The

vengeance. Their spears-often of soft wood, as the beech, the birch, the pine-remained unbroken, while the sword and dagger of the adversary cracked like ice. Feeble from inanition, inert from weariness, and somnolent from the iciness that enthralled them, they sank into forgetfulness, with the Cossacks in pursuit and coming down upon them; and even while they could yet discern for they looked generally to that quarter-the more fortunate of their comrades marching home. gay and lively Frenchman, to whom war had been sport and pastime, was now reduced to such apathy, that, in the midst of some kind speech which a friend was to communicate to those he loved the most tenderly, he paused from rigid drowsiness, and bade the messenger adieu. Some, it is reported, closed their eyes and threw down their muskets, while they could still use them, not from hope or from fear, but partly from indignation at their general, whose retreats had always been followed by the ruin of his army; and partly from the impossibility of resisting this barbarous enemy-even to men who had before conquered brave nations.

Napoleon moved on, surrounded by what guards were left to him, thinking more of Paris than of Moscow,more of the conscripts he could enrol, than of the veterans he had left behind him.-W. S. Landor.

LESSON LVII.-THE HORSE.

It has been well remarked, that though the wealth of the Arab consists in flocks and herds, his pride and power lie in his horse, while his safety not unfrequently depends on its speed and endurance of fatigue. Mr. Layard thus speaks of an Arabian mare :—“ A young chesnut mare was one of the most beautiful creatures I

ever beheld. As she struggled to free herself from the spear to which she was tied, she showed the lightness and elegance of the gazelle. Her limbs were perfect symmetry; her ears long, slender, and transparent; her nostrils high, dilated, and deep red; and her mane and tail of the texture of silk. We all involuntarily stopped to gaze at her. Say Musha-Allah,' exclaimed the owner, who, seeing not without pride that I admired her, feared the effect of an evil eye. 'That I will,' answered I, and with pleasure; for, O! Arab, you possess the jewel of the tribe.'' Mr. Warburton de

Their
Some

scribes the breed as gallant, yet docile; fiery, yet gentle; full of mettle, yet patient as a camel; and, although ferocious to one another, yet so gentle as to suffer little children to play with them and pull them about. powers of enduring fatigue seem to be very great. of the Arab chiefs keep them for weeks with the saddle on their backs, and sometimes ride them for twenty or thirty hours consecutively, resting them perhaps for half an hour, and giving them a few handfuls of barley. Horses with such powers cannot but obtain celebrity; and Layard tells us of one named Kubleh, the day of whose death is the epoch from which the Arabs of Mesopotamia, for the last ten years, have dated events connected with their tribe. Even the most extreme poverty cannot tempt the Arab to part with his horse. It shares the tent with his wife and children; and he not unfrequently addresses it as if it were a human being. Some of the most famed English race-horses have been either Arabs or have had a mixture of Arabian blood in their veins. The Persian horse is closely allied to the Arab, and similar to it in fleetness, power of endurance, and that mixture of fire and gentleness for which the other is so famed.

In contrast of the most extreme nature with the Arab, is the humble and hardy Shetland pony. From an unpublished Essay on Shetland, by Mr. Edward Standen, we extract the following account of him :-" His diminutive size, shaggy mane and tail, round barrel, docility and spirit, have long made him a favourite. To him, banishment from his native land is a real benefit. No care is there taken of him; in the cold wet winter he must still remain upon the bleak hill. No mess of boiled fish is offered to him, as to the horned cattle; but he knows, as well as any seafaring man, the hours for the ebb and flow of the ocean; and as the tide recedes, driven by hunger, he descends the hills, and eats the salt sea-weed to support life. But those who care so little for his wants, or, we may say, who have so little to give, are ready to make use of his services, as soon as summer comes to dry up the boggy hills, and fresh grass gives him renewed strength. Then he bears his burdens of peat from the hill, where it is cut, to the stack near the house; he carries his master or mistress to kirk, or the traveller over hill and dale, soft bog, and hard rock, with wonderful endurance."

Great, again, is the difference in size and powers between a Shetlander and an English dray-horse. Some of these have been known to draw, for a short distance, the weight of three tons; while others, such as that strong variety called the Suffolk punch, will pull at a dead weight till they fall on their knees. The Flemish and Danish horses are regarded, from their size and steadiness, as the best carriage horses.

Independently of his use as a beast of burden, the horse proves advantageous to man in many ways. Though no one in this country would designedly eat

horse-flesh, there are parts of the world where it is not abandoned, as here, to cats and dogs, but is the favourite food of the inhabitants themselves. This is the case among the Calmuc Tartars; and the soldiers in Paraguay, when on their expeditions, are supplied with no other provision.

Mare's milk is drunk in some parts of Asia, and converted into butter and cheese; whilst, when fermented, it forms a favourite liquor of the Tartars, who also use it as medicine. The skin of the horse, when tanned, is made into harness, and is a kind of leather extensively employed. The hair is much used in the formation of covers to chairs and sofas, while it is used to stuff the cushion part; for the latter purpose it requires to be baked, a process which imparts to it great elastic powers.—White.

LESSON LVIII.-HEAVEN.

Oh talk to me of heaven! I love

To hear about my home above!

For there doth many a loved one dwell,

In light and joy ineffable!

Oh, tell me how they shine and sing,

While every harp rings echoing;

And every glad and tearless eye
Beams, like the bright sun, gloriously;
Tell me of that victorious palm
Each hand in glory beareth;
Tell me of that celestial charm
Each face in glory weareth.

Oh happy, happy country, where
There entereth not a sin;
And Death, that keeps its portals fair,
May never once come in!

No change can turn their day to night;
The darkness of that land is light.

Sorrow and sighing God has sent
Far thence to endless banishment:
And never more may one dark tear
Bedim their beaming eye;

For every one they shed while here,
In fearful agony,

Glitters a bright and dazzling gem
In their immortal diadem.

Oh happy, happy country, there
Flourishes all that we deem fair:
For though no fields or forests green,
Or bowery gardens there are seen,
Nor perfumes load the breeze,
Nor hears the ear material sound,
Yet joys at God's right hand are found,

The archetypes of these.

There is the home, the land of birth,

Of all we highest prize on earth:

The storms that rack this world beneath,

Must there for ever cease: The only air the blessed breathe

Is purity and peace.

Oh happy, happy land! in thee
Shines the unveiled Divinity!
Shedding o'er each adoring breast
A holy calm-a heavenly rest;

And those blest souls whom death did sever,
Here meet to mingle joys for ever!
O when will heaven unfold to me?

O when shall I its glories see?