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sends power; to Avarice, wealth; to Love, jealousy; to Revenge, remorse; alas! what are these, but sɔ many other names for vexation or disappointment.

11. Neither is she to be won by flatteries or by bribes; she is to be gained by waging war against her enemies, much sooner than by paying any particular court to herself. Those that conquer her adversaries, will find that they need not go to her, for she will come unto them.

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12. None bid so high for her as kings; few are more willing, none more able, to purchase her alliance at the fullest price. But she has no more respect for kings than for their subjects; she mocks them indeed with the empty show of a visit, by sending to their palaces all her equipage, her pomp, and her train, but she comes not herself. What detains her? She is travelling incognita* to keep a private assignation with Contentment, and to partake of a tete-a-tete† and a dinner of herbs in a cottage.

13. Hear then, mighty queen! what sovereigns seldom hear, the words of soberness and truth. I neither despise thee too little, nor desire thee too much; for thou wieldest an earthly sceptre, and thy gifts cannot exceed thy dominion. Like other potentates, thou also art a creature of circumstance, and an ephemerist of Time.

14. Like other potentates, thou also, when stripped of thy auxiliaries, art no longer competent even to thine own subsistence; nay, thou canst not even stand by thyself. Unsupported by Content on the one hand, and by Health on the other, thou fallest an unwieldy and bloated pageant to the ground.

LESSON CIII.

William Tell.-KNOWLES.

GESLER, the tyrant-SARNEM, his officer-and WM. TELL, a Swiss peasant.

Sar. Down, slave, upon thy knees before the governor, And beg for mercy.

Ges. Does he hear?

Sar. He does, but braves thy power. [To Tell] Down, slave, And ask for life.

* In disguise, or in private.

+ Tete-a-tete, face to face, or a private conversation.

Ephemeris, a daily journal.

William Tell, an illustrious Swiss patriot, and one of the heroes who restored liberty to their oppressed country, in 1307. Herman Gesler, the Austrian governor, suspecting that a conspiracy was formed against him, and

Ges. [To Tell] Why speakest thou not?
Tell. For wonder.

Ges. Wonder?

Tell. Yes, that thou shouldst seem a man.
Ges. What should I seem?

Tell. A monster.

Ges. Ha! Beware!-think on thy chains.

Tell. Though they were doubled, and did weigh me down Prostrate to earth, methinks I could rise up

Erect, with nothing but the honest pride
Of telling thee, usurper, to thy teeth,

Thou art a monster.-Think on my chains!
How came they on me?

Ges. Darest thou question me?
Tell. Darest thou answer?
Ges. Beware my vengeance.
Tell. Can it more than kill?
Ges. And is not that enough :-
Tell. No, not enough

-:

It cannot take away the grace of life-
The comeliness of look that virtue gives-
Its port erect with consciousness of truth-
Its rich attire of honorable deeds-

Its fair report that's rife on good men's tongues :-
It cannot lay its hand on these, no more
Than it can pluck his brightness from the sun,
Or with polluted finger tarnish it.

Ges. But it can make thee writhe.

Tell. It may, and I may say,

Go on, though it should make me groan again.
Ges. Whence comest thou?

Tell. From the mountains.

Ges. Canst tell me any news from them?
Tell. Ay;-they watch no more the avalanche.*
Ges. Why so?

wishing to ascertain the spirit of the people, ordered his hat to be raised on a pole, and homage to be paid to it as to himself. Tell refused to do homage to the hat, and was immediately seized and carried before the governor. Gesler ordered him to shoot an arrow at an apple placed on the head of his own son, or else be dragged with his child to immediate death: He shot the apple off his son's head,-and soon after shot Gesler. The Swiss, roused to arms by the conduct of Tell, drove away their Austrian masters, and established the independence of their country, A. D. 1307.

* Pronounced av-a-lanch ́, a vast body of snow sliding down a mountain.

Tell. Because they look for thee.

The hurricane

Comes unawares upon them; from its bed
The torrent breaks, and finds them in its track.
Ges. What then?

Tell. They thank kind Providence it is not thou.
Thou hast perverted nature in them. The earth
Presents her fruits to them, and is not thanked.
The harvest sun is constant, and they scarce
Return his smile. Their flocks and herds increase,
And they look on as men who count a loss.

There's not a blessing Heaven vouchsafes them, but
The thought of thee doth wither to a curse,

As something they must lose, and had far better
Lack.

