with silver loops, which he wore on his arm, swinging it as if he meant to oppose its slender circle to the formidable thrust of the Western lance. 4. His own long spear was not couched or levelled like that of his antagonist, but grasped by the middle with his right hand, and brandished at arm's length above his head. As the cavalier approached his enemy at full career, he seemed to expect that the Knight of the Leopard should put his horse to the gallop to encounter him. 5. But the Christian Knight, well acquainted with the customs of Eastern warriors, did not mean to exhaust his good horse by any unnecessary exertion. On the contrary he made a dead halt, confident that if the enemy advanced to the actual shock, his own weight and that of his powerful charger, would give him sufficient advantage, without the additional momentum of rapid motion. 6. Equally sensible and apprehensive of such a probable result, the Saracen cavalier, when he had approached towards the Christian within twice the length of his lance, wheeled his steed to the left with inimitable dexterity. He rode twice round his antagonist, who, turning without quitting his ground, and presenting his front constantly to his enemy, frustrated the attempts to attack him on an unguarded point, so that the Saracen, wheeling his horse, was fain to retreat to the distance of a hundred yards. 7. A second time, like a hawk attacking a heron, the heathen renewed the charge, and a second time was fain to retreat without coming to a close struggle. A third time he approached in the same manner. The Christian knight, desirous to terminate this illusory warfare, suddenly seized the mace which hung at his saddle-bow, and with a strong hand and unerring aim, hurled it against the head of the Emir, for such and not less his enemy appeared. 8. The Saracen was just aware of the formidable missile in time to interpose his light buckler betwixt the mace and his head; but the violence of the blow forced the buckler down on his turban, and though that defence also contributed to deaden its violence, the Saracen was beaten from his horse. 9. Ere the Christian could avail himself of this mishap, his nimble foeman sprang from the ground. Calling on his steed, which instantly returned to his side, he leaped into his seat without touching the stirrups, and regained all the advantage of which the Knight of the Leopard hoped to deprive him. 10. But the latter had in the meanwhile recovered his mace. The Eastern cavalier, who remembered the strength and dexterity with which his antagonist had aimed it, seemed to keep cautiously out of reach of that weapon, of which he had so lately felt the force, while he showed his purpose of waging a distant warfare with missile weapons of his own. 11. Planting his long spear in the sand at a distance from the scene of combat, he strung, with great address, a short bow, which he carried at his back. Putting his horse to the gallop, he once more described two or three circles of a wider extent than formerly. In the course of these he discharged six arrows at the Christian with such unerring skill, that the goodness of his harness alone saved him from being wounded in as many places. 12. The seventh shaft apparently found a less perfect part of the armour, and the Christian dropped heavily from his horse. But what was the surprise of the Saracen when, dismounting to examine the condition of his prostrate enemy, he found himself suddenly within the grasp of the European, who had tried this artifice to bring the enemy within his reach! 13. Even in this deadly grapple, the Saracen was saved by his agility and presence of mind. He now loosed the sword-belt, in which the Knight of the Leopard had fixed his hold, and, thus eluding his fatal grasp, mounted his horse, which seemed to watch his motions with the intelligence of a human being, and again rode off. 14. But in the last encounter the Saracen had lost his sword and his quiver of arrows, both of which were attached to the girdle, which he was obliged to abandon. He had also lost his turban in the struggle. The disadvantages seemed to incline the Mussulman to a truce. He approached the Christian with his right hand extended, but no longer in a menacing attitude. 15. "There is truce betwixt our nations," he said, in the lingua Franca commonly used for the purpose of communication with the Crusaders-"Let there be peace betwixt us."--Sir Walter Scott, "The Talisman.” SUMMARY.-This extract from the "Talisman" records an encounter between the Knight of the Couchant Leopard and a Saracen cavalier. Mounted on a gallant barb the Saracen rushed swiftly on the Crusader, to attack him with his long spear. The Christian Knight, however, was on the alert. Well acquainted with the customs of Eastern warriors, he waited quietly for the onslaught. The Saracen changed his tactics, but the Crusader was too watchful to be taken by surprise. Anxious, however, to bring the matter to an end the Knight hurled his mace at the enemy's head. This brought the Saracen to the ground, but he was speedily on horseback and renewed the warfare with his bow and arrow. By an artifice, however, the knight secured him in his grasp, and the Mussulman at last made offers for a truce. A barb-was a horse from Barbary, in Northern Africa. Lingua Franca-literally "Frank Language." It was a mixture of the "Frank" or European Languages-chiefly Italian-with the languages spoken in Asia Minor, Syria, and Arabia. A-gil-i-ty, nimbleness. Ap-pre-hen-sive, afraid. Dex-ter-i-ty, cleverness. In-im-it-a-ble, not to be imitated. Missile, a thing thrown at any Mus-sul-man, Mahometan, a believer in the prophet Mahomet. QUESTIONS. Who came to attack the Christian Knight? In what manner? How did the Knight prepare to meet him? How did the Saracen alter his mode of onslaught? How did the Knight try to end the warfare? It what way was the attack renewed by the Saracen? What trick was used by the Knight? With what result? EXERCISES.-1. Parse and analyse-The disadvantages seemed to incline the Mussulman to a truce. 2. Verbs are formed by adding ish, ise, ize, which mean "to make;" as, famish, to make hungry (fames, hunger); advertise, to make public (ad, to, verto, I turn); fertilize, to make fruitful. Give the exact meaning of the following words-finish (finis, an end), pulverise (pulvis, dust), civilize. [HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (b. 1812, d. 1882), an American poet, was born at Portland, Maine. Having received a college education he was appointed Professor of Modern Languages in Bowdoin College; and in order to qualify himself for his duties, he spent three years in European travel. In 1854 he retired from public life. His first collection of poems appeared in 1841, and was entitled "Voices of the Night." Longfellow is the American Tennyson. His writings are characterised by simplicity and tenderness of thought and expression.] 1. Tell me not in mournful numbers, And things are not what they seem. 2. Life is real! Life is earnest ! 3. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 4. Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts though stout and brave, 5. In the world's broad field of battle! Be not like dumb, driven cattle! 6. Lives of great men all remind us |