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LESSON CCLXII.

SEPTEMBER THE NINETEENTH.

Swiss Independency abolished.

On this day, in 1798, the Swiss troops were totally defeated by the French, and the independency of Switzerland abolished.

Switzerland had remained neutral during the contest in which France had lately been engaged; and had thus protected the weakest portion of her frontier, while the rest of it was assailed by the combined forces of Europe. The merit of this service was now forgotten, and the French Directory resolved to render Switzerland one of their tributary states.

The wealthier branches of the Swiss confederacy were in general governed by hereditary aristocracies. Some of the cantons had no government within themselves, but were the subjects of neighbouring cantons.

In consequence of this circumstance and of the contending privileges of different orders of men, popular insurrections were more frequent than in any country in Europe, though none was more equitably governed.

When an insurrection took place in one canton, its government was under the necessity of soliciting the aid of the government of an adjoining canton, or even of the neighbouring monarchs of France or Sardinia, to enable it to subdue its own rebellious subjects.

A dangerous precedent was thus established; and as the French kings had formerly interfered in favour of the rulers, the republican Directory now interfered in favour of the subjects.

The more wealthy and populous states soon submitted to the French; but the poor cantons, who had least to lose, made a terrible effort in defence of their small possessions, and the independency of their country. They even at first compelled Schawenberg to retire with the loss of 3000 men, but were at last overpowered by the superior numbers and military skill of the French army. Switzerland was treated as a conquered country. Its public magazines were seized by the French, heavy contributions were levied, and a new constitution, in imitation of that of France, was imposed.

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1. What took place on this day, in 1798?

2. What did the Directory resolve?

3. In what way was a dangerous precedent established?

4. What did the poor cantons effect?

BATTLE OF NEWBURY.

LESSON CCLXIII.

SEPTEMBER THE TWENTIETH.

Battle of Newbury.

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On this day, in 1643, the battle of Newbury, in Berkshire, took place, between the army of Charles I. and that of the parliament. Among the slain was the youthful and amiable Lucius Carey, Viscount Falkland. He had espoused, with great firmness, the part of the king when the unhappy breach between him and the parliament came to a crisis; and no one can doubt that it was because, in his estimation, this was the most just and constitutional one.

He attended his royal master at Edge-hill fight, at Oxford, and at the siege of Gloucester. But a view of the calamities brought upon this country, and the still greater impending evils, quite broke his spirits. He lost all his gaiety and sociability, grew careless of his dress and appearance, was morose, reserved, and showed every mark of a mind dissatisfied with itself and the world.

Frequently, while sitting among his friends, after a long silence and deep sighs, he would, with a shrill voice, repeat the words peace! peace! and declare himself incapable of living in such a state of perpetual grief and anxiety. The closing scene almost proves a determination to throw away that life which was become a burthen.

Though possessing no military command, he resolved to be present at the battle, and in the morning called for clean linen, that, if he was slain, his body might appear with decorum. He placed himself in the first rank of Lord Byron's regiment, and, receiving a musket shot in the belly, fell from his horse. His body was not found till the next day. Such was the fate of Lord Falkland, then only in the thirty-fourth year of his age, but who was generally esteemed the most virtuous public character, in a period fertile of virtue.

His praises have been resounded by poets, historians, and moralists, and are, as it were, interwoven with English literature. His fame, perhaps, owes most to his intimate friend, Lord Clarendon, who has drawn up an elaborate character of him, and in some respect makes him the moral hero of his history. Lord Falkland left behind him some poems, and various speeches and pamphlets on political and theological topics.

1. What took place on this day, in 1643? 2. What nobleman was among the slain?

3. How did he act on the morning of the battle?

LESSON CCLXIV.- SEPTEMBER THE TWENTY-FIRST.

The Emperor Charles V.

On this day, in 1556, Charles V., after a long and turbulent reign, resigned his dominions, reserving nothing for himself but an annual pension of 100,000 crowns. The chosen place or his retreat was the monastery of St. Juste, near Placenzia, in Estremadura, seated in a retired valley, amidst the most beautiful rural scenery. Here he occupied a few rooms, simply furnished; and, retaining only twelve domestics, commenced the tranquil and contemplative life of a recluse.

His amusements were the cultivation of his garden, rides for exercise on a little horse, the only one he kept, and experiments in mechanism. He had taken with him one Turriano, an ingenious artist, with whom he occupied himself in making models of machines, and curious devices in clock-work, by the spontaneous motions of which he sometimes alarmed the ignorant monks.

He kept many clocks and watches; and having experienced the difficulty of making any two exactly correspond in their movements, he is said to have expressed a conviction of the folly of his attempts to induce men to think alike. The services of the chapel, and the perusal of religious books, filled up the rest of his time.

