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"The result of a hundred battles, and the united testimony of impartial writers of different nations, have given the first place, amongst the European infantry, to the British; but, in a comparison between the troops of France and England, it would be unjust not to admit that the cavalry of the former stands higher in the estimation of the world."

1. How long does it take to thoroughly discipline a British infantry soldier?

2. What are his predominant qualities?

3. What calumny is here characterised as "stupid?

4. What is said respecting the British soldier's fortitude,—and what does it prove?

LESSON VI. JANUARY THE SIXTH.

On the Pleasures arising from true Taste.

By the word Taste is to be understood the power which the mind possesses of relishing the beauties found in the works of nature and art.

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The pleasures enjoyed by the man of true taste delight the mind, without exhausting the spirits. He views all objects with a disposition suitable to their nature, and is sometimes softened by the pathetic, sometimes enraptured with the beautiful, and sometimes elevated by the sublime; and he feels a noble dignity of soul resulting from the consciousness and enjoyment of their attractions.

For his more immediate gratification are displayed the various works of nature and art, the charms of poetry, the graces of painting, and the melodious strains of music. Correctness and elegance are the objects of his search; and he looks with peculiar pleasure upon those specimens of art which are general without indistinctness, and accurate without tameness or servility. He remarks many minute beauties, where a common observer sees none; and he is not easily deceived by false and specious ornaments: but, averse equally to flattery and censoriousness, he makes allowance for the failings of human nature, while he expresses his opinion upon all occasions with candour and sincerity.

THE GROVES AND FORESTS OF TROPICAL REGIONS. 9

A cultivated and well-regulated taste is also of great moral importance. It induces us to look with indifference upon many objects which the vulgar pursue with ardour: it confirms virtuous dispositions; as the love of vice is excited, and its pursuit is quickened, by a perversion or from a want of taste. A pure taste elevates a person above the grosser pleasures of sense, and checks the indulgence of his passions. The obvious effect of violent passions is tumult and disorder; that of a pure taste is tranquillity- a state of mind highly favourable to the affections of love, friendship, and philanthropy.

The love of what is intrinsically good, as well as what is fair and pleasant to the eye, is the characteristic of the man of taste: its improvement, therefore, is of great importance to young persons, as it will answer a most valuable purpose, and not only make them good judges of the productions of the arts, but increase their relish for whatever is lovely and of good report. For the pursuits of taste not only give an elegant turn and cast of sentiment, and furnish agreeable subjects both for conversation and reflection, but they have also an immediate tendency to expand the faculties of the mind, and to give the most engaging views of mankind and of Providence.

1. What is to be understood by the word Taste?

2. In what respect is a well-regulated taste of great moral importance? 3. What are the obvious effects of a pure taste?

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The Groves and Forests of the Tropical Regions. As the West India Islands, when first discovered by Columbus, were extremely populous, both the hills and the valleys were necessarily cleared of underwood, and the trees which remained afforded a shade that was cool, airy, and delicious. Of these some were, without doubt, the most graceful of all the vegetable creation. Others continued to bud, blossom, and bear fruit throughout the year. Nor is it undeserving of notice, that the great Father of mankind displayed his goodness even in the structure and formation of the trees themselves; for the foliage of the greater part, springing only from the summit of the trunk, and thence expanding into wide-spreading branches, closely but elegantly arranged, every grove was an assemblage of

majestic columns, supporting a verdant canopy, and excluding the sun, without impeding the circulation of the air. Thus the shade, at all times impervious to the blaze, and refreshed by the diurnal breeze, afforded not merely a refuge from occasional inconvenience, but a most wholesome and delightful retreat and habitation.

Such were these orchards of the sun, and woods of perennial verdure, of a growth unknown to the frigid clime and less vigorous soil of Europe; for what is the oak compared to the cedar or mahogany, of each of which the trunk frequently measures from eighty to ninety feet from the base to the limbs? What European forest has ever given birth to a stem equal to that of the ceiba, which alone, simply rendered concave, has been known to produce a boat capable of containing one hundred persons; or the still greater fig, the sovereign of the vegetable creation itself a forest?

