Look upon my boy as though I guessed it!— Tell. Great Heaven! Ges. On this condition only will I spare His life and thine. Tell. Ferocious monster! make a father Murder his own child! Ges. Dost thou consent? Tell. With his own hand!- The hand I've led him when an infant by! Boy. You will not hit me, father. You'll be sure Tell. Speak not to me; Let me not hear thy voice-Thou must be dumb; The deed, and sent a bolt to stop it.— Give me my bow and quiver. Ges. When all is ready. Sarnem, measure hence The distance three hundred paces. Ges. What is't to thee, fairly or not. Tell. [sarcastically.] O, nothing, a little thing, A very little thing; I only shoot At my child! [Sarnem prepares to measure.] Villain, stop! you measure against the sun. What matter whether to or from the sun? Tell. I'd have it at my back. The sun should shine Upon the mark, and not on him that shoots I will not shoot against the sun. Ges. Give him his way. [Sarnem paces and goes out.} Tell. I should like to see the apple I must hit. Ges. [Picks out the smallest one] There, take that. Ges. I know I have. Thy skill will be The greater if thou hittest it. Tell. [sarcastically.] True-true! I did not think of that I wonder I did not think of that. A larger one Had given me a chance to save my boy. Give me my bow. Let me see my quiver. Ges. Give him a single arrow. [To an attendant.] [Tell looks at it and breaks it.] Tell. Let me see my quiver. It is not One arrow in a dozen I would use To shoot with at a dove, much less a dove Ges. Show him the quiver. [Sarnem returns and takes the apple and the boy to Tell. Is the boy ready? Keep silence now "Tis only for the chance of saving it. For mercy's sake keep motionless and silent. [He aims and shoots in the direction of the boy. In a moment Sarnem enters with the apple on the arrow's point. Sar. The boy is safe. Tell. [Raising his arms.] Thank Heaven! [As he raises his arms the concealed arrow falls. Ges. [Picking it up.] Unequalled archer! why was this concealed? Tell. To kill thee, tyrant, had I slain my boy. LESSON CIV. The Philosopher's Scales.-JANE TAYLOR. 1. A MONK* when his rites sacerdotal were o'er, In the depth of his cell, with its stone-covered floor, *Monk, a member of the Roman Catholic church, who has taken a vow of poverty and celibacy. Resigning to thought his chimerical brain, Once formed the contrivance we now shall explain : 2. Perhaps it was only by patience and care, And at length he produced the Philosopher's Scales. 3. "What were they?" you ask; you shall presently see; That qualities, feelings, and thoughts, they could weigh. From mountains or planets, to atoms of sense; 4. Nought was there so bulky, but there it could lay, 5. The first thing he weighed was the head of Voltaire,* 6. One time he put in Alexander the Great,† With a garment, that Dorcast had made, for a weight, *Voltaire, a celebrated French historian, philosopher, dramatic writer, and epic poet, was born at Paris, 1694, and died 1778. He possessed uncommon powers of mind, but was inconstant and unstable; and it is to be regretted that he employed his talents in advancing the cause of infidelity. A king of Macedon, born at Pella, B. C. 355. After extending his power over Greece, he invaded Asia. He defeated the Persians at the three celebrated battles of the Granicus, of Issus, and of Arbela, which rendered him the master of the country. He afterwards returned to Babylon, where he died of intemperance, B. Č. 323, in the 33d year of his age, and 13th of his reign. + See Acts, chap ix. 39 7. A long row of alms-houses, amply endowed 9. By further experiments, (no matter how,) He found that ten chariots weighed less than one plough; A shield and a helmet, a buckler and spear, 10. A Lord and a Lady went up at full sail, When a Bee chanced to light on the opposite scale- 11. A first water Diamond, with brilliants begirt, Than one good potatoe, just washed from the dirt: Yet not mountains of silver and gold could suffice, One pearl to outweigh-'twas the Pearl of great price! 12. Last of all, the whole world was bowled in at the grate, With the soul of a beggar to serve for a weight— When the former sprang up with so strong a rebuff, That it made a vast rent and escaped at the roofWhen balanced in air, it ascended on high, And sailed up aloft, a balloon in the skyWhile the scale with the soul in, so mightily fell, That it jerked the Philosopher out of his cel!. MORAL. 13. Dear Reader, if e'er self-deception prevails, We pray you to try the Philosopher's Scales * See St. Mark, chap. xii. 42. + Religion--see Matthew, chap. xiii. 46. But if they are lost in the ruins around, Perhaps a good substitute, thus may be found: Then bring those good actions, which pride overrates, LESSON CV. [In the Zoonomia of Dr. Darwin, among various instances recorded by that philosophical physician of what he calls maniacal hallucination, or mental delusion, is the case of a young farmer of Warwickshire, whose story was well authenticated in the public papers of the time. A poor elderly woman in his neighborhood was in the habit, urged by the pinching necessities of an inclement winter, of taking a few sticks from his grounds and his hedge, to preserve the fading fire in her forlorn cottage. Suspecting the delinquent, the hard-hearted hind watched and detected her. After wrenching from her the scanty faggot, blows and reproaches succeeded. Struck with the misery of her situation, and the cruelty of her oppressor, she kneeled, and, rearing her withered hands to the cold moon, prayed that "he might never again know the blessing of warmth." The consciousness of wrong, the solemnity of the hour, the pathetic tone, "sharp misery," and impassioned gesture of the miserable matron, at once extinguished the dim reason of the rustic. He immediately complained of a preternatural chilness, was continually calling for more fire and clothes, and conceived himself to be in a freezing state, till the time of his death, which happened shortly after. On this singular story is founded the following ballad, which is in the genuine spirit of ancient English song, and shows, by proof irrefragable, that simplicity, and the language of ordinary life, may be connected with the most exquisite poetry.-Farmer's Museum.] Goody Blake and Harry Gill.-Wordsworth. 1. OH! what's the matter? what's the matter? |