Ges. [To Tell] Why speakest thou not?
Tell. For wonder.

Ges. Wonder?

Tell. Yes, that thou shouldst seem a man.
Ges. What should I seem?

Tell. A monster.

Ges. Ha! Beware!-think on thy chains.

Tell. Though they were doubled, and did weigh me down Prostrate to earth, methinks I could rise up

Erect, with nothing but the honest pride
Of telling thee, usurper, to thy teeth,
Thou art a monster.-Think on my chains!
How came they on me?

Ges. Darest thou question me?
Tell. Darest thou answer?

Ges. Beware my vengeance.
Tell. Can it more than kill?
Ges. And is not that enough:—
Tell. No, not enough :—

It cannot take away the grace of life-
The comeliness of look that virtue gives-
Its port erect with consciousness of truth-
Its rich attire of honorable deeds-

Its fair report that's rife on good men's tongues :—
It cannot lay its hand on these, no more

Than it can pluck his brightness from the sun,
Or with polluted finger tarnish it.

Ges. But it can make thee writhe.

Tell. It may, and I may say,

Go on, though it should make me groan again.
Ges. Whence comest thou?

Tell. From the mountains.

Ges. Canst tell me any news from them?

Tell. Ay;-they watch no more the avalanche.*
Ges. Why so?

wishing to ascertain the spirit of the people, ordered his hat to be raised on a pole, and homage to be paid to it as to himself. Tell refused to do homage to the hat, and was immediately seized and carried before the governor. Gesler ordered him to shoot an arrow at an apple placed on the head of his own son, or else be dragged with his child to immediate death. He shot the apple off his son's head,-and soon after shot Gesler. The Swiss, roused to arms by the conduct of Tell, drove away their Austrian masters, and established the independence of their country, A. D. 1307.

* Pronounced av-a-lanch ́, a vast body of snow sliding down a mountain.

Tell. Because they look for thee. The hurricane
Comes unawares upon them; from its bed

The torrent breaks, and finds them in its track.
Ges. What then?

Tell. They thank kind Providence it is not thou.
Thou hast perverted nature in them. The earth
Presents her fruits to them, and is not thanked.
The harvest sun is constant, and they scarce
Return his smile. Their flocks and herds increase,
And they look on as men who count a loss.
There's not a blessing Heaven vouchsafes them, but
The thought of thee doth wither to a curse,

As something they must lose, and had far better
Lack.

Ges. 'Tis well. I'd have them as their hills

That never smile, though wanton summer tempt
Them e'er so much.

Tell. But they do sometimes smile.
Ges. Ah!-when is that?

Tell. When they do pray for vengeance.

Ges. Dare they pray for that?

Tell. They dare, and they expect it, too.

Ges. From whence?

Tell. From Heaven, and their true hearts.

Ges. [To Sarnem.] Lead in his son.

Now will I take

Exquisite vengeance. [To Tell, as the boy enters.] I have destined him

To die along with thee.

Tell. To die! for what? he's but a child.

Ges. He's thine, however.

Tell. He is an only child.

Ges. So much the easier to crush the race.

Tell. He may have a mother.

Ges. So the viper hath

And yet who spares it for the mother's sake?

Tell. I talk to stone.

I'll talk to it no more.

Come, my boy, I taught thee how to live,-
I'll teach thee,-how to die.

Ges. But first, I'd see thee make

A trial of thy skill with that same bow.
Thy arrows never miss, 'tis said.

Tell. What is the trial?

Ges. Thou look'st upon thy boy as though thou guessest it Tell. Look upon my boy! what mean you?

Look upon my boy as though I guessed it!—
Guessed the trial thoud'st have me make!-
Guessed it instinctively! Thou dost not mean-
No, no-Thon wouldst not have me make
A trial of my skill upon my child!
Impossible! I do not guess thy meaning.
Ges. I'd see thee hit an apple on his head,
Three hundred paces off.

Tell. Great Heaven!

Ges. On this condition only will I spare His life and thine.

Tell. Ferocious monster! make a father Murder his own child!

Ges. Dost thou consent?

Tell. With his own hand!

The hand I've led him when an infant by !
My hands are free from blood, and have no gust
For it, that they should drink my child's.
I'll not murder my boy, for Gesler.

Boy. You will not hit me, father. You'll be sure
To hit the apple. Will you not save me, father?
Tell. Lead me forth-I'll make the trial.
Boy. Father-

Tell. Speak not to me;—

Let me not hear thy voice-Thou must be dumb;
And so should all things be-Earth should be dumb,
And Heaven, unless its thunder muttered at

The deed, and sent a bolt to stop it.

