McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CVIII · Part 11: Franklin, the sea, India and The Raven
114. Destruction of the Carnatic (Edmund Burke)
Goal: Your student can describe Burke's picture of the war that wasted the Carnatic and explain why he told it so vividly.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- A notebook and pen
- A dictionary
What's in the book
From Burke's 1785 speech in Parliament about the Nabob of Arcot's debts: Hyder Ali's army sweeps through the Carnatic and leaves it desolate. Notes explain the Carnatic.
The lesson, step by step
Words and meanings
Read the notes printed at the end of the lesson together before reading. The book explains, among others:
Carnatic: a province of British India on the eastern side of the peninsula, about 50,000 square miles
A note says the passage is from Burke's speech about the Nabob of Arcot's debts, connected with the maladministration of Hastings (see Lesson CVII).
Ask your student to find two other hard words in the lesson, guess their meaning from the sentence, then check a dictionary.
About the author
The book says Burke (1730–1797) was one of the most able and brilliant of England's essayists, orators and statesmen. He was born in Dublin, the son of an able lawyer, and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1748.
Read aloud
This is a storm of a speech. Read it with growing force.
Listen for these lines:
an everlasting monument of vengeance
Talk about it
SayWhat did Hyder Ali decide to do to the Carnatic, and why?
SayFind the comparison to a storm or cloud. How does it make you see the army?
SayWhat happened to the people and the land?
SayWhy would Burke tell Parliament this so vividly? What did he want them to do?
Narration
Your student retells the passage in plain words, as a short history.
Writing (optional)
Burke uses one big comparison (a storm). Write a paragraph describing a disaster through one big comparison.