LOCHIEL.

Down, soothless insulter! I trust not thy tale; For never shall Albin a destiny meet,

So black with dishonour, so foul with retreat. Though my perishing ranks should be strewed in their gore,

Like ocean weeds heaped on the surf-beaten shore,
Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains,

While the kindling of life in his bosom remains,
Shall victor exult, or in death be laid low,

With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe!
And leaving in battle no blot on his name,

Look proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame.

CAMPBELL.

LESSON 20.

ABOU BEN ADHEM.

ac-cord, harmony

van-ished, disappeared

cheer-ly, meaning cheerfully vi-sion, spirit, angel

Abou Ben Adhem-(may his tribe increase !)—
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold.

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
'What writest thou?' The vision raised its head,
And, with a voice made all of sweet accord,

Answered, 'The names of those who love the Lord.'

'And is mine one?' said Abou. Nay, not so,' Replied the angel.

Abou spoke more low,

But cheerly still, and said, 'I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow-men.'

The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blest,

And, lo, Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!

LEIGH HUNT.

LESSON 21.

STRANGE STORY OF MARTIN
GUERRE.

af-firmed, declared solemnly pro-vin-cial, belonging to

a province

de-lib-er-at-ing, considering re-verse, wholly change

as-sign-ing, giving

One of the strangest cases on record of one man passing himself off for another is that connected with the name of Martin Guerre. This remarkable imposture took place in France about three hundred years ago, and the impostor was executed for his deception, after a long trial by the judges of the criminal court.

The case came first before the public on account of an extraordinary application made by a woman to one of the provincial judges. She said that about eleven years before, her husband, whose name

was Martin Guerre, and to whom she had been married for some years, suddenly left her without assigning any reason. Concluding that he meant to desert her, she had given him up for ever. About eight years afterwards, however, he (as she thought) returned. He was so exactly like her real husband, that no thought of deception crossed her mind, until they had lived together three years. At the end of that period she suspected that the man was not the real Martin Guerre, and had sought every means to satisfy herself upon the point. She said that she had found out that his real name was Arnaud, and that he came from another part of France. She therefore requested that she might be separated from him, and that the property of her lost husband, which he had seized, might be given to her.

The man came before the court, and declared he was none other than Martin, and that the whole story of his wife was an invention, got up by her friends to get rid of him. The judge was puzzled with such a singular case. He ordered witnesses on both sides to be examined, first separately, and then in the presence of each other. The man himself was questioned by the relatives of the woman, and by Guerre's own relatives, and gave such answers as none but Martin could have done. Four sisters recognised him as their long-lost brother; people who had known Martin from childhood swore that he was the true man, and said they knew him by certain scars on his body. Of about one hundred witnesses examined, more than thirty positively affirmed that the man in the court was none other than Martin Guerre; almost as many, on the contrary, declared he was Arnaud du Tilh; the rest would give no definite opinion, except that he was so like Martin it was impossible for them to decide.

The judge weighed the evidence very carefully, and came to the conclusion that the man was not Martin, and condemned him to death for his wicked fraud. The man appealed against this sentence to the parliament, which ordered a new examination to take place. This time only new witnesses were examined, and these with the greatest care possible. The conclusion of the second trial was more perplexing than the first; nine of the principal witnesses were positive that he was the true Martin, while eight were just as positive he was Arnaud. Some of his relatives named certain marks on the body which would certainly distinguish the real Martin, and these were found on him; on the other hand, a shoemaker who had always made shoes for Martin, said this man had a smaller foot by two sizes.

The parliament was now in great difficulty how to decide. The majority inclined to reverse the former judgment, and declare him the real husband of the woman. A solution of the difficulty appeared in a very unexpected manner. While the court was deliberating, a man with a wooden leg pushed his way forward and declared he was the true Martin Guerre. The likeness between the two men was at once seen by all present. He said he had come from Spain, where he had lost his leg in battle; also, that the man in court had been a fellow-soldier, and thus obtained all the particulars of his past life.

But now arose almost a greater difficulty still. The first man said the wooden-legged man was an impostor, and that he was the true Martin after all; that he (the wooden-legged man) had been picked out on account of his likeness to him, and prompted, in order to swear away his life. The two Martins were questioned in each other's absence, and were equally correct in answering as to their

early private history. If there was any difference at all, the false Martin (as we will call Arnaud) had the advantage, for a rough life in Spain for a number of years had rather impaired the memory of the other.

The court decided to have present all the relatives and friends of the two men, and allow them to decide in open court. All who were invited appeared, except the two brothers of Arnaud, which at once created a little suspicion. As soon as the two claimants stood side by side, one of Martin's sisters rushed up to the owner of the wooden leg and embraced him, saying, 'This is my brother Martin; I acknowledge that I was for a time deceived by that wretched man, but I am in doubt no longer.' One after another of the witnesses acknowledged that they had been mistaken, and that the real Martin Guerre was the maimed soldier home from Spain,

No doubt now remaining, the previous sentence was confirmed, and the false Martin was ordered for execution. Before his death he acknowledged his guilt, and expressed his penitence for the aggravated deception he had practised.

LESSON 22.

TRUTH IS BEST.

ca-di, judge.

be-trayed, entrapped

on oath, having sworn
pro-se-cute, take to law

de-lib-er-ate, well thought of pub-lished, announced

Passing along the principal thoroughfare of a Yorkshire town some few years ago, my attention