oot to foot, through hosts,
Through nations numberless in battle array,
Each behind each; each, when the other fell,
Up, and in arms--at length subdued them all.

Thou art in _Rome!_ the city where the Gauls,
Entering at sun-rise through her open gates,
And through her streets silent and desolate
Marching to slay, thought they saw gods, not men;
The city, that by temperance, fortitude,
And love of glory tower'd above the clouds,
Then fell--but, falling, kept the highest seat,
And in her loveliness, her pomp of woe,
Where now she dwells, withdrawn into the wild,
Still o'er the mind maintains, from age to age,
Its empire undiminish'd. There, as though
Grandeur attracted grandeur, are beheld
All things that strike, ennoble; from the depths
Of Egypt, from the classic fields of Greece--
Her groves, her temples--all things that inspire
Wonder, delight! Who would not say the forms.
Most perfect most divine, had by consent
Flock'd thither to abide eternally
Within those silent chambers where they dwell
In happy intercourse?

ROGERS.

* * * * *

THE ROOKERY

[Illustration: Letter I.]

Is that a rookery, papa?

_Mr. S._ It is. Do you hear what a cawing the birds make?

_F_. Yes; and I see them hopping about among the boughs. Pray, are not
rooks the same with crows?

_Mr. S._ They are a species of crow. But they differ from the carrion
crow and raven, in not feeding upon dead flesh, but upon corn and other
seeds and grass, though, indeed, they pick up beetles and other insects
and worms. See what a number of them have alighted on yonder ploughed
field, almost blackening it over. They are searching for grubs and
worms. The men in the field do not molest them, for they do a great deal
of service by destroying grubs, which, if suffered to grow to winged
insects, would injure the trees and plants.

_F_. Do all rooks live in rookeries?

_Mr. S._ It is their nature to associate together, and they build in
numbers of the same, or adjoining trees. They have no objection to the
neighbourhood of man, but readily take to a plantation of tall trees,
though it be close to a house; and this is commonly called a rookery.
They will even fix their habitations on trees in the midst of towns.

_F_. I think a rookery is a sort of town itself.

_Mr. S._ It is--a village in the air, peopled with n