WHEN it was rumored that the old Duke of Wellington was about to marry the young and rich heiress, Miss Angelina Burdett Coutts, some wag wrote the following: "The duke must in his second childhood be, II. AN ANAGRAM. The following very happy anagram was written by William Oldys himself, the well-known bibliographer, and found among his manuscripts after his death: "In word and WILL I AM a friend to you, And one friend OLD IS worth a hundred new." III. JOHNSON'S STYLE. Dr. Johnson is noted for the high-sounding words which he used, and the pompous style of all his writings. Goldsmith remarked to him one day, "Doctor, if you were to write a fable about little fishes, you would make them all talk like whales." IV. LORD BROUGHAM. Lord Brougham was noted for the satirical, waspish manner with which he treated his opponents in debate. Sydney Smith, on seeing his carriage go past, having on the panel the letter B, surrounded by a coronet, remarked to a friend, "There goes a carriage with a B outside, and a wasp within." V. BLUE INK. You ask me, Edward, what I think VI. MASCULINE AND FEMININE. In England, rivers are all males- Finds them ma'amselles or dames. Yes, there the softer sex presides, VII. WESTMINSTER BRIDGE. As late the Trades' Unions, by way of a show, O'er Westminster Bridge strutted five in a row, "I feel for the bridge," whisper'd Dick, with a shiver; "Thus tried by the mob, it may sink in the river." Quoth Tom, a crown lawyer," Abandon your fears; As a bridge, it can only be tried by its piers.” VIII. A SUBLIME PUN. The following anecdote, although a pun upon words, is sublime in thought and language: A gentleman had been engaged in a duel: the ball of his antagonist struck his watch, and remained there. The watch was afterward exhibited, with the ball remaining in it, in a company where Judge Parsons was present. It was remarked by several that it was a valuable watch. "Yes," said Parsons," very excellent; it has kept Time from Eternity." LESSON CXLVIII. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS. I. GOD'S LOVE TO US.-GRIFFIN. Declarative: Repetition. THERE'S not a flower that decks the vale, God's love to us, and love undying! II. HE LIVES LONG WHO LIVES WELL.-RANDOLPH. Wouldst thou live long? The only means are these, Strive to live well; tread in the upright ways, But he that outlives Nestor, and appears To have passed the date of gray Methuselah's years, I say he only was-he did not LIVE. "Now" is the syllable ever ticking from the clock of time. "Now" is the watchword of the wise. "Now" is on the banner of the prudent. Let us keep this little word always in our mind; and whenever any thing presents itself to us in the shape of work, whether mental or physical, let us do it with all our might, remembering that "Now" is the only time for us. It is, indeed, a sorry way to get through the world by putting off a duty till to-morrow, saying, “ Then” I will do it." No! this will never answer. "Now" is ours; "then" may never be. IV. CONSCIENCE. From JUVENAL. He that commits a sin, shall quickly find V. CONSOLATIONS OF THE GOSPEL. Apostrophe. Interrogation and Exclamation.-A. ALEXANDER. Oh, precious Gospel! Will any merciless hand endeavor to tear away from our hearts this last, this sweetest consolation'? Would you darken the only avenue through which one ray of hope can enter'? Would you tear from the aged and infirm poor the only prop on which their souls can repose in peace'? Would you deprive the dying of their only source of consolation'? Would you rob the world of its richest treasure'? Would you let loose the flood-gates of every vice, and bring back upon the earth the horrors of superstition, or the atrocities of atheism'? Then endeavor to subvert the Gospel'; throw around you the fire-brands of infidelity'; laugh at religion, and make a mockery of futurity'; but be assured that for all these things' God will bring you into judgment. VI. THE CHRISTIAN'S DEATH. Apostrophe. Interrogation and Exclamation.-Dewey. Oh death! dark hour to hopeless unbelief! hour to which, in that creed of despair, no hour shall succeed! being's last hour! to whose appalling darkness even the shadows of an avenging retribution were brightness and relief-death!what art thou to the Christian's assurance? Great hour! answer to life's prayer; great hour that shall break asunder the bond of life's mystery; hour of release from life's bur den; hour of reunion with the loved and lost-what mighty hopes hasten to their fulfillment in thee! What longings, what aspirations, breathed in the still night beneath the silent stars; what dread emotions of curiosity; what deep meditations of joy; what hallowed impossibilities shadowing forth realities to the soul, all verge to their consummation in thee! Oh death! the Christian's death! what art thou but a gate of life, a portal of heaven, the threshold of eternity! LESSON CXLIX. NOTHING AT ALL IN THE PAPER TO-DAY. [The predominance of the anapestic measure in this poem gives it its light, singsong movement, like that in Lesson XIII., p. 55. The poem consists of seemingly cool and careless, but really ironical reflections upon the numerous crimes with which our newspapers teem,-now become so common that they almost fail to strike us as any thing "out of the way;" and it is only when some great catastrophe occurs, or some crime comes nearer home to us than usual (like that alluded to by the writer at the close of the poem), that we are startled out of our apathy.] 1. NOTHING at all in the paper to-day! Only a murder somewhere or other, Scarce aware he has taken a life, Till in at the window the dawn-rays glisten :But that is all in the regular way— There's nothing at all in the paper to-day. 2. Nothing at all in the paper to-day! To be sure there's a woman died of starvation, Or a mother been robbed of one of her daughters: |