fable of the fox commending the singing of the crow, because she had something in her mouth which he wanted.

Be careful that you do not commend yourselves. It is a sign that your reputation is small and sinking if your own tongue must praise you; and it is fulsome and unpleasing to others to hear such commendation.

Speak well of the absent whenever you have an available opportunity. Never speak ill of them or of anybody else unless you are sure they deserve it; and, not then, unless it is necessary for their amendment, or for the safety and benefit of others.

Avoid, in your ordinary communications, not only oaths, but all extravagant expressions.

Forbear scoffing and jesting at the condition or natural defects of any person. Such offenses leave a deep impression, and they often cost a man dear.

Be very careful that you give no reproachful, spiteful, or threatening words to any person. Good words make friends, bad words make enemies. It is great prudence to gain as many friends as we honestly can, especially when it may be done at so easy a rate as a good word; and it is great folly to make an enemy by ill words, which are of no advantage to the party who uses them. When faults

are committed they may, and by a superior they must, be reproved; but let it be done without reproach or bitterness, otherwise it will lose its effect, and, instead of reforming the offense, it will exasperate the offender, and lay the reprover justly open to reproof.

If a person be passionate, and give you ill language, rather pity him than be moved to anger.

You will find that silence, or very gentle words, are the most exquisite revenge for reproaches; they will either cure the ill-temper of an angry man, and make him sorry for his passion, or they will be a severe reproof and punishment to him. But,

at any rate, they will preserve your innocence, give you the deserved reputation for wisdom and moderation, and keep up the serenity and composure of your mind. Passion and anger make a man unfit for every thing that becomes him as a man or as a Christian.

Read these directions often, think of them seriously, and practice them diligently. You will find them useful in your conversation. Their utility will every day be the more evident to you as your judgment, understanding, and experience increase. SIR MATTHEW HALE,

Biography.-Sir Matthew Hale was born at Alderly, England, in 1609, and died in 1676.

He was left an orphan at an early age, and intended to devote himself to a military life. This intention was fortunately changed, and when twenty years old, he began the practice of law. He soon rose to eminence in his profession, and was employed in some of the most important cases of his time, one of them being the trial of King Charles I. In 1671, he became ChiefJustice of the King's Bench, from which position he was obliged by illness to resign.

He was a man of upright character and of noted impartiality as a judge. While studying law, the rules which he laid down for himself, prescribed sixteen hours a day of close application, and prove not only the great mental power, but also the extraordinary physical strength he must have possessed.

Language. —Notice the frequent use of the command in this lesson. Does the reason following a command strengthen the force of the command?

Are there any questions in the lesson ?

Instead of using the terms, statement, command, question, and exclamation, sentences may be designated as, declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory.

With face against the pane,
Looks out across the night
And sees the Beacon Light
A-trembling in the rain.

She hears the sea-birds screech,
And the breakers on the beach

Making moan, making moan.
And the wind about the eaves
Of the cottage sobs and grieves;
And the willow-tree is blown

To and fro, to and fro,

Till it seems like some old crone
Standing out there all alone,
With her woe!

Wringing, as she stands,

Her gaunt and palsied hands;
While Mabel, timid Mabel,

With face against the pane,
Looks out across the night,
And sees the Beacon Light
A-trembling in the rain.

Set the table, maiden Mabel,

And make the cabin warm;
Your little fisher-lover

Is out there in the storm;

And your father-you are weeping!

O Mabel, timid Mabel,
Go spread the supper-table,
And set the tea a-steeping.
Your lover's heart is brave,

His boat is stanch and tight;

And your father knows the perilous reef That makes the water white.

But Mabel, Mabel darling, With face against the pane, Looks out across the night

At the Beacon in the rain.

The heavens are veined with fire!
And the thunder, how it rolls!
In the lullings of the storm

The solemn church-bell tolls
For lost souls!

But no sexton sounds the knell
In that belfry old and high;
Unseen fingers sway the bell,

As the wind goes tearing by!

How it tolls for the souls

Of the sailors on the sea!
God pity them, God pity them,
Wherever they may be!

God pity wives and sweethearts
Who wait and wait in vain!

And pity little Mabel,

With face against the pane.

A boom!-the light-house gun!
(How its echo rolls and rolls!
'Tis to warn the home-bound ships
Off the shoals!