are the blasphemer and the murderer: that
is to say, the man who has destroyed an
image of the king of Naples, and the man
who has destroyed God's image, in the body
of his brother.

The best reflection upon facts like these
may be conveyed in a scrap of authentic,
although, possibly, somewhat revolutionary
Neapolitan conversation.

"Sempronius," said one gentleman, "has an
excellent character, but I wonder how he
contrives, in these times, to keep himself so clear
of difficulty." "Yes," answered his friend,
"he is a safe person, for he knows well how to
paint a mask." "Ah!" said the first, "that is
a great virtue." I broke in upon these
revolutionary talkers with the observation that, if
they talked sense, society in Naples must be
exceedingly corrupt. "Yes," answered one,
"we cannot afford now to be honest. Society
here consists mainly of two classes—
hypocrites and martyrs."

Had a spy chanced to hear that speech,
my friend would certainly have gone where
"blasphemers" are daily sent—to a dungeon.

                            SONNET.
                              ——

ON MR. LOUGH'S STATUE OF "LADY MACBETH."

IF this dread image were by ocean thrown
Amidst some people who have never yet
Learn'd in the mind's creations to forget
Life's pressure, and the melancholy stone
Were on a rock for savage wonder set,
Methinks some peak, from Shakespeare's world    unknown,
Would loom on spirits reverential grown
To strange divinity—as if they met
A bodied fragment of the poet's soul;—
And, while the spectral gaze and withering hand
Urge silence such as that which death's control
Rules, on the thoughts of that astonish'd band
Shapes from the noblest scenes by mortal plann'd
Would rise, and breathe the grandeur of the whole.

A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

                CHAPTER XI.

IN the year of our Lord one thousand one
hundred and eighty-nine, Richard of the Lion
Heart succeeded to the throne of King Henry
the Second, whose parental heart he had done
so much to break. He had been, as we have
seen, a rebel from his boyhood; but, the
moment he became a King against whom others
might rebel, he found out that rebellion was a
great wickedness. In the heat of this pious
discovery, he punished all the leading people
who had befriended him against his father.
He could scarcely have done anything that
would have been a better instance of his
real nature, or a better warning to fawners
and parasites not to trust in lion-hearted
princes.

He likewise put his late father's treasurer
in chains and locked him up in a dungeon,
from which he was not set free until he had
relinquished, not only all the crown treasure,
but all his own money too. So, Richard
certainly got the Lion's share of the wealth
of this wretched treasurer, whether he had a
Lion's heart or not.

He was crowned King of England, with
great pomp, at Westminster: walking to the
Cathedral under a silken canopy stretched on
the tops of four lances, each carried by a
great lord. On the day of his coronation, a
dreadful murdering of the Jews took place,
which seems to have given great delight to
numbers of savage persons calling themselves
Christians. The King had issued a
proclamation forbidding the Jews (who were
generally hated, though they were the best
and most useful merchants in England) to
appear at the ceremony; but as they had
assembled in London from all parts, bringing
presents to show their respect for the new
Sovereign, some of them ventured down to
Westminster Hall with their gifts; which
were very readily accepted. It is supposed,
now, that some noisy fellow in the crowd,
pretending to be a very delicate Christian,
set up a howl at this, and struck a Jew who
was trying to get in at the Hall door with
his present. A riot arose. The Jews who
had got into the Hall were driven forth; and
some of the rabble cried out that the new
King had commanded the unbelieving race to
be put to death. Thereupon the crowd
rushed through the narrow streets of the
city, slaughtering all the Jews they met; and
when they could find no more out of doors
(on account of their having fled to their
houses, and fastened themselves in) they ran
madly about, breaking open all the houses
where the Jews lived, rushing in and stabbing
or spearing them, sometimes even flinging
old people and children out of window into
blazing fires they had lighted up below. This
great cruelty lasted four-and-twenty hours,
and only three men were punished for it.
Even they forfeited their lives: not for
murdering and robbing the Jews, but for burning
the houses of some Christians.

King Richard, who was a strong restless
burly man, with one idea always in his head,
and that the very troublesome idea of breaking
the heads of other men, was mightily
impatient to go on a Crusade to the Holy
Land, with a great army. As great armies
could not be raised to go, even to the Holy
Land, without a great deal of money, he
sold the Crown domains, and even the
high offices of State: recklessly appointing
noblemen to rule over his English subjects,
not because they were fit to govern, but
because they could pay high for the privilege.
In this way, and by selling pardons at a dear
rate, and by all kinds of avarice and oppression,
he scraped together a large treasure.
He then appointed two Bishops to take care
of his kingdom in his absence, and gave great
powers and possessions to his brother John,