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before the year 1500. No gift of God was ever greater than that of printing.

12. It is remarkable how rapidly the use of the printing-press extended. In the last thirty years of the fifteenth century," ten thousand editions of books and pamphlets are said to have been published. Almost all the most valuable authors of Greece were published in the twenty years that followed the opening of the sixteenth century, and all the Latin authors had been accessible to the student before the earlier one had closed. The Latin Bible had been issued in folio, at Mentz,10 as early as A.D. 1450, and thirty years before the accession of Henry VIII., in 1509, there had been five distinct translations in Germany, twelve more following in the next twenty years.

NOTES.

1 Babylonians, inhabitants of Babylon, a city and kingdom on the river Euphrates. The oldest monuments of it as yet discovered date about B.C. 2000. It fell in the year B.C. 539. 2 Tenth century, from A.D. 901-1000. 3 Marco Polo, a Venetian, born in

1254. At the age of 17 he set out with his father and uncle for Tartary, and remained in the service of the Khan of Tartary from 1275 to 1292, when he returned to Europe, where he died, in 1324.

4 vermilion, a bright scarlet colour

obtained from small insects that live on the cactus plant in Mexico, &c. They are called the cochineal insect. There are many British species, but they do not yield dyes. Vermilion is also the name for a bright red colour obtained from sulphur and mercury. 5 The Turks are a race of Tartars from the steppes of Asia. They date their rise as an empire from the reign of Othman, A.D. 1289-1326. For over 500 years they have been the scourge

and curse of the Christian nations of Eastern Europe, whom they have treated only as slaves, to be massacred on the slightest attempt to gain the rights of men. Under their withering dominion the fairest lands of Europe have been blighted almost into deserts, for the Turk is as much a barbarian to-day as at first. The Cape of Good Hope was discovered in 1493, by Bartholomew Diaz, a Portuguese; and sailed round or "doubled" by Vasco de Gama, also a Portuguese, who was the first to reach India by this route in 1497.

7 Voyages were early made by ships sent out by English merchants to explore the North of Europe. The White Sea was thus reached in 1553.

8 America was discovered by Columbus, in 1492.

9 The fifteenth century, from A.D. 1401 to 1500.

10 Mentz, Mainz, or Mayence, a German city, on the Rhine.

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WILLIAM MACKWORTH PRAED was the son of Serjeant Praed, and was born early in 1801. His early career was very brilliant, but his health gave way while he was still young, and he died, after years of lingering, in 1839. His poems were published in 1864.

1 To horse! to horse! Sir Nicholas, the clarion's note is high!
To horse! to horse! Sir Nicholas, the big drum makes reply!
Ere this hath Lucas marched, with his gallant cavaliers,
And the bray of Rupert's trumpet grows fainter in our ears.
To horse! to horse! Sir Nicholas ! White Guy is at the door,
And the raven whets his beak o'er the field of Marston Moor.

2 Up rose the Lady Alice from her brief and broken prayer,

And she brought a silken banner down the narrow turret stair;
Oh! many were the tears that those radiant eyes had shed

As she traced the bright word "Glory" in the gay and glancing thread;

And mournful was the smile which o'er those lovely features ran As she said, "It is your lady's gift; unfurl it in the van!"

3 "It shall flutter, noble wench, where the best and boldest ride, 'Midst the steel-clad files of Skippon, the black dragoons of Pride; The recreant heart of Fairfax shall feel a sicklier qualm, And the rebel lips of Oliver give out a louder psalm,

When they see my lady's gewgaw flaunt proudly on their wing, And hear her loyal soldiers shout, For God and for the King!""

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4 'Tis noon. The ranks are broken; along the royal line

They fly-the braggarts of the Court! the bullies of the Rhine!
Stout Langdale's cheer is heard no more, and Astley's helm is down,
And Rupert sheathes his rapier with a curse and with a frown;
And cold Newcastle mutters, as he follows in their flight,
"The German boar had better far have supped in York to-night."

5 The knight is left alone; his steel cap cleft in twain,
His good buff jerkin crimsoned o'er with many a gory stain;

Yet still he waves his banner, and cries amid the rout,

"For Church and King, fair gentlemen! spur on, and fight it out!" And now he wards a Roundhead's pike, and now he hums a stave, And now he quotes a stage-play, and now he fells a knave.

6 God aid thee now, Sir Nicholas! thou hast no thought of fear;
God aid thee now, Sir Nicholas! for fearful odds are here!
The rebels hem thee in, and at every cut and thrust,

"Down, down," they cry, "with Belial! down with him to the dust!"
"I would," quoth grim old Oliver, "that Belial's trusty sword
This day were doing battle for the Saints and for the Lord!"

7 The Lady Alice sits with her maidens in her bower,

The grey-haired warder watches from the castle's topmost tower; "What news? what news, old Hubert?"-"The battle's lost and

won:

The royal troops are melting, like mists before the sun!

And a wounded man approaches—I'm blind and cannot see,
Yet sure I am that sturdy step my master's step must be!"

