His sire, Lords, had a traitor's heart; perchance our Champion brave "Whoever told this tale-the King hath rashness to repeat," "The blood that I like water shed, when Roland did advance, By secret traitors hired and led, to make us slaves of France;The life of King Alphonso I saved at Roncesval,'— Your words, Lord King, are recompense abundant for it all. "Your horse was down-your hope was flown-I saw the falchion shine, That soon had drank your royal blood, had I not ventured mine; And ye've thank'd the son, for life and crown, by the father's bloody fate. "Ye swore upon your kingly faith, to set Don Sancho free, "The king that swerveth from his word hath stain'd his purple black, "Seize-seize him!"- loud the King doth scream-"There are a thousand here Let his foul blood this instant stream-What caitiffs do you fear? He drew the falchion from the sheath, and held it up on high, “Ha! Bernard,” quoth Alphonso, "what means this warlike guise? 1 Roncesvalles (French Roncevaux), a frontier village of Spain, in a gorge of the Pyrenees. Here, it is traditionally said, that the rear-guard of Charlemagne's army, under Roland or Orlando, was defeated and destroyed in 778, and that Roland himself fell by the hand of Bernardo del Carpio. 1. Name Bernardo's parents. 2. In what century did Charlemagne flourish ? 3. Why is Alphonso called the lying King? 4. Describe Bernardo as he approaches the throne. 5. What are the words of the king as Bernardo advances? 6. What reply does the champion make to the king's calumny and threat? 7. What facts are alluded to in verse 4th? 8. What does Bernard say of the king who breaks his faith? 9. Why was not Bernard seized at the king's command? 10. In what words does our champion challenge the king and his nobles? 11. What takes place when the horn is blown? 12. In what tone did the king now address him? 13. What sort of smile would Bernardo give on leaving the hall? THE LADY AND ADOPTED CHILD. MRS. HEMANS. SOME years since, a young New Zealander was carried to England, where he lived many years, was carefully educated, and introduced into the most refined society. When his education was completed, he returned to his home, and at once returned to the habits, the character, and the degradations of savage life. This has almost uniformly been the result of attempts to civilize and educate young savages. And why? On what principle can it be accounted for? I reply, that the work was begun too late. The impressions made upon early childhood cannot be effaced. You may take the young savage, and make a palace his home, and he is like the young ass's colt: he longs for the forest, for the lawlessness of savage life. This principle is deep, uniform, unalterable. Rev. John Todd. LADY. "Why wouldst thou leave me, oh! gentle child? A straw-roofed cabin with lowly wall Mine is a fair and pillared hall, Where many an image of marble gleams, And the sunshine of pictures for ever streams!" Bor. แ "Oh! green is the turf where my brothers play, LADY. "Content thee, boy, in my bower to dwell; Harps which the wandering breezes tune: Whose voice was ne'er in thy mountains heard." Boy. "My mother sings at the twilight's fall, A song of the hills far more sweet than all; Lady, kind lady, oh! let me go!" LADY. "Thy mother hath gone from her cares to rest, Thou wouldst meet her footsteps, my boy, no more, Come thou with me to the vineyards nigh, Bor. "Is my mother gone from her home away! And they launch their boats where the blue streams flow, LADY. "Fair child, thy brothers are wanderers now, For thy cabin-home is a lonely spot!" Boy. "Are they gone, all gone from the hill? THE DEATH OF KEELDAR. SIR WALTER SCOTT. PERCY or Percival Rede of Trochend, in Redesdale, Northumberland, is celebrated in tradition as a huntsman and a soldier. He was, upon two occasions, singularly unfortunate; once, when an arrow, which he had discharged at a deer, killed his celebrated dog Keeldar; and again, when, being on a hunting party, he was betrayed into the hands of a clan called Crossar, by whom he was murdered. Mr Cooper's painting of the first of these incidents, suggested the following stanzas. UP ROSE the sun, o'er moor and mead; The palfrey sprung with sprightly bound, Man, hound, or horse, of higher fame, On Cheviot's' rueful day; 1 See ballad of Chevy Chase, which relates, perhaps, a totally fictitious event, unless it may be founded on the battle of Otterbourne, (1388) the only one mentioned in history in which a Douglas fell fighting with a Percy. Keeldar was matchless in his speed, Than Tarras, ne'er was stauncher steed, A peerless archer Percy Rede: And right dear friends were they. The chase engross'd their joys and woes, And oft when evening skies were red, Now is the thrilling moment near, The game's afoot!-Halloo! Halloo! The noble hound-he dies, he dies, Now day may break and bugle sound, Dilated nostrils, staring eyes His aspect hath expression drear, But he that bent the fatal bow, Can think he hears the senseless clay, "And if it be, the shaft be bless'd, And you may have a fleeter hound, And to his last stout Percy rued E'en with his dying voice he cried, Remembrance of the erring bow Down dark oblivion's river; But Art can Time's stern doom arrest, The scene shall live for ever. 1. Give me some history of Percy Rede. 2. What suggested the stanzas to Sir Walter Scott? 3. Describe the jovial three as they might be seen at sunrise. 4. Why "Cheviot's rueful day"? 5. What were the names and qualities of master, steed, and hound? 6. In what way did the three spend the live-long day? 7. Describe the scene at the thicket that concealed the deer. 10. What things shall no more rouse noble Keeldar? 11. How looked the horse as he stood by the hound? 12. Who must feel the loss in the highest degree? 13. What may he be supposed to think he hears Keeldar say? 14. By whom was bold Percy Rede murdered? 15. What were among his last words? 16. What art keeps this affecting story 8. Of the wood of what tree were bows in remembrance? chiefly made? 17. In what way is it now preserved 9. What mean you by the "faithless besides by Cooper's picture? yew?" THE WIDOW OF NAIN. N. P. WILLIS. NAIN, so called for the pleasantness of its situation, was a town of Galilee, about two leagues from Nazareth, and not so much from Mount Tabor, between which and the city ran the river Kison. From our Saviour's meeting the funeral coming out of the 1 A river in the infernal regions whose waters caused forgetfulness. |