Give me my bow and quiver.

Ges. When all is ready.

Sarnem, measure hence

The distance three hundred paces.
Tell. Will he do it fairly?

Ges. What is't to thee, fairly or not.

Tell. [sarcastically.] O, nothing, a little thing,

A very little thing; I only shoot

At my child!

[Sarnem prepares to measure.]

Villain, stop! you measure against the sun.

Ges. And what of that?

What matter whether to or from the sun?

Tell. I'd have it at my back. The sun should shine

Upon the mark, and not on him that shoots

I will not shoot against the sun.

Ges. Give him his way. [Sarnem paces

and goes out.]

Tell. I should like to see the apple I must hit.

Ges. [Picks out the smallest one] There, take that.
Tell. You've picked the smallest one.

Ges. I know I have. Thy skill will be

The greater if thou hittest it.

Tell. [sarcastically.] True-true! I did not think of that

I wonder I did not think of that. A larger one

Had given me a chance to save my boy.

Give me my bow. Let me see my quiver.

Ges. Give him a single arrow. [To an attendant.] [Tell looks at it and breaks it.]

Tell. Let me see my quiver. It is not

One arrow in a dozen I would use

To shoot with at a dove, much less a dove

Like that.

Ges. Show him the quiver.

[Sarnem returns and takes the apple and the boy to While this is doing, Tell conceals an

place them.

arrow under his garment.

arrow, and says,]

He then selects another

Tell. Is the boy ready? Keep silence now

For Heaven's sake, and be my witnesses,
That if his life's in peril from my hand,

'Tis only for the chance of saving it.

For mercy's sake keep motionless and silent.

[He aims and shoots in the direction of the boy. In a moment Sarnem enters with the apple on the arrow's point.

Sar. The boy is safe.

Tell. [Raising his arms.] Thank Heaven!

[As he raises his arms the concealed arrow falls. Ges. [Picking it up.] Unequalled archer! why was this concealed?

Tell. To kill thee, tyrant, had I slain my boy.

LESSON CIV.

The Philosopher's Scales.-JANE TAYLOR.

1. A MONK* when his rites sacerdotal were o'er,
In the depth of his cell, with its stone-covered floor,

* Monk, a member of the Roman Catholic church, who has taken a vow of poverty and celibacy.

Resigning to thought his chimerical brain,

Once formed the contrivance we now shall explain:
But whether by magic's or alchymy's powers,
We know not-indeed, 'tis no business of ours:

2. Perhaps it was only by patience and care,
At last, that he brought his invention to bear;
In youth 'twas projected, but years stole away,
And ere 'twas complete, he was wrinkled and
gray;
But success is secure, unless energy fails-
And at length he produced the Philosopher's Scales.

3. "What were they?" you ask; you shall presently see:
These scales were not made to weigh sugar and tea;
O no; for such properties wondrous had they,
That qualities, feelings, and thoughts, they could weigh:
Together with articles small, or immense,

From mountains or planets, to atoms of sense;

4. Nought was there so bulky, but there it could lay,
And nought so ethereal, but there it would stay,
And nought so reluctant, but in it must go.
All which soine examples more clearly will show.

5. The first thing he weighed was the head of Voltaire,*
Which retained all the wit that had ever been there;
As a weight, he threw in a torn scrap of a leaf,
Containing the prayer of the Penitent Thief;
When the skull rose aloft with so sudden a spell,
That it bounced like a ball on the roof of the cell.

6. One time he put in Alexander the Great,†

With a garment, that Dorcas‡ had made, for a weight,
And though clad in armor from sandals to crown,
The Hero rose up, and the garment went down.

* Voltaire, a celebrated French historian, philosopher, dramatic writer, and epic poet, was born at Paris, 1694, and died 1778. He possessed uncommon powers of mind, but was inconstant and unstable; and it is to be regretted that he employed his talents in advancing the cause of infidelity.

A king of Macedon, born at Pella, B. C. 355. After extending his power over Greece, he invaded Asia. He defeated the Persians at the three celebrated battles of the Granicus, of Issus, and of Arbela, which rendered him the master of the country. He afterwards returned to Babylon, where he died of intemperance, B. C. 323, in the 33d year of his age, and 13th of his reign.

See Acts, chap ix. 39