maille means a loop or mesh of netting,

or knitting.

Tyrant.-Tyrant is a word of two significations-originally, it meant nothing more than king, but it in time acquired another meaning, that of an unjust monarch, who obtained and ruled dominions by force.

Such were the sounds that o'er the crested pride

Of the first Edward scatter'd wild dis

may.

These awful and prophetic words spoken by the Bard, were sounds that scattered dismay or fear upon Edward's proud and crested head,-crest is the plume of feathers or fringe of horse hair, or other ornaments that were placed on helmets to distinguish warriors in battle-sometimes the fi

gures of animals were placed on hel mets as described in Homer and Virgil, and hence crests are painted with coats of arms in modern times. - Snowden's shaggy side-Snowden is the name of a vast chain of hills in north Wales, one of the highest parts of one of these mountains, has at present the name of Snowden; its side is called shaggy or rough, because it is covered with huge pointed rocks and loose stones of an enormous size, that seem ready to fall upon the traveller as he passes by.

He wound. To wind his array,

1

means nothing more than to march his array in a winding path.

Array-means the manner in which an army is drawn up.

Speechless trance.-Trance, comes from a latin word which means to pass

away,

it is a suspension or interruption of the faculties of the mind and body, from the emotion of some violent passion--hence in this place it is called speechless, because Gloucester is represented as being unable to speak. To arms, cried Mortimer, and couch'd his quiv'ring lance.

To couch a lance is a technical term, or a term of art belonging to war. Soldiers on horseback carried lances, and were called knights-A lance was a long pike made in a particular manner, which cannot here be satisfactorily described-but it may be seen in the prints of various books, for instance, in Don Quixote-where many parts of armour are delineated.

To couch a lance is to point it downwards, putting the end next the

Knight into a leather cup or case fastened to the saddle, so that when the point of the lance struck any thing, it was held in its place by this leathern case: and the saddle and the horse received the shock, the knight being employed in directing the lance.

If the little pupil who reads this is in London, I hope his friends will take him to the Tower, and shew him the horse armoury, where he may see all kinds of armour, and in particular that of King Edward the first. Whilst the pupil is at the Tower, he should attend only to one thing at a time; and then he will learn something exactly-another day he may learn more; but children who in looking at prints or any kind of work, run from one thing to another, scarcely learn any thing-Their notions become indistinct, and what

they remember is confused and of little use to them.

Mortimer-was Earl of Wigmore

he was what was then called a Lord Marcher-Lord Marchers, were persons whose business it was to defend the marches, or borders (not marshes) of the kingdom; which formerly was very necessary for Wales and Scotland were then kingdoms separate from England; with which country they were perpetually at war, and the inhabitants of the borders of each country continually made attacks upon the other, and these Lord Marchers were appointed to protect the borders of their respective countries, and had great power entrusted to them the popular ballad of chevy

chase was founded upon the history