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In his manners Howard was simple and unaffected, temperate even to abstemiousness, and unwilling to mix in the crowds of convivial life. His modesty was equal to his merits. When, in 1785, a large subscription was rapidly filled to erect a statue in commemoration of his many services to the suffering captives, he peremptorily declined the honour, exclaiming, "Have I not one friend in England that would put a stop to such proceedings?" The nation has, however, paid a merited tribute to his memory. A statue erected in St. Paul's represents him in a Roman dress, with a countenance of Christian mildness, holding in one hand a scroll of writings for the improvement of prisons, &c. and in the other a key; whilst he tramples on chains and fetters. "Thus he trod," says the simple but energetic inscription, "an open but unfrequented path to immortality."

In his religious sentiments Howard was a dissenter. It is remarkable that with all the benevolence of his character, he was too rigid a father; and while he endeavoured to educate his only son in the paths of duty, he enforced his precepts with too much austerity, and rather terrified the mind than drew it by gentle means to the admiration and practice of virtue.

1. For what did Howard visit all Europe? 2. To what disease did he fall a victim? 3. What were the manners of Howard?

4. What is remarkable in Howard's character as a father?

LESSON XXI.—JANUARY THE TWENTY-FIRST.

Fate of Louis XVI. and Family.

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On this day, in 1793, Louis XVI. of France was conveyed to the scaffold. He was summoned to his fate at eight o'clock in the morning; and he ascended the platform with a firm air and steady step. Raising his voice, he said, "Frenchmen, I die innocent; I pardon all my enemies; and may France At this instant the inhuman Santerre ordered the drums to beat, and the executioners to perform their office. When the guillotine descended, the priest who attended him exclaimed, "Son of St. Louis, ascend to heaven!" The bleeding head was held up, and a few of the populace shouted "Vive la République!" His body was interred in a grave that was filled up with quicklime, and a guard placed around till it should be consumed.

FATE OF LOUIS XVI. AND FAMILY.

29

Thus fell Louis XVI. He possessed a good understanding, which, however, was blunted by the early indulgences of a court. He had a strong sense of justice, and his humanity was perhaps extreme. His chief defect was want of resolution and steadiness. Unambitious, and easily advised, he was induced to change his purposes, especially by his queen, whose connexion with the House of Austria had always tended to render his counsels unpopular. Whether he was connected with the foreign invaders of his country, posterity must decide; but all men of moderation are convinced that he was murdered by a band of ruffians. Indeed, a sentence more unjust or more ferocious is not to be found in the records of history.

Louis XVI. was in the thirty-ninth year of his age when he thus fell a victim to the vile passions of the vilest of men. He ascended the throne of France May 10, 1774; was driven from the Tuilleries August 10, 1792; imprisoned on the 14th, and dethroned Sept. 22 following: having reigned eighteen years and three months.

His queen, the once beautiful Marie Antoinette, was kept in prison for several months afterwards, where she was not even allowed the consolation of seeing her children, who were also confined and treated with marked cruelty. At length the unhappy queen shared the fate of her royal husband-an insulting trial and decapitation.

The young Dauphin, the rightful heir to the throne of France, soon followed his wretched parents, though he perished not by the guillotine, but from the harsh treatment he met with in prison; but the princess, after several years' incarceration, was sent to Germany, in exchange for some French prisoners; and she afterwards married the Duke d'Angoulême, with whom she returned to her native country on the restoration of the Bourbons to the throne.

Unhappy land! did godless wisdom pour
Delightful liberty from shore to shore?
Ah no! perverted Freedom curs'd the day
With nameless deeds of horror and dismay;
Till Heaven avenging seiz'd its ravish'd power,
And crush'd an empire to decide her hour.

1. What did Louis XVI. say on the scaffold? 2. How was his dead body disposed of?

3. What was the character of Louis?

4. When did he ascend the throne; and how long had he reigned? 5. What was the fate of the Queen?- the Dauphin?

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and the

Princess?

LESSON XXII.

JANUARY THE TWENTY-SECOND.

The Migration of Birds, and its probable Cause. THE migration of birds (a circumstance common to the quail, the stork, the crane, the fieldfare, the woodcock, the cuckoo, the martin and swallow, and various others) is a very curious fact in natural history, and furnishes a striking instance of a powerful instinct impressed on animals by the Creator.

The birds of passage are all peculiarly accommodated, by the structure of their parts, for long flights; and it is remarked, that in their migrations they preserve a wonderful order and polity; they fly in troops, and steer their course, without the aid of a compass, to vast and distant regions. Wild geese form themselves into a wedge-like figure; and when the three foremost, who lead the way, become tired, they retreat behind, and are relieved by others, who are again succeeded by the rest, in turns.

