Thus by thy simple life we see Our human guides, their counsel, all But oh! how short of thee they fall, COMPOSITION. Give in your own words the first stanza, in two ways. Also: "Fain wouldst thou make some faint amends "Notes startling high and loud and long Dispel my idle dreaming." Also tenth stanza (especially). THE CRADLE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. THE foundation of the colony of Maryland was peacefully and happily laid. Within six months it had advanced more than Virginia had done in as many years. The proprietary continued with great liberality to provide everything that was necessary for its comfort and protection, and spared no cost to promote its interests. Under the mild institutions and munificence of Lord Baltimore, the dreary wilderness soon bloomed with the swarming life and activity of prosperous settlements; the Roman Catholics, who were oppressed by the laws of England, were sure to find a peaceful asylum in the quiet harbors of the Chesapeake; and there, too, Protestants were sheltered against Protestant intolerance. Such were the beautiful auspices under which the province of Maryland started into being. Its history is the history of benevolence, gratitude, and toleration. In April, 1649, as if with a foresight of impending dange, and an earnest desire to stay its approach, the Roman Catholics of Maryland, with the earnest concurrence of their governor and of the proprietary, determined to place upon their statute book an act for the religious freedom which had ever been sacred on their soil. "And whereas the enforcing of the conscience in matters of religion," such was the sublime tenor of a part of the statute-“hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous consequence in those commonwealths where it has been practised; and for the more quiet and peaceable government of this province, and the better to preserve mutual love and amity among the inhabitants, no person within this province shall be in any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced for his or her religion, or in the free exercise thereof." Thus did the early star of religious freedom appear as the harbinger of day, though, as it first gleamed above the horizon, its light was colored and obscured by the mists and exhalations of morning. The greatest of English poets, when he represents the ground teeming with living things at the word of the Creator, paints the moment when the forms, so soon to be instinct with perfect life and beauty, are yet emerging from the inanimate earth, and when but Half appeared The tawny lion pawing to get free; then springs, as broke from bonds, And rampant shakes his brinded mane. So it was with the freedom of religion in the United States. The clause for liberty in Maryland extended only to Christians, and was introduced by the proviso that 'whatsoever person shall blaspheme God, or shall deny or reproach the Holy Trinity, or any of the three persons thereof, shall be punished with death." But the design of the law of Maryland was undoubtedly to protect freedom of conscience; and some years after it had been confirmed, the apologists of Lord Baltimore could assert that his government, in conformity with his strict and repeated injunctions, had never given disturbance to any person in Maryland for matters of religion; that the colonists enjoyed freedom of conscience, not less than freedom of person and estate, as amply as ever any people in any place of the world. The disfranchised friends of liberty from Virginia, and their imitators from Massachusetts, were welcomed to equal liberty of conscience and political rights in the Roman Catholic province of Maryland. Questions: What is meant by "proprietary"? To what does the historian refer when he says "there, too, Protestants were sheltered from Protestant intolerance"? What is meant by "hath fallen out to be of dangerous consequence"? Express this phrase in modern style. What is meant by "disfranchised friends of liberty"? What other colony established religious toleration? Give first paragraph in your own words. Retain construction of sentences but substitute synonymes where possible. ELEGY IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD. Thomas Gray (1716-1771), one of the greatest of England's lyric poets. His productions are very few, but excellent. His finest compositions are those entitled "The Bard," the "Progress of Poetry," the ode to "Adversity," and the famous "Elegy in a Country Church-yard," by which he is best known. Indeed it is more frequently called "Gray's Elegy" than by its proper title. In the exquisite finish of his verse, Gray surpassed all his predecessors. HE curfew tolls the knell of parting day, TH The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower The moping owl does to the moon complain Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke: How jocund did they drive their team afield! How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke. Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, If Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise, Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. Can storied urn, or animated bust, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust, Or Flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death? Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page, Chill Penury repressed their noble rage,' Full many a gem, of purest ray serene, The dark, unfathomed caves of ocean bear; |