16. Three journeymen bricklayers are in chase of it. It catches upon a bank-it tears its way through. Now the three bricklayers are joined by a couple of fellows in smock-frocks, a policeman, five boys, followed by three girls, and, last of all, a woman with a child in her arms, all running, shouting, screaming, yelling, as the grapnel-iron and rope go trailing and bobbing over the ground before them. At last the iron catches upon a hedge-grapples with its roots; the balloon is arrested, but struggles hard; three or four men seize the rope, and down we are hauled. CHARLES DICKENS.

CII.-FROM A PROLOGUE TO A PLAY.

PRIMA DON'NA (pre-) n.,

the princi

PROLOGUE (pro'lŏg), n., introduction | LORN, a., forsaken; forlorn.
to a discourse or play.
PRELUDE or PRELUDE, n., music in-
troductory to a piece or concert.
BAIZE, n., a coarse woolen cloth..

pal female singer.

MILLION-AIRE, n., one worth a million.

The satire on certain stage representations in the following lines will be found as just as it is lively and amusing.

WHAT is a prologue! Let our Tutor teach:

Pro means beforehand; logos stands for speech.

"T is like the harper's prelude on the strings,
The prima donna's courte'sy ere she sings.

"The world's a stage," as Shakspeare said, one day;
The stage a world, was what he meant to say.
The outside world 's a blunder, that is clear;
The real world that Nature meant is here.

Here every foundling finds its lost mamma;
Each rogue, repentant, melts his stern papa;
Misers relent, the spendthrift's debts are paid,
The cheats are taken in the traps they laid;
One after one, the troubles all are past,
Till the fifth act comes right side up, at last,

When the young couple, old folks, rogues, and all,
Join hands, so happy, at the curtain's fall!

Here suffering virtue ever finds relief,

And black-browed ruffians always come to grief.
When the lorn damsel, with a frantic screech,
And cheeks as hueless as a brandy peach,

Cries, "Help, kyind Heaven;" and drops upon her knees
On the green baize beneath the (canvas) trees,
See to her side avenging Valor fly:-

"Ha! Villain! Draw! Now, Terator, yield or die!"

When the poor hero flounders in despair,
Some dear lost uncle turns up millionaire,
Clasps the young scapegrace with paternal joy,
Sobs on his neck, "My boy! My boy! My Boy!"

O W. HOLMES.

CIII.-THE GRAVES OF A HOUSEHOLD.

MYR'TLE, n., a fragrant shrub.

CE'DAR, n., an evergreen tree

SEV'ERED, pp., separated.

NAUGHT (nawt), n., nothing.

The ea in hearth has properly the sound it has in heart; though in the ast stanza of the following beautiful poem the author gives it the sound of ea in earth

adverbial.

THEY grew in beauty, side by side,-
They filled one house with glee;
Their graves are severed, far and wide,
By mount, and stream, and sea.

ent

adj
The same fond mother bent at night
(O'er each fair sleeping brow;

She had each folded flower in sight; ·

Where are those dreamers now?

fired

The sea, the blue lone sea, hath one,-
He lies here pearls lie deep;
list

sub nom

He was the loved of all, yet none
(O'er his low bed) may weep.
adjuct

(One sleeps where southern (vines are dressed
[Above the noble slain
(He wrapt his Colors found his breast

(On a blood-red field of Spain.
adjun

tia

alobj

And one-o'er her the myrtle showers

Its leaves, by soft winds fanned;
She faded 'mid Italian flowers,-
The last of that bright band.

And parted thus, they rest who played
Beneath the same green tree;
Whose voices mingled as they prayed
Around one parent knee,-

They that with smiles lit up the hall,
And cheered with song the hearth!
Alas, for love! if thou wert all,

And naught beyond, O Earth!

MRS. HEMANS.

CIV. THE RESCUE OF THE LAMB.

SudOUR, n.,

aid in distress.

TRIUMPH (-umf), n., joy for success.

GUARD'I-AN, n., a defender.

CHAN'NEL, n., course for a stream.

Walker and Worcester pronounce leaped lept, rhyming with kept.

SEEK who will delight in fable,

I shall tell you truth. A lamb

Leaped from this steep bank to follow
ross the brook its thoughtless dam.

Far and wide on hill and valley
Rain had fallen, unceasing rain;
And the bleating mother's young one
Struggled with the flood in vain.

But, as chanced, a cottage maiden
(Ten years scarcely had she told)
Seeing, plunged into the torrent,
Clasped the lamb, and kept her hold.

Whirled adown the rocky channel,
Sinking, rising, on they go,

Peace and rest, as seems, before them
Only in the lake below!

O! it was a frightful current,

Whose fierce wrath the girl had braved ;—
Clap your hands with joy, my hearers,
Shout in triumph-bōth are saved!

Saved by courage that with danger
Grew by strength, the gift of love!
And belike a guardian angel

Came with succor from above.

WM. WORDSWORTH. (1770-1850.),

CV.-EARLY HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.

POULTRY n., domestic fowls.

LEISURE, n., vacant time.

SKILLFUL OF SKIL'FUL, a., ex-pert'. STOCK-ADE', n., a line of stakes as a defense or barrier.

KNIGHT-ER'RANT-RY, n., the feats, &c., of an errant or roving knight

IN'STI-GATE, v. t., to urge; to incite.
BUFFA-LOES, n. pl., of buffalo.
PI-O-NEER', n., one who goes before
to clear the way.

BA-RO'NI-AL, a., relating to a baron.
VO-LU'MI-NOUS, a., consisting of many
volumes.

In dis-cover-y, cov'ered, mod'ern, &c., heed the sound of er. Do not say thust for thirst; keows for cows. The second a in ap-par'ent has the sound of a in care.

1. THE English have never displayed the same thirst of discovery as the Spaniards and French, either in North or South America. A love of adventure, an eager curiosity, a desire of change, or some like motive, had carried the French all over the continent, while the English colonists continued quietly i hin

their own limits. The French missionaries coasted along the lakes, and descended the Mississippi, a whole century before the Virginians began to cross the Alleghany ridge, to get a glimpse of the noble inheritance, which had remained undisturbed for centuries, waiting their coming.

2. It was not till the year 1767,- only eight years before the breaking out of the revolutionary war,-that John Finley, of North Carolina, descended into Kentucky for the purpose of hunting and trading. The feelings of wonder and delight experienced by this early pioneer in passing through the rich lands, which were filled with deer, buffaloes, and every kind of game, and covered with the majestic growth of centuries, soon communicated themselves to others. Like the spies, who returned from Palestine, they declared, "The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land." They compared it to parks and gardens, or a succession of farms stocked with cattle, and full of birds tame as barn-yard poultry.

3. Instigated by these descriptions, in 1769, Daniel Boone, a man much distinguished for bravery and skill, entered Kentucky. And now commenced a scene of enterprise, romantic adventure, chivalric daring, and patient endurance, not surpassed in the history of modern times. Nothing in those voluminous tales of knight-ĕrrantry, which occupied the leisure of pages, and squires of old baronial days, or in the Waverley novels and their train of romances of the second class, which amuse modern gentlemen and ladies,—nothing in these works of imagination,can exceed the reälities of early Kentucky history.

4. From 1769 till Wayne's victory on the Maumee, in 1794, a period of twenty-five years, including the whole revolutionary war, the people of Kentucky were engaged in Indian warfare, for life and home.