5. Dark lightning flash'd from Roderick's eye-
"Soars thy presumption, then, so high,
Because a wretched kern' ye slew,
Homage to name to Roderick Dhu?
He yields not, he, to man nor Fate !
Thou add'st but fuel to my hate:
My clansman's blood demands revenge.
Not yet prepared! By Heaven, I change
My thought, and hold thy valor light
As that of some vain carpet-knight,
Who ill deserved my courteous care,
And whose best boast is but to wear
A braid of his fair lady's hair."

6. "I thank thee, Roderick, for the word!
It nerves my heart, it steels my sword;
For I have sworn this braid to stain
In the best blood that warms thy vein.
Now, truce, farewell! and, ruth", begone!
Yet think not that by thee alone,

Proud Chief! can courtesy be shown;
Though not from copse, or heath, or cairn",
Start at my whistle clansmen stern,

Of this small horn one feeble blast

Would fearful odds against thee cast.

But fear not - doubt not- which thou wilt-
We try this quarrel hilt to hilt."

7. Then each at once his falchion 12 drew,

Each on the ground his scabbard threw,
Each looked to sun, and stream, and plain,
As what they ne'er might see again;
Then foot, and point, and eye opposed,
In dubious strife they darkly closed.

8. Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu,
That on the field his targe he threw,
Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide
Had death so often dashed aside;
For, trained abroad his arms to wield,
Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield.
He practised every pass and ward,
To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard;
While less expert, though stronger far,
The Gael 13 maintained unequal war.

9. Three times in closing strife they stood,
And thrice the Saxon blade drank blood;
No stinted draught, no scanty tide,
The gushing flood the tartans" dyed.
Fierce Roderick felt the fatal drain,
And shower'd his blows like wintry rain;
And, as firm rock, or castle roof,
Against the winter-shower is proof,
The foe, invulnerable still,

Foiled his wild rage by steady skill;
Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand
Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand,
And, backward borne upon the lea,
Brought the proud Chieftain to his knee.

10. "Now, yield ye, or, by Him who made
The world, thy heart's blood dyes my blade!"
"Thy threats, thy mercy, I defy!

Let recreant yield, who fears to die."
-Like adder darting from his coil,
Like wolf that dashes through the toil,
Like mountain-cat who guards her young,
Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung;

Received, but recked not of a wound,
And locked his arms his foeman round.

11. Now, gallant Saxon, hold thine own!
No maiden's hand is round thee thrown!
That desperate grasp thy frame might feel
Through bars of brass and triple steel!-
They tug, they strain! down, down they go,
The Gael above, Fitz-James below.
The Chieftain's gripe his throat compressed;
His knee was planted in his breast;
His clotted locks he backward threw,
Across his brow his hand he drew,
From blood and mist to clear his sight,
Then gleamed aloft his dagger bright!

12. But hate and fury ill supplied

The stream of life's exhausted tide!
And all too late the advantage came,
To turn the odds of deadly game;
For, while the dagger gleamed on high,
Reeled soul and sense, reeled brain and eye
Down came the blow! but in the heath
The erring blade found bloodless sheath.
The struggling foe may now unclasp
The fainting Chief's relaxing grasp;
Unwounded from the dreadful close,
But breathless all, Fitz-James arose.

given to Roderick Dhu as head of the clan, and meaning descendant of Alpine.

1 PLAID (Scottish pronunciation plād).
A striped or checkered cloth worn
by the Highlanders of Scotland,
and indicating by the variety of 4 RUTH'LESS. Cruel; pitiless.

its patterns the different Scottish 5 VAN'TAGE-LESS. Without any adclans.

* SXX'ON.

vantage.

The Scottish Highlander 6 MEED. Reward; recompense. calls himself Gael, and the Low-7 KERN. A vagrant; a boor; a per landers Saxons. son of no consequence.

& VICH-AL/PÎNE (vēk-ǎl'pēn). A name 8 DHU. An epithet meaning black.

• CÄR PET KNIGHT. A knight made | 12 FÂL'CHION (fàl'shụn). Sword.
at court for other than military 18 GAEL (gāl). A Highlander.
services, used as a term of re-
proach.

10 RUTH. Mercy; pity.

11 CAIRN (kårn). A heap of stones.

14 TÄRʼTẠN. A kind of cloth check ered with threads of various colors. 15 TÖIL. A net or snare to catch wild animals.

LV.-LESSONS OF SPRING.

GREENWOOD.

[Francis William Pitt Greenwood was born in Boston, February 5, 1797, and died August 2, 1843. He was the pastor of a church in Boston. His writings are marked by a beautiful clearness and simplicity of style, and a fervent, devotional spirit.]

1. LET us contemplate, for a few moments, the animated scene which is presented by our Spring. The earth, loosened by the victorious sun, springs from the hard dominion of winter's frost, and, no longer offering a bound-up, repulsive surface to the husbandman, invites his cultivating labors. The streams are released from their icy fetters, and spring forward on their unobstructed way, full of sparkling waters, which sing and rejoice as they

run on.

2. "The trees of the Lord are full of sap," which now springs up into their before shrunken and empty vessels, causing the buds to swell, and the yet unclothed branches and twigs to lose their rigid appearance, and assume a fresher hue and a more rounded form. Beneath them, and in every warm and sheltered spot, the wild plants are springing.

3. Some of these are just pushing up their tender, crisp, and yet vigorous sprouts, thrusting aside the dead leaves with their folded heads, and finding their sure way out into the light; while others have sent forth their delicate foliage, and hung out their buds on slender stems; and

others still have unfolded their flowers, which look up into the air unsuspectingly and gayly, like innocence upon an untried world. The grass is springing for the scythe, and the grain for the sickle; for they grow by commandment, for the service of man, and death is every where the fate and issue of life.

4. But it is not only senseless things which are thus visibly springing at this their appointed season. The various tribes of animated nature show that it is spring also with them. The birds rise up on elastic wing, and make a joyous music for the growing plants to spring to. Animals, that have lain torpid through the benumbing winter, spring up from their secret beds and dormitories', and resume their habits of activity once more.

5. Innumerable insects spring up from the cells which they had formed beyond the reach of frost, and in new attire commence their winged existence. The hum of happy life is heard from myriads of little creatures, who, born in the morning, will die ere night. In that short term, however, they will have accomplished the purposes of their living; and, if brought to this test, there are many human lives which are shorter and vainer than theirs; and what is any life, when past, but a day!

6. Let us go abroad amidst this general springing of the earth and nature, and we shall see and feel that God's blessing is there. The joy of recovery, the gladness of escape, the buoyancy of youth, the exultation of commencing or renewed existence, - these are the happiness and blessing which are given from above, and the praise and the hymn which ascend from beneath.

7. Another and a milder order of things seems to be beginning. The gales, though not the warm breathings of summer, flow to us as if they came from some distant summer clime, and were cooled and moderated on their way; while, at no distant intervals, the skies, in their