LESSON VI.

SPECTACLES, OR HELPS TO READ.

1. A CERTAIN artist-I've forgot his name-
Had got, for making spectacles, a fame,
Or "helps to read," as, when they first were sold,
Was writ upon his glaring sign in gold;
And, for all uses to be had from glass,
His were allowed by readers to surpass.
2. There came a man into his shop one day-
"Are you the spectacle contriver, pray' ?"
"Yes, sir," said he; "I can in that affair
Contrive to please you, if you want a pair'."
"Can you'? pray do, then." So, at first, he chose
To place a youngish pair upon his nose;

And book produced, to see how they would fit:
Asked how he liked 'em? "Like 'em'? not a bit."

3. "Then, sir, I fancy, if you please to try,

These in my hand will better suit your eye'." "No', but they don't'." "Well, come, sir, if you please, Here is another sort', we'll e'en try these';

Still somewhat more they magnify the letter'; Now, sir' ?" "Why, now-I'm not a bit the better'." "No'? here, take these, that magnify still more; How do they fit' ?" "Like all the rest before." 4. In short, they tried a whole assortment through, But all in vain, for none of 'em would do. The operator, much surprised to find

So odd a case, thought, sure the man is blind!
"What sort of eyes can you have got`?" said he.
"Why, very good ones, friend, as you may see.”
"Yes, I perceive the clearness of the ball—
Pray, let me ask you, can you read at all' ?"

66

C

'No', you great blockhead; if I could, what need
Of paying you for any helps to read'?'"
And so he left the maker in a heat,
Resolved to post him for an arrant cheat.

L

BYROM.

THE MAY QUEEN.

1. You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear;
To-morrow 'll be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;
Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest, merriest day;
For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

2. There's many a black black eye, they say, but none so bright as mine; There's Margaret and Mary, there's Kate and Caroline : But none so fair as little Alice in all the land they say,

So I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

3. I sleep so sound all night, mother, that I shall never wake,

If you do not call me loud when the day begins to break:
But I must gather knots of flowers, and buds and garlands gay,

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

4. As I came up the valley, whom think ye should I see,

But Robin leaning on the bridge beneath the hazel-tree?

He thought of that sharp look, mother, I gave him yesterday

But I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May.

NEW-YEAR'S EVE.

7. If you're waking, call me early, call me early, mother dear, For I would see the sun rise upon the glad New-year:

It is the last New-year that I shall ever see,

Then you may lay me low in the mould, and think no more of me.

8. To-night I saw the sun set: he set and left behind

The good old year, the dear old time, and all my peace of mind;
And the New-year's coming up, mother, but I shall never see
The blossom on the blackthorn, the leaf upon the tree.

9. Last May we made a crown of flowers; we had a merry day:
Beneath the hawthorn on the Green they made me Queen of May;
And we danced about the May-pole and in the hazel copse,'
Till Charles's Wain' came out above the tall white chimney-tops.

10. There's not a flower on all the hills: the frost is on the pane:
I only wish to live till the snowdrops come again:

I wish the snow would melt, and the sun come out on high:
I long to see a flower so, before the day I die.

11. The building rook will caw3 from the windy tall elm-tree,

And the tufted plover pipe along the fallow lea,5

And the swallow will come back again with summer o'er the waveBut I shall lie alone, mother, within the mouldering grave.

12. When the flowers come again, mother, beneath the waning light You'll never see me more in the long gray fields at night; When from the dry dark wold the summer airs blow cool

On the oat-grass and the sword-grass, and the bulrush in the pool.

13. You'll bury me, my mother, just beneath the hawthorn shade,
And you'll come sometimes and see me where I am lowly laid.
I shall not forget you, mother; I shall hear you when you pass,
With your feet above my head in the long and pleasant grass.

14. I have been wild and wayward, but you'll forgive me now;
You'll kiss me, my own mother, upon my cheek and brow;
Nay, nay, you must not weep, nor let your grief be wild,
You should not fret for me, mother-you have another child.

15. Good-night, good-night, when I have said good-night for evermore,

And you see me carried out from the threshold of the door,
Don't let Effie come to see me till my grave be growing green:
She'll be a better child to you than ever I have been.

16. She'll find my garden-tools upon the granary floor:

Let her take them: they are hers: I shall never garden more:
But tell her, when I'm gone, to train the rose-bush that I set
About the parlor window, and the box of mignonnette."

17. Good-night, sweet mother: call me before the day is born.
All night I lie awake, but I fall asleep at morn;
But I would see the sun rise upon the glad New-year,
So, if you're waking, call me, call me early, mother dear.

CONCLUSION.

18. I thought to pass away before, and yet alive I am;

And in the fields all round I hear the bleating of the lamb.
How sadly, I remember, rose the morning of the year!
To die before the snowdrop came, and now the violet's here.

19. It seemed so hard at first, mother, to leave the blessed sun, And now it seems as hard to stay, and yet His will be done! But still I think it can't be long before I find release;

And that good man, the clergyman, has told me words of peace.

20. O blessings on his kindly voice, and on his silver hair!

And blessings on his whole life long, until he meet me there!
O blessings on his kindly heart, and on his silver head!
A thousand times I bless'd him as he knelt beside my bed.

24. Forever and forever, all in a blessed home

And there to wait a little while till you and Effie come;
To lie within the light of God, as I lie upon your breast-
And the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.

TENNYSON.

1 COPSE, a wood of small growth.

2 CHARLES'S WAIN, a constellation or group of fixed stars.

CAW, to cry like a crow, rook, or raven.

5 LEA, meadow or sward land.

6 WOLD, a wood; sometimes a plain.

7 MIGN-ON-NETTE' (min-yon-et'), a plant.