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with the badge of the Garter, which the king had bestowed on him.

In all other particulars, Montrose bore himself with the same calm dignity; and finally submitted to execution with such resolved courage that many, even of his bitterest enemies, wept on the occasion. He suffered on

the 21st of May 1650.

"Tales of a Grandfather," by SIR WALTER SCOTT.

1. MERCENARIES, soldiers hired into foreign service, and serving only for money, without caring in what cause. (Lat. merces, hire, reward.)

2. KERN, a peasant.

3. BONNET, a Highland cap.

4. THE GARTER, an order of knighthood established by Edward III.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GOLDSMITH.

Oliver GoldSMITH was born in 1730, and died in 1774. He studied for the medical profession, but finding that he made little progress, and that his poverty increased, he abandoned it, and going on the Continent, travelled through Holland, Switzerland, Germany, &c., on foot, generally dependent for subsistence on his skill as a flute-player; during this journey he composed his poem, "The Traveller," from which our extract is taken.

SWITZERLAND.

TURN we to survey

Where rougher climes a nobler race display,
Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansion tread,
And force a churlish soil for scanty bread :
No produce here the barren hills afford,
But man and steel, the soldier and his sword.

No vernal blooms their torpid1 rocks array,
But winter lingering, chills the lap of May;
No zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast,
But meteors' 2 glare, and stormy glooms invest:
Yet still e'en here, content can spread a charm,
Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm.

Though poor the peasant's hut, his feasts though small,
He sees his little lot the lot of all;

Sees no contiguous 3 palace rear its head,
To shame the meanness of his humble shed;
No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal
To make him loathe his vegetable meal;
But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil,
Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil:
Cheerful at morn he wakes from short repose,
Breathes the keen air and carols as he goes;
With patient angle trolls the finny deep,
Or drives his venturous ploughshare to the steep;
Or seeks the den where snow-tracks mark the way,
And drags the struggling savage into day.
At night returning, every labour sped,
He sits him down, the monarch of a shed;
Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys
His children's looks that brighten at the blaze;
While his loved partner, boastful of her hoard,
Displays her cleanly platter on the board;
And haply too, some pilgrim, thither led,
With many a tale repays the nightly bed.
Thus every good his native wilds impart,
Imprints the patriot passion on his heart,
And e'en those ills that round his mansion rise,
Enhance the bliss his scanty fund supplies.
Dear is that shed, to which his soul conforms,
And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms:

And, as a child, when scaring sounds molest,
Clings close and closer to the mother's breast-
So the loud torrent and the whirlwind's roar,
But bind him to his native mountains more.

"The Traveller "—GOLDSMITH.

1. TORPID, sluggish: having lost the power of life. (Lat. torpeo, to be listless.)

2. METEORS, fiery bodies passing through the atmosphere.

3. CONTIGUOUS, bordering closely.

4. TROLL, to fish by letting the line trail behind a boat moving on the water.

5. SAVAGE, the word beast is here understood. 6. ENHANCE, to heighten: to add to.

THE BATTLE OF PRESTONPANS.1

WHEN Fergus MacIvor and his friend, Edward Waverley, had slept for a few hours, they were awakened, and summoned to attend the Prince.2 The distant village clock was heard to toll three, as they hastened to the place where he lay. He was already surrounded by his principal officers, and the chiefs of clans. A bundle of pease-straw, which had been lately his couch, now served for his seat. Just as Fergus reached the circle, the consultation had broken up.

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Courage, my brave friends!" said the Chevalier, "and each one put himself instantly at the head of his command. A faithful friend has offered to guide us by a practicable, though narrow and circuitous route, which, sweeping to our right, traverses the broken ground and morass, and enables us to gain the firm and open plain, upon which the enemy are lying. This difficulty surmounted, Heaven and your good swords must do the rest."

The proposal spread unanimous joy, and each leader hastened to get his men into order with as little noise as possible. The army, moving by its right from off the ground on which the men had rested, soon entered the path through the morass, conducting their march with astonishing silence and rapidity. The mist had not risen to the higher grounds, so that for some time they had the advantage of star-light. But this was lost, as the stars faded before approaching day, and the head of the marching column, continuing its descent, plunged as it were into the heavy ocean of fog, which rolled its white waves over the whole plain, and over the sea by which it was bounded. Some difficulties were now to be encountered, inseparable from darkness, a narrow, broken, and marshy path, and the necessity of preserving union in the march. These, however, were less inconvenient to Highlanders from their manner of life, than they would have been to any other troops, and they continued a steady and swift movement.

As the clan of Ivor approached the firm ground, following the track of those, who preceded them, the challenge of a patrol3 was heard through the mist, though they could not see the dragoon by whom it was made— "Who goes there?"

"Hush!" cried Fergus.

"Hush! Let none answer, as he values his life. Press forward!" And they continued their march with silence and rapidity.

The patrol fired his carabine 5 upon the body, and the report was instantly followed by the clang of his horse's feet, as he galloped off to give the alarm.

The clan of Fergus had now gained the firm plain, which had lately borne a large crop of corn. But the harvest was gathered in, and the expanse was unbroken by tree, bush, or interruption of any kind. The rest of

the army was following fast, when they heard the drums of the enemy beat the general call-to-arms. Surprise, however, had made no part of their plan, so they were not disconcerted by this intimation that the foe was upon his guard and prepared to receive them. It only hastened their dispositions for the combat, which were very simple.

The Highland army, which had occupied the eastern end of the wide plain, or stubble field, so often referred to, was drawn up in two lines, extending from the morass towards the sea. The first was destined to charge the enemy, the second to act as a reserve. The few horse, whom the Prince headed in person, remained between the two lines. The Adventurer 6 had intimated a resolution to charge in person at the head of his first line; but his purpose was deprecated by all around him, and he was with difficulty induced to abandon it.

7

Both lines were now moving forward; the first prepared for instant combat. The clans of which it was composed, formed each a sort of separate phalanx, narrow in front, and in depth ten, twelve, or fifteen files, according to the strength of the following. The best-armed and bestborn, for the words were synonymous, were placed in front of each of those irregular subdivisions. The others in the rear shouldered forward the front, and by their pressure, added both physical impulse and additional ardour and confidence, to those who were first to encounter the danger.

"Down with your plaid, Waverley," cried Fergus, throwing off his own; we will win silks for our tartans, before the sun is above the sea."

The clansmen on every side stript their plaids, prepared their arms; and there was an awful pause of some three minutes, during which the men, pulling off their bonnets,