277. There was silence-not a word was said-their meal was before them-God had been thanked, and they began to eat.

277. They hear not-see not-know not-for their eyes are covered with thick mists—they will not see.

278. The God of Gods stood up-stood up to try the assembled gods of earth.

279. And ye like fading autumn leaves will fall; your throne but dust-your empire but a grave-your martial pomp a black funereal pall—your palace trampled by your meanest slave.

280. To-day is thine-improve to-day, nor trust tomorrow's distant ray.

281. And thus, in silent waiting, stood the piles of stone and piles of wood; till Death, who in his vast affairs, never puts things off-as men in theirs-and thus, if I the truth must tell, does his work finally and well-winked at our hero as he passed, -Your house is finished, Sir, at last; a narrower house—a house of clay-your palace for another day.

282. For some time the struggle was most amusingthe fish pulling, and the bird screaming with all its might -the one attempting to fly, and the other to swim from its invisible enemy—the gander at one moment losing and the next regaining his centre of gravity.

The Dash is sometimes to be read as a period, with the falling inflection of the voice.

283. The favoured child of nature, who combines in herself these united perfections, may justly be considered as the master-piece of creation-as the most perfect image of the Divinity here below.

284. Now launch the boat upon the wave-the wind is blowing off the shore-I will not live a cowering slave, in these polluted islands more.

285. The wind is blowing off the shore, and out to sea the streamers fly-my music is the dashing roar, my canopy the stainless sky-it bends above, so fair a blue, that heaven seems opening to my view.

286. He had stopped soon after beginning the tale-he had laid the fragment away among his papers, and had never looked at it again.

287. The exaltation of his soul left him-he sunk down -and his misery went over him like a flood.

288. May their fate be a mock-word-may men of all lands laugh out with a scorn that shall ring to the poles.

289. You speak like a boy-like a boy who thinks the old gnarled oak can be twisted as easily as the young sapling.

290. I am vexed for the bairns-I am vexed when I think of Robert and Hamish living their father's lifeBut let us say no more of this.

291. He hears a noise-he is all awake-again he hears a noise-on tiptoe down the hill he softly creeps-'Tis Goody Blake! She is at the hedge of Harry Gill.

292. Mr. Playfair was too indulgent, in truth, and favourable to his friends-and made a kind of liberal allowance for the faults of all mankind-except only faults of baseness or of cruelty; against which he never failed to manifest the most open scorn and detestation.

293. Towards women he had the most chivalrous feelings of regard and attention, and was, beyond almost all men, acceptable and agreeable in their society-though without the least levity or pretension unbecoming his age or condition.

The Dash is sometimes to be read like a comma, with the voice suspended. [See Lesson 9th.]

294. Vain men, whose brains are dizzy with ambition, bright your swords-your garments flowery, like a plain in the spring-time-if truth be your delight, and virtue your devotion, let your sword be bared alone at wisdom's sacred word.

295. I have always felt that I could meet death with composure; but I did not know, she said, with a tremulous voice, her lips quivering-I did not know how hard a thing it would be to leave my children, till now that the hour is come.

296. The mountain-thy pall and thy prison-may keep thee.

297. And Babylon shall become-she that was the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans -as the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah by the hand of God.

298. Our land-the first garden of liberty's tree-it has been and shall yet be the land of the free.

299. Earth may hide-waves ingulph-fire consume ús, but they shall not to slavery doom us.

300. They shall find that the name which they have dared to proscribe-that the name of Mac Gregor is a spell.

301. You must think hardly of us—and it is not natural that it should be otherwise.

302. Delightful in his manners-inflexible in his principles and generous in his affections, he had all that could charm in society, or attach in private.

303. The joys of life in hurried exile go-till hope's fair smile, and beauty's ray of light, are shrouded in the griefs and storms of night.

304. Day after day prepares the funeral shroud; the world is gray with age:-the striking hour is but an echo of death's summons loud-the jarring of the dark grave's prison door. Into its deep abyss-devouring all-kings and the friends of kings alike must fall.

305. No persuasion could induce little Flora to leave the shealing-and Hamish Fraser was left to sit with her all night beside the bed.

