And quench this fiery indignation,
Even in the matter of mine innocence;
Nay, after that, consume away in rust,
But for containing fire to harm mine eye.
Are you more stubborn-hard than hammered iron?
An if an angel should have come to me,

And told me Hubert should put out mine eyes,

I would not have believed him,-no tongue but Hubert's. Hub. [Stamps.] Come forth.

Re-enter Attendants, with cord, irons, etc.

Do as I bid you do.

Arth. O save me, Hubert, save me! my eyes are out Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men.

Hub. Give me the iron, I say, and bind him here. Arth. Alas! what need you be so boisterous rough ?

I will not struggle, I will stand stone-still.

For heaven's sake, Hubert, let me not be bound!
Nay, hear me, Hubert !-drive these men away,
And I will sit as quiet as a lamb ;

I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word,
Nor look upon the iron angerly :5

Thrust but these men away, and I'll forgive you,
Whatever torment you do put me to.

Hub. Go, stand within; let me alone with him.
I Attend. I am best pleased to be from such a deed.'

[Exeunt Attendants.
Arth. Alas! I then have chid away my friend:
He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart:--
Let him come back, that his compassion may
Give life to yours.

Hub.

Arth. Is there no remedy?

Hub.

Come, boy, prepare yourself.

None, but to lose your eyes.

Arth. O heaven !-that there were but a mote in yours,

A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wandering hair,

Any annoyance in that precious sense!

مو

v, another obsolete word, for which in the present day we substi

Then, feeling what small things are boisterous there, Your vile intent must needs seem horrible.

Hub. Is this your promise? go to, hold your tongue.
Arth. Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues
Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes:
Let me not hold my tongue-let me not, Hubert;
Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,

So I may keep mine eyes: O, spare mine eyes,
Though to no use but still to look on you!—
Lo! by my troth, the instrument is cold,
And would not harm me.

Hub.

I can heat it, boy.

Arth. No, in good sooth; the fire is dead with grief, Being create for comfort, to be used

In undeserved extremes: see else yourself;

There is no malice in this burning coal;

The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out,
And strew'd repentant ashes on his head.

Hub. But with my breath I can revive it, boy.
Arth. And if you do, you will but make it blush,
And glow with shame of your proceedings, Hubert:
Nay, it, perchance, will sparkle in your eyes;
And, like a dog that is compelled to fight,
Snatch at his master that doth tarres him on.
All things that you should use to do me wrong,
Deny their office: only you do lack

That mercy, which fierce fire, and iron, extends,
Creatures of note for mercy-lacking uses.

Hub. Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eyes
For all the treasure that thine uncle owes :

Yet am I sworn, and I did purpose, boy,
With this same very iron to burn them out.

Arth. O, now you look like Hubert! all this while
You were disguised.'

6 Bois-ter-ous, stormy, attended with noise. From the Welsh bryst, wild. 1 Brace, a pair or couple, anything that couples two things together. From the French bras, the arm, in allusion to its strength and power of retention.

8 Tarre, to urge on, incite. An old English word, now obsolete, from the Anglo-Saxon tiran, to provoke.

9 Dis-guis'-ed, altered in appearance, as by change of dress, &c. From the Latin dis, negative, and the French guise, appearance.

Peace! no more.

Hub.
Adieu.
Your uncle must not know but you are dead;
I'll fill these dogged spies with false reports:
And, pretty child, sleep doubtless and secure,
That Hubert, for the wealth of all the world,
Will not offend thee.

Arth.
O heaven!—I thank you, Hubert!
Hub. Silence! no more: go closely in with me;
Much danger do I undergo for thee,

[Exeunt.

This able poet, who is also one of the most fascinating historians of the nineteenth century, although his statements are not always correct, was born at Rothley Temple, Oct. 25, 1800, Leicestershire. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and, like Praed, contributed to the "Etonian" and the early publications of Mr. Charles Knight. He was called to the bar in 1826, entered parliament in 1830, representing first Calne and then Leeds until 1834, when he went to India as legal adviser to the Supreme Council of Calcutta. Returning to England in 1839, he became member for Edinburgh, and took office as secretary for war under Lord Melbourne, and pay-master of the forces under Lord John Russell, afterwards Earl Russell. He was raised to the peerage in 1857, and died in 1859. He wrote several Essays, of which those on Clive and Warren Hastings are perhaps the best. His "History of England," which was not completed, but which, as a piece of composition, is a flow of spirited narrative which one is loth to lay down when once begun, is rivalled only

by John Lothrop Motley's Histories of the Dutch Republic and the United Netherlands. His ballads are replete with fire and spirit, and the following, one of his best, affords an admirable reflection of the chivalrous courage of the French Protestants who fought so gallantly for their faith.

