had set his bags of wind adrift, pellmell, to gambol about this windy metropolis. The most stanch and loyal citizens, however, always went according to the weathercock on the top of the governor's house,-which was certainly the most correct, as he had a trusty servant employed every morning to climb up and point it whichever way the wind blew. In those good days of simplicity and sunshine, a passion for cleanliness was the leading principle in domestic economy, and the universal test of an able housewife, a character which formed the utmost ambition of our unenlightened grandmothers. 3. The front door was never opened except on marriages, funerals, New Year's day, the festival of St. Nicholas, or some such great occasion. It was ornamented with a gorgeous brass knocker curiously wrought, sometimes into the device of a dog, and sometimes of a lion's head, and was daily burnished with such religious zeal that it was ofttimes worn out by the very precautions taken for its preservation. The whole house was constantly in a state of inundation, under the discipline of mops, and brooms, and scrubbing-brushes; and the good housewives of those days were a sort of amphibious animal, delighting exceedingly to be dabbling in water, insomuch that a historian of the day gravely tells us that many of his townswomen grew to have webbed fingers like unto a duck: but this I look upon to be a mere sport of fancy, or, what is worse, a wilful misrepresentation. 4. The grand parlor was the sanctum sanctorum, where the passion for cleaning was indulged without control. In this sacred apartment no one was permitted to enter excepting the mistress and her confidential maid, who visited it once a week for the purpose of giving it a thorough cleaning and putting things to rights, always taking the precaution of leaving their shoes at the door and entering devoutly on their stocking feet. After scrubbing the floor, sprinkling it with fine sand,-which was curiously stroked into angles, and curves, and rhomboids, with a broom,after washing the windows, rubbing and polishing the furniture, and putting a new bunch of evergreens in the fireplace, the window-shutters were again closed to keep out the flies, and the room carefully locked up until the revolution of time brought round the weekly cleaning-day. 5. In those happy days, a well-regulated family always rose with the dawn, dined at eleven, and went to bed at sundown. Dinner was invariably a private meal, and the fat old burghers showed incontestable symptoms of disapprobation and uneasiness at being surprised by a visit from a neighbor on such occasions. But, though our worthy ancestors were thus singularly averse to giving dinners, yet they kept up the social bonds of intimacy by occasional banquetings, called tea-parties. These fashionable parties were generally confined to the higher classes, or noblesse ; that is to say, such as kept their own cows and drove their own wagons. 6. The company commonly assembled at three o'clock, and went away about six, unless it was in winter-time, when the fashionable hours were a little earlier, that the ladies might get home before dark. I do not find that they ever treated their company to iced creams, jellies, or syllabubs, or regaled them with musty almonds, mouldy raisins, or sour oranges, as is often done in the present age of refinement. Our ancestors were fond of more sturdy, substantial fare. The tea-table was crowned with a huge earthen dish well stored with slices of fat pork, fried brown, cut into morsels and swimming in gravy. 7. The company, being seated around the genial board, and each furnished with a fork, evinced their dexterity in launching at the fattest pieces of this mighty dish, in much the same manner as sailors harpoon porpoises at sea, or our Indians spear salmon in the lakes. Sometimes the table was graced with immense apple-pies, or saucers full of preserved peaches and pears; but it was always sure to boast of an enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough fried in hog's fat, and called dough-nuts, or oly-koeks, a delicious kind of cake, at present scarce known in this city, excepting in genuine Dutch families. The tea was served out of a majestic delft tea-pot, ornamented with paintings of fat little Dutch shepherds and shepherdesses tending pigs,with boats sailing in the air, and houses built in the clouds, and sundry other Dutch fantasies. 8. The beaux distinguished themselves by their adroitness in replenishing this pot from a huge copper tea-kettle, which would have made the pigmy macaronies of these degenerate days sweat merely to look at it. To sweeten the beverage, a lump of sugar was laid beside each cup, and the company alternately nibbled and sipped with great decorum. until an improvement was introduced by a shrewd and economic old lady, which was to suspend a large lump directly over the tea-table by a string from the ceiling, so that it could be swung from mouth to mouth,—an ingenious expedient, which is still kept up by some families in Albany, but which prevails without exception in Communipaw, Bergen, Flat-Bush, and all our uncontaminated Dutch villages. LESSON LXIII. CŒUR-DE-LION AT THE GRAVE OF HIS FATHER. BY MRS. HEMANS. RICHARD, surnamed Coeur-de-Lion, was the second son of Henry II., King of England. On several occasions he united with his brothers in a rebellion against his father, and at length openly joined the King of France. War ensued; and, immediately after its close, King Henry died of a lingering fever, which was induced by the fatigues of war and the unnatural conduct of his sons. Richard visited his father's corpse the day after his death, and expressed great remorse at his rebellious conduct. 1. TORCHES were blazing clear, Hymns pealing deep and slow, In a church of Fontevraud. Banners of battle o'er him hung, And warriors slept beneath, And light, as noon's broad light, was flung 2. On the settled face of death Though dimm'd at times by the censer's breath, Yet it fell still brightest there, As if each deeply-furrow'd trace Of earthly years to show. Alas! that scepter'd mortal's race 3. The marble floor was swept By many a long dark stole', As the kneeling priests', round him that slept', And solemn were the strains they pour'd Through the stillness of the night, With the cross above, and the crown and sword, 4. There was heard a heavy clang, As of steel-girt men the tread, And the tombs and the hollow pavement rang And the holy chant was hush'd a while, A gleam of arms up the sweeping aisle, 5. He came with haughty look, But his proud heart through its breast-plate shook He stood there still with a drooping brow, 6. And silently he strove With the workings of his breast'; For his face was seen by his warrior-train, 7. He look'd upon the dead, And sorrow seem'd to lie A weight of sorrow, even like lead- He stoop'd and kiss'd the frozen cheek Till bursting words, yet all too weak, 8. "O father is it vain, This late remorse and deep? Were but this work undone, I would give England's crown', my sire', 9. "Speak to me! mighty grief Ere now the dust hath stirr'd! Hear me, but hear me'!-father, chief, Hush'd, hush'd-how is it that I call, 10. "Thy silver hairs I see'; 11. "Thou wert the noblest king And thou didst wear in knightly ring, Of all', the stateliest mien'; And thou didst prove, where spears are proved, In war the bravest heart; Oh, ever the renown'd and loved Thou wert, and there thou art` ! 12. "Thou that my boyhood's guide How will that sad still face of thine Look on me till I die !" LESSON LXIV. EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH ON THE TRIAL OF A MURDERER. BY DANIEL WEBSTER. In some 1. GENTLEMEN, this is a most extraordinary case. respects, it has hardly a precedent anywhere, certainly, none in our New England history. This bloody drama exhibited no suddenly excited, ungovernable rage. The actors in it were not surprised by any lion-like temptation springing upon their virtue, overcoming it before resistance could begin. Nor did they do |