It has been observed of the storks, that for the space of a fortnight before they pass from one country to another, they constantly resort together from all the surrounding parts to a certain plain, and there arranging themselves once every day into the form of their flight, appear to determine the exact time of their departure, and the places of their future abode.

The manner in which the birds of passage travel to their southern abodes, is supposed to vary according to the structure of their bodies and their power of supporting themselves in the air.

Those with short wings, such as the redstart, blackcap, and others, though they are incapable of such long flights as the swallow, or of flying with such celerity, yet may pass to less distant places, and by slower movements. Swallows and cuckoos may perform their passage in a very short time; but these have no necessity for speed, since every day's journey affords them an increase of warmth, and a continuance of food.

The air penetrates almost every part of the bodies of birds; their organs of respiration are even continued in their bones, whence arises a stronger oxydation of blood, and a more active development of animal heat. As it is certain that birds, above all animals, have the strongest presentiment of the changes in the weather, this is most likely the cause of their periodical migrations; the more especially if it is ascertained that these are not occasioned

THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS, AND ITS PROBABLE CAUSE. 31

by a scarcity of food in countries which, till then, have supplied them abundantly.

Winter, doubtless, occasions a great dearth, especially as regards those birds that live on insects, but they have also been seen to emigrate at the very period when the rivers and forests presented the greatest abundance.

It is known that the feathers of birds are electric in a high degree, which offers an easy explanation of their susceptibility respecting the state of the atmosphere. This influence is felt not only by those birds that are at liberty, but even by those that are shut up in cages, especially at the epochs of emigration.

THE BIRD OF PASSAGE.

Away! away, thou Summer bird,
For Autumn's moaning voice is heard,
In cadence mild and deep'ning swell,
Of Winter's stern approach to tell!
Away! for vapours, damp and low,
Are wreath'd around the mountain's brow
And tempest-clouds their mantles fold
Around the forest's russet gold!
Away! away! o'er earth and sea,
This land is now no home for thee!
Arise! and stretch thy soaring wing,
And seek elsewhere the smiles of Spring.

The wand'rer now with pinions spread,
Afar to brighter climes has fled,

;

Nor casts one backward look, nor grieves
For those dear groves whose shade he leaves.
Why should he grieve?—The beam he loves
Shines o'er him still, where'er he roves,
And all those early friends are near
Who made his Summer-home so dear.

Oh! deem not that the tie of birth
Endears us to this spot of earth;
For wheresoe'er our steps may roam,
If friends are near, that place is home:-
No matter where our fate may guide us,
If those we love are still beside us.

1. What well-known birds are migratory?

2. In what form do wild geese make their migratory flight?

3. What has been observed of storks?

4. What is known respecting the feathers of birds; and what does that knowledge offer an easy explanation of?

5. Repeat the last stanza.

LESSON XXIII.

JANUARY THE TWENTY-THIRD.

William Pitt.

On this day, in 1806, expired that celebrated statesman, the Right Honourable William Pitt, second son of the illustrious Earl of Chatham. As Lord Chatham had little besides his name and example to leave his younger children, it was his object to cultivate in the best manner those talents which were to raise them to distinction; and his sagacity could not fail to discover that in his son William he had a subject capable of repaying all the attention that might be bestowed upon him.

For the classical education of his son he had a domestic tutor; but he relied upon his own instructions, communicated in free conversation, for opening his mind, and giving him a turn to large and accurate inquiry. For the purpose of accustoming him to that facility of speaking which had been the great instrument of his own rise, he frequently, it is said, made him declaim on a given topic from the elevation of a chair or a table.

Mr. Pitt possessed no advantages of person or physiognomy; the first of which was ungraceful, the second repulsive. In public, a loftiness approaching to arrogance was his habitual expression, and he was less formed for persuasion than command. His eloquence, the quality which first brought him into notice, was more perfect than that of any other speaker in his time. Singularly correct, copious and varied, clear, well-arranged, argumentative or impassioned as the subject required, it left scarcely any thing to be desired; and, if not illuminated with those flashes of genius which were characteristic of his father's eloquence, or enriched by those stores of imagination which distinguished that of Burke, it was more uniformly just and impressive than that of either.

The love of power was his ruling passion, and his mind was elevated above the meanness of avarice. His personal integrity was unimpeached. So far from making use of his opportunities to acquire wealth, he died involved in debts, which negligence and the demands of his public station, rather than extravagance, had obliged him to contract; for his tastes were simple, and he had no fondness for splendour or parade.

Charles James Fox was Mr. Pitt's great political antagonist of these two illustrious statesmen, when death

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