Literary selections for practice in spelling, compiled by R. Lomas

but they have likewise a kind of prescription in their favour. We feared pain much earlier than we apprehended guilt, and were delighted with the sensations of pleasure before we had capacities to be charmed with the beauty of rectitude. To this power, thus early established, and incessantly increasing, it must be remembered, that almost every man has, in some part of his life, added new strength by a voluntary or negligent subjection of himself; for who is there that has not instigated his appetites by indulgence, or suffered them, by an unresisting neutrality to enlarge their dominion, and multiply their demands?

Dr. JOHNSON.

FINANCIAL CRISIS IN FRANCE (1787).

In the spring of 1787 matters looked ominous enough in France. We have already dwelt upon the accumulated wrongs of generations remorselessly heaped up, as though there were no retribution either on earth or in heaven. At the time to which we refer, public attention was directed especially to one of many grievances-the first to excite the unappeasable anger of the oppressed, the last from which mediocrity is able to devise escape,- the finances of the country were in inextricable confusion. The system of taxation, intolerable in itself, failed to supply the wants of the Exchequer. Two-thirds of France belonged to the privileged classes, who, in virtue of their privileges, were exempt altogether from taxation; the unprivileged suffered, of course, in proportion to the immunity enjoyed by their fellows. There is no need to recapitulate the hardships borne by the peasantry of France upon the eve of the Revolution-to repeat the deplorable recital found in every historian of the period. Suffice it to say that the crisis of the time was a monetary one. The deficit since 1776 amounted to £66,000,000 sterling, and was increasing at the rate of £6,000,000 per annum. On the 19th of November, 1787, the King, accompanied by his ministers, went down to Parliament,

and presented a project for a gradual loan. It was received with dissatisfaction, and his majesty was implored to convoke the States-General for the purpose of obtaining measures that would save the country from utter ruin. The votes were about to be taken, when ministers, perceiving that they would be left in a minority, declared that no vote could be received in the presence of the King.

S. PHILLIPS, "Essays from 'The Times.''

LOUIS PHILIPPE TEACHER IN A SCHOOL.

It was whilst pursuing this somewhat ignoble course of life, (that of a solitary wanderer), that a plan was suggested to the young Duke which promised immediate, if not lasting, relief from his great embarrassment. A gentleman named Chabot-Latour had been invited from Paris to take a professorship in the College of Reichnau. M. Chabot-Latour failed to keep his engagement, and by the contrivance of the Prince's friends, it was arranged that the Duc de Chartres should appear in the name and place of the absent candidate. The Prince accordingly presented himself for examination, and was unanimously elected, after receiving great commendation for the ability and knowledge he had evinced throughout the ordeal. "Essays from 'The Times.'"

CESAR-SALLUST.

Of the concise and elegant accounts of the campaigns of Cæsar little can be said. They are incomparable models for military despatches. But histories they are not, and do not pretend to be. The ancient critics placed Sallust in the same rank with Livy; and unquestionably the small portion of his works which has come down to us is calculated to give a high opinion of his talents. But his style is not very pleasant; and his most powerful

work, the account of the "Conspiracy of Catiline," has rather the air of a clever party pamphlet than that of a history. It abounds with strange inconsistencies, which, unexplained as they are, necessarily excite doubts as to the fairness of the narrative. It is true that many circumstances now forgotten may have been familiar to his contemporaries, and may have rendered passages clear to them which to us appear dubious and perplexing. But a great historian should remember that he writes for distant generations, for men who will perceive the apparent contradictions, and will possess no means of reconciling them. We can only vindicate the fidelity of Sallust at the expense of his skill.

MACAULAY, " Essay on History."

DESCRIPTION OF RICHMOND.

The carriage rolled rapidly onwards through fertile meadows, ornamented with splendid old oaks, and catching occasionally a glance of the majestic mirror of a broad and placid river. After passing through a pleasant village, the equipage stopped on a commanding eminence, where the beauty of English landscape was displayed in its utmost luxuriance. Here the Duke alighted, and desired Jeanie to follow him. They paused for a moment on the brow of a hill, to gaze on the unrivalled landscape which it presented. A huge sea of verdure, with crossing and intersecting promontories of massive and tufted groves, was tenanted by numberless flocks and herds, which seemed to wander unrestrained and unbounded through the rich pastures. The Thames, here turreted with villas, and there garlanded with forests, moved on slowly and placidly, like the mighty monarch of the scene, to whom all its other beauties were but accessories, and bore on its bosom an hundred barks and skiffs, whose white sails and gaily-fluttering pennons gave life to the whole.

Sir WALTER SCOTT, "The Heart of Mid-Lothian."

represented with shoes, but without hose. Females of all ranks wore long loose garments reaching to the ground, completely hiding all symmetry of shape. Long hair, parted on the forehead, and falling naturally down the shoulders, with an ample beard and moustache, distinguish the Anglo-Saxons from the closely cropped Normans. Planche remarks that the character of the face, as delineated in illuminations immediately designates the age wherein the early portraits of our Lord, which have been reverently copied to the present day, were originally fabri

cated.

MILNER, "History of England."

NORMAN AND SAXON WORDS CONTRASTED.

Here is the explanation of the assertion made just now-namely, that we might almost reconstruct our history, so far as it turns upon the Norman Conquest, by an analysis of our present language, a mustering of its words in groups, and a close observation of the nature and character of those which the two races have severally contributed to it. Thus we should confidently conclude that the Norman was the ruling race, from the noticeable fact that all the words of dignity, state, honour, and preeminence, with one remarkable exception, (to be adduced presently,) descend to us from them—" sovereign," "sceptre," "throne," "realm," "royalty," "homage," "prince, 39 66 duke," count," ("earl," indeed, is Scandinavian, though he must borrow his "countess" from the Norman,)" chancellor," "treasurer," "palace," "castle,” "hall," "dome," and a multitude more. At the same time the one remarkable exception of "king" would make us, even did we know nothing of the actual facts, suspect that the chieftain of this ruling race came in not upon a new title, not as overthrowing a former dynasty, but claiming to be in the rightful line of its succession; that the true continuity of the nation had not, in fact any more than in word, been entirely broken, but survived in due time to assert itself anew.

99 66

TRENCH, "On the Study of Words."

THE DISMAL SWAN

There are many swamps of morasses .: region, and one of the largest of these occre towns of Norfolk and WeidoL. miles of its northern extremit supported on piles.

1 Dears the am

expressive name of the