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SHAKSPEARE.

EXT to his religious duties, are those which a young prince owes to his earthly parents: they claim, indeed, a double duty from him-that of a child, and of a subject; and we have examples, among the highest and the bravest, of persons who have been eminent, from their earliest years, for respect and affection towards those to whom they owed their being.

The first and greatest example that is recorded, for the humble imitation of us all, from the prince to the peasant, is that of our Blessed Saviour. The Evangelists have informed us but of two particulars of the early years of the Saviour: the one, that at twelve years old, he disputed with the Doctors in the Temple; the other, that he dwelt with his parents, "and was subject unto them."

SINGULAR REWARD OF FILIAL LOVE.

CYRUS, king of Persia, having conquered Croesus,

king of Lydia, in battle, the latter fled into Sardis: but Cyrus following, took the city by storm; and a soldier running after Croesus with a sword, young Croesus, his son, who had been born dumb, and had so continued to that hour, from the mere impulse of natural affection, seeing his father in such imminent danger, suddenly cried out, "O man, kill not Crosus!" and continued to enjoy the faculty of speech the rest of his life.

OL

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

LYMPIAS, the mother of Alexander, was of so unhappy a disposition, that he would never suffer her to have any concern in the government of Macedon. She complained of this as a hardship, and he bore her ill-humour with great mildness and patience, and was continually sending her very magnificent presents. Antipater, his viceroy in Macedon, once wrote him a long letter, full of heavy complaints against her when he had read it, he observed, Antipater knows not, that a single tear of a mother can blot out a thousand such complaints."

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SCIPIO AFRICANUS.

HE Romans considered the Oaken Crown as the most desirable of all rewards. It was necessary that the candidate for it should have killed an enemy, have restored a lost battle, and have saved the life of a Roman citizen. All these acts Scipio Africanus performed at the battle of Trebia, but he refused the civic crown, because it was the life of his father that he had saved, and he said, that the consciousness of having discharged a sacred duty appeared to him to be a sufficient reward.

A ROMAN SON.

WHEN Cicero and his brother Quintus were

proscribed by the Second Triumvirate, they resolved to retire to a country house belonging to Cicero, on the sea-coast, whence they might take ship to repair to Brutus in Macedonia. Stopping in their separate litters on the road, however, to condole together on their misfortunes, they found they had too slender a provision for such an undertaking, and it was settled that Quintus should return home and get some supplies, while Cicero should go on to secure a vessel for their passage.

The return of Quintus, however, was quickly known, and his house filled with soldiers, anxious to obtain the reward offered for his head. He effectually eluded their search, but they seized his young son, and after questioning him in vain, they put him to the torture, to make him discover the place of his father's concealment. The young Roman was proof against the most dreadful torments, but Quintus, who was within hearing of his groans, was unable to bear his sufferings, and presenting himself before the assassins, he and the noble child were beheaded together.

A LATIN LETTER FROM

HENRY PRINCE OF WALES, TO HIS FATHER

JAMES THE FIRST, WRITTEN ON THE DAY WHEN HE

COMPLETED HIS EIGHTH YEAR.

Feb. 19th 1601-2.

REX SERENISSIME ET AMANTISSIME PATER,

NTE biennium septima scilicet meo natali ad majestatem tuam cœpi primum scribere, ut primos conatus meos, & quasi rudimenta scriptionis studiorumque meorum, tum temporis ostenderem. Nunc idem nono meo natali facio, cum ut majestas tua, quem in utrisque ab eo tempore progressum fuerim, intelligat,

tum non obscurum officii mei testimonium habeat. Parum est enim bene incepisse, nisi primis extrema respondeant: Quod quidem de me futurum, modo Deus opt. max. mihi, ut cœpit, pergat esse propitius, confido; & majestatem tuam isthuc ipsum de me existimare vehementer cupio. Nam post discessum tuum Terentii Hecyram, Fabularum Phædri Librum tertium, et duos Libros selectarum Epistolarum Ciceronis edidici, ut jam in commendatario Epistolarum genere præstare aliquid per me possim. Sed qualecunque id sit, Majestas tua, cum advenerit, judicabit, cui salutem ego perpetuam ex animo precari non desino. Majestatis suæ observantissimus, &c.

LETTER OF

HENRY PRINCE OF WALES, TO HIS FATHER

JAMES THE FIRST.

PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY,

AM glad to hear of your Majesty's recovery, before I understood of your distemper by the heat of the weather. I have sent this bearer of purpose to return word of your Majesty's good health, which I beseech God long to continue, as also to remember my most humble duty. He is likewise to acquaint your Ma

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