the germ of this in every human being, and there is no power which admits greater cultivation; and why should it not be cherished in all? It deserves remark, that the provision for this principle is infinite in the universe.

2. There is but a very minute portion of the creation which we can turn into food and clothes, or gratification of the body, but the whole creation may be used to minister to the sense of beauty. Beauty is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds in the numberless flowers of the spring. It waves in the branches of the trees and blades of grass. green It haunts the depths of the earth and sea, and gleams out in the hues of the shell and the precious stone.

3. And not only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, the clouds, the heavens, the stars, the rising and setting sun, all overflow with beauty. The universe is its temple; and those men who are alive to it cannot lift their eyes without feeling themselves encompassed with it on every side.

4. Now this beauty is so precious, the enjoyments it gives are so refined and pure, so congenial with our tenderest and noblest feelings, and so akin to worship, that it is painful to think of the multitude of men as living in the midst of it, and living almost as blind to it, as if, instead of this fair earth and glorious sky, they were tenants of a dungeon. An infinite joy is lost to the world by the want of culture of this spiritual endowment.

5. Suppose that I were to visit a cottage, and to see its walls lined with the choicest pictures of Raphael, and every spare nook filled with statues of the most exquisite workmanship, and that I were to learn, that neither man, woman nor child ever cast an eye at these miracles of art, how should I feel their privation; how should I want to open their eyes, and to help them to comprehend and feel the loveliness and grandeur which in vain courted their notice.

6. But every husbandman is living in sight of the works of a diviner artist; and how much would his existence be

a The "Sacrifice of Isaac;" the "Transfiguration of Christ," &c.

elevated, could he see the glory which shines forth in their forms, hues, proportions and moral expression!

7. I have spoken only of the beauty of nature, but how much of this mysterious charm is found in the elegant arts, and especially in literature? The best books have most beauty. The greatest truths are wronged if not linked with beauty, and they win their way most surely and deeply into the soul when arrayed in this their natural and fit attire.

8. Now no man receives the true culture of a man, in whom the sensibility to the beautiful is not cherished; and I know of no condition in life from which it should be excluded. Of all luxuries this is the cheapest and most at hand.

9. What beauty is, is a question which the most penetrating minds have not satisfactorily answered; nor, were I able, is this the place for discussing it. But one thing I would say; the beauty of the outward creation is intimately related to the lovely, grand, interesting attributes of the soul.

10. There is another power, which each man should cultivate according to his ability, but which is very much neglected in the mass of the people, and that is the power of utterA man was not made to shut up his mind in itself; but to give it voice and to exchange it for other minds. Speech is one of our grand distinctions from the brute.

ance.

11. Our power over others lies not so much in the amount of thought within us, as in the power of bringing it out. A man of more than ordinary intellectual vigor, may, for want of expression, be a cipher, without significance in society. And not only does a man influence others, but he greatly aids his own intellect, by giving distinct and forcible utterance to his thoughts.

12. We understand ourselves better, our conceptions grow clearer, by the very effort to make them clear to another. Our social rank, too, depends a good deal on our power of utterance. The principal distinction between what are called gentlemen and the vulgar, lies in this; that the latter are

awkward in manners, and are essentially wanting in propriety, clearness, grace, and force of utterance.

13. A man who cannot open his lips without breaking a rule of grammar, without showing in his dialect, or brogue, or uncouth tones, his want of cultivation, or without darkening his meaning by a confused, unskillful mode of communication, cannot take the place to which perhaps his native good sense entitles him. To have intercourse with respectable people, we must speak their language.

LESSON LVIII.

SPIRIT OF BEAUTY.

DAWES.

[The reader may note the cæsural pauses in the following piece. See Harmonic Pauses, p. 70. The casural and grammatical pauses sometimes fall in the same place.]

1. THE Spirit of Beauty || unfurls her light,*
And wheels her course | in a joyous flight;

I know her track | through the balmy air,
By the blossoms that cluster || and whiten there;
She leaves the tops of the mountains green,

And

gems the valley || with crystal sheen.

2. At morn, I know where she rested at night,
For the roses are gushing with dewy delight;
Then she mounts again, and around her flings
A shower of light from her purple wings.

At noon, she hies to a cool retreat,

Where bowering elms over waters meet;

She dimples the wave, where the green leaves dip,
That smiles, as it curls, like a maiden's lip.

3. At eve, she hangs o'er the western sky

Dark clouds for a glorious canopy;

*There may sometimes be two or three casural pauses in the same line. By some writers, the shorter ones are called demi-cæsural.

And round the skirts of each sweeping fold,
She paints a border of crimson and gold,
Where the lingering sunbeams love to stay,
When their god in his glory has passed away.

4. She hovers around us at twilight hour,

When her presence is felt with the deepest power;
She mellows the landscape, and crowds the stream
With shadows that flit like a fairy dream;
Still wheeling her flight through the gladsome air,
The Spirit of Beauty is every where!

LESSON LIX.

VIRTUE.

AKENSIDE.

[The learner may tell in what manner the following extract should be read. See Rule 3, p. 54.]

1.

WHAT can strive

With virtue? which of nature's regions vast
Can in so many forms produce to sight
Such powerful beauty; beauty which the eye
Of hatred cannot look upon secure;

Which envy's self contemplates, and is turned
Ere long to tenderness, to infant smiles,

Or tears of humblest love.

In all the dewy landscapes of the spring,
The summer's noontide groves, the purple eve
At harvest home, or in the frosty morn
Glittering on some smooth sea, is aught so fair
As virtuous friendship; as the honored roof
Whither from highest heaven, immortal love
His torch ethereal and his golden bow

a Fairy; an imaginary being, supposed to assume a human form.

3.

4.

Propitious brings, and there a temple holds,
To whose unspotted service, gladly vowed,
The social band of parent, brother, child,

With smiles and sweet discourse and gentle deeds
Adorn his power?

What gift of richest clime
E'er drew such eager eyes, or prompted such
Deep wishes, as the zeal that snatches back
From slander's poisonous tooth a foe's renown;
Or crosseth danger in his lion walk,

A rival's life to rescue? as the young
Athenian warrior sitting down in bonds,
That his great father's body might not want
A peaceful, humble tomb? the Roman' wife
Teaching her lord how harmless was the wound
Of death, how impotent the tyrant's rage,
Who nothing more could threaten to afflict
Their faithful love?

Or is there in the abyss,

Is there, among the adamantine spheres
Wheeling unshaken through the boundless void,
Aught that with half such majesty can fill
The human bosom, as when Brutus rose,
Refulgent, from the stroke of Cæsar's fate
Amid the crowd of patriots; and, his arm
Aloft extending like eternal Joved

When guilt brings down the thunder, called aloud
On Tully's name, and shook the crimson sword
Of justice in his wrapt, astonished eye,

And bade the father of his country hail,
For lo, the tyrant prostrate in the dust—
And Rome again is free!

a A-the'ni-an; pertaining to Athens, the capital of Greece. b Roman; pertaining to Rome, the capital of Italy. c Bru'tus; a distinguished Roman, and assassinator of Julius Cæsar. d Jove; another form of the name of Jupiter, meaning the same god. Tully (Tullius Cicero ;) the most distinguished of the Roman orators, born B. C. 107.