his two boys, entered the court, and having pleaded the right of an ancient law of the duchy, which, though seldom claimed, he said, was no less in force, he took his sword from his side; - Here, said he, take it; and be trusty guardians of it till better times put me in condition to reclaim it.

The president accepted the Marquis's sword; he staid a few minutes to see it deposited in the archives of his house, and departed.

The Marquis and his whole family embarked the next day for Martinico, and, in about nineteen or twenty years of successful application to business, with some unlooked-for bequests from distant branches of his house, returned home to reclaim his nobility, and to support it.

It was an incident of good fortune, which will never happen to any traveller but a sentimental one, that I should be at Rennes at the very time of this requisition. I call it solemn-it was so to me.

:

The Marquis entered the court with his whole family he supported his lady ;-his eldest son supported his sister, and his youngest was at the other extreme of the line next his mother; he put his handkerchief to his face twice.

There was a dead silence. When the Marquis had approached within six paces of the tribunal, he gave the Marchioness to his youngest son, and advancing three steps before his family-he reclaimed his sword. His sword was given him: and the moment he got it into his hand, he drew it almost out of the scabbard : -'twas the shining face of a friend he had once given up: he looked attentively along it, beginning at the hilt, as if to see whether it was the same,—when observing a little rust which it had contracted near the point, he brought it near his eye, and bending his

head down over it,-I think I saw a tear fall upon the place,-I could not be deceived by what followed. "I shall find," said he, some other way to get it off."

66

When the Marquis had said this, he returned his sword into its scabbard, made a bow to the guardians of it,—and, with his wife and daughter, and his two sons following him, walked out.

O how I envied his feelings!

L. STERNE

HOME AND CLASS WORK.

Learn the spellings and meanings at the top of the page; and write sentences containing these words.

INGRATITUDE.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend rememb'red not.

SHAKESPERE.

CHRISTOPHER MARLOW.

[Christopher Marlow was born about 1565. His character was loose, and he was killed in a disgraceful brawl in 1593. "Faustus" is his best work. Marlow is a link between Shakspere and the times that preceded him, and considerably improved dramatic poetry.]

THE DEATH OF FAUSTUS.

Faustus-Mephostophilis.

MEPH. Ah, Faustus, now thou hast no hope of heaven.

FAUST. Oh, thou bewitching fiend! 'twas thy temptation

Hath robbed me of eternal happiness.

MEPH. I do confess it, Faustus, and rejoice. 'Twas I, that when thou wert the way to heaven Damm'd up thy passage; when thou took'st the book To view the scriptures, then I turned the leaves And led thine eye.

What, weep'st thou ?-'tis too late. Despair!-Farewell.

Enter the Good and Bad Angels.

G. ANG. Oh, Faustus, if thou hadst given ear to me, Innumerable joys had followed thee.

But thou didst love the world :

B. ANG.

Gave ear to me.

G. ANG. Oh, what will all thy riches, pleasures,

B. ANG.

Nothing but vex thee more.

G. ANG. Oh, thou hast lost celestial happiness,

Pleasures unspeakable, bliss without end?

[Exit.

B. ANG. Now, Faustus, let thine eyes with horror

stare

Into that vast perpetual torture house:

FAUST. Oh, I have seen enough to torture me.

B. ANG. Nay, thou must feel them, taste the smart of all;

He that loves pleasure must for pleasure fall.

And so I leave thee, Faustus.

The clock strikes eleven.

FAUST. Oh, Faustus!

Now thou hast but one bare hour to live.
Stand still, ye ever-moving spheres of heaven,
That time may cease, and midnight never come.
Fair Nature's eye, rise, rise again, and make
Perpetual day; or let this hour be but

A year, a month, a week, a natural day,
That Faustus may repent and save his soul.

[Exit.

The stars move still,-time runs -the clock will strike.
Oh, I'll leap up to heaven!-Who pulls me down?
Yet will I call on HIM!-Oh spare me, Lucifer!
Where is it now?-'Tis gone :

And see a threatening arm-an angry brow!
Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of heaven!
No! Then will I run headlong into the earth:
Gape, earth!-Oh, no; it will not harbour me.
Ye stars that reigned at my nativity,

Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,
Now draw up Faustus, like a foggy mist,
Into the entrails of yon labouring cloud;
That, when you vomit forth into the air,
My limbs may issue from your smoky mouths,
But let my soul mount and ascend to heaven.
The watch strikes.

Oh! half the hour is past: 'twill all be past anon.
Oh! if my soul must suffer for my sin,
Impose some end to my incessant pain.
Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?
Or, why is this immortal that thou hast?
This soul should fly from me, and I be changed
Into some brutish beast.

All beasts are happy, for when they die,
Their souls are soon dissolved in element !
Now, Faustus, curse thyself-curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
The clock strikes twelve.

It strikes-it strikes! now body turn to air.
Oh, soul, be changed into small water drops,
And fall into the ocean-ne'er be found!

MARLOW.

HOME AND CLASS WORK.

Learn the spellings and meanings at the top of the page; and write sentences containing these words.