The majestic scenery of these tropical groves was at the same time enlivened by the singular forms of some, and the striking beauty of others, among the inferior animals which possessed and peopled them. If it be true that in most of the regions of the torrid zone the heat of the sun is, as it were, reflected in the untameable fierceness of their wild beasts, and in the frightful rage and venom of the numerous serpents with which they are infested, the Sovereign Disposer of all things has regarded the islands of the West Indies with peculiar favour; inasmuch as their serpents are wholly destitute of poison, and they possess no animal of prey to desolate their valleys. The crocodile or alligator is indeed sometimes discovered on the banks of their rivers; but notwithstanding all that has been said of its fierce and savage disposition, it is, in truth, a cautious and timid creature, avoiding, with the utmost precipitation, the approach of man. The rest of

the lizard kind are perfectly innocent and inoffensive.

Anciently, the woods of almost all the equatorial parts of America abounded with various tribes of the smaller monkey; a sportive and sagacious little creature, which the people of Europe seem to have regarded with detestation, for they hunted them down with such barbarous assiduity that in several of the islands every species of them has been long since exterminated.

Of the feathered race, too, many tribes have now nearly deserted those shores where polished man delights in spreading universal and capricious destruction. Among these, one of the most remarkable was the flamingo; an

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elegant and princely bird, as large as the swan, and arrayed in plumage of the brightest scarlet. Numerous, however, are the feathered kinds, deservedly distinguished by their splendour and beauty, that still animate these sylvan recesses. The parrot and its various affinities, from the macaw to the parroquet, some of them not larger than a sparrow, are too well known to require description. These are as plentiful in the larger islands of the West Indies as the rook is in Europe. But the boast of the American groves is doubtless the colibry, or humming bird: of the brilliance of its plumage no combination of words, or tints of the pencil, can convey an adequate idea. The consummate green of the emerald, the rich purple of the amethyst, and the vivid flame of the ruby, all happily blended and enveloped beneath a transparent veil of waving gold, are distinguishable in every species, but differently arranged and apportioned in each. Nor is the minuteness of its form less the object of admiration than the lustre of its plumage; the smallest species not exceeding the size of a beetle, and appearing the link which connects the bird and the insect creation.

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1. In what way did the trees of the tropical regions afford to the original inhabitants a delightful retreat and habitation ?

2. By what was this majestic scenery enlivened?

3. Why may it be said that God has regarded the West Islands with peculiar favour?

4. Describe the bird which we are told is the boast of the American groves.

LESSON VIII.

JANUARY THE EIGHTH.
Galileo.

On this day, in 1642, died the celebrated astronomer Galileo. He was born at Pisa, in the north of Italy, in 1564. Galileo was the author of several noble discoveries in astronomy, geometry, and mechanics. Having heard of the invention of the telescope by Metius, he, without seeing the instrument, constructed one for himself, and with it made several discoveries, particularly of the satellites of Jupiter. Milton thus alludes to him:

"The moon whose orb

Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening from the top of Fesolé,

Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands,
Rivers, or mountains on her spotty globe."

This eminent man was cited before the Holy Inquisition, and made to abjure his doctrine, of the Copernican or true system of the world; but after going through the forced ceremony, indignant at the humiliating concession he had been compelled to make, he stamped his foot on the earth, saying, "It moves notwithstanding."

Galileo proved the rotation of the sun upon his axis; he also ascertained the changing of the spots upon the disk of that orb, and the mountains and valleys in the moon. To him also is science indebted for the doctrine of equable motions, and that of projectiles. In geometry he invented the trochoid; in mechanics the simple pendulum, the application of which to clocks was reserved for his son Vicenzio. Galileo likewise invented a machine with which the Venetians render their Laguna fluid and navigable; and the principles he laid down in regard to the gravitation of the atmosphere produced the barometer.

1. For what was Galileo brought before the Inquisition: and what did he say?

2. What did Galileo prove, and ascertain, and invent? 3. What is the Laguna of Venice ?

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It was on the ninth of January, 1806, that the remains of Horatio Viscount Nelson were deposited in the cathedral of St. Paul's. The funeral, undertaken at the public expense, was one of the most solemn and magnificent spectacles ever beheld in this country, and was duly honoured by the presence of seven princes of the blood, and a vast number of naval officers, peers, and commoners.

It is not easy for words to do justice to the memory of the brave and patriotic Nelson. He who wishes to give a detail of his exploits, must transcribe the pages of our naval history; and he who is anxious to do justice to his merits by description, must write with the same spirit with which he fought. The laurels which he had won at St. Vincent, and at Aboukir, were sufficient to have ensured lasting renown: with that renown, and the honours which foreign countries had vied with his own in bestowing upon him, he might have retired to the enjoyment of honourable repose for the remainder of his days; but, mutilated as he was in person, and covered with wounds, he rose superior to pain. Inactivity afforded

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