VII. Thus, long ago, Ere heaving bellows learned to blow, Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire. Inventress of the vocal frame;" * The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store, With Nature's mother-wit, and arts unknown before. Or both divide the crown; EXERCISE CL. MESSIAH is the Hebrew, as CHRIST is the Greek, for anointed: the name being used in reference to the ancient custom, among the Jews, of setting apart both persons and things by the act of anointing. Hence a king was called the Lord's anointed. But Messiah is the designation which was given, by pre-eminence, among the Hebrews, to the Savior of the world, who was to come, and center in himself the three fold office of prophet, priest, and king. MESSIAH'S COMING. I. Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers; POPE.t *This refers to the report which makes Cecilia the inventress of the organ. + See Exercise CXLVIII. A God! a God! the vocal hills reply; II. No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear; Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms: III. No more shall nation against nation rise, Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son IV. On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes, To leafless shrubs the flowering palm succeed, The lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead V. Rise, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise! EXERCISE CLI. In WASHINGTON IRVING was born April 3d, 1783, and died November 28th, 1859. With no preparatory education, except that which comes of an ordinary school course, he entered, at the early age of sixteen, upon the stu ly of law. Ill health, however, added to the natural love of travel, soon sent him abroad, where he visited, with a sort of romantic interest, many parts of Southern Europe. In 1806 he returned to New York, and resumed the study of law. Literature, however, was his preference; and so, instead of pracicing law, after he was admitted to the bar, he joined with some others in the publication of a series of humorous papers under the name Salmagundi. which engaged, with singular interest, the attention of the whole town. 1808 he published his famous serio-comic "History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker," a work which, for rich humor and rare interest, has, perhaps, no superior in the whole range of literature. In 1815 he embarked again for Europe, and there resumed his career of authorship: publishing, at intervals, during a lapse of seventeen years, that series of works which served so essentially to raise American literature in the estimation of European judges, There, too, during that long stay, he received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Oxford. In 1832 he returned to America; not, however, to enjoy luxurious ease, but to continue his wonted career. His last, largest, and best work, perhaps, is his "Life of Washington." In the following wellconsidered, though brief sketch, his character, as a man, appears no less vividly than as a writer. WASHINGTON IRVING AS A WRITER. NEW AM. CYCLOPÆDIA. 1. Humor is everywhere the distinguished trait of Irving—a humor descending to the broadest farce, or penetrating to the hidden fountain of tears. It plays around the historical manuscripts of the worthy Fray Antonio Agapida,* and mingles exquisitely with the pathos of his serious pictures. Just, manly, natural, and free from all mawkish sentimentality, it has delighted old and young, the strong man and the invalid, the happy and the weary-hearted. The young appreciate it as thoroughly as their seniors; for it has its foundation in the feelings, and appeals to the instincts of the heart. 2. Another conspicuous merit of Irving is the symmetry and just proportion of his works. They are often constructed with apparent ease and carelessness, but really with very great labor and art. The style is almost uniformly pure and graceful. Its * Irving's "Conquest of Grenada" was published under the guise of an imaginary contemporary author,-Fray Antonio Agapida. melody is extreme; the music of its periods and pauses is sometimes even monotonous from its excess of sweetness. A tenderness almost feminine, occasionally mingles with the humor. The last trait of this author which we shall notice, is the vivid personality which shines through all his writings. 3. It would be difficult to find in any literature a more marked instance of this peculiarity. Irving seems less to have composed tale and histories than to have written himself. His personality is always apparent-the manly, independent, hopeful, charitable human being. His humanity betrays itself under every disguise. Every motion of his heart seems kindly, generous, and good. A respect for truth, and a deep sympathy with purity and innocence, shine in his pages. With a mind unsoiled by meanness, suspicion, or hatred, he surveys the drama of human life, and extracts from it a lesson of charity and love. 4. Children and flowers are favorites with him. All is bright and warm in his heart. With the confiding familiarity of an intimate friend, he takes the reader by the arm, and points out the beauties of the landscape before him; gilding every object with the sunshine of his humor, and smiling with the happiest good-nature. Few authors have been able to endear themselves so greatly to all classes of readers. The poetry which informs many brilliant passages, is the delight of the imaginative reader; and the spirit of adventure, ever and anon flashing out, attracts the lover of romance and travel. EXERCISE CLII TEA-PARTIES IN OLD TIMES. WASHINGTON IRVING, 1. In those happy days, a well-regulated family always rose with the dawn, dined at eleven, and went to bed at sundown. Dinner was invariably a private meal, and the fat old burghers showed incontestable symptoms of disapprobation and uneasiness at being surprised by a visit from a neighbor on such occasions * See preceding Exercise. |