Which must be carried on, and safely may;
Yet keep those cares without thee; let the heart
Be God's alone, and choose the better part.

LESSON LXXXVI.

The River Thames. - DENHAM.*

"And praise the easy vigor of a line,
Where Denham's strength and Waller's smoothness join."
POPE.

1. My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
Where Thames among the wanton valleys strays,
Thames, the most loved of all the ocean's sons
By his old sire, to his embraces runs,
Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea,
Like mortal life to meet eternity.

2. Though with those streams he no remembrance hold,
Whose foam is amber, and their gravel gold,
His genuine and less guilty wealth to explore,
Search not his bottom, but survey his shore,
O'er which he kindly spreads his spacious wing,
And hatches plenty for the ensuing spring,
And then destroys it with too fond a stay,
Like mothers which their infants overlay;
Nor with a sudden and impetuous wave,
Like profuse kings, resumes the wealth he gave.
3. No unexpected inundations spoil

The mower's hopes, nor mock the plowman's toil,
But Godlike his unwearied bounty flows;
First loves to do, then loves the good he does.
Nor are his blessing to his banks confined,
But free and common as the sea or wind.

4. When he to boast or to disperse his stores,
Full of the tributes of his grateful shores,
Visits the world, and in his flying tours
Brings home to us, and makes both Indies ours:
Finds wealth where 't is, bestows it where it wants,
Cities in deserts, woods in cities, plants;

So that to us no thing, no place, is strange,
While his fair bosom is the world's exchange.

*He flourished from 1615 to 1668.

5. O, could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull,
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full.

LESSON LXXXVII.

Upon the Sight of a Great Library. — JOSEPH HALL.*

1. WHAT a world of wit is here packed up together! I know not whether this sight doth more dismay or comfort me it dismays me to think that here is so much that I cannot know; it comforts me to think that this variety yields so good helps to know what I should.

- there

2. There is no truer word than that of Solomon, is no end of making many books; this sight verifies it there is no end; indeed, it were pity there should. God hath given to man a busy soul, the agitation whereof cannot but through time and experience' work out many hidden truths.

3. To suppress these would be no other than injurious to mankind, whose minds, like unto so many candles, should be kindled by each other. The thoughts of our deliberation are most accurate; these we vent into our papers. What a happiness is it, that, without all offense of necromancy, I may here call up any of the ancient worthies of learning, whether human or divine, and confer with them of all my doubts! that I can at pleasure summon whole synods of reverend fathers, and acute doctors, from all the coasts of the earth, to give their well-studied judgments, in all points of question which I propose.

4. Neither can I cast my eye casually upon any of these silent masters, but I must learn somewhat; it is a wantonness to complain of choice. No law binds me to read all; but the more we can take in and digest, the better liking must the mind's needs be. Blessed be God, that hath set up so many clear lamps in his church!

5. Now, none but the willfully blind can plead darkness; and blessed be the memory of those his faithful servants, that have left their blood, their spirits, their lives, in these precious papers, and have willingly wasted themselves into these during monuments, to give light unto others.

* 1650, called the English Seneca.

LESSON LXXXIX.

On the Day of Judgment. - EARL OF ROSCOMMON.t

1. THAT day of wrath, that dreadful day,
Shall the whole world in ashes lay,
As David and the sibyls say.
What horror will invade the mind,
When the strict Judge, who would be kind,
Shall have few venial faults to find!

2. The last loud trumpet's wondrous sound
Shall through the rending tombs rebound,
And wake the nations under ground.
Nature and Death shall, with surprise,
Behold the pale offender rise,
And view the Judge with conscious eyes.

*Flourished from 1657 to 1687. + Born 1633; died 1684.

3. Then shall, with universal dread,
The sacred mystic book be read,
To try the living and the dead.
The Judge ascends his awful throne;
He makes each secret sin be known,
And all with shame confess their own.

4. O then, what interest shall I make
To save my last important stake,
When the most just have cause to quake?
Thou mighty formidable King,
Thou mercy's unexhausted spring,
Some comfortable pity bring!

5. Forget not what my ransom cost, Nor let my dear-bought soul be lost, In storms of guilty terror tost.

*

*

*

*

*

Prostrate my contrite heart I rend,
My God, my Father, and my Friend,
Do not forsake me in my end!

6. Well may they curse their second breath,
Who rise to a reviving death.
Thou great Creator of mankind,
Let guilty man compassion find '

LESSON XC.

The Hours.-M. G. LEWIS.

1. NE'ER were the zephyrs known disclosing More sweets, than when in Tempe's shades They waved the lilies, where reposing Sat four-and-twenty lovely maids.

Those lovely maids were called “the Hours,”
The charge of Virtue's flock they kept;
And each in turn employed her powers
To guard it while her sisters slept.

2. False Love, how simple souls thou cheatest! In myrtle bower that traitor near

Long watched an Hour the softest, sweetestThe evening Hour, to shepherds dear.

In tones so bland he praised her beauty,

Such melting airs his pipe could play,

The thoughtless Hour forgot her duty,
And fled in Love's embrace away.

3. Meanwhile the fold was left unguarded;
The wolf broke in, the lambs were slain;
And now from Virtue's train discarded,
With tears her sisters speak their pain.
Time flies, and still they weep; for never
The fugitive can time restore;
An hour once fled, has fled forever,
And all the rest shall smile no more!

LESSON XCI.

To the American Union. TUPPER.

1. GIANT aggregate of nations,
Glorious whole of glorious parts,
Unto endless generations
Live united, hands and hearts !
Be it storm or summer-weather,
Peaceful-calm or battle-jar,
Stand in beauteous strength together,
Sister States, as Now ye are !

2. Every petty class-dissension,
Heal it up as quick as thought;
Every paltry place-pretension,
Crush it, as a thing of naught:
Let no narrow private treason
Your great onward progress bar,
But remain, in right and reason,
Sister States, as Now ye are !

3. Fling away absurd ambition!
People, leave that toy to kings:
Envy, jealousy, suspicion,
Be above such groveling things!
In each other joys delighted,
All your hate be - joys of war,
And by all means keep United
Sister States, as Now ye are!

――――

4. Were I but some scornful stranger,

Still my counsel would be just;
Break the band, and all is danger,