accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed. We welcome you to the blessings of good government, and religious liberty. We welcome you to the treasures of science and the delights of learning. We welcome you to the transcendant sweets of domestic life, to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting Truth!

LESSON CL.

Effects of Education upon individuals.-Its importance to the public.-WORDSWORTH.

ALAS! what differs more than man from man!

And whence this difference ?-whence but from himself?
For, see the universal race, endowed

With the same upright form! The sun is fixed,
And the infinite magnificence of heaven,
Within the reach of every human eye:
The sleepless ocean murmurs in all ears;
The vernal field infuses fresh delight
Into all hearts. Throughout the world of sense,
Even as an object is sublime or fair,
That object is laid open to the view
Without reserve or veil; and as a power
Is salutary, or its influence sweet,
Are each and all enabled to perceive
That power, that influence, by impartial law.
Gifts nobler are vouchsafed alike to all ;-
Reason, and, with that reason, smiles and tears;
Imagination, freedom of the will,

Conscience to guide and check; and death
To be foretasted,-immortality presumed.

Strange then, nor less than monstrous might be deemed
The failure, if the Almighty, to this point
Liberal and undistinguishing, should hide
The excellence of moral qualities
From common understanding; leaving truth
And virtue, difficult, abstruse and dark;
Hard to be won, and only by a few:-
Strange, should he deal herein with nice respects,

And frustrate all the rest! Believe it not:
The primal duties shine aloft-like stars;
The charities, that sooth, and heal, and bless,
Arc scattered at the feet of man-like flowers.
The generous inclination, the just rule,
Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts ---
No mystery is here; no special boon

For high and not for low,-for proudly graced
And not for meek in heart. The smoke ascends
To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth,
As from the haughty palace. He whose soul
Ponders its true equality, may walk

The fields of earth with gratitude and hope;
Yet, in that meditation, will he find

Motive to sadder grief, when his thoughts turn
From nature's justice to the social wrongs
That make such difference betwixt man and man.

By timely culture unsustained, or run
Into a wild disorder; or be forced

Oh for the coming of that glorious time
When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth,
And best protection, this imperial realm*
While she exacts allegiance, shall admit
An obligation on her part, to teach
Them who are born to serve her and obey;
Binding herself by statute to secure,
For all the children whom her soil maintains,
The rudiments of Letters, and to inform
The mind with moral and religious truth,
Both understood and practised--so that none
However destitute, be left to droop,

To drudge through weary life without the aid
Of intellectual implements and tools;
A savage horde among the civilized,
A servile band among the lordly free!

This right-as sacred, almost, as the right
To exist and be supplied with sustenance
And means of life, the lisping babe proclaims
To be inherent in him, by Heaven's will,
For the protection of his innocence
And the rude boy who knits his angry brow,
And lifts his wilful hand on mischief bent,
Or turns the sacred faculty of speech

*The British empire.

To impious use-by process indirect,
Declares his due, while he makes known his need.

This sacred right is fruitlessly announced,
This universal plea in vain addressed,
To eyes and ears of parents, who themselves
Did, in the time of their necessity,

Urge it in vain; and, therefore, ike a prayer
That from the humblest floor ascends to heaven,
It mounts to reach the State's parental ear;
Who if indeed she own a mother's heart,
And be not most unfeelingly devoid
Of gratitude to Providence, will grant
The unquestionable good.

The discipline of slavery is unknown
Amongst us,—hence the more do we require
The discipline of virtue ;-order else
Cannot subsist, nor confidence, nor peace.
Thus, duties rising out of good possessed,
And prudent caution needful to avert
Impending evil, do alike require
That permanent provision should be made
For the whole people to be taught and trained :-
So shall licentiousness and black resolve
Be rooted out, and virtuous habits take
Their place; and genuine piety descend,
Like an inheritance, from age to age.

LESSON CLI.

An Evening in the Grave-yard.-AMERICAN WATCHMAN

THE moon is up, the evening star

Shines lovely from its home of blueThe fox-howl's heard on the fell afar,

And the earth is robed in a sombre hue;
From the shores of light the beams come down,
On the river's breast, and cold grave stone.

The kindling fires o'er heaven so bright,

Look sweetly out from yon azure sea;
While the glittering pearls of the dewy night,
Seem trying to mimic their brilliancy;
Yet all those charms no joy can bring
To the dead, in the cold grave slumbering.

To numbers wild, yet sweet withal,
Should the harp be struck o'er the sleepy pillow;
Soft as the murmuring, breezy fall,

Of sighing winds on the foamy billow; For who would disturb in their silent bed, The fancied dreams of the lowly dead?

Oh! is there one in this world can say,
That the soul exists not after death?
That the powers which illumine this mould of clay
Are but a puff of common breath?
Oh! come this night to the grave and see
The sleepy sloth of your destiny.

The night's soft voice, in breathings low,

Imparts a calm to the breast of the weeper. The water's dash and murmuring flow

No more will sooth the ear of the sleeper,
Till he, who slept on Judah's plains,
Shall burst death's cold and icy chains.

I've seen the moon gild the mountain's brow;
I've watch'd the mist o'er the river stealing,
But ne'er did I feel in my breast till now,

So deep, so calm, and so holy a feeling: "Tis soft as the thrill which memory throws Athwart the soul in the hour of repose.

Thou Father of all! in the worlds of light,
Fain would my spirit aspire to thee;
And thro' the scenes of this gentle night,
Behold the dawn of eternity:

For this is the path, which thou hast given,
The only path to the bliss of Heaven.

LESSON CLII.

A natural mirror.-WORDSWORTH.

BEHOLD, the shades of afternoon have fallen Upon this flowery slope; and see-beyondThe lake, though bright, is of a placid blue; As if preparing for the peace of evening. How temptingly the landscape shines!The air

Breathes invitation; easy is the walk
To the lake's margin, where a boat lies moored
Beneath her sheltering tree.-

*

*

*

Forth we went,
And down the valley, on the streamlet's bank,
Pursued our way, a broken company,
Mute or conversing, single or in pairs.-
Thus having reached a bridge that overarched
The hasty rivulet, where it lay becalmed
In a deep pool, by happy chance we saw
A two-fold image ;-on the grassy bank
A snow-white ram, and, in the crystal flood,
Another and the same !—Most beautiful,
On the green turf, with his imperial front
Shaggy and bold, and wreathed horns superb,
The breathing creature stood; as beautiful
Beneath him showed his shadowy counterpart.
Each had his glowing mountains, each his sky,
And each seemed centre of his own fair world ;—
Antip'odēs unconscious of each other,
Yet, in partition, with their several spheres,
Blended in perfect stillness, to our sight!
Ah! what a pity were it to disperse,
Or to disturb so fair a spectacle;
And yet a breath can do it.-

LESSON CLIII.

Burial places near Constantinople.-ANASTASIUS.

A DENSE and motionless cloud of stagnant vapors ever shrouds these dreary realms. From afar a chilling sensation informs the traveller that he approaches their dark and dismal precincts'; and as he enters them, an icy blast, rising from their inmost bosom, rushes forth to meet his breath, suddenly strikes his chest, and seems to oppose his progress. His very horse snuffs up the deadly effluvia with signs of manifest terror, and, exhaling a cold and clammy sweat, advances reluctantly over a hollow ground, which shakes as he treads it, and loudly re-echoes his slow and fearful ́ step.