&&000 MCGUFFY'S ELECTIC READERS  6TH GRADE  (1896) MCG8966T.ASC   
  also copywrite 1879
typed by Janice Mason, xeroxed by LW, edited by JWM 
April 2, 1993

&&111

and I hope your grace will be as good as your word, and let my 
son-in-law succeed  him."
 The =Duke, by this time perfectly awake, was staggered
by the impossibility of receiving intelligence from
=Madrid in so short a space of time; and perplexed at the
absurdity of a king's messenger applying for his son-in-law
to succeed the =King of =Spain;  "Is the man drunk, or 
mad, where are your dispatches," exclaimed his grace,
hastily drawing back his curtain; where, instead of a royal
courier, he recognized at the bedside, the fat, good humored
countenance of his friend from =Cornwall, making low bows,
with hat in hand, and "hoping my lord would not forget
the gracious promise he was so good as to make, in favor
of his son-in-law, at the last election."
 Vexed at so untimely a disturbance, and disappointed
of news from =Spain, the =Duke frowned for a moment; but
chagrin soon gave way to mirth, at so singular and ridiculous
a combination of circumstances, and yielding to the
impulse, he sunk upon the bed in a violent fit of laughter,
which was communicated in a moment to the attendants.
 The relater of this little narrative, concludes, with
observing, "Although the =Duke of =Newcastle could not place
the relative of his old acquaintance on the throne of =His
=Catholic =Majesty, he advanced him to a post not less honorable,
he made him an exciseman."
Notes 
=Duke of =Newcastle  =Thomas =Holles =Pelham (born =1693, 
died =1768), one of the chief ministers of state in the reign
of =GeorgeII of =England.
=Cornwall  A country forming the extreme southwestern part
of =England.
=King of =Spain  =FerdinandVI, was then the king of =Spain.
He died in =1759.
=His =Catholic =Majesty, a title applied to the kings of
=Spain, first five to =AlfonsoI by =Pope =GregoryIII in =739.



The =Needle

The gay belles of fashion may boast of excelling
 In waltz of cotillon, at whist or quadrille;
And seek admiration by vauntingly telling
 Of drawing, and painting, and musical skill:
But give me the fair one, in country or city,
 Whose home and its duties are dear to her heart,
Who cheerfully warbles some rustical ditty,
 While plying the needle with exquisite art:
The bright little needle, the swift flying needle,
 The needle directed by beauty and art.

If =Love have a potent, a magical token,
 A talisman, ever resistless and true,
A charm that is never evaded or broken,
 A witchery certain the heart to subdue,
'Tis this; and his armory never has furnished
 So keen and unerring, or polished a dart;
Let beauty direct it, so polished and burnished,
 And oh! it is certain of touching the heart:
The bright little needle, the swift flying needle
 The needle directly by beauty and art.

Be wise, then, ye maidens, nor seek admiration,
 By dressing for conquest, and flirting with all;
You never, whatever be your fortune or station,
 Appear half so lovely at rout or at ball,
As gayly convened at the work covered table,
 Each cheerfully active, playing her part,
Beguiling the task with a song or a fable,
 And playing the needle with exquisite art:
The bright little needle, the swift flying needle,
 The needle directed by beauty and art.


