THE INQUISITIVE MAN. 263 it. They have just taken in a nobleman's family at the Green Dragon. Doub. What! What's that? A nobleman at the Green Dragon ? Pry. Traveling carriage and four. Three servants on the dicky and an outrider, all in blue liveries. They dine and stop all night. A pretty bill there will be to-morrow; for the servants are not on board wages. Doub. Plague take the Green Dragon! How did you discover that the servants are not on board wages? Pry. I was curious to know, and asked one of them. You know I never miss any thing for want of asking. 'Tis no fault of mine the nabob is not here. Doub. Why, what had you to do with it? Pry. You know I never forget my friends. I stopped the carriage, as it was coming down hill, brought it to a dead stop, and said that if his lordship-I took him for a lord, at first—that if his lordship intended to make any stay, he could n't do better. than go to Doubledot's. Doub. Well? Pry. Well, would you believe it?-out pops a saffron-colored face from the carriage, window, and says, "You're an impudent rascal, for stopping my carriage! and I'll not go to Doubledot's if there's another inn to be found within ten miles of it!" If Doub. There! that comes of your stupid meddling! you had n't interfered, I should have stood an equal chance with the Green Dragon. Pry. I'm very sorry; but I did it for the best. Doub. Did it for the best, indeed! You meddling booby! By your officious attempts to serve, you do more mischief in the neighborhood than the exciseman, the apothecary, and the attorney, all together. Pry. Well, there's gratitude! Now, really, I must go. Good-morning. (Goes.) Doub. I'm rid of him, at last, thank fortun reënters.) Well, are n't you gone? What now Pry. I've dropped one of my gloves. No that's very odd -- here it is in my hand, all th Doub. O! get out of my way. (Goes out.) Pry. Come, that's civil. If I were the lea bore, now, it would be pardonable; butthere's the postman! I wonder whether the F have got letters again to day? They have ha every day this week, and I can't, for the life think what they can be about. (Runs off, and Dear me! I was going off without my umbrella Altered from JOHN CIX.-NIGHT REVEALS WHAT DAY CONCE HES'PE-RUS, n., a Greek name given to | CAN'o-PY, n., a covering of the planet Venus when she appears in the evening. head. TRANS-LU'CENT, a., clear; A sonnet is properly a poem of fourteen lines, with rhymes occurring like following, pronounced by Coleridge one of the finest in the English language MYSTERIOUS Night! when our first parent knew Who could have thought such darkness lay co Within thy beams, O Sun! Or who could find, While fly, and leaf, and insect, stood revealed That to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind Why do we, then, shun death, with anxious st DEATH THE GATE OF LIFE. 265 CX.-DEATH THE GATE OF LIFE. easiness. UN-TO'WARD, a., perverse. COMPASS (kum-), v. t., to pass round; | FA-CIL'I-TY, n., round the sun or moon. AP-PA-RA'TUS, n., the furniture or means for some art or purpose. FUL-FILL' OF FUL-FIL', v. t., to perform. RET-RI-BU'TION, n., repayment. The o in shone is short, according to Worcester; long, according to Webster. Pronounce open, o'pn; hasten, hä'sn. 1. I HAVE seen one die: she was beautiful; and beautiful were the ministries of life that were given her to fulfill. Angelic loveliness enrobed her; and a grace, as if it were caught from heaven, breathed in every tone, hallowed every affection, shone in every action invested as a halo her whole existence, and made it a light and a blessing, a charm and a vision of gladness, to all around her; but she died! Friendship, and love, and parental fondness, and infant weakness, stretched out their hand to save her; but they could not save her; and she died! What! did all that loveliness die? Is there no land of the blessed and the lovely ones, for such to live in? Forbid it reason, religion, bereaved affection, and undying love! forbid the thought! 2. I have seen one die-in the maturity of every power, in the earthly perfection of every faculty; when many temptations had been overcome, and many hard lessons had been learnt; when many experiments had made virtue easy, and had given a facility to action, and a success to endeavor; when wisdom had been wrung from many mistakes, and a skill had been laboriously acquired in the use of many powers; and the being I looked upon had just compassed that most useful, most practical of all knowledge, how to live and to act well and wisely; yet I have seen such a one die! ១០ 266 DEATH THE GATE OF LIFE. 3. Was all this treasure gained, only to be lost? Were all these faculties trained, only to be thrown into utter disuse? Was this instrument - the intelligent soul, the noblest in the universe- was it so labori ously fashioned, and by the most varied and expensive apparatus, that, on the very moment of being finished, it should be cast away forever? No; the dead, as we call them, do not so die. They carry their thoughts to another and a nobler existence. They teach us, and especially by all the strange and seemingly un-to' ward circumstances of their departure from this life, that they, and we, shall live forever. They open the future world, then, to our faith. 4. O, death!-dark hour to hopeless unbelief! hour to which, in that creed of despair, no hour shall suc ceed! being's last hour! to whose appalling darkness, even the shadows of an avenging retribution were brightness and relief-death! what art thou to the Christian's assurance? Great hour! answer to life's prayer great hour that shall break asunder the bond of life's mystery. 5. Hour of release from life's burden -hour of reünion with the loved and lost--what mighty hopes hasten to their fulfillment in thee! What longings, what aspirations, breathed in the still night, beneath the silent stars what dread emotions of curiosity what deep meditations of joy-what hallowed impossibilities shadowing forth realities to the soul, all verge to their consummation in thee! O, death! the Christian's death! What art thou, but a gate of life, a pon tal of heaven, the threshold of eternity? - Death gives us more than was in Eden lost. DEWEY. OF-FENSE' or OF-FENCE', n., transgres- NONE (nun), a., not one; not any. sion. When a noun ends in s, the s of the possessive case is sometimes omitted for the sake of euphony; as, "Brutus' love," "For Jesus' sake." When mine is used adjectively, as below, the absence of accentual force will permit the shortening of the sound into min. ROMANS, Countrymen, and lovers! Hear me for my cause; and be silent, that you may hear. Believe me for mine honor; and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe. Censure me in your wisdom; and awake your senses, that you may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Cæsar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Cæsar was not less than his. If, then, that friend demand why Brutus rose against Cæsar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Cæsar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Cæsar were living, and die all slaves, than that Cæsar were dead, to live all freemen? As Cæsar loved me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him. There are tears, for his love; joy, for his fortune; honor, for his valor; and death, for his ambition! Who is here so base, that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude, that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile, that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. The None? Then none have I offended. I have done no more to. Cæsar than you shall do to Brutus. question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol; his |