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See, Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring!
See lofty Lebanon(") his head advance!
See nodding forests on the mountains dance!
See spicy clouds from lowly Saron(2) rise,
And Carmel's(3) flowery top perfume the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way-a God, a God appears!
A God! a God! the vocal hills reply:
The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity.
Lo! earth receives Him from the bending skies;
Sink down, ye mountains, and ye valleys, rise!
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay!
Be smooth, ye rocks! ye rapid floods, give way!
The Saviour comes, by ancient bards foretold !
Hear him, ye deaf! and all ye blind, behold!
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eyeball pour the day;
'Tis He the obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear;
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting, like the bounding roe.
No sigh, no murmur the wide world shall hear,
From every face He wipes off every tear.
In adamantine chains shall Death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound.
As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air;
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects;
The tender lambs He raises in His arms,
Feeds from His hands, and in His bosom warms :
Thus shall mankind His guardian care engage,
The promised Father of the future age!
No more shall nation against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes;

(1) A range of mountains in Syria, famous for the cedar trees which grew on its slopes. (2) Saron or Sharon was a plain in Palestine, famous for its roses. See the Song of Solomon, ch. ii. 1. (3) Carmel, or the " Garded of God" was a fertile mountain ridge on the coast of Palestine. See 1 Kings, ch. xviii.

Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er,-
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end.
Then palaces shall rise: the joyful son
Shall finish what his short-lived sire begun;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sowed shall reap the field.
The swain in barren deserts with surprise
Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise :
And starts, amidst the thirsty wilds, to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.
On rifted rocks, the dragons' late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods!
Waste sandy valleys, once perplexed with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn ;

To leafless shrubs the flowery palms succeed,
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed.

The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead,
And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead:
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet.
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake;
Pleased, the green lustre of the scales survey,
And with their forky tongues shall innocently play.
Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem,(1) rise!
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes!
See a long race thy spacious courts adorn!
See future sons and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life—impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend!
See thy bright altars thronged with prostrate kings,
And heaped with products of Sabean(2) springs!

(1) Jerusalem, formerly called Jebus, from one of the sons of Canaan, is supposed to have been the ancient Salem of which Melchizedek was king. See Genesis ch. xiv. 18. (2) A district to the N.E. of Arabia. See Job ch. i. 15, and Psalm 1xxii. 10. Compare the versions of the Psalms in the Bible and Prayer-Book.

For thee Idume's (1) spicy forests blow,
And seeds of gold in Ophir's (2) mountains glow!
See heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon them in a flood of day!
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn,
Nor evening Cynthia) fill her silver horn;
But lost, dissolved, in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze,
O'erflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Revealed, and God's eternal day be thine!
The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fixed his word, his saving power remains:
Thy realm for ever lasts-thy own Messiah reigns!

EXERCISE.-28. MEANING OF WORDS.

1. Give the meaning of the following:-nymph, sublime, ethereal, nectar, bard, auspicious, adamantine, basilisk, noisome, sylvan, falchion, verdant, odorous.

2. Distinguish between :-way, weigh; reed, read; graze, greys; furfir; gate, gait; altar, alter, halter.

3. Illustrate the different meanings of :-air, tear, spring, race, box, crib, blow, court.

THE FIRST VISIT TO THE ALEHOUSE, AND
ITS CONSEQUENCES.

MATTHIAS BARR."

[For Biographical Notice, see page 254.]

ex-pres-sion [L. ex, out of; pressus, from premo, to press], appearance of the features, look. ter-mi-na-tion [L. terminus, a limit], end, conclusion. im-por-tant [L. in, into; porto, to carry], momentous, of great consequence.

MANY years ago there lived in a little village in Scotland, a man named Andrew Ford. He was a blacksmith by trade, as had been his father and his grandfather before him.

(1) Idumæa, an ancient district of Syria, formerly inhabited by the Edomites, or descendants of Esau, and now occupied by the Bedouin Arabs. (2) A mountain from which the servants of Solomon and Hiram obtained gold. See 1 Kings ix. 28. (3) A name of Diana, the heathen goddess of the moon.

Early and late might be heard the ringing of his hammer upon the anvil, and the sound of his cheery voice keeping time to the swinging of his own sturdy blows. In due course of time Andrew, who was a prosperous man and doing well at his trade, married Mary Giles, the only daughter of one of his neighbours. Mary was as sweet and amiable a young woman as the village could boast of; and when Andrew led her home as his wife, smiling in the fulness of her young heart, the neighbours prophesied a happy future for the thriving blacksmith and his blushing bride.

Among the many things Mary brought with her to her new home was a dog. Sandy had attached himself to his mistress when a pup, and had followed at her heels ever since. He could not be called a handsome dog, his coat being of the coarsest description possible to imagine; nor would the expression of his face have induced a stranger to seek his acquaintance, being savage in the extreme; but Sandy, like many a human being, looked worse than he really was. No sooner had he taken up his quarters in the blacksmith's cottage, than he made himself thoroughly at home, following his master every morning to the smithy, and taking the greatest possible delight in the mysteries of Vulcan.

So matters went on smoothly and peacefully for about two years-Andrew happy in his home, and Mary living for no other end than that of pleasing her husband-when it happened one bright harvest morning that business of an important nature called Ford to a neighbouring town; so kissing his little wife, with the promise of a speedy return, he set off accompanied by the faithful Sandy. His business brought to a satisfactory termination, he was returning home, and had reached within a mile of the village, walking leisurely along between the hedges that skirted the road on either side, when he was brought to a sudden stand by a voice which hailed him from an adjoining field.

"Holloa, Ford, where been to," cried the voice which belonged to a red-faced man with a rake in his hand, who grinned over the hedge at the traveller, and continued to wipe his perspiring forehead with a red cotton handkerchief.

Good evening, Farmer Tubbs," answered the black

smith, nodding his head; "only been to town-a slight matter of business-that's all."

"Glad I've seen you; want to speak to you particularly about a job. I was just thinking of dropping down upon you;" and Farmer Tubbs then threw down his rake and proceeded to thrust himself into his coat, after which exertion, he opened the gate leading to the road, and hooking his arm into that of the blacksmith, without more ado, disclosed the nature of the business in hand. As they sauntered along, the farmer continued to puff and blow and wipe his face, protesting all the while against the intense heat, and before he had gone a quarter of a mile, became impressed with the idea that the cool and quiet of the little parlour at the Blue Boar was preferable to the hot and dusty road, besides being a more convenient place for the adjustment of business. Andrew would rather have gone home, but as they had already reached the place, he yielded, and followed the farmer into the inn. It was dry work talking, even there, in such weather, the farmer presently discovered, and as he became every moment hotter and redder in the face, he suggested just a little drop of something to quench their thirst. There was much to talk about, and many instructions to give; and although Andrew signified his intention of departing more than once, and Sandy gave an occasional whine of discontent, the farmer insisted upon going all over the business once more-just to make sure of the thing; and found so much to speak about in addition, that Andrew was constrained to listen, and if the face of his gentle wife would rise before him as he sat listening and talking, and almost unconsciously tasting little by little, would she not forgive him, he thought-forgive him for once. He had never been late before, but then he had never had such a stroke of luck as that day had brought. Had not the farmer given him work to do? and it would scarcely be the thing, he considered, to run away immediately after such a proof of favour. Besides, there were more smiths in the village than himself. Reasoning with himself after this manner, minute after minute slipped away, and several hours elapsed, before Andrew Ford and the farmer rose to depart.

The sun had long gone down behind the hills, and the

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