Where once we dwelt, our name is heard no more, Children not thine have trod my nursery floor; And where the gardener, Robin, day by day, Drew me to school along the public way, Delighted with my bauble coach and wrapt In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet-capt, "Tis now become a history little known, That once we called the pastoral house our own. Short-lived possession! but the record fair, That memory keeps of all thy kindness there, Still outlives many a storm that has effaced A thousand other themes less deeply traced. Thy nightly visits to my chamber made, That thou mightst know me safe and warmly laid; Thy morning bounties ere I left my home, The biscuit, or confectionary plum; The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestowed By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glowed ;- Not scorned in heaven, though little noticed here. Could time, his flight reversed, restore the hours, When playing with thy vesture's tissued flowers, The violet, the pink, and jessamine, I pricked them into paper with a pin, (And thou wast happier than myself the while, Wouldst softly speak, and stroke my head, and smile,) Could those few pleasant days again appear, Might one wish bring them, would I wish them here ? Thou, as a gallant bark from Albion's coast THE PRIMROSE. Shoots into port at some well-havened isle, And while the wings of fancy still are free, 1. What part of speech is last? 2. What they? 3. Ellipsis in this line. 4. Case of wretch? 5. Case of jouryney? 323 COWPER. 6. In what sense is maidens here used? LVI. THE PRIMROSE. "THE thunder, the pestilence, and the tempest, awe and humble us into dismaying recollections of God's tremendous omnipotence and possible visitations, and of our total inability to resist or avert them; but the beauty and benefactions of his vegetable creations-the flowers and the fruits more especially-remind and assures us of His unforgetting care, of His condescending sympathy, of His paternal attentions, and of the same affectionate benignity still actuating His mind, which must have influenced it to design and execute such lovely and beneficent productions, that display the minutest thought, most elaborate compositions, and so much personal kindness."Turner's Sacred History of the World. THE milk-white blossoms of the thorn Moved by the wind that breathes along The hawthorn clusters bloom above, A modest glance doth throw! The humble primrose' bonnie face Where other flowers disdain to blow Like God's own light, on every place And where its dwelling-place is made, Where'er the green-winged linnet sings The stars are sweet at eventide, The clouds are soft in summer time, The rose is rich-but pride of place God's simple, common things I love- I love the fireside of my home, And while admiring all the flowers That summer suns can give, Within my heart the primrose sweet, NICOLL. THE VICTORY OF FAITH. LVII. ALL MEN ARE BRETHREN. 325 "THE ties of family and of country were never intended to circumscribe the soul. Man is connected at birth with a few beings, that the spirit of humanity may be called forth by their tenderness; and whenever domestic or national attachments become exclusive, engrossing, clannish, so as to shut out the general claims of the human race, the highest end of Providence is frustrated, and home, instead of being the nursery, becomes the grave of the heart."-Channing. Children we are all Of one Great Father, in whatever clime His providence hath cast the seed of life, All tongues, all colours: neither after death And tints,-white, black, and tawny, Greek and Goth, The all-seeing Father,-He in whom we live and move, Nations, and hues, and dialects alike. When even-handed justice in the scale SOUTHEY. LVIII. WEAK IS THE WILL OF MAN. "THE faculty of imagination is the great spring of human activity, and the principal source of human improvement. As it delights in presenting to the mind scenes and characters more perfect than those which we are acquainted with, it prevents us from ever being completely satisfied with our present condition, or with our past attainments; and engages us continually in the pursuit of some untried enjoyment, or of some ideal excellence. Hence the ardour of the selfish to better their fortune, and to add to their personal accomplishments; and hence the zeal of the patriot and the philosopher to advance the virtue and the happiness of the human race. Destroy this faculty, and the condition of man will become as stationary as that of the brutes. *** While it adds a double relish to every enjoyment, it blunts the edge of all our sufferings; and even when human life presents to us no object on which our hopes can rest, it invites the imagination beyond the dark and troubled horizon, which terminates all our earthly prospects, to wander unconfined in the regions of futurity."-Stewart's Philosophy. "WEAK is the will of man, his judgment blind; 66 "A mournful thing, so transient is the blaze!" Thus might he paint our lot of mortal days Imagination lofty and refined; "Tis hers to pluck the Amaranthine flower LIX. THE VICTORY OF FAITH. "I ENVY no quality of the mind or intellect in others; not genius, power, wit, or fancy: but if I could choose what would be most delightful, and I believe most useful to me, I should prefer a firm religious belief to every other blessing: for it makes life a discipline of goodness, creates new hopes when all earthly hopes vanish, and throws over the decay-the destruction of existence, the most gorgeous of all lights; awakens life even in death, and from corruption and decay calls up beauty and divinity; makes an instrument of torture and of shame the ladder of ascent to Paradise; and, far above all combinations of earthly hopes, calls up the most delightful visions of palms and amaranths, the gardens of the blest, the security of everlasting joys, where the sensualist and the sceptic view only gloom, decay, annihilation, and despair."-Sir H. Davy. ONE adequate support For the calamities of mortal life WORDSWORTH. |