II. Who was the soldier of fortune in Scott's novels, that, when visited in prison by the lord of the castle, recognized the lord's disguise, throttled him, and forced him to give the password, and so escaped?

12. What king is it, in one of Scott's works, whose character, subtle and superstitious, is frequently said to be Henry Irving's greatest impersonation?

13. In one of Scott's works a beautiful girl is represented as having been walled up alive. Who was the girl? and in what work is her sad history related?

14. In what book is it described how a famous dwarf hides in a cello case, and informs a king of treachery?

15. Who said the following words, and under what circumstances were they said? — "Mourn not for me, but care for your own safety. I die in mine armor as a should, and I die pitied by Mary Stuart."

16. What famous beauty was it who, when condemned to die at the stake, expressed her gratitude to her deliverer's wife by giving her a casket of diamonds?

17. In what book of Scott's do we have a picture of an Elizabethan entertainment? What three queen's favorites are described in the book? And with what sweet girl, now buried at St. Mary's, Oxford, was connected the sad tragedy whose history the book relates?

18. What famous child was once Walter Scott's pet and delight, whom he used to carry to his home through the “angry airt,” shielding her in his plaid?

19. What curious instance of the popularity of "Marmion" is recorded?

20. What novel gives a picture of a king liberated from prison by means of a loved melody sung outside?

ANSWERS.

(1) "Muckle-Mouth Meg." And this ancestor of Scott's transmitted a distinct trace of her large mouth to her descendant, who used it, however, to advantage as the spokesman of his race. (2) When Camp died, Scott refused a dinner invitation previously accepted, saying that " the death of an old friend" prevented his

coming. For Maida he built a marble monument. (3) "Marmion,” a story of the battle of Flodden. (4) Sir Henry Lee, in "Woodstock." (5) Flora MacIvor, in "Waverley," a story which relates to the insurrection in the Stuart interest led by Charles Edward in 1745. (6) "Guy Mannering." The rôle was that of Meg Merrilies, a weird gypsy, akin to the witches of "Macbeth." (7) Jonathan Oldbuck in "The Antiquary," who boasted that these two women were the only ones he had ever seen "well broken and bitted to obedience." (8) Robert Patterson, or “Old Mortality," whose white pony fed among the tombs while his master was engaged in his labors. (9) "The Heart of Midlothian," whose interest centres upon the heroic efforts of Jeanie Deans to procure the pardon of her sister Effie. (10) "The Bride of Lammermoor." Lucy Ashton, the beautiful heroine, goes mad from unhappy love, and a tragedy follows. "Lucia de Lammermoor "is the opera. (11) Dugald Dalgetty, in " The Legend of Montrose," a second Falstaff, who boasted of his adventures under Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North. (12) Louis XI. in "Quentin Durward.” (13) Constance de Beverly, in “ Marmion," an escaped nun, who received the doom of death as her punishment for broken vows. (14) Sir Humphry Davy, in "Peveril of the Peak." He was a favorite of Henrietta Maria. (15) George Douglas, in The Abbot." He had assisted the queen to escape. (16) Rebecca, the Jewess, in "Ivanhoe"; and to Ivanhoe's wife, the Saxon Rowena, were given the jewels. (17) In Kenilworth." Earls of Leicester and Sussex and Sir Walter Raleigh. Amy Robsart. (18) Marjorie Fleming, who at seven years of age used to sit on Scott's stout shoulder and recite Shakespeare a most precocious and interesting child. A year later she died. A delightful account of her is given in the Little Classics "Childhood." (19) Two old men, entire strangers, were passing one another on a dark London night. One happened to be repeating to himself, "Charge, Chester, charge!" when suddenly a reply came out of the darkness, "On, Stanley, on!" whereupon they finished the death of Marmion together, took off their hats to each other, and parted, laughing. (20) "The Talisman" gives a picture of Richard the Lion-Hearted being found in prison by his minstrel Blondel.

66

66

READINGS FROM SCOTT.

SUNSET IN A STORM.

THE sun was now resting his huge disk upon the edge of the level ocean, and gilded the accumulation of towering clouds through which he had travelled the livelong day, and which now assembled on all sides, like misfortunes and disasters around a sinking empire and falling monarch. Still, however, his dying splendor gave a sombre magnificence to the massive congregation of vapors, forming out of their unsubstantial gloom the show of pyramids and towers, some touched with gold, some with purple, some with a hue of deep and dark red. The distant sea, stretched beneath this varied and gorgeous canopy, lay almost portentously still, reflecting back the dazzling and level beams of the descending luminary, and the splendid coloring of the clouds amidst which he was setting. Nearer to the beach the tide. rippled onward in waves of sparkling silver, that imperceptibly, yet rapidly, gained upon the sand.

With a mind employed in admiration of the romantic scene, or perhaps on some more agitating topic, Miss Wardour advanced in silence by her father's side, whose recently offended dignity did not stoop to open any conversation. Following the windings of the beach, they passed one projecting point, or headland of rock, after

another, and now found themselves under a huge and continued extent of the precipices by which that ironbound coast is in most places defended. Long projecting reefs of rock, extending under water, and only evincing their existence by here and there a peak entirely bare, or by the breakers which foamed over those that were partially covered, rendered Knockwinnock Bay dreaded by pilots and shipmasters. The crags which rose between the beach and the mainland, to the height of two or three hundred feet, afforded in their crevices shelter for unnumbered sea-fowl, in situations seemingly secured by their dizzy height from the rapacity of man. Many of these wild tribes, with the instinct which sends them to seek the land before a storm arises, were now winging towards their nests with the shrill and dissonant clang which announces disquietude and fear. The disk of the sun became almost totally obscured ere he had altogether sunk below the horizon, and an early and lurid shade of darkness blotted the serene twilight of a summer evening. The wind began next to arise; but its wild and moaning sound was heard for some time, and its effects became visible on the bosom of the sea, before the gale was felt on shore. The mass of waters, now dark and threatening, began to lift itself in larger ridges, and sink in deeper furrows, forming waves that rose high in foam upon the breakers, or burst upon the beach with a sound resembling distant thunder. — From "The Antiquary."

THE DISCOVERY OF THE TOMB OF ROBERT THE BRUCE.

Such of the Scottish knights as remained alive returned to their own country. They brought back the

heart of the Bruce, and the bones of the good Lord James. These last were interred in the church of St. Bride, where Thomas Dickson and Douglas held so terrible a Palm Sunday. The Bruce's heart was buried below the high altar in Melrose Abbey. As for his body, it was laid in the sepulchre in the midst of the church of Dunfermline, under a marble stone. But the church becoming afterwards ruinous, and the roof falling down with age, the monument was broken to pieces, and nobody could tell where it stood. But a little while ago, when they were repairing the church at Dunfermline, and removing the rubbish, lo! they found fragments of the marble tomb of Robert Bruce. Then they began to dig farther, thinking to discover the body of this celebrated monarch; and at length they came to the skeleton of a tall man, and they knew it must be that of King Robert, both as he was known to have been buried in a winding sheet of cloth of gold, of which many fragments were found about this skeleton, and also because the breastbone appeared to have been sawn through, in order to take out the heart. So orders were sent from the King's Court of Exchequer to guard the bones carefully, until a new tomb should be prepared, into which they were laid with profound respect. A great many gentlemen and ladies attended, and almost all the common people in the neighborhood; and as the church could not hold half the numbers, the people were allowed to pass through it, one after another, that each one, the poorest as well as the richest, might see all that remained of the great King Robert Bruce, who restored the Scottish monarchy. Many people shed tears; for there was the wasted skull which once was the head