1. What does the poetess say about the sun?

2. What is said of the moon?

3. Why call the sun glorious, and the moon gentle?

4. In what season are dew-drops seen on the grass?

5. Do they not sparkle indeed like diamonds?

6. Are there any precious stones in the King's diadem more beautiful than they are?

7. Since they are so beautiful, how comes it that we scarcely notice them?

8. Ah, but does not this very commonness which makes us neglect them, display God's goodness the more?

9. Is the music of the palace more charming than that of the grove?

10. Are the perfumes of the palace richer than those of the heath-flower, or the rose?

11. Repeat to me the last verse.

12. Will you try and name to me some of the lovely things, and the pleasant tones, that the poor enjoy as well as the rich?

13. Have the poor good reason to envy the rich then?

14. Who is so good to us all?

15. What is the best gift of God to poor sinful mortals?

16. Who will quote to me the words of John, iii. 16. ?

III. THE SOLDIER'S RETURN.

The wars for many a month were o'er
Ere I could reach my native shed;
My friends ne'er hop'd to see me more,
And wept for me as for the dead.

As I drew near, the cottage blaz'd,
The evening fire was clear and bright,
As through the window long I gaz'd,
And saw each friend with dear delight.

My father in his corner sat,

My mother drew her useful thread;
My brothers strove to make them chat,
My sisters bak'd the household bread.

And Jean oft whispered to a friend,
And still let fall a silent tear;
But soon my Jessy's grief will end,-
She little thinks her Harry's near.

What could I do? if in I went,
Surprise would chill each tender heart;-
Some story then I must invent,
And act the poor maim'd soldier's part.

I drew a bandage o'er my face,
And crooked up a lying knee;
And soon I found in that best place,
Not one dear friend knew aught of me.

I ventur❜d in ;-Tray wagg'd his tail ;-
He fawn'd, and to my mother ran :—
"Come here!" she cried, "what can he ail?"
While my feign'd story I began.

I changed my voice to that of age:
"A poor old soldier lodging craves ;"-
The very name their loves engage,-
"A soldier! aye, the best we have."

My father then drew in a seat ;-
"You're welcome," with a sigh, he said.
My mother fried her best hung meat,
And curds and cheese the table spread.

"I had a son," my father cried,
"A soldier too, but he is gone;"-
"Have you heard from him ?" I replied,
"I left behind me many a one ;-

"And many a message have I brought
To families I cannot find ;-

Long for John Goodman's have I sought,
To tell them Hal's not far behind."

"Oh! does he live!" my father cried ;My mother did not stay to speak;

My Jessy now I silent eyed,

Who throbb'd as if her heart would break.

My mother saw her catching sigh,
And hid her face behind the rock,
While tears swam round in every eye,

And not a single word was spoke.

"He lives indeed! this kerchief see,-
At parting his dear Jessy gave;
He sent it far, with love, by me,
To show he still escapes the grave."

An arrow, darting from a bow,
Could not more quick the token reach;
The patch from off my face I drew,
And

gave my voice its well-known speech.

"My Jessy dear!" I softly said,—
She gaz'd and answer'd with a sigh;
My sisters look'd, as half afraid;
My mother fainted quite for joy.

My father danced around his son,-
My brothers shook my hand away;
My mother said, "her glass might run.
She car'd not now how soon the day."

"Hout, woman!" cried my father dear,
"A wedding first, I'm sure, we'll have;
I warrant we'll live a hundred year,
Nay, may be, lass, escape the grave."

1. Was the soldier expected home? 2. What time in the day did he reach his native cot?

3. How were his father and mother and the rest of the family engaged?

4. Name the friend to whom Jean was whispering.

5. What might the effects of his sudden entrance have been?

6. How did he manage to avoid giving them too great a surprise?

7. Who only recognised him at once? 8. How did Tray show that he knew him? 9. What word engaged their loves at once, and why?

10. Of whom did the old man speak? 11. What reply did the soldier make? 12. Who is Hal, and what is the full name?

Miss Blamire.

