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perhaps to give all that he receives in the day, to the tailor for one coat. But then the tailor must make this money buy him bread for many days, and some of it will go for beer, and somé for meat, and so on, and he may divide his money in such a way as to buy just as much of everything as he may want, and no more. If we had none but copper money we might do very well; but it would be troublesome to carry enough about with us to purchase things of great value. So as silver is worth more than copper, we have silver coins, and these are of different values (fourpences, sixpences, shillings, florins, half-crowns, and crowns), for the convenience of changing. Thus, if I want to buy sixpennyworth of bread, and have a shilling in my purse, I receive back sixpence. If I have half-a-crown in my purse, I receive back a florin, or two shillings, or four sixpences, or the like. And I should be very glad in any of these ways to be spared carrying twenty-four pence, or forty-eight halfpence. Then again for gold: one sovereign is worth twenty shillings, and a half-sovereign, ten shillings. So I can carry one sovereign instead of twenty shillings, and can get change when I want it, by means of the half-sovereign, or some of the silver coins.

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Our smallest copper coin in common use is the farthing, called so because the penny used to be coined with a deep cut cross upon it, so that any one could, if he pleased, either break it in two, and then each half was a halfpenny, or into four, and then each part was a four-thing, or farthing."

*

LESSON 23.

RURAL PLEASURES.

LET me wander, not unseen,

By hedge-row-elms, on hillocks green,
While the ploughman, near at hand,
Whistles o'er the furrow'd land,
And the milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the mower whets his scythe,
And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale.

Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures.
Whilst the landscape round it measures;

Russet lawns, and fallows grey,

Where the nibbling flocks do stray,
Mountains, on whose barren breast
The labouring clouds do often rest;
Meadows trim, with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
Towers and battlements it sees
Bosom'd high in tufted trees.

Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes

From betwixt two aged oaks,
Where Corydon and Thyrsis* met,
Are at their savoury dinner set
Of herbs, and other country messes,
Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses;
And then in haste her bower she leaves,
With Thestylis to bind the sheaves;
Or, if the earlier season lead,

To the tann'd haycock in the mead.

MILTON.

Corydon and Thyrsis, names for the farmer and his wife. Phyllis and Thestylis, the farm-servants, maid and man.

LESSON 24.

BRUCE AND THE SPIDER.

THERE was a time when England and Scotland were not one nation as at present. But they had separate kings, and being very near one another, there were frequent battles fought between them.

Edward I. of England tried to conquer Scotland, but he was prevented from doing so by the bravery of the Scotch king, Robert Bruce.

The English king had powerful armies, and Bruce suffered many defeats, and underwent many hardships before he made his country free. At one time, after many disasters, being obliged to hide himself from his enemies, he took shelter in a poor hut. He was now in such distress that he almost despaired of success, and began to think of giving up his effort to save Scotland. While he was doubtful what he should do, Bruce happened to cast his eyes to the roof of the cabin where he lay: he there saw a spider hanging at the end of a long thread of his own spinning, and endeavouring to swing itself from one beam to another, in order to fix the line on which it meant to stretch its web. The insect made the attempt again and again without success, and Bruce noticed that it had tried to reach the beam six times, and been as often unable to do so. It then came into his head that he had himself fought just six battles with the English, and had been six times defeated. "Now," thought Bruce, "as I have no means of knowing what is best to be done, I will be guided by the luck which shall attend this spider. If the insect makes another attempt and is successful,

I will continue the war,—if it fails, I will leave my country, and never return to it again."

While Bruce was forming this resolution, the spider made another trial with all its force, and succeeded in fastening its thread to the beam. Bruce resolved to persevere, and as he had never before gained a victory, he never afterwards sustained a considerable defeat.

It is said that some Scotchmen of the name of Bruce will on no account kill a spider, because it was that insect which showed the example of perseverance, and gave a signal of good luck to their great monarch.

LESSON 25.

SHEEP AND GOATS.

SHEEP and goats belong to the order of ruminating animals, in which are found all the four-footed creatures which are most useful to us for food and clothing -the sheep, cow, deer, and goat. And there are few climates or countries in which some species of these animals do not exist. In a very hot and dry country goats thrive better than sheep; they can browse the herbs and shrubs of the sandy wastes where sheep would find no food to their liking: but sheep can bear a great deal of heat as well as of cold, and seem to be equally comfortable in the scanty strips of pasture which lie among the Iceland mountains, and in the warm valleys of South Africa. In warm climates, their wool is shorter and more like hair; in cold countries, it becomes very thick and long. In extremely cold countries the sheep are usually small, and they require to be sheltered during the winter: but there is one very remarkable exception to this rule-the argalis,

or mountain sheep of Siberia. It lives in one of the coldest countries inhabited by man; but it is a strong and large animal, climbing the mountains, and treading, without fear or danger, amidst rocks and precipices, where even the bears do not dare to follow it. It is particularly distinguished by its enormous horns, and they are curiously curled and twisted. If pursued by the hunters, the argalis will sometimes throw itself down frightful steeps; and one would think it must be dashed in pieces, but it is rarely so much as bruised, its very thick skin and strong bones arm it against all such perils.

The aoudad is another species of mountain-sheep ; it inhabits the warm countries of North Africa, and is as strong and fearless as the argalis. It butts at the hunter with a pair of very long horns, which turn backwards, and is altogether a dangerous creature to approach. It chooses for its abode the highest and most rugged cliffs and the forests which clothe the sides of the Atlas mountains, only coming down, now and then, to drink at the rivers. The aoudad is reddish brown, and has a singular appearance, owing to the great tufts of hair which hang over its fore-legs, and almost conceal them; the lower side of the neck too is fringed with long hairs. In some other parts of Africa, there is a kind of sheep with very broad, heavy tails, and the same race is found in the plains of Tartary, where a sheep's tail, loaded with several pounds of solid fat, is esteemed the choicest delicacy of the table.

In our own country several varieties of sheep are reared, which are distinguished from one another by some differences of size or colour, or by having, or

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