The root and leaves of the plantain are slightly bitter and astringent, occasionally a little saline. The long-spiked plantain (Plantago major), of which a representation is given in Fig. 202,

The Plumbaginaceae are herbs or shrubs, having leaves which are radical, fasciculated, or alternate, cauline, and ex-stipulate. The flowers are complete, disposed in spike, or panicle, or dense involucrum. Calyx monosepalous, tubular, arranged in five folds, or else five-partite, persistent. The corolla is composed of five petals, sometimes free, or nearly free, occasionally aggre

200. LEAF OF UTRICULARIA

and other species, were formerly remedies of great repute in the treatment of intermittent fever, but they have now fallen into disuse. The stag-horned plantain (Plantago coronopus) was formerly employed by the ancients as a remedy for hydrophobia, but it is only now used in certain parts of Europe as a salad.

SECTION LV.-PLUMBAGINACEAE, OR LEADWORTS. Characteristics: Calyx free; corolla hypogynous, monopetalous, or polypetalous; stamens inserted upon the receptacle of the monopetalous tribes, and upon the corolla of those which are polypetalous; ovary unilocular; ovule solitary, pendent;

gated, contorted, or imbricated in æstivation. The five stamens are opposite to the petals; ovary with three, or four, or five carpels, joined by their edges into one single cell; ovule reflexed, pendent from a funiculus, or slender thread, springing from the lower part of the cell; style divided into three, four, or five stigmas; fruit sometimes dividing into five valves at its summit, sometimes opening at its base.

A representation of the Statice imbricata, a native of Teneriffe, is given in Fig. 203. The little plant called thrift, frequently used as an edging instead of box, is a member of this natural order.

READING AND ELOCUTION.-XXV.

A-BASES CN EXPRESSIVE TONE (concluded). Malibang is an extract from a debate for young speakers,

sissa sill exercise in elocution :—

XIX. CHARACTER OF JULIUS CÆSAR. FIRST SPEAKER.- Was Cresar a great man ?"-What revolution has a the first appointed government of the universe-what ppose principle has begun to direct the operations of wila meitation of their long-established precepts has deprived ason of lut centre, and virtue of her throne, that a character which east theme that ever merit gave to fame, should now 60 de & [st on for debate? No of heman excellence, if he would draw the features of tabros Yaracter, need study a favourable light or striking attitude. very sestare it has majesty; and the lineaments of its beauty are The valeria® (@ every point of view.

seraily-received opinion, that uncommon circumstances mon men: Caesar was an uncommon man in common cirThe colossal mind commands your admiration, no less ate's captive, than in the victor at Pharsalia. Who but the is race could have made vassals of his savage masters, mocked Ye to reverence of a superior nature, and threatened, with security, Of all the striking incidents wer that held him at its mercy?

r's life, had history preserved for us but this single one, it wt have been sufficient to make us fancy all the rest at least, we should have said, "Such a man was born to conquest, and to {"

To expatiate on Caesar's powers of oratory, would only be to add Cicero one poor eulogium to the testimony of the first historians. himself grants him the palm of almost pre-eminent merit; and seems His voice was at a loss for words to express his admiration of him. musical, his delivery energetic, his language chaste and rich, approprate and peculiar. And it is well presumed that, had he studied the art of public speaking with as much industry as he studied the art of war, he would have been the first of orators. Quintilian says, he would have been the only man capable of combating Cicero; but granting them to have been equal in ability, what equal contest could the timid Cicero-whose nerves fail him, and whose tongue falters when the forum glitters with arms-what equal contest could he have held with the man whose vigour chastised the Belgae, and annihilated the Nervii, that maintained their ground till they were hewn to pieces on the spot ?

His abilities as a master of composition were undoubtedly of the first order. How admirable is the structure of his Commentaries! What perspicuity and animation are there in the details! You fancy yourself upon the field of action! You follow the development of his plans with the liveliest curiosity! You look on with unwearied attention, as he fortifies his camp or invests his enemy, or crosses the impetuous torrent! You behold his legions, as they move forward from different points to the line of battle! You bear the shout of the onset, and the crash of the encounter; and, breathless with suspense, mark every fluctuation of the awful tide of war!

As a politician, how consummate was his address!-how grand his projections!-how happy the execution of his measures! He governs his province with such equity and wisdom, as add a milder but a fairer lustre to his glory, and by their fame prepare the Roman people for his happy yoke. Upon the very eve of his rupture with Pompey, he sends back, on demand, the borrowed legions; covering with rewards the soldiers that may no longer serve him, and whose weapons on the morrow may be turned against his breast-presenting here a noble example of his respect of right, and of that magnanimity which maintains that gratitude should not cease, though benefits are discontinued. When he reigns sole master of the Roman world, how temperate is his triumph-how scrupulous his respect for the very forms of the laws! He discountenances the profligacy of the patricians, and endeavours to preserve the virtue of the state by laying wholesome restraints upon luxury. He encourages the arts and sciences, patronises genius and talent, respects religion and justice, and puts in practice every means that can contribute to the welfare, the happiness, and the stability of the empire.

It is unnecessary to recount the military exploits of Cæsar. Why should I compel your attention to follow him, for the hundredth time, through hostile myriads, yielding at every encounter to the force of his invincible arms? As a captain, he was the first of warriors; nor were his valour and skill more admirable than his abstinence and watchfulness, his disregard of ease and his endurance of labour, his moderation and his mercy. Perhaps, indeed, this last quality forms the most dominant feature in his character; and proves, by the consequences of its excess, that virtue itself requires restraint, and has its proper bounds, which it ought not to exceed-for Cæsar's moderation was his ruin!

That Cæsar had a heart susceptible of friendship, and alive to the finest touches of humanity, is unquestionable. Why does he attempt so often to avert the storm of civil war? Why does he pause so long upon the brink of the Rubicon? Why does he weep when he beholds

the head of his unfortunate rival? Why does he delight in pardoning his enemies-even those very men that had deserted him?

It seems as if he lived the lover of mankind, and fell-as the bard expresses it-vanquished, not so much by the weapons as by the ingratitude of his murderers.

If a combination of the most splendid talents for war with the most sacred love of peace-of the most illustrious public virtue with the most endearing private worth-of the most unyielding courage with the most accessible moderation, may constitute a great man, that title

must be Cæsar's!

SECOND SPEAKER.-No change has taken place in the first appointed government of the universe; the operations of nature acknowledge now the same principle that they did in the beginning; Reason still holds her sceptre, Virtue still fills her throne; and the epithet of great does not belong to Cæsar!

man!

I would lay it down, as an unquestionable position, that the worth of talents is to be estimated only by the use we make of them. If we employ them in the cause of virtue, their value is great; if we employ them in the cause of vice, they are less than worthless-they are pernicious and vile. Now let us examine Cæsar's talents by this principle, and we shall find, that neither as an orator nor as a politician-neither as a warrior nor as a friend-was Caesar a great If I were asked, "What was the first, the second, and the last principle of the virtuous mind ?" I should reply, "It was the love of country." It was the love of parent, brother, friend!-the love of MAN!-the love of honour, virtue, and religion!-the love of every good and virtuous deed! I say, then, if I were asked, "What was the first, the second, and the last principle of the virtuous mind?” I should reply, "It was the love of country!" Without it man is the basest of his kind!-a selfish, cunning, narrow speculator!-a trader in the dearest interests of his species!-reckless of every tie of nature, sentiment, affection! What was Cæsar's oratory ?—How far did it prove him to be actuated by the love of country? It justified for political interest the invader of his honour!-sheltered the incendiary!-abetted treason!-flattered the people into their own undoing!-assailed the liberties of his country, and bawled into silence every virtuous patriot that struggled to uphold them! He would have been a greater orator than Cicero ! I question the assertion-I deny that it is correct!-He would have been a greater orator than Cicero ! Well let it pass-he might have been a greater orator, but he never could have been so great a man. Which way soever he directed his talents, the same inordinate ambition would have led to the same results; and had he devoted himself to the study of oratory, his tongue had produced the same effects as his sword, and equally desolated the human kingdom.

But Cæsar is to be admired as a politician! I do not pretend to define the speaker's idea of a politician; but I shall attempt to put you in possession of mine. By a politician, I understand a man who studies the laws of prudence and of justice as they are applicable to the wise and happy government of a people, and the reciprocal obliga tions of states. Now, how far was Cæsar to be admired as a politician? He makes war upon the innocent Spaniards, that his military talents may not suffer from inaction. This was a ready way to preserve the peace of his province, and to secure its loyalty and affection! That he may be recorded as the first Roman that had ever crossed the Rhine in a hostile manner, he invades the unoffending Germans, lays waste their territories with fire, and plunders and sacks their country. Here was a noble policy !-that planted in the minds of a brave and formidable people the fatal seeds of that revenge and hatred which finally assisted in accomplishing the destruction of the Roman empire! In short, Cæsar's views were not of that enlarged nature which could entitle him to the name of a great politician; for he studied not the happiness and interest of a community, but merely his own advancement, which he accomplished-by violating the laws and destroying the liberties of his country.

That Caesar was a great conqueror, I do not care to dispute. His admirers are welcome to all the advantages that result from such a position. I will not subtract one victim from the hosts that perished for his fame; or abate, by a single groan, the sufferings of his vanquished enemies. But I will avow it to be my opinion, that the character of a great conqueror does not necessarily constitute that of a great man; nor can the recital of Cæsar's victories produce any other impression upon my mind than what proceeds from the contemplation of those convulsions of the earth, which in a moment inundate with ruin the plains of fertility and the abodes of peace; or, at one shock, convert whole cities into the graves of their living population!

