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of the cone in a state of complete exhaustion, long before they could reach the top. But when the summit is once gained, fatigue is repaid by prospects of beauty that are scarcely rivalled upon earth. Naples and the neighbouring towns and villages lie at your feet; before you the magnificent bay of Naples, studded with islands; and inland stretches a luxuriant plain with cities and towns, and with villas and hamlets almost too numerous to count; while the sweeping chain of the Apennines forms the extreme background to the picture.

The interior of the crater in ordinary times is nothing but a great funnel-shaped hollow, round the edges of which you walk in perfect safety. Some have even descended into the curious depth. The principal crater, on the summit of the mountain, is always considerably altered in its form and features when the eruption proceeds from it; and it is by no means the sole vent which the subterranean fire of Vesuvius finds. On the contrary, the fire and lava often issue from the sides of the mountain far below; while the superior funnel emits only smoke.

Those eruptions which proceed from the grand crater of Mount Vesuvius are by far the most sublime in their effects, and nothing can well be imagined more picturesque and striking, especially by night, when the summit of that lofty cone is crowded with fire. The finest view is from the bay, over the waters of which it often happens that the moon throws a broad path of silvery light in one direction, and the volcano the blood-red reflection of its flames in another.

"The region round,

Where myrtle walks and groves of golden fruit
Rose fair; where harvest waved in all its pride,
And where the vineyard spread its purple store,
Maturing into nectar; now despoil'd

Of herb, leaf, fruit, and flower, from end to end
Lies buried under fire, a glowing sea!"

1. Describe the situation of Mount Vesuvius.

2. To what use is the soil which is mainly produced by volcanic matter applied?

3. How is Vesuvius usually ascended?

4. What city and magnificent bay lie at the foot of the mountain ?

5. Whence do the fire and lava sometimes issue besides the grand crater?

6. From what part is the finest view of an eruption of Vesuvius to be seen?

ST. BLAISE.

49

LESSON XXXIV. - FEBRUARY THE THIRD.

St. Blaise.

THIS is the day of the festival of St. Blaise. He was bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, and suffered martyrdom in the year 316, under the persecution of Licinius, by command of Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia and the Lesser Armenia. In the holy wars his relics were dispersed over the west, and his veneration was propagated by many miraculous cures, especially of sore throats. He is the principal patron of the commonwealth of Ragusa. No other reason than the great devotion of the people to this celebrated martyr of the church seems to have given occasion to the woolcombers to choose him the titular patron of their profession; and his festival is still kept by them at Norwich, and also at Doncaster, with a solemn guild. Perhaps the iron combs with which he is said to have been tormented gave rise to this choice.

The different trades on the Continent celebrate their anniversaries with considerable pomp and ceremony. At Montpellier, we are told, the stocking weavers, coopers, gardeners, and other companies, have each their festive day once in the year. Even the porters have such an honorary day, on which they are accustomed to go through the awkward movements peculiar to their guild before the houses of their customers. The stocking weavers carry on a stage, adorned with flowers and ribands, a wooden weaver's chair, on which a boy appears to be working. The gardeners have a tub with a pole in it, from whence, instead of branches, hang a number of flower garlands.

The coopers carry half hoops, which are also decorated with ribands and wreaths. All learn very pretty dances, and make masterly turns with their ringlets of flowers or hoops, and disengage themselves again with amazing dexterity and order. The vanity of these people manifests itself on these solemnities under the most varied forms, and occasions a number of ridiculous scenes. Poverty allows only a few of them to put on decent clothing: but notwithstanding the indigence and dirt that are evident from their dress, they all wear white silk stockings, which are quite covered with feathers of all colours, and a threadbare scarf from the wardrobe of the theatre, and some other showy tatters from the rag shop.

The females are the worst drest, and yet have fashionable ladies' hats, which they mostly borrow or beg from the

D

houses where they serve milk or vegetables. These head-dresses form a singular contrast with the brown and coarse faces which they shade. Many a girl appears also, for want of a female head-dress, in a man's hat, in which is stuck a number of shabby feathers. The porters also adorn their hats on these occasions with ostrich feathers, and bind a scarf with gold or silver tassels round their bodies.

