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Ye who have loved each other,
Sister and friend and brother,
In this fast-fading year;
Mother and sire and child,
Young man and maiden mild,
Come, gather here;

And let your hearts grow fonder,
As memory shall ponder

Each past unbroken vow!
Old loves and younger wooing
Are sweet in the renewing
Under the holly bough,

Ye who have nourish'd sadness,
Estranged from hope and gladness,
In this fast-fading year;
Ye with o'erburden'd mind
Made aliens from your kind,
Come, gather here.

Let not the useless sorrow
Pursue you night and morrow;

If e'er you hope, hope now-
Take heart, uncloud your faces,
And join in our embraces

Under the holly-bough.

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Charles Mackay.

tran-sient

fiend-ish

mien

lei-sure

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N.B.-This piece and the next may be used as Dictation Exercises in

the higher Standards.

THE fiery chieftain rose from the bier, on which lay the

now lifeless body of his favourite niece, and, suppressing his grief, slung his osier shield behind his left shoulder, and, wielding his trusty sword in his right hand, strode across the glacier, which was the frontier between his own domain and that of his liege. Descending the heights, his faithful retriever roused a solitary magpie, the omen of ill luck, which, with a fiendish laugh, he defied. The clouds gathered round him, and the winds whistled hoarsely in the dark glades, through which he was now passing. The distant thunder each minute became louder, as it seemed to draw closer round him' the anger of the Deity.

Flash succeeded flash of the fiery lightning, when a piercing shriek startled his ears. A single moment was sufficient to bring him to the spot, from which the shriek seemed to come. Beneath an oak lay the form of a weird woman, stretched almost lifeless on the field: her dress of the coarsest frieze was blackened by the flash, which had cleft into many pieces the tree, under whose branches she had sought a brief shelter. Over her knelt an aged priest, of peaceful mien, seeking to administer relief from a cordial readily extracted from the pannier of his mule, which eagerly made the most of his brief leisure to crop a hasty meal from the herbage around him.

The stupor slowly yielded to the good priest's friendly care; his nostrum brought the desired relief, and he had the satisfaction to perceive the gradual return of colour to the poor woman's cheek, as well as warmth to her stiffened limbs. The chieftain stood a

silent spectator of the transient scene. He was no proficient in the healing art: so, content with an unfeigned expression of grief at the untoward event, he hastened to seek shelter in the neighbouring castle, which, having stood many a siege in ancient times, promised a safe protection from the fiery thunder-bolts of heaven. Rev. J. Ridgway.

EARL OF LEICESTER.

ei has four sounds:

1. ei-e long, as seize, deceit. 2. ei=a long, as vein, deign.

3. ei i long, eider, height. 4. ei i short, forfeit.

THE Earl of Leicester, as soon as he had received the inheritance to which, as heir-at-law, he was entitled, resolved to devote himself to the service of his sovereign, whose reign had just been so auspiciously begun. He justly perceived, that the commencement of a reign was fraught with danger to a sovereign newly called to the throne, both from the deceitful flattery of courtiers who flocked to her side, and from the hope it gave to the discontented to seize the opportunity of espousing the counterfeit claims of any pretender. These difficulties were at present increased by the threatened invasion of a neighbouring power, who, feigning friendship to the usurper, sought to inveigle her into trusting her fortunes to his care, concealing his treacherous deceit with the flimsy veil of espousing the weaker cause of his niece.

Leicester rode to Leighton Buzzard, where he was met by Lord Leigh, who accompanied him to town. Ascending the heights, the royal troops, with their helmets surmounted with eider-plumes, glancing in the sun, were displayed to their view. Why, they have mounted the wings of the Michaelmas goose on their crops, said Lord Leigh! But Leicester had no vein of humour in him, and deigned no answer to the witty remark; but, without reining his horse, rode full gallop to the camp, where he learnt the success of the royal forces in the recent conflict, as well as the intended plan of the campaign. Fearing either to forfeit the good opinion of his sovereign by further delay, or to incur the disdain of the army by seeming to shrink from the dangers of war, he at once tendered his sword to Lord Burleigh, and undertook himself to conduct the siege of

S. IV.

N

the city, whose fall he foresaw must be accomplished at all risks.

Entrusted with so delicate and important an office, he rode up to the gates, and summoning the commander to a parley, demanded the surrender of the town in the name of his sovereign. To this summons the authorities did not deign to make any other reply than such as was conveyed by an instant discharge of missiles from all parts of the battlements. But Leicester proved himself equal to the occasion, and encouraging his followers to bravery in the service of their liege, led on the assault. A few hours battering at the walls easily effected a breach, through which Leicester was the first to enter, while others scaled the heights; and, though hurled back again and again, an entrance was at length made good. Then followed a most deadly carnage; the streets ran in rivers with the blood of the slain, before any important position had been seized.

As night set in, the royal troops were masters of the market-place, and a second party had already forced an entrance at the east gate, when a flag of truce was seen to wave from the castle heights, and a parley ensued, resulting in a mutual com pact to stay hostilities till the morning, when terms of peace should be discussed by the leaders of both parties. This was, as the event proved, a most disgraceful piece of deceit. The weary combatants lay down to rest in fancied security. The royal troops, fatigued with their long march, and unprovided with food, were faint and exhausted. The enemy feigned a like weariness, and retired to their quarters; but, in the dead of night, the gates were silently opened, the leaders stole forth with small detachments, firing the houses as they left, and thus effecting their escape under the cover of the smoke, while all efforts of the royal army were engrossed in extricating themselves or their comrades from their perilous position.-Rev. J. Ridgway.

EXERCISES FOR DICTATION.

EXERCISE I.

N.B-These Vocabularies should be carefully learnt by heart.

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He has drunk too
It is a great

much ale, and has spent all he had. pity, for he was heir to great estates long ere I was born. The hare roams the fields in his hairy coat as free as the air we breathe. There was a great fire in the grate, and a cinder fell on the hearth-rug which set it all in a blaze; so all their things were burnt. The cobbler sat by the fire-grate boring away with his awl, and grating the sole of the shoe he was mending with a great file. He had a great deal of hair all matted about his head; but he whistled a joyful air, as his nose caught the savoury smell of the hare roasting before the fire.

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