Elsewhere Plutarch tells of a man who plucked the feathers from a nightingale, and, finding it a very small bird, exclaimed: "You little wretch, you're nothing but voice!" And again, the repartee of a Laconian to a man of Sparta who twitted him with being unable to stand as long as himself on one leg. "No," replied the other, "but any goose can." An anecdote of Strabo gives a vivid picture of the clashing of a harper's performances with the sounding of a bell for opening of the fish-market. All the audience vanished at once save a little deaf man. The harper expressed himself unutterably flattered at his having resisted the importunity of the bell. "What!" cried the deaf man, "has the fish-bell rung? Then I'm off, too. Good-by!" Tournament Scene From "Ivanhoe." BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was the first of the great romantic writers of modern England. As a boy he showed an extraordinary fondness for collecting and learning by heart the legends and old-time ballads which were current in that part of Scotland where he was born. Grown older, he found equal pleasure in studying the records and traditions of early English and Scottish history. From childhood he had a remarkable gift for story-telling, and would weave together strange and curious bits of antique lore for the delight of his companions. Later, he became for a while the most popular poet in Great Britain by publishing a series of romantic poems, among which "Marmion," "The Lady of the Lake," and "Rokeby" have endured the test of time. In 1814 Scott turned from poetry to prose and published anonymously the historical novel "Waverley," which took the whole English reading world by storm. This triumph was repeated in the splendid novels which followed in rapid succession. Between 1815 and 1825 twelve of these so-called Waverley novels came from his pen. They were translated into all the languages of Europe and exercised a profound influence upon the whole subsequent history of European fiction. The Waverley novels may be grouped under two heads--novels of Scottish life, and novels based upon incidents of English history. Of the former, the greatest are "Guy Mannering," "Rob Roy," "The Heart of Midlothian," and "Old Mortality." Of the latter, the most famous are "Kenilworth," "Ivanhoe," and "The Talisman." Scott may be said to have created the historical novel, and to have quickened by means of it the national pride of his countrymen. At the time of his death he was recognized as a great public character, so that when in his last illness he went abroad in search of health the British government placed a man-of-war at his disposal. The romance of "Ivanhoe," from which this selection has been taken, is the most spirited and stirring picture of the age of chivalry that English literature contains.