5\6 THF. MANSE AND ITS INMATES. 



By courtesies to win a truce from Sapor. 



Willing I grant the boon, illustrious lady, 



And well pleased am I to attest this sign 



Of wise obedience to the emperor's will. 



Be all as you desire. Nay more, in honour 



Of the dead youth's highborn affinity, 



A guard of Romans shall, with trailing spears. 



Slow step, and melancholy music, swell 



The funeral pomp which bears him to his friends. 



[Datis and the Palmyrenes place the body of Zenobia on a bier. Solyma, 

 TiRZA and the women follow. A Roman detachment forms in line at the bacJc of 

 sfai/e. Tamara kneels before the bier, and while a funeral dirge is played thi^ 

 curtain falls. 



THE MANSE AND ITS INMATES. 



(Continued from page 437J 



The manner of living had more of luxuiy and refinement than 

 Ruth, at home or at Mrs. Carter's, had had opportunities of observ- 

 ing ; but quiet, and on the watch for improvement, she fell easily into 

 the habits of (hose around her, and, though she felt more anxiety 

 than she had done when altogether inexperienced (for we are never 

 so comfortably unconscious of our ignorance as when we know nothing 

 at all) she commenced her career in Essex, a very short trial set her 

 mind at ease. 



She had, during the latter part of her residence at Mrs. Carter's, 

 feared that she was losing her time, from the circumstance that, being 

 confined to instructing children under a certain asfe, there was a 

 limit fixed to her progress which it was impossible for her to pass; 

 but she now corrected her erroneous impression. Elementary prin- 

 ciples were so indelibly imprinted on her memory that she could as 

 easily have forgotten her native language, and her mind was there- 

 fore equally open and prepared for the admission of fresh knowledge. 



Mrs. Somerive's seminary was not one of th se hotbeds of arts and 

 sciences where the memory is loaded at ihe expense of the mind, 

 and where health and individual character are equally disregarded. 



The system of instruction was rational. Whatever was taught was 

 taught well, and, taking that into the account, was taught rapidlj'. 

 The children were not treated as machines, but as moral responsible 

 agents, as reasoning intellectual beings; and they and their teachers 

 had full leisure for all the purposes of health, recreation, and private 

 study 



Ruth had never been so happy in her life ; all was so cheerful yet 

 so quiet, so busy yet so orderly, and the society — oh, that was de- 

 lightful. Miss Povey, to be sure, was but a common place girl, but 

 there was nothing disagreeable about her. Mademoiselle Aurelie 

 was charming. Miss Crofts indeed was a little uneasy in her temper, 

 but her bad health was more than a sufficient excuse; and Mrs. 

 Somerive was the best woman in the world, and the best friend that 

 any one ever had. 