306. One large star arose in heaven-and a wide white glimmer over a breaking mass of clouds told that the moon was struggling through, and in another hour, if the upper current of air flowed on, would be apparent.

307. He was too weak, however, to talk-he could only look his thanks.

308. She made an effort to put on something like mourning for her son; and nothing could be more touching than this struggle between pious affection and utter poverty a black riband or so a faded black handkerchief, and one or two more such humble attempts to express by outward signs that grief that passeth show.

309. There is nothing more prejudicial to the grandeur of buildings, than to abound in angles-a fault obvious in many, and owing to an inordinate thirst for vanity, which, whenever it prevails, is sure to leave very little true taste.

The Dash sometimes precedes something unexpected; as when a sentence beginning seriously ends humorously.

310. Good people all, with one accord, lament for Madam Blaize; who never wanted a good word-from those who spoke her praise.

311. The needy seldom passed her door, and always found her kind; she freely lent to all the poor-who left a pledge behind.

312. She strove the neighbourhood to please, with manner wondrous winning; and never followed wicked ways -except when she was sinning.

313. At church, in silks and satin new, with hoop of monstrous size, she never slumbered in her pew-but when she shut her eyes.

314. Her love was sought, I do aver, by twenty beaux, and more; the king himself has followed her when she has walked before.

315. But now, her wealth and finery fled, her hangerson cut short all; her doctors found, when she was dead -her last disorder mortal.

316. Let us lament, in sorrow sore; for Kent-street well may say, that, had she lived a twelve-month moreshe had not died to-day.

The Dash is sometimes used with other pauses, to lengthen them.

317. That God whom you see me daily worship, whom I daily call upon to bless both you and me and all mankind; whose wondrous acts are recorded in those Scriptures which you constantly read,-that God who created the heavens and the earth; who appointed his Son Jesus Christ to redeem mankind :—this God, who has done all these great things, who has created so many millions of men, with whom the spirits of the good will live and be happy for ever;-this great God, the creator of worlds of angels and of men, is your Father and Friend.

318. It is not, therefore, the use of the innocent amusements of life which is dangerous, but the abuse of them; -it is not when they are occasionally, but when they are constantly pursued; when the love of amusement degene

rates into a passion, and when, from being an occasional indulgence, it becomes an habitual desire.

319. In every pursuit, whatever gives strength and energy to the mind of man, experience teaches to be favourable to the interests of piety, of knowledge, and of virtue ;-in every pursuit, on the contrary, whatever enfeebles or limits the powers of the mind, the same experience ever shows to be hostile to the best interests of human nature.

320. From the first hour of existence to the last,-from the cradle of the infant, beside which the mother watches with unslumbering eye, to the grave of the aged, where the son pours his last tears upon the bier of his father,— in all that intermediate time, every day calls for exertion and activity, and the moral honours can only be won by the stedfast magnanimity of pious duty.

321. They say they have bought it.-Bought it! Yes; -of whom?-Of the poor trembling natives who knew that refusal would be vain; and who strove to make a merit of necessity, by seeming to yield with grace, what they knew they had not the power to retain.

322. We gazed on the scenes, while around us they glowed, when a vision of beauty appeared on the cloud;it was not like the sun, as at mid-day we view, nor the moon, that rolls nightly through starlight and blue.

323. It is not the lifeless mass of matter, he will then feel, that he is examining, it is the mighty machine of Eternal Wisdom: the workmanship of Him, in whom every thing lives and moves, and has its being.

324. The expanding rose, just bursting into beauty, has an irresistible bewitchingness;-the blooming bride led triumphantly to the hymeneal altar, awakens admiration and interest, and the blush of her cheek fills with delight;but the charm of maternity is more sublime than all these.

325. But Winter has yet brighter scenes;-he boasts splendours beyond what gorgeous Summer knows, or Autumn, with his many fruits and woods, all flushed with many hues.

326. When suffering the inconveniences of the ruder parts of the year, we may be tempted to wonder why this rotation is necessary;-why we could not be constantly gratified with vernal bloom and fragrance, or summer beauty and profusion.