LX.-ON MODULATION. FROM LLOYD. 1. 'Tis not enough the voice be sound and clear, 2. Some o'er the tongue the labor'd measure roll, Point every stop, mark every pause so strong, 3. All affectation but creates disgust; And e'en in speaking, we may seem too just. 4. Some placid natures fill the allotted scene 5. He who, in earnest, studies o'er his part, Up to the face the quick sensation flies, And darts its meaning from the speaking eyes: LXI. - COMBAT AT A TOURNAMENT. FROM WALTER SCOTT. TOURNAMENT; (pro. turn-a-ment). Formerly, when the chief business of all mankind was fighting, it was customary for knights to try their courage and skill, by fighting with each other with their usual weapons, the lance and sword. This was the favorite amusement of the times, and was called a tournament. The challenge to combat was given, by touching the shield of the knight whom the challenger wished to encounter. The challenge to a contest with headless or blunt lances, was given by touching the shield gently with the reversed spear, while a blow with the point denoted a challenge to mortal conflict. List; the enclosure within which the tournaments were held. Grammercy; Scotch for many thanks. 1. * * THE music of the challengers breathed, from time to time, wild bursts, expressive of triumph or defiance; while the clowns grudged a holiday which seemed to pass away in inactivity; and old knights and nobles lamented the decay of martial spirit, and spoke of the triumphs of their younger days. Prince John began to talk to his attendants about making ready the banquet, and the necessity of adjudging the prize to Brian de Bois-Guilbert, who had, with a single spear, overthrown two knights, and foiled a third. 2. At length, as the music of the challengers concluded one of those long and high flourishes with which they had broken the silence of the lists, it was answered by a solitary trumpet, which breathed a note of defiance, from the northern extremity. All eyes were turned to see the new champion which these sounds announced, and no sooner were the bar- / riers opened than he paced into the lists. 3. As far as could be judged of a man sheathed in armor, the new adventurer did not greatly exceed the middle size, and seemed to be rather slender than strongly made. His suit of armor was formed of steel, richly inlaid with gold; and the device on his shield was a young oak-tree pulled up by the roots, with the single word "Disinherited." He was mounted on a gallant black horse, and as he passed through the lists, he gracefully saluted the prince and the ladies, by lowering his lance. The dexterity with which he managed his steed, and something of youthful grace which he displayed in his manner, won him the favor of the multitude, which some of the lower classes expressed by calling out, "Touch Ralph de Vipont's shield, touch the Hospitaller's shield; he has the least sure seat; he is your cheapest bargain." 4. The champion moving onward amid the well-meant hints, ascended the platform by the sloping alley which led to it from the lists, and, to the astonishment of all present, riding straight up to the central pavilion, struck with the sharp end of his spear the shield of Brian de Bois-Guilbert, until it rang again. All stood astonished at his presumption, but none more so than the redoubted knight whom he had thus defied to mortal combat, and who, little expecting so rude a challenge, was standing carelessly at the door of his pavilion. 5. "Have you confessed yourself, brother," said the Templar, Guilbert, "and have you heard mass this morning, that you peril your life so frankly?" "I am fitter to meet death than thou art," answered the Disinherited Knight; for by this name the stranger had recorded himself in the book of the tourney. "Then take your place in the lists," said De Bois-Guilbert, "and look your last upon the sun; for this night thou shalt sleep in paradise." "Grammercy for thy courtesy," replied the Disinherited Knight, "and to requite it, I advise thee to take a fresh horse and a new lance, for, by my honor, you will need both." 6. Having expressed himself thus confidently, he reined his horse backward down the slope which he had ascended, and compelled him in the same manner to move backward through the lists, till he reached the northern extremity, where he remained stationary, in expectation of his antagonist. This feat of horsemanship again attracted the applause of the multitude. 7. However incensed at his adversary for the precaution. which he recommended, the Templar did not neglect his advice; for his honor was too nearly concerned to permit his neglecting any means which might insure victory over his presumptuous opponent. He changed his horse for a proved and fresh one of great strength and spirit. He chose a new and tough spear, lest the wood of the former might have been strained in the previous encounters he had sustained. Lastly, he laid aside his shield, which had received some little damage, and received another from his squires. 8. When the two champions stood opposed to each other at the two extremities of the lists, the public expectation was strained to the highest pitch. Few augured the possibility that the encounter could terminate well for the Disinherited Knight, yet his courage and gallantry secured the general good wishes of the spectators. The trumpets had no sooner given the signal, than the champions vanished from their posts with the speed of lightning, and closed in the center of the lists with the shock of a thunderbolt. The lances burst into shivers up to the very grasp, and it seemed, at the moment, that both knights had fallen, for the shock had made each horse recoil backward upon its haunches. The address of the riders recovered their steeds by the use of the bridle and spur; and having glared on each other, for an instant, with eyes that seemed to flash fire through the bars of their visors, each retired to the extremity of the lists, and received a fresh lance from the attendants. 9. A loud shout from the spectators, waving of scarfs and handkerchiefs, and general acclamations, attested the interest taken in the encounter, But no sooner had the knights resumed their station, than the clamor of applause was hushed into a silence so deep and so dead, that it seemed the multitude were afraid to breathe. A few minutes' pause having been allowed, that the combatants and their horses might recover breath, the trumpets again sounded the onset. The champions a second time sprung from their stations, and met in the center of the lists, with the same speed, the same dexterity, the same violence, but not the same equal fortune as before. 10. In the second encounter, the Templar aimed at the center of his antagonist's shield, and struck it so fairly and forcibly, that his spear went to shivers, and the Disinherited Knight reeled in his saddle. On the other hand, the champion had, in the beginning of his career, directed the point of his lance toward Bois-Guilbert's shield; but changing his aim almost in the moment of encounter, he addressed to the helmet, a mark more difficult to hit, but which, if attained, rendered the shock more irresistible. Fair and true he hit the Templar on the visor, where his lance's point kept hold of the bars. Yet even at this disadvantage, Bois-Guilbert. sustained his high reputation; and had not the girths of his saddle burst, he might not have been unhorsed. As it chanced, however, saddle, horse, and man, rolled on the ground under a cloud of dust. 11. To extricate himself from the stirrups and fallen steed, was to the Templar scarce the work of a moment; and stung with madness, both at his disgrace, and the acclamations by which it was hailed by the spectators, he drew his sword, and waved it in defiance of his conqueror. The Disinherited Knight sprung from his steed', and also unsheathed his sword`. The marshals of the field, however, spurred their horses between them, and reminded them that the laws of the tournament did not, on the present occasion, permit this species of encounter, but that to the "Disinherited Knight" the meed of victory was fairly and honorably awarded. LXII. THE BANNER OF PULASKI. FROM LONGfellow. PULASKI was a Polish officer who took part with the Americans, and fell at the taking of Savannah, during the American Revolution. His standard of crimson silk was presented to him by the Moravians of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and it became his shroud. 1. WHEN the dying flame of day |