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the night in the prison of the garrison, a chamber known by the fearful name of the Black Hole. Even for a single European malefactor, that dungeon would, in such a climate, have been too close and narrow. The space was only twenty feet square. The air-holes were small and obstructed. It was the summer solstice, the season when the fierce heat of Bengal can scarcely be rendered tolerable to natives of England by lofty halls and the constant waving of fans.

6. The number of the prisoners was one hundred and forty-six. When they were ordered to enter the cell, they imagined that the soldiers were joking; and, being in high spirits on account of the promise of the Nabob to spare their lives, they laughed and jested at the absurdity of the notion. They soon discovered their mistake. They expostulated; they entreated; but in vain. The guards threatened to cut down all who hesitated. The captives were driven into the cell at the point of the sword, and the door was instantly shut and locked upon them.

7. Nothing in history or fiction approaches the horrors which were recounted by the few survivors of that night. They cried for mercy. They strove to burst the door. Holwell, who, even in that extremity, presence of mind, offered large bribes But the answer was that nothing could be done without the Nabob's orders, that the Nabob was asleep, and that he would be angry if anybody awoke him.

retained some

to the jailers.

8. Then the prisoners went mad with despair. They trampled each other down, fought for the

places at the windows, fought for the pittance of water with which the cruel mercy of the murderers mocked their agonies, raved, prayed, blasphemed, implored the guards to fire among them. The jailers, in the meantime, held lights to the bars, and shouted with laughter at the frantic struggles of their victims. At length the tumult died away in low gasps and moanings.

9. The day broke. The Nabob had slept off his debauch, and permitted the door to be opened. But it was some time before the soldiers could make a lane for the survivors, by piling up on each side the heaps of corpses on which the burning climate had already begun to do its loathsome work. When at length a passage was made, twenty-three ghastly figures, such as their own mothers would not have known, staggered one by one out of the charnelhouse. A pit was instantly dug. The dead bodies, a hundred and twenty-three in number, were flung into it promiscuously, and covered up.

10. But these things, which, after the lapse of many years, cannot be told or read without horror, awakened neither remorse nor pity in the bosom of the savage Nabob. He inflicted no punishment on the murderers. He showed no tenderness to the survivors. Some of them, indeed, from whom nothing was to be got, were suffered to depart; but those from whom it was thought that anything could be extorted, were treated with execrable cruelty.

11. Holwell, unable to walk, was carried before the tyrant, who reproached him, threatened him, and sent him up the country in irons, together with some

other gentlemen who were suspected of knowing more than they chose to tell about the treasures of the Company. These persons, still bowed down by the sufferings of that great agony, were lodged in miserable sheds, and fed only with grain and water, till at length the intercessions of the female relations of the Nabob procured their release.

in-cap'-a-ble Eu-ro-pe'-an

mil'-i-tar-y

com-mit'-ted ab-surd'-i-ty

Lord Macaulay.

stag'-gered

[blocks in formation]

com-mand-ant'

Su-ra'-jah Dow'-lah, the native ruler
of Bengal, who was defeated by
Lord Clive at the battle of
Plassey in 1757.

de-bauch'

re-lease'

director-general of the trading settlements of the French in India.

fac'-to-ry, trading settlement.

whim, caprice, or fancy taken up in'-sol-ence, insulting conduct.

without reason. ex-ag'-ger-at-ed, far beyond the

truth.

Cal-cut'-ta, the capital of British
India, in Bengal, and the chief
seat of government.

com-pen'-sate, make up for.
Ben-gal', a large and populous north-
east division of British India.
pre-texts', excuses.
Na'-bob, Indian ruler.
Mad-ras', the capital of the eastern

division of India of the same
name, on the Coromandel
coast.
Du-pleix', a clever merchant who
had risen to be a governor and

mem'-or-a-ble, worthy of being re-
membered.

a-troc'-i-ty, cruelty and wickedness.
re-tri-bu'-tion, just punishment.
mal'-e-fac-tor, person guilty of a
crime.

ex-pos'-tu-lat-ed, reasoned with.
pit'-tance, a very small quantity.
char'-nel-house, place where the
bones of the dead are laid.
pro-mis'-cu-ous-ly, without order, in
a confused way.
re-morse', the pain of mind that
follows guilt.

ex'-e-cra-ble, shameful; detestable.
in-ter-ces'-sions, pleadings on behalf
of others.

EXERCISES.-1. Make as many verbs as you can from the following verbs by changing the prefix: Subscribe, extract, advert, remit.

2. Make verbs and nouns from each of the following adjectives: Black, feeble, special, clear, glad, stupid, human.

3. Make adjectives from the following nouns: Whim, quarter, pomp, crime, mercy, spirit, soldier, promise, despair, blasphemy.

4. Make sentences of your own, and use in each sentence one or more of the following words: Compensate, exaggerate, memorable,

remorse.

THE SHIPBUILDERS.

[This is taken from the poems of John G. Whittier, the Quaker poet of America. Here he tells the story of the building of a ship from the first cutting down of the timber, and he afterwards follows her in imagination across the waters.]

1. The sky is ruddy in the east,
The earth is gray below,

And, spectral in the river mist,

The ship's white timbers show.

Then let the sounds of measured stroke

And grating saw begin;

The broad-axe to the gnarlèd oak,

The mallet to the pin!

2. Hark! roars the bellows, blast on blast,
The sooty smithy jars,

And fire-sparks, rising far and fast,
Are fading with the stars.

All day for us the smith shall stand
Beside that flashing forge;
All day for us his heavy hand
The groaning anvil scourge.

3. From far-off hills, the panting team
For us is toiling near;

For us the raftsmen down the stream
Their island barges steer.

Rings out for us the axe-man's stroke
In forests old and still-
For us the century-circled oak
Falls crashing down the hill.

4. Up! up! in nobler toil than ours
No craftsmen bear a part:
We make of Nature's giant powers
The slaves of human art.

Lay rib to rib and beam to beam,
And drive the treenails free;
Nor faithless joint nor yawning seam
Shall tempt the searching sea!

5. Where'er the keel of our good ship

The sea's rough field shall plough—
Where'er her tossing spars shall drip
With salt-spray caught below-
The ship must heed her master's beck,
Her helm obey his hand,

And seamen tread her reeling deck
As if they trod the land.

6. Her oaken ribs the vulture-beak
Of northern ice may peal;
The sunken rock and coral peak
May grate along her keel;

And know we well the painted shell

We give to wind and wave,
Must float, the sailor's citadel,

Or sink, the sailor's grave!

7. Ho! strike away the bars and blocks, And set the good ship free!

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