[The battle of Ivry was fought at a village of this name, near Evreux, in France, between the Huguenots or French Protestants, under Henry, King of Navarre, and the Roman Catholics or partisans of the League, under the Duke of Mayenne, March 14, 1590. The battle is a prominent landmark in the long struggle of the French Protestants to worship God after their own fashion, and the repressive measures taken by the Romanists, as in the present time, to stifle free thought and liberty of conscience. The persecution of the Protestants in France began in the reign of Francis I., in the year 1525, which witnessed his defeat and capture in the battle of Pavia, and was continued at intervals for more than 35 years, the most shameful act during this period being the massacre of the Vaudois, and the wholesale pillage and destruction of about twenty of their towns and villages in 1545. The principal instigators of these acts were, Francis of Lorraine, commonly called the Duke of Guise, and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, who had the principal share in managing the government of France during the reigns of Henry II. (1547-1559) and Francis II. (1559 -1560), and had considerable influence in state affairs, in the time of Francis I. However, in spite of fire and sword, the number of Protestants in France increased steadily, and men of rank and ability, such as the Prince of Condé and Coligni, the Admiral of France, became their leaders and strove to secure toleration for them at the French Court. In 1562, some followers of the Duke of Guise killed a number of Protestants at Vassy; the reformers flew to arms, and the "religious wars,' which unsettled France for so many years, commenced, the men of the reformed faith striking at their oppressors as fiercely and heartily as they had been struck themselves. No fight has ever been so bitterly fought out as the fight for faith, and none ever will be as long as the world lasts.

وو

The first appearance of the Huguenots as a united body in the field was at Dreux, under the Prince of Condé, and there they were defeated after a hard struggle, December 19, 1562, by the Constable Montmorency. In the following year, on Feb. ruary 24, the Duke of Guise was shot down in his camp, while besieging Orleans, by a French Protestant gentleman named

Poltrot de Méré. In less than a month after his death, the Protestants, by the treaty of Amboise, gained their first substantial advantage and recognition at the hands of the government, and were permitted to follow their own forms of worship in certain parts of France. It is worthy of notice that the French Protestants were now first called Huguenots, but it is not clearly known why they were so styled.

Charles IX. was now on the throne of France, a puppet in the hands of his unscrupulous mother, Catherine de Medicis, and the Guises, uncle and nephew, Henry, the son of the duke that had fallen at Orleans, having succeeded to his father's honours, titles, influence, and bitter hatred of the Reformed faith. But a new champion had also risen to support the cause of the Protestants, Henry de Bourbon, who, in right of his mother, Jeanne d'Albret, became King of Navarre in 1572. He had taken no part in the battle of St. Denis, in 1567, in which the Huguenots were defeated, though they managed to give a mortal wound to the Constable Montmorency, but he fought in their cause at Jarnac (March 13, 1569) and Moncontour (October 3, 1569), when the Huguenots were twice defeated with great loss by the young Duke of Anjou, afterwards Henry III. of France. From this time he was looked on as one of the acknowledged leaders of the Protestants.

The defeat of the Huguenots in these contests was again followed by an amnesty and permission to live in peace and the enjoyment of their faith in any part of the kingdom, which were obtained from Charles IX., by the old Admiral Coligni, by the treaty of St. Germain, August 8, 1570. But this proved only a temporary lull in the storm of persecution; for just two years after, orders were sent to every large town in France for a general massacre of the Huguenots, which was carried out in Paris and other parts with unexampled ferocity, even the white-haired admiral falling a victim in the slaughter which was perpetrated, August 24, 1572, and which is known in history as the "Massacre of St. Bartholomew."

Two years after this Charles IX. died a miserable death, and his brother, the Duke of Anjou, then King of Poland, came to the throne as Henry III., the nearest heir to the throne after his death being the young King of Navarre, who had been invited to take up his residence at the French Court after the peace of St. Germain, and had married Marguerite de Valois, the sister of Thorles IX. and Henry III. His near relationship to the royal ily secured him from assassination in the massacre of St.