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palm-trees, shooting up among its temples and palaces, and on the other hand the plain in its immediate vicinity is so thickly adorned with magnificent structures of the purest marble, that it is not easy-nay, it is impossible -at the distance at which I contemplated the whole, to distinguish the line which divided the one from the other. It was all city and all country, all country and all city. Those which lay before me I was ready to believe were the Elysian Fields. I imagined that I saw under my feet the dwellings of purified men and of gods. Certainly they were too glorious for the mere earth-born.

4. There was a central point, however, which chiefly fixed my attention, where the vast Temple of the Sun stretched upwards its thousand columns of polished marble to the heavens, in its matchless beauty casting into the shade every other work of art of which the world can boast. I have stood before the Parthenon, and have almost worshipped that divine achievement of the immortal Phidias. But it is a toy by the side of this bright crown of the Eastern capital. I have been at Milan, at Ephesus, at Alexandria, at Antioch; but in none of these renowned cities have I beheld anything that I can allow to approach, in united extent, grandeur, and most consummate beauty, this almost more than work of man.

5. On each side of this, the central point, there rose upwards slender pyramids, pointed obelisks, domes of the most graceful proportions, columns, arches, and lofty towers, for number and for form beyond my power to describe. These buildings, as well as the walls of the city, being all either of white marble or of some stone as white, and being everywhere in their whole extent interspersed, as I have already said, with multitudes of overshadowing palm-trees, perfectly filled and satisfied my sense of beauty, and made me feel for the moment as if in

such a scene I should love to dwell and there end my days.-William Ware (1797-1852).

Questions on the lesson:-What are the two names of the city? Its builder? Its situation? Its queen? Her date? Her ambition? The result? By whom finally destroyed? The extent of its ruins? What made it difficult for one looking down on it to separate city and country? What was the central point? Of what were the public buildings constructed?

Elysian Fields, the place in the regions of the dead which was assigned to the good, according to Greek and Roman mythology.

Parthenon, the noblest of all the great temples of Athens. Some of its finest sculptures are in the British Museum-the Elgin Marbles.

Phidias, perhaps the greatest sculptor and statuary that ever lived. He belonged to Athens, and was born about B.C. 489 or 490.

1.

2.

THE FALL OF WOLSEY.

Norfolk. And so we'll leave you to your meditations How to live better. For your stubborn answer,

About the giving back the great seal to us,

The king shall know it, and, no doubt, shall thank you. So fare you well, my little good lord cardinal.

[All go out except WOLSEY.

Wolsey. So farewell to the little good you bear me. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness! This is the state of man: To-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him: The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; And,-when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a ripening,―nips his root, And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,

This many summers in a sea of glory;

But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
At length broke under me; and now has left me,
Weary, and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me.

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Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye;
I feel my heart new opened: O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours!
There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspéct of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.-

Enter CROMWELL, amazedly.

Why, how now, Cromwell?

Crom. I have no power to speak, sir.

3.

Wol.

What, amazed

At my misfortunes? can thy spirit wonder
A great man should decline? Nay, an you weep,

I am fallen indeed.

Crom.

Wol.

How does your grace?

Why, well;

Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell.

I know myself now; and I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,

A still and quiet conscience. The king has cured me,
I humbly thank his grace; and from these shoulders,
These ruined pillars, out of pity, taken

A load would sink a navy, too much honour:
O, 'tis a burden, Cromwell, 'tis a burden,

Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven.

4. Crom. I am glad your grace has made that right use of it.

Wol. I hope I have: I am able now, methinks,

(Out of a fortitude of soul I feel,)

To endure more miseries, and greater far,

Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer.
What news abroad?

Crom.

The heaviest, and the worst,

God bless him!

Is your displeasure with the king.

Wol.

Crom. The next is, that Sir Thomas More is chosen

Lord Chancellor in your place.

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5.

6

Long in his highness' favour, and do justice

For truth's sake, and his conscience; that his bones, When he has run his course, and sleeps in blessings, May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on 'em! What more?

Crom. That Cranmer is returned with welcome, Installed lord archbishop of Canterbury.

Wol. That's news indeed.

Crom.

Last, that the Lady Anne,

Whom the king hath in secrecy long married,
This day was viewed in open, as his queen,
Going to chapel; and the voice is now

Only about her coronation.

Wol. There was the weight that pulled me down.

O Cromwell,

The king has gone beyond me; all my glories

In that one woman I have lost for ever:

No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours,
Or gild again the noble troops that waited

Upon my smiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell,
I am a poor fallen man, unworthy now

To be thy lord and master: Seek the king;

That sun, I pray, may never set! I have told him What, and how true thou art: he will advance thee; Some little memory of me will stir him,

(I know his noble nature,) not to let

Thy hopeful service perish too: Good Cromwell,
Neglect him not; make use now, and provide
For thine own future safety.

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Must I then leave you? Must I needs forego
So good, so noble, and so true a master?
Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,

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