These parts are generally separated by a Comma, thus,, 14. At the comma, the rising inflection is used, and at the note of interrogation the falling inflection. of the voice. 16. In the following exercises some of the sentences are questions requiring the rising, and some the falling inflection A few sentences also ending with a period are inserted. No directions are given to the pupil with regard to the manner of reading them, it being desirable that his own understanding, under the guidance of nature alone, should direct him. But it may be observed that questions which can be answered by yes or no, generally require the rising inflection of the voice; and that questions which cannot be answered by yes or no, generally require the falling inflection. EXERCISE 1. John, where have you been this morning? What excuse have you for coming late this morning? Did you not know that it is past the school hour? Ah! in this room? How negligent some of our fellow-pupils are ! I am afraid many will regret that they have not improved their time! Why, here comes Charles! Did you think that he would return so soon? I suspect that he has not been pleased with his visit. Have you, Charles ? And were your friends glad to see you? When is cousin Jane to be married? Will she make us a visit before she is married? Or will she wait until she has changed her name? My dear Edward, how happy I am to see you! I heard of your approaching happiness with the highest pleasure. How does Rose do? And how is our whimsical old friend the Baron ? You must be patient and answer all my questions. I have many inquiries to make. The first dawn of morning found Waverley on the esplanade in front of the old Gothic gate of the castle. But he paced it long before the drawbridge was lowered. He produced his order to the sergeant of the guard, and was admitted. The place of his friend's confinement was a gloomy apartment in the central part of the castle. If you are so inattentive to your lessons, do you think that you you recite your lessons as well as he did? No. Lazy boy! Care. will make much improvement? Will you go, or stay? Shall you go to-day, or to-morrow? Will you ride, or walk ? His, or hers? Did he resemble his father, or his mother? Is this book yours, or mine? Do you hold the watch to-night ? We do, sir. Did you say that he was armed? Did you not speak to him? I did. Art thou lie that should Lord been revealed? He was armed. come, or do we look for another ? Have you nothing to say? Do you expect to be as high in your class as your brother? Did less child! You have paid You have been playing these two hours. no attention to your lessons. How You cannot say a word of them. foolish you have been! What a waste of time and talents you have made! LESSONS IN GEOMETRY.—II. DEFINITIONS (continued). report? To whom hath the arm of the 9. AN angle is the inclination of two straight lines to each III. THE NOTE OF EXCLAMATION. ! 17. The note or mark of Exclamation is a round dot with an upright dash or stroke above it, which is always put at the end of a sentence expressing surprise, astonishment, wonder, or admiration, or other strong feelings. 18. In reading, when you come to a note of exclamation, you must stop in the same manner as if it were a note of interrogation. 19. You must stop only as long as you do at a period. 20. You must generally pronounce the word which comes immediately before a note of exclamation with the falling inflection of the voice. What a beautiful house that is! How brightly the sun shines! How mysterious are the ways of God! How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! It is a dread and awful thing to die! Oh! deep enchanting prelude to repòse! The dawn of bliss the twilight of our woes! Lovely art thou, O Peace! and lovely are thy children; and lovely are thy footsteps in the green valleys! 21. In our remarks on the period, the student was taught that when he comes to a period, he must stop, as if he had nothing more to read. At the end of a paragraph, whether the period or any other mark be used, a longer pause should be made than at the end of an ordinary sentence. The notes of interrogation and exclamation generally require pauses of the same length with the period. It may here be remarked, that good readers always make their pauses long; but whatever be the length of the pause, the pupil must be careful that every pause which he makes shall be a total cessation of the voice. EXERCISE 2. The sentences to be read as if marked. George is a good boy. He learns his lesson well. He is attentive to the instructions of his teacher. He is orderly and quiet at home. A good scholar is known by his obedience to the rules of the school. He obeys the directions of his teacher. His attendance at the proper time of school is always punctual. He is remarkable for his diligence and attention. He reads no other book than that which he is desired to read by his master. He studies no lessons but those which are appointed for the day. He takes no toys from his pocket to amuse himself or others. He pays no regard to those who attempt to divert his attention from his book. Do you know who is a good scholar? Can you point ont many other, which meet in a point, and are not in the same direction. The point in which they meet is called the vertex of the angle, and each of the two straight lines is called a side or leg of the angle. The angle itself is generally called a plain rectilineal angle, because it necessarily lies in a plain, and is formed of straight lines. Curvilineal angles are such as are formed on the surface of a sphere or globe; but the consideration of such angles belongs to the higher geometry. The magnitudes of angles do not depend on the lengths of their legs or sides, but on the degree or amount of aperture between them, taken at the same distance from the vertex. An angle is generally represented by three letters, one of which is always placed at the vertex, to distinguish it particularly from every other angle in a given figure, and the other two are placed somewhere on the legs of the angle, but generally at their extremities; and in reading or in speaking of the angle, the letter at the vertex is always placed between the other two, and uttered or written accordingly. Thus, in Fig. 4, which represents an angle, the name of the angle is either B A C or CAB: the point A is called its vertex; and the straight lines B A, C A, its sides or legs. 10. Angles are divided into two kinds, right and oblique, and oblique angles are divided into two species, acute and obtuse. When one straight line meets another, at any point between its extremities, and makes the adjacent or contiguous angles equal to each other, each of them is called a right angle, and the legs of each of these angles are said to be perpendicular to one another. Thus, in Fig. 5, the straight line A B meets the straight line C D in the point A, and makes the adjacent angles CA B, DA B, equal to each other; each of these angles is therefore called a right angle; and the straight line A B is said to be perpendicular to the straight line A C, or D A, and consequently A C or A D is perpendicular to A B. When one straight line meets another, at any point between its extremities, and makes the adjacent angles unequal to each other, each of them is called an oblique angle; that which is greater than a right angle is called an obtuse angle; and that |