But Cæsar's munificence, his clemency, his moderation, and his affectionate nature, constitute him a great man! What was his mu nificence, his clemency, or his moderation?-the automaton of his ambition! It knew no aspiration from the Deity. It was a thing from the hands of the mechanician!—an ingenious mockery of nature! Its action seemed spontaneous-its look argued a soul-but all the virtue lay in the finger of the operator. He could possess no real munificence, moderation, or clemency, who ever expected his gifts to

be doubled by return-who never abstained, but with a view to excess; nor spared, but for the indulgence of rapacity.-Knowles.

The following tract on the mission and duty of the man of learning affords a fitting conclusion to our Lessons in "Reading and Elocution: "

XX. THE SCHOLAR'S MISSION.

The wants of our time and country, the constitution of our modern society, our whole position-personal and relative-forbid a life of mere scholarship or literary pursuits to the great majority of those who go out from our colleges. However it may have been in other times, and other lands, here and now, but few of our educated men are privileged

"From the loopholes of retreat

To look upon the world, to hear the sound

Of the great Babel, and not feel its stir."

Society has work for us, and we must forth to do it. Full early and hastily we must gird on the manly gown, gather up the loose leaves and scanty fragments of our youthful lore, and go out among men, to act with them and for them. It is a practical age; and our Wisdom, such as it is, "must strive and cry, and utter her voice in the streets, standing in the places of the paths, crying in the chief place of concourse, at the entry of the city, and the coming in at the doors." This state of things, though not suited to the tastes and qualities of all, is not, on the whole, to be regretted by educated men as such. It is not in literary production only, or chiefly, that educated mind finds fit expression, and fulfils its mission in honour and beneficence. In the great theatre of the world's affairs, there is a worthy and a sufficient sphere. Society needs the well-trained, enlarged, and cultivated intellect of the scholar in its midst!-needs it, and welcomes it, and gives it a place, or, by its own capacity, it will take a place of honour, influence, and power. The youthful scholar has no occasion to deplore the fate that is soon to tear him from his studies, and cast him into the swelling tide of life and action. None of his disciplinary and enriching culture will be lost, or useless, even there. Every hour of study, every truth he has reached, and the toilsome process by which he reached it; the heightened grace or vigour of thought or speech he has acquired-all shall tell fully, nobly, if he will give heed to the conditions. And one condition, the prime one, is, that he be a true man, and recognise the obligation of a man, and go forth with heart and will, and every gift and acquirement dedicated, lovingly and resolutely, to the true and the right. These are the terms; and apart from these there is no success, no influence to be had which an ingenuous mind can desire, or which a sound and far-seeing mind would dare to seek.

Indeed, it is not an easy thing, nay, it is not a possible thing, to obtain a substantial success, and an abiding influence, except on these terms. A factitious popularity, a transient notoriety, or, in the case of shining talents, the doom of a damning fame, may fall to bad men. But an honoured name, enduring influence, a sun brightening on through its circuit, more and more, even to its serene setting-this boon of a true success goes never to intellectual qualities alone. It gravitates slowly but surely to weight of character, to intellectual ability rooted in principle.-George Putnam.

LESSONS IN MUSIC.-XIII. RELATION OF NOTES, ETC. (continued). THE admired glee-writer, Webb, whose name is second to none in the department of popular vocal music, in his solfeggio exercises and instructions in singing, adopts, as a matter of course, the "movable DOH;" Dr. Crotch, a great musical authority, used the same method in his "Elements of Composition," published A.D. 1812; and Mr. W. Forde, author of one of the most popular English works on the Art of Singing at Sight" (published by Cocks and Co.), follows their example. If other authorities are required, we would gladly leave our appeal with such men as Mr. Graham, of Edinburgh, the author of the article "Music" in the last edition of the " Encyclopædia Britannica;" Mr. Hogarth, distinguished as a writer on musical history; Colonel P. Thompson, the profound writer on musical acoustics; Mr. Hickson, the father of English school music; and Mr. Lowell Mason, the eminent American composer and teacher. Ask any one, who can really sing at sight, how he came to do so, and he will tell you: "By measuring interval from the key-note, and keeping the key-note in the eye throughout the tune." Such a person will at once acknowledge the importance of having a distinct name (DOH) for that keynote, and of naming all the other notes by their relation to it. 6. "In teaching," says Mr. Hickson, "the art of sight-singing, an art rarely taught by Italian professors, whose fashionable pupils only sing to the harp or pianoforte, there is but one mode of using the solfeggio syllables in which they can be of the

