interference was sternly disregarded. The victim was held fast by some, while others, binding a large heavy stone in a plaid, tied it round his neck, and others again eagerly stripped him of some part of his dress. Half naked, and thus manacled, they hurried him into the lake, there about twelve feet deep, drowning his last death-shriek with a loud halloo of vindictive triumph, over which, however, the yell of mortal agony was distinctly heard. The heavy burden splashed in the dark blue waters of the lake, and the Highlanders, with their pole-axes and swords, watched an instant, to guard, lest, extricating himself from the load to which he was attached, he might have struggled to regain the shore. But the knot had been securely bound; the victim sunk without effort; the waters, which his fall had disturbed, settled calmly over him, and the unit of that life, for which he had pleaded so strongly, was forever withdrawn from the sum of human existence.

LESSON XXXIX.

April Day.- ANONYMOUS.*

ALL day the low-hung clouds have dropt

Their garnered fulness down;

All day that soft, gray mist hath wrapt
Hill, valley, grove and town.
There has not been a sound to-day

To break the calm of nature;
Nor motion, I might almost say,
Of life, or living creature ;-
Of waving bough, or warbling bird,
Or cattle faintly lowing;-

* Extracted from the Review of "The Widow's Tale, and other Poems, by the author of Ellen Fitzarthur," in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 1822

I could have half believed I heard

The leaves and blossoms growing. I stood to hear I love it well

The rain's continuous sound;

Small drops, but thick and fast they fell,
Down straight into the ground.

For leafy thickness is not yet

Earth's naked breast to screen, Though every dripping branch is set

With shoots of tender green. Sure, since I looked at early morn,

Those honeysuckle buds

Have swelled to double growth; that thorn

Hath put forth larger studs.

That lilac's cleaving cones have burst

The milk-white flowers revealing:

Even now, upon my senses first

Methinks their sweets are stealing.

The very earth, the steamy air,
Is all with fragrance rife!
And grace and beauty everywhere
Are flushing into life.

Down, down they come

those fruitful stores!

Those earth-rejoicing drops!
A momentary deluge pours,
Then thins, decreases, stops.
And ere the dimples on the stream
Have circled out of sight,

Lo' from the west, a parting gleam
Breaks forth of amber light.

11

THE shepherd saunters last: - but why

Comes with him, pace for pace,
That ewe? and why, so piteously,
Looks up the creature's face?-
Swung in his careless hand, she sees
(Poor ewe!) a dead, cold weight,
The little one her soft, warm fleece
So fondly cherished late.

But yesterday, no happier dam
Ranged o'er those pastures wide

Than she, fond creature! when the lamb
Was sporting by her side.

It was a new-born thing:— the rain
Poured down all night — its bed
Was drenched and cold. Morn came again,
But the young lamb was dead.
Yet the poor mother's fond distress
Its every art had tried,

To shield, with sleepless tenderness,

The weak one at her side.

Round it all night she gathered warm
Her woolly limbs her head
Close curved across its feeble form;
Day dawned, and it was dead.

She saw it dead: she felt, she knew

* Author of "The Widow's Tale, and other Poems."

To cherish it in love's warm fold;

Then restless trial made,
Moving, with still reverted face,
And low, complaining bleat,
To entice from their damp resting-place
Those little stiffening feet.

All would not do, when all was tried:
Love's last fond lure was vain:

So, quietly by its dead side,

She laid her down again.

at sea.

LESSON XLI.

The White Bear.- PERCIVAL.

THE white bear of Greenland and Spitzbergen is considerably larger that the brown bear of Europe, or the black bear of North America. This animal lives upon fish and seals, and is seen not only upon land, in the countries bordering on the North Pole, but often upon floats of ice several leagues The following relation is extracted from the "Journal of a Voyage for making Discoveries towards the North Pole." Early in the morning, the man at the mast-head gave notice that three bears were making their way very fast over the ice, and that they were directing their course towards the ship. They had, without question, been invited by the scent of the blubber of a sea-horse, killed a few days before, which the men had set on fire, and which was burning on the ice at the time of their approach. They proved to be a she-bear and her two cubs; but the cubs were nearly as large as the dam. They ran eagerly to the fire, and drew out from the flames part of the flesh of the sea-horse that remained unconsumed, and ate it voraciously. The crew from the ship threw great lumps of the flesh of the sea-horse, which they had still left, upon the ice. These the old bear carried away singly; laid every lump before her cubs as she brought it, and

dividing it, gave each a share, reserving but a small portion to herself. As she was taking away the last piece, they levelled their muskets at the cubs, and shot them both dead; and, in her retreat, they wounded the dam, but not mortally.

"It would have drawn tears of pity from any but unfeeling minds, to mark the affectionate concern expressed by this poor beast, in the last moments of her expiring young. Though she was sorely wounded, and could but just crawl to the place where they lay, she carried the lump of flesh, which she had fetched away, and placed it before them. Seeing that they refused to eat, she laid her paws first upon one and then upon the other, and endeavored to raise them up. It was pitiful to hear her moan. When she found she could not stir them, she went off; and, stopping when she had gotten to some distance, she looked back and moaned. When she found that she could not entice them away, she returned, and smelling around them, began to lick their wounds. She went off a second time as before; and, having crawled a few paces, looked again behind her, and for some time stood moaning. But still her cubs not rising to follow her, she returned to them again, and with signs of inexpressible fondness, went round one and round the other, pawing them and moaning. Finding at last that they were cold and lifeless, she raised her head towards the ship and growled at the murderers, who then shot her with a volley of musket-balls. She fell between her cubs, and died licking their wounds."

LESSON XLII.

Conclusion of a Discourse delivered at Plymouth, Mass., Dec. 22d, 1820, in Commemoration of the First Settlement in New England. - DANIEL WEBSTER.

LET us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed in its light, and