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19 Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learned to stray: Along the cool, sequestered vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

20. Yet even these bones from insult to protect, Some frail memorial, still erected nigh,

With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

21. Their name, their years, spelled by the unlettered muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply;
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.

22. For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,

This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned,-
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind?
23. On some fond breast the parting soul relies :
Some pious drops the closing eye requires :
Even from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
Even in our ashes live their wonted fires.

24. For thee, who, mindful of the unhonored dead,
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate,
If, chance, by lonely Contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate.
25. Haply, some hoary-headed swain may say,

"Oft have we seen him, at the peep of dawn,
Brushing, with hasty steps, the dews away,

To meet the sun upon the upland lawn. 26. "There, at the foot of yonder nodding beech, That wreathes its old, fantastic roots so high, His listless length at noontide would he stretch, And pore upon the brook that babbles by. 27. "Hard by yon wood, now smiling, as in scorn, Muttering his wayward fancies, he would rove; Now drooping, woful wan, like one forlorn,

Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. 28. "One morn I missed him on the accustomed hill, Along the heath, and near his favorite tree: Another came; nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood, was he:

29. "The next, with dirges due, in sad array,

Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay, Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."

THE EPITAPH.

30. HERE rests his head, upon the lap of earth,
A youth, to fortune and to fame unknown:
Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy marked him for her own.
31. Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere:
Heaven did a recompense as largely send :—
He gave to misery all he had—a tear;

He gained from heaven-'twas all he wished—a friend.

32. No farther seek his merits to disclose,

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode(There they, alike, in trembling hope, repose,) The bosom of his Father and his God.

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1. O THOU that rollest above, round as the shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams, O sun! thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth, in thy awful beauty, and the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold and pale, sinks in the western wave. But thou thyself movest alone: who can be a companion of thy course? The oaks of the mountains fall; the mountains themselves decay with years; the ocean shrinks and grows again; the moon herself is lost in heaven; but thou art for ever the same, rejoicing in the brightness of thy course.

2. When the world is dark with tempests; when thunder rolls, and lightning flies; thou lookest in thy beauty, from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian, thou lookest in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more; whether thy yellow hair flows on the eastern clouds, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. But thou art perhaps, like me, for a season, and thy years will have an end. Thou shalt sleep in thy clouds, careless of the voice of the morning.

* Ossian, an ancient Scotch, or Gælic poet, supposed to have flourished in the second century, and to have been the son of Fingal. His poems were translated by Mr. M'Pherson, in 1762.

3. Exult then, O sun, in the strength of thy youth! Age is dark and unlovely; it is like the glimmering light of the moon, when it shines through broken clouds, and the mist is on the hills; the blast of the north is on the plain, the traveller shrinks in the midst of his journey.

LESSON LXXX.

The African Chief.-U. S. LITERARY GAZETTE. 1. CHAIN'D in the market-place he stood,

A man of giant frame,

Amid the gathering multitude

That shrunk to hear his name,—
All stern of look and strong of limb,
His dark eye on the ground;
And silently they gaz'd on him,
As on a lion bound.

2. Vainly, but well, that chief had fought-
He was a captive now;

Yet pride, that fortune humbles not,
Was written on his brow:

The scars his dark broad bosom wore
Showed warrior true and brave:
A prince among his tribe before,
He could not be a slave.

3. Then to his conqueror he spake,
"My brother is a king :

Undo this necklace from my neck,
And take this bracelet ring,

And send me where my brother reigns,

And I will fill thy hands

With store of ivory from the plains,

And gold dust from the sands."

4. "Not for thy ivory nor thy gold
Will I unbind thy chain;
That bloody hand shall never hold
The battle-spear again.

A price thy nation never gave

Shall yet be paid for thee;

For thou shalt be the Christian's slave,
In land beyond the sea."

5. Then wept the warrior chief, and bade
To shred his locks away;

And, one by one, each heavy braid
Before the victor lay.

Thick were the platted locks, and long,
And deftly hidden there

Shone many a wedge of gold among
The dark and crisped hair.

6. "Look, feast thy greedy eye with gold,
Long kept for sorest need:

Take it-thou askest sums untold-
And say that I am freed.

Take it my wife, the long, long day,
Weeps by the cocoa tree,

And my young children leave their play,
And ask in vain for me."

7. "I take thy gold,—but I have made
Thy fetters fast and strong,
And ween* that by the cocoa shade
Thy wife shall wait thee long."
Strong was the agony that shook
The captive's frame to hear,
And the proud meaning of his look
Was chang'd to mortal fear.

8. His heart was broken-craz'd his brain-
At once his eye grew wild :

He struggled fiercely with his chain,
Whisper'd,--and wept,-and smil'd;
Yet wore not long those fatal bands,
And once, at shut of day,

They drew him forth upon the sands,
The foul hyena'st prey.

LESSON LXXXI.

Formation of Character.-J. HAWES, D. D.

1. Ir is ever to be kept in mind, that a good name is in all cases the fruit of personal exertion. It is not inherited from *Ween, to think, to imagine, to fancy.

† The Hy-é-na is a most hateful and disgusting animal, about the size of a large dog. He is found in Asia and Africa. He prefers to eat the flesh of animals in a putrid state

parents; it is not created by external advantages; it is no necessary appendage of birth, or wealth, or talents, or station; but the result of one's own endeavors,—the fruit and reward of good principles, manifested in a course of virtuous and honorable action. This is the more important to be remarked, because it shows that the attainment of a good name, whatever be your external circumstances, is entirely within your power.

2. No young man, however humble his birth, or obscure his condition, is excluded from the invaluable boon. He has only to fix his eye upon the prize, and press towards it, in a course of virtuous and useful conduct, and it is his. And it is interesting to notice how many of our worthiest and best citizens have risen to honor and usefulness by dint of their own persevering exertions. They are to be found, in great numbers, in each of the learned professions, and in every department of business; and they stand forth, bright and animating examples of what can be accomplished by resolution and effort.

3. Indeed, my friends, in the formation of character, personal exertion is the first, the second, and the third virtue. Nothing great or excellent can be acquired without it. A good name will not come without being sought. All the virtues of which it is composed are the result of untiring application and industry. Nothing can be more fatal to the attainment of a good character than a treacherous confidence in external advantages. These, if not seconded by your own endeavors, "will drop you mid way or perhaps you will not have started, when the diligent traveller will have won the race."

4. To the formation of a good character, it is of the highest importance that you have a commanding object in view, and that your aim in life be elevated. To this cause, perhaps, more than to any other, is to be ascribed the great difference which appears in the characters of men. Some start in life with an object in view, and are determined to attain it; whilst others live without plan, and reach not for the prize set before them. The energies of the one are called into vigorous action, and they rise to eminence; whilst the others are left to slumber in ignoble ease and sink into obscurity.

5. It is an old proverb, that he who aims at the sun, to be sure will not reach it, but his arrow will fly higher than if he aimed at an object on a level with himself. Just so in the formation of character. Set your standard high; and, though you may not reach it, you can hardly fail to rise higher than if you aimed at some inferior excellence. Young men are not, in general, conscious of what they are capable of doing.

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