Can lift to Heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say-"My Father made them all!"

COWPER.

THE SWORD CHANT OF THORSTEIN RAUDI.*

[WILLIAM MOTHERWELL was born at Glasgow in 1798, and died in 1835. He was successively editor of the "Paisley Magazine," "Paisley Advertiser," and the "Glasgow Courier.", Some of his poems possess a pathos and an intensity of feeling not often surpassed.]

"Tis not the grey hawk's flight o'er mountain and mere;
"Tis not the fleet hound's course tracking the deer;
'Tis not the light hoof-print of black steed or grey,
Though sweltering it gallop a long summer's day,
Which mete forth the lordships I challenge as mine;
Ha! ha! 'tis the good brand

I clutch in my strong hand,

That can their broad marches and numbers define.
Land Giver! I kiss thee.

Dull builders of houses, base tillers of earth,
Gaping, ask me what lordships I owned at my birth;
But the pale fools wax mute when I point with
my sword
East, west, north, and south, shouting, There am I lord!
Wold and waste, town and tower, hill, valley, and stream,
Trembling, bow to my sway,

In the fierce battle-fray,

When the star that rules Fate is this falchion's red gleam. Might Giver! I kiss thee.

I've heard great harps sounding in brave bower and hall,
I've drank the sweet music that bright lips let fall,
I've hunted in greenwood, and heard small birds sing;
But away with this idle and cold jargoning!

* Thorstein Raudi was one of the famous Norse pirates, or Sea-kings of former days.

The music I love is the shout of the brave,
The yell of the dying,

The scream of the flying,

When this arm wields Death's sickle, and garners the grave. Joy Giver! I kiss thee.

Far isles of the ocean thy lightning have known,
And wide o'er the mainland thy horrors have shone.
Great sword of my father, stern joy of his hand!
Thou hast carved his name deep on the stranger's red strand,
And won him the glory of undying song.

Keen cleaver of gay crests,

Sharp piercer of broad breasts,

Grim slayer of heroes, and scourge of the strong!
Fame Giver! I kiss thee.

In a love more abiding than that the heart knows,
For maiden more lovely than summer's first rose,
My heart's knit to thine, and lives but for thee;
In dreamings of gladness, thou'rt dancing with me,
Brave measures of madness in some battle-field,
Where armour is ringing,
And noble blood springing,

And cloven, yawn helmet, stout hauberk, and shield.
Death Giver! I kiss thee.

The smile of a maiden's eye soon may depart,
And light is the faith of fair woman's heart;
Changeful as light clouds, and wayward as wind,
Be the passions that govern weak woman's mind.
But thy metal's as true as its polish is bright;
When ills wax in number,

Thy love will not slumber,

But, star-like, burns fiercer, the darker the night.
Heart Gladdener! I kiss thee.

My kindred have perished by war or by wave,-
Now, childless and sireless, I long for the grave.

When the path of our glory is shadowed in death,
With me thou wilt slumber below the brown heath;
Thou wilt rest on my bosom, and with it decay;

While harps shall be ringing,

And Scalds shall be singing

The deeds we have done in our old fearless day.
Song Giver! I kiss thee.

MOTHERWELL.

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.-INVERTEBRATA.

Abdomen, (L.) the lower part of the Insect, (insecta, in, seco, L.)
body, the belly.
Amaba, (amoibē, G.)

Anemone, (anemōnē, anemos, G.) wind
flower-Sea-anemone, a kind of

polype. Antenna, (L.)

Articulata, (articulus, artus, L.)
Chrysalis, (L.)

Convex lens, (convexus, lens, L.) a round
piece of glass or other trans-
parent substance, thicker in
the middle than at the edges,
thus,

Entomology, (entoma, logos, G.)

The science that treats of
insects. Hence also entomo-
logist.

Genus, (L.) a kind or race.
Hydra, (hydra, hydōr, G.)

Ichneumon, (ichneumon, ichnos, G.) a
sort of minute insects that feed on
the larger species.

Imago, (L.) Lit. the image.

Larva, (larva, L.) an insect in its
embryo or first state.
Mammal, (mamma, L.)
Metamorphosis, (meta, morphe, G.)
transformation, change of shape.
Mollusca, (mollis, L.)

Polype, (polys, pous, G.) a class of the
radiata.

