could not rustle to the ground-a diamond drop could not patter in the stream- -a fragrance could not exhale from the humble violet, nor a daisy unfold its crimson tints to the morning, but it has been noticed by these impassioned and delicate observers, and wrought up into some beautiful morality. 9. The effect of this devotion of elegant minds to rural occupations has been wonderful on the face of the country. A great part of the island is rather level, and would be monotonous were it not for the charms of culture; but it is studded and gemmed, as it were, with castles and palaces, and embroidered with parks and gardens. It does not abound in grand and sublime prospects, but rather in little home scenes of rural repose and sheltered quiet. Every antique farm-house and moss-grown cottage is a picture; and as the roads are continually winding, and the view is shut in by groves and hedges, the eye is delighted by a continual succession of small landscapes of captivating loveliness. 10. The great charm, however, of English scenery is the moral feeling that seems to pervade it. It is associated in the mind with ideas of order, of quiet, of sober wellestablished principles, of hoary usage and reverend custom. Everything seems to be the growth of ages of regular and peaceful existence. 11. The old church of remote architecture, with its low, massive portal, its Gothic tower, its windows rich with tracery and painted glass, in scrupulous preservation; its stately monuments of warriors and worthies of the olden time, ancestors of the present lords of the soil; its tombstones, recording successive generations of sturdy yeomanry, whose progeny still plough the same fields, and kneel at the same altar-the parsonage, a quaint, irregular pile, partly antiquated, but repaired and altered in the tastes of various ages and occupants-the stile and footpath leading from the churchyard, across pleasant fields and along shady hedgerows, according to an immemorial right of way the neighbouring village, with its venerable cottages, its public green sheltered by trees, under which the forefathers of the present race have sported—the antique family mansion, standing apart in some little rural domain, but looking down with a protecting air on the surrounding scene; all these common features of English landscape evince a calm and settled security, and hereditary transmission of home-bred virtues and local attachments, that speak deeply and touchingly for the moral character of the nation.-Washington Irving. Name something for which the English are noted. Describe some of the beauties of their park scenery. What else are the English noted for? How has this love of rural life spread amongst the lower classes? What trees does the labourer plant about his cottage? What writers are fond of describing rural scenes? Name some subjects that they are fond of describing. What is the great charm of English scenery? What is this moral feeling associated with? THE GENTLEMAN. 1. Not alone by generous birth (Greatly though it fashions men), 2. Poverty retains it oft, With the peasant it hath dwelt, 3. Charity, unselfish zeal Lest a sorrow or a shame Anyone be made to feel Undeserving scorn or blame,— Dignity, the generous sense That himself is heir outright To that heritage immense, King and priest of worlds of light, 4. Lowliness of heart withal, Purity of word and life,- And what courtesies are due, These make up the Gentleman. 5. Ay, sir, calm and cold and proud, Are always gentle sons of heaven. How to be the Gentleman. -M. F. Tupper, Lyrics of the Heart and Mind. marr'd, spoilt. knight, a model gentleman of the olden time. heritage, inheritance. Bayard, a noble and gallant Frenchman, highly distinguished for his bravery and his honourable character. Died 1524. Chesterfields. The Earl of Chesterfield wrote a famous series of letters to teach his son good manners. He died 1773. betide, happen. LINNÆUS, THE SWEDISH BOTANIST. PART I. 1. There are many beautiful spots in Sweden, and Rashult, in the province of Smaland, where Charles Linnæus was born, in the year 1707, is said to be delightfully situated near the banks of a fine lake, surrounded by hills and valleys, woods and cultivated ground. From a very early age Linnæus was remark able for his love of plants, and as he tells us himself, was no sooner out of his cradle, than he almost lived in his father's garden. He was scarcely four years old when he heard his father, who was the village clergyman, explaining to a few friends the qualities of some particular plants; this first botanical lecture was remembered by him as an epoch in his scientific life. When he was eight years old his father gave him a plot of ground for a garden; he made many excursions to the woods and meadows to find plants and flowers to put in it, and never ceased to inquire of his father the names and properties of all the plants of the garden and field that he could procure. 2. At school, Charles showed a decided preference for natural history, and disappointed his father by his want of taste for other branches of learning. He took long rambles in the fields, and his father considered this as an indication of an idle and thoughtless disposition. Charles Linnæus was unfortunate in his instructors. His first tutor was a person of disagreeable manners; then at the grammar-school of Wexio, he met with a harsh taskmaster. When he was seventeen he was removed to a higher grade school, and it was intended that he should enter the church. But he had no taste for the studies required in that profession, though he made great progress in mathematics, natural philosophy, and his favourite study-botany. His literary progress was so small that when in 1724 his father went to see him, his tutors said he was a hopeless dunce, and advised that he should be put apprentice to a shoemaker, tailor, or other tradesman, and not forced to pursue an object for which he was evidently unfit. 3. Fortunately, Dr. Rothman, the lecturer on natural philosophy, had more discernment, and encouraged Charles's |