hunting among the Highlands of Scotland, and gets lost in the wilds; his steed dies of overexertion. Where is the Seine River?

II. Єour'-age (kur'aj), häunch, rẹin (ran), fleet, ex-haust'-ed (egzast'ed).

III. Explain what time is denoted in the following action-words, and tell how you know it by the spelling: plied, spent, drew, strained, came, won, toiled, might, take, fell, strove, costs, thought.

IV. Unbated zeal, jaded, embossed, desperate, brake, stanch, bay, quarry, wily, shunned, ken, solitary refuge, couched, thicket, baffled, amain, chiding, rugged dell, spur, remorse, slacked, steed, gallant.

V. "Plied the scourge and steel" (scourge = the whip, and steel = the spurs). "All but won "-express this in other words. "The hunter marked" -what meaning has marked here? 'Huge rampart" (the mountain is called a rampart,” as though it “barred the way,” like the wall of a fort). "Measured his antlers " (the hunters saved the antlers, or branching horns, of their game, as trophies of their success). Whinyard" (he drew his sword and rode up to strike the deer, but the deer turned in a different direction from the " rampart," and escaped down a dark, narrow valley). "Woe worth the chase!" (worth means betide, or be to: Woe be to the chase!)

XXIII.-SOLON.

1. Solon was one of the wise men of Greece. He it was who gave that clever answer to Croesus, King of Lydia. Croesus was so rich, that even now it is common to say, "as rich as Croesus." This king showed his

wealth to Solon, and then asked "if he did not think the possessor of so much gold the happiest of men." "No," replied the philosopher; "I know a happier man : an honest laborer who has just enough to live on."

2. "And who the next happiest?" said the king, expecting himself to be named. "The next happiest," answered Solon, 66 are two virtuous sons who were remarkable for their duty and kindness to their mother.”— "And think you not that I am happy?" exclaimed the

disappointed monarch.-"No man can be deemed happy till his death," said the sage; meaning, I suppose, that according as his life was spent could his state be judged.

3. When Croesus afterward was taken prisoner by Cyrus, and was about to be burnt, he recollected this conversation, and cried out, "O Solon, Solon!" Cyrus inquired the meaning of this exclamation; and when the cause of it was explained, he set Croesus at liberty, and owned himself instructed by the hint of Solon. So the philosopher saved the life of one king and improved another.

4. Thespis was the first poet who performed comedies at Athens. They had no playhouses, but used to act upon an open cart, somewhat as our Merry-andrews do now. Solon did not disapprove of these shows, but went himself to see them. When the play was over, he called Thespis, who had been acting various characters, and asked him if he was not ashamed to speak so many lies. Thespis replied, "It was all in jest."

5. Admire, I beseech you, the answer of Solon. Striking his staff on the ground violently, he cried: "If we encourage ourselves to speak falsely in jest, we shall run the chance of acquiring a habit of speaking falsely in serious matters." Had he never spoken any other words than these, he would have deserved the character of a wise man.

6. Esop, who wrote so many ingenious fables, was much caressed by King Croesus; while Solon, for his bluntness, was little noticed. Æsop therefore said: "A man should not converse with kings, if he does not choose to say what is agreeable to them."

But Solon nobly answered this flatterer: "He should not speak, unless he says what is useful."

7. You will observe that all wise and good persons are equally remarkable for truth. Indeed, there can be no virtue where there is no truth; and as for falsehood and cunning, none but fools and knaves condescend to adopt them. Adapted from Herodotus.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. Lydia, made by Croesus an empire occupying most of Asia Minor. Find Athens on the map of Greece.

II. Mŏn'-areh, Єræ'-sus (kree'sus), a-gree'-a-ble, false'-ly.

III. There are describing-words which are used with name-words to describe the objects. Make a list of ten of these describing-words, and the name-words to which they belong (wise men, clever answer, much gold, happier man, etc.).

IV. Clever, laborer, remarkable, duty, disappointed, conversation, inquired, exclamation, explained, instructed, hint, improved, performed comedies, disapprove, jest, encourage, serious, deserved, ingenious, caressed, bluntness, converse, flattered, condescend, adopt. (The use of a dictionary to find these definitions should not be approved. The exact shade of meaning that the word has in the place where it is used in the reading lesson should be given, rather than the general definition. Definitions can be given and discussed best in the recitation.)

V. Do you think that Solon was right in calling what Thespis, the actor, said, "lies"? Could not Solon have called all fables lies? All poems and stories, and all pictures of events that did not occur-are these lies? Are the stories of "Robinson Crusoe," "The Spider and the Fly," "The Fox and the Cat," lies? (No; because they are not intended as histories, or as narrations of facts. Thespis did not intend to be taken as the real person whose part he was acting; nor was he so taken by the spectators.) Was there not wisdom in Esop's fables as well as in Solon's bitter remarks? Do we see Merry-andrews in this country (as they do in England)?

XXIV. THE RAZOR SELLER.

1. A fellow in a market town,

Most musical, cried "Razors!" up and down,
And offered twelve for eighteen pence;
Which certainly seemed wondrous cheap,
And for the money quite a heap,

As every man would buy, with cash and sense.

2. A country bumpkin the great offer heard— Poor Hodge, who suffered by a broad black beard, That seemed a shoe brush stuck beneath his nose; With cheerfulness the eighteen pence he paid, And proudly to himself in whispers said: "This rascal stole the razors, I suppose.

3. "No matter if the fellow be a knave, Provided that the razors shave;

It certainly will be a most enormous prize." So home the clown with his good fortune went, Smiling, in heart and soul content,

And quickly soaped himself to ears and eyes.

4. Being well lathered from a dish or tub,
Hodge now began, with grinning pain, to grub,
Just like a hedger cutting furze.

'Twas a vile razor!

All were impostors.

Then the rest he tried:

"Ah!" Hodge sighed,

"I wish my eighteen pence were in my purse."

5. Hodge sought the fellow, found him, and begun: "P'rhaps, Master Razor-rogue, to you 'tis fun

That people flay themselves out of their lives.

You rascal! for an hour have I been grubbing,
Giving my crying whiskers here a scrubbing
With razors just like oyster knives.
Sirrah! I tell you, you're a knave,
To cry up razors that can't shave!"

6. "Friend," quoth the razor man, “I'm not a knave. As for the razors you have bought,

Upon my word, I never thought
That they would shave."

"Not think they'd shave!" quoth Hodge, with won-
dering eyes,

And voice not much unlike an Indian yell: "What were they made for, then?-you scamp!" he

cries.

"Made!" quoth the fellow, with a smile-" To

SELL!"

John Wolcott.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. John Wolcott (called "Peter Pindar "). "Eighteen pence" English money (about thirty-six cents of our money. at three cents apiece-" wondrous cheap," indeed!).

Razors

II. Mu-şie-al, ra'-zorg, broad (brawd), be-neath', paid, sighed (sid), friend, bought (bawt), would (wood).

III. What do quotation marks ("") inclose? Tell whose words are included between them in the first place where they are used;-in the second place, etc.

IV. Fellow, offered, "eighteen pence," certainly, cheap, bumpkin (blockhead), rascal, knave, provided, enormous, prize, lathered, grinning, grub, "hedger cutting furze," impostors, rogue, scamp, quoth.

V. Was it quite honest in Hodge to buy the razors if he thought they were stolen? Is there any need of "most" before "enormous"? Why is the bumpkin called a "clown"? "Flay themselves" (i. e., the razor scratched the skin off, but would not cut the beard).