the office of constable fell into such decay that there was not one of those losel scouts known in the province for many years.

8. I am the more particular in dwelling on this transaction, not only because I deem it one of the most sage and righteous judgments on record, and well worthy the attention of modern magistrates, but because it was a miraculous event in the history of the renowned Wouter,- being the only time he was ever known to come to a decision in the whole course of his life.

LANGUAGE STUDY.

I. Write the analysis of: preside (sedere); transaction (agere); exact (agere); stately (stare); attentively (tendere); commotion (movere); evince (vincere).

Write the analysis of: solemnity; curiously; admirer; earthen; prodigious; decipherer.

Give synonyms of: huge; celebrated; constant; renowned; marvelous; straightway.

II. What derivative words are formed by adding the suffix ment to three verbs? What two phrases modify the verb in the first sentence? In paragraph 3, select an adverbial clause; an adjective clause.

III. In paragraph 1, select a loose sentence. In paragraph 6, select a period. In this stately chair would he sit," etc. (2): arrange in the direct order. In what droll way (2) does the author convey the fact that the Governor would sometimes snore for two hours at a time? "This excellent magistrate" (3): is this literal, or ironical? (See Definition 11.) Select other ironical expressions. What is meant by "High Dutch commentator" (5)? State briefly, in your own language, the mode in which the Governor decided in the dispute between Wandle and Barent.

56.- Contentment.

bühl, inlaid metal work.

eǎm'e-ōş, stones carved in relief.

de-ride', laugh at and despise.
věl'lum, very fine calf-skin.

PREPARATORY NOTES.

This fine piece of subtle humor is from the pen of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809- −), a native of Cambridge, Mass., and for many years professor of anatomy in Harvard University. In his mastery of the humorous, the grotesque, and the satiric, Dr. Holmes is easily foremost among modern English poets.

(4) Plenipo.... St. James': i.e., Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of St. James' (the British Court). — (4) gubernator: a Latin word meaning "governor." - (7) Stradivarius; i.e., a violin made by Stradivarius (1644-1737), the most celebrated of Italian violin-makers. His instruments are regarded as models, and are now very rare and costly.

- (9) Midas' golden touch; in allusion to the legend that Midas, king of Phrygia, begged the gods to grant that whatever he touched might turn to gold. His wish was fulfilled, but he soon repented him when he found that even his food underwent this transformation.

66 MAN WANTS BUT LITTLE HERE BELOW."

1. Little I ask; my wants are few:
I only wish a hut of stone
(A very plain brown stone will do),
That I may call my own;

And close at hand is such a one,
In yonder street that fronts the sun.

2. Plain food is quite enough for me:
Three courses are as good as ten;
If Nature can subsist on three,

Thank Heaven for three. Amen!

I always thought cold victual nice:
My choice would be vanilla-ice.

3. I care not much for gold or land;

Give me a mortgage here and there,
Some good bank-stock, some note of hand,
Or trifling railroad-share :

I only ask that Fortune send
A little more than I shall spend.

4. Honors are silly toys, I know,
And titles are but empty names:
I would, perhaps, be Plenipo.,
But only near St. James';
I'm very sure I should not care
To fill our gubernator's chair.

5. Jewels are baubles; 'tis a sin

To care for such unfruitful things:
One good-sized diamond in a pin,-
Some, not so large, in rings,
A ruby, and a pearl or so,
Will do for me; I laugh at show.

6. Of books but few: some fifty score
For daily use, and bound for wear;
The rest upon an upper floor;
Some little luxury there

Of red morocco's gilded gleam,

And vellum rich as country cream.

7. Busts, cameos, gems, such things as these, Which others often show for pride,

I value for their power to please,

And selfish churls deride:

One Stradivarius, I confess,

Two meerschaums, I would fain possess.

8. Wealth's wasteful tricks I will not learn,
Nor ape the glittering upstart fool:
Shall not carved tables serve my turn,
But all must be of buhl?

Give grasping pomp its double share:
I ask but one recumbent chair.

9. Thus humble let me live and die,
Nor long for Midas' golden touch:
If Heaven more generous gifts deny,
I shall not miss them much,-
Too grateful for the blessings lent
Of simple tastes and mind content.

LANGUAGE STUDY.

I. Write the analysis of: selfish; golden; wasteful; unfruitful.
Give synonyms of: plain; subsist; silly; deride; confess; possess.
II. Analyze the following complex sentence:—

"If Heaven more generous gifts deny,

I shall not miss them much."

III. Transpose into the prose order:

"Little I ask; my wants are few."

66 'Wealth's wasteful tricks I will not learn."
"Two meerschaums I would fain possess."

run away.

1. When the coach came round at last, with "London" blazoned in letters of gold upon the boot, it gave Tom Pinch such a turn that he was half disposed to But he didn't do it; for he took his seat upon the box instead, and, looking down upon the four grays, felt as if he were another gray himself, or at all events a part of the turn-out, and was quite confused by the novelty and splendor of his situation.

2. And really it might have confused a less modest man than Tom to find himself sitting next to that coachman; for, of all the swells that ever flourished a whip professionally, he might have been elected emperor. He didn't handle his gloves like another man, but put them on as if the four grays were, somehow or other, at the ends of his fingers.

3. The guard too! Seventy breezy miles a day were written in his very whiskers. His manner was a canter, his conversation a round trot. He was a fast coach upon a down-hill turnpike road; he was all pace. A wagon couldn't have moved slowly with that guard and his key-bugle on the top of it.

4. The coach was none of your steady-going, yokel coaches, but a swaggering, rakish, London coach; up all night and lying by all day, and leading a terrible