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When suspicions from without begin to embarrass him, and the net of circumstances to entangle him, the fatal secret struggles with still greater violence to burst forth. It must be confessed: it will be confessed. There is no refuge from confession but suicide; and suicide is confession!

Daniel Webster.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. Webster's unsurpassed skill as a criminal lawyer appeared in the trial of Knapp, at Salem (1830), for the murder of Joseph White. The extract here given is from his opening address to the jury. "Suicide is confession "-Crowninshield, the actual murderer, committed suicide in prison. "Hurry you against the law," etc.-the point made by the opposing counsel. Note the quiet force with which Webster disposes of this; his respect for his own character, and his confidence in the court. The courtesy of Webster's manner is consummate. Note the words, "should have been thought necessary "—almost carried into irony.

II. Sçēne, em-brāçe', blud'-geon (-jun), a'-ġed, de-stroyed', pon'iard (-yard), půlse, as-çer-tains', nēi'-ther (në'-), guilt (gilt), eon'-science (-shens), dis-cre'-tion (-kresh'un), eoŭr'-aġe (kŭr'ej).

III. Change the following so as to express more than one: life, his, eye, man, that, discovery.

IV. Evidence, paces, obvious, preyed, impulse, torment, vulture, prudence, suspicious, fatal, suicide, assassin.

V. What is the effect of showing "self-possession and steadiness" (7) in the deed of a murderer upon the degree of punishment which is to be decreed him? Write out the thoughts of the 12th paragraph in your own words, and compare with the original. (This passage is worthy of being expanded into an essay by you, for it contains a deep insight into the method by which society unconsciously combines the partial efforts of individuals into a whole that is miraculous in its completeness and efficiency.)

LXXV. THE SHIPWRECK.

1. At half-past eight o'clock, booms, hen-coops, spars,
And all things, for a chance, had been cast loose,
That still could keep afloat the struggling tars,
For yet they strove, although of no great use.

There was no light in heaven but a few stars;
The boats put off, o'ercrowded with their crews;
She gave a heel, and then a lurch to port,
And going down head-foremost—sunk, in short.

2. Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell;
Then shrieked the timid, and stood still the brave;
Then some leaped overboard, with dreadful yell,
As eager to anticipate their grave;

And the sea yawned round her like a hell,

And down she sucked with her the whirling wave, Like one who grapples with his enemy, And strives to strangle him before he die.

3. And first a universal shriek there rushed,

Louder than the loud ocean, like a crash
Of echoing thunder; and then all was hushed,
Save the wild wind and the remorseless dash
Of billows; but at intervals there gushed,
Accompanied with a convulsive splash,
A solitary shriek—the bubbling cry
Of some strong swimmer in his agony.

Lord Byron.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. Byron here paints the horrors of shipwreck. Have you read his "Waterloo"? (LXXXVIII.) Note the excellence of Byron in describing scenes of moral suffering and dread; consider this in connection with his "Misanthropy" (see VI.).

II. Shrieked (shreekd), an-tĭç'-i-pāte, whîrl'-ing (hwïrl'-).

III. Overboard, yawned, rushed. Describe the metre of this poem. IV. Chance, toss, remorseless, intervals, convulsive, crash, “gave a heel" (leaned over), "lurch to port" (inclined to the left).

V. In the last line of the 1st stanza, what trace of indecorous feeling? (The description that precedes uses the technical language of sailors, as if in a sort of defiance of poetic taste, and Byron sums up its verbiage by the words "sunk, in short," to betray his careless state of mind, so unaffected

at the solemn nature of the event that he can be facetious with the language in which he describes it. In the next two stanzas he throws off this lack of earnestness, and is adequate to the subject.) Explain the metaphor, "like one who grapples" (2). Select the descriptive passages which you consider the most admirable.

LXXVI. HIDDEN BEAUTIES OF CLASSIC AUTHORS.

1. The hidden beauties of standard authors break upon the mind by surprise. It is like discovering a hidden spring in an old jewel.

2. You take up the book in an idle moment, as you have done a thousand times before, perhaps, wondering, as you turn over the leaves, what the world finds in it to admire, when suddenly, as you read, your fingers press close upon the covers, your frame thrills, and the passage you have chanced upon chains you like a spell; it is so vividly true and beautiful.

3. Milton's "Comus" flashed upon me in this way. I never could read the "Rape of the Lock" till a friend quoted some passages from it during a walk.

4. I know no more exquisite sensation than this warming of the heart to an old author; and it seems to me that the most delicious portion of intellectual existence is the brief period in which, one by one, the great minds of old are admitted with all their time-mellowed worth to the affections.

5. With what delight I read, for the first time, the "kind-hearted plays" of Beaumont and Fletcher! How I doted on Burton! What treasures to me were the "Faerie Queene" and the "Lyrics" of Milton!

N. P. Willis.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. Have you read Milton's "Comus"?-Pope's "Rape of the Lock"? Did you ever experience the "surprise" which the author describes, at the discovery of the depth of meaning in a piece of literature? What piece was it? Who were Beaumont and Fletcher? (Robert Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy" is referred to in the next line.) Name one of Milton's "Lyrics." (See CXXXVII. and CXXXIX. for two of the best.) Who wrote the "Facrie Queene"?

II. Beau'-ties (bū'tēz), èx'-qui-şite (-kwi-zit), de-li'-cious (-lish'us), trĕaş'-ūre (trězh'ur), wan'-der-ing.

III. Change the following words so as to make them have reference to more than one: this, is, my, has, its, thy, box, child, man, brother, runs. IV. Lyric, vividly, spell, quoted, "standard authors," doted.

V. What of the aptness of the metaphor "like discovering a hidden spring in an old jewel"?

LXXVII. THE LAUNCH OF THE SHIP.

1. Then the master,

With a gesture of command,

Waved his hand.

And at the word,

Loud and sudden there was heard,

All around them and below,

The sound of hammers, blow on blow,
Knocking away the shores and spurs.
And see!-she stirs !

She starts she moves! she seems to feel
The thrill of life along her keel!

And, spurning with her foot the ground,
With one exulting, joyous bound,
She leaps into the ocean's arms!

2. And lo! from the assembled crowd

There rose a shout, prolonged and loud,
That to the ocean seemed to say,

"Take her, O Bridegroom, old and gray,

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