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So he spake, and, speaking, sheathed
The good sword by his side,

And with his harness on his back
Plunged headlong in the tide.

22. No sound of joy or sorrow

Was heard from either bank;
But friends and foes, in dumb surprise,
With parted lips and straining eyes,
Stood gazing where he sank;
And when above the surges
They saw his crest appear,

All Rome sent forth a rapturous cry,
And even the ranks of Tuscany
Could scarce forbear to cheer.

23. But fiercely ran the current,

Swollen high by months of rain;
And fast his blood was flowing,
And he was sore in pain,

And heavy with his armor,

And spent with changing blows;
And oft they thought him sinking,
But still again he rose.

24. "Curse on him!" quoth false Sextus; "Will not the villain drown?

But for this stay, ere close of day

We should have sacked the town!"
"Heaven help him!" quoth Lars Porsena,
"And bring him safe to shore;

For such a gallant feat of arms
Was never seen before."

25. And now he feels the bottom;
Now on dry earth he stands;

Now round him throng the Fathers
To press his gory hands;

And now, with shouts and clapping,
And noise of weeping loud,
He enters through the River-gate,
Borne by the joyous crowd.

26. And in the nights of winter,

When the cold north winds blow,
And the long howling of the wolves
Is heard amidst the snow;
When round the lonely cottage
Roars loud the tempest's din,
And the good logs of Algidus
Roar louder yet within;

27. When the oldest cask is opened,
And the largest lamp is lit;

When the chestnuts glow in the embers,
And the kid turns on the spit;
When young and old in circle

Around the firebrands close;
When the girls are weaving baskets,
And the lads are shaping bows ;

28. When the goodman mends his armor, And trims his helmet's plume; When the goodwife's shuttle merrily Goes flashing through the loom,—

With weeping and with laughter

Still is the story told

How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.

DEFINITIONS.-1. Eon'sul, one of the two chief magistrates of Rome. 3. Strait, narrow. 6. Här'ness, armor. Fä'thers, senators of ancient Rome. 8. Văn'ğuärd, the troops who march in front of an army. 13. Děft'ly, dexterously. 15. Au'gurs, those who pretended to foretell future events by omens. 18. Tur'ret, a little tower. 20. Deign'ing, condescending. Păl a ti'nus, one of the seven hills of Rome. 24. Săcked, plundered.

NOTES.-Hō rā'tius, surnamed €ō'eleş, "the one-eyed," on account of the loss of an eye. Polybius the historian relates that he defended the bridge alone and perished in the Tiber.

4. Răm'ni an, Ti'tian. The Romans were divided into three tribes,the Ramnes, who claimed descent from Romulus; the Tities, from Tatius, the Sabine king; and the Luceres, from Lucumo, an Etruscan chief who had assisted the Romans in their war with the Sabines.

7. Tus'ean. Tuscany, Lucca, and that part of the Roman States on the right bank of the Tiber formed what was known as Etruria.

11. Lord of Lu'na. Luna was an Etruscan city, about four miles from what is now known as the Gulf of Spezia. Luna was celebrated for its quarries of white marble, now called Carrara.

12. The she-wolf's litter alludes to the story that Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were exposed like the "Babes in the Wood," and saved by a wolf, who suckled them.

19. Sex'tus, the son of Tarquin, the last king of Rome. They were both banished by the Romans on account of their crimes.

19. Lärs Pôr'se nå, or Por sen'ni, King of the Etruscan town of Clusium. The Tarquins had taken refuge with this king, who marched a vast army against Rome in order to restore them.

26. Ăl'ji dus, a range of wood-covered mountains near Rome.

47. THE HAUNTED HOUSE.

THOMAS HOOD was born in London in 1798. He began to write when only seventeen years of age. Most of his writings were contributions to magazines or other periodicals, but he also wrote several novels. He was a very accurate observer, and a man of peculiar and original genius. He had great power both as a serious poet and as a humorist, more especially in that lower form of humor which has given him an unrivaled reputation as a punster. His Bridge of Sighs and Song of the Shirt are among the most perfect examples of pathos in the language. He died May 3, 1845.

1. SOME dreams we have are nothing else but dreams,-
Unnatural and full of contradictions:
Yet others of our most romantic schemes
Are something more than fictions.

2. It might be only on enchanted ground;

It might be merely by a thought's expansion,
But in the spirit, or the flesh, I found
An old deserted mansion,

3. A residence for woman, child, and man,—

A dwelling-place, and yet no habitation;
A house, but under some prodigious ban
Of excommunication.

4. Unhinged, the iron gates half open hung,
Jarred by the gusty gales of many winters,
That from its crumbled pedestal had flung
One marble globe in splinters.

5. No dog was at the threshold, great or small; No pigeon on the roof,--no household creature ; No cat demurely dozing on the wall;

Not one domestic feature.

6. No human figure stirred, to go or come;

No face looked forth from shut or open casement; No chimney smoked: there was no sign of home From parapet to basement.

7. With shattered panes the grassy court was starred ; The time-worn coping-stone had tumbled after; And through the ragged roof the sky shone, barred With naked beam and rafter.

8. O'er all there hung a shadow and a fear;
A sense of mystery the spirit daunted,
And said, as plain as whisper in the ear,
The place is haunted.

d;

9. The flower grew wild and rankly as the weed
Roses with thistles struggled for espial ;
And vagrant plants of parasitic breed
Had overgrown the dial.

10. But, gay or gloomy, steadfast or infirm,

No heart was there to heed the hour's duration;
All times and tides were lost in one long term
Of stagnant desolation.

11. The wren had built within the porch, she found Its quiet loneliness so sure and thorough ; And on the lawn-within its turfy moundThe rabbit made his burrow.

12. The wary crow, the pheasant from the woods,
Lulled by the still and everlasting sameness,
Close to the mansion, like domestic broods,
Fed with a "shocking tameness."

13. The coot was swimming in the reedy pond
Beside the water-hen, so soon affrighted;
And in the weedy moat the heron, fond
Of solitude, alighted,-

14. The moping heron, motionless and stiff,
That on a stone, as silently and stilly,
Stood, an apparent sentinel, as if

To guard the water-lily.

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