For if he chanced to hurt the king,
It would be long in healing.

3. His helmet was a beetle's head,
So horrible and full of dread,
That able was to strike one dead,
Yet did it well become him;
And for a plume a horse's hair,
Which being tossed by the air,
Had force to strike his foe with fear,
And turn his weapon from him.

4. Himself he on an earwig set,

Yet scarce he on his back could get,
So oft and high he did curvet,

Ere he himself could settle;

He made him turn, and stop, and bound,

To gallop and to trot the round,

He scarce could stand on any ground,

He was so full of mettle.

bent, a coarse kind of grass.

-Michael Drayton.

pill, point.

curvet, to leap, to frisk.

hornet, a species of wasp. mettle, spirit.

rapier, a sword with narrow blade.

reverse, to turn back.

PLEASURE IS CHEAP.

1. Do you know how cheap pleasure is? Do you know how little it takes to make most people happy? Do you know that such trifles as a penny, a word, and a smile often do the work?

2. Do you see those boys passing along the street? Give each of them a handful of chestnuts, and how smiling they will look! They will not be cross for an hour. A poor

widow and her children live in that humble dwelling: send in half a peck of ripe apples and they will all be happy.

3. That child has lost his arrow-all the world to him -and he mourns sadly. Help him to find it, or make him another, and how quickly will the sunshine play again upon his face!

4. There is a boy who has been sent to pile up a load of wood, and some of the sticks are very heavy. Assist him a few moments, or speak a pleasant word to him, and he will forget his task, or work away without minding it.

5. Is that lad your apprentice? Has he been a little careless, for once? Has he forgotten something you told him? Has he dropped the mug and broken it? Say to him, "You scoundrel!" and he will be miserable, or he will be angry; but remark, "I am sorry-try to do better,” and he will be cheerful, and thankful; and he will be more careful in future.

6. Have you employed a man to work for you? Pay him cheerfully, not grudgingly. "Is not the labourer worthy of his hire?" When he leaves you, weary with toil, speak a pleasant word to him, and he will go home. with a contented heart, to light up his hearth with smiles of gladness.

7. As you pass along the street you meet many a familiar face. Do not treat any, even your inferiors, with coldness or neglect. Do not pass children, however poor and humble they may be, without noticing them. Say "Goodmorning," have a smile and a kind word for all, as though you felt happy, and it will make others happy also.

8. Pleasure is cheap; who will not bestow it liberally? If there are smiles, sunshine, and flowers all around us, let us not clutch them with a miser's grasp, and lock them away in our own hearts. No! Rather let us take them and scatter them about us, in the cottage of the

widow, among the groups of children in the street, where men of business assemble, in our own families, and everywhere. We can do much to make the wretched happy, the discontented cheerful, the vicious virtuous, and at an exceedingly cheap rate. Who will refuse to do it?

Questions on the lesson :-What little things often produce happiness? Illustrate by the boys in the street-the widow-the child who has lost his arrow-the lad piling up wood--your apprenticethe man working for you. Since pleasure is cheap, what is our duty in regard to it?

familiar, well known.

inferior, occupying a lower place.

liberally, freely, abundantly.

miser, one who hoards his money. neglect, disregard.

vicious, evil in conduct.

ROASTED CHESTNUTS!

"Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live."-Shakespeare. 1. See the young Merchant toiling through the street, Stamping the snow to warm his frozen feet, Take up his curbstone station for the day, Though stern police may warn him hence away.

2. A ragged troop upon his footsteps wait,
To snatch a warm before his charcoal grate,
To look and long, poor Arabs of the street,
Whose eyes devour the food they may not eat;
Content to echo second-hand his cry:

"Chestnuts all hot! all hot! who'll buy, who'll buy?
Outside no blemish, inside lined with silk;
Large as horse-chestnuts, but as mild as milk.
They came a long way off, they say from Spain:
Buy them, and try them, and you'll come again.
They're hot and heartsome, good and sound, and sweet!
Like toast and butter; nay, like bread and meat!

Try but a handful, like a king you'll dine!

Folk where they come from call them bread and wine.

I give no credit, or the nuts would go

You all know that-as fast as melting snow."

3. His audience look convinced; they look and sigh; They have no money, so they cannot buy.

The jovial laugh forbids the least distrust;

'Tis hard to starve, but still to starve they must.
"But while I chaff with you, my chestnuts burn,
And I so famed for roasting to a turn.

Be off, you rogues, and come another day,
You always keep the gentlefolk away.

It's bitter cold, and not far off a storm,

You want a 'something' now 'to keep you warm.'
Be off, I say, and let your clamour cease:"

His heart relents-he gives them two apiece!

4. Courage, brave heart, nor be of want afraid,
They cannot pay thee, but thou wilt be paid.
I turn away half joyful and half sad,

To think how little makes the wretched glad!
Thus young and old, and rich and poor, must meet,
To learn life's lessons from the stony street.—Anonymous.

chaff, to joke with.

charcoal, coal made by burning jovial, merry.

wood.

relent, to grow tender.

BATTLE OF CRESSY.1

LET THE BOY WIN HIS SPURS.

1. Edward III. halted at the little village of Cressy and resolved to give battle to the French. Half of his army, now greatly reduced in strength, consisted of the lightarmed footmen of Ireland and Wales, the bulk of the remainder was composed of English bowmen. The king ordered his men-at-arms to dismount, and drew up his forces on a low rise sloping gently to the south-east, with a wind-mill on its summit from which he could overlook the whole field of battle.

2. Immediately beneath him lay the reserve, while at the base of the slope was placed the main body of the army in two divisions, that to the right commanded by the young Prince of Wales, that to the left by the Earl of Northampton. A small ditch protected the English front, and behind it the bowmen were drawn up "in the form of a harrow," with small bombards between them "which, with fire, threw little iron balls to frighten the horses"the first instance of the use of artillery in field warfare.

1 From Green's History of the English People, by permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co.