Fills the brown shade with a religious awe. The impetuous song, and say from whom you rage. 6. His praise, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills; And let me cătch it as I muse along. Or bids you'rðar, or bids your' roarings fall. In mingled clouds to Him, whose sun exalts, As home he goes beneath the joyous moon. Unconscious lies, effuse your mildest beams; On Nature write with every beam His praise. While cloud to cloud returns the solemn hymn. Burst from the groves! and when the restless day, 6 Effuse, (ef füz'), spill, or pour outo Expiring, lays the warbling world ásleep, The listening shades, and teach the night His praise. 10. Ye chief, for whom the whole creation smiles, At once the head, the heart, and tongue of all, Still sing the God of Seasons as they roll. 11. For mē, when I forget the darling theme, Whether the blossom blows, the summer ray And where He vital breathes, there must be joy. 12. When even at last the solemn hour shall come, And wing my mystic flight to future worlds, Will rising wonders sing. I can not go · Phil'o mē' la, from Philomela, Sěr aph, (Eng., plural, sěr'aphs; daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, Heb., pl., sěr'a phim), an angel of the who was supposed to have been highest order. changed into a nightingale ; hence, Command, (kom månd). the nightingale. • Mỹs' tic, obscure; involving · Rural, (r8' ral). some hidden meaning. Where Universal Love not smiles around, JAMES THOMSON. JAMES THOMSON was born at Edpam, near Kelso, Roxburgh County, Scotland, September 11th, 1700, and died August 27th, 1748. He was the author of the "Seasons," a work which alone would have perpetuated his name. Though born a poet, he seems to have advanced but slowly, and by reiterated efforts, to refinement of taste. The first edition of the “Seasons" differs materially from the second, and the second still more from the third. Every alteration was an improvement in delicacy of thought and language. That the genius of Thom. son was purifying and working off its alloys up to the termination of his exist. ence, may be seen from the superiority in style and diction of his last poem, the “Castle of Indolence," to which he brought not only the full nature, but the perfect art of a poet. As a dramatic writer he was unsuccessful. He was in poverty in early life, but through the intluence of Lord Lyttleton, he obtained a pension of £100 a year, from the Prince of Wales, and an office which brought him £300 per annum. He was now in comparative opulence, and his residence at Kew-lane, near Richmond, was the scene of social enjoyment and lettered He was friendly, shy and indolent. His noted lines in favor of early rising, commencing Falsely luxurious, will not man awake, And springing from the bed of sloth, &c., were written in bed. ease. TE WHERE is no trait of human character so potential' for weal or woe as firmness. To the business man it is all-important. Before its irresistible energy the most formidable obstacles become as cobweb barriers in its path.' Difficulties, the terror of which causes the pampered sons of luxury to shrink ' Iněf fa ble, not capable of being powerful ; mighty; forcible. expressed in words; untold; un Path, (påth). speakable. • Păm' pered, fed or gratified in. * Potential, (pð tón' shal), efficient; ordinately or unduly. back with dismay, provoke from the man of lofty determination only a smile. The whole history of our race—all nature, indeed -teems with examples to show what wonders may be accomplished by resolute perseverance and patient toil. 2. It is related of Tamerlane,' the celebrated warrior, the terror of whose arms spread through all the Eastern nations, and whom victory attended at almost every step, that he once learned from an insect a lesson of perseverance, which had a striking effect on his future character and success. 3. When closely pursued by his enemies as a contemporary' tells the anecdote-he took refuge in some old ruins, where, left to his solitáry musings, he espied an ant tugging and striving to carry a single grain of corn. His unavailing efforts were repeated sixty-nine times, and at each several time, so soon as he reached a certain point of projection, he fell back with his burden, unable to surmount it; but the seventieth time he bore ăway his spoil in triumph, and left the wondering hero reänimated and exulting in the hope of future victory. 5. How pregnant: the lesson this incident conveys! How many thousand instances there are in which inglorious defeat ends the career of the timid and desponding, when the same tenacity of purpose would crown it with triumphant success! Resolution is almost omnipotent. Sheridan' was at first timid, and obliged to sit down in the midst of a speech. Convinced of, and mortified at, the cause of his failure, he said one day to a friend, “It is in me, and it shall come out." 5. From that moment he rose, and shone, and triumphed in a consummate' eloquence. Here was true moral coŭrage. And it was well observed by a heathen moralist, that it is not because things are difficult that we dare not undertake them. 1 Tăm' er lāne, called also Timour fever, and died soon after taking the the Tartar, was born 1335. He be- field, 18th February, 1405. came sovereign of Tartary, and sub Con těm' po ra rý, living, acting, dued Persia, India and Syria. With or happening at the same time. an army of 200,000 men, in a battle * Prèg' nant, full of consequences. fought at Angora, on the 20th of July, * Richard Brinsley Sheridan, see 1402, he defeated the Turkish army, Biographical Sketch, p. 126. composed of 300,000 men, and made Con sóm' mate, carried to the their emperor, Bajazet, prisoner. He utmost extent or degree ; complete; was on the point of invading China, perfect. when he was seized with a violent • Dare, (dår), see Note 2, p. 22. 6. Be, then, bold in spirit. Indulge no doubts—they are traitors. In the practical pursuit of our high aim, let us never lose sight of it in the slightest instance : for it is more by a disregard of small things, than by open and flagrant offenses, that men come short of excellence. There is always a right and a wrong ; and if you ever doubt, be sure you take not the wrong. Observe this rule, and every experience will be to you a means of advăncemènt. II. 4. NOW. M HE venerable Past—is past; 1 'Tis dark, and shines not in the ray: There dawns another day. Mid crumbling ruins mössy hòar? Looking at Was from morn to night, Woo with their charms our living sight? Will give us music of our own? Shines as bright as e'er it shone? Than those which burn for thee and me. Or night-bird's lovelier melody, TA' bra ham, the patriarch of the He is supposed to have been an Asi. Jews, born and died more than two atic Greek, though his birth-place, thousand years B, C. and the period in which he lived, ? Hõ' mer, the most distinguished are not known. of poets, called the “Father of Song.” Bóng, see Note 1, p. 23. . |