12. And in the nights of winter, When the cold north winds blow, 13. When the oldest cask is opened, When the chestnuts glow in the embers, 14. When the goodman mends his armour, How well Horatius kept the bridge In the brave days of old. Macaulay. shut'-tle mer'-ri-ly laugh'-ter EXERCISES.-1. The Latin prefix (1) ultra- means beyond; as ultramarine, beyond the sea; Ultramontane, beyond the mountains. (2) Vicemeans in place of; as vice-principal, one acting in place of the principal; viceroy, one acting in place of the king; vicegerent, one acting in place of a superior. 2. Analyse and parse the first four lines of stanza 6. 3. Make sentences of your own, and use in each one or more of the following words: Athwart, plied, feat, embers. BATTLE OF PLASSEY. [This extract from Macaulay's Essay on Lord Clive describes the battle of Plassey, in which Clive gained the victory over a native ruler named Surajah Dowlah, in 1757. This memorable victory laid the foundation of British power in India. Plassey, the scene of the battle, lies about ninety-six miles north of Calcutta. ] 1. Clive was in a painfully anxious situation. He could place no confidence in the sincerity or in the courage of his confederate; and, whatever confidence he might place in his own military talents, and in the valour and discipline of his troops, it was no light thing to engage an army twenty times as numerous as his own. Before him lay a river over which it was easy to advance, but over which, if things went ill, not one of his little band would ever return. On this occasion, for the first and for the last time, his dauntless spirit, during a few hours, shrank from the fearful responsibility of making a decision. He called a council of war. 2. The majority pronounced against fighting; and Clive declared his concurrence with the majority. Long afterwards, he said that he had never called but one council of war, and that, if he had taken the advice of that council, the British would never have been masters of Bengal. But scarcely had the meeting broken up when he was himself again. He retired alone under the shade of some trees, and passed near an hour there in thought. He came back determined to put everything to the hazard, and gave orders that all should be in readiness for passing the river on the morrow. 3. The river was passed; and at the close of a toilsome day's march, the army, long after sunset, took up its quarters in a grove of mango-trees near Plassey, within a mile of the enemy. Clive was unable to sleep; he heard, through the whole night, the sound of drums and cymbals from the vast camp of the Nabob. It is not strange that even his stout heart should now and then have sunk, when he reflected against what odds, and for what a prize, he was in a few hours to contend. 4. Nor was the rest of Surajah Dowlah more peaceful. His mind, at once weak and stormy, was distracted by wild and horrible apprehensions. Appalled by the greatness and nearness of the crisis, distrusting his captains, dreading every one who approached him, dreading to be left alone, he sat gloomily in his tent, haunted, a Greek poet would have said, by the furies of those who had cursed him with their last breath in the Black Hole. 5. The day broke, the day which was to decide the fate of India. At sunrise the army of the Nabob, pouring through many openings from the camp, began to move towards the grove where the English lay. Forty thousand infantry, armed with firelocks, pikes, swords, bows and arrows, covered the plain. They were accompanied by fifty pieces of ordnance of the largest size, each tugged by a long team of white oxen, and each pushed on from behind by an elephant. Some smaller guns, under the direction of a few French auxiliaries, were perhaps more formidable. The cavalry were fifteen thousand, drawn, not from the effeminate population of Bengal, but from the bolder race which inhabits the northern provinces; and the practised eye of Clive could perceive that both the men and the horses were more powerful than those of the Carnatic. 6. The force which he had to oppose to this great multitude consisted of only three thousand men. But of these nearly a thousand were English; and all were led by English officers, and trained in the English discipline. Conspicuous in the ranks of the little. army were the men of the 39th Regiment, which still bears on its colours, amidst many honourable additions won under Wellington in Spain and Gascony, the name of Plassey, and the proud motto, Primus in Indis. 7. The battle commenced with a cannonade, in which the artillery of the Nabob did scarcely any execution, while the few field-pieces of the English produced great effect. Several of the most distinguished officers in Surajah Dowlah's service fell. Disorder began to spread through his ranks. His own terror increased every moment. One of the conspirators urged on him the expediency of retreating. The insidious advice, agreeing as it did with what his own terrors suggested, was readily received. He ordered the army to fall back, and this order decided his fate. Clive snatched the moment, and ordered his troops to advance. The confused and dispirited multitude gave way before the onset of disciplined valour. 8. No mob attacked by regular soldiers was ever more completely routed. The little band of Frenchmen, who alone ventured to confront the English, were swept down the stream of fugitives. In an hour the forces of Surajah Dowlah were dispersed, never to re-assemble. Only five hundred of the vanquished were slain. But their But their camp, their guns, their baggage, innumerable waggons, innumerable cattle, remained in the power of the conquerors. With the loss of twenty-two soldiers killed and fifty wounded, Clive had scattered an army of nearly sixty thousand men, and subdued an empire larger and more populous than Great Britain. mil'-i-tar-y tal'-ents, cleverness or ability in warfare. val'-our, bravery. re-spon-si-bil'-i-ty, a being account- de-cis'-ion, resolve, determination. coun-cil of war, a meeting to consider whether they should fight or not. ma-jor'-i-ty, greater number. con-cur'-rence, agreement. Ben-gal', a large division of Northern thick foliage, affording a grate- Na'-bob, the title of a native Indian governor, here Surajah Dowlah. re-flect'-ed, thought. dis-tract'-ed, sorely troubled. ap-pre-hen'-sions, fears. ap-palled', terrified. cri'-sis, event by which great things are decided. fu'-ries, avenging spirits. de-cide', settle. fire'-locks, old-fashioned guns fired by a lock with steel and flint. ord'-nance, big guns. aux-il'-i-ar-ies, soldiers helping Surajah Dowlah. for-mid-a-ble, to be feared. Car-nat'-ic, the country lying Gas'-con-y, formerly a province in the south-west of France. Pri'-mus in In'-dis, Latin words for 'first in India.' can-non-ade', the firing of cannon. Sur-aj'-ah Dow'-lah, the native |
