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those, except in the papal dominions. I believe his Holiness the Pope requires such a ceremony.

H. Perhaps you would like to be a Pope.

C. No; I am no Roman Catholic.

H. May I ask your Highness, what you would like to be? C. (Glancing at the glass.) I should like to be a countess. H. You are moderate in your ambition. A countess, now-a-days, is the fag end of nobility.

C. O! but it sounds so delightfully. The ess Caroline!

young Count

H. If sound is all, you shall have that pleasure; we will call you the young Countess Caroline!

C. That would be mere burlesque, Horace, and would make me ridiculous.

H. True; nothing can be more inconsistent than for us to aim at titles.

C. For us, I grant you; but if they were hereditary, if we had been born to them, if they came to us through belted knights and high-born dames, then we might be proud to wear them. I never shall cease to regret, that I was not born under a monarchy.

H. You seem to forget that all are not lords and ladies in the royal dominions. Suppose you should have drawn your first breath among plebeians; suppose it should have been your lot to crouch and bend, or be trodden under foot by some titled personage, whom in your heart you despised; what then?

C. You may easily suppose, that I did not mean to take those chances. No, I meant to be born among the higher ranks.

H. Your own reason must tell you, that all cannot be born among the higher ranks, for then the lower ones would be wanting, which constitute the comparison. Now Caroline, we come to the very point. Is it not better to be born under a government in which there is neither extreme of high or low; where one man cannot be raised preeminently over another; and where our nobility consists of talent and virtue.

C. This sounds very patriotic; brother, but I am inclined to think that wealth constitutes our nobility, and the right of abusing each other our liberty.

H. You are as fond of aphorisms as ever Lavater was, but they are not always true.

GOFFE THE REGICIDE.

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C. I will just ask you, if our rich men, who ride in their own carriages, who have fine houses, and who count by millions; are not our great men?

II. They have all the greatness money can buy; but this is a very limited one.

C. In my opinion, money is power.

H. You mistake, Caroline; money may buy a temporary power, but talent is power itself; and, when united to virtue, a Godlike power, one before which the mere man of millions quails. No; give me talent, health, and unwavering principle, and I will not ask for wealth, but I will carve my own way; and, depend upon it, wealth will be honorably mine.

C. Well, Horace, I heartily wish you the possession of all together, talent, principle, and wealth. Really, without flattery, the two first you have; and the last, according to your own idea, will come when you beckon to it. Now I can tell you, that I feel as determined as you do, to "( carve my own way." I see you smile, but I have always believed we could accomplish what we steadily will. Depend upon it, the time is not distant, when you shall see me in possession of all the rank that any one can obtain in our plebeian country.

The brother and sister pursued the paths they had severally marked out; the former succeeded to the full extent of his wishes, and became a prosperous man; the latter prosecuted her schemes of ambition, but they only resulted in disappointment and mortification.

LESSON LVI. Goffe the Regicide.

CHARLES I, of England was beheaded according to the sentence of a court styled the High Court of Justice, in 1648. His son, Charles II. coming to the throne in 1660, the judges who had passed sentence upon his father, and were called regicides, fled the country. William Goffe, noticed in the following sketch, was one of these, and arrived at Boston in June, 1660.

1. In the course of Philip's war, of 1675, which involved almost all the Indian tribes in New England, and among others those in the neighborhood of Hadley, the inhabitants thought it proper to observe the first of September, 1675,

as a day of fasting and prayer. While they were in the church, and employed in their worship, they were surprised by a band of savages.

2. The people instantly betook themselves to their arms, which, according to the custom of the times, they had carried, with them to the church; and, rushing out of the house, attacked their invaders. The panic under which they began the conflict, was, however, so great, and their number was so disproportioned to that of their enemies, that they fought doubtfully at first, and in a short time began evidently to give way. At this moment an ancient man, with hoary locks, of a most venerable and dignified aspect, and in a dress widely differing from that of the inhabitants, appeared suddenly at their head, and with a firm voice, and an example of undaunted resolution, reanimated their spirits, led them again to the conflict, and totally routed the savages.

