HISTORIC; SKETCHES. 



from tho Latin, wo should bo able to do much to onforoo on our 



pm.il ., and as the 



. ' lid I'Y.-nr'i .. tin- Sji.in 



inn- do we ilniilit. tiuit tln knowledge of ooinparutivo i>i' 

 wliidi, than iiij), i* now rapidly H|nv;i'liii;,' 



: .isnl world, will ITU long lead to what may Li- 



'/'.-. Instead of upending many 



years in learning some little Latin and l.-n Qrook, after the 



tedious and almost futilo plan of our ancient grammar-schools, 



the young will bo led to ntudy languagoa in their natural groups : 



i group ; thoShomitio group ; tho Celtic group ; 



and in subordinate classes, tho Greek, tho Latin, and the Ger- 



nip. With a good knowledge of Latin, which ought not 



; a boy above three years, a student, if rightly directed, 



c .ul I acquire the French, the Italian, the Spanish, and tho 



Portuguese within two years, and at the same time receive great 



aid towurd a minute and accurate knowledge of the English, 



1 ly if at tho same time ho was studying German together 



with its cognate tongues. 



IICISES IN COMPOSITION*. 



Form each of tho ensuing words into a sentence. 

 Words with their proper Prepositions. 



"\ 

 } 



FOllEION KKI'ItKSENTATlVES. 



Lat. col, to call. 

 Lat. cap, to receive. 



Sax. car, solicitude. 



Lat. carp, to jilitcfc. 



Dut. ketz, t3 catch. 



Lat. caut, to guard against. 



Lat. certus, t 



Fr. change, to change. 



Fr. charge, to load. 



To call on, at, for, on a per 

 sou ; at a house, 



Capable of, 



Care for, 



Careful of, for, 



Careless of, 



Carp at, 



Catch at, up, 



Caution against, 



Certify of, 



Change for, with, 



Charge on, or against a per-1 

 sou ; with a thing, j 



Report tho following anecdotes to another person, or write out 

 your own version of them after having read them through care- 

 fully: 



A PARDON AT THE RIGHT MOMENT. 



On tho 29th of May, the whole garrison was paraded on the Castle 

 Hill at Edinburgh, and formed in three sides of a hollow square, facing 

 inwards. With drums muffled and rolling, while the band played a 

 solemn dead march, three of the Highland recruits, each stepping 

 slowly behind his open coffin, were brought by an armed escort down 

 the winding pathway from the citadel, and placed in the vacant space 

 of the square, opposite a numerous firing party under the orders of 

 the provost-marshal. It was a bright and beautiful summer moruinjr, 

 but there was a dark cloud on every face, for no ceremony is more im- 

 pressive and terrible than a military execution and on that morning 

 three soldiers were to die. They were desired to kneel down beside 

 their open coffins, while the following paper was read by the adjutant- 

 general : 



" Garrison Orders. 



" Head-Quarters, 6th May, 1779. 



" At a general court-martial, held in Edinburgh Castle, on Thursday, 

 the 6th May, and two following days, whereof Lieut.- Colonel Dundas, 

 of the llth Dragoons, was president, for the trial of Charles William- 

 son and Archibald Mac-Ivor, soldiers of the 42nd Regiment, and Robert 

 Budge, soldier of the 71st Regiment, accused of mutiny, at Leith, on 

 the 20th April, and instigating others to do the same, the court unani- 

 mously found the prisoners guilty of mutiny, being a breach of the 

 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th articles of war ; and having duly considered 

 the evil tendency of mutiny and sedition, especially when carried to 

 such enormous lengths as in the present case, do adjudge you, tho 

 aforesaid Charles Williamson, Archibald Mac-Ivor, and Robert Budge, 

 to be shot to death ! " 



The poor prisoners remained on their knees while a Highland officer 

 translated the foregoing into Gaelic. They were all pale and composed 

 bnt the last, who was suffering from severe wounds received at Leith ; 

 his countenance was emaciated and ghastly, and he was sinking from 

 excessive debility. The ir eyes were bound tip ; the officer retired ; the 

 provost-marshal approached, and ordered his party to load. They 

 were in the act of taking aim at the prisoners, who were praying 

 intently in Gaelic, when Sir Adolphus Oughton stepped forward, and, 

 displaying three pardons, commanded them to "recover arms." 

 " Soldiers," said he, " fn consequence of the distinguished valour 

 of the Royal Highlanders, to which two of these unfortunate men 

 belong, His Majesty has been graciously pleased to forgive them 

 all. , Prisoners ! rise, resume your arms, and re-join your companies." 

 An officer repeated these words in Gaelic. The scene and the whole 

 proceedings were so solemn and affecting that the prisoners were 

 incapable of speech. Raising their bonnets, they endeavoured to ex- 



press their gratitu'le by a faint cheer, but their voice* utterly Jailed 

 .10 by wuukucM and a ix-vuUion of fueling, the 

 :' HIM 7Ut Kuuk iiroxtnit/t on the ground between the coffins. 

 " Memorial* of iht CattU of UdiiAur-jh," jj.. ''7-230. 



A WHALER IX A KTOttX. 



About eleven o'clock. I ventured on dock, and for the flnt time in 

 my lift: saw what the ocean look* liku in a etonn. I could tee nothing all 

 round but heaving mountains of water; each succeeding wave eeemed at 

 if it would swallow up the labouring vessel, but it always appeared to 

 melt away gently under ua, except when one more rapid, or " cross." 

 would send water and spray washing over her decks and high np into 

 the rigging. Tho motion of the ship was not uncomfortable, being 

 very different from the short cr. ss-pitchiutf we bad experienced in the 

 North Sea. I remained on deck about a quarter of an hour, gazins; 

 about me in silent wonder and admiration, little thinking that the 

 hitherto harmless waves were upon the very eve of proving their 

 might over man's puny bolts and beams. Feeling it chilly, I went 

 below. I had just entered the cabin and taken my seat, when the 

 ship became motionless, as it were, and seemed to tremble in every 

 beam. A report, like thunder, mingled with the rending and crash- 

 ing of timber; sudden and complete darkness, with a rush of 

 water through the skylight, and the ship thrown on her beam-ends, 

 showed me what one has to expect occasionally at sea. I scrambled 

 on deck after the captain, as I best could, scarcely knowing what bad 

 happened. Here nothing was to be seen but wreck and destruction. 

 The quarter-deck was literally swept of everything rails and bulwarks, 

 almost all the stanchions, the binnacle, the compasses, dog's couch 

 and nothing could be seen of the wheel but the nave. But the worst 

 was still to come ; two poor fellows were missing. One had perished 

 unnoticed ; he must have been killed amongst the wreck, washed over- 

 board, aud sunk like a stone. Tho other had been seen by the mate 

 for an instant only floating on the binnacle and just sinking. No 

 human assistance could have been rendered to them with such & sea 

 running. Two other poor fellows were rather seriously injured, and 

 took up my attention for some time. The captain, cool and collected, 

 soon restored confidence to his men, and, in a short time, had the 

 wreck cleared away, a long tiller shipped, and the vessel again hove 

 to. Spare spars were lashed to the stanchions that remained, so 

 that we had again something like bulwarks, bnt for many a day after* 

 words the ship had a sadly-damaged and wrecky appearance. Gocdnr't 

 Arctic Voyage. 



HISTORIC SKETCHES. XXVIII. 



HOW IRELAND BECAME PART OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



PART II. 



IN May, 1169, Eobert Fitz-Stephen, accompanied by Kerrey 

 de Montemarisco, a relative of the Earl of Pembroke, and by 

 30 knights, 60 men-at-arms, and 300 archers, landed in the 

 creek Bann. near Wexford, and were the first Anglo-Normans 

 that had appeared in Ireland as invaders. They were imme- 

 diately joined by Maurice de Prendergast, a Welsh knight, 

 with 10 men-at-arms and 60 archers. Dermot, with 500 men, 

 all he could collect, hastened to meet them, and the united 

 forces, numbering not more than a thousand men, instantly 

 marched upon Wexford, which capitulated after making a fair 

 show of resistance. From Wexford, Dermot took his friends 

 to Ferns, where they rested three weeks, the Irish princes 

 taking no steps to molest them, or to delay their progress; 

 and from Ferns they went on a marauding expedition into 

 Ossory, to allow of Dermot revenging himself on Mac-Gilla- 

 Patrick, prince of the district, who had caused the eyes of 

 Dermot's son to be rooted out. Ossory was ravaged with fire 

 and eword, the bravest exertions of tho people being of no avail 

 against disciplined and armour-olad troops. 



At Tara, Eoderio O'Connor convened a council of all the Irish 

 princes, and marched thence with a large but tumultuous army 

 to Dublin. At Dublin, divisions sprang up among the chiefs, 

 some of the most powerful of whom withdrew themselves from 

 the league and went home. 



Dermot entrenched himself at Ferns, being assisted by the skill 

 and science of his Anglo-Norman allies ; and when Boderic came 

 with forces outnumbering the strangers by about thirty to one, 

 he found himself unable to act on the offensive against them. 

 He tried negotiation with Dermot, and with the English com- 

 mandcrs separately, endeavouring to detach them from each 

 other by appeals to their respective interests. Bnt the con- 

 federates compared notes, and the treachery of Boderic returned 

 edgeways into his own bosom. He was compelled, in spite of 

 his great army, to make terms with the rebel, to promise him 

 recognition as sovereign prince of Leinster, and to do the like 



