Or open rapine, or protected murder,

Cries out against them. But this very day,
An honest man, my neighbor,-there he stands,-
Was struck,-struck like a dog, by one who wore
The badge of Orsini! because, forsooth,
He tossed not high his ready cap in air,
Nor lifted up his voice in servile shouts,
At sight of that great ruffian! Be we men,
And suffer such dishonor?-men, and wash not
The stain away in blood?

Such shames are common.
I have known deeper wrongs; I, that speak to ye,
I had a brother once,-a gracious boy,

Full of all gentleness, of calmest hope,

Of sweet and quiet joy: there was the look
Of heaven upon his face, which limners give
To the beloved disciple. How I loved
That gracious boy! Younger by fifteen years,
Brother at once and son! He left my side,
A summer bloom on his fair cheeks; a smile
Parting his innocent lips. In one short hour,
That pretty, harmless boy was slain! I saw
The corse, the mangled corse, and then I cried
For vengeance! Rouse, ye Romans! Rouse, ye slaves!
Have ye brave sons? Look in the next fierce brawl
To see them die! Have ye fair daughters? Look
To see them live, torn from your arms, distained,
Dishonored; and, if ye dare call for justice,
Be answered by the lash! Yet this is Rome,
That sat on her seven hills, and from her throne
Of beauty ruled the world! And we are Romans!
Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman

Was greater than a king! And once again,-
Hear me, ye walls that echoed to the tread
Of either Brutus!-once again I swear,
The Eternal City shall be free!

MARY R. MITFORD.

61. LONDON.

1. London is the largest city in the world. That is to say, it contains more people than any other city. Just as we estimate the importance of a river-not by its length nor by its breadth, but by the amount of water it contributes to the ocean-so we estimate the size of a city by the number of people it contains. Paris builds its houses higher into the air than London; but London stretches over a very much larger extent of ground. London has nearly four millions of inhabitants; Paris has only two millions.

2. London is the capital of England; but it is indeed also the capital of the world-that is, of the world of commerce. It has commercial connections with every country and with every important town on the face of the globe. It sends out sailing-ships and steamers to all the countries of the world; and from its center, railway lines and telegraph wires radiate in every direction.

3. London was a flourishing little British town before the Romans conquered it in the year 55 B. C. It continued to grow from that time till the present, with hardly a check to its prosperity. It is, in truth, the river Thames that laid the foundation of the fortune of London. For the Thames is not merely one river; it is two rivers. The tide flows gently up twice in every twenty-four hours; and thus barges and vessels of burden are carried up to London by the tide, and are borne away from London by the power of its own stream. Thus this river provides a large quantity of carrying power for nothing, and the barges laden with goods need only guidance.

4. The streets of London are the most crowded streets in the world. Thousands and hundreds of thousands

of persons stream along its main arteries from morning till night; in the morning generally from west to east; in the evening with their faces to the west. The roadways are crowded with carriages, cabs, and omnibuses; and in many parts it is difficult, if not dangerous, to cross the streets. Within the town there are thousands of cabs, omnibuses, and tram-cars, and every other kind of conveyance; but without, through the suburbs, round the whole of the vast province covered with houses and buildings, and also underground, there are countless railways running in every direction. Steamers, too, run up and down the river at all hours and minutes of the day.

5. But, not only is its own population the vastest in the world; a large population is poured into it every morning by railway and by steamer from all parts of England and from every continent and country on the globe. It is reckoned that a population of more than two hundred thousand (not counting those who live in the suburbs and come in for business) enter London every morning; and that the same number of people leave it every evening. But a population of two hundred thousand is a population nearly as large as that of Edinburgh or Bristol, and larger than that of Newcastleupon-Tyne. It is then as if a city nearly as large as Edinburgh or Bristol were left empty and deserted all night, and were visited and crowded all day by its thronging population.

6. And the population of London contains contributions from all the races and nationalities of the world. There are Chinese, Hindoos, Persians, and Armenians from Asia; there are Peruvians and Chilians from the west of South America; there are Americans from San Francisco and the other cities of the Pacific slope; and there are, from every large town on the continent of Europe, Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Germans, Swedes,

Norwegians, Finns, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Portuguese. There are in London more Scotsmen than in Edinburgh; more Irish than in Belfast; more Welshmen than in Cardiff; more Jews than in Jerusalem; more Greeks than in Athens; and more Germans than in Frankfort. London draws to itself people of all tongues, races, and nationalities. It has paupers enough to fill all the houses in Brighton.

7. London is a wilderness of brick-with hundreds of miles of hideous streets, composed of insignificant and unsightly buildings; but it also contains some of the noblest edifices in the world. On a gently rising ground in the heart of the city rises St. Paul's, one of the largest churches in the world, and a masterpiece of Wren, one of the greatest architects. Westward on the

banks of the Thames, the towers of Westminster Abbey stand, guarding the ashes of England's greatest men— men who have made her name famous by sea and land, in art, in science, and in letters.

8. Every large and crowded city abounds in contrasts of various kinds; but London is emphatically the city of contrasts. Trees and brick; portions of the country clasped within the town, parts of the town running out into the country; wide streets, open parks, and the narrowest and foulest lanes; palaces and hovels; splendor and squalor; rich and poor; virtuous and criminal; learned and ignorant; thoughtful consideration and the most wicked recklessness; hideousness and beauty-all these contrasts may be perceived by the open-eyed spectator within the compass of a few minutes' walk.

62. BERNARDO DEL CARPIO.

1.

The warrior bowed his crèsted héad, and tamed his heart of fire,

And sued the haughty king to free his long-imprisoned sìre;

"I bring thee here my fórtress-keys, I bring my captive tráin,

I pledge thee faith, my liége, my lórd!-Oh! break my father's chain!"

2.

"Rise, rìse! even now thy father comes, a ransomed man this dày:

Mount thy good horse; and thou and I will meet him on his way."

Then lightly rose that loyal son, and bounded on his steed,

And urged, as if with lance in rest, the charger's foamy speed.

3.

And lo! from far, as on they pressed, there came a glittering band,

With one that 'midst them stately rode, as a leader in the land:

"Now, hàste, Bernárdo, hàste! for there in very truth,

is he,

The father whom thy faithful heart hath yearned so long to see."

4.

His dark eye flashed, his proud breast hèaved, his cheek's hue cáme and wènt:

He reached that gray-haired chieftain's side, and there, dismounting, bènt;