still advanced towards him, and began to wash him with its billows, he turned to his courtiers, and remarked to them, that every creature in the universe was feeble and impotent,-* and that power resided with one Being alone, in whose hands were all the elements of nature; who could say to the ocean, thus far shalt thou go and no farther; and who could level with his nod the most towering piles of human ambition.

HUME.

16. Douglas's Account of the Hermit.

NARRATIVE MANNER:

Assumes the Plaintive expression; rises into Ardour.

Beneath a mountain's brow, the most remote
And inaccessible by shepherds trod,

In a deep cave, dug by no mortal hand,
A hermit lived: a melancholy man,

1

Who was the wonder of our wandering swains.
Austere and lonely, cruel to himself,

Did they report him; the cold earth his bed,
Water his drink, his food the shepherds' alms.
I went to see him, and my heart was touched
With reverence and with pity. Mild he spake,
And entering on discourse, such stories told
As made me oft revisit his sad cell.

For he had been a soldier in his youth,

And fought in famous battles, when the peers

Of Europe, by the bold Godfredo led,
Against the usurping infidel, displayed
The blessed cross, and won the holy land.
Pleased with my admiration, and the fire

His speech struck from me, the old man would shake

His years away, and act his young encounters; Then, having showed his wounds, he'd sit him down,

And all the livelong day, discourse of war.

To help my fancy,-in the smooth green turf He'd cut the figures of the marshalled hosts, Described the motions, and explained the use Of the deep column, and the lengthened line, The square, the crescent, and the phalanx firm. For all that Saracen or Christian knew

Of war's vast art, was to this hermit known.

HOME.

17. Fortitude is necessary to the enjoyment of Happiness.

ARGUMENTATIVE MANNER:

2

Assumes an expression of 1Firmness; relaxes into a Slight scornful expression of Feebleness. These expressions, with some difference in degree, are repeated; Firmness; 'Scornful Pity; 5 Firmness; "Scornful Pity.

Without some degree of Fortitude there can be no happiness; because, amidst the thousand

uncertainties of life, there can be no enjoyment of tranquillity. The man of feeble and timorous spirit lives under perpetual alarms. He sees every distant danger, and trembles. He explores the regions of possibility to discover the dangers that may arise. Often he creates imaginary ones; always magnifies those that are real. Hence, like a person haunted by spectres, he loses the free enjoyment even of a safe and prosperous state. And on the first shock of Instead of 'exerting

3

adversity he desponds. himself to lay hold on the resources that remain, 2 he gives up all for lost, and resigns himself to abject and broken spirits. On the other hand, firmness of mind is the parent of tranquillity. It enables one to enjoy the present without disturbance, and to look calmly on dangers that approach, or evils that threaten in future. Look into the heart of this man, and you will find composure, cheerfulness, and magnanimity. * Look into the heart of the other, and you will see nothing but confusion, anxiety, and trepidation. The one is a castle built on a rock which defies the attacks of surrounding waters: the other is a hut placed on the shore, which every wind shakes, and every wave overflows.

4

5

BLAIR.

6

18. Mercy, to be genuine, must be given freely; and it ought always to temper Justice.

ARGUMENTATIVE MANNER:

2

Deepens into an expression of Solemnity; Rapture; reassumes 3 Solemnity.

The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; 'it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings: 2 But is above this sceptered sway, It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

mercy

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's

3

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, well Consider this, though justice be our plea,

Yet, in the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth

render

The deeds of mercy.

teach us all to

SHAKSPEARE.

19. The Mind disposing itself to Thought on the approach of Evening.

1

Every object a little while ago, glared with light; but now, all appears with softened lustre. The animals harmonize with the insensible creation and what was gay in those, as well as glittering in this, gives place to a universal gravity. Should I, at such a season, be vain and trifling, the heavens and the earth would rebuke my unseasonable levity. Therefore, be this moment devoted to thoughts, solemn as the close of day, sedate as the face of things. However my social hours are enlivened with innocent pleasantry, let the evening, in her sober habit, toll the bell to serious consideration. Every meddling and intrusive avocation, is secluded. Silence holds the door against the strife of tongues, and all the impertinences of idle conversation. The busy swarm of vain images and cajoling temptations which beset us, with a buzzing importunity, amid the gaieties of life, are chased by these thickening shades. Here may, without disturbance, commune with my own heart, and learn that best of sciences, to know myself.

卷

HERVEY.