13. What was the father's name? 14. What effect was produced by the information that Harry was alive?

15. What is meant by the rock in verse 13th ?

16. Who knew the kerchief well, and why did she know it so well?

17. Who tainted, and how did the father act?

18. How did the brothers act, and what did the mother say?

19. What mean you by glass in verse 17th?

20. Who watched over the poor soldier in the battle field, and brought him home in safety?

21. Into whose hands should we ever commit ourselves?

IV. KING CANUTE.

"CANUTE, the greatest and most powerful monarch of his time, sovereign of Denmark and Norway, as well as of England, could not fail of meeting with adulation from his courtiers; a tribute which is liberally paid, even to the meanest and weakest princes. Some of his flatterers, breaking out one day in admiration of his grandeur, exclaimed, that everything was possible for him; upon which the monarch, it is said, ordered his chair to be set on the sea-shore, while the tide was rising; and as the waters approached he commanded them to retire, and to obey the voice of him who was lord of the ocean. He feigned to sit some time in expectation of their submission; but when the sea still advanced towards him, and began to wash him with its billows, he turned to his courtiers, and remarked to them, that every creature in the universe was feeble and impotent, and that power resided with one Being alone, in whose hands were all the elements of nature; who could say to the ocean, Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther; and who could level with his nod the most towering piles of human pride and ambition."-Hume's History of England.

UPON his royal throne he sat,
In a monarch's thoughtful mood;
Attendants on his regal state
His servile courtiers stood,

With foolish flatteries, false and vain,
To win his smile, his favour gain.

They told him e'en the mighty deep
His kingly sway confessed:
That he could bid its billows leap
Or still its stormy breast!

He smiled contemptuously, and cried,
"Be then my boasted empire tried !"

Down to the ocean's sounding shore
The proud procession came,
To see its billows' wild uproar

King Canute's power proclaim;
Or, at his high and dread command,
In gentle murmurs kiss the strand.

-

Not so, thought he, their noble king,
As his course he seaward sped,-
And each base slave like a guilty thing,
Hung down his conscious head :—
He knew the ocean's Lord on high!
They, that he scorned their senseless lie.

His throne was placed by ocean's side,
He lifted his sceptre there;
Bidding, with tones of kingly pride,
The waves their strife forbear:-
And, while he spoke his royal will,
All but the winds and waves were still.

Louder the stormy blast swept by,
In scorn of his idle word;

The briny deep its waves tossed high,
By his mandate undeterred,

As threatening, in their angry play,
To sweep both king and court away.

The monarch with upbraiding look,
Turned to the courtly ring;

But none, the kindling eye could brook
Even of his earthly king;

For in that wrathful glance they see
A mightier monarch wronged than he !

Canute thy regal race is run;
Thy name had passed away,
But for the meed this tale hath won,
Which never shall decay:
Its meek, unperishing renown,
Outlasts thy sceptre and thy crown.

The Persian, in his mighty pride,
Forged fetters for the main;
And when its floods his power defied,
Inflicted stripes as vain ;-

But it was worthier far of thee
To know thyself, than rule the sea!

1. Of what countries was Canute king? 2. How great did his flatterers say his power was?

3. Did the king believe what they said? 4. In how many ways did they say the sea would own his power?

5. To what verb is they, in verse 4th the nominative?

6. When seated on the shore, what command did the monarch give the sea? 7. What effect did it produce?

8. Who are meant by the word all, in verse 5th ?

Bernard Barton.

9. What sort of look did the king give his nobles?

10. What might they see in his wrathful glance ?

11. What mightier monarch is meant ? 12. When did Canute flourish?

13. What keeps his name alive still? 14. Relate the historical fact referred to in the last verse?

15. What king is mentioned in the New Testament who believed similar flattery? 16. What happened to him for this act?

V.-STUDY OF THE WORKS OF NATURE.

"To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty; and in the same field it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again. The heavens change every moment, and reflect their glory or gloom on the place beneath. The state of the crop on the surrounding farms alters the expression of the earth from week to week. The succession of native plants in the pastures and roadsides, which makes the silent clock by which time tells the summer hours, which make even the divisions of the day sensible to a keen observer. The tribes of birds and insects, like the plants, punctual to their time, follow each other, and the year has room for all."-R. W. Emerson.

O NATURE! all-sufficient! over all!

Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works!
Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent,
Profusely scattered o'er the blue immense,

Show me; their motions, periods, and their laws,