3. When the battle was ended, the stranger disappeared; and no person knew whence he had come, or whither he had gone. The relief was so timely, so sudden, so unexpected, and so providential; the appearance and the retreat of him who furnished it were so unaccountable; his person was so dignified and commanding, his resolution so superior, and his interference so decisive, that the inhabitants, without any uncommon exercise of credulity, readily believed him to be an angel, sent by Heaven for their preservation.

4. Nor was this opinion seriously controverted, until it was discovered, several years afterwards, that Goffe and Whalley had been lodged in the house of Mr. Russell. Then it was known, that their deliverer was Goffe,-Whalley having become superannuated some time before the event took place.

LESSON LVII. Melrose Abbey.

THIS is a fine old ruin of an ancient Abbey in Scotland.

Ir thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright,

Go visit it by the pale moonlight;

For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild, but to flout, the ruins gray.

THE SET OF DIAMONDS.

When the broken arches are black in night,
And each shafted oriel glimmers white;
When the cold light's uncertain shower
Streams on the ruined central tower;
When buttress and buttress alternately
Seem framed of ebon and ivory;
When silver edges the imagery

And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;
When distant Tweed is heard to rave,

And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave,

Then go, but alone the while,

go

Then view St. David's ruined pile;
And, home returning, soothly swear,
Was never scene so sad and fair!

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LESSON LVIII. The Set of Diamonds.

1. MR. E- a physician of Paris, well known for his skill in curing mental disorders, saw arrive at his gate, one morning, a lady who seemed forty years old, although still young and fresh. She was admitted within the gate of the celebrated physician, and introduced herself as the Cour tess M- She then spoke as a mother in desolation and despair, in the following terms:

2. " Sir, you see a woman a prey to the most violent chagrin. I have a son; he is very dear to me as well as to my husband; he is our only son." Tears here like rain fell, such as Artemisia shed over the tomb of Mausolus.

3. " Ah, yes! Yes, Sir!" said she, "and for some

time we have suffered the most horrible fears. He is now at the age when the passions develope themselves. Although we gratify all his wishes, money, liberty, &c., he evinces many signs of dementation. The most remarkable is, that he is always talking about jewelry, or of diamonds which he has sold or given to some woman, all unintelligible. The father and I are lost in sounding the cause of this folly." 4. " Well, Madam, bring your son here."

"Ah, to-morrow, Sir, by all means, at noon? "That will do."

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The doctor respectfully conducted the lady to her carriage, not forgetting to scan the coat of arms and the lackeys. 5. The next morning the Countess drove to a famous jeweller, and after having a long time cheapened a set worth thirty thousand crowns, she finally purchased it. She negligently drew a purse from her reticule, found there ten thousand francs in bank notes, and spread them out; but immediately gathering them up, she said to the jeweller, "You had better send a person with me. My husband will pay him. I find I have not the entire sum."

6. The jeweller made a sign to a young man, who proudly delighted to go in such an equipage, started off with the Countess. She drove to the doctor's door. She whispered to the doctor, "This is my son, I leave him with you." To the young man she said, "My husband is in the study, walk in; he will pay you."

The young man went in. The Countess and the carriage went off at first slow, and noiseless; soon after the horses galloped.

7. "Ah, well, young man," said the physician, "you understand the business, I suppose.

Let us see; how do

you feel? what is going on in this young head?" "What passes in my head, Sir? Nothing, except settling for the set of diamonds."

8. "We understand all. that," said the doctor, gently pushing aside the bill. "I know, I know."

"If the gentleman knows the amount, no more remains but to pay the cash.'

"Indeed! indeed!

Be calm, where did you get your diamonds? what has become of them? Say as much as you will; I will listen patiently."

9. "The business is, to pay me, Sir, thirty thousand

crowns."

"Wherefore?"

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How, wherefore?" said the young man, whose eyes began to glisten.

"Yes, why should I pay you?"

"Because Madame, the Countess, has just purchased the diamonds at our house."

10. "Good! here we have you. Who is the Countess?" "Your wife;" and he presented a bill.

"But do you know, young man, that I have the honor to be a physician, and a widower?"

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