And new triumphs on land are before us: To the charge! Heaven's banner is o'er us. 4 This day shall ye blush for its story; Or brighten your lives with its glory? Our women Oh! say, shall they shriek in despair, If a coward there be who would slacken Till we've trampled the turban, and shown ourselves worth As heroes descended from heroes. 5 Old Greece lightens up with emotion! Fanes rebuilt, and fair towns shall with jubilee ring, That were cold, and extinguished in sadness; Whilst our maidens shall dance with their white waving arms, Singing joy to the brave that delivered their charms, Shall have crimsoned the beaks of our ravens ! 1 A PARENTAL ODE TO MY INFANT SON. HOOD. THOυ happy, happy elf! (But stop-first let me kiss away that tear)- (My love, he's poking peas into his ear)- With spirits feather light, 2 3 Untouched by sorrow, and unsoiled by sin Thou little tricksy Puck! With antic toys so funnily bestuck, Light as the singing bird that wings the air, (Why, Jane, he'll set his pinafore afire !) Thou imp of mirth and joy! In love's dear chain so strong and bright a link, There goes my ink!) (stop the boy! Thou cherub - but of earth! (The dog will bite him if he pulls his tail!) (He 'll break the mirror with that skipping-rope !) Thou young domestic love! (He 'll have that jug off with another shove !) (Are those torn clothes his best?) (He'll climb upon the table - that's his plan !) Touched with the beauteous tints of dawning life, (He's got a knife!) Thou enviable being! 5 No storms, no clouds, in thy blue sky foreseeing, My elfin John! Toss the light ball — bestride the stick, (I knew so many cakes would make him sick!) (He's got the scissors, snipping at your gown!) Thou pretty opening rose ! (Go to your mother, child, and wipe your nose!) I cannot write, unless he 's sent above!) CXXIV. THE FIRST PREDICTED ECLIPSE. MITCHEL. To those who have given but little attention to the subject, even in our own day, with all the aids of modern science, the prediction of an eclipse seems sufficiently mysterious and unintelligible. How, then, it was possi5 ble, thousands of years ago, to accomplish the same great object, without any just views of the structure of the system, seems utterly incredible. Follow, in imagination, this bold interrogator of the skies to his solitary mountain summit; — withdrawn from 10 the world, surrounded by his mysterious circles, there to watch and ponder through the long nights of many, many 5 ycars. But hope cheers him on, and smooths his rugged pathway. Dark and deep as is the problem, he sternly grapples with it, and resolves never to give over till victory crowns his efforts. Long and patiently did the astronomer watch and wait. Each eclipse is duly observed, and its attendant circumstances are recorded, when, at last, the darkness begins to give way, and a ray of light breaks in upon his mind. He finds that no eclipse of the sun ever occurs unless the new 10 moon is in the act of crossing the sun's track. Here is a grand discovery. He now holds the key which will unlock the dread mystery. Reaching forward with piercing intellectual vigor, he at last finds a new moon which occurs precisely at the 15 computed time of her passage across the sun's track. Here he makes his stand, and announces to the startled inhabitants of the world that on the day of the occurrence of that new moon the sun shall expire in dark eclipse. Bold prediction!- mysterious prophet!-with what 20 scorn must the unthinking world have received this solemn declaration! How slowly do the moons roll away, and with what intense anxiety does the stern philosopher await the coming of that day which should crown him with victory, or dash him to the ground in ruin and dis25 grace! Time to him moves on leaden wings; day after day, and at last hour after hour, roll heavily away. The last night is gone, - the moon has disappeared from his eagle gaze in her approach to the sun, and the dawn of the eventful day breaks in beauty on a slumbering world. 30 This daring man, stern in his faith, climbs alone to his rocky home, and greets the sun as he rises and mounts the heavens, scattering brightness and glory in his path. Beneath him is spread out the populous city, already teeming with life and activity. The busy morning hum rises on 35 the still air, and reaches the watching place of the solitary astronomer. The thousands below him, unconscious of his intense anxiety, buoyant with life, joyously pursue their rounds of business, their cycles of amusement. The sun slowly climbs the heavens, round, and bright, and fullorbed. The lone tenant of the mountain-top almost begins 5 to waver in the sternness of his faith, as the morning hours roll away. and But the time of his triumph, long delayed, at length begins to dawn; a pale and sickly hue creeps over the face of nature. The sun has reached his highest point, but his 10 splendor is dimmed, his light is feeble. At last it comes! Blackness is eating away his round disc, -onward with slow but steady pace the dark veil moves, blacker than a thousand nights, the gloom deepens, the ghastly hue of death covers the universe, the last ray is 15 horror reigns. A wail of terror fills the murky air, — the clangor of brazen trumpets resounds, an agony of despair dashes the stricken millions to the ground, while that lone man, erect on his rocky summit, with arms outstretched to heaven, pours forth the grateful gushings of 20 his heart to God, who had crowned his efforts with triumphant victory. gone, Search the records of our race, and point me, if you can, to a scene more grand, more beautiful. It is to me the proudest victory that genius ever won. It was the con25 quering of nature, of ignorance, of superstition, of terror, all at a single blow, and that blow struck by a single arm. And now do you demand the name of this wonderful man? Alas! what a lesson of the instability of earthly fame are we taught in this simple recital! He who had raised him30 self immeasurably above his race, — who must have been regarded by his fellows as little less than a god, who had inscribed his fame on the very heavens, and written it in the sun, with a "pen of iron, and the point of a diamond," even this one had perished from the earth, 35 country, are all swept into oblivion; but his proud achievement stands. The monument reared to his honor stands, - name, age, |