But a mind like his, accustomed to active pursuits, and poorly furnished for abstract speculation, could ill sustain its vigour in such a course of life. He became a prey to a timorous and childish superstition, grew more constant and rigorous in his devotional exercises, and, not satisfied with the ordinary practices of the cloister, invented new displays of fantastic piety.

Of these the most extraordinary was the rehearsal of his own death and obsequies. He ordered his tomb to be erected in the chapel, and caused his domestics to precede in funeral procession, followed in his shroud, was laid in his coffin, heard the burial service chanted for him, and joined in the prayers for his soul. This solemnity, probably suggested by a derangement of understanding consequent upon extreme corporeal weakness, was soon followed by his real death, which happened on September 21. 1558, in the fifty-ninth year of his age.

1. What act did the Emperor Charles V. on this day?

2. How did he occupy himself?

3. What did he become a prey to ?

4. What most extraordinary display of fantastic piety did he cause to be exhibite

THE CREATIVE GENIUS OF SHAKSPEARE.

LESSON CCLXV..

371

SEPTEMBER THE TWENTY-SECOND.

The creative Genius of Shakspeare.

"NOTHING," says a celebrated traveller, "nothing delights me so much as the inside of a Swiss cottage; all those I have visited convey the liveliest images of cleanliness, ease, and simplicity, and cannot but strongly impress on the observer a most pleasing conviction of the peasant's happiness."

Of all ancient or modern pastoral writers, none excel the mild, the gentle, the captivating Gessner; but with such models constantly before him, it is no subject for excess of astonishment that Gessner should be capable of painting such exquisite companion pieces as his Idyls and Pastorals. But for a man, bred in the school of dulness, as a country town invariably is, associating with players, and residing, for the principal part of his life, in all the dust and poison of a city, how much is our wonder and admiration excited, when we read the delightful delineations of pastoral manners as they are drawn in several dramas of that grand creator of worlds and delineator of passion, Shakspeare. That a master, so skilled in the minute anatomy of the heart, should be capable of divesting himself of all that fatal knowledge, to sound "wild wood-notes" worthy of the reed of Tasso, is of itself a singular phenomenon. Who can read the following song, but he fancies himself surrounded by a group of pastoral innocents, with Perdita singing in the midst of them?

"Come, come, my good shepherds, our flocks we must shear;
In your holiday suits, with your lasses appear:
The happiest of folks are the guileless and free,
And who are so guileless, so happy as we?

"That giant, Ambition, we never can dread;
Our roofs are too low for so lofty a head;
Content and sweet cheerfulness open our door;
They smile with the simple and feed with the poor.
"When love has possessed us, that love we reveal;
Like the flocks that we feed, are the passions we feel,

So harmless, so simple, we sport and we play,

And leave to fine folks to deceive and betray."

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1. What pleasing conviction arises in the mind of a person on visiting a Swiss cottage,?

2. What is it that excites our wonder and admiration in reference to the genius of Shakspeare?

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LESSON CCLXVI.-SEPTEMBER THE TWENTY-THIRD,

Boerhaave.

On this day, in 1738, died Dr. Herman Boerhaave, a physician and medical professor of the highest celebrity. The moral character of this illustrious man is as worthy of commemoration as his intellectual endowments, Some," says his great disciple Haller, "though few, will rival him in erudition; his divine temper, kind to all, beneficent to foes and adversaries, detracting no man's merits, and binding by favours his daily opponents, may perhaps never be paralleled."

A true practical philosopher, no one was ever less moved by the attacks of envy or malice, no one ever bore with more firmness or resignation the evils of life. Simplicity was the characteristic of his manners. Easy and familiar in his converse, perfectly free from parade of every kind, grave and sober in demeanor, yet disposed to pleasantry, and occasionally indulging in good-humoured raillery, he has been compared to the admirable Socrates, whose bust he is said to have resembled in feature.

He was almost adored by his pupils, whose interests he regarded with the kindness of a parent, and whom, when sick, he attended preferably to any other patients. Pity of the most amiable cast was wrought into the very habit of his soul, and the business of every day was preceded by the devotional exercises of the closet.

Disinclined to show or expense, the riches that flowed in upon him naturally accumulated, so that few individuals of the place where he resided surpassed him in his wealth; and on certain occasions it might have been wished that his habitual frugality had been more capable of relaxation; yet Haller affirms that he displayed a truly bountiful disposition in the purchase of writings, which, without his aid, would have perished in oblivion.

1. What eminent physician and medical professor died on this day, in 1738 ?

2. To whom has he been compared?

3. What is the moral character of this illustrious man?

LESSON CCLXVII.-SEPTEMBER THE TWENTY-FOURTH. Samuel Butler.

On this day, in 1680, died Samuel Butler, the celebrated author of Hudibras, whose life was passed in obscurity,

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