flattered, and duped, from morn to eve, from birth to
death; and where is the old eye that ever saw through the
deception?  The =Hindoos represent =Maia, the illusory energy
of =Vishnu, as one of his principal attributes.  As if, in this
gale of warring elements, which life is, it was necessary to
bind souls to human life as mariners in a tempest lash themselves
to the mast and bulwarks of a ship, and =Nature employed
certain illusion as her ties and straps, a rattle, a doll,
an apple, for a child; skates, a river, a boat, a horse,
a gun, for the growing boy; and I will not begin to name
those of the youth and adult, for the are numberless.
Seldom and slowly the mask falls, and the pupil is permitted
to see that all is one stuff, cooked and painted under
many counterfeit appearances.  =Hume's doctrine was that
the circumstances vary, the amount of happiness does not;
that the beggar cracking fleas in the sunshine under a
hedge, and the duke rolling by in his chariot, the girl
equipped for their first ball,and the orator returning
triumphant from the debate, had different means, but the
same quantity of pleasant excitement.
 This element of illusion lends all its force to hide the
values of present time.  Who is he that does not always
find himself doing something less than his best task?
"What are you doing?" "Oh, nothing; I have been doing
thus, or I shall do so or so, but now I am only," "Ah!
poor dupe, will you never slip out of the web of the master
juggler, never learn that, as soon as the irrecoverable
years have woven their blue glory between today and us, 
these passing hours shall glitter and draw us, as the wildest
romance and the homes of beauty and poetry?  How difficult
to deal erect with them!  The events they bring, their 
trade, entertainments, and gossip, their urgent work, all
throw dust in the eyes and distract attention.  He is a
strong man who can look them in the eye, see through this
juggle, feel their identity, and keep his own; who can know
surely that one will be like another to the end of the
world, nor permit love, or death, or politics, or money, war,
or pleasure, to draw him from his task.
 The world is always equal to itself, and every man in
moments of deeper thought is apprised that he is repeating
the experiences of the people in the streets of =Thebes, or
=Byzantium.  An everlasting =Now reigns in nature, which
hangs the same roses on our bushes which charmed the
=Roman and the =Chaldean in there hanging gardens.  "To
what end, then," he asks, "should I study languages, and
traverse countries, to learn so simple truths?"
 History of ancient art, excavated cities, recovery of
books and inscriptions, yes, the works were beautiful, and
the history worth knowing; and academics convene to settle
the claims of the old schools.  What journeys and measurements,
=Niebuhr and =Miller and =Layard, to identify the
plain of =Troy and =Nimroud town!  And your homage to
=Dante costs you so much sailing; and to ascertain the discoverers
of =America needs as much voyaging as the discovery
cost.  Poor child! that flexible clay of which these old
brothers molded their admirable symbols was not =Persian, nor
=Memphian, nor =Teutonic, nor local at all, but was common
lime and silex and water, and sunlight, the heat of the
blood, and the heaving of the lungs; it was that clay which
thou heldest, but now in thy foolish hands, and threwest  
away to go and seek in vain in sepulchers, mummy pits,
and old bookshops of =Asia =Minor, =Egypt, and =England.  It
was the deep today which all men scorn; the rich poverty,
which men hate, the populous, all loving solitude, which
men quit for the tattle of towns.  He lurks, he hides, he 
who is success, reality, joy, and power.  One of the illusions
is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the
year.  No man has learned anything rightly, until he
knows that every day is =Doomsday.  'Tis the old secret
of the gods that they come in low disguises.  'Tis the vulgar
great who come dizened with gold and jewels.  Real kings



kings; the hall which had witnessed the just sentence of
=Bacon, and the just absolution of =Somers, the hall where
the eloquence of =Strafford had for a moment awed and
melted a victorious party inflamed with just resentment;
the hall where =Charles had confronted the =High =Court of
=Justice with the placid courage which half redeemed his
fame.
 Neither military nor civil pomp was wanting.  The
avenues were lined with grenadiers.  The streets were kept
clear by calvary.  The peers, robed in gold and ermine,
were marshaled by heralds.  The judges, in their vestments
of state, attended to give advice on points of law.  The
long galleries were crowded by such an audience as has
rarely excited the fears or the emulation of an orator.
There were gathered together, from all parts of a great,
free, enlightened, and prosperous realm, grace and female
loveliness, wit and learning, the representatives of every
science and of every art.
 There were seated around the queen, the fair haired, 
young daughters of the house of =Brunswick.  There the
ambassadors of great kings and commonwealths gazed with
admiration on a spectacle which no other  country in the
world could present.  There =Siddons, in the prime of her
majestic beauty, looked with emotion on a scene surpassing
all the imitations of the stage.  There =Gibbon, the historian
of the =Roman =Empire, thought of the days when 
=Cicero pleaded the cause of =Sicily against =Verres; and
when, before a senate which had still some show of
freedom, =Tacitus thundered against the oppressor of =Africa.
There, too, were seen, side by side, the greatest painter
and the greatest scholar of the age; for the spectacle
had allured =Reynolds from his easel and =Parr from his
study.
 The sergeants made proclamation.  =Hastings advanced to
the bar, and bent his knee.  The culprit was indeed not
unworthy of that great presence.  He had rule an extensive
and populous country; had made law and treaties; had
sent forth armies; had set up and pulled down 
princes; and in his high place he had so borne himself, that
all had feared him, that most had loved him, and the
hatred itself could deny him no title to glory, except
virtue.  A person, small and emaciated, yet deriving dignity
from a carriage which, while it indicated deference to
the court, indicated, also, habitual self possession and self 
respect; a high and intellectual forehead; a brow, pensive,
but not gloomy; a mouth of inflexible decision; a face,
pale and worn, but serene, on which a great and well balanced
mind was legibly written; such was the aspect 
with which the great proconsul presented himself to his
judges.
 The charges, and the answers of =Hastings, were first
read.  This ceremony occupied two whole days.  On the
third, =Burke rose.  Four sittings of the court were
occupied by his opening speech, which was intended to be a
general introduction to all the charges.  With an exuberance
of thought and a splendor of diction, which more
than satisfied the highly raised expectations of the audience,
he described the character and institutions of the
natives of =India; recounted the circumstances in which the
=Asiatic =Empire of =Britain had originated; and set forth
the constitution of the =Company and of the =English
=Presidencies.
 Having thus attempted to communicate to his hearers
an idea of eastern society, as vivid as that which existed in
his own mind, he proceeded to arraign the administration
of =Hastings, as systematically conducted in defiance of
morality and public law.  The energy and pathos of the 
great orator extorted expressions of unwonted admiration
from all; and, for a moment, seemed to pierce even the
resolute heart of the defendant.  The ladies in the galleries,
unaccustomed to such displays of eloquence, excited by
the solemnity of the occasion, and perhaps not unwilling to



