sanguine coward! this horse-back-breaker! this huge hill of flesh

FAL. Away, you starveling! O, for breath to utter, what is like thee !

P. HENRY. Well, breathe a while, and then to 't again; and when thou hast tired thyself in base comparisons, hear me speak but this:- Poins and I saw you four set on four; you bound them, and were masters of their wealth: mark now, how a plain tale shall put you down! Then did we two set on you four, and with a word outfaced you from your prize, and have it, yea, and can show it you here in the house. And, Falstaff, you carried yourself away as nimbly, with as quick dexterity, and roared for mercy, and still ran and roared, as ever I heard a calf. What a slave art thou! to hack thy sword as thou hast done, and then say it was done in fight! What trick, what device canst thou now find out, to hide thee from this open and apparent shame?

FAL. Ha! ha! ha!-D' ye think I did not know you? I knew you as well as he that made you. Why, hear ye, my master; was it for me to kill the heir-apparent? should I turn upon the true prince? Why, thou know-est, I am as valiant as Hercules; but beware instinct! the lion will not touch the true prince! instinct is a great matter. I was a coward on instinct, I grant you: and I shall think the better of myself and thee during my life; I for a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince. But I am glad you have the money. Let us clap to the doors; watch to-night, pray to-morrow. What, shall we be merry? shall we have a play extempore?

P. HENRY. Content! and the argument shall be, thy running away.

FAL. Ah! no more of that, Hal, an' thou lovest me. SHAKSPEARE.

LESSON LXVI.
ESSON

THE SONG OF THE CLOUD.

Ġe'ni I, good or evil spirits, or

demons, supposed by the ancients to preside over a man's destiny in life; spirits. Bask, to lie in warmth; as, to

bask in the sun.

San'guine, having a red color;

warm; ardent; hopeful. Mē ́te or, a transient fiery or luminous body seen in the atmosphere. Rack, flying, broken clouds; floating vapor in the sky. Brood'ing, resting quietly.

I

BRING fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;

I bear light shades for the leaves when laid

In their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under;
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.

2. I sift the snow on the mountains below,
And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast.

Sublime on the towers of my skyey bowers,
Lightning, my pilot, sits;

In a cavern under is fettered the thunder-
It struggles and howls at fits:

Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,
This pilot is guiding me,

Lured by the love of the genii that move

In the depths of the purple sea;

Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills,
Over the lakes and the plains,

Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream,
The Spirit he loves remains;

And I all the while bask in Heaven's blue smile, Whilst he is dissolving in rains.

3. The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes,
And his burning plumes outspread,
Leaps on the back of my sailing rack,
When the Morning-star shines dead,
As on the jag of a mountain-crag,

Which an earthquake rocks and swings,

An eagle alit one moment may sit

In the light of its golden wings.

And when sunset may breathe, from the lit sea be

Its ardors of rest and love,

And the crimson pall of eve may fall

From the depth of heaven above,

With wings folded I rest on mine airy nest,

As still as a brooding dove.

4. The orbèd maiden, with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the Moon,

Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor,
By the midnight breezes strewn;

[neath,

And wherever the beat of her unseen feet,

Which only the angels hear,

May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof, The stars peep behind her and peer;

And I laugh to see them whirl and flee,

Like a swarm of golden bees,

When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,
Till the calm rivers, lakes, and seas,

Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high,
Are each paved with the moon and these.

5. I bind the Sun's throne with the burning zone,
And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl;

The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim,
When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl.
From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape,

Over a torrent sea,

Sunbeam proof, I hang like a roof

The mountains its columns be.

The triumphal arch through which I march,
With hurricane, fire, and snow,

When the powers of the air are chained to my chair,
Is the million-colored bow;

The sphere-fire above its soft colors wove,
While the moist earth was laughing below.

6. I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky;

I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; I change, but I cannot die.

For after the rain, when with never a stain

The pavilion of heaven is bare,

And the winds and sunbeams, with their convex Build up the blue dome of the air, [gleams,

I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,

And out of the caverns of rain,

Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the
I arise and unbuild it again.

[tomb, SHELLEY.

LESSON LXVII.

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX.

Pōs ́tern, a back door or gate.

Hōl'ster, a leather case for a pistol, carried by a horseman at the forepart of his saddle.

I

Spüme, froth; foam.

Bûr'gess es, magistrates of a borough or city.

SPRANG to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all

three;

"Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts

undrew;

"Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through; Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest, And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

2. Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace, Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;

I turned in my saddle, and made its girths tight, Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right, Rebuckled the check-strap, chained slacker the bit, Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.