Hard by, a flesher N on a block had laid his whittle N down;
Virginius caught the whittle up, and hid it in his gown.
And then his eyes grew very dim, and his throat began to swell,
And in a hoarse, changed voice he spoke, "Farewell, sweet child,

farewell!

"O how I loved my darling! Though stern I sometimes be,
To thee, thou knowest, I was not so. Who could be so to thee?
And how my darling loved me! How glad she was to hear
My footstep on the threshold when I came back last year!

"And how she danced with pleasure to see my civic crown, And took my sword and hung it up, and brought me forth my

gown!

Now all these things are over- yes, all thy pretty ways,

Thy needlework, thy prattle, thy snatches of old lays;

And none will grieve when I go forth, or smile when I return, Or watch beside the old man's bed, or weep upon his urn.

"The house that was the happiest within the Roman walls,
The house that envied not the wealth of Capua's N marble halls,
Now, for the brightness of thy smile, must have eternal gloom;
And for the music of thy voice, the silence of the tomb.

"The time is come. See how he points his eager hand this way! See how his eyes gloat on thy grief, like a kite's upon the prey! With all his wit, he little deems that, spurned, betrayed, bereft, Thy father hath in his despair one fearful refuge left.

"He little deems that in this hand I clutch what still can save Thy gentle youth from taunts and blows, the portion of the slave;

Yea, and from nameless evil, that passeth taunt and blowFoul outrage which thou knowest not, which thou shalt never know.

"Then clasp me round the neck once more, and give me one more kiss;

And now, mine own dear little girl, there is no way but this." With that he lifted high the steel, and smote her in the side, And in her blood she sunk to earth, and with one sob she died.

Then, for a little moment, all people held their breath;
And through the crowded forum was stillness as of death;
And in another moment broke forth from one and all
A cry as if the Volscians N were coming o'er the wall.

Some with averted faces, shrieking, fled home amain;
Some ran to call a leech, and some ran to lift the slain :
Some felt her lips and little wrist, if life might there be found;
And some tore up their garments fast, and strove to stanch the
wound,

In vain they ran and felt and stanched; for never truer blow
That good right arm had dealt in fight against a Volscian foe.
LORD MACAULAY.

Biography.—Thomas Babington Macaulay was born in Leicestershire (Les'ter sheer), England, in 1800, and died in 1859.

Macaulay entered Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of eighteen, where he soon acquired prominence for scholarship and oratorical power. He twice won the Chancellor's Medal for poems, and graduated in 1822. He was soon elected to a fellowship, and entered upon a literary life. His ballads,-"The Spanish Armada" and "The Battle of Ivry," and his essay on Milton, gave him a wide popularity. In 1826, he began to practice law, and in 1830, entered Parliament. After an eventful and highly useful career, he was raised to the peerage in 1857, with the title of Baron Macaulay. As a writer, his style is both vigorous and polished. His best known works are "Lays of Ancient Rome," and "History of England."

Essays,"

Notes.-Virginius, after slaying his daughter to save her from the tyrant Ap'pi us, appealed to the Roman army for vengeance. The army responded, the tyrant was overpowered and consigned to prison, where he took his own life. The unhappy fate of Virginia, the daughter, was thus followed by the restoration of freedom to the Roman people.

Flesher, a butcher. Whittle, a butcher's knife.

Cap'u a, a city of Southern Italy, second only to ancient Rome in wealth and power. The buildings of the city were noted for their magnificence.

Vol' scians (shuns). The Vol'sci, an ancient barbaric race, were much dreaded by the Romans. They were in the habit of making expeditions against Rome. In the fourth century B. C., they were finally subdued by the Romans and admitted to the rights of Roman citizenship.

Early in the morning of the 6th of September, 1492, Columbus set sail from the island of Gomera, and now might be said first to strike into the region of discovery, taking leave of these frontier islands of the Old World, and steering westward for the unknown parts of the Atlantic. For three days, however, a profound calm kept the vessels loitering with flagging sails within a short distance of the land.

On the following Sunday, the 9th of September, at daybreak, he beheld Ferro, the last of the Canary Islands, about nine leagues distant. Fortunately a breeze sprung up with the sun, their sails were once more filled, and in the course of the day the heights of Ferro gradually faded from the horizon. trace of land the Behind them was

On losing sight of this last hearts of the crew failed them. everything dear to the heart of man-country, family, friends, life itself; before them everything was chaos, mystery, and peril. Many of the rugged seamen shed tears, and some broke into loud lamentations.

The admiral tried in every way to soothe their distress, and inspire them with his own glorious