Lyra, Androm’eda, two brilliant constellations in the northern part of the heavens.  Pointers, two stars of the group called the Dipper, in the Great Bear.  These stars and the Polar Star are nearly in the same straight line.

Blue Hills, hills about seven hundred feet high, southwest of Boston, Massachusetts.

Magians, Persian worshipers of fire and the sun, as representatives of the Supreme Being.

IV.  DESCRIPTION OF A STORM. (70)

Benjamin Disraeli. 1805-1881, was of Jewish descent.  His ancestors were driven out of Spain by the Inquisition, and went to Venice.  In 1748, his grandfather came to England.  His father was Isaac Disraeli, well known as a literary man.  Benjamin was born in London, and received his early education under his father.  He afterwards studied for a lawyer, but soon gave up his profession for literature.  His first novel, “Vivian Grey,” appeared when the author was twenty-one years of age; it received much attention.  After several defeats he succeeded in an election to Parliament, and took his seat in that body, in the first year of Victoria’s reign.  On his first attempt to speak in Parliament, the House refused to hear him.  It is said that, as he sat down, he remarked that the time would come when they would hear him.  In 1849, he became the leader of the Conservative party in the House.  During the administration of W. E. Gladstone, Mr. Disraeli was leader of the opposition.  In 1868, he became prime minister, holding the office for a short time.  In 1874, he was again appointed to the same office, where he remained until 1880.  His wife was made Viscountess of Beaconsfield in 1868.  After her death, the title of Earl of Beaconsfield was conferred on Disraeli.  He ranked among the most eminent, statesmen of the age, but always devoted a portion of his time to literature.  “Lothair,” a novel, was published in 1870. ###

* * * They looked round on every side, and hope gave way before the scene of desolation.  Immense branches were shivered from the largest trees; small ones were entirely stripped of their leaves; the long grass was bowed to the earth; the waters were whirled in eddies out of the little rivulets; birds, leaving their nests to seek shelter in the crevices of the rocks, unable to stem the driving air, flapped their wings and fell upon the earth; the frightened animals of the plain, almost suffocated by the impetuosity of the wind, sought safety and found destruction; some of the largest trees were torn up by the roots; the sluices of the mountains were filled, and innumerable torrents rushed down the before empty gullies.  The heavens now open, and the lightning and thunder contend with the horrors of the wind.

In a moment, all was again hushed.  Dead silence succeeded the bellow of the thunder, the roar of the wind, the rush of the waters, the moaning of the beasts, the screaming of the birds.  Nothing was heard save the plash of the agitated lake, as it beat up against the black rocks which girt it in.