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most curious and entertaining sciences that can be conceived. The characters which are used, the 1, 2, 3, are of Arabic origin; and that by the help of these, by adding them, by subtracting or dividing them, we should come at last to results so far beyond the comprehension of the human mind without them, is so wonderful, that I am persuaded that if they were of no real use, they would be exercised for mere entertainment; and it would be a fashion for accomplished people, instead of cakes and cards at their routs, to take coffee and a difficult question in the rule of three, or extracting the square root. The third part is perhaps not less in value than the others. It is how to practise those manners and that address which will recommend you to the respect of strangers. Boldness and forwardness are exceedingly disgusting, and such people are generally more disliked the more they are known; but, at the same time, shyness and bashfulness, and the shrinking from conversation with those with whom you ought to associate, are repulsive and unbecoming.

"There are many hours in every person's life which are not spent in any thing important; but it is necessary that they should not be passed idly. Those little accomplishments, as music and dancing, are intended to fill up the hours of leisure, which would otherwise be heavy on you. Nothing wearies me more than to see a young lady at home, sitting with her arms across, or twirling her thumbs, for want of something to do. Poor thing! I always pity her, for I am sure her head is empty, and that she has not the sense even to devise the means of pleasing herself."

1. Who was Lord Collingwood?

2. Although his lordship was almost constantly at sea, what did he endeavour to do?

3. What has the Almighty implanted in every human breast?

4. Into how many parts may education be said to be divided — and what are they?

LESSON CX. -APRIL THE TWENTIETH.

Admiral Blake.

On the 20th of April, 1657, the renowned Blake entirely destroyed sixteen Spanish ships (secured with great nautical skill, and well protected by a castle and forts of the shore), in the harbour of Santa Cruz, in Teneriffe, one of the Canary islands, near the north-west coast of Africa.

This was thought, at the time, to be one of the greatest naval exploits that had ever been accomplished.

Blake at this time was dying of a complication of scurvy and dropsy. Resolved to do one more service to his country before his death, he sailed, with twenty-five ships, to Santa Cruz. The Spanish governor, a man of great courage, had notice of his intention, and made the best preparations for defence. Sixteen ships, disposed in a semicircular form, were strongly barricaded, and the entrance was protected by a castle and seven forts, all furnished with large cannon. Blake steered boldly into the bay, leaving some of his ships to silence the batteries, while with the rest he attacked the Spanish vessels. He beat the enemy from all their defences, and finding it impossible to bring off the shipping, he set fire to it, and destroyed the whole, to an immense amount. A fortunate change of wind brought him out again without the loss of a ship. This action was deemed so desperate, that it in some measure subjected Blake to the censure of rashness; but it was that species of rashness which has given the British navy a superiority over that of all the world.

It is worthy of notice, that Blake's own brother having failed in some point of duty, he immediately removed him from his command, though he still behaved to him with fraternal affection; so much in Blake's mind did the love of his country outweigh all private or partial interests!

This great enterprise was the concluding act of Blake's life. Finding his disorder make daily progress, he sailed for England; and; amid his frequent inquiries for the sight of land, he expired as the fleet was entering Plymouth Sound, on August 17th, 1657, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His body was honoured with a most magnificent public funeral, and deposited in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey. After the restoration as if it was no longer thought worthy to lie among the remains of kingsit was disinterred and reposited in St. Margaret's churchyard; nor has any other monument than the fame of his actions ever been raised to his memory.

1. What did the renowned Blake on this day?
2. What did Blake with the enemy's shipping?
3. To what censure did this action subject Blake?
4. Where was the body of Blake deposited ?
5. What happened to it after the restoration?

ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

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LESSON CXI.-APRIL THE TWENTY-FIRST.

Alexander the Great.

THIS extraordinary man, whose rapid and extensive conquests filled the world with awe and admiration, died on this day, B.C. 323, at the age of 32. The youth of Alexander gave token of great promise. From the care of his father and the precepts of Aristotle he imbibed every thing that could tend to the cultivation and improvement of his naturally elevated mind: he early testified his passion for arms, and found his greatest delight in Homer's Iliad, because it laid open to him the battles of the heroes of antiquity. The great exploits of his father Philip often caused him to sigh, lest, as he said to one of his friends, his father should leave him nothing to achieve. Courage, ambition, and the love of perilous enterprises, early unfolded themselves as the natural bent of his character; and when, at the age of twenty, he ascended the throne, he was equally to be feared and admired.

