In a Briton's sweet home shall a spoiler abide, Profaning its loves and its charms ? To arms! oh, my country, to arms! His head to the sword shall be given- And his blood be an offering to heaven! CAMPBELL. XXXVI. NELSON. “ The most triumphant death is that of the martyr; the most awful that of the martyred patriot; the most splendid that of the hero in the hour of victory; and if the chariot and the horses of fire had been vouchsafed for Nelson's translation, he could scarcely have departed in a brighter blaze of glory. He has left us, not indeed his mantle of inspiration, but a name and an example, which are at this hour inspiring thousands of the youth of England : a name which is our pride, and an example which will continue to be our shield and our strength.”— Southey's Life of Nelson. DEEP graved in every British heart, Scott. 1. Fretum Gaditanum was the ancient 2. An antiquated word, meaning light name of the Straits of Gibraltar, and near or lightning it was Trafalgar, where the immortal 3. What bolt ? Nelson fell. POEMS OF HOME AND COUNTRY. I. THE HOMES OF ENGLAND. “ ENGLAND combines within itself all that is most desirable in scenery with all that is most necessary for the subsistence and comfort of man. The distinguishing peculiarity in the aspect of the country is, however, the exuberance of its vegetation, and the rich luxuriant appearance of its lower and far most extensive portion. It owes this distinction partly to nature and partly to art. The humidity and mildness of the climate maintain the fields in a constant state of verdure; in winter they are seldom covered with snow or blighted by long-continued frosts, and in summer they are rarely withered and parched by droughts. In this respect England is as superior to the finest countries of continental Europe—to Italy and Sicily, for example--as she is superior to them and to every other country in the amount of labour that has been expended in beautifying, improving, and fertilizing her surface. It is no exaggeration to affirm, that thousands upon thousands of millions have been laid out in making England what she now is. In no other nation has the combination of beauty with utility been so much regarded. Another peculiar feature in the physiogony of England is the number and magnificence of the seats of the nobility and gentry. These superb mansions, many of which are venerable from their antiquity, and all of which are surrounded with fine woods and grounds, give to the country an appearance of age, security, and wealth, that we should in vain look for anywhere else. The farm-houses and cottages have mostly also a substantial, comfortable look; and evince that taste for rural beauty, neatness, and cleanliness, that eminently distinguish their occupiers.”—M Culloch's Geo. Dictionary, Art. “England.” Derivations. Etymology. Syntax. Beautiful, 1. 2. Leaves. Dear and deer. Hallowed and hollowed. How beautiful they stand ! O'er all the pleasant land ! The deer across their greensward bound 2 Through shade and sunny gleam, Of some rejoicing stream. Around their hearths by night, Meet in the ruddy light! Or childhood's tale is told ; Some glorious page of old. 3 By thousands on her plains, And round the hamlet-fanes. Each 4 from its nook of leaves ; As the bird beneath their eaves. Long, long in hut and hall To guard each hallow'd wall. And bright the flowery sod, MRS. HEMANS. 1. What does their refer to ? 5. What effect has the repetition of the 2. Bound, what sort of verb? word long? 3. What is meant by some glorious 6. Why native proof: page of old ? 7. One word for love of muntry, and 4. Each what? one for love of God ? II. LOVE OF ENGLAND. “If nature has denied to Britain the fruitful vine, the fragrant •myrtle, the spontaneous soil, and the beautiful climate, she has also exempted her from the parching drought, the deadly siroc, and the frightful tornado. If our soil is poor and churlish, and our skies cold and frowning, the serpent never lurks within the one, nor the plague within the other. If our mountains are bleak and barren, they have LOVE OF ENGLAND. 67 at least nursed within their bosoms a race of men whose industry and intelligence have performed greater wonders, and supply a more inexhaustible fund of wealth, than all the mines of Mexico and Hindostan. If other nations furnish us with the materials of our manufactures, ours are the skill and industry that have enhanced their value a thousandfold ; ours are the capital and onterprise that have applied the great inventions of Watt and Arkwright, and made the ascendency of this little island be felt in the remotest corners of the world; ours, in a word, are those institutions, civil, political, and religious, that have made us the envy of surrounding nations, and raised us to a pinnacle of greatness from which nothing but intestine foes can ever thrust us down.-M Diarmid. Derivations. Distinguish between trans, and intrans, verbs : England. Patriot. Love. Shake. Left. Flash. Deformed. Effeminates. Found. Reflect. Exchange. Golden. Sublime. Just. COWPER. 1. The ellipsis in this line? 4. Where? 2. What case is part in ? 5. Is this use of an adjective to be re3. What is Ausonia! commended in prose? III. THE NAME OF ENGLAND. “ Who shall say what work and works this England has yet to do? For what purpose this land of Britain was created, set like a jewel in the encircling blue of ocean; and this tribe of Saxons, fasi ioned in the depths of time, on the shores of the Black Sea,' or elsewhere, out of Harzgebirge rock,' or whatever other material, was sent travelling hitherward? No man can say ; it was for a work, and for works, incapable of announcement in words. Thou seest them there; part of them stand done, and visible to the eye; even these thou can’st not name ; how much less the others still matter of prophecy only!”– Carlyle. The trumpet of the battle Hath a high and thrilling tone; Dread music all its own. Is in that name of thine, Along the banner'd line." Of yore, the brave and true, And the yeoman's arrow flew. Through the battles of the sea, Like the lightning in its glee. Its echoes have been known; That have answered to its tone. Its pealing note hath stirr'd ; MRS. HEMANS. 1. Why bannered line ? a hundred and twenty thousand of the 2. The son of Eduard the Third, enemy. The English'obtained a comcalled the Black Prince, because he wore plete victory, which some say was partly black armour, made himself famous by owing to the havoc made by a few pieces gaining the battle of Cressy in France ; a of cannon, which were first used in this battle wherein the English army, of thirty battle. thousand men, was opposed by a force of |