is placed before a fire it makes no perceptible difference in the heat. Nearly all other substances transmit heat very imperfectly. When a ray of heat passes through any body it is bent out of its course, and therefore said to be refracted. Polished brass reflects nearly all the heat that falls on it, and as a general rule, all highly polished metallic surfaces are good reflectors: hence the screen used in roasting meat is made of polished metal, in order that it may throw the heat back on the meat. Were it made of rock-salt, it would be useless for such a purpose. Rough and black surfaces absorb a great deal of radiant heat. If the firescreen just mentioned were covered with a coating of lampblack, it would retain nearly all the radiant heat on its surface; or if one half of a thermometer bulb be covered with a similar coating, it will, when held near a fire, be much more sensitive on the blackened side than on the other. Hence the outside of vessels for heating water on a fire should be black, in order that they may rapidly absorb the radiant heat; they should also be made of metal, so that they may quickly conduct the heat thus absorbed to the liquid they contain.

3

LESSON XLIII.-WEDNESDAY.

PARADISE.

Blissful paradise

Of God the garden was, by him in the east
Of Eden planted; Eden stretched her line
From Auran eastward to the royal towers
Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings,
Or where the sons o Eden long before
Dwelt in Telassar: in this pleasant soil
His far more pleasant garden God ordained:
Out of the fertile ground he caused to grow
All trees of noblest kind for sight, smell, taste:
And all amid them stood the tree of life,
High eminent, blooming ambrosial fruit
Of vegetable gold; and next to life,

Our death, the tree of knowledge, grew fast by,
Knowledge of good, bought dear by knowing ill.

Southward through Eden went a river large,

Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill
Passed underneath ingulfed; for God had thrown
That mountain as his garden-mould high-raised
Upon the rapid current, which through veins
Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn,
Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill
Watered the garden; thence united fell
Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood,
Which from his darksome passage now appears,
And, now divided into four main streams,
Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm
And country, whereof here needs no account;
But rather to tell how, if art could tell,
How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks,
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold,
With mazy error under pendent shades
Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed
Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice art
In beds and curious knots, but nature boon
Poured forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
The open field, and where the unpierced shade
Imbrowned the noontide bowers thus was this place
A happy rural seat of various view;

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm;
Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,

If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks
Grazing the tender herb, were interposed,
Or palmy hillock; or the flowery lap
Of some irriguous valley spread her store,
Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose:
Another side, umbrageous grots and caves
Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine
Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps
Luxuriant; meanwhile murmuring waters fall
Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake,
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crowned

Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams.
The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs,
Breathing the smell of field and grove, attune
The trembling leaves, while universal Pan,
Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance,
Led on the eternal Spring.-Milton.

LESSON XLIV.-THURSDAY.

ENGLISH HISTORY-STUART LINE.

After the flight of James II., the prince of Orange took up his residence in London, and became the head of a provisional government. The "Convention Parliament," summoned under his auspices, met on the 22nd of January, 1689, and agreed to offer the crown to William and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, with succession to their heirs, or failing these to the princess Anne, on condition of their assent to the "Declaration of Right;" a document fixing the limits of royal prerogative, and of the liberty of the subject. These terms were accepted, and the revolution was achieved. The new monarch, notwithstanding the complete success of his enterprise, found himself at his accession surrounded by difficulties and perils which a man of ordinary capacity would have been unable to surmount. But William possessed qualities eminently fitted for the task he had to perform. Grave and silent, cautious and reserved, he concealed beneath a cold exterior, invincible energy and resolution, a clear and comprehensive intellect, courage, which no danger could appal, and magnanimity and patience which bitter provocations and injuries failed to disturb or impair. By his prudence and moderation, the change of dynasty was effected without bloodshed or outrage. The great offices of the state were divided among the two great political parties, the Whigs and Tories, and new and upright judges were appointed in the courts of law. Many of the bishops and clergy declined taking the oaths to the new government; these were deprived of their sees and benefices. Tillotson was inade primate, and Burnet, bishop of Salisbury. Of the temporal peers, some refused allegiance, and others who professed it kept up a secret correspondence

with the exiled monarch, who, supported by France, carried on constant intrigues with his former subjects.

Soon after the coronation the "Toleration Act" was passed, relieving the Nonconformists, who had rendered. important aid in the late struggle, from the severities of the penal laws. The measure was less complete than the king desired, and the Papists were excluded from its benefits, but it was welcomed by multitudes as an inestimable boon. The revenue which Charles and James had enjoyed for life was granted to William only for a time. It was apportioned between the private expenses of the king and the public service; and estimates of the cost of the navy, army, and ordnance departments were ordered to be laid before the Commons, to prevent misappropriation. This control over the finances of the state has been exercised by parliament to the present time.

The estates of Scotland declared in favour of William, but a few adherents of the ex-king took up arms in his cause. The duke of Gordon refused to surrender Edinburgh Castle, of which he was governor; and Dundee, the merciless persecutor of the Covenanters, raised his standard in the Highlands, at first with some success, but he was slain at the pass of Killiecrankie, after defeating General Mackay with a force superior to his own; and after his death, the clans gradually laid down their arms, and submitted to the government. Presbyterianism was now restored, and the Episcopal church, established by the Stuarts at the cost of so much bloodshed and suffering, was abolished, liberty of worship being conceded to its members.

In Ireland, whose population was chiefly Catholic, the friends of James were numerous and powerful. Early in 1689, he landed in the island with a French force, assumed regal authority, summoned a parliament, and was soon master of the whole country except the northern province of Ulster, which was occupied by Protestant settlers. Troops were sent against Londonderry, the stronghold of the Protestant party, but its inhabitants held out with memorable courage and constancy, and after suffering terrible privations were relieved by three English ships, which

forced a passage to the port, and the besieging army were compelled to retire with the loss of nearly 9,000 men. Meanwhile the parliament at Dublin was engaged in passing Acts entailing general distress and alarm. A base coinage was issued, and ordered to pass for 100 times its value; the Act of Settlement was repealed; all the property of the Protestants confiscated, and more than 2,000 persons were attainted. William sent Marshal Schomberg with 5,000 men to Ulster, and soon followed with reinforcements, putting an end to the war by the decisive victory of the Boyne, which crushed the hopes of James, who fled from the scene of his defeat, and once more escaped to France.

A lamentable event occurred about this time in Scotland. A Highland chief, M'Donald of Glencoe, had been prevented taking the oath of allegiance to the new monarch within the prescribed time; advantage was taken of this delay by Dalrymple of Stair, and other enemies, who reported him a traitor, and demanded a warrant for his destruction and that of his clan. William culpably granted the warrant without inquiry, and a barbarous slaughter took place. "The massacre of Glencoe" covered its perpetrators with disgrace, and exposed the king to much censure.

In 1691, William revisited his native country. England, Holland, Germany, Spain, and Savoy, had entered into an alliance, for the purpose of reducing the dangerous and increasing power of France. Hostilities were now commenced, and continued for several years, in different parts of the Continent, with various success. No great battles were fought, but the military skill and statesmanship of the Stadtholder King were conspicuously displayed, and the treaty of Ryswick was concluded in 1697.

In 1694, Queen Mary died, deeply lamented by her husband, and by the nation, with whom her gentleness and benevolence had made her popular. The "Triennial Bill,” limiting the duration of parliaments to three years, was enacted just before the queen's death, and remained in force till the reign of George I., when the present term of seven years was substituted.

In 1701, the Act of Settlement passed, declaring the Princess Sophia of Hanover heir to the throne, next to the