anced himself a little as if to steady his aim, then stepping at once forward, drew the cimeter across the cushion, applying the edge so dexterously, and with so little apparent effort, that the cushion seemed rather to fall asunder than to be divided by violence.

"It is a juggler's trick," said De Vaux, darting forward and snatching up the portion of the cushion which had been cut off, as if to assure himself of the reality of the feat; "there is gramarye* in this.”

The soldan seemed to comprehend him, for he undid the sort of veil which he had hitherto worn, laid it double along the edge of his sabre, extended the weapon edgewise in the air, and drawing it suddenly through the veil, although it hung on the blade entirely loose, severed that also into two parts, which floated to different sides of the tent, equally displaying the extreme temper and sharpness of the weapon, and the exquisite dexterity of him who used it.

"Now, in good faith, my brother," said Richard, "thou art even matchless at the trick of the sword, and right perilous were it to meet thee. Still, however, I put some faith in a downright English blow, and what we cannot do by slight, we eke out by strength."

LXXIV. THE DEATH OF DE BOUNE.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

[This lesson is taken from the Lord of the Isles, a poem narrating the chief incidents in the life of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, who defeated the English in the battle of Bannockburn, fought June 24, 1314. A spirited account of the battle concludes the poem. On the evening before the fight, as the king was arranging his troops, he was attacked by an English knight, who fell in the encounter, as here narrated.]

THE monarch rode along the van
The foe's approaching force to scan,
His line to marshal and to range,

And ranks to square, and fronts to change.

* Gramarye, witchcraft or magic.

Sheathed in his ready arms of steel;
Nor mounted yet on war horse wight,*
But, till more near the shock of fight,
Reining a palfrey low and light.
A diadem of gold was set

Above his bright steel basinet; †
Truncheon or leading staff he lacks,
Bearing, instead, a battle axe.
He ranged his soldiers for the fight
Accoutred thus, in open sight

Of either host. Three bowshots far,
Paused the deep front of England's war,
And rested on their arms a while,
To close and rank their warlike file,
And hold high council, if that night
Should view the strife, or dawning light.

O, gay, yet fearful to behold,

Flashing with steel and rough with gold,
And bristled o'er with bills and spears,
With plumes and pennons waving fair,
Was that bright battle front! for there
Rode England's king and peers:
And who that saw that monarch ride,
His kingdom battled by his side,
Could then his direful doom foretell?
Fair was his seat in knightly selle,§
And in his sprightly eye was set
Some spark of the Plantagenet.||

Wight, strong.

† Basinet, a small helmet. Edward II., who commanded the English at Bannockburn, was a feebleminded prince, who was afterwards deposed and cruelly murdered.

§ Selle, saddle.

The Plantagenets were a family that reigned in England for about three centuries. Many of them were brave and warlike princes.

Just as they met, Bruce shunned the spear.
Onward the baffled warrior bore

His course-but soon his course was o'er!
High in his stirrups stood the king,
And gave his battle axe the swing.
Right on De Boune, the whiles he passed,
Fell that stern dint, the first, the last!
Such strength upon the blow was put,
The helmet crushed like hazel nut;
The axe shaft, with its brazen clasp,
Was shivered to the gauntlet grasp.
Springs from the blow the startled horse,
Drops to the plain the lifeless corse;
First of that fatal field, how soon,
How sudden, fell the fierce De Boune!

LXXV. -THE FORGIVEN DEBT.

L. M. SARGENT.

ABOUT the beginning of the present century, a Boston merchant, who had been extensively engaged in commerce, died in a good old age, without leaving any will. He had been for many years largely interested in the fishing business, and his name was familiar to all the hardy fishermen of Cape Cod. His eldest son administered upon the estate.

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Among his papers, a package of considerable size was found, after his death, carefully tied up, and labelled as follows: Notes, due bills, and accounts against sundry persons down along shore. Some of these may be got by a suit or severe dunning. But the people are poor; most of them have had fisherman's luck. My children will do as they think best. Perhaps they will think, with me, that it is best to burn this package entire."

"About a month," said my informant, "after our father died,

the sons met together, and, after some general remarks, our eldest brother, the administrator, produced this package, of whose existence we were already apprised, read the superscription, and asked what course should be taken in regard to it. Another brother, a few years younger than the eldest, a man of strong, impulsive temperament, unable at the moment to express his feeling by words, while he brushed the tears from his eyes with one hand, by a spasmodic jerk of the other towards the fireplace, indicated his desire to have the paper put into the flames. It was suggested by another of our number, that it might be well first to make a list of the debtors' names, and of the dates and accounts, that we might be enabled, as the intended discharge was for all, to inform such as might offer payment, that their debts were forgiven. On the following day we again assembled; the list had been prepared, and all the notes, due bills, and accounts, whose amount, including interest, exceeded thirty-two thousand dollars, were committed to the flames.

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"It was about four months after our father's death, in the month of June, that, as I was sitting in my eldest brother's counting room, waiting for an opportunity to speak to him, there came in a hard-favored, little old man, who looked as if time and rough weather had been to the windward of him for seventy years. He asked if my brother was not the executor. He replied that he was administrator, as our father died intestate. 'Well,' said the stranger, 'I have come up from the Cape to pay a debt I owed the old gentleman.' My brother,” continued my informant, "requested him to be seated, being at the moment engaged.

"The old man sat down, and putting on his glasses, drew out a very ancient leather wallet. When he had done, and there was quite a parcel of notes, as he sat, waiting his turn, slowly twisting his thumbs, with his old, gray, meditative eyes upon the floor, he sighed; and I well supposed the money, as the phrase runs, came hard, and secretly wished the old man's name might be found upon the forgiven list. My brother was