upon searching into his bundle, I found that instead of
throwing his guilt from him, he had only laid down his
memory.  He was followed by another worthless rogue, 
who flung away his modesty instead of his ignorance.
 When the whole race of mankind had thus cast their
burdens, the phantom which had been so busy on this
occasion, seeing me an idle spectator of what passed, approached
toward me.  I grew uneasy at her presence, when,
of a sudden, she held her magnifying glass full before my
eyes.  I no sooner saw my face in it, but was startled at
the shortness of it, which now appeared to me in its utmost
aggravation.  The immoderate breadth of the features
made me very much out of humor with my own countenance, 
upon which I threw it from me like a mask.  It
happened very luckily that one who stood by me and
just before thrown down his visage, which, it seems, was
too long for him.  It was, indeed, extended to a most
shameful length; I believe the very chin was, modestly
speaking, as long as my whole face.  We had both of us
an opportunity of mending ourselves; and all the contributions
being now brought in, every man was at liberty to
exchange his misfortunes for those of another person.
 As we stood round the heap, and surveyed the several
materials of which it was composed, there was scarcely a
mortal in this vast multitude who did not discover what he
thought pleasures and blessings of life, and wondered how
the owners of them ever cam to look upon them as
burthens and grievances.  As we were regarding very attentively 
this confusion of miseries, this chaos of calamity,
=Jupiter issued out a second proclamation, that everyone
was now at liberty to exchange his affliction, and to return
to his habitation with any such other bundle as should be
delivered to him.  Upon this, =Fancy began again to bestir
herself, and, parceling out the whole heap with incredible
activity, recommended to everyone his particular packet.  
The hurry and confusion at this time was not to be expressed.
Some observations, which I made upon the occasion, 
I shall communicate to the public.
 A venerable, gray headed man, who had laid down the
colic, and who, I found, wanted an heir to his estate,
snatched up an undutiful son that had been thrown into
the heap by an angry father.  The graceless youth, in less
than a quarter of an hour, pulled the old gentleman by
the beard, and had liked to have knocked his brains out;
so that meeting the true father, who cam toward him with
a fit of the gripes, he begged him to take his son again,
and give him back his colic; but they were incapable,
either of them, to recede from the choice they had made.
A poor galley slave, who had thrown down his chains, took
up the gout in their stead, but made such wry faces that 
one might easily perceive he was not great gainer by the
bargain.
 The female world were very busy among themselves in
bartering for features; one was trucking a lock of gray
hairs for a carbuncle; and another was making over a
short waist for a pair of round shoulders; but on all these
occasions there was not one of them who did not think the
new blemish, as soon as she had got it into her possession,
much more disagreeable than the old one.
 I must not omit my own particular adventure.  My 
friend with the long visage had not sooner taken upon him
my short face, but he made such a grotesque figure in it,
that as I looked upon him, I could not forbear laughing at
myself, insomuch that I put my own face out of countenance.
The poor gentleman was so sensible of the ridicule,
that I found he was ashamed of what he had done.  On
the other side, I found that I myself had no great reason
to triumph, for as I went to touch my forehead, I missed
the place, and clapped my finger upon my upper lip.  Besides,
as my nose was exceedingly prominent, I gave it two
or three unlucky knocks as I was playing my hand about
my face, and aiming at some other part of it.
  


