who should be most precise, diligent, and prudent; but to the noblest boy, to the boy who should afford most promise of becoming a large-hearted, high-motived man.

15. The Prince was a deeply religious man, yet was entirely free from the faintest tinge of bigotry or sectarianism. His strong faith in the great truths of religion coexisted with a breadth of tolerance for other men struggling in their various ways to attain those truths. His views of religion did not lead him to separate himself from other men; and in these high matters he rather sought to find unity in diversity than to magnify small differences. Thus he endeavoured to associate himself with all earnest seekers after religious truth.

16. He was singularly impressed with the intellectual beauty of knowledge; for, as he once remarked to her who most sympathized with him, "To me, a long, closelyconnected train of reasoning is like a beautiful strain of music. You can hardly imagine my delight in it." But this was not all with him. He was one of those rare seekers after truth who carry their affections into their acquisitions of knowledge.

17. If any man in England cared for the working-classes it was the Prince. He understood the great difficulty of the time as regards these classes, namely the providing for them fitting habitations. He was a beneficent landlord; and his first care was to build good cottages for all the labouring men on his estates. He had entered into minute calculations as to the amount of illness which might be prevented amongst the poorer classes by a careful selection of the materials to be used in the building of their dwellings. In a word, he was tender, thoughtful, and anxious in his efforts for the welfare of the labouring man. His constancy of purpose in that, as in other things, was worthy of all imitation. He did not become tired of benevolence. It was not the fancy of a day for him. It was the sustained purpose of a life.

18. The Prince's love of art must be spoken of separately, for it was something peculiar to himself. He saw through art into what in its highest form it expressed

the beautiful. He cared not so much for a close representation of the things of daily life, as for that ideal world which art shadows forth, and interprets to mankind. Hence his love for many a picture which might not be a masterpiece of drawing or of colouring, but which had tenderness and reverence in it, and told of something that was remote from common life, and high and holy.

19. "In no relation of life did the goodness and greatness of his character appear more than in the management of his children. The most judicious, impartial, and loving of fathers, he was at once the friend and master, ever by his example enforcing the precepts he sought to instil." A. Helps (1817-1875).

ODE TO DUTY.

1. Stern Daughter of the Voice of God!
O Duty! if that name thou love,
Who art a Light to guide, a Rod
To check the erring, and reprove;
Thou, who art victory and law
When empty terrors overawe;
From vain temptations dost set free;

And calm'st the weary strife of frail humanity!

2. There are who ask not if thine eye
Be on them; who, in love and truth,
Where no misgiving is, rely

Upon the genial sense of youth:
Glad hearts! without reproach or blot
Who do thy work, and know it not:
May joy be theirs while life shall last!

And thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast!

3. Serene will be our days and bright,

And happy will our nature be,

When love is an unerring light,

And joy its own security.

And bless'd are they who in the main

This faith, even now, do entertain:

Live in the spirit of this creed;

Yet find that other strength, according to their need.

4. I, loving freedom, and untried;

No sport of every random gust,
Yet being to myself a guide,

Too blindly have reposed my trust:
Resolved that nothing e'er should press

Upon my present happiness,

I shoved unwelcome tasks away;

But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I

5. Through no disturbance of my soul,
Or strong compunction in me wrought,
I supplicate for thy control;
But in the quietness of thought:
Me this unchartered freedom tires;
I feel the weight of chance desires:
My hopes no more must change their name,
I long for a repose that ever is the same.

6. Yet not the less would I throughout
Still act according to the voice
Of my own wish; and feel past doubt
That my submissiveness was choice:
Not seeking in the school of pride
For "precepts over dignified,'

Denial and restraint I prize

may.

No further than they breed a second Will more wise.

7. Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear

The Godhead's most benignant grace;
Nor know we anything so fair
As is the smile upon thy face:

Flowers laugh before thee on their beds;
And Fragrance in thy footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the Stars from wrong;

And the most ancient Heavens through thee are fresh and strong.

8. To humbler functions, awful Power!
I call thee: I myself commend
Unto thy guidance from this hour;
Oh! let my weakness have an end!
Give unto me, made lowly wise,
The spirit of self-sacrifice;

The confidence of reason give;

And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live!

-Wordsworth (1770-1850).

THE GAP OF DUNLOE.

1. The Gap of Dunloe is, in itself, one of the greatest, if it be not altogether the greatest, of the Killarney wonders. The entrance to the Gap is between three and four miles from the town of Killarney; the pass is about four miles in extent. The journey to the entrance may be in a carriage; but the remainder must be made either on foot or on the back of one of the little sure-footed ponies that know every rock and stone they will have to

encounter.

2. A short distance from the entrance to the Gap of Dunloe, there is a singular cave which the tourist should on no account omit to visit. It is situated in a field immediately adjoining the high road; and was discovered in 1838, by some workmen who, in constructing a sunk fence, broke into a subterranean chamber of a circular form, the walls of which were of uncemented stones inclining inwards, with a roof, also of long transverse stones. In the passage were found several human skulls and bones.

3. The Cave of Dunloe must be regarded as an ancient Irish library lately disinterred, and restored to the light. The books are large impost stones which form the roof.

Their angles contain the writing. A library of such a literature was never heard of in England before, and scarcely in Ireland; and yet it is of the greatest antiquity. The discovery opens a new page concerning the hitherto disputed question touching the acquaintance of the ancient Irish with letters.

4. The entrance to the Gap is a sudden introduction to its marvels; the visitor is at once convinced that he is about to visit a scene rarely paralleled for wild grandeur and stern magnificence; the singular character of the deep ravine would seem to confirm the popular tradition that