LESSON CLXXXIII. The Contrasts of Alpine Scenery.-BYRON. Or lonely Contemplation thus might stray; Where Nature, nor too sombre nor too gay, Adieu to thee again! a vain adieu! There can be no farewell to scenes like thine; Their cherished gaze upon thee, lovely Rhine! 'Tis with the thankful glance of parting praise : More mighty spots may rise-more glaring shine, The brilliant, fair, and soft,-the glories of old days. Of coming ripeness, the white city's sheen, The forest's growth, and Gothick walls between, In mockery of man's art; and these withal A race of faces happy as the scene, Whose fertile bounties here extend to all, Still springing o'er thy banks, though empires near them fall. But these recede. Above me are the Alps, The palaces of Nature, whose vast walls Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps, And throned Eternity in icy halls Of cold sublimity, where forms and falls The avalanche-the thunderbolt of snow! All that expands the spirit yet appals, Gather around these summits, as to show How Earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below, Lake Leman wooes me with its crystal face, The mirror, where the stars and mountains view The stillness of their aspect in each trace Its clear depth yields of their far height and hue. There is too much of man here, to look through, With a fit mind, the might which I behold; But soon in me shall loneliness renew Thoughts hid, but not less cherished than of old, E'er mingling with the herd had penned me in their fold. Clear, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake Torn ocean's roar; but thy soft murmuring That I with stern delights should e'er have been so moved. It is the hush of night; and all between Thy margin and the mountains, dusk, yet clear, Save darkened Jura, whose capped heights appear There breathes a living fragrance from the shore, His life an infancy, and sings his fill; Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state, And claim a kindred with you; for ye are A beauty and a mystery, and create In us such love and reverence from afar, That fortune, fame, power, life, have named themselves a star. Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost, Of That which is of all Creator and Defence. The sky is changed! and such a change! Oh Night, Of dark eye in woman! Far along, From peak to peak, the rattling crags among, A portion of the tempest and of thee! Sky, mountains, river, winds, lake, lightnings! ye, To make these felt and feeling, well may be Of what in me is sleepless,-if I rest. But where, of ye, O tempests! is the goal? Are ye like those within the human breast? Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some high nest? The morn is up again, the dewy morn, With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom, Laughing the clouds away, with playful scorn, And living as if earth contained no tomb,— And glowing into day: we may resume The march of our existence and thus I, Still on thy shores, fair Leman! may find room And food for meditation, nor pass by Much that may give us pause, if pondered fittingly. LESSON CLXXXIV. The fat Actor and the Rustick.-NEw Monthly MagazINE. Of an unbounded stomach, Shakspeare says, But had he seen a player in our days He would have owned that Wolsey's bulk ideal Which is, moreover, all alive and real. To visit every clime between the poles, Must not, in this proceeding, be mistaken; In this most laudable employ He found himself at Lille one afternoon, And, that he might the breeze enjoy, And catch a peep at the ascending moon, With sight of streams, and trees, and snowy fleeces, When we are pleasantly employed time flies; of the state. Until the moon began to shine, On which he gazed a while, and then Pulled out his watch, and cried—“ Past nine ! Stumping along with might and main ; He couldn't gallop, trot, or canter, (Those who had seen him would confess it) he Eyeing his watch, and now his forehead mopping, "Tell me," he panted in a thawing state, LESSON CLXXXV. Speech of Catiline before the Roman Senate, in reply to the charges of Cicero.-CROLY's Catiline. 66 -CONSCRIPT Fathers i I do not rise to waste the night in words: But here I stand for right. Let him show proofs; * Immediately. |