 =Harley sat down on a large stone by the wayside, to
take a pebble from his shoe, when he saw, at some distance,
a beggar approaching him.  He had on a loose sort
of coat, mended with different colored rags, among which
the blue and russet were predominant.  He had a short,
knotty stick in his hand, and on the top of it was stuck a
ram's horn; he wore no shoes, and his stockings had
entirely lost that part of them which would have covered his
feet and ankles; in his face, however, was the plump appearance
of good humor; he walked a good, round pace,
and a crook legged dog trotted at his heels.
 "Our delicacies," said =Harley to himself, "are fantastic;
they are not in nature!  That beggar walks over the
sharpest of these stones barefooted, whilst I have lost the
most delightful dream in the world from the smallest of
them happening to get into my shoe."  The beggar had by
this time come up, and, pulling off a piece of a hat, asked
charity of =Harley.  The dog began to beg, too.  It was
impossible to resist both; and, in truth, the want of shoes
and stockings had made both unnecessary, for =Harley had
destined sixpence for him before.
 The beggar, on receiving it, poured forth blessings without
number; and, with a sort of smile on his countenance,
said to =Harley that if he wanted to have his fortune 
told, =Harley turned his eye briskly upon the beggar; it
was an unpromising look for the subject of a prediction,
and silenced the prophet immediately.  "I would much
rather learn," said =Harley, "what it is in your power to
tell me.  Your trade must be an entertaining one; sit
down on this stone, and let me know something of your
profession; I have often thought of turning fortune teller
for a week or two, myself."
 "=Master," replied the beggar, "I like your frankness
much, for I had the humor of plain dealing in me from a
child; but there is no doing with it in this world, we
must do as we can; and lying is, as you call it, my profession.
But I was in some sort forced to the trade, for I
once dealt in telling the truth.  I was a laborer, sir, and
gained as much as to make me live.  I never laid by, indeed,
for I was reckoned a piece of wag, and your wags,
I take it, are seldom rich, Mr =Harley."  "So," said =Harley, 
"you seem to know me."  "Ay, there are few folks
in the country that I don't know something of.  How
should I tell fortunes else?"  "True, but go on with your
story; you were a laborer, you say, and a wag; your industry,
I suppose, you left with your old trade; but your
humor you preserved to be of use to you in your new."
 "What signifies sadness, sir?  A man grows lean on it.
But I was brought to my idleness by degrees; sickness
first disabled me, and it went against my stomach to work,
ever after.  But, in truth, I was for a long time so weak
that I spit blood whenever I attempted to work.  I had no
relation living, and I never kept a friend above a week
when I was able to joke.  Thus I was forced to beg my
bread, and a sorry trade I have found it, Mr =Harley.  I 
told all my misfortunes truly, but they were seldom believed;
and the few who gave me a half penny as they 
passed, did
 it with a shake of the head, and an injunction
not to trouble them with a long story.  In short, I found
that people don't care to give alms without some security
for their money, such as a wooden leg, or a withered
arm, for example.  So I changed my plan, and instead of
telling my own misfortunes, began to prophesy happiness
to others.


Some hover in the air awhile, and some
 Rush prone from the sky like summer hail.
All, dropping swiftly, or settling slow,
Meet, and are still in the depths below;
                     Flake after flake
Dissolved in the dark and silent lake.

Here delicate snow stars, out of the cloud,
 Come floating downward in airy play,
Like spangles dropped from the glistening crowd
 That whiten by night the =Milky =Way;
There broader and burlier masses fall;
 The sullen water buries them all,
                    Flake after flake,
All drowned in the dark and silent lake.

And some, as on tender wings they glide
 From their chilly birth cloud, dim and gray.
Are joined in their fall, and, side by side,
 Come clinging along their unsteady way;
As friend with friend, or husband with wife,
Makes hand in hand the passage of life;
                 Each mated flake
Soon sinks in the dark and silent lake.

Lo! while we are gazing, in swifter haste
 Stream down the snows, till the air is white,
As, myriads by myriads madly chased,
 They fling themselves from their shadowy height.
The fair, frail creatures of middle sky,
What speed they make, with their grave so nigh;
                  Flake by flake
To lie in the dark and silent lake.

I see in they gentle eyes a tear;
 They turn to me in sorrowful thought;
Thou thinkest of friends, the good and dear,
 Who were for a time, and now are not;
Like these fair children of cloud and frost,
That glisten a moment and then are lost,
                   Flake by flake,
All lost in the dark and silent lake.

Yet look again, for the clouds divide;
 A gleam of blue on the water lies;
And far away, on the mountain side,
 A sunbeam falls from the opening skies.
But the hurrying host that flew between
The cloud and the water no more is seen;
                   Flake after flake
At rest in the dark and silent lake.



Character of =Napoleon =Bonaparte

 =Charles =Phillips, =1787 through =1859, an eminent barrister and
orator, was born in =Sligo, =Ireland, and died in =London.  He
gained much of his reputation as an advocate in criminal cases.  In
his youth he published some verses; later in life he became the
author of several works, chiefly of biography.

 He is fallen!  We may now pause before that splendid
prodigy, which towered among us like some ancient ruin,
whose power terrified the glance its magnificence attracted.
Grand, gloomy, and peculiar, he sat upon the throne a
sceptered hermit, wrapt in the solitude of his own originality.
A mind, bold, independent, and decisive; a will,
despotic in its dictates; and energy that distanced expedition; 
and a conscience, pliable to every touch of interest,
marked the outlines of this extraordinary character, the