despair, rushed out of the house, and ran home in an agony of confusion and disgrace which the most poignant sense of guilt could not have excited. (the FOR PREPARATION.-I. "Pitched upon a Wedgwood inkstand" famous earthenware invented by Josiah Wedgwood). "Saltcellar" (11) (bad omen ?). II. Com-plex'-ion (-plěk ́shun), eôr'-dial (-jal), o-pin'-ion (-yun), Xĕn'o-phon, pi'-ġeon (pij'un), oe-eã'-şioned (-zhund). III. Change" their gates" so that each word will refer to one object. Meaning of ward in "homeward"? Should we say 66 rose up" (9)? IV. Enamored, courted, timidity, estate, prodigious, equilibrium, intrepidity, theory, punctuality, fortitude, editions, classics, fomentation, caldron, palate, flayed, intolerable, poignant, nomenclator, " ardent spirits." V. How much is thirty thousand pounds in our money? "Wondrous difficulty" and "prodigious use "—are these expressions accurate and elegant here? What is there ridiculous in the assertion that his knowledge of mathematics helped him in learning to dance? and in the fact that the baronet's opinion coincided exactly with his (8)? Relate the several steps by which these adventures reach the climax of absurdity. CX.-CURRAN'S REPLY TO THREATS OF VIOLENCE 1. We have been told this night, in express words, that the man who dares to do his duty to his country in this house may expect to be attacked without these walls by the military gentlemen of the castle. If the army had been directly or indirectly mentioned in the course of the debate, this extraordinary declaration might be attributable to the confusion of a mistaken charge or an absurd vindication; but, without connection with the subject, a new principle of government is advanced, and that isthe bayonet. And this is stated in the fullest house, and the most crowded audience, I ever saw. 2. We are to be silenced by corruption within, or quelled by force of arms without. If the strength of numbers or corruption should fail against the cause of the public, it is to be backed by assassination. Nor is it nec essary that those avowed principles of bribery and arms should come from any high personal authority; they have been delivered by the known retainers of administration, in the face of that bench, and heard even without a murmur of dissent or disapprobation. 3. For my part, I do not know how it may be my destiny to fall; it may be by chance, or malady, or violence; but, should it be my fate to perish the victim of a bold and honest discharge of my duty, I will not shun it. I will do that duty; and, if it should expose me to sink under the blow of the assassin, and become a victim to the public cause, the most sensible of my regrets would be that on such an altar there should not be immolated a more illustrious sacrifice. 4. As to myself, while I live, I shall despise the peril. I feel in my own spirit the safety of my honor; and in my own and the spirit of the people do I feel strength enough to hold that administration, which can give a sanction to menaces like these, responsible for their consequences to the nation and the individual. John Philpot Curran. FOR PREPARATION.-I. This is an extract from a speech made by Curran in the Irish Parliament, of which he was a member, in 1790. Curran (1750-1817) was the greatest barrister of his time. He had overcome an impediment in his speech (stuttering), and had acquired a slow, distinct utterance. His powers of mimicry, ridicule, and sarcasm gave him great success in the cross examination of witnesses. In the Irish Parliament, which he entered in 1783, he took the side of the opposition, which was headed by Grattan. II. Threats, ex-traôr'-di-na-ry (eks-trôr'-), bãy'-o-net, dis-ăp-pro-bā'tion, măl'-a-dy, ĭm'-mo-late, il-lus'-tri-ous, eon'-se-quen-çes, al'-tar. III. "Fullest house and most crowded audience "-what is the force of est in fullest? Why is most crowded used instead of crowdedest? Is to properly used after dares in such an expression as "dares to do his duty"? IV. Attributable, vindication, quelled, retainers, bench, immolated, menaces, dissent. V. What does " express mean in the phrase "express words"? Notice the expression of contrasted points: "do his duty in this house". "attacked without [outside] these walls"; "silenced by corruption within " -"quelled by force of arms without"; "if strength of numbers and corruption should fail "-" be backed by assassination." Apply this principle to the other sentences, and see how many contain contrasts, and how the form of the contrast is varied. "Administration "-of what king? The splendor falls on castle walls O hark! O hear, how thin and clear, O sweet and far from cliff and scar The horns of Elfland faintly blowing! O love, they die in yon rich sky! They faint on hill, or field, or river; And grow forever and forever. Blow, bugle-blow! set the wild echoes flying! And answer, echoes-answer! dying, dying, dying. Tennyson. FOR PREPARATION.-I. From the Third Part of Tennyson's "Princess." What is meant by Elfland? II. Splěn'-dor, eǎs'-tle (kǎs'l), ĕeh'-õeş (čk ́ōz), dỹ'-ing, field, bū'-gle (-gl), sum'-mits. III. Measure off a stanza of this poem into feet, and mark the ac cents. IV. Elfland, glens, cataract, scar. V. How do the echoes of one thought to another differ from the echoes of the bugle (3), as described in the metaphor of the third stanza? "Our echoes" (i. e., our thoughts go from mind to mind, and thought grows more clear and comprehensive by transmission and re-thinking). What is meant by "summits old in story"?-by "long light shakes"? (The level sun shines on the water between us and it, making a long track of light trembling with the movement of the waves on the lake.) Is there anything in this meter, and the sounds of the words, that reminds you of the sound of the bugle itself? If so, point it out. CXII. THE MOCK TURTLE'S STORY. 1. "When we were little," the Mock Turtle went on at last, more calmly, though still sobbing a little now and then, we went to school in the sea. The master was an old turtle; we used to call him Tortoise-" 66 "Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn't one?" Alice asked. "We called him Tortoise, because he taught us," said the Mock Turtle, angrily. "Really, you are very dull. 2. "Yes, we went to school in the sea, though you mayn't believe it—” "I never said I didn't!" interrupted Alice. "You did!" said the Mock Turtle. "We had the best of educations; in fact, we went to school every day-" "I've been to a day school too," said Alice. "You needn't be so proud as all that!" 3. "With extras?" asked the Mock Turtle, a little anxiously. "Yes," said Alice; "we learned French and music.” "And washing?" said the Mock Turtle. 66 Certainly not!" said Alice, indignantly. "Ah! then yours wasn't a really good school," said the Mock Turtle, in a tone of great relief. "Now, at ours, they had, at the end of the bill, 'French, music, and washing, extra!"" 4. "You couldn't have needed it much," said Alice, "living at the bottom of the sea." "I couldn't afford to learn it," said the Mock Turtle, with a sigh. "I only took the regular course." "What was that?" inquired Alice. 66 "Reeling and writhing, of course, to begin with," the Mock Turtle replied; "then the different branches of arithmetic-ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision." 5. "What else did you learn?" "Well, there was mystery," the Mock Turtle replied, counting off the subjects on his flappers-"mystery, ancient and modern, with seaography; then drawling. The drawling master was an old conger eel, that used to come once a week; he taught us drawling, stretching, and fainting in coils." 6. "What was that like?" said Alice. "Well, I can't show it you myself," the Mock Turtle said; "I'm too stiff, and the Gryphon never learned it." "Hadn't time," said the Gryphon, in a low, gruff voice. "I went to the classical master, though he was an old crab, he was." 66 |