Sent. Not if he were your brother. Rolla. What is to be his fate? Sent. He dies at sunrise. Rolla. Ha! then I am come in time Sent. Just to witness his death. Rolla. [Advancing toward the door.] speak with him. . Soldier, I mus Sent. [Pushing him back with his gun.] Bàck! bàck! it is impossible. Rolla. I do entreat you but for one moment. Sent. You entreat in vain-my orders are most strict. Rolla. Look on this wedge of massy gold! Look on these precious gems. In thy land they will be wealth for thee and thine, beyond thy hope or wish. Take them, they are thine, let me but pass one moment with Alonzo. Sent. Away! Wouldst thou corrupt me? Me, an old Castilian!-I know my duty better. Rolla. Soldier! hast thou a wife? Sent. I have. Rolla. Hast thou children? Sent. Four honest, lovely boys. Rolla. Where didst thou leave them? Sent. In my native village, in the very cot where I was born. Rolla. Dost thou love thy wife and children? Sent. Do I love them? God knows my heart,-I do. Rolla. Soldier! imagine thòu wert dòomed to die a cruel death in a strange land-What would be thy last request? Sent. That some of my comrades should carry my dying blessing to my wife and children. Rolla. What if that comrade was at thy prison door, and should there be told,—' Thy fellow soldier dies at sunrise, yet thou shalt not for a moment see him, nor shalt thou bear his dying blessing to his poor children, or his wretched wife ;'— what wouldst thou think of him who thus could drive thy comrade from the door? Sent. Hów? Rolla. Alonzo has a wife and child; and I am come but to receive for her, and for her poor babe, the last blessing of my friend. Sent. Go in. [exit sentinel.] Rolla. [calls.] Alonzo! Alonzo! [Enter Alonzo, speaking as he comes in.] Alonzo. How! is my hour elapsed? Well, I am ready. Rolla. Alonzo-know me! This Alon. Rolla! O Rolla! How didst thou pass the guard? Rolla. There is not a moment to be lost in words. disguise I tore from the dead body of a friar, as I passed our field of battle. It has gained me entrance to thy dungeon; now take it thou, and fly. Alon. And Rolla Rolla. Will remain here in thy place. Alon. And die for me! No! Rather eternal tortures rack me. Rolla. I shall not die, Alonzo. It is thy life Pizarro seeks, not Rolla's; and thy arm may soon deliver me from prison. Or, should it be otherwise, I am as a blighted tree in the desert; nothing lives beneath my shelter. Thou art a husband and a father; the being of a lovely wife and helpless infant depend upon thy life. Go! go! Alonzo, not to save thyself, but Cora, and thy child. Alon. Urge me not thus, my friend-I am prepared to die in peace. Rolla. To die in péace! devoting her you have sworn to live for, to mádness, mísery, and déath! Alon. Merciful heavens ! Rolla. If thou art yet irresolute, Alonzo-now mark me well. Thou knowest that Rolla never pledged his word, and shrunk from its fulfillment. Know then, if thou art proudly obstinate, thou shalt have the desperate triumph of seeing Rolla perish by thy side. Alon. O Rolla! you distract me! Wear you the robe, and though dreadful the necessity, we will strike down the guard, and force our passage. Rolla. What, the soldier on duty here? Alon. Yes, else seeing two, the alarm will be instant death. Rolla. For my nation's safety, I would not harm him. That soldier, mark me, is a man! All are not men that wear the human form. He refused my prayers, refused my gold, denying to admit-till his own feelings bribed him. I will not risk a hair of that man's head, to save my heart strings from consuming fire. But haste! A moment's further pause, and all is lost. Alon. I fear thy friendship drives me from honor, and from right. Rolla. Did Rolla ever counsel dishonor to his friend? [Throwing the friar's garment over his shoulders.] There, conceal thy face-Now God be with thee. QUESTIONS.-What inflection in the exclamation, 'Me, an old Castilian'? (Rule I. Note II.) What, in the exclamation, 'Do I love them'? What other similar examples in this lesson? Why has the question, 'How?' near the middle the rising inflection? (Rule II. Note I.) LESSON CXIV. SPELL AND DEFINE-1. Pri'mal, first in rank or degree; original. 2. Confront', to stand in opposition; to oppose. 3. Visage, the face; the countenance. 4. Forestall'ed, taken beforehand; anticipated. 5. Shuffling, evading; playing tricks. 6. Li'med, caught, as birds in bird-lime; entangled. 7. Assay', trial; effort; attempt.-S. Grapple, to lay fast hold on; to seize. 9. Palm, the inner part of the hand; the hand. 10. Unfledged, not furnished with feathers, as young birds; here means, untried, newly formed. 11. Censure, judgment that condemns; opinion. 12. Hus' band ry, good management; economy. Soliloquy of a Murderer.*-SHAKSPEARE. 1. OH! my offense is rank, it smells to heaven: 2. What if this cursed hand Were thicker than itself with brother's blood? Whereto serves mercy, But to confront the visage of offense? And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force, Or pardoned, being down ?—Then I'll look up; * The person, by whom this soliloquy is represented as spoken, was hen king of Denmark. He came in possession of the throne by secretly murdering the previous king who was his own brother, and marrying his queen. My fault is past.-But oh, what form of prayer 3. May one be pardoned, and retain the offense? 4. 1. What then? What rests? Art more engaged! Help, angels! make assay ! Bow, stubborn knees! and, heart with strings of steel, Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe ;— Advice to a Son going to Travel. GIVE thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar: The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatched, unfledged comrade.-Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, Bear it, that the opposer may bewàre of thee. 2. Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; But not expressed in fancy-rich, not gaudy; 3. Neither a borrower, nor a lender be: QUESTIONS.-1. Who is represented as speaking in the first extract} 2. Why could he not pray? 3. Why could he not expect to be forgiven of the foul murder of his brother? 4. What may offense's gilded hand sometimes do? 5. How is it above?-6. What advice is given relative to our thoughts, in the second extract? 7. What, relative to quarreling? 8. What, relative to borrowing? Why the rising inflection on murder, second verse? (Rule I. Note II.) How are crown, ambition, and queen, parsed, same verse? Why is this emphatic, third verse? What inflection do the exclamations take, fourth verse? What examples of absolute emphasis, same verse? What inflection do the commands, second part, take? (Rule VII.) LESSON CXV. SPELL AND DEFINE-1. Foibles, failings resulting from weakness. 2. Chasm, an opening in the earth or rocks; a cleft. 3. Extenuate, te lessen; to diminish, as a crime. 4. E'ther, a thin, light fluid; the thin fluid supposed to fill space. 5. Unfathomed, not to be measured. 6 Pal try, mean; worthless. 7. Pealed, sounded." Select Paragraphs. Death. 1. AND sure no blessing nobler can be given, Where one short anguish is the price of heaven. Our Judgment. 2. 'Tis with our judgment, as our watches; none Go just alike, yet each believes his own. Kindness. 3. Since trifles make the sum of human things, |