The favourite dress is that of an officer. In all their processions there are some who prance about in a soldier's coat, with a stick, sword, and epaulets; all hired from the theatre. The gold epaulet has, above all things, so many charms for them, that many a one attaches it to his dirty clothes, who has not the money to pay for its hire. An indispensable article in all these festivals are the flags, of which there are a great number, of various colours, decorated with inscriptions and paintings. Twelve porters have as many different colours, of which some, to judge by the dirt, might have already served their greatgrandfathers.

1. Who was St. Blaise ?

2. Of what place was Blaise the principal patron?

LESSON XXXV. -FEBRUARY THE FOURTH.

Remembrance.

MAN hath a weary pilgrimage

As through the world he wends;
On every stage, from youth to age,
Still discontent attends;

With heaviness he casts his eye
Upon the road before,

And still remembers with a sigh
The days that are no more.

To school the little exile goes
Torn from his mother's arms,
What then shall soothe his earliest woes,
When novelty hath lost its charms?
Condemn'd to suffer through the day
Restraints which no rewards repay,

And cares where love has no concern,
Hope lengthens, as she counts the hours
Before his wish'd return.

REMEMBRANCE.

From hard control and tyrant rules
The' unfeeling discipline of schools,
In thought he loves to roam,
And tears will struggle in his eye
While he remembers with a sigh
The comforts of his home.

Youth comes; the toils and cares of life
Torment the restless mind;

Where shall the tired and harass'd heart
Its consolation find?

Then is not Youth, as Fancy tells,
Life's summer prime of joy?
Ah no! for hopes too long delay'd,
And feelings blasted, or betray'd,
The fabled bliss destroy;
And Youth remembers with a sigh
The careless days of Infancy.

Maturer Manhood now arrives,
And other thoughts come on,
But with the baseless hopes of Youth
Its generous warmth is gone;
Cold calculating cares succeed,
The timid thought, the wary deed,
The dull realities of truth;
Back on the past he turns his eye,
Remembering with an envious sigh
The happy dreams of Youth.
So reaches he the latter stage
Of this our mortal pilgrimage,
With feeble step and slow;
New ills that latter stage await,
And old Experience learns too late,
That all is vanity below.
Life's vain delusions are gone by,
Its idle hopes are o'er,
Yet Age remembers with a sigh
The days that are no more.

1. What is said to attend on every stage in life? 2. What does youth remember with a sigh?

3. What does maturer manhood remember?

4. Who is it that learns too late that all is vanity?

51

LESSON XXXVI.

FEBRUARY THE FIFTH.

Cato.

On this day, B. C. 46, Cato, a celebrated Roman patriot and stoic philosopher, unwilling to survive the liberty of his country, stabbed himself at Utica, in Africa. He sided with Cicero against Catiline, and opposed Cæsar in the senate on that occasion. His enemies sent him to recover Cyprus, which Ptolemy had forfeited, thinking to hurt his reputation by so difficult an undertaking; yet none could find fault with his conduct. He laboured to bring about an agreement between Cæsar and Pompey, but, seeing it in vain, espoused the cause of the latter.

When Pompey was slain, Cato fled to Utica, and Cæsar pursuing him, he advised his friends to be gone, and his son to trust to Cæsar's clemency; then lay down upon his bed, read Plato upon the Immortality of the Soul twice over, and thrust a sword through his body, of which he died.

By this rash act of suicide, independent of all moral or religious considerations, Cato carried his patriotism to the highest degree of political phrensy; for Cato, dead, could be of no use to his country; but had he preserved his life, his counsels might have moderated Cæsar's ambition; and, as Montesquieu well observes, have given a different turn to public affairs.

Who kills himself involves him in the guilt
Of foulest murder. True no written law
Commands our strict forbearance; but be sure
The laws of nature are the laws of God.
And he who said thou shalt not murder, made
This universal law that binds our hands
From mischief to ourselves.

Look towards Calvary, and learn from thence
The noblest fortitude is still to bear
Accumulated ills, and never faint.

We may avoid them, if we can with honour;
But God requiring, let weak man submit,
And drink the bitter draught and not repine,
Had Cato been a Christian, he had died

By inches, rather than have ta'en the sword.

1. What was Cato?

2. What work had Cato read before he committed the rash and criminal act of self-destruction?

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