21. "And the good south wind still blew behind, But no sweet bird did follow,

Nor any day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo.

22. "And I had done a hellish thing,
And it would work them woe;

For all averred I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.

'Ah, wretch,' said they, 'the bird to slay
That made the breeze to blow!'

23. "Down dropt the breeze; the sails dropt down: 'Twas sad as sad could be;

And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea.

24. "All in a hot and copper sky
The bloody sun, at noon,

Right up above the mast, did stand,
No bigger than the moon.

25. "Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion,—
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

26. "Water, water everywhere!

And all the boards did shrink;
Water,-water everywhere!

Nor any drop to drink.

27. "And every tongue, through utter drought, Was withered at the root:

We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.

28. "Ah, well-a-day! What evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the albatross
About my neck was hung.

66

29. "O wedding-guest! this soul hath been
Alone on a wide, wide sea:

So lonely 'twas that God himself
Scarce seeméd there to be.

30. "Oh, sweeter than the marriage-feast―
'Tis sweeter far to me-
To walk together to the kirk
With a goodly company,—

31. "To walk together to the kirk,
And all together pray,

While each to his great Father bends,-
Old men, and babes, and loving friends,
And youths and maidens gay.

32. "Farewell! farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou wedding-guest:
He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

33. "He prayeth best who loveth best All things, both great and small;

For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."

34. The mariner, whose eye is bright,
Whose beard with age is hoar,

Is

gone; and now the wedding-guest
Turned from the bridegroom's door.

35. He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn;

A sadder and a wiser man

He rose the morrow morn.

DEFINITIONS.-3. Loon, a rogue. Eft soons', soon afterward. 6. Kirk, church. 8. Bas soon', a wind-instrument. 14. Swound, a swoon. 15. Ăl'ba tross, a very large sea-bird, found chiefly in the Southern Ocean. 18. Věs'pers, evening services or songs. 22. A verred', declared positively.

79.-THE COMMON LOT.

JAMES MONTGOMERY was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, November 4, 1771. He was educated at Fulneck in expectation of entering the Moravian ministry. At school he spent much of his leisure time in composing music and poetry. In 1783 he began to contribute to The Sheffield Register, and in 1794 he edited The Sheffield Iris on his own account. He wrote many political articles, several volumes of poetry, and a book of hymns. His poems are melodious, full of beautiful descriptions and gentle feeling. He died at Sheffield, April 30, 1854.

1. ONCE, in the flight of ages past,

There lived a man; and who was he?
Mortal, howe'er thy lot be cast,

That man resembled thee.

2. Unknown the region of his birth;

The land in which he died, unknown:
His name has perished from the earth;
This truth survives alone,-

3. That joy and grief, and hope and fear,
Alternate triumphed in his breast:
His bliss and woe,- —a smile, a tear :
Oblivion hides the rest.

4. The bounding pulse, the languid limb,
The changing spirits' rise and fall,—
We know that these were felt by him;
For these are felt by all.

5. He suffered, but his pangs are o'er;
Enjoyed, but his delights are fled;

Had friends: his friends are now no more;
And foes his foes are dead.

:

6. He loved, but whom he loved the grave
Hath lost in its unconscious womb;
Oh, she was fair! but naught could save
Her beauty from the tomb.

7. He saw whatever thou hast seen;
Encountered all that troubles thee;
He was whatever thou hast been;
He is what thou shalt be.

8. The rolling seasons, day and night,

Sun, moon, and stars, the earth and main, Erewhile his portion, life and light,

To him exist in vain.

9. The clouds and sunbeams o'er his eye

That once their shades and glory threw

Have left in yonder silent sky

No vestige where they flew.

10. The annals of the human race,
Their ruins, since the world began,
Of him afford no other trace

Than this: there lived a man.

DEFINITIONS. 3. Ob liv'i on, forgetfulness. 9. Věs'tige, trace. 10. Ăn'nals, records.

80.-THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.

SIR WALTER SCOTT was born at Edinburgh, August 15, 1771. He attended the high school of that city, and afterward went to the university. He earned considerable fame among his comrades at school for his ability in telling stories. His career as a poet began in 1805 with the publication of The Lay of the Last Minstrel; Marmion followed in 1808, and The Lady of the Lake in 1810. These are his best poems, and excel in their description of the natural scenery of the Scottish Highlands. In 1814 he published Waverley, the first of the long series of novels upon which his great fame so largely and so deservedly rests. He created the historical novel in such tales as Kenilworth, Ivanhoe, and Quentin Durward. Goethe says of these works, "All is great in the Waverley novels,―material, effect, character, and execution." His last work was written only a year previous to his death, which occurred September 21, 1832. The prose extract is from his Tales of a Grandfather.

1. It was upon the 23d of June (1314) the King of Scotland heard the news that the English army were approaching Stirling. He drew out his army, therefore, in the order which he had before resolved upon. After a short time, Bruce, who was looking out anxiously for the enemy, saw a body of English cavalry trying to get into Stirling from the eastward. This was the Lord Clifford, who, with a chosen body of eight hundred horse, had been detached to relieve the castle.

2. "See, Randolph!" said the king to his nephew: "there is a rose fallen from your chaplet." By this he meant that Randolph had lost some honor by suffering the enemy to pass where he had been commanded to hinder them. Randolph made no reply, but rushed against Clifford with