channel for them through the peninsula, which was about a mile and a half broad; and he wrote a letter to the mountain in this style; Athos! thou proud mountain! I advise thee not to be so audacious, as to put rocks and stones, that cannot be cut in the way of my workmen. If thou dost I shall cut thee down and throw thee headlong into the sea.' Now, Fanny, was not that a comical letter?

F. I cannot help laughing at it, to be sure; but you will acknowledge it was very childish and unbecoming for any man, and especially for a king.

H. Oh, I know that; but you always look at everything so gravely, and Jane is always so frightened for fear of war, that there is nobody but myself to make fun for you all; and for my part, I am very glad to have so good an assistant in the business as Xerxes is.

Mrs H. You are generally sufficient to do the whole that is really necessary, in that part of the business, without the help of Xerxes.

H. Why, now, mother, I am sure I am generally very sober for me, when we recite. Mrs H. Yes, for you, but suppose you go on, and tell us how Xerxes gets along.

too.

H. With all my heart, mama, and tongue When he arrived at a place, upon the sea shore, where his sea and land forces were very near together, he had a throne erected for him on a hill, where he could see them all at once. When he first looked upon the water, covered with his ships, and the land, with his soldiers, he was filled with joy and admiration; but upon second thoughts he remembered, that in 100 years not one, among that multitude, would be living, he could not refrain from weeping. Artabanes took that opportunity, to give him good advice, and he still urged his fears about their success; for, as he observed, the country could not sustain such an immense number of troops, and no harbor was sufficient to hold so many ships.

F. But I thought he threatened to leave his uncle behind.

H. He did say so, but he altered his mind and took him with him. But, now, he sent him back and gave him full authority to govern at Susa in his absence. He next caused a bridge of boats to be built across the Hellespont; but a storm tore it away before his army was ready to cross upon it. At this, he was so angry that to punish the sea he threw two chains into it and commanded his men to give it 300 lashes with a whip, and to scold it as he had done to mount

Athos and worse than all, he cut off the heads of those men who had the direction of the work, because they had not made the bridge stronger. He then set about building one which should be proof against 'wind and weather,' as sailors say.

J. But I should like to know how a bridge of boats can be built so as not to be washed away.

Mrs H. They fastened together boats enough to reach across the stream; sometimes there were several rows of them, fastened together each way: and then they covered the whole over with logs or boards.

H. But this second bridge, which Xerxes built could not be called a boat-bridge, for it was a ship-bridge.

J. What, built of ships?

H. Yes, made of more than 600 large ships placed in rows, and fastened together with immensely heavy chains and cables, then it was covered over with flat boats and then with earth, and then a railing was built on each side to keep the animals from running off.

F. What an immense expense, and how much labor!

Mrs H. Xerxes did not feel the expense, as he did not have to pay his soldiers any the more for doing that than if they had been lying still; and he did not care how much trouble it cost them.

H. And when you hear how many men he had you will see that they could do it in a little time.

J. They had lost so many men in Greece, before that, I should think they could not have a very great army now.

H. Herodotus, a Greek historian, who lived at the very time, says, that, of the land and sea forces, and all who accompanied them, there were more than five millions of persons. And the Greeks recorded it on a monument, that they fought with three millions.

J. Well, then they swept away all the cities of Greece, and there is no such thing as helping them; we may as well give them up for lost.

H. Wait, Jenny, wait child: you don't know yet: have you forgotten the battle of Marathon?

J. No, but I am distressed about the poor Greeks.

H. Yes, and you are always distressed about somebody; but I will tell you something that will cheer you up a little, only it happens to be on the wrong side of the story. Xerxes had in his army a lady-commander; her name was Artemisa. She was Queen of Halicarnassus. She brought only 5 ships, but they were better than any others in the fleet except those of the Sidonians; and she was the best manager in the whole fleet, and

gave Xerxes better advice about his affairs, than any of his generals.

F. Will you tell us, Henry, whether Xerxes was one of those remarkable characters, who feel above receiving advice from a lady?

H. Yes, Fanny, exactly one of those characters: he treated her politely, but chose to manage his own affairs, in his own way, and suffered the consequences.

F. Did every body on the way submit to Xerxes?

H. Every city and prince, in Thrace, submitted to him except one, the king of the Bisaltes: he would not submit and could not oppose him; so he retired to the top of a mountain, and forbid all his six sons from helping the Persians. But they disobeyed him, and when they returned home he condemned them to have their eyes put out.

Mrs H. Can you recollect, what the Greeks were doing all this time?

mama.

H. They were not idle, I assure you, They received every year a certain quantity of gold and silver, from their mines which was distributed among them, but Themistocles persuaded them now to spend it in building ships: and before Xerxes came they had made 200; and they were put under the command of Euribiades, a Spartan.

J. Then the Spartans concluded to help