8 "I've brought thee back thy banner, wench, from as rude and red a fray

As e'er was proof of soldier's thew, or theme for minstrel's lay!
Here, Hubert, bring the silver bowl, and liquor quantum suff.
I'll make a shift to drain it yet, ere I part with boots and buff—
Though Guy through many a gaping wound is breathing forth his
life,

And I come to thee a landless man, my fond and faithful wife!

9 "Sweet! we will fill our money-bags, and freight a ship for France, And mourn in merry Paris for this poor land's mischance:

For if the worst befall me, why, better axe and rope,
Than life with Lenthal for a king, and Peters for a pope!
Alas! alas! my gallant Guy!-curse on the crop-eared boor
Who sent me, with my standard, on foot from Marston Moor!"

NOTES.

Verse 1. Sir Nicholas, a royalist knight.

Lucas, a royalist officer.

Cavaliers, literally horsemen, here used

of Charles I.'s soldiers generally. Rupert, nephew of Charles I.; son of Elizabeth, eldest daughter of James I. He was born in 1619, and served as a dashing cavalry officer in the civil wars. He died in London in 1682.

White Guy, Sir Nicholas's horse. The raven, &c., in anticipation of the coming slaughter.

Marston Moor, near York. The battle was fought on the 2nd July, 1644, between Prince Rupert for the King, and the Scotch and Parliamentary army then besieging York. Cromwell commanded the Parliamentary cavalry and routed the King's troops.

Verse 2. Sir Nicholas' wife gives him a banner and tells him go and fight in the front for the King.

Verse 3. Skippon and Pride, Puritan officers.

Fairfax, Lord Thomas Fairfax, a gene-
ral at Marston Moor: afterwards head
of the Puritan army.

Recreant heart-Fairfax had left the
King's army when civil war threatened.
Oliver, Oliver Cromwell.

Psalm, a taunt at Cromwell's religious

ness.

Lady's gewgaw, the banner she had given.

Verse 4. A Puritan speaks. The royalists have boasted too soon. They are broken and flee.

Braggarts, &c., the insolent courtiers
in the royal army.

Bullies, &c., the German followers of
Rupert.

Langdale, Marmaduke Langdale, a
squire who raised a troop and fought
for the King.

Astley, Sir Jacob, one of the King's generals.

Newcastle, Marquis of, the royalist leader in the North. He fled to Holland after Marston Moor, after spending a million pounds sterling in the King's

cause.

Verse 5. Steel cap, helmet.

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MODERN SAVAGES.-SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, F.R.S.

Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, naturalist and banker, was born in 1834, and educated at Eton and Cambridge. He is famous as a scientific entomologist, and also for his researches into the History of Prehistoric Man. He is a Member of Parliament. His largest book is called "The Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man."

1. As regards their habits, and the material conditions of life, savages differ greatly. The Esquimaux,' in the land of ice and seals; the hunters of the American forests and prairies;2 the beautiful islanders of the still more beautiful Islands in the Pacific; the Tartars of the Siberian steppes; the negroes of tropical Africa-necessarily differ greatly in their diet, their clothes, their houses, &c.; but, on the other hand, as regards ideas and customs, the case is different, and we find very remarkable

similarities, even in the most distinct races and the most distant regions of the globe.

2. The whole mental condition of the savage is, indeed, so dissimilar from ours that it is often very difficult for us to follow what is passing in his mind, or to understand the motives by which he is actuated. Many things appear natural, and almost self-evident to him, which produce a very different effect upon us. "What!" said a negro once to Burton, "am I to starve while my sister has children whom she can sell?" Thus, though savages always have a reason, such as it is, for what they do and what they think, these reasons often seem to us irrelevant or absurd. Moreover, the difficulty of understanding what is passing in their minds is, of course, much enhanced by the differences of language.

3. Again, the modes of salutation among savages are sometimes very curious, and their modes of showing their feelings, quite unlike ours.

4. Kissing seems to us so natural an expression of affection, that we should expect to find it all over the world. Yet it was unknown to the Australians, the New Zealanders, the Papouans, the West African negroes, and the Esquimaux.

5. The Polynesians and the Malays' always sit down when speaking to a superior. In some parts of Central Africa it is considered respectful to turn the back to a superior. Captain Cook" asserts that the inhabitants of Mallicolo, an island in the Pacific Ocean, show their admiration by hissing. The Todas of the Nilgherry' Hills, in India, are said to show respect by raising the open right hand to the brow, resting the thumb on the nose. It is asserted that among the Esquimaux it is customary to pull a person's nose as a compliment. A Chinaman puts on his hat when he should take it off; and among the same curious people a coffin is regarded as a neat and appropriate present for an aged person, especially if in bad health. The Thibetans salute a friend by sticking out their tongue at him and pinching his ear.

6. Another curious idea very prevalent among savages is their dread of having their portraits taken. The better the likeness, the worse they think for the sitter; so much life could not be put into the copy, except at the expense of the original. Once, when a good deal annoyed by some of the North American Indians, Kane9 got rid of them instantly by threatening to draw them if they remained. Catlin1o tells an amusing but melancholy anecdote in illustration of this feeling among the same people. On one occasion

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