And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy.

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond’ Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much:—such men are dangerous.
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not;
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort,
As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit,
That could be moved to smile at anything.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
While they behold a greater than themselves;
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be feared,
Than what I fear; for always I am Cæsar.
Come on my right hand,—for this ear is deaf,-
And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.

This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only he,
Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He only, in a general honest thought,
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, This was a man!”

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23.

SCROOGE'S CHRISTMAS.

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1. “A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” “Bah! humbug!”

"Christmas a humbug, uncle! You don't mean that, I am sure !"

2. “I do. Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books, and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I had my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should !”

3. “Uncle!” ”

“ Nephew, keep Christmas time in your own way, and let me keep it in mine."

Keep it! But you do n't keep it!” “Let me leave it alone, then. Much good may it do you! Much good it has ever done you!”

4. “There are many good things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round,-apart from the veneration due to its sacred origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that, -as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellowtravelers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket,

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I believe that it has done me good and will do me good, and I say, God bless it!”

5. “You're quite a powerful speaker, sir; I wonder you do n't go into Parliament.” “ Do n't be angry,

uncle. Come! Dine with us tomorrow."

“I'll see you hanged first.” “But why, uncle? Why?”

Why did you get married ?" Because I fell in love." Because

you

fell in love !—Good-afternoon!” 6. “Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me before that happened. Why give it as a reason for not coming

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now?"

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Good-afternoon!” “I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends ?”

“Good-afternoon!”

7. “I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humor to the last. So, a merry Christmas, uncle!”

“ Good-afternoon !"
“And a happy New Year!”
“Good-afternoon !”

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DICKENS's Christmas Carol.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING. If the Christmas Carol is in the library, let the class read extended extracts from that most delightful story.

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IV.

VOCAL TRAINING.-RULES OF INFLECTION.

Rule 1. Direct questions that are answered by YES or NO, generally require the rising inflection, and their answers, the falling inflection.

1. Will you lend me a knife? Nò, I hàve none. 2. Have you recited your lésson? Yes, we hàve. 3. Armed', say you? Armed, my lord. Require each pupil to find, in this book, two additional cramples to illustrate this rule, and to read them in the class,

Rule II. Indirect questions, or those that cannot be answered by YES or NO, generally require the falling inflection. 1. What is your nàme? Thomas.

. 2. Where are you gòing? To Lòndon. 3. What are you dòing? Reading. 4. Who's here so rude, that would not be a Ròman? 5. Who's here so vile, that will not love his country? Require cach pupil to select and read in the class two additional illustrations of this rule.

Rule III. Incomplete statements, or phrases and clauses that depend on something to follow, require the rising inflection. 1. There is no flock, however watched and tended,

But one dead làmb is there!
There is no fireside howsoe'er defénded,

But has one vacant chàir!

2. A peacock came with plumage gáy,

Before a cottage dóor, one day,
Beneath a little bird, whose song,
From out his cáge, had charmed the thròng.

3. When Freedom, from her mountain height,

Unfurled her standard to the air,
She tore the azure robe of night,

And set the stars of glòry there. 4. We wish that this column, rising toward héaven, among the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated to Gód, may contribute, also, to prodúce, in all minds, a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. We wish, finally, that the last object on the sight of him who leaves his native shóre, and the first to gladden his who revísits it, may be something which shall remind him of the líberty and the glory of his country.

WEBSTER.

Rule IV. Positive statements and strong emphasis incline the voice to the falling inflection.

1. The charge is utterly, totally, and meanly false. 2. How beaùtiful is night! 3. Eloquence is action,-nòble, sublime, godlike action. 4. For life, for life, their flight they ply.

5. There is no retreat but in submission and slàvery. The war is inevitable, and let it come. I repeat it, sir, let it còme.

6. Hònor the charge they made,

Hònor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred.

7. Strike—till the last armed foe expires;

Strike—for your àltars and your fires;
Strike-for the green graves of your sires;

Gød—and your native lùnd !
8. Go, ring the bells, and fire the gions,

And fling your starry bànners out;
Shout freedom-till your lisping ones

Give back their crùdle shout.