Taste long admired, sense long revered,
And all my Molly then appeared.
If she, by merit since disclosed,
Prove twice the woman I supposed,
I plead that double merit now,
To justify a double vow.

3. Here, then, to-day (with faith as sure,
With ardor as intense, as pure,
As when, amidst the rites divine,
I took thy troth, and plighted mine),
To thee, sweet girl, my second ring
A token and a pledge I bring :

4. With this I wed, till death us part,
Thy riper virtues to my heart;
Those virtues which, before untried,
The wife has added to the bride ;
Those virtues, whose progressive claim,
Endearing wedlock's very name,
My soul enjoys, my song approves,
For conscience' sake, as well as love's.

5. And why ? — They show me every hour
Honor's high thought, Affection's power,
Discretion's deed, sound Judgment's sentence.
And teach me all things — but repentance

LESSON LXXXII.

Angling.- ARMSTRONG.* 1. But if the breathless chase o'er hill and dale Exceed your strength, a sport of less fatigue, Not less delightful, the prolific stream Affords. The crystal rivulet, that o'er

channel rolls its rapid maze, Swarms with the silver fry: such through the bounds Of pastoral Stafford runs the brawling Trent; Such Eden, sprung from Cumbrian mountains; such The Esk, o'erhung with woods; and such the stream On whose Arcadian banks I first drew air;

2. Liddel,t till now, except in Doric lays,

A stony

Tuned to her murmurs by her love-sick swains,
Unknown in song, though not a purer stream
Through meads more flowery, or more romantic groves,
Rolls towards the western main.

3. Hail, sacred flood !
May still thy hospitable swains be blest
In rural innocence, thy mountains still
Teem with the fleecy race, thy tuneful woods
Forever flourish, and thy vales look gay
With painted meadows and the golden grain !

4. Oft with thy blooming sons, when life was new,
Sportive and petulant, and charmed with toys,
In thy transparent eddies have I laved;
Oft traced with patient steps thy fairy banks,
With the well-imitated fly to hook
The eager trout, and with the slender line
And yielding rod solicit to the shore
The struggling, panting prey, while vernal clouds
And tepid gales obscured the ruffled pool,
And from the deeps called forth the wanton swarms.

5. Formed on the Samian school,* or those of Ind,
There are who think these pastimes scarce humane;
Yet in my mind (and not relentless I)
His life is pure that wears no fouler stains.

LESSON LXXXIII.

The Retirement. Cotton.t
1. FAREWELL, thou busy world, and may
We never meet again!
Here I can eat, and sleep, and pray,
And do more good in one short day
Than he who his whole age out-wears
Upon the most conspicuous theaters,
Where naught but vanity and vice appears.

2. Good God! how sweet are all things here !
How beautiful the fields appear!

How cleanly do we feed and lie! * ie Samian school was that of Pythagoras, who taught the transmigratic 1 of souls. In the Indian mythology, Vishnu, their god, among his other changes, assumed that of a fish.

+ Flourished from 1630 to 1637.

Lord! what good hours do we keep!
How quietly we sleep!
What peace, what unanimity!
How innocent from the lewd fashion
Is all our business, all our recreation !

3. O, how happy here's our leisure !
O, how innocent our pleasure !
0 ye valleys ! O ye mountains !
Oye groves, and crystal fountains !
How I love, at liberty,
By turns to come and visit ye!

4. Dear Solitude, the soul's best friend,
That man acquainted with himself dost make,
And all his Maker's wonders to intend,
With thee I here converse at will,
And would be glad to do so still,
For it is thou alone that keep'st the soul awake

5. How calm and quiet a delight
Is it, alone,
To read, and meditate, and write,
By none offended, and offending none !
To walk, ride, sit, or sleep, at one's own ease,
And, pleasing a man's self, none other to displease.

LESSON LXXXIV.

The Union. DANIEL WEBSTER. 1. AND now, Mr. President, I draw these observations to a close. I have spoken freely, and I meant to do so. I have sought to make no display ; I have sought to enliven the occasion by no animated discussion, nor have I attempted any train of elaborate argument.

