Page I. Pitt, Earl of Chatham, on the American War...... II. Sheridan against Hastings............................... 72 75 79 XIII. Ellen, the Lady of the Lake......................... Sir W. Scott. XIV. Eliza at the Battle of Minden....................... Darwin. XV. The Covenanters........................................ L. E. L. XX. The Armada.......... XXXV. The Shunamite.............. XXXVIII. Isaac Ashford ............................................. Crabbe. XL. The Legend of the Egyptian Princess...................... Edwin Arnold. VII. Bruce and the Spider.......................................................................... E. Cook. SELECT READINGS. PART I.—PROSE. SECTION I-HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. I. RETURN OF COLUMBUS AFTER HIS FIRST VOYAGE. (W. H. PRESCOTT.) Christopher Columbus was born at Genoa in 1437. He died in 1506. The Bahama Islands were reached by him in little more than two months after leaving Palos. William Hickling Prescott, the celebrated American writer, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1796. He died in 1859. His "History of Ferdinand and Isabella," "Conquest of Mexico," and "Conquest of Peru," are standard works in English literature. IN the spring of 1493, while the court was still at Barcelona, letters were received from Christopher Columbus, announcing his return to Spain, and the successful achievement of his great enterprise, by the discovery of land beyond the western ocean. The delight and astonishment raised by this intelligence were proportioned to the scepticism with which his project had been originally viewed. The sove reigns were now filled with a natural impatience to ascertain the extent and other particulars of the important discovery and they transmitted instant instructions to the admiral to repair to Barcelona as soon as he should have made the preliminary arrangements for the further prosecution of his enterprise. The great navigator had succeeded, as is well known, after a voyage the natural difficulties of which had been much augmented by the distrust and mutinous spirit of his fol lowers, in descrying land on Friday, the 12th of October, 1492. After some months spent in exploring the delightful regions now for the first time thrown open to the eyes of a European, he embarked in the month of January, 1493, for Spain. One of his vessels had previously foundered, and another had deserted him; so that he was left alone to retrace his course across the Atlantic. After a most tempestuous voyage, he was compelled to take shelter in the Tagus, sorely against his inclination. He experienced, however, the most honourable reception from the Portuguese monarch, John the Second, who did ample justice to the great qualities of Columbus, although he had failed to profit by them. After a brief delay the admiral resumed his voyage, and crossing the bar of Saltes entered the harbour of Palos about noon on the 15th of March, 1493,-being exactly seven months and eleven days since his departure from that port. Great was the agitation in the little community of Palos, as they beheld the well-known vessel of the admiral re-entering their harbour. Their desponding imaginations had long since consigned him to a watery grave; for, in addition to the preternatural horrors which hung over the voyage, they had experienced the most stormy and disastrous winter within the recollection of the oldest mariners. Most of them had relatives or friends on board. They thronged immediately to the shore, to assure themselves with their own eyes of the truth of their return. When they beheld their faces once more, and saw them accompanied by the numerous evidences which they brought back of the success of the expedition, they burst forth in acclamations of joy and gratulation. They awaited. the landing of Columbus, when the whole population of the place accompanied him and his crew to the principal church, where solemn thanksgivings were offered up for their return, while every bell in the village sent forth a joyous peal in honour of the glorious event. The admiral was too desirous of presenting himself before the sovereigns to protract his stay long at Palos. He took with him on his journey specimens of the multifarious products of the newly-discovered regions. He was accompanied by |