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220. His banners at Boulogne.-In the year 1804, Napoleon assembled an immense army and flotilla at Boulogne, intending to invade England. 300,000 volunteers enrolled themselves to meet the threatened attack.

221. Argo.-A famous ship in Greek mythology, which, under the command of Jason, made a long voyage into unknown seas. The heroes who sailed in her were called the Argonauts, and their adventures were celebrated in many stories.

222. Sir William Wallace.-The famous Scotch patriot. Resisted with heroic valour, and for some time with success, the efforts of Edward I. to make himself ruler of Scotland. Defeated the Earl of Surrey at Stirling in 1297; ravaged Northumberland and Cumberland; was elected Guardian of Scotland; was defeated by Edward at Falkirk, 1298; protracted for some years the struggle for independence, but was betrayed to Edward, and barbarously executed in 1305.

225. Blake (1598-1627).-One of the most famous of our naval heroes. In the Civil War he distinguished himself by land, but in 1649 he was appointed one of the 'Governors of the Sea,' and won a series of brilliant victories-against the Royalists (1651), against the Dutch (1652-53), against the Turks (1654), and against the Spaniards (1657).

226. Hume, David (1711-1776). — A famous philosopher and historian. In 1754 he brought out his first volume of his History of the Stuarts (James I. and Charles I.), a work which he subsequently expanded into a History of England from the Roman Period downwards.

227. (1) Thermopylæ.-A narrow pass on the north-east coast of Greece, where 6000 Greeks kept at bay for many days the immense host which Xerxes was leading against their country. When at last a path had been betrayed to Xerxes which enabled him to circumvent the Greek position, most of the Greek contingents retired; but 300 Spartans under their king Lycurgus refused to fly, and died to a man, fighting desperately against overwhelming odds (480 B.C.).

(2) Flores. One of the Azores, a group of islands in the Atlantic, 800 miles due west of the south of Portugal.

(3) Earl Talbot (1373-1453).-A famous warrior, who won so many victories in France in the reigns of Henry v. and VI., that his very name became a terror to the French.

(4) Cœur de Lion (the Lion-hearted).-A surname given to Richard I., king of England, on account of the desperate valour which he displayed in the Holy Land, Cyprus, and elsewhere.

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233. (1) Barrère (or Barère) (1755-1841).-One of the actors in the French Revolution. As a man, he seems to have been base and selfish to the last degree. As an orator, he indulged in a flowery and mock-poetical style of eloquence, which gained him the title of the Anacreon of the guillotine.'

(2) The Vengeur.-A French war-ship which took part in the action of the 1st of June 1794. According to the story told by Barrère (which, however, was entirely without foundation), the crew refused to strike their colours, continued fighting to the last, and finally, as the ship sank under them, raised a simultaneous shout of Vive la République !'

237. The Battle of the Nile.-A famous victory won by Nelson in 1798. The French fleet which he destroyed had been employed to escort Napoleon and his army to Egypt.

246. Battle of the Baltic.-In March 1801 a British fleet was sent to Copenhagen in order to detach Denmark (then a naval power of considerable importance) from the Northern Coalition against England. Negotiations having failed, a desperate struggle took place, in which the British fleet, commanded nominally by Sir Hyde Parker, but really by Nelson, succeeded in silencing the Danish batteries and capturing the greater part of the Danish fleet.

248. (1) Elsinore.-A seaport situated on the western shore of the Sound at its narrowest part. It was more than twenty miles from the scene of this battle, and was passed without bloodshed by the British fleet on its way to Copenhagen. 'The wild and stormy steep' is a poetic fiction, the coast being really quite low.1

(2) Riou.-A gallant and chivalrous officer, whose ship, the Amazon, was severely handled in the action, and who was himself cut in two by a shot from the Danish batteries.

(3) The death of Nelson.-The battle in which Nelson met his death was fought off Cape Trafalgar (a cape in the south of Spain, about half-way between Cadiz and the Straits of Gibraltar) on the 21st of October 1805. The French and Spanish fleets were almost annihilated, and the naval power of France was entirely destroyed.

253. At Kaux, the mouth of Seine.-Henry's object in making for the mouth of the Seine was to reduce Harfleur, an important seaport and fortress which was generally regarded as the key of Normandy. After capturing Harfleur he resolved to go home by way of Calais, instead of taking at once to his ships, and on the sixth day of his march was interrupted by an immense French army which compelled him to fight the battle of Agincourt.