I have wished only to speak my sentiments fully and at large, being desirous once and for all to let the senate know, and to let the country know, the opinions and sentiments which I entertain on all these subjects.

2. These opinions are not likely to be suddenly changed. If there be any future service that I can render to the country, consistently with these sentiments and opinions, I shall cheerfully render it. If there be not, I shall still be glad to have had an opportunity to disburden my conscience from the bottom of my heart, and to make known every political sentiment that therein exists.

3. And now, Mr. President, instead of speaking of the possibility or utility of secession, instead of dwelling in these caverns of darkness, instead of groping with those ideas so full of all that is horrid and horrible, let us come out into the light of day; let us enjoy the fresh air of Liberty and Union ; let us cherish those hopes which belong to us"; let us devote ourselves to those great objects that are fit for our consideration and our action ; let us raise our conceptions to the magnitude and the importance of the duties that devolve upon us; let our comprehension be as broad as the country for which we act, our aspirations as high as its certain destiny; let us not be pigmies in a case that calls for men.

4. Never did there devolve on any generation of men higher trusts than now devolve upon us, for the preservation of this constitution, and the harmony and peace of all who are destined to live under it. Let us make our generation one of the strongest and brightest links in that golden chain, which is destined, I fondly believe, to grapple the people of all the states to this constitution, for ages to come.

5. We have a great, popular, constitutional government, guarded by law and by judicature, and defended by the whole affections of the people. No monarchical throne presses these states together; no iron chain of military power encircles them; they live and stand upon a government popular in its form, representative in its character, founded upon principles of equality, and so constructed, we hope, as to last forever.

6. In all its history it has been beneficent: it has trodden down no man's liberty ; it has crushed no state. Its daily respiration is liberty and patriotism ; its yet youthful veins are full of enterprise, courage, and honorable love of glory and renown. Large before, the country has

by recent events, become vastly larger.

7. This republic now extends, with a vast breadth, across the whole continent. The two great seas of the world wash the one and the other shore. We realize, on a mighty scale, the beautiful description of the ornamental edging of the buckler of Achilles

now,

“ Now the broad shield complete, the artist crowned
With his last hand, and poured the ocean round ;
In living silver seemed the waves to roll,
And beat the buckler's verge, and bound the whole."

.

LESSON LXXXV.
Early Rising and Prayer.-HENRY VAUGHAN.
1. When first thy eyes unveil, give thy soul leave
To do the like; our bodies but forerun
The spirit's duty: true hearts spread and heave
Unto their God, as flowers do to the sun :
Give him thy first thoughts, then, so shalt thou keep
Him company all day, and in him sleep.
2. Yet never sleep the sun up; prayer

should
Dawn with the day : there are set awful hours
'Twixt heaven and us; the mannat was not good
After sun-rising ; far day sullies flowers :
Rise to prevent # the sun; sleep doth sins glut,
And heaven's gate opens when the world's is shut.

3. Walk with thy fellow-creatures; note the hush
And whisperings amongst them. Not a sprig
Or leaf but hath his morning hymn; each bush
And oak doth know I am. Canst thou not sing?
0, leave thy cares and follies! Go this way,
And thou art sure to prosper all the day.

4. Serve God before the world; let him not go
Until thou hast a blessing; then resign
The whole unto him, and remember who
Prevailed by wrestling ere the sun did shine ;
Pour oil upon the stones, weep for thy sin,
Then journey on, and have an eye to heaven.

5. Mornings are mysteries : the first, the world's youth,
Man's resurrection, and the future's bud,
Shroud in their births; the crown of life, light, truth,
Is styled their star; the stone and hidden food :
Three blessings wait upon them, one of which
Should move - they make us holy, happy, rich.

6. When the world 's up, and every swarm abroad, Keep well thy temper, mix not with each clay; Dispatch necessities; life hath a load