Proteus, a sea deity, who had the
faculty of assuming different shapes.
Pupa, (pupus, pupa, L.)
Radiata, (radius, L.)

Tentacle, (tentaculum,tento, L.) a feeler.
Thorax, (L.) the chest, or middle part
of the body.

Unicellular, (unus, cella, L.) consisting of one cell.

Vertebra, (vertebra, verto, L.) a bone of the spine. Hence vertebrate, invertebrate, vertebrata, invertebrata, vertebral.

Zoophyte, (zoon, phyton, G.) an animalplant.

VARIETY AND CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS.

In whatever direction we turn our eyes, we everywhere meet with the varied forms of animal life. Earth, air, and water are all alike occupied by multitudes of living creatures, each specially fitted for the habitation assigned to it by nature. Every wood and meadow, nay, every tree, and shrub, and tuft of grass, has its inhabitants; even beneath the surface of the ground large numbers of the smaller animals find an abode suited to their tastes and habits. Myriads of birds sweep through the atmosphere, or solicit our attention by the songs which they pour forth from their

K

resting places; whilst swarms of insects, on lighter wings, dispute with them the empire of the air. The waters, whether salt or fresh, are also filled with living organisms; fishes, in innumerable shoals, mingling with a vast profusion of polypes, sponges, starfishes, crabs, oysters, and other creatures, whose forms are as singular as they are endlessly diversified. Nor are these phenomena confined to any one region of the earth; on the contrary, diversity of climate only adds to the variety of the objects which the zoologist has to contemplate.

It is, however, but a very limited portion of the animal kingdom that the naked eye is capable of perceiving. The microscope reveals to us countless millions of animalcules, spread everywhere around us, and even within our bodies, where they prey upon our substance or our food. Viewed through this instrument, every drop of water presents a busy scene of life and activity, and every flower a little world teeming with inhabitants. All these creatures are of course exceedingly minute, yet they are endowed with various organs, sometimes of the most singular description, by which they are enabled to perform the functions necessary for life and propagation. We are apt to regard them as insignificant, but we should remember that wonders are not the less wonderful for being packed into small compass; on the contrary, the very minuteness of these organisms is itself marvellous.

Even this does not exhaust the wide and interesting field of inquiry which zoology affords. Many thousands of species now extinct, are preserved as fossils in the rocky deposits of bygone ages, along with thousands more of those species which still exist. Such remains form no inconsiderable part of the whole crust of the earth.

Yet, in the midst of this astonishing variety, there is a uniformity scarcely less remarkable. Here, as in other portions of His works, it appears as if the Creator had proceeded on a general plan, modifying it more or less to suit the circumstances of each different species. For example, all the higher classes of animals have an internal skeleton,

including a skull and backbone; and the latter is never rigid, but consists of a number of bones jointed into each other, so as to admit of a certain degree of flexure. These bones are called vertebrae, and hence animals so constructed receive the general name of VERTEBRATA, or VERTEBRATE animals. None of these have more than four limbs, which take the form of legs, arms, wings, or fins, according to the necessities of the creatures to which they belong. Thus the general vertebrate type admits of great variety in details, and that variety forms the basis of further classification. Accordingly, the vertebrata are divided into four great classes-mammals, birds, reptiles, and fishes. The highest and most perfect in organization are the mammals, including (among many others) all the ordinary domestic animals, and man himself. These four classes are again subdivided into orders, orders into families, families into genera, and genera into species.

Of invertebrate animals, which have no backbone, there are usually reckoned three groups or divisions :—

I. MOLLUSCA (pulpy animals), comprising all those which have a soft, moist body, covered with a tough skin, and sometimes also with a shell, such as the snail, the cuttle-fish, and the oyster.

II. ARTICULATA (jointed animals), so called from their bodies being divided into rings or segments. To this division belong the innumerable hosts of insects, such as bees, butterflies, moths, gnats, beetles, crickets, and many others. It also includes spiders, crabs, lobsters, and worms.

III. RADIATA (rayed animals), whose most striking characteristic is, that all the parts of their bodies (at least in the well-defined species) are arranged like rays round a common central axis. The starfish, jelly-fish, and seaanemone may be named as examples.

Each of these three groups is subdivided into orders, families, &c., exactly in the same way as the vertebrata. Thus a complete scheme of classification is formed, which is not only valuable as a systematic index to the animal creation, but is also intended to reflect and represent, so