[JAMES MONTGOMERY (b. 1771, d. 1854) was born at Irvine, in Ayrshire, and died in Sheffield, where he had spent the greater portion of his life. His poems are melodious, and expressive of the gentlest human feeling.] There is a land of every land the pride, Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside ; Nor breathes the spirit of a purer air; Touched by remembrance, trembles to that pole; 5 10 15 20 23 Where shall that land, that spot of earth be found? 30 SUMMARY.-There is a land more dearly loved than all the rest. The sun seems brighter there than elsewhere, and even the moonlight is more serene. It is a land of beauty, where all the virtues are found in the highest degree of excellence. The sailor in all his voyages can find no sweeter spot on which to cast his eyes; and even amidst the most enchanting scenes his thoughts turn back like the needle to the pole. In that country of peculiar grace, that is the sweetest spot of all. There woman reigns as mother, daughter, wife. There domestic happiness asserts itself. Where is that country? Where is that happy spot of earth? You have only to look around. That land is thy country, and the happy spot is your own sweet home. Magnet of his soul-the magnet or loadstone attracts iron or other metallic substances; so home or the native country of the sailor instinctively draws his affections to it. Tremble to that pole-As the magnetic needle points to the north and south poles, so do the affections of the mariner point or turn towards home. When God created Adam He said, "Let the fish of the sea and over the fowl of The word tyrant anciently meant a it in a more absolute sense. Creation's tyrant-man. Her-it-age, inheritance. QUESTIONS. Where? Why? What are said to blend in the looks of man? Where? Why? What are fireside pleasures? Where is the poet's happy land? What is meant by "the pride of every land?" Why is the sun said to be brighter? the moon milder? What is the 66 magnet of the soul?" Who is said to feel it? EXERCISES.--1. Parse and analyse - Around her knees domestic duties meet. 2. Nouns are formed into diminutives also by adding let, et, ling, ock, which mean "little;" as, streamlet, a small stream; floweret, a little flower; duckling, a little duck; hillock, a little hill. Give the exact meaning of the following words-bracelet (brachion, the arm), eaglet, gosling, bullock. X.-RECOLLECTIONS OF MY BOYHOOD. en-tire-ly com-plete' jin-gled pos-ses-sion differ-enc-es [JOHN RUSKIN (b. 1819, ), an eminent English art-critic, author of "Modern Painters," "Stones of Venice," and other works characterised by brilliancy of style as well as great shrewdness and common-sense.] 1. My father began business as a wine merchant, with no capital, and a considerable amount of debts left him by my grandfather. All these he paid before he began to lay by anything for himself. 2. For this his best friends called him a fool; and I, without expressing any opinion as to his wisdom, which I knew in such matters to be at least equal to mine, have written on the granite slab over his grave that he was an "entirely honest merchant." 3. Years went on, and I came to be four or five years old. He could command a post-chaise and pair for two months in the summer, by help of which, with my mother and me, he went the round of his country customers. saw all the high roads, and most of the cross ones, of England and Wales, and a great part of lowland Scotland as far as Perth. I 4. It happened, which was the real cause of the bias of my after-life, that my father had a rare love of pictures. Accordingly, wherever there was a gallery to be seen, we stopped at the nearest town for the night. In this manner I thus saw nearly all the noblemen's houses in England; not, indeed, myself at that age caring for pictures, but much for castles and ruins. I felt more and more, as I grew older, the healthy delight of uncovetous admiration, and perceived that it was probably much happier to live in a small house and have Warwick Castle to be astonished at, than to live in Warwick Castle and have nothing to be astonished at. 5. I was never permitted for an instant to hope, or even imagine, the possession of such things as one saw in toy-shops. I had a bunch of keys to play with, as long as I was capable only of pleasure in what glittered and jingled; as I grew older I had a cart and ball; and when I was five or six years old, two boxes of well-cut wooden bricks. 6. The group of which our house was the quarter consisted of two precisely similar couples of houses, gardens and all to match. The house itself, three storied, with garrets above, commanded a very notable view from its upper windows. It had front and back garden in sufficient proportion to its size. 7. The differences of primal importance which I observed between the nature of this garden and that of Eden as I had imagined it, were, that in this one all the fruit was forbidden, and there were no companionable beasts. In other respects the little domain answered every purpose of paradise to me. 8. I never had heard my father's or mother's voice once raised in any question with each other, nor seen an angry or even slightly hurt or offended glance in the eyes of either. I had never heard a servant scolded, nor even suddenly, passionately, or in any severe manner blamed. I had never seen a moment's trouble or disorder in any household matter. 9. Next to this quite priceless gift of Peace, I had received the perfect understanding of the natures of Obedience and Faith. I obeyed word, or lifted finger, of father or mother, as a ship her helm. And my practice in Faith was soon complete; nothing was ever promised me that was not given, nothing ever threatened me that was not inflicted, and nothing ever told me that was not true. Peace, Obedience, Faith,-these three I esteem the main blessings of my childhood.-John Ruskin. SUMMARY.-John Ruskin's father began business as a wine merchant, with considerable liabilities, which he honourably discharged. His business prospered, and he was able to keep a postchaise and pair for two months in the summer, with which he paid a visit to his customers in various parts of the country. He was accompanied by his wife and child who were taken to see every collection of pictures within convenient distance of the towns which they visited. John Ruskin's youth was a time of peace, when he acquired the habits of obedience and faith, which he very truly describes as the main blessings of his childhood. Bi-as, turn, inclination. Post-chaise, four-wheeled carriage for travel on post-roads. Pri-mal, first, chief. QUESTIONS. In what way did Ruskin's father begin business? In what way did he act? How has Ruskin described him? How did he spend some of the summer months? How did he gratify his taste for pictures? What kind of youth was spent by Ruskin? What does he describe as the greatest blessings of his childhood? EXERCISES.-1.-Parse and analyse-I had never seen a moment's trouble or disorder in any household matter. 2. Nouns are formed by adding ics, ism, ry, and ure, which mean "the science, doctrine, or manner of;" as, optics, the science of seeing (ops, the eye); Calvinism, the doctrine of Calvin; carpentry, the science or art of a carpenter; manufacture, the art of making by hand (manus, the hand, facio, I make). Give the exact meaning of the following words-hydraulics (hudor, water, aulos, a pipe), patriotism (patria, one's native country), cookery, sculpture (sculpo, I carve). "Childhood has no forebodings; but then it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow."-George Eliot. "The childhood shows the man As morning shows the day."-Milton. |