his lute in the shade of a wide spreading beech." These trees are looked upon with great veneration.

7. In many cases they are numbered; in some a label is affixed to them, giving their age; sometimes a stone monument is erected, saying when or by whom this forest or this clump was planted; and commonly some family record is kept of them, as a part of the family history.

8. I respect this trait in the character of the English, and I sympathize with them in their veneration for ancient trees. They are often the growth of centuries, and the monuments of years gone by.

9. I cannot quite enter into the enthusiasm of an excellent friend, who used to say that cutting down an old tree ought to be made a capital offence at law, yet I deem it almost sacrilegious to destroy them, excepting where necessity demands it; and I would always advise that an old tree, standing in a conspicuous station either for use or amusement, should be, at least, once more wintered and summered, before the sentence of death, which may be passed upon it, is carried into execution.

10. The trees in the park of the palace of Hampton court,^ are many of them, especially the horse chestnut and lime, of surpassing beauty; several straight lines of them forming, for a long distance, the entrance to the palace. On a clear bright day, at the season of their flowering, I passed through this magnificent avenue of trees with inexpressible delight.

11. I passed through them again late in the autumn, when the frost had marred their beauty, and the autumnal gales had stripped off their leaves; but they were still venerable in the simple majesty of their gigantic and spreading forms. I could

NOTE. Hampton court; a royal residence on the northern bank of the Thames, about thirteen miles from London. It was erected by Cardinal Wolsey, who lived there in royal magnificence.

not help reflecting, with grateful emotions, on that beneficent Power, which would presently breathe upon these apparently lifeless statues, and clothe them with the glittering foliage of spring, and the rich and splendent glories of summer.

12. The extent of these parks, in many cases, filled me with surprise. They embraced hundreds, and in some instances, thousands of acres. You enter them by gates, where a porter's lodge is always to be found. After entering the park gates, I have rode sometimes several miles before reaching the house.

13. They are generally devoted to the pasturage of sheep, cattle, or deer. In the park at Chatsworth the herd of deer exceeds sixteen hundred. These deer are kept at no inconsiderable expense, requiring abundant pasturage in summer, and hay and grain in winter. English pastures are seldom or never plowed, and many of them have been in grass beyond the memory of any one living.

14. In speaking of the parks in the country, I ought not to pass, in silence, over the magnificent parks also in London, including St. James's park, Green park, Kensington gardens, Hyde park, and Regent's park.

b

15. Kensington gardens, exclusive of private gardens, contains, within its enclosure, two hundred and twenty-seven acres; Hyde park, three hundred and eighty acres; Green park, connected with St. James's park, fifty-six acres; St. James's park, eighty-seven acres; and terraces connected with Regent's park, eighty acres ;-making a grand total of one thousand two hundred and two acres.

16. To these should be added the large, elegant, and highly embellished public squares in various parts of London,

NOTES. -a Chatsworth; a village in the peak of Derbyshire, England, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned. b See London, p. 87, note a. c Ken'sington gar'dens; formerly a favorite royal residence, where King William III., Queen Mary, Queen Anne, and George II. died.

and even in the most crowded parts of the old city, which, in all, probably exceed one thousand acres.

17. These extensive and magnificent parks, it must be remembered, are in the midst of a populous town, containing nearly two millions of inhabitants, and they are constantly open to the public for exercise, health, and amusement. It is impossible to over-estimate the healthful influence of these open spaces, and the amount of recreation and rational enjoyment, which they afford to this vast population.

QUESTIONS. 1. What is the form of the trees in the English parks? 2. What is Staffordshire? 3. What is Portland? 3. What is the circumference of the tree called the Seven Sisters? 5. What the circumference of the Kentucky button-wood? 5. What is Derby? 6. What are the predominant trees in these parks? 6. Who was Virgil, and what is said of him? 6. Who was Tityrus? 9. What is said of cutting down ornamental trees? 10. What is Hampton Court? 12. What is the extent of some of the parks? 13. What use is made of them? 13. What is Chatsworth, and who was imprisoned there?

LESSON XXXVII.

Spell and Define.

1. At-mos-pher'ic, pertaining to the at- 6. Re-fract'ed, turned from its course. 2. Wand, a small stick. [mosphere. 6. Re-flect'ed, thrown back.

2. Ma-gi'cian, one skilled in magic. 3. Mys-te'ri-ous-ness, obscurity.

3. As-so-ci-a'tions, connections of ideas.

4. Ver'i-fi-ed, proved to be true.

5. So'lar, pertaining to the sun.

6. Me'te-or, any atmospheric appearance. 7. Crescent, the figure of the new moon. 7. Ce-les'tial, heavenly.

8. Arch'i-tect, one skilled in building. 8. In-un-da'tion, an overflow of water.

ERRORS. - 1. Mōs for most; 2. sum'mons-ed for sum'mon-ed; 2. wand for wand; 3. in'trest for in'ter-est; 4. wile for while; 4. ar'cheeves for ar'chives; 6. me'ter for me'te-or; 8. artch'i-tect for arch'i-tect.

THE RAINBOW.

1. THE beautiful bow in the clouds is, of all atmospheric phenomena, the most striking and attractive. Its aerial form, its ample arch flung across the heavens, its bright and varied

colors, blending into each other, and reflected from the dark ground of the opposite sky, captivate the sight, and give play to the fancy.

2. Summoned into unexpected existence, as if by the powerful wand of the magician, it takes us by surprise, and before we have sufficient time to admire its loveliness and grandeur, it has insensibly faded from our view.

Youth gazes

3. The rainbow never loses its interest. with wonder upon it, as an object surrounded with the charm of novelty and mysteriousness. Age connects with it some of the finest associations of youthful years, and is awed into feelings of solemnity, as the eye once more rests on the pledge which Heaven has hung forth for assuaging the fears, and giving security to the confidence, of mankind.

4. Philosophy finds it to be one of those interesting phenomena which, while by their attractiveness they command attention, give rise to those minute and laborious investigations that issue in our familiar acquaintance with nature's most complicated operations; and in the discovery of principles which constitute, when carefully ascertained, cautiously verified, and safely deposited in the archives of science, by far the noblest and most laudable monuments of what human industry and power can achieve.

5. The rainbow is occasioned by the solar rays. In the formation of this beautiful phenomenon, these rays are darted, as the sun shines brightly, into a thin watery cloud in an opposite part of the heavens, at the time of its resolution into drops of rain.

6. Here the solar ray, being partly refracted, gives out its colors, and being partly reflected to the eye of the spectator,

NOTES. -a The covenant which God made with Noah and his sons. See Genesis ix. 8-18. The solar rays are composed of seven colors; violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. When these rays pass through the drops of rain, during a shower, they are separated into the above colors, and the rainbow is thus formed.

who stands between the sun and the cloud, reveals to him the atmospheric meteor.

7. The knowledge which science yields us of the rainbow, whose variegated hues and crescent form are produced by the rays and circular shape of the sun, satisfies us that this celestial meteor, once the object of superstitious veneration or dread, is the result of those wise and wondrous laws which the Creator has so firmly established.

a

8. What we know of it, excites our admiration of the Architect, who, out of the most unsubstantial materials, builds such a brilliant but fleeting structure; and those parts of it which we cannot explain, teach us at once the weakness and limitation of our own powers, and the infinitude of his perfections, who has thus splendidly inscribed on the bright bow, which bespans the sky, the physical proof that, so long as it is visible, there is no possibility of an inundation of the earth by the waters from above.

NOTE. -a Besides the primary and secondary rainbows, others have been seen, called supernumerary rainbows, each of which is composed of red and green. The cause of these has not been fully explained.

QUESTIONS. 1. What is the most attractive of the atmospheric phenomena ? 3. How is it looked upon by youth? 3. How by age? 3. What covenant did God make with Noah and his sons? 5. How is the rainbow occasioned? 7. Of what is the rainbow the result? 8. Can all parts of the rainbow be explained? 8. What do those parts which cannot be explained teach us?