Companion of the morning star at dawn, Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, And who commanded, and the silence came,- Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice, Who made you glorious as the gates of Heaven Utter forth "God!" and fill the hills with praise. Slow travelling with dim eyes suffused with tears Rise, like a cloud of incense, from the earth! Thou kingly spirit, throned among the hills, Thou dread ambassador from earth to Heaven. 11 THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL.-Alexander Pope VITAL spark of heavenly flame, 12 LIFE BEYOND THE TOMB. —James Beattie. Born, 1735; died, 1808. SUCH is the destiny of all on earth: So flourishes and fades majestic Man;· Borne on the swift though silent wings of Time, And be it so. Let those deplore their doom, Can smile at Fate, and wonder how they mourn. And Spring shall soon her vital influence shed, Shall I be left, forgotten in the dust, When Fate, relenting, lets the flower revive? Shall Nature's voice, to Man alone unjust, Bid him, though doomed to perish, hope to live? With disappointment, penury, and pain? Bright through the eternal year of Love's triumphant reign 13. FORGIVENESS. WHEN on the fragrant sandal-tree Peace to her foes, and love to all. How hardly man this lesson learns, To smile, and bless the hand that spurns; ONE had it, but he came from Heaven. No curse he breathed, no 'plaint he made, 14. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. — Philip Doddridge. Born, 1702; died, 175? I live to pleasure, while I live to thee. PART EIGHTH. RHETORICAL AND DRAMATIC. 1. ROME AND CARTHAGE.-Victor Hugo. Original Translation. ROME and Carthage! - behold them drawing near for the struggle that is to shake the world! Carthage, the metropolis of Africa, is the mistress of oceans, of kingdoms, and of Nations; a magnificent city, burthened with opulence, radiant with the strange arts and trophies of the East. She is at the acme of her civilization. She can mount no higher. Any change now must be a decline. Rome is comparatively poor. She has seized all within her grasp, but rather from the lust of conquest than to fill her own coffers. She is demi-barbarous, and has her education and her fortune both to make All is before her, nothing behind. For a time, these two Nations exist in view of each other. The one reposes in the noontide of her splendor; the other waxes strong in the shade. But, little by little, air and space are wanting to each for her development. Rome begins to perplex Carthage, and Carthage is an eyesore to Rome. Seated on opposite banks of the Mediterranean, the two cities look each other in the face. The sea no longer keeps them apart. Europe and Africa weigh upon each other. Like two clouds surcharged with electricity they impend. With their contact must come the thunder-shock. - The catastrophe of this stupendous drama is at hand. What actors are met! Two races, - that of merchants and mariners, that of laborers and soldiers; two Nations, the one dominant by gold, other by steel; two Republics, the one theocratic, the other aristocratic. Rome and Carthage! Rome with her army, Carthage with her fleet; Carthage, old, rich and Crafty, Rome, young, poor, and robust; the past and the future; the spirit of discovery, and the spirit of conquest; the genius of commerce, the demon of war; the East and the South on one side, the West and the North on the other; in short, two worlds, the civilization of Africa, and the civilization of Europe. They measure each other from head to foot. They gather all their forces. Gradually the war kindles. The world takes fire. These colossal powers are locked in deadly strife. Car thage has crossed the Alps; Rome, the seas. The two Nations, personified in two men, Hannibal and Scipio, close with each other, wrestle, and grow infuriate. The duel is desperate. It is a struggle for life. Rome wavers. She utters that cry of anguish - Hannibai at the gates! But she rallies, collects all her strength for one last, appalling effort, throws herself upon Carthage, and sweeps her from the face of the earth! 2. THE DRONES OF. THE COMMUNITY.-Percy Bysshe Shelley. THOSE gilded flies That, basking in the sunshine of a Court, To glut their grandeur. Many faint with toil, On those who build their palaces, and bring Their daily bread? — From vice, black, loathsome vic Revenge, and murder. - And, when Reason's voice- that virtue Is peace, and happiness, and harmony; When man's maturer nature shall disdain The playthings of its childhood; - kingly glare Will silently pass by; the gorgeous throne As that of truth is now. Where is the fame Which the vain-glorious mighty of the earth Stern is the tyrant's mandate, red the gaze That scatters inultitudes. To-morrow comes' |