years he supported the Ministry of Earl Russell. In June 1850 he was thrown from his horse. His collar-bone was broken, and he died a few days afterwards.

15. Besides the adoption of Free Trade, his second Ministry was famous for a Bank Act passed in 1844, and for reforms in the tariff, or scale of duties on articles of merchandise. His work as a financial reformer was taken up and carried out by his pupil and follower, Mr. W. E. Gladstone.

ar-du-ous, severe; hard.
con-ver-sion, change of opinion.
de-fec-tion, falling away; desertion.
de-signed', planned.
de-võt-ed, applied.
[famous.
dis-tin-guished, signalized; made

1 Cashel'. A small town of Tip-| perary, in Ireland, 49 miles north-east of Cork.

2 Five Acts.-Acts bringing together the laws relating to the prevention and punishment of crime. In them many

ex-pe-ri-ence, practice; knowledge.
gen-er-al-ly, by most people.
hu-man-i-ty, kindness of heart.
mer-chan-dise, commerce.
rep-u-ta-tion, fame.
se-lect-ed, chosen.

cruel sentences were abolished, and prisoners were treated humanely.

3 Catholic Emancipation.-The abolition of the law which excluded Roman Catholics from the House of Commons.

60.-FUNERAL OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

[Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, the greatest English General since Marlborough, died in 1852, at the age of 83. His great achievement was the expulsion of the French from Spain, which he effected by a series of brilliant victories extending over seven campaigns (1809-1814). This success was crowned by the victory of Waterloo in 1815. That was his last battle. His career as a statesman then began. He became Premier in 1828. Though a Tory, he agreed to Catholic Emancipation; but he opposed Parliamentary Reform. In his later years he ceased to be an active partisan in politics, and he was the impartial and trusted counsellor of the Queen until his death. His funeral procession (November 18, 1852), from Apsley House, Piccadilly, to St. Paul's Cathedral, was one of the most imposing pageants ever witnessed in England.]

1. No sounds of labour 'vexed the quiet air

From morn till eve. The people all stood still,

And Earth won back a Sabbath.1 There were none
Who cared to buy and sell, and make a gain,

For one whole day. All felt as they had lost
A father, and were 'fain to keep within,
Silent, or speaking little. Such a day

An old man sees but once in all his time.

2. The simplest peasant in the land that day
Knew somewhat of his country's grief. He heard
The 'knell of England's Hero from the tower
Of the old church, and asked the cause, and sighed.
The veteran who had bled on some far field,
Fought o'er the battle for the thousandth time2
With 'quaint addition; and the little child.
That stopped his sport to run and ask his sire
What it all meant, picked out the simple tale—
How he who drove the French from Waterloo,
And crushed the Tyrant of the world, and made
His country great and glorious-he was dead.
All, from the simplest to the 'stateliest, knew
But one sad story—from the cotter's bairn
Up to the fair-haired Lady on the throne,
Who sat within and sorrowed for her friend;
And every tear she shed became her well,
And seemed more lovely in her people's eyes
Than all the starry wonders of her crown.

3. But, as the waters of the Northern Sea

(When one strong wind blows steady from the pole)
Come hurrying to the shore, and far and wide
As eye can reach the creaming waves press on
Impatient; or, as trees that bow their tops
One way, when Alpine hollows bring one way
The blast whereat they 'quiver in the vale—
So millions pressed to swell the general grief
One way;-for once all men seemed one way drawn;

Or if, through evil hap and unforeseen,

Some stayed behind, their hearts, at least, were there
The whole day through-could think of nothing else,
Hear nothing else, see nothing!

In his cell

The student saw the 'pageant; spied from far

The long-drawn pomp which reached from west to east,
Slow moving in the silence-casque and plume
And banner waving sad; the marvellous state
Of heralds, soldiers, nobles, foreign powers,3
With baton, or with pennon; princes, peers,
Judges, and dignitaries of Church and State,
And warriors grown gray-headed;—every form
Which greatness can assume or honour name,
Peaceful or warlike-each and all were there;
Trooping in sable sorrow after him

Who slept serene upon his funeral car5

In glorious rest!......A child might understand
That 'twas no national sorrow, but a grief
Wide as the world. A child might understand
That all mankind were sorrowing for one!
That banded nations had 'conspired to pay
This homage to the Chief who drew his sword
At the command of Duty; kept it bright

Through perilous days; and soon as Victory smiled,
Laid it, 'unsullied, in the lap of Peace.

1 A Sabbath.-A day of rest, during which the every-day business of the world was suspended.

2 Fought o'er the battle for the thousandth time.-Not unlike the description of the veteran in Goldsmith's Deserted Village, who

5 His funeral car. This was a gigantic vehicle, 27 feet long and 17 feet high. The foundation, which

Above this was a richly gilt bier, in

66 Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of rested on six wheels, was of bronze. sorrow done, Shouldered his crutch, and showed the panels of which were inscribed the

how fields were won."

3 Soldiers....foreign powers. The funeral was attended by members of every regiment in the British Army, and by representatives of all the European Powers.

names of the hero's famous victories. On the top of the bier, resting on a velvet pall, was the coffin, surmounted by the Duke's hat and sword. Over all was a magnificent canopy. The car was drawn by twelve splendid horses.

1. The long peace was at length broken when war was declared by England and France against Russia, in defence of the Sultan of Turkey, whose provinces north of the Danube had been seized by a Russian army. The Turks had, by a number of 'gallant efforts, driven the Russians back, when 5,000 Turks were massacred by the Russian fleet at Sinope.1

2. The English and French fleets then sailed to the Black Sea, and their armies invaded the Crimea.2 A battle was fought on the banks of the little river Alma, in which the Allies gained a great victory over the Russians. They then laid siege to Sebastopol, the great Russian 'stronghold on the Black Sea.

1854

A.D.

3. During the siege the Russians made a fierce attack on the Allies in the valley of Balaklava, but without success. In this battle the famous charge of the Light Brigade took place. By a mistaken order, six hundred horsemen charged a much larger body of the enemy, to save a

few guns from being taken. Barely two hundred returned.

4

4. Very shortly followed the bloody Battle of Inkermann, which lasted twelve hours, and in which 14,000 English and French defeated 50,000 Russians.

5. The next battle was fought in the valley of the Tchernaya,5 in the summer of 1855. The Sardinians, who had joined the Allies with an army of 15,000 men, were attacked by the Russians in great 'force; but, being helped by the French, they drove them back with much slaughter.

6. Meanwhile the siege of Sebastopol had been slowly but surely carried on; and now the 'final attack began. Day after day shot and shell were poured into the town from the guns of the allied armies, setting fire to buildings, blowing up powder-magazines, and killing the enemy to the number of a thousand a-day.

1855

A.D.

7. At length one night, under cover of the darkness, the Russian general drew off his troops in fine order, set the town on fire, broke down the bridge across the river, and sank all the vessels of war in the harbour. The allied armies entered the town next day, but found little else than a heap of blackened ruins.

1856

8. It is said that during this terrible siege, which lasted nearly a year, there fell, of Russians, English, French, and Sardinians, no fewer than 100,000 men. Russia now sought peace; and a 'treaty was signed at Paris.

A.D.

9. These troubles were hardly over, when the