himself when stir was needed. How else can we account for the touching resignation of that last prayer left to us by the dead soldier-lad?

'Take, O God! my heart,
And Thy faith impart,
So that, in prayer yearning,
To Thee I be turning.

If thorns in my path be found,

'Twas with thorns that Thou wert crowned.'

It is not so that youth commonly thinks and speaks. And yet who grudges the sadness now, and does not rather dwell on the holiness and self-renunciation which breathe in the lines? Or who can doubt that the few sharp thorns in that last fearful war-path downtrodden, the God to Whom he turned in youth and health took the brave young spirit into His keeping?

Whom the gods love die young,' was the old pagan belief; and often our weary lips are tempted to repeat the phrase nc-v-a-days. The world grows no kindlier, no quieter; and the young Napoleon, had he lived, would probably have gone through more bitter experiences than even that African campaign in which he met a soldier's H. A. F.

death.

A

'DO THY BEST.'

YOUNG painter was charged to finish a task which his aged and enfeebled master had recently begun. So exalted were his views of his master's genius and skill that the request amazed and humbled him, and he shrank from so gigantic an undertaking. The calm reply of the aged artist was, 'Do thy best.' Again and again he begged to be excused, but the only words he could wring from his master's lips were, 'Do thy best.' Tremblingly he seized his pallet and brushes, and fell on his knees and prayed, It is for the sake of my beloved master that I implore skill and power to do this deed.' Prayer calmed his mind, steadied his hand, and fired his genius. He began, he wrought, he conquered. And the veteran teacher was carried in his cot to Leonardo da Vinci's studio, and having gazed on his pupil's finished picture of The Last Supper' he burst into tears, and flinging his emaciated arms around the young artist he said, in a thrill of delight, I paint no more.'

Brothers and fellow-workers! our ascended Master says to us, 'Do your best.' We lament our weakness. His reply is, Trust Mc, and do your best.' We falter before the vastness of the task of bringing England to His feet. He lays His hand upon us and says, 'Fear not. I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Do your best.' And so we will, Christ helping us. The work is His. He began it at Bethlehem and Calvary. He bids us do our best to finish it. Prayerfully, hope-inspired, and love-inflamed, let us, for the sake of our beloved Master, resolve that we will not rest until we have done our best' for this cause, so dear to our God and His Christ, so necessary for His Church and for the welfare of our dear fatherland and for the world. REV. JOHN CLIFFORD.

BY JAMES F. COBB, F.R.G.S.

OTWITHSTANDING the recent eruption, it appeared that the ascent of Etna was practicable, for I was informed at the Hôtel at Catania that travellers were daily going up. I had agreed with a Swiss gentleman, whom I met at the scene of the eruption on the previous Saturday, to make the ascent with him. On reaching Catania on the appointed morning, Thursday June 12th, 1879, I found that our party was a large one, for we were six in number, exclusive of guides and porters. My companions were of different nations, consisting of Monsieur de S. from Geneva, a scientific gentleman of European reputation, a German doctor from Rome, an Italian general and senator, an American, and an Englishman. Provided with sundry baskets of provisions, blankets and wrappers to protect ourselves against the cold, each of us furnished, too, with an umbrella and a stout stick, we started from Catania in two carriages, soon after 10 a.m.

Etna, the most conspicuous object from Catania, was before us the whole way; it seemed as if the eruption had entirely subsided: a faint white smoke was ascending very slowly from the crater, as in ordinary times; the sky was cloudless, and there seemed every chance that we should have a magnificent view from the summit. As soon as we left the town our road began to ascend, winding up the hill-side in zig-zags. The sun was fiercely hot, and the dust stifling; but the higher we mounted the more beautiful became the view of Catania and the sparkling sea beyond it. We passed through a richly cultivated and fertile country, vineyards, orange and lemon gardens all around. us; now and then tasteful villas, encircled by the most luxurious vegetation and lovely flower-gardens, stood by the roadside. The soil here consists entirely of decomposed lava, which in various eruptions has poured down from Etna. We passed through two apparently prosperous villages and reached Nicolosi about half-past twelve o'clock; for though the distance is only twelve miles, the road was steep and heavy with dust.