Ges. 'Tis well. I'd have them as their hills
That never smile, though wanton summer tempt
Them e'er so much.

Tell. But they do sometimes smile.
Ges. Ah!-when is that?

Tell. When they do pray for vengeance.

Ges. Dare they pray for that?

Tell. They dare, and they expect it, too.

Ges. From whence?

Tell. From Heaven, and their true hearts.

Ges. [To Sarnem.] Lead in his son.

Now will I take

Exquisite vengeance. [To Tell, as the boy enters.] I have destined him

To die along with thee.

Tell. To die! for what? he's but a child.

Ges. He's thine, however.

Tell. He is an only child.

Ges. So much the easier to crush the race.

Tell. He may have a mother.

Ges. So the viper hath

And yet who spares it for the mother's sake?
Tell. I talk to stone. I'll talk to it no more.
Come, my boy, I taught thee how to live,-
I'll teach thee,-how to die.

Ges. But first, I'd see thee make

A trial of thy skill with that same bow.
Thy arrows never miss, 'tis said.

Tell. What is the trial?

Ges. Thou look'st upon thy boy as though thou guessest it. Tell. Look upon my boy! what mean you?

Look upon my boy as though I guessed it!--
Guessed the trial thoud'st have me make!
Guessed it instinctively! Thou dost not mean-
No, no-Thon wouldst not have me make
A trial of my skill upon my child!
Impossible! I do not guess thy meaning.
Ges. I'd see thee hit an apple on his head,
Three hundred
paces off.

Tell. Great Heaven!

Ges. On this condition only will I spare His life and thine.

Tell. Ferocious monster! make a father Murder his own child!

Ges. Dost thou consent?

Tell. With his own hand!

The hand I've led him when an infant by !
My hands are free from blood, and have no gust
For it, that they should drink my child's.
I'll not murder my boy, for Gesler.

Boy. You will not hit me, father. You'll be sure
To hit the apple. Will you not save me, father?
Tell. Lead me forth-I'll make the trial.

Boy. Father

Tell. Speak not to me;

Let me not hear thy voice-Thou must be dumb;
And so should all things be-Earth should be dumb,
And Heaven, unless its thunder muttered at

The deed, and sent a bolt to stop it.

Give me my bow and quiver.

Ges. When all is ready.

Sarnem, measure hence

The distance three hundred paces.

Tell. Will he do it fairly?

Ges. What is't to thee, fairly or not.

Tell. [sarcastically.] O, nothing, a little thing,

A very little thing; I only shoot

At

my child!

[Sarnem prepares to measure.]

Villain, stop! you measure against the sun.
Ges. And what of that?

What matter whether to or from the sun?

Tell. I'd have it at my back. The sun should shine Upon the mark, and not on him that shoots—

I will not shoot against the sun.

Ges. Give him his way. [Sarnem paces and goes out.]

Tell. I should like to see the apple I must hit.

Ges. [Picks out the smallest one] There, take that.
Tell. You've picked the smallest one.

Ges. I know I have. Thy skill will be

The greater if thou hittest it.

Tell. [sarcastically.] True-true! I did not think of that

I wonder I did not think of that. A larger one

Had given me a chance to save my boy.

Give me my bow. Let me see my quiver.

Ges. Give him a single arrow. [To an attendant.] [Tell looks at it and breaks it.]

Tell. Let me see my quiver. It is not

One arrow in a dozen I would use

To shoot with at a dove, much less a dove

Like that.

Ges. Show him the quiver.

[Sarnem returns and takes the apple and the boy to
place them.
While this is doing, Tell conceals an
arrow under his garment. He then selects another
arrow, and says,]

Tell. Is the boy ready? Keep silence now

For Heaven's sake, and be my witnesses,
That if his life's in peril from my hand,

"Tis only for the chance of saving it.

For mercy's sake keep motionless and silent.

[He aims and shoots in the direction of the boy. In a moment Sarnem enters with the apple on the arrow's point.

Sar. The boy is safe.

Tell. [Raising his arms.] Thank Heaven!

[As he raises his arms the concealed arrow falls. Ges. [Picking it up.] Unequalled archer! why was this concealed?

Tell. To kill thee, tyrant, had I slain my boy.

LESSON CIV.

The Philosopher's Scales.-JANE Taylor.

1. A MONK* when his rites sacerdotal were o'er,
In the depth of his cell, with its stone-covered floor,

Monk, a member of the Roman Catholic church, who has taken a vo◄ of poverty and celibacy.

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