in virtue of his old sentence - the cold-hearted Bacon making the law for it is brought to the block.

His life seems to me a great Elizabethan epic, with all its fires, its mated couples of rhythmic sentiment, its poetic splendors, its shortened beat and broken pauses and blind 5 turns, and its noble climax in a death that is without shame and full of the largest pathos.

Adapted.

the king: James I of England, son of Mary Queen of Scots. -the great queen Elizabeth. the Tower: the Tower of London, where state prisoners were lodged. — Guiä'na: a region of South America. famous English philosopher. See note on page 286.

Bacon: a

A LOST CHORD

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER

ADELAIDE A. PROCTER (1825-1864) was an English poet whose verse is full of piety and gentle sentiment. She was the daughter of Bryan Waller Procter, who wrote under the name of Barry Cornwall.

Seated one day at the organ,

I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys.

10

I do not know what I was playing,

15

Or what I was dreaming then;

But I struck one chord of music,
Like the sound of a great Amen.

It flooded the crimson twilight,

Like the close of an angel's psalm,
And it lay on my fevered spirit
With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow,
Like love overcoming strife;
It seemed the harmonious echo
From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexèd meanings
Into one perfect peace,

And trembled away into silence
As if it were loath to cease.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
That one lost chord divine,

Which came from the soul of the organ
And entered into mine.

It may be that Death's bright angel

Will speak in that chord again;
It may be that only in heaven

I shall hear that grand Amen.

THE SURRENDER OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER (1789-1851) was the founder of American romance, and for this reason is often called the American Scott. His stories of the Indians were widely read, though they are far from being accurate studies of Indian character.

NOTE. - The most popular of Cooper's tales is "The Last of the Mohicans," from which this selection is taken. Fort William Henry is defended by the Scotch veteran, Munro, whose daughters have reached him after a perilous journey. Their escort, Duncan Heyward, has just returned from an interview with General Montcalm, who is besieging the fort.

5

The French officer has asked for a conference with the commandant 10 of the fort.

There was something so commanding in the distress of the old man that Heyward did not dare to venture a syllable of consolation. Munro sat utterly unconscious of the other's presence, his features exposed and working 15 with the anguish of his regrets, while heavy tears fell from his eyes and rolled unheeded from his cheeks to the floor. At length he moved, as if suddenly recovering his recollection; then he arose and, taking a single turn across the room, he approached his companion with an air 20 of military grandeur and demanded :

"Have you not, Major Heyward, some communication that I should hear, from the Marquis de Montcalm ?

Duncan started, in his turn, and immediately commenced, in an embarrassed voice, the half-forgotten mes- 25 sage. As Munro listened to the detail of Duncan, the

excited feelings of the father gradually gave way before the obligations of his station, and when the other was done he saw before him nothing but the veteran, swelling with the wounded feelings of a soldier.

5 "You have said enough, Major Heyward!" exclaimed the angry old man; "enough to make a volume of commentary on French civility. Here has this gentleman invited me to a conference, and when I send him a capable substitute, for you're all that, Duncan, he 10 answers me with a riddle. I will meet the Frenchman, and that without fear or delay; promptly, sir, as becomes a servant of my royal master. Go, Major Heyward, and give them a flourish of the music; send out a messenger to let them know who is coming. We will follow with a 15 small guard, for such respect is due to one who holds the honor of his king in keeping."

A very few minutes only were necessary to parade a few files, and to dispatch an orderly with a flag to announce the approach of the commandant of the fort. As soon 20 as the usual ceremonials of a military departure were observed, the veteran and his more youthful companion left the fortress, attended by the escort.

They had proceeded only a hundred yards from the works when the little array which attended the French 25 general to the conference was seen issuing from the hollow way, which formed the bed of a brook that ran between the batteries of the besiegers and the fort. From