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"I see," he cried, "their column shake-
Now, gallants! for your ladies' sake,
Upon them with the lance!"

11. The horsemen dashed among the rout,
As deer break through the broom;
Their steeds are stout, their swords are out;
They soon make lightsome room.
Clan-Alpine's best are backward borne,

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Where, where was Roderick, then?

One blast upon his bugle-horn

Were worth a thousand men.

12. And refluent" through the pass of fear
The battle's tide was poured;
Vanished the Saxon's struggling spear,
Vanished the mountain sword.

As Bracklinn's chasm, so black and steep,

Receives her roaring linn

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As the dark caverns of the deep

Suck the wild whirlpool in,
So did the deep and darksome pass
Devour the battle's mingled mass:
None linger now upon the plain,

Save those who ne'er shall fight again.

1 EYR'y (ȧr'ẹ). A place where birds PIPE. A bagpipe; a musical instru

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8 CLĂR'I-ON. A kind of trumpet of a 17 REF'LY-ENT. Flowing back.

shrill, clear tone.

18 LINN. A waterfall.

XLI. — ANECDOTE OF RICHARD JACKSON.

LONDON QUARTERLY REVIEW.

1. DURING the war of independence in North America, a plain farmer, Richard Jackson by name, was apprehended, under such circumstances as proved, beyond all doubt, his purpose of joining the king's forces, an intention which he was too honest to deny; accordingly, he was delivered over to the high sheriff, and committed to the county jail. The prison was in such a state that he might have found little difficulty in escaping; but he considered himself as in the hands of authority, such as it was, and the same principle of duty which led him to take arms, made him equally ready to endure the consequences.

2. After lying there a few days, he applied to the sheriff for leave to go out and work by day, promising that he would return regularly at night. His character for simple integrity was so well known, that permission was given without hesitation; and, for eight months, Jackson went out every day to labor, and as duly came back to prison at night. In the month of May, the sheriff prepared to conduct him to Springfield, where he was to be tried for high treason'. Jackson said this would be a needless trouble and expense; he could save the sheriff both, and go just as well by himself.

3. His word was once more taken, and he set off alone, to present himself for trial and certain condemnation. On the way he was overtaken in the woods by Mr. Edwards, a member of the council of Massachusetts, which, at that time, was the supreme executive of the state. This gentleman asked him whither he was going. "To Springfield, sir," was his answer, "to be tried for my life." To this casual interview Jackson owed his escape, when,

having been found guilty, and condemned to death, application was made to the council for mercy.

4. The evidence and the sentence were stated, and the president put the question whether a pardon should be granted. It was opposed by the first speaker: the case, he said, was perfectly clear; the act was unquestionably high treason, and the proof complete; and if mercy was shown in this case, he saw no reason why it should not be granted in every other.

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5. Few governments have understood how just and politic it is to be merciful: this hard-hearted opinion accorded with the temper of the times, and was acquiesced in by one member after another, till it came to Mr. Edwards's turn to speak. Instead of delivering his opinion, he simply related the whole story of Jackson's singular demeanor, and what had passed between them in the woods.

6. For the honor of Massachusetts, and of human nature, be it said, not a man was found to weaken its effect by one of those dry, legal remarks, which, like a blast of the desert, wither the heart they reach. The council began to hesitate, and, when a member ventured to say that such a man certainly ought not to be sent to the gallows, a natural feeling of humanity and justice prevailed, and a pardon was immediately made

out.

7. Never was a stronger proof exhibited that honesty is wisdom. And yet it was not the man's honesty, but his childlike simplicity, which saved his life; without that simplicity his integrity would have availed him little in fact, it was his crime; for it was for doing what, according to the principles wherein he had been born and bred, he believed to be his duty, that he was brought to trial and condemned. This it is which renders civil and religious wars so peculiarly dreadful; and, in the history of such

wars, every incident, which serves to reconcile us to humanity, ought carefully to be preserved.

1 HIGH TREA'ŞON. The crime of at-3 CXS'V-AL. Happening by chance; tempting to overthrow the governmeut.

2 EX-ĚC'Y-TIVE. The person or persons that execute the laws of a state.

accidental.

4 PŎL'I-TIC. Prudent; judicious.

5 AC-QUI-ESCED' ÎN. Assented toi agreed to.

• DE-MEAN'OR, Behavior.

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XLII. THE ATMOSPHERE.

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

1. THE atmosphere rises above us, with its cathedrar dome, arching towards the heavens, to which it is the most familiar synonyme and symbol. It floats around us like that grand object which the apostle John saw in his vision -"a sea of glass like unto crystal." So massive is it, that, when it begins to stir, it tosses about great ships like playthings, and sweeps cities and forests to destruction before it. And yet it is so mobile3, that we live years in it before we can be persuaded that it exists at all; and the great bulk of mankind never realize the truth that they are bathed in an ocean of air. Its weight is so enormous that iron shivers before it like glass; yet a soap bubble sails through it with impunity, and the tiniest insect waves it aside with its wing.

2. It ministers lavishly to all the senses. We touch it not; but it touches us. Its warm south wind brings back color to the pale face of the invalid; its cool west winds refresh the fevered brow, and make the blood mantle in our cheeks; even its northern blasts brace into new vigor the hardy children of our rugged clime.

3. The eye is indebted to it for all the magnificence of sunrise, the full brightness of midday, the chastened.

radiance of the "gloaming," and the "clouds that cradle near the setting sun." But for it the rainbow would want its "triumphal arch," and the winds would not send their fleecy messengers on errands round the heavens. The cold weather would not shed its snow feathers on the earth, nor would drops of dew gather on the flowers. The kindly rain would never fall, nor hailstorm nor fog diversify the face of the sky. Our naked globe would turn its tanned and unshadowed forehead to the sun, and one dreary, monotonous blaze of light and heat dazzle and burn up all things.

4. Were there no atmosphere, the evening sun would in a moment set, and without warning plunge the earth in darkness. But the air keeps in her hand a sheaf of his rays, and lets them slip slowly through her fingers; so that the shadows of evening gather by degrees, and the flowers have time to bow their heads, and each creature space to find a place of rest, and nestle to repose. In the morning, the gairish' sun would at once burst from the bosom of night, and blaze above the horizon; but the air watches for his coming, and sends at first one little ray to announce his approach, and then another, and by and by a handful; and so gently draws aside the curtain of night, and slowly lets the light fall on the face of the sleeping earth, till her eyelids open, and, like man, she "goeth forth again to her labor till the evening."

1 CA-THEDRAL. A church of very 3 MŎB'ILE. Movable; light. large size.

SYN'O-NYME. One of two or more words having the same or a similar meaning.

4 CHAST'ENED (cha'snd). Pure.
5 GLOAM'ING. Twilight.

6 DI-VER'SI-FY. Give variety to.
17 GAIR'ISH, Gaudy; brightly shining.

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