2. The circumstance of an interesting youthful female, only eighteen years old, suddenly ushered into such a responsible station, awakened the chivalrous feelings of every class and party, by which political strife was composed, and loyalty invested with a more ardent feeling and nobler devotedness. All was enthusiastic gladness. for the present and joyful anticipation for the future, when, on the 20th of June, Victoria was proclaimed queen with the usual solemnities; and when the ceremony of signing the act of allegiance had been performed by the privy-council at the palace of Kensington, the manner, so gentle and yet so dignified, and the clear, unfaltering tones with which her first royal declaration was delivered, were as the prelude of an universal harmony among her people. 3. "This awful responsibility is imposed upon me so suddenly, and at so early a period of my life, that I should feel myself utterly oppressed by the burden, were I not sustained by the hope, that divine providence, which has called me to this work, will give me strength for the performance of it, and that I shall find in the purity of my intentions, and in my zeal for the public welfare, that support and those resources which usually belong to a more mature age and to long experience. 4. "I place my firm reliance upon the wisdom of arliament, and upon the loyalty and affection of my people. I esteem it also a peculiar advantage that I succeed to a sovereign, whose constant regards for the rights and liberties of his subjects, and whose desire to promote the amelioration of the laws and institutions of the country, have rendered his name the object of general attachment and veneration. 5. "Educated in England under the tender and enlightened care of a most affectionate mother, I have learned from my infancy to respect and love the constitution of my native country. 6. "It will be my unceasing study to maintain the reformed religion as by law established, securing at the same time to all the full enjoyment of religious liberty. And I shall steadily promote, to the utmost of my power, the happiness and welfare of all classes of my subjects."-Comprehensive History of England. VICTORIA'S TEARS. 1. "O maiden! heir of kings! And thou upon thy mother's breast But take the glory for the rest, She heard and wept She wept to wear a crown. 2. They decked her courtly halls; Her name has stirred the mountain's sleep, And mourners God had stricken deep, Who wept to wear a crown. 3. She saw no purple shine, For tears had dimmed her eyes; She only knew her childhood's flowers Were happier pageantries. And while her heralds played their part Those million shouts to drown "God save the queen!" from hill to mart-- 4. God save thee, weeping queen! The tyrant's sceptre cannot move The nature in thine eyes we see Yea, wept to wear its crown! 5. God bless thee, weeping queen, And fill with happier love than earth's That when the thrones of earth shall be A pierced hand may give to thee To wear that heavenly crown. -Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1805-1861). DAVID COPPERFIELD'S GOLDEN RULES. 1. I feel as if it were not for me to record, even though this manuscript is intended for no eyes but mine, how hard I worked at that tremendous shorthand, and all improvements appertaining to it, in my sense of responsibility to Dora and her aunts. I will only add to what I have already written of my perseverance at this time of my life, and of a patient and continuous energy which then began to be matured within me, and which I know to be the strong part of my character, if it have any strength at all, that there, on looking back, I find the source of my success. 2. I have been very fortunate in worldly matters; many men have worked much harder, and not succeeded half so well; but I never could have done what I have done, without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one object at a time, no matter how quickly its successor should come upon its heels, which I then formed. Heaven knows I write this in no spirit of self-laudation. 3. The man who reviews his own life, as I do mine, in going on here from page to page, had need to have been a good man indeed, if he would be spared the sharp consciousness of many talents neglected, many opportunities wasted, many erratic and perverted feelings constantly at war within his breast, and defeating him. I do not hold one natural gift, I dare say, that I have not abused. My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest. 4. I have never believed it possible that any natural or improved ability can claim immunity from the companionship of the steady, plain, hard-working qualities, and hope to gain its end. There is no such thing as such fulfilment on this earth. Some happy talents and some fortunate opportunity may form the two sides of the ladder on which some men mount; but the rounds of that ladder must be made of stuff to stand wear and tear; and there is no substitute for thorough-going, ardent, and sincere earnestness. 5. Never to put one hand to anything, on which I could throw my whole self; and never to affect depreciation of my work, whatever it was; I find now to have been my golden rules.-C. Dickens (1812-1870). HUGH MILLER'S EARLY WORKING DAYS. (1802-1856). 1. It was twenty years last February (1841) since I set out, a little before sunrise, to make my first acquaintance with a life of labour and restraint; and I have rarely had a heavier heart than on that morning. I was but a slim, loose-jointed boy at the time, fond of the pretty intangi |