enjoy it with a meek, cheerful, thankful heart. I will tell you, Scholar, I have heard a grave divine say, that God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart; which Almighty God grant to me, and to my honest Scholar! IZAAK WALTON. 1. Contention, dogged, actionable, willful, allotted, turbulent, sacrifice, competence, gimcracks, finnimbrums. 2. Who was Diogenes? What is the secret of happiness? The quotations from the Bible are made from the translation then in use. Did you ever know people to complain on account of their height, appearance, or condition? How can contentment be gained? LXXI. NIGHT IN THE DESERT. ROBERT SOUTHEY (1774-1843) was born in Bristol, England. He was compelled to leave Westminster School at seventeen on account of some articles he wrote attacking its discipline. Later he entered Balliol College, Oxford, but was not graduated. A poet, critic, and historian, he wrote more than any other author of his time, and burned more of his writings than he published. His poems are original in conception and execution, and, though containing some imperfections, bear the impress of power and have a charm in spite of somewhat extravagant imaginings. His prose is plain, clear, and pointed. His representative works are "Thalaba the Destroyer," "Joan of Arc," "The Curse of Kehama," "Roderick, the Last of the Goths," "The Maid of the Inn," a "History of the Peninsular War," and a "Life of Lord Nelson." How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air; No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain, In full-orbed glory, yonder moon divine Rolls through the dark-blue depths. Beneath her steady ray The desert circle spreads Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky. Who, at this untimely hour, No palm grove, islanded amid the waste. The widowed mother and the fatherless boy, Wander o'er the desert sands. Alas! the setting sun The fruitful mother late, Whom, when the daughters of Arabia named, She wanders o'er the desert sands She wanders o'er the wilderness. No tear relieved the burden of her heart; And, looking up to her fixed countenance, Sob out the name of Mother! then she groaned. "He gave, He takes away !" The pious sufferer cried, Robert Southey 1. Obscures, islanded, widowed, relieved, stunned, countenance. 2. What is meant by "palm grove, islanded"? Who was Hodeirah? Zeinab? She was mother of what race? Where have you read this story? Is it correct to call a desert a wilderness? LXXII. JERUSALEM. BENJAMIN DISRAELI (1805-1881), English politician and novelist, was born in London of Jewish ancestors. He was well educated, and possessed a strong character and a firm determination to succeed in life. In spite of the prejudice against him, he was elected to Parliament, where, at first, the members refused to hear him speak. Soon, however, his ability as a leader was recognized, and he rose to the highest position in English politics,-becoming prime minister, and receiving the title of Earl of Beaconsfield. He ranked high both as statesman and as author. His first novel, "Vivian Grey," showed great poetic feeling and imagination, but was arrogant and sarcastic. His writings BENJAMIN DISRAELI. teem with passages of fine description and exalted imagination, tarnished by improbable incidents and an exaggerated tone. He considered "Contarini Fleming" his greatest novel, but "Lothair," though far inferior to his earlier books, was the most widely read,-being helped by the reputation Disraeli had acquired in his successful attempt to gain political honors. The following beautiful description of Jerusalem by moonlight is from "Tancred." The broad moon lingers on the summit of Mount Olivet, 'but its beam has long left the garden of Gethsemane and the tomb of Absalom, the waters of Kedron and the dark abyss of Jehoshaphat. Full falls its splendor, however, on the opposite city, vivid and defined in its silver blaze. A lofty wall, with turrets and towers and frequent gates, undulates with the unequal ground which it covers, as it encircles the lost capital of Jehovah. It is a city of hills far more famous than those of Rome; for all Europe has heard of Sion and of Calvary, while the Arab and the Assyrian, and the tribes and nations beyond, are as ignorant of the Capitolian and Aventine Mounts as they are of the Malvern or the Chiltern Hills. The broad steep of Sion crowned with the tower of David ; nearer still, Mount Moriah, with the gorgeous temple of the God of Abraham, but built, alas! by the child of Hagar, and not by Sarah's chosen one; close to its cedars and its cypresses, its lofty spires and airy arches, the moonlight falls upon Bethesda's pool; further on, entered by the gate of St. Stephen, the eye, though 'tis the noon of night, traces with ease the Street of Grief, a long winding ascent to a vast cupolaed pile that now covers Calvary-called the Street of Grief, because there the most illustrious of the human, as well as of the Hebrew, race, the descendant of King David, and the divine Son of the most favored of women, twice sank under that burden of suffering and shame which is now throughout all Christendom the emblem of triumph |