sor for its truth, that the
famous chieftain, Lochiel, was rocked in a cradle like a baby, in his old
age. An old man, whose studies had been of the severest scholastic kind,
used to love to hear little nursery stories read over and over to him. One
who saw the Duke of Wellington in his last years describes him as very
gentle in his aspect and demeanor. I remember a person of singularly
stern and lofty bearing who became remarkably gracious and easy in all his
ways in the later period of his life.

And that leads me to say that men often remind me of pears in their way of
coming to maturity. Some are ripe at twenty, like human Jargonelles, and
must be made the most of, for their day is soon over. Some come into their
perfect condition late, like the autumn kinds, and they last better than
the summer fruit. And some, that, like the Winter Nelis, have been hard
and uninviting until all the rest have had their season, get their glow
and perfume long after the frost and snow have done their worst with the
orchards. Beware of rash criticisms; the rough and stringent fruit you
condemn may be an autumn or a winter pear, and that which you picked up
beneath the same bough in August may have been only its worm--eaten
windfalls. Milton was a Saint Germain with a graft of the roseate Early
Catherine. Rich, juicy, lively, fragrant, russet-skinned old Chaucer was
an Easter Beurre'; the buds of a new summer were swelling when he ripened.

--Holmes.

NOTES.--The above selection is from the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table."

Lochiel. See note on page 214.

The Duke of Wellington (b. 1769, d. 1852) was the most celebrated of
English generals. He won great renown in India and in the "Peninsular
War," and commanded the allied forces when Napoleon was defeated at
Waterloo.

Easter Beurre', Saint Germain, Winter Nelis, Early Catherine and
Jargonelles are the names of certain varieties of pears.

Milton. See biographical notice on page 312.

Chaucer, Geoffrey (b. 1328, d. 1400). is often called "The Father of
English Poetry." He was the first poet buried in Westminster Abbey. He was
a prolific writer, but his "Canterbury Tales" is by far the best known of
his works.

CXVII. THUNDERSTORM ON THE ALPS. (408)

Clear, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake,
With the wild world I dwell in, is a thing
Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake
Earth's troubled