Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

2. I asked the ancient, venerable dead,
Sages who wrote, and warriors who bled;
From the cold grave a hollow murmur flowed,
"Time sowed the seed we reap in this abode !"

3. I asked a dying sinner, ere the tide

Of life had left his veins: "Time!" he replied; "I've lost it! Ah, the treasure!" and he died.

4. I asked the golden sun, and silver spheres,
Those bright chronometers of days and years:
They answered, "Time is but a meteor glare!"
And bade us for eternity prepare.

5. I asked the Seasons, in their annual round,
Which beautify, or desolate the ground;
And they replied, (no oracle more wise,)
""Tis Folly's blank, and Wisdom's highest prize!"

6. I asked a spirit lost; but oh, the shriek

That pierced my soul! I shudder while I speak!
It cried, "A particle! a speck! a mite
Of endless years, duration infinite!".

7. Of things inanimate, my dial I

Consulted, and it made me this reply:-
"Time is the season fair of living well,
The path of glory, or the path of hell."

8. I asked my Bible; and methinks it said,
"Time is the present-hour,-the past is fled;
Live! live to-day! to-morrow never yet
On any human being rose or set.”

9. I asked old Father Time himself, at last,
But in a moment he flew swiftly past:
His chariot was a cloud, the viewless wind
His noiseless steeds, which left no trace behind.

10. I asked the mighty Angel* who shall stand
One foot on sea, and one on solid land;

"I now declare, the mystery is o'er

Time was," he cried, "but Time shall be no more!"

See Revelation, chap. x.

LESSON CXII.

Casabianca.-MRS. HEMANS.

Young Casabianca, a boy about thirteen years old, son to the admiral of the Orient, remained at his post, (in the battle of the Nile,) after the ship had taken fire, and all the guns had been abandoned; and perished in the explosion of the vessel, when the flames had reached the powder.

1. THE boy stood on the burning deck,
Whence all but him had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck.
Shone round him o'er the dead.

2. Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm ;
A creature of heroic blood,

A proud, though child-like form.

3. The flames roll'd on-he would not go,
Without his father's word;

That father, faint in death below,
His voice no longer heard.

4. He call'd aloud-"Say, father, say
If yet my task is done?",

He knew not that the chieftain lay
Unconscious of his son.

5. "Speak, father!" once again he cried,
"If I may yet be

gone

-And but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames roll'd on.

6. Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair,

And look'd from that lone post of death,
In still, yet brave despair.

7. And shouted but once more aloud,

"My father! must I stay?"

While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,

.

The wreathing fires made way.

8. They wrapt the ship in splendor wild,

They caught the flag on high,

And streamed above the gallant child,
Like banners in the sky.

9. There came a burst of thunder sound-
The boy-Oh! where was he?
-Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea!

10. With mast and helm, and pennon* fair,
That well had borne their part-
But the noblest thing that perished there,
Was that young faithful heart.

LESSON CXIII.

The Just Judge.—ANONYMOUS.

1. A GENTLEMAN, who possessed an estate, worth about five hundred a year, in the eastern part of England, had also two sons. The eldest, being of a rambling disposition, went abroad. After several years, his father died; when the younger son, destroying his will, seized upon the estate. He gave out that his elder brother was dead, and bribed false witnesses to attest the truth of it.

2. In the course of time, the elder brother returned; but came home in miserable circumstances. His younger brother repulsed him with scorn, and told him that he was an impostor and a cheat. He asserted that his real brother was dead long ago; and he could bring witnesses to prove it. The poor fellow, having neither money nor friends, was in a most dismal situation. He went round the parish making complaints, and, at last to a lawyer, who, when he had heard the poor man's story, replied, "You have nothing to give me. If I undertake your cause and lose it, it will bring me into disgrace, as all the wealth and evidence are on your brother's side.

3. "But, however, I will undertake your cause on this condition: you shall enter into an obligation to pay me one thou sand guineas, if I gain the estate for you. If I lose it, I know the consequences; and I venture with my eyes open." Accordingly, he entered an action against the younger brother, which was to be tried at the next general assizes at Chelmsford, in Essex.

4. The lawyer, having engaged in the cause of the young man, and stimulated by the prospect of a thousand guineas, set his wits to work to contrive the best methods to gain his end. At last he hit upon this happy thought, that he would consult Pennon, a small flag, or banner. + As-si-zes, a court in England.

the first judge of his age, Lord Chief Justice Hale.† Accordingly, he hastened up to London, and laid open the cause, and all its circumstances. The judge, who was a great lover of justice, heard the case attentively, and promised him all the assistance in his power..

5. The lawyer having taken leave, the judge contrived matters so as to finish all his business at the King's Bench, before the assizes began at Chelmsford. When within a short distance of the place, he dismissed his man and horses, and sought out for a single house. He found one occupied by a miller. After some conversation, and making himself quite agreeable, he proposed to the miller to change clothes with him. As the judge had a very good suit on, the man had no reason to