do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.'

3. Then I saw in my dream that the shining men bid them call at the gate; the which when they did, some from above looked over the gate, to wit, Enoch, Moses, Elijah, etc.; to whom it was said, 'These pilgrims are come from the City of Destruction, for the love that they bear to the King of this place;' and then the pilgrims gave in unto them cach man his certificate, which they had received in the beginning: those, therefore, were carried in to the King, who, when he had read them, said, 'Where are the men?' To whom it was answered, 'They are standing without the gate.' The King then commanded to open the gate, 'That the righteous nation,' said he, 'that keepeth truth, may enter in.'

4. "Now, I saw in my dream that these two men went in at the gate; and lo, as they entered, they were transfigured, and they had raiment put on that shone like gold. There were also that met them with harps and crowns, and gave to them the harps to praise withal, and the crowns in token of honor. Then I heard in my dream that all the bells in the city rang again for joy, and that it was said unto them, 'Enter ye into the joy of your Lord.' I also heard the men themselves, that they sang with a loud voice, saying, 'Blessing, honor, and glory, and power, be to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever.'

5. "Now, just as the gates were opened to let in the men, I looked in after them, and behold the city shone like the sun; the streets, also, were paved with gold, and in them walked many men with crowns on their heads, palms in their hands, and golden harps, to sing praises withal."

I. Verse 3.--Aristotle, a celebrated Grecian philosopher, who died about 323 B.C.-Plato, another celebrated Grecian philosopher, whose

writings are very valuable. He died about 348 B.C.-V. 4. Ranters, a Christian sect that sprang up in England in 1645.--Quakers, a Christian sect founded in England about 1650. They call themselves "Friends."

III. Verse 1.--Ulysses, one of the Greek leaders at the siege of Troy. His ten years' wanderings after the siege form the subject of Homer's Odyssey.-Æne'as, a Trojan prince who fought for Troy in the ten years' siege,--the hero of Virgil's Ene'id.-V. 2. Several allusions to characters in The Pilgrim's Progress. See IV.

CHAPTER VI.-MISCELLANEOUS.

I.-Jerusalem, the Golden.

"And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, and the city was pure gold."--Rev. xxi. 2, 18.

1. Jerusalem, the Golden!

I weary for one gleam

Of all thy glory folden

In distance and in dream!

My thoughts, like palms in exile,
Climb up to look and pray
For a glimpse of thy dear country,
That lies so far away!

2. Jerusalem, the Golden!

Methinks each flower that blows,
And every bird a-singing,

Of thee some secret knows;
I know not what the flowers
Can feel, or singers see,
But all these summer raptures
Seem prophecies of thee.

3. Jerusalem, the Golden!

When sunset's in the west,
It seems thy gate of glory,
Thou city of the blest!
And midnight's starry torches
Through intermediate gloom
Are waving with our welcome
To thy eternal home.

4. Jerusalem, the Golden!
Where loftily they sing,
O'er pain and sorrows olden
Forever triumphing;
Lowly may be the portal,

And dark may be the door,
The mansion is immortal-
God's palace for His poor!

5. Jerusalem, the Golden!

There all our birds that flew,
Our flowers but half unfolden,
Our pearls that turned to dew,
And all the glad life-music

Now heard no longer here,
Shall come again to greet us
As we are drawing near.

6. Jerusalem, the Golden!

I toil on day by day;
Heart-sore each night with longing,
I stretch my hands and pray
That 'mid thy leaves of healing,

My soul may find her nest;

Where the wicked cease from troubling,

The weary are at rest!—Gerald Massey.

What is meant by Jerusalem, as here used?--What word is per

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sonified in the first verse?-V. 3. What are the "midnight starry torches"?--V. 5. What is meant by "our birds,” “ flowers, pearls,' "life-music," that shall greet us?

1. The day dies slowly in the western sky;

The sunset's splendor fades, and wan and cold The far peaks wait the sunrise; cheerily

The goatherd calls his wanderers to their fold: My weary soul, that fain would cease to roam, Take comfort; evening bringeth all things home.

2. Homeward the swift-winged sea-gull takes its flight;
The ebbing tide breaks softly on the sand;
The red-sailed boats draw shoreward for the night;
The shadows deepen over sea and land:

Be still, my soul; thine hour shall also come;
Behold, one evening, God shall lead thee home.

H. M., in Littell's Living Age.

CHAPTER VII.-JOHN DRYDEN.-1631-1700.

I.-Biographical.

1. Three things are to be noted concerning John Dryden. His career began when the Renaissance style was dying out, its last great representative having been John Milton; and it ended as the more exact classical school founded upon French examples was just flowering into the Augustan Age of Queen Anne's time. The third fact is that Dryden, abandoning the inverted style of the classics, the capricious fancies of the Renaissance, and the argumentative forms of the schools, adopted a simple, unaffected style,

and became the father of modern English prose. It was his misfortune to bridge these two epochs; but his writings are logical, and he is the first writer who lays down the principles of literary criticism.

2. Dryden was born of an old family of Northamptonshire, which had joined the Puritan party and was devoted to Cromwell. He became a Roman Catholic, and his change of religion, which occurred after the restoration of Charles the Second, has been harshly criticised as hypocritical, as if he had obeyed the maxim that "thrift would follow fawning;" but he manfully maintained his ground after the Revolution of 1688, when his consistency stripped him of a pension and his laureateship, and reduced him to obloquy and poverty. He died in the reign of William the Third, and was buried, by charitable subscriptions, in Westminster Abbey.

3. Dryden wrote nearly thirty dramas, most of which are too logical, and too wanting in incident, for successful presentation on the stage. He translated Virgil, and undertook Homer, of which latter effort Pope said, that if the work had been completed, he (Pope) would not have entered on the task. He also composed metrical fables and allegories as satires upon the men of his times, and he was engaged almost constantly in sharp warfare with his critics and enemies. He died a literary hack, writing poetry at so much a line.

4. As a prose writer, Dryden excelled in criticism; he was unequalled in satire; and the spirit, freedom, grace, and melody of his versification remain almost, if not wholly, without a rival. His favorite drama, All for Love, is a tragedy founded on the story of Antony and Cleopatra, and written in imitation of Shakspeare. In the following opening of a poem which he wrote to defend the Church of England against dissenters, the contrast which he draws between Reason and Religion is singularly solemn and majestic: