1

obeys his parent and his prince? And yet these duties are not more distinct than those which we owe our sovereign and our spiritual head. Is there any man in society who has not distinct duties to discharge?

7. May not the same person be the head of a corporation, and an officer of the king? a justice of the peace, perhaps, and a bankrupt surgeon, with half his pay? And are the duties hus imposed upon him, incompatible one with another? If he Pope can define that the Jewish sabbath is dissolved, and that the Lord's day is to be sanctified, may not this be believed without prejudice to the act of settlement, or that for the limitation of the crown? If the Church decree that on Fridays her children should abstain from flesh-meat, are they thereby controlled from obeying the king when he summons them to war?

118. THE WIFE.

WASHINGTON IRVING.

1. I HAVE often had occasion to remark the fortitude with which women sustain the most overwhelming reverses of fortune. Those disasters which break down the spirit of a man, and prostrate him in the dust, seem to call forth all the energies of the softer sex, and give such intrepidity and elevation to their character, that at times it approaches to sublimity.

2. Nothing can be more touching than to behold a soft and tender female, who had been all weakness and dependence, and alive to every trivial roughness, while treading the pros perous paths of life, suddenly arising in mental force to be the comforter and supporter of her husband under misfortune, and abiding, with unshrinking firmness, the most bitter blasts of adversity.

3. As the vine, which has long twined its graceful foliage about the oak, and been lifted by it into sunshine, will, when the hardy plant is rifted by the thunderbolt, cling around it with its caressing tendrils, and bind up its shattered boughs;

so is it beautifully ordered by Providence, that woman, who is the mere dependant and ornament of man in his happier hours, should be his stay and solace when smitten with sud den calamity; winding herself into the rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken heart.

4. I was once congratulating a friend, who had around hir a blooming family, knit together in the strongest affection. "I can wish you no better lot," said he, with enthusiasm, "than To Have A WIFE AND CHILDREN. If you are prosperous there they are to share your prosperity; if otherwise, there they are to comfort you."

5. And, indeed, I have observed, that A MARRIED MAN, falling into misfortune, is more apt to retrieve his situation in the world than A SINGLE ONE; partly, because he is more stimulated to exertion by the necessities of the helpless and beloved beings who depend upon him for subsistence; but chiefly, because his spirits are soothed and relieved by domestic endearments, and his SELF-RESPECT kept alive by finding, that though all abroad is darkness and humiliation, yet there is still a little world of love at home, of which he is the monarch.

6. Whereas, A SINGLE MAN is apt to run to WASTE and SELF-NEGLECT; to fancy himself lonely and abandoned, and his heart to fall to ruin, like some deserted mansion, for want of au inhabitant.

119. CHRISTMAS.

LORD JOHN MANNERS.

1 OLD Christmas comes about again,
The blessed day draws near,

Albeit our faith and love do wax
More faint and cold each year.

Oh! but it was a goodly sound,
In th' unenlighten'd days,
To hear our fathers raise their song
Of simple-hearted praise.

2. Oh! but it was a goodly sight,
The rough-built hall to see,
Glancing with high-born dames and men,
And hinds of low degree.

To holy Church's dearest sons,
The humble and the poor,
To all who came, the seneschal
Threw open wide the door.

8. With morris-dance, and carol-song,
And quaint old mystery,
Memorials of a holy-day

Were mingled in their glee.

Red berries bright, and holly green,
Proclaim'd o'er hall and bower
That holy Church ruled all the land
With undisputed power.

4. O'er wrekin wide, from side to side,
From graybeard, maid, and boy,
Loud rang the notes, swift flow'd the
Of unrestrain❜d joy.

And now, of all our customs rare,
And good old English ways,
This one, of keeping Christmas-time,
Alone has reach'd our days.

5. Still, though our hearty glee has gone
Though faith and love be cold,
Still do we welcome Christmas-tide
As fondly as of old.

Still round the old paternal hearth

Do loving faces meet,

And brothers parted through the year

Do brothers kindly greet.

6. Oh! may we aye, whate'er betide,
In Christian joy and mirth,

Sing welcome to the blessed day
That gave our Saviour birth!

120. THE TRUCE OF GOD.

FREDET.

FREDET-late professor of history in St. Mary's College, Baltimore, with great impartiality and truthfulness, compiled an ancient and modern history for the use of schools.

1. ANOTHER excellent institution that owed its existence to the middle ages, and for which humanity was also indebted to the happy influence of religion, was the sacred compact usually termed the Truce of God. From the ninth to the eleventh century, the feudal system, however beautiful in many of its principles, had been a constant source of contentions and wars. Each petty chieftain arrogated to himself an almost unlimited use of force and violence to avenge his wrongs, and pursue his rights, whether real or pretended. As, moreover, vassals were obliged to espouse the quarrels of their immediate lords, rapine, bloodshed, and their attendant miseries were to be seen everywhere; nor could the most pacific citizens depend on one moment of perfect security, either for their properties or their lives.

2. Religion, by her divine and universally revered authority, was alone capable of raising an efficacious barrier against this torrent of evils. Experience having already shown the impossibility of stemming it at once, prudent measures were taken gradually to diminish its violence. Several bishops ordered, under penalty of excommunication, that, every week, during the four days consecrated to the memory of our Saviour's passion, death, burial, and resurrection, viz., from the afternoon of Wednesday till the morning of the following Monday, whatever might be the cause of strife and quarrel, all private hos tilities should cease.

3. Shortly after, the same prohibition was extended to the

whole time of Advent and Lent, including several weeks both after Christmas and after Easter-Sunday. This beneficial institution, which originated in France towards the year 1040, was adopted in England, Spain, etc., and was confirmed by several popes and councils: nor must it be thought that it remained a dead letter; its success, on the contrary, was so remarkable, that the pious age in which the experiment was made, hesitated not to attribute it to the interposition of Heaven

4. Thus, by the exertions of ecclesiastical authority, the horrors and calamities of feudal war began to be considerably lessened and abridged. Its ravages were restrained to three days in the week and to certain seasons of the year; during the intervals of peace, there was leisure for passion to cool, for the mind to sicken at a languishing warfare, and for social habits to become more and more deeply rooted. A considerable number of days and weeks afforded security to all, and all, being now shielded by the religious sanction of this sacred compact, could travel abroad, or attend to their domestic affairs, without danger of molestation.

5. Such was the splendid victory which the religion of Christ won over the natural fierceness of the ancient tribes of the north; a victory whose completion was also due to her influence, when the Crusades obliged those restless warriors to turn against the invading hordes of the Saracens and Turks, those weapons which they had hitherto used against their fel low-christians.

121. THE HIGH-BORN LADYE.

MOORE.

THOMAS MOORE was born in Dublin, in 1780, died in 1852. No poes ever moulded the English tongue into softer or more melodious strains than Moore, and none, in any language, ever adorned his verse with more sparkling gems of wit, fancy, and sentiment. His "Lalla Rookh" has never been equalled in any tongue, and his "Irish Melodies" have been translated into almost every European language. Poetry must lose its charms when the lays of MOORE shall be unsought, unsung. His prose, however, is by no means equal to his poetry.