passed the residue of his life, and died in April, 1616. We can only refer students that wish to know more of this great poet, to his writings, an extended description of which is rendered unnecessary by the selection immediately preceding the above. It is not too much to say, with JEFFREY, that he is "more full of wisdom and ridicule and sagacity than all the moralists and satirists that ever existed-he is more wild, airy, and inventive, and more pathetic and fantastic, than all the poets of all regions and ages of the world; and has all those elements so happily mixed up in him, and bears his high faculties so temperately, that the most severe reader cannot complain of him for want of strength or of reason, nor the most sensitive for defect of ornament or ingenuity. Every thing in him is in unmeasured abundance and unequaled perfection; but every thing so balanced and kept in subordination, as not to jostle, or disturb, or take the place of another. The most exquisite poetical conceptions, images, and descriptions are given with such brevity, and introduced with such skill, as merely to adorn, without loading the sense they accompany. Although his sails are purple and perfumed, and his prow of beaten gold, they waft him on his voyage, not less, but more rapidly and directly, than if they had been composed of baser materials. All his excellencies, like those of nature herself, are thrown out together; and, instead of interfering with, support and recommend each other. His flowers are not tied up in garlands, nor his fruits crushed into baskets, but spring living from the soil, in all the dew and freshness of youth; while the graceful foliage in which they lurk, and the ample branches, the rough and vigorous stem, and the wide-spreading roots on which they depend, are present along with them, and share, in their places, the equal care of their creator." 111. CARDINAL WOLSEY, ON BEING CAST OFF BY KING HENRY VIII. 1. AY, then, farewell, ད་ Ines Nhave touched the highest point of all my greatness; And, from that full meridian of my glory, 'THOMAS WOLSEY, well known in history as Cardinal Wolsey, was born at Ipswich, England, in 1471. He obtained an excellent education, and a brilliant student reputation at Magdalen College, Oxford. The turning point in his career was his appointment as one of the chap laing of Henry VII. He exercised an extraordinary influence over Henry VIII. in the early part of his reign. He became king's almoner, after which preferment flowed in upon him. Possessed of lucrative livings in England and France, in 1514 he was made bishop of Lincoln, in 1515 cardinal, the next year legate a Latere, a commission that made him virtually pope of England, and almost at the same time he received the high ministerial and judicial office of lord chancellor. He was defeated in his chief aspiration, to become pope of Rome. His overthrow was caused by his unwillingness to become the king's champion through his entire course, when HENRY was divorced from the sister of CHARLES Like a bright exhalation in the evening, So farewell to the little good you bear me. Of a rude stream, that must forever hide me. 4. Cromwell,' I did not think to shed a tear In all my miseries; but thou hast forced me, V., of Spain. He died in the abbey of Leicester, on the 28th of November, 1530. SHAKSPEARE gives his qualities and defects with matchless truth and beauty, as follows: 'He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one; But to those men that sought him, sweet as summer. And though he was unsatisfied in getting (Which was a sin), yet in bestowing, madam, He was most princely." 'THOMAS CROMWELL, a statesman and adherent of Wolsey, and after. ward of Henry VIII., beheaded in 1540. Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman. Let's dry our eyes: and thus far hear me, Cromwell ; And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee,Corruption wins not more than honesty; Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not. Thy God's, and truth's: then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, And, Prithee, lead me in: There, take an inventory of all I have, To the last penny; 'tis the king's: my robe, I dare now call mine own. O, Cromwell, Cromwell! SHAKSPEARE.' YE 112. NATIONAL SONG. "E sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought May you long taste the blessings your valor has bought, 'See Biographical Sketch, p. 348. With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece; And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 2. In a clime whose rich vales feed the marts of the world, Whose shōres are unshaken by Europe's commotion, The trident of commerce should never be hurl'd, To incense the legitimate powers of the ocean. While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 3. The fame of our arms, of our laws the mild sway, Had justly ennobled our nation in story, 'Till the dark clouds of faction obscured our young day, And envelop'd the sun of American glory. But let traitors be told, who their country have sold, That ne'er will the sons of Columbia be slaves, But though peace is our aim, yet the boon we disclaim, For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, 5. 'Tis the fire of the flint each American warms: Let Rome's haughty victors beware of collision; Let them bring all the vassals of Europe in arms; We're a world by ourselves, and disdain a division. While, with patriot pride, to our laws we're allied, No foe can subdue us, no faction divide. For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves 6. Our mountains are crown'd with imperial oak, Whose roots, like our liberties, ages have nourish'd, But long e'er our nation submits to the yoke, Not a tree shall be left on the field where it flourish'd. While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 7. Let our patriots destroy Anarch's pestilent worm, Lest our liberty's growth should be check'd by corrosion; Then let clouds thicken round us; we heed not the storm; Our realm fears no shock, but the earth's own explosion. Foes assail us in vain, though their fleets bridge the main, For our altars and laws with our lives we'll maintain, For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 8. Should the tempest of war overshadow our land, Its bolts could ne'er rend Freedom's temple asunder; For, unmoved, at its portal would WASHINGTON' stand, And repulse, with his breast, the assaults of the thunder! His sword from the sleep of its scabbard would leap, And conduct with its point every flash to the deep! For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 9. Let Fame to the world sound America's voice; No intrigues can her sons from their government sever, Her pride is her ADAMS; her laws are his choice, And shall flourish till Liberty slumbers forever. That ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, R. T. PAINE. 'WASHINGTON, see p. 205, note 2.-2 JOHN ADAMS, a celebrated American statesman, the second president of the United States, one of the chief movers of the Revolution, "the column of Congress, the pillar of support to the Declaration of Independence, and its ablest advocate and defender," was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, on the 19th of October, 1735, and died on the 4th of July, 1826-LEONIDAS, the first of the name, king of Sparta, immortalized by his glorious defence of the pass of Thermopyla against Xerxes, reigned from 491 to 480 B. C. |