Rolla. I must speak with him.
Sent. You must not.

Rolla. He is my friend.

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.

Sent. [Pushing him back with his gun.] is impossible.

Soldier, I must

Back! back! it

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 thou wert doomed 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!

Alon. Rolla! O Rolla! How didst thou pass the guard? Rolla. There is not a moment to be lost in words. This 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.

me.

Alon. And Rolla

Rolla. Will remain here in thy place.

Alon. And die for me! No! Rather eternal tortures rack

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 peace! devoting her you have sworn to live for, to madness, 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 hosor, and from night.

Rolla. Did Rolla ever counsel dishonor to his friend? [Throwing the friar's garment over his shoulders.] There, conccal thy face.--Now God be with thee.

QUESTIONS.-1. 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 1.)

LESSON CXIV.

SPELL AND DEFINE-1. PRIMAL. first in rank or degree; original. 2. CONFRONT', to stand in opposition; to oppose. 3. VISAGE the face; the countenance. 4. FORESTALLED, taken beforehand; anticipated. 5. SHUFFLING, evading; playing tricks. 6. L MED, caught, as birds in bird-lime; entangled. 7. ASSAY', trial; effort; attempt. 8. 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. HUSBAND' RY, good management; economy.

SOLILOQUY OF A MURDERER.*

SHAKSPEARE.

1. On! my offense is rank, it smells to heaven:
It hath the primal, eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder!-Pray I can not;
Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect.

2. What if this cursed hand

Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy,

But to confront the visage of offense?

And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,

To be forestalled, ere we come to fall,

Or pardoned, being down ?---Then I'll look up;

The person, by whom this soliloquy is represented as spoken, was then king of Denmark. He came in possession of the throne by secret'y murdering the previous king, who was his own brother, and marrying

his queen.

My fault is past.--Bui oh, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul múrder!
That can not bé; since 1 am still possessed
Of those effects, for which I did the murder;
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.

-3. May one be pardoned, and retain the offense?
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offense's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 'tis seen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above:
There is no shuffling: there the action lies
In its true nature; and we ourselves compelled,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence.

4.

What then?

What rests?

Try what repentance can: what can it not?
Yet what can it, when one can not repent?
Oh wretched stàte! Oh bòsom, black as death!
Oh limed soul, that, struggling to be free,

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;—

All may be well!

1.

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 beware of thee.

2. Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy pùrse can buy ;

But not expressed in fancy,-rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

3. Neither a borrower, nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all.--To thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

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, to 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. PALTRY, 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,
And half our misery from our foibles, springs;
Since life's best joys consist in peace and ease,
And few can save or serve, but all can pléase;
O, let the ungentle spirit learn from hénce,-
A small unkindness is a great offense.