2. It happened one day, that two knights, completely armed, the one in black armor, and the other in white, arrived from opposite parts of the country at this statue, just about the same time; and as neither of them had seen it before, they stopped to read the inscriptions, and observe the excellence of its workmanship.

3. After contemplating it for some time; "This golden shield," says the black knight,-"Golden shield!" cried the white knight, (who was as strictly observing the opposite side,) why, if I have my eyes, it is silver." "I know nothing of your eyes,” replied the black knight, "but if ever I saw a golden shield in my life, this is one!"

4. "Yes," returned the white knight, smiling, "it is very probable, indeed, that they should expose a shield of gold in so public a place as this; for my part, I wonder even a silver one is not too strong a temptation for the devotion of some people that pass this way; and it appears by the date that this has been here above three years."

O

5. The black knight could not bear the smile with which this was delivered, and grew so warm in the dispute, that it soon ended in a challenge; they both therefore turned their horses, and rode back so far as to have sufficient space for their career, then fixed their spears in their rests, and flew at each other with the greatest fury and impetuosity. Their shock was so rude, and the blow on each side so effectual, that they both fell to the ground, much wounded and bruised, and lay there for some time in a trance.

6. A good Druid, who was traveling that way, found them in this condition. The Druids were the physicians of those times, as well as the priests. He had a sovereign balsam about him, which he had composed himself, for he was very skillful in all the plants that grew in the fields, or in the forests; he staunched their blood, applied his balsam to their

wounds, and brought them, as it were, from death to life again.

7. As soon as they were sufficiently recovered, he began to inquire into the occasion of their quarrel. "Why, this man," cried the black knight, "will have it that the shield yonder is silver." "And he will have it," replied the white knight, "that it is gold," and then told him all the particulars of the affair.

8. "Ah!" said the Druid, with a sigh, "you are both of you, my brethren, in the right, and both of you in the wrong; had either of you given himself time to look upon the opposite side of the shield, as well as that which first presented itself to view, all this passion and bloodshed might have been avoided; however, there is a very good lesson to be learned from the evils that have befallen you on this occasion.

9. "Permit me therefore to entreat you, by all the gods, and by this goddess of Victory in particular, never to enter into any dispute for the future, till you have fairly considered both sides of the question."

R.

LESSON XCVIII.

EXERCISE ON INFLECTION.

RULE 3.-EXCLAMATION when expressing tender emotion, surprise, or interrogation takes the RISING slide; when expressing admiration, awe, terror and the like, the FALLING.

1. With what a sorrowful air of forced gayety was all this !

uttered! It was a plaintive mirth!

2.

'Twas then the mother from her toil

Turned to behold her child

The urchin gone! her cheek was flushed,
Her wandering eye was wild.

3. Oh! my son,

Absalom! my son ! my son! my son Absalom! Would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my

son! my son!

4.

What! did my father's godson seek your life!

5.

He whom my father named!

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Your Edgar!

'Tis green, 'tis green, sir, I assure ye”————

"Green!" cries the other in a fury

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'Why, sir- -d'ye think I've lost my eyes!"

6. "Take that! she will call me a fool, and scold me, if I carry a chip to her."

7. Must I leave thee, paradise! Thus leave

Thee, native soil! These happy walks and shades,

Fit haunt of Gods!

8. What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how

infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and ad

J

mirable! In action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how

like a god!

9.

How beautiful is all this visible world!

How glorious in its action and itself! 10. The ghost of Banquo, like that of ghost. It disturbed no innocent man.

Hamlet, was an honest
It knew where its ap-

pearance would strike terror, and who could cry out—a ghost! It made itself visible in the right quarter, and compelled the guilty and the conscience-smitten, and some others, to start with

"Prithee, see there! behold!-look! lo!
there! behold!_look! lo!

If I stand here, I saw him!”

LESSON XCIX.

THE BIBLE AS A BOOK.

1. THERE is one book, or rather a collection of many books into one, which none need to be afraid of recommending too warmly. The writings contained in this book stand peerless on the list of fame, for every excellence of composition.

2. It has an old-fashioned title, which may be one reason why some new-fashioned readers will not take the pains to examine it; this title, however, would be ill exchanged for any other, for no other could so forcibly mark its preéminence. It is called THE BIBLE, which signifies simply the Book; inferring that it is not merely a Book, (or one amongst many,) but The Book, which is characterized as the most valuable, above all the rest of the books in the world.

3. On the death of that distinguished scholar, Sir William Jones, the following eulogy was found, in his own writing, on the last leaf of his Bible: "I have regularly and attentively read these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion, that this volume, independently of its divine origin, contains more simplicity and beauty, more pure morality and important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from any other books, in whatever age or language they may have been composed."

4. To give this testimonial its due weight, be it remembered that the man who bequeathed it, was learned in all the wisdom of the East. He was not only master of every usual

classical acquirement; he was a genius who had penetrated deeply into the mines of Asiatic literature, and thus became acquainted with lettered excellence in the most profuse variety.

5. Certain it is, that this volume, on which he had bestowed such a strong encomium, contains everything which he attributes to it. It furnishes history the most ancient and authentic; narrative the most engagingly simple and pathetic; didactic, poetic, and rhetorical beauties, all in matchless perfection.

6. But to raise the character of this sacred book to a point of exaltation, from whence it must forever look down on every other work, however pure or splendid, it is made the register of those divine instructions which relate not merely to the finite understandings of mankind, or to the improvement of a few fleeting years, but pour out before them the treasures of immortality, and set up the plainest way-marks to guide them to the perfection of wisdom and happiness in an eternal state.

7. In short, it speaks the language of the Creator to his creatures, and contains the effluences of that wisdom which is so finely personified in the eighth chapter of one of its books, entitled "The Proverbs of Solomon."

8. It cannot be too deeply regretted, that this volume is so much neglected by many, who, by the advantages of superior and cultivated talents, are most capable of appreciating its beauties, and might thus become acquainted with its ennobling precepts, as they studied its exemplary language.

9. Still there are not a few who, like Sir William Jones, prefer the "Songs of Zion," to all other melody; and, though accounted wise in their generation, amongst the sons of science, seek their choicest attainments, and find their supreme delight in studying "the law of the Lord."