The Sicilian Vespers. The word “vespers” in the Romish church means evening song, answering to evening prayers. The Sicilian Vespers denote a famous era in French history, 1282, being a general massacre of all the French in the island of Sicily, to which the first toll that called to vespers was the signal. The number destroyed was about 8000.
A tournament is a martial sport or exercise which the ancient cavaliers used to perform, to show their bravery and address. It is derived from the French word tourner, to turn round, because, to be expert in these exercises, much agility, both of horse and man, was necessary. Tournaments made the principal exercises of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; but being at length productive of mischievous consequences, the princes of Europe gradually discouraged and suppressed them.
The laurel-leaved Magnolia is a splendid evergreen tree, rising in its native country to sixty feet or more, but with us scarcely exceeding thirty or forty feet. The leaves grow from eight inches to one foot long, in form not unlike those of the common laurel; the flowers are white, of a large size, and emit a pleasant fragrance.
“Of what use are all your studying and your books,” said an honest farmer to an ingenious artist. “They don’t make the corn grow, nor produce vegetables for market. My Sam does more good with his plough in one month, than you can do with your books and papers in one year.”
“What plough does your son use?” said the artist quietly.
“Why he uses ——’s plough, to be sure. He can do nothing with any other. By using this plough, we save half the labor, and raise three times as much as we did with the old wooden concern.”