Art and Science 



these books. The Lady Principal is being 

 read to by the monitress for the week, whose 

 duty it was to recite selected passages from 

 the most approved Hebrew writers ; she ap- 

 pears to be a good deal outraged, possibly at 

 the faulty intonation of the reader, which she 

 has long tried vainly to correct ; or perhaps 

 she has been hearing of the atrocious way in 

 which her forefathers had treated the prophets, 

 and is explaining to the young ladies how im- 

 possible it would be, in their own more enlight- 

 ened age, for a prophet to fail of recognition. 



On the half-dais, as I suppose the large 

 semicircular step between the main room and 

 the dais should be called, we find, first, the 

 monitress for the week, who stands up while 

 she recites ; and secondly, the Virgin herself, 

 who is the only pupil allowed a seat so near to 

 the august presence of the Lady Principal. 

 She is ostensibly doing a piece of embroidery 

 which is stretched on a cushion on her lap, but 

 I should say that she was chiefly interested in 

 the nearest of four pretty little Cupids, who 

 are all trying to attract her attention, though 



they pay no court to any other young lady. 



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