and ready to drain my vital current in your behalf. Neither is it worth while to lay much stress on my claims to a medical diploma, as the physician whose simple rule of practice is preferable to all the nauseous lore which has found men sick, or left them so, since the days of Hippocrates. Let us take a broader view of my beneficial influence on mankind. No; these are trifles compared with the merits which wise men concede to me-if not in my single self, yet as the representative of a class-of being the grand reformer of the age. From my spout, and such spouts as mine, must flow the stream that shall cleanse our earth of the vast portion of its crime and anguish, which has gushed from the fiery fountains of the still. In this mighty enterprise the cow shall be my great confederate. Milk and water. The Town Pump and the Cow! Such is the glorious copartnership that shall tear down the distilleries and brewhouses, uproot the vineyards, shatter the ciderpresses, ruin the tea and coffee trade, and finally monopolise the whole business of quenching thirst. Blessed consummation! Then, poverty shall pass away from the land, finding no hovel so wretched, where her squalid form may shelter itself. Then disease, for lack of other victims, shall gnaw its own heart, and die. Then Sin, if she do not die, shall lose half her strength. Until now, the frenzy of hereditary fever has raged in the human blood, transmitted from sire to son, and rekindled, in every generation, by fresh draughts of liquid flame. When that inward fire shall be extinguished, the heat of passion cannot but grow cool, and war- -the drunkenness of nations-perhaps will At least, there will be no war of households. The husband and wife, drinking deep of peaceful joy ---a calm bliss of temperate affections-shall pass cease. hand in hand through life, and lie down, not reluctantly, at its protracted close. To them, the past will be no turmoil of mad dreams, nor the future an eternity of such moments as follow the delirium of the drunkard. Their dead faces shall express what their spirits were, and are to be, by a lingering smile of memory and hope. My Ahem! dry work, this speechifying; especially to an unpractised orator. I never conceived, till now, what toil the temperance lecturers undergo for my sake. Hereafter, they shall have the business to themselves. Do, some kind Christian, pump a stroke or two, just to wet my whistle. Thank you, sir! dear hearers, when the world shall have been regenerated by my instrumentality, you will collect your useless vats and liquor casks into one great pile, and make a bonfire in honour of the Town Pump. And when I shall have decayed, like my predecessors, then, if you revere my memory, let a marble fountain, richly sculptured, take my place upon the spot. Such monuments should be erected everywhere, and inscribed with the names of the distinguished champions of my cause. Now listen; for something very important is to come next. There are two or three honest friends of mineand true friends I know they are—who, nevertheless, by their fiery pugnacity in my behalf, do put me in fearful hazard of a broken nose, or even a total overthrow upon the pavement, and the loss of the treasure which I guard. I pray you, gentlemen, let this fault be amended. Is it decent, think you, to get tipsy with zeal for temperance, and take up the honourable cause of the Town Pump, in the style of a toper fighting for his brandy bottle? Or can the excellent qualities of cold water be no otherwise exemplified than by plunging, slap dash, into hot water, and woefully scalding yourself and other people? Trust me, they may. In the moral warfare which you are to wage— and indeed in the whole conduct of your lives-you cannot choose a better example than myself, who have never permitted the dust and sultry atmosphere, the turbulent and manifold disquietudes of the world around me, to reach that deep calm well of purity, which be called may And whenever I pour soul. my out that soul, it is to cool earth's fever, or cleanse its stains. One o'clock! Nay, then, if the dinner-bell begins to speak, I may as well hold my peace. Here comes a pretty young girl of my acquaintance, with a large stone pitcher for me to fill. May she draw a husband, while drawing her water, as Rachel did of old. Hold out your vessel, my dear! There it is full to the brim; so now run home, peeping at your sweet image in the pitcher as you go; and forget not, in a glass of my own liquor, to drink- "SUCCESS TO THE TOWN PUMP." HAWTHORNE. HOME AND CLASS WORK. Learn the spel-lings at the top of the page, and write them out in your own words. WILLIAM SHAKSPERE, 1564-1616. [William Shakspere came from a respectable family belonging to Stratford-on-Avon. His father has been asserted by different writers to have been a wool merchant, a glover, a butcher, and a gentleman farmer; at any rate, he was an alderman. The poet was educated at the Grammar School of his native town, and his writings show he knew a little Latin and Greek, and a good deal of the French and Italian languages. Ben Jonson says he early became a country schoolmaster; he married at a very early age, and had three children-Susanna, Harriet, and Judith. It has been said that he was connected with a party of deer stealers, but great doubt is thrown on this story. He came to London in his twenty-second year, and after a time of great poverty made the acquaintance of some of the greatest men of the day, winning the smile of the Queen (Elizabeth) herself. He retired at an early age to his native town, where he died on his birthday, aged 52, and his bones are in Stratford church. He has left us Comedies, Tragedies, Historical Plays, and Sonnets. His writings contain more gems of thought than all the works of all our other writers taken together, but unfortunately reflect here and there the coarseness of the times in which he lived. WOLSEY AND CROMWELL. wanton--reckless; thought- | highblown-puffed up less aspect-countenance dignity-honour installed-elected advance-promote ambition-excessive desire prithee-I pray thee integrity-uprightness decline become less patience long suffering WOL. Farewell! a long farewell to all my greatness. This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth 1 Wolsey-Reputed son of an Ipswich butcher; made Chancellor, Archbishop of York, and Cardinal. He was eventually disgraced by the King, and died a ruined man at Leicester. The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms, : Of a rude stream that must for ever hide me. Why, how now, Cromwell? CROM. I have no power to speak, sir. At my misfortunes? Can thy spirit wonder I'm fallen indeed. CROM. How does WOL. Why, well; your grace ? Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell. A peace above all earthly dignities— 1 Lucifer-Satan, the Light Bearer; referring to the expulsion of the devil from heaven, as a fallen angel of light. (See Milton). |