10. 11. 12. 13. 14, .5. What a fine agony works upon his brow! How fearfully he stifles that short moan! I pity the dumb victim at the altar— A thousand lives were perishing in thine- "Hereafter! Ay-hereafter! A whip to keep a coward to his track! Come from the grave to-morrow with that story- "No, no, old man! we die Even as the flowers, and we shall breathe away For when that bloodshot quivering is o'er, "Yet there's a deathless name! A spirit that the smothering vault shall spurn, Consumed my brain to ashes as it shone, "Ay-though it bid me rifle. My heart's last fount for its insatiate thirst- The yearning in my throat for my sweet child, "All-I would do it all Sooner than die, like a dull worm, to rct- :, 17 O heavens!-but I appall Your heart, old man! forgive-ha! on your lives "Vain-vain-give o'er! His eye Glazes apace. He does not feel you now— But for one moment-one-till I eclipse Shivering! Hark! he mutters Brokenly now that was a difficult breath- Is his heart still? Aha! lift up his head! He shudders-gasps-Jove help him!-so-he's dead." 18. How like a mounting devil in the heart. Rules the unrein'd ambition! Let it once We look upon our splendor and forget The thirst of which we perish! Yet hath life Many a falser idol. There are hopes Promising well; and love-touch'd dreams for some; And passions, many a wild one; and fair schemes 19. Friendship is but a slow-awaking dream, And from Love's věry bosom, and from Gain, 20. Oh, if there were not better hopes than these— Finding no worthy altar, must return And die of their own fullness--if beyond The grave there is no heaven in whose wide air Of whose bright habitants the lavish heart May spend itself—WHAT THIRICE-MŎck'd fools are wE! N. P. WILLIS. NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS, one of the most voluminous and successful of American writers, was born in Portland, Maine, on the 20th of January, 1807. His father, a distinguished journalist, removed to Boston when he was six years of age. He was prepared for college at the Latin School of Boston and at the Phillips Academy at Andover. He graduated with high honors at Yale in 1827. While in college, he distinguished himself by a series of sacred poems, and gained the prize of fifty dollars for the best poem, offered by Lockwood, the publisher of "The Album." After his graduation he edited "The Legendary," a series of volumes of tales, and then established the " American Monthly Magazine," which, after two years and a half, was merged in the "New York Mirror," and the literary fraternity of N. P. WILLIS and GEORGE P. MORRIS began. Immediately after the partnership was formed, he set sail for a tour in Europe, palatable and piquant reports of which appeared in the "Mirror," entitled "Pencilings by the Way." This first and extended residence abroad led our traveler through all the capitals of Europe, and even to "the poetic altars of the Orient.” In 1835, after residing two years in London, and contributing to the New Monthly Magazine" tales and sketches, republished under the title of **Inklings of Adventure," he married Mary Leighton Stacy, the daughter of a distinguished officer who had won high honors at Waterloo, and was then Commissary-general in command of the arsenal, Woolwich. In 1837, he returned to his native land, and established himself at "Glenmary," in Central New York, near the village of Owego. The portrait of this happy home and the landscape around, is drawn in "Letters from under a Bridge." In 1839, he became one of the editors of "The Corsair," a literary gazette, and made a short trip to England. On his return home, "The Corsair" I aving been discontinued he revived, with his former partner, Gen. Morris, the "Mirror." Upon the death of his wife, in 1844, he again visited Europe for the improvement of his health. Soon after, the "Mirror" having passed into other hands, the partners established "The Home Journal," a paper eminently successful, upon which they are still employed. In October, 1846, he married Cornelia, only daughter of the Hon. Joseph GRINNELL, of Massachusetts, since which time he has resided at "Idlewild," a romantic place, which he has cultivated and embellished, near Newburg, on the Hudson. His poems have recently been published in an elegant octavo volume, illustrated by Leutze. More recently, a uniform collection of his prose writings, in twelve volumes, of some five hundred pages each, has come from the press. His last and most extensive novel, “Paul Fane," abounds in that dainty analysis of certain subtle traits of character and social manner, in which he is alway so singularly successful. Mr WILLIS is qually happy as a writer of prose and verse. With a felicitous style, a warm and exuberant fancy, and a ready and sparkling wit, he wins the admiration of readers of the most refined sentiment and the daintiest fancy, and at the same time commands the full sympathy of the masses. 108. AMBITION. 1 WHY should I serve thee, when I know so well Or low impostor comes to me more bare For thy most empty banquet, that I still Ordering our dress and gait as to thy whim. But when it cometh to life's chosen task, 3. Where dost thou sit enthroned? What secret power Is this of thine that doth throughout prevail All heights-all depths unto our being's end? Oh! subtle foe, who now I rather give Thy humbler, truer name, Self-love, by thee 4. I may not reach thee. Can I separate 5. Enchurch affection-call the raven back I may not conquer them-they, separate, Have power and strong dominion over me; |