slightest use; that is, by adhering to the rule laid down by Rousseau, and followed by many of the best of our English choral teachers, of identifying them, not with the fixed sounds, expressed by the letters, but with the intervals of the diatonic scale, 'DOH' in every key representing the key-note 'RE,' the second of the scale, etc. We have already shown that the art of reading music at sight depends upon the ability to recognise at a glance the intervals of the scale, in whatever key they may be written; that is to say, to distinguish at once, not which is A or B, but which is the key-note, which is the 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc. It will therefore at once be seen that Forde, by adopting Rousseau's rule for using the solfeggio syllables, as names for the intervals, converts them into a most profitable exercise, an exercise which compels the pupil to study the intervals in every bar he sings, and to give up guessing. Great confusion and perplexity are introduced by the opposite method. We have pointed out the different properties of the fourth and the seventh, the one tending downwards and the other upwards; yet although [the pitch note] F may sometimes be the fourth and at other times the seventh, according to the key, and although F in the key of c differs half a tone from F in the key of G, it is always, we are told, to be called FA!"

Two notes OPPOSED to one another in mental effect, and DIFFERING in pitch, yet called by the SAME name, and in connection with a system that prides itself on its educational “

Fa

Fourth of the Scale.

METHOD."

Fa Seventh of the Scale.

"We think it must be obvious," continues Mr. Hickson, "that the solfeggio syllables, thus employed, tend to mislead the pupil rather than assist him in learning the art of sightsinging. It is using words, as a lawyer would say, in the sense Perhaps the most marked practical adof a suggestio falsi.' vantage of the tonic (or key-note) method of solfa-ing is that it establishes in the ear of the pupil a complete association of interval and syllable. So that the syllables become not only an unchanging language of interval, useful in connection with the whole study of music, however far it may be carried, but also a guide and prompter in the art of striking interval with accuracy and certainty. Thus, if the syllables ME, FAH are frequently sung to a "semitone" (or tonule), the mind soon learns to associate that interval with those syllables, so that the very attempt to pronounce the syllable shall call up into the mind the interval to which they have so often been sung. In this way our syllables become invaluable aids and interpreters. We continually hear from singers in various parts of the country such expressions as this: "When I come to any very knotty passage, or one with difficult transitions in the choral part' I have to sing, I invariably, now, translate it into the sol-fa language, and then it is impossible not to sing it correctly." But, on the other, the fixed plan, a pupil is, with great painstaking, through half his course (for full thirty lessons in one book) made to associate ME, FAH with a semitone," and then is made to spend most of the other half of his course in learning to alter that association, and sing ME, FAH in the new keys to a whole tone! First work hard to do a thing, and then work hard to undo it! What a clever and admirably arranged educational method it is!

7. We take this opportunity of giving our reason for accompanying the established notation with a constant interpreter, in the new notation placed between the staves. The truth is that the old notation, being used perhaps chiefly in connection with instruments, sets forth the pitch of a note (the thing the ordinary instrumentalist wants) in a most clear, distinct, and pictorial manner, but leaves key-relationship (that which the vocalist requires to be the first and most obvious thing to meet the eye, and which is by far the most important thing in the science of music itself), but dimly expressed. Hence the vast variety of sol-fa systems, figure systems, tetrachordal systems, etc., which have sprung up, every good teacher feeling the necessity of marking the key-note and the notes related to it more visibly. The most successful modern teachers of sight-singing have adopted a similar plan. Thus the Rev. J. J. Waite, who has taught some thousands of English people how to sing, has done so by means of an interpreting notation of figures placed

under the other notes, figure 1 standing for the key-note, 2 for the next, etc. We have watched Mr. Waite's pupils, and have found them singing, not from the crotchets and quavers on the staff, but from the figures below, which they find incomparably easier, because those figures are to them a notation of key-relationship. In Scotland, the well-known educational writer and publisher, Mr. Gall of Edinburgh, has adopted a figure notation for many years; and in Ireland we find Dr. Bryce using both the figures and the sol-fa syllables, in his exercises, to set forth the relation of notes, while the old notation sets forth the pitch. For the present we shall do the same, but soon we shall teach our pupils to do without the syllables, and to use intelligently the established notation alone.

We have written these paragraphs in order to set ourselves

right with those who have been misled with the false notions of music which are so common among persons who possess that "little knowledge" of it which "is a dangerous thing." We trust that they are at least satisfied that we feel ourselves engaged in a most strenuous and earnest endeavour to diffuse a knowledge of sight-singing by means of the mighty power which the circulation of the POPULAR EDUCATOR gives, and we do not doubt that we shall to a large extent succeed. Our pupils will now study with care the following exercises on the mental effects of DOH, ME, and soн. Let them be as scrupulous as ever in the self-discipline of learning the tune, piecemeal, by "heart" (or by "hear it," as Cobbett used to explain the word), until they can sol-fa it all by memory, pointing on the modulator the while.