I have often fac'd death when the hope was forlorn, 10. The thunder was hush'd, and the battle field stain'd, But no trace of the boat, or the chieftain remain'd- LESSON XCV. The Burial of Sir John Moore.*-REV. C. WOLFE. 1. Nor a drum was heard, not a funeral note, O'er the grave where our Hero was buried. 3. No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Nor in sheet nor in shroud we wound him; 4. Few and short were the prayers we said, 5. We thought—as we hollowed his narrow bed, How the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head 6. "Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone, But nothing he'll reck, if they let him sleep on 7. But half of our heavy task was done, When the clock tolled the hour for retiring, A gallant British General, killed by the French in battle, at Corunna, in Spain, Jan. 16th, 1809 And we heard the distant and random gun, 8. Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory LESSON XCVI. Boadicea.*-COWPER. 1. WHEN the British warrior queen, 2. Sage beneath the spreading oak 3. "Princess! if our aged eyes Weep upon thy matchless wrongs. 'Tis because resentment ties All the terrors of our tongues. 4. "Rome shall perish-write that word 5. "Rome, for empire far renown'd, 6. "Other Romans shall arise, Heedless of a soldier's name; 7. "Then the progeny that springs * Boadicea was_queen of the Iceni, in Britain. She was defeated and conquered by the Romans, A. D. 59. +A Priest of the ancient Britons. Arm'd with thunder, clad with wings, 8. "Regions Cesar* never knew 9. Such the bard's prophetic words, 10. She, with all a monarch's pride, 11. "Ruffians, pitiless as proud, Heav'n awards the vengeance due: Shame and ruin wait for you.” LESSON XCVII. The Common Lot.- MONTGOMERY. 1. ONCE in a flight of ages past, There lived a man :-and wнO was HE? That man resembled Thee. 2. Unknown the region of his birth; 3. That joy and grief, and hope and fear, 4. The bounding pulse, the languid limb, The changing spirits' rise and fall; Julius Cesar, a Roman General. He was the first Roman that invaded Britain, which he twice reduced to apparent subjection. He was assassinated by conspirators, B. C. 43. We know that these were felt by him, 5. He suffer'd-but his pangs are o'er; Had friends-his friends are now no more; 6. He lov'd-but whom he lov'd, the grave O she was fair!-but nought could save 7. The rolling seasons, day and night, 8. He saw whatever thou hast seen; eye 9. The clouds and sunbeams, o'er his 10. The annals of the human race, LESSON XCVIII. On the Irresolution of Youth.-GOLDSMITH. 1. THE most usual way among young men, who have no resolution of their own, is, first to ask one friend's advice, and follow it for some time; then to ask advice of another, and turn to that; so of a third; still unsteady, always changing. However, every change of this nature is for the worse. 2. People may tell you of your being unfit for some peculiar occupations in life; but heed them not; whatever employment you follow with perseverance and assiduity, will be found fit for you; it will be your support in youth, and comfort in age 3. In learning the useful part of every profession, very moderate abilities will suffice: great abilities are generally obnoxious to the possessor. Life has been compared to a race; but the allusion still improves, by observing, that the most swift are ever the most apt to stray from the course. 4. To know one profession only, is enough for one man to know; and this, whatever the professors may tell you to the contrary, is soon learned. Be contented, therefore, with onc good employment; for if you understand two at a time, people will give you no business in either. er. 66 5. A conjurer and a tailor once hapened to converse togeth"Alas!" cries the tailor, "what an unhappy poor creature am I! If people ever take into their heads to live without clothes, I am undone; I have no other trade to have recourse to."Indeed, friend, I pity you sincerely," replies the conjurer; but, thank Heaven, things are not quite so bad with me; for, if one trick should fail, I have a hundred tricks more for them yet. However, if at any time you are reduced to beggary, apply to me, and I will relieve you." 6. A famine overspread the land; the tailor made a shift to live, because his customers could not be without clothes; but the poor conjurer, with all his hundred tricks, could find none that had money to throw away; it was in vain that he promised to eat fire, or to vomit pins; no single creature would relieve him, till he was at last obliged to beg from the very tailor whose calling he had formerly despised. 7. There are no obstructions more fatal to fortune than pride and resentment. If you must resent injuries at all, at least suppress your indignation till you become rich, and then show away. The resentment of a poor man is like the efforts of a harmless insect to sting; it may get him crushed, but cannot defend him. Who values that anger which is consumed only in empty menaces? 8. Once upon a time, a goose fed its young by a pond side; and a goose, in such circumstances, is always extremely proud, and excessively punctilious. If any other animal, without the least design to offend, happened to pass that way, the goose was immediately at it. "The pond," she said, 66 was her's, and she would maintain her right in it, and support her honor, while she had a bill to hiss, or a wing to flutter." 9. In this manner she drove away ducks, pigs, and chickens; nay, even the insidious cat was seen to scream. A lounging mastiff, however, happened to pass by, and thought it no harm |