which inspire your hearts? No-you have judged as I have, the foulness of the crafty plea by which these bold invaders would delude you. Your generous spirit has compared, as mine has, the motives, which in a war like this, can animate their minds, and ours. 2. They, by a strange frenzy driven, fight for power, for plunder, and extended rule-we, for our country, our altars, and our homes.-They follow an adventurer whom they fear, and obey a power which they hate-we serve a monarch whom we love a God whom we adore. 3. Whenever they move in anger, desolation tracks their progress! Whenever they pause in amity, affliction mourns their friendship! They boast they come but to improve our state, enlarge our thoughts, and free us from the yoke of error! Yes they will give enlightened freedom to our minds, who are themselves the slaves of passion, avarice, and pride. 4. They offer us their protection-Yes, such protection as vultures give to lambs-covering and devouring them! They call on us to barter all of good we have inherited and proved for the desperate chance of something better, which they promise. Be our plain answer this: 5. The throne we honor, is the people's choice—the laws we reverence are our brave father's legacy-the faith we follow teaches us to live in bonds of charity with all mankind, and die in hopes of bliss beyond the grave. Tell your invaders this; and tell them too, we seek no change; and least of all, such change as they would bring us. LESSON CXXVIII. The Hermit.-BEATTIE. 1 Ar the close of the day, when the hamlet is still, And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove; When nought but the torrent is heard on the hill, And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove; "Twas thus by the cave of the mountain afar, While his harp rung symphonious, a hermit* began No more with himself or with nature at war, He thought as a sage, though he felt as a man, * Hermit, a person who retires from society and lives in solitude. 2. "Ah! why, all abandon'd to darkness and wo; Mourn, sweetest complainer, man calls thee to mourn; 3. "Now gliding remote, on the verge of the sky, The moon half extinguish'd her crescent displays: She shone, and the planets were lost in her blaze. 4. ""Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more: Kind nature the embryo blossom will save: 5. ""Twas thus by the glare of false science betray'd, O pity, Great Father of light, then I cry'd, Thy who fain would not wander from thee! Lo! humn dust, I relinquish my pride: From doubt and from darkness thou only canst free. “And darkness and doubt are now flying away; Phi-lo-me-la, a nightingale, LESSON CXXIX. The Mariner's Dream.-DIMOND. 1. In slumbers of midnight the sailor boy lay, His hammoc✶ swung loose at the sport of the wind; But, watch-worn and weary, his cares flew away, And visions of happiness danced o'er his mind. 2. He dreamed of his home, of his dear native bowers, 3. Then fancy her magical pinions spread wide, And bade the young dreamer in ecstacy rise ;- 4. The jessamint clambers in flowers o'er the thatch, And the voices of loved ones reply to his call. 5. A father bends o'er him with looks of delight; His cheek is impearled with a mother's warm tear; And the lips of the boy in a love-kiss unite With the lips of the maid, whom his bosom holds dear 6. The heart of the sleeper beats high in his breast, Joy quickens his puises, his hardships seem o'er: "O God! thou hast blessed me; I ask for no more." glaces / burst) Tis the lightning's red glare, painting hell on the sky! 7. Ah! whence is that flame which now made on his eye? Ah what is that sound which now darus his car? 'Tis the crushing of thunders, the groan of the sphere! 8. He springs from his hammoc-he flies to the deck- 9. Like mountains the billows tremendously swell : In vain the lost wretch calls on mercy to save; Hammoc, a kind of hanging bed, suspended by hooks, on board ships. Jessamin, a plant bearing beautiful flowers. Unseen hands of spirits are ringing his knell, And the death-angel flaps his broad wing o'er the wave! 10. O sailor boy! wo to thy dream of delight! In darkness dissolves the gay frost-work of bliss. Shall home, love, or kindred, thy wishes repay; Full many a cenfathom, thy frame shall decay. 14. Days, months, years, and ages, shall circle away, LESSON CXXX. Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his solitary abode in the Island of Juan Fernandez.*-Cowper. 1. I AM monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute; Than reign in this horrible place. The island of Juan Fernandez lies to the west of South America, about three hundred miles from the coast of Chili. Alexander Selkirk, a seaman, a native of Scotland, was put ashore by his captain, and left in this solitary place, where he lived several years. This gave rise to the celebrated remance of Robinson Crusoe. 2. I am out of humanity's reach, I must finish my journey alone; Never hear the sweet music of speech; I start at the sound of my own. The beasts that roam over the plain, My form with indifference see: They are so unacquainted with man, Their tameness is shocking to me. 3. Society, friendship, and love, Divinely bestowed upon man Oh had I the wings of a dove, How soon would I taste you again! My sorrows I then might assuage In the ways of religion and truth; Might learn from the wisdom of age, And be cheer'd by the sallies of youth. 4. Religion! what treasure untold Resides in that heavenly word! More precious than silver or gold, Or all that this earth can afford. But the sound of the church-going bell These valleys and rocks never heard; Ne'er sigh'd at the sound of a knell, Or smiled when a sabbath appear'd. Of a land I shall visit no more. Though a friend I am never to see. And the swift-wing'd arrows of light. Soon hurries me back to despair. |