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254. (1) Our grandsire great.-Edward III., who won the battle of Crecy (or Cressy), and whose son, the Black Prince, won the battle of Poictiers and conquered a considerable part of France, was the father of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the grandfather of Henry IV. and the great-grandfather of Henry V.

(2) The French Lilies.-The Iris or Fleur-de-lis was adopted by Louis VII. of France as the device on his shield during the Crusades, and in this way became the emblem of French monarchy. After the battle of Crecy it was united with the arms of England. The poet Gray speaks of

'Great Edward with the lilies on his brow
From haughty Gallia torn.'

257. The taking of Quebec.—One of the incidents of the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). The French dominion in Canada had been considerably extended and strengthened by the wise administration of the Marquis de Montcalm. The British troops, aided by the American colonists, gained several advantages over the French in 1758 and 1759. In the latter year an expedition was sent from England under General Wolfe, which entered the St. Lawrence and anchored below Quebee. For six weeks the British wasted away in inactivity, but at last Wolfe, finding that nothing could draw Montcalm from his strong position, conceived the daring plan which he carried out with such signal success. 264. The British Soldier in China.-Founded on a real incident in one of our wars with China. The Buffs is the name given to the East Kent Regiment (this explains the mention of 'Kentish hop-fields' and 'leagues of cherry-blossom'). Lord Elgin was our ambassador in China at the time of the war.

265. Sparta's king.-Leonidas, slain at Thermopyla. (See note (1) to page 227.)

265. The Relief of Londonderry.-After the expulsion of James II.

from the throne of England, the Irish, with the exception of the Protestant settlers, espoused his cause. The Protestants, overwhelmed by numbers, fled to the North, where, at Enniskillen and Londonderry, they stood fiercely at bay. The Irish, aided by the French, laid siege to Londonderry, and finding themselves unable to take it by assault, turned the siege into a blockade. The garrison suffered terribly from famine and fever, but were at length relieved in the way described in this passage. 267. (1) Barbara Fritchie.-This poem describes an incident in the American Civil War (1861-64). By the 'rebels' are meant the

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Confederates or Southerners (who wished to separate themselves from the rest of the States). Lee and 'Stonewall' Jackson were two of the most famous of the Confederate generals.

(2) Maryland.—One of the Eastern States, lying north of Virginia and south of Pennsylvania.

(3) Silver stars . . . silver bars.-The 'Stars and Stripes' is the national flag of the United States.

269. Death of Sir Thomas More.-Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) was

famous throughout Europe for his wit, eloquence, and learning. Was made a privy councillor in 1516; became Speaker of the House of Commons in 1523, and Lord Chancellor (on the downfall of Wolsey) in 1529. Having lost the King's favour by refusing to countenance his marriage with Anne Boleyn, he was committed to the Tower, and after remaining there for thirteen months, was tried for high treason, condemned, and executed. 279. (1) The Vision of Mirza.-Addison playfully pretended to have found this story in an Oriental manuscript which he picked up at Cairo.

(2) Bagdad.-A town on the river Tigris in the S. E. of Turkey in Asia. It was the capital of the Saracen (or Eastern Mohammedan) Empire from the eighth to the thirteenth century. 285. (1) Archimedes' screw (called also the spiral pump). — A machine for raising water, said to have been invented by Archimedes of Syracuse, the most famous of ancient mathematicians. In its simplest form it consists of a flexible tube twisted spirally round a solid cylinder, the machine being placed in an inclined position, so that the lower mouth of the tube may dip below the surface of the water.

(2) The land of pagodas.-Eastern Asia, in which Brahminism and Buddhism are the prevailing religions.

(3) The land of mosques.-Western Asia, in which Mohammedanism is the prevailing religion.

(4) Palmyra.-The Greek name for Tadmor, a splendid city of Upper Syria. It occupied a fertile oasis, well-watered. and abounding in palm-trees.

(5) The Seven-hilled City.-Rome.

286. The tall ghostly tenements of Dun-Edin.-Dunedin is the Gaelic name of Edinburgh. In the old parts of the city many of the houses are extraordinarily tall.

GLOSSARY.

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