And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?

5. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn away,
And lose the name of action.

LESSON CLIII.

Cato's* Soliloquy on the Immortality of the Soul.-TRAGEDY OF CATO.

1. It must be so-Plato,† thou reasonest well! Else, whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality?

Or, whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
"Tis the divinity that stirs within us:

"Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates Eternity to man.

2. Eternity!-thou pleasing, dreadful thought! Through what variety of untried being,

Through what new scenes and changes must we pass?
The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me:
But shadows, clouds and darkness rest upon it.

Here will I hold. If there's a Power above us,
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud

Through all her works,) he must delight in virtuc;
And that which he delights in must be happy.

But when? Or where? This world was made for Cesar.
I'm weary of conjectures- -this must end them.
[Laying his hand on his sword.

Marcus Portius Cato, an eminent Roman, born 94 years B. C. He was a lover of Philosophy, and a brave general; a man of great integrity, and strong attachment to his country. He boldly opposed the conspiracy of Catiline, and the ambition of Julius Cesar. After the battle of Pharsalia, Cato fled to Utica, in Africa, and being pursued by Cesar, he advised his friends to flee, and his son to trust to Cesar's clemency. He then retired to his apartment, and read Plato on the IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, twice over; and then stabbed himself with his sword, and died, aged 48-B. C 46 years.

A Grecian Philosopher.

3. Thus I am doubly arm'd. My death* and life,†
My bane* and antidotef are both before me.
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me I shall never die.
The soul, secur'd in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years:
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth:
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.

LESSON CLIV.

Speech of Catiline before the Roman Senate, on hearing his sentence of banishment.-CROLY'S CATILINE.

1. "BANISHED from Rome!"-what's banished, but set free From daily contact of the things I loathe?

"Tried and convicted traitor !"-Who says this?

Who'll prove it, at his peril, on my

head?

"Banished?"-I thank you for't. It breaks my chain!

I held some slack allegiance till this hour

But now my sword's my own. Smile on, my lords;
I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes,
Strong provocations, bitter, burning wrongs,

I have within my heart's hot cells shut up,
To leave you in your lazy dignities.

2. But here I stand and scoff you :-here I fling Hatred and full defiance in your face.

Your Consul's|| merciful. For this all thanks.
He dares not touch a hair of Catiline.
"Traitor!" I go—but I return. This-trial!
Here I devote your senate! I've had wrongs,
To stir a fever in the blood of age,

Or make the infant's sinew strong as steel.

3. This day's the birth of sorrows!-This hour's work Will breed proscriptions.-Look to your hearths, my lords, For there henceforth shall sit, for household gods,

Shapes hot from Tartarus !—all shames and crimes;—

The sword.

+ A book written by Plato.

* A Roman Senator accused of a conspiracy against the government, and

banished.

#Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Wan Treachery, with his thirsty dagger drawn.
Suspicion, poisoning his brother's cup;
Naked Rebellion, with the torch and axe,
Making his wild sport of your blazing thrones;
Till Anarchy comes down on you like Night,
And Massacre seals Rome's eternal grave.

LESSON CLV.

The Rich Man and the Poor Man.-KHEмnitzer.

1. So goes the world;-if wealthy, you may call This friend, that-brother; friends and brothers all Though you are worthless-witless-never mind it; You may nave been a stable boy-what then? 'Tis wealth, good Sir, makes honorable men. You seek respect, no doubt, and you will find it.

2. But if you are poor, heaven help you! though your sire Had royal blood within him, and though you Possess the intellect of angels too,

'Tis all in vain ;-the world will ne'er inquire

On such a score:-Why should it take the pains? 'Tis easier to weigh purses, sure, than brains.

3. I once saw a poor fellow, keen and clever, Witty and wise :--he paid a man a visit, And no one noticed him, and no one ever

Gave him a welcome. "Strange," cried I;" whence is it?" He walked on this side, then on that,

He tried to introduce a social chat; Now here, now there, in vain he tried; Some formally and freezingly replied,

And some

Said by their silence-" Better stay at home."

4. A rich man burst the door,

As Cræsus* rich, I'm sure

He could not pride himself upon his wit;

And as for wisdom, he had none of it;

He had what's better;-he had wealth.

What a confusion!-all stand up erect

* Pronounced Cré-zus, a king of Lydia, in Asia Minor, 548 B. C., supposed the richest of mankind.

These crowd around to ask him of his health ;
These bow in honest duty and respect;
And these arrange a sofa or a chair.
And these conduct him there.

"Allow me, Sir, the honor;"-Then a bow
Down to the earth-Is't possible to show
Meet gratitude for such kind condescension?
5. The poor man hung his head,
And to himself he said,

"This is indeed beyond my comprehension:"
Then looking round,

One friendly face he found,

And said- Pray tell me why is wealth preferr'd
To wisdom?""That's a silly question, friend!"
Replied the other-" have you never heard,
A man may lend his store

Of gold or silver ore,

But wisdom none can borrow, none can lend ?"

LESSON CLVI.

Address to the Ocean.-LORD BYRON.

I. THERE is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel

What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
2. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean,-roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain;
Man marks the earth with ruin-his control
Stops with the shore;-upon the watery plain
The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain
A shadow of man's ravage, save his own,
When, for a moment, like a drop of rain,
He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan,
Without a grave, unknell'd, uncoffin'd, and unknow

3. His steps are not upon thy paths,―thy fields Are not a spoil for him,-thou dost arise

And shake him from thee; the vile strength he wields For earth's destruction thou dost all despise, Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies, And send'st him shivering, in thy playful spray, And howling to his gods, where haply lies His petty hope in some near port or bay, Then dashest him again to earth :-there let him lay. 4. The armaments which thunderstrike the walls Of rock-built cities, bidding nations quake, And monarchs tremble in their capitals, The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make Their clay creator the vain title take Of ord of thee, and arbiter of war! These are thy toys, and as the snowy flake,

They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar

Alike the Armada's* pride, or spoils of Trafalgar.†

5. Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee-
Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they!
Thy waters wasted them while they were free,
And many a tyrant since; their shores obey
The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay
Has dried up realms to deserts :-not so thou,
Unchangeable save to thy wild waves' play-
Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow-
Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now.
6. Thou, glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,

(Calm or convulsed, in breeze, or gale, or stʊrm,
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime
Dark-heaving,)-boundless, endless, and sublime—
The image of Eternity-the throne

Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime
The monsters of the deep are made; each zone
Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone.

* Ar-má-da, a fleet of armed ships. The term is usually applied to the Spanish fleet, called the INVINCIBLE ARMADA, Consisting of 130 ships, intended to act against England in 1588, in the reign of Elizabeth.

+ Cape Traf-al-gar, on the southwestern coast of Spain. Off this Cape, on the 21st of October, 1805, was obtained the celebrated victory of the British flec commanded by Lord Nelson, over the combined fleets of France and pain. Lord Nelson lost his life in the action, aged 47 years.