Nicolosi, 2288 feet above the sea, is a dreary, miserable village, which has more than once been destroyed by eruptions and earthquakes, consisting entirely of one-storied cottages, built of lavablocks. The inn is of a very primitive character; but the large, barely furnished room, was a cool refuge from the blazing heat of the sun outside; and here we had to remain for some time. The guide, engaged by our party from the hôtel, who appeared to me thoroughly inefficient, and in his noisy, boasting manner, a striking contrast to the Swiss guides, had omitted to send on beforehand to order mules, and so none were ready, and we had to wait more than two hours while they were being procured. Some amusement was afforded us by reading the ludicrous remarks in the visitors' book, and listening to the American's witty comments upon them. One gentleman warned his son, if he ever made the attempt, to remember that his grandfather had suffered so severely from the fatigues of ascending Etna, that he did not recover for the twenty-three remaining years of his life.

'I should like to know how old that gentleman was when he went up,' suggested the American.

At last, when our patience was well-nigh exhausted, we were told that the mules were ready, and soon after our long cavalcade set out. We had ten mules in all, two guides, and three other men, who in Switzerland would be called porters, but their duty here was to look after the mules, who certainly required it, as they were peculiarly vicious and obstinate. We passed through the hot, dusty street of Nicolosi, which, as it was the Festival of Corpus Christi, was still strewn with flowers along the route taken by the procession. Our path then lay through vast fields of black cinders and lava-blocks, of fantastic and irregular shape; stunted vines still grew in patches of soil here and there; but the most striking object in the way of vegetation was the broom (Genista Etnea), which grows here most luxuriantly, its brilliant masses of yellow flower forming a pleasing contrast to the black lava. We observe on all sides of us cones of ashes and lava, the remains of former eruptions; the sides of some of these are covered with vegetation. The largest of all is Monte Rossi, 3110 feet high, called the Red mountain from the colour of its ashes, and formed in the great eruption of 1669, when the lava reached the walls of Catania, and even flowed into the sea, 27,000 persons being deprived of their homes. It has been said, that to ascend Etna one has to pass through the torrid, temperate, and frigid zones; we were certainly still in the torrid, though over 2000 feet above the sea. The sun was so scorching that we had to ride with our umbrellas up, while the dust raised by our mules was stifling. This dust was worse than on ordinary occasions, owing to the thick clouds of fine ashes which have risen from Etna during the recent eruption, and fallen in this fine black powder on the country round about, each leaf on every tree or shrub being covered with it.

As we advanced the country became drearier, and the path steeper. In rather more than an hour we reached what is called a forest, consisting of small trees, mostly chestnuts, with a few oaks, sparsely planted, and therefore affording little shade. In the midst of this wood we came to the Casa del Bosco, 4216 feet above the sea; a rough stone hut, consisting of two rooms, inhabited by two forest guards and their families. It is the custom to halt here for a short rest, which none of our party regretted, as we were all more or less suffering from thirst. All the mules and muleteers were gathered round a well in front of the Casa, the water of which was said to be good, and tasted so. It certainly looked clear enough; but our German doctor, who was of a very inquiring disposition, investigated the well rather too closely, and discovered that it was quite a zoological garden,' as he expressed it.

After half-an-hour's halt we started again. The trees soon ceased, and even the shrubs became scantier; the air was cooler, and we seemed now to have reached the temperate zone; but our path was steeper and more rugged. All about us were extinct volcanoes, originated by various previous eruptions. As we were now some 6000 feet above the sea the view became very extensive and beautiful, embracing Catania, the fertile plain in which it is situated, the whole line of coast towards the south-east in the direction of Syracuse, and a vast extent

of mountainous country to the south. Looking in an upward direction Etna towered above us. For the last three or four days the volcano had been remarkably quiet. Now, suddenly, to our surprise, and not a little to our dismay, volumes of thick black smoke began to ascend from the crater; there seemed, therefore, little chance of our having a clear view at sunrise next morning, even if we succeeded in reaching

and ashes.

to the summit. We had now left what is called the Regione Selvosa and were entering the Regione Deserta: all vegetation had ceased, our path was steeper, very rugged, and scarcely to be traced among the lava, black sand, and ashes. Before us rose the sharply peaked mountain, the Montagnuolo, some 9000 feet high, from time to time shutting out Etna from our view.

The sun now set, the roseate tints suffused over the heights around Es were lovely, the prospect became clearer than it had been, and