not mean to awaken any notion analogous to that which Boswell has given us of Johnson. The conversation of the latter continually reminds one of the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war." It was, indeed, a perpetual contest for victory, or an arbitrary or despotic exaction of homage to his superior talents. It was strong, acute, prompt, splendid, and vociferous; as loud, stormy, and sublime as those winds which he represents as shaking the Hebrides, and rocking the old castle which frowned on the dark-rolling sea beneath. Of But one gets tired of storms, however sublime they may be, and longs for the more orderly current of nature. Franklin, no one ever became tired. There was no ambition of eloquence, no effort to shine in anything which came from him. There was nothing which made any demand upon either your allegiance or your admiration. His manner was as unaffected as infancy. It was nature's self. He talked like an old patriarch; and his plainness and simplicity put you at once at your ease, and gave you the full and free possession and use of your faculties. His thoughts were of a character to shine by their own light, without any adventitious aid. They only required a medium of vision like his pure and simple style, to exhibit to the highest advantage their native radiance and beauty. His cheerfulness was unremitting. It seemed to be as much the effect of a systematic and salutary exercise of the mind, as of its superior organization. His wit was of the first order. It did not show itself merely in occasional coruscations; but, without any effort or force on his part, it shed a constant stream of the purest light over the whole of his discourse. Whether in the company of commons or nobles, he was always the same plain man; always most perfectly at his ease, with his faculties in full play, and the full orbit of his genius forever clear and unclouded. And then, the stores of his mind were inexhaustible. He had commenced life with an attention so vigilant that nothing had escaped his observation; and a judgment so solid that every incident was turned to advantage. His youth had not been wasted in idleness, nor overcast by intemperance. He had been, all his life, a close and deep reader, as well as thinker; and by the force of his own powers, had wrought up the raw materials which he had gathered from books, with such exquisite skill and felicity, that he has added a hundred fold to their original value, and justly made them his own. NOTES.-Benjamin Franklin (b. 1706, d. 1790) was one of the most prominent men in the struggle of the American colonies for liberty. He was renowned as a statesman, and, although not an author by profession, was a very prolific writer. His 'Autobiography," which was first printed in France, is now a household volume in America. See page 431. Boswell, James, (b. 1740, d. 1795,) was a Scotch lawyer, and is chiefly known as the biographer of Dr. Johnson, of whom he was the intimate friend and companion. Johnson, Samuel. See biographical notice, page 78. CV. THE DREAM OF CLARENCE. SCENE-Room in the Tower of London. Enter CLARENCE and BRAKENBURY. Brak. WHY looks your grace so heavily to-day? So full of ugly sights, of ghastly dreams, Brak. What was your dream? I long to hear you tell it. And, in my company, my brother Gloster; Methought that Gloster stumbled; and, in falling, Oh, then, methought, what pain it was to drown! All scattered in the bottom of the sea. Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept, As 't were in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems, Which wooed the slimy bottom of the deep, And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by. Brak. Had you such leisure in the time of death, To gaze upon the secrets of the deep? Clar. Methought I had; and often did I strive To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood Unto the kingdom of perpetual night. Oh, spare my guiltless wife and my poor children! My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep. CLARENCE reposes himself on a chair. Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours, Shakespeare.-Richard III, Act i, Scene iv. NOTES.-The houses of York and Lancaster were at war for the possession of the English throne. The Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Gloster were brothers of King Edward IV., who was head of the house of York. Clarence married the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, and joined the latter in several insurrections against the king. They finally plotted with Queen Margaret of the Lancaster party for the restoration of the latter house to the English throne, but Clarence betrayed Warwick and the Queen, and killed the latter's son at the battle of Tewksbury. Through the plots of Gloster, Clarence was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and there murdered. Brakenbury was lieutenant of the Tower. The ferryman referred to is Charon, of Greek mythology,, who was supposed to ferry the souls of the dead over the river Acheron to the infernal regions. CVI. HOMEWARD BOUND. Richard H. Dana, Jr., 1815-1882, was the son of Richard H. Dana, the poet. He was born in Cambridge, Mass. In his boyhood he had a strong desire to be a sailor, but by his father's advice chose a student's life, and entered Harvard University. At the age of nineteen an affection of the eyes compelled him to suspend his studies. He now made a voyage to California as a common sailor, and was gone two years. On his return, he resumed his studies and graduated in 1837. He afterwards studied law, and entered upon an active and successful practice. Most of his life was spent in law and politics, although he won distinction in literature. The following extract is from his "Two Years before the Mast," a book published in 1840, giving an account of his voyage to California. This book details, in a most clear and entertaining manner, the everyday life of a common sailor on shipboard, and is the best known of all Mr. Dana's works. It is usual, in voyages round the Cape from the Pacific, to keep to the eastward of the Falkland Islands; but, as there had now set in a strong, steady, and clear southwester, with every prospect of its lasting, and we had had enough of high latitudes, the captain determined to stand immediately to the northward, running inside the Falkland |