air. To see this mournful-looking beauty, floating from spray to spray, or lightly perching on a stalk of grass, you would imagine her the most dignified, gentle, and sweet-tempered dame in all the feathered creation; instead of which she is one of the most quarrelsome, noisy, and self-sufficient; she pecks, scolds, and pursues her equals, and flies in the face of birds three times as large as herself. Nor must I forget the little rice-buntings, pretty in spite of their rotundity of figure, and clothed in a sober suit of iron-grey, almost black, with white cravats round their necks. They are lowly, social, loveable little birds, flying in flocks of from twenty to thirty, and seem fonder of hopping humbly about in the Bermuda grass, than of contrasting their quaker garb with their gaudier attired fellows in the orange and lime trees. I have heard that in the dry season my unassuming favourites put on a scarlet costume. Sierra Leone (Murray). What effect has heat and moisture on the vegetation of the tropics? Describe an ordinary day in the rainy season-also the state of the temperature at different times of the day. Describe a fine day in the rainy season. Name and describe some of the birds of Sierra Leone. What is miasma? What effect has it upon the inhabitants of Sierra Leone? 1impervious, not to be penetrated; not admitting of entrance, or passage through. 2matted verdure, branches and leaves intertwined or interlaced. Sun and heat combined, always cause plants to grow luxuriantly. imperatively, not to be avoided or evaded. 4 sultriness, great heat. 5 oppressive, overpowering. "thermometer, an instrument for measuring temperature. (see app.) fog or mist. Fogs and mist are clouds near the ground. They consist of minute drops of water, so very tiny that they float in the air. miasma, a poison floating in the air, coming from 8 decaying vegetable matter. It causes fevers of a most fatal kind. ravine, a deep and narrow hollow, usually worn by a stream or torrent of water; a gorge. 10 barrack, a house for soldiers. 11 intrinsic, real; natural; true. 12 sapphire, a gem, excelled in value only by the diamond. It is of a blue colour, highly brilliant, and transparent. Ceylon is famous for its rubies and sapphires. 13 variegated, marked with many different colours. THE TWO ROBBERS. SCENE.-Alexander the Great in his tent. Guards. A Man with a fierce countenance, chained and fettered, brought 1Alex. WHAT, art thou the Thracian Robber, of whose exploits I have heard so much? Rob. I am a Thracian and a soldier. A. A soldier! a thief, a plunderer, an assassin ! the pest of the country! I could honour thy courage, but I must detest and punish thy crimes. R. What have I done, of which you can complain? A. Hast thou not set at defiance my authority, 3violated the public peace, and passed thy life in injuring the persons and properties of thy fellowsubjects? R. Alexander! I am your captive-I must hear what you please to say, and endure what you please to inflict. But my soul is unconquered; and if I reply at all to your reproaches, I will reply like a free man. A. Speak freely. Far be it from me to take the advantage of my power to silence those with whom I desire to converse! R. I must then answer your question by another. How have you passed your life? A. Like a hero. Ask Fame, and she will tell you. Among the brave, I have been the bravest: among sovereigns, the noblest: among conquerors, the mightiest. R. And does not Fame speak of me too? Was there ever a bolder captain of a more valiant band? Was there ever-but I scorn to boast. You yourself know that I have not been easily subdued. A. Still, what are you but a robber-a base, dishonest robber? R. And what is a conqueror? Have not you, too, gone about the earth like an evil genius, "blasting the fair fruits of peace and industry; plundering, ravaging, killing, without law, without justice, merely to gratify an insatiable lust for dominion? All that I have done to a single district with a hundred followers, you have done to whole nations with a hundred thousand. If I have stripped individuals, you have ruined kings and princes. If I have burned a few hamlets, you have desolated the most flourishing kingdoms and cities of the earth. What is, then, the difference, but that, as you were born a king, and I a private man, you have been able to become a mightier robber than I? A. But, if I have taken like a king, I have given like a king. If I have subverted empires, I have founded greater. I have cherished 'arts, commerce, and 'philosophy. R. I, too, have freely given to the poor, what I took from the rich. I have established order and discipline among the most ferocious of mankind; and have stretched out my protecting arm over the oppressed. I know, indeed, little of the philosophy you talk of; but I believe neither of us will ever repay to the world the mischief we have done it. A. Leave me take off his chains, and use him well. (Exit robber.) Are we, then, so much alike? Alexander, too, a robber? Let me reflect. How Name the crimes of which Alexander accused the robber. did the robber show that Alexander had disturbed the peace of nations, set the laws of humanity at defiance, and spread ruin and misery through the world? What is a conqueror in the true sense of the word (literally)? 6 4 Alexander the Great, king of Greece, born 356 B.C. (see app.) 2 Thracian, an inhabitant of Thrace, formerly a country to the north of Greece. violated, abused; disturbed. genius, the animating spirit of a people. 5 blasting, injuring; withering; blighting; destroying. subverted, overthrown; ruined. 7 arts; the word art comes from a Latin word signifying to fit or join together, and it means applying or making use of knowledge in order to produce certain things. Manufactures, poetry, music, painting, etc., are arts. philosophy, learning. 8 This above all-to thine own self be true, Shakespere. |