Arrian, whose disposition to careful examination, and whose desire of impartial judgment will be most striking to those most versed among the ancient historians, has concluded his narrative of the actions by declaring his opinion of the character of that extraordinary man thus: "Alexander was in body most graceful, most active, and most indefatigable; in mind most manly, most ambitious of glory, most indifferent of danger, most diligent in devotion to the Deity. In sensual pleasures he was most temperate; of praise for the gifts of the mind insatiable; singular in readiness to see the best to be done in the most critical emergencies, and, from what was evi dent, to conjecture concerning what remained obscure; in all the business of arraying, providing, and ruling an army, most able; in encouraging the soldiers, filling them with hope, and, by demonstration of his own fearlessness, dispelling the fears of others, excellent; in doubtful enterprise most daring; in anticipating even the enemy's suspicion of his purposes most skilful; in his own engagements most faithful; in avoiding to be deceived by others most acute; of expense upon his own pleasures most sparing; in bestowing upon others most profuse.

"If then, through vehemence of temper, and in highly provoked anger, he became criminal, or if, through in

flated pride, he gave too much into barbarian fashions, I think candour will find large extenuation for him; his youth, and his uninterrupted course of the most extraordinary great fortune, being considered, together with the flattery with which kings, to their great injury, are constantly beset. On the other hand, the severity of his repentance for his faults, I reckon his great, and, judging from what is recorded of kings in general, his singular merit. Even his claim to divine origin I cannot esteem a blameable extravagance; his object having been to gain that veneration from those he had conquered which might contribute to the stability of his new empire; and the example of Minos, Æacus, Rhadamanthus, Theseus, and Ion, men acknowledged by the Greeks to have been sons of gods, being familiar to him and to all about him. His assumption of the Persian habit while living among the Persians, avoiding thus to appear a stranger in the country over which he reigned, I consider as a just policy."

His long sitting at table, Aristobulus assures us, was not for the sake of wine, for he commonly drank little, but for conversation, and to discover who might deserve his esteem, for with such he wished to cultivate friendship.

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1. What was the character of Alexander?

2. For what purpose did Alexander assume the Persian habit?

3. To what did Aristobulus ascribe his long sitting at table?

LESSON CXII. -APRIL THE TWENTY-SECOND.

Henry VIII.

On this day, in 1509, Henry VIII. of England began to reign. In portraying his character, the historian Hume thus writes: "The absolute and uncontrolled authority which he maintained at home, and the regard he obtained among foreign nations, are circumstances which entitle him to the appellation of a great prince; while his tyranny and cruelty seem to exclude him from the character of a good one.

"He possessed, indeed, great vigour of mind, which qualified him for exercising dominion over men-courage, intrepidity, vigilance, inflexibility; and though these qualities lay not always under the guidance of a regular and solid judgment, they were accompanied with good parts and an extensive capacity; and every one dreaded a

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THE VILLAGE CLERGYMAN.

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contest with a man who was never known to yield or to forgive, and who, in every controversy, was determined to ruin himself or his antagonist.

"A catalogue of his vices would comprehend many of the worst qualities incident to human nature. Violence, cruelty, profusion, rapacity, injustice, obstinacy, arrogance, bigotry, presumption, caprice; but neither was he subject to all these vices in the most extensive degree, nor was he at intervals altogether devoid of virtues. He was sincere, open, gallant, liberal, and capable at least of a temporary friendship and attachment.

"It may seem a little extraordinary, that notwithstanding his cruelty, his extortion, his violence, and his arbitrary administration, this prince not only acquired the regard of his subjects, but never was the object of their hatred: he seems even in some degree to have possessed their love and affection. His exterior qualities were advantageous, and fit to captivate the multitude; his magnificence and personal bravery rendered him illustrious to vulgar eyes; and it may be said with truth, that the English in that age were so thoroughly subdued, that, like eastern slaves, they were inclined to admire even those acts of violence and tyranny which were exercised over themselves, and at their own expense."

1. What British prince ascended the throne on this day?

2. What good qualities did he possess?

3. What would a catalogue of his vices comprehend?

4. In what respect may the English of that age be compared to eastern slaves ?

LESSON CXIII.

APRIL THE TWENTY-THIRD,

The Village Clergyman.

NEAR yonder copse, where once the garden smiled,
And still where many a garden flower grows wild
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village preacher's modest mansion rose.

A man he was to all the country dear,

And passing rich with forty pounds a year;
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,

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Nor e'er had chang'd nor wish'd to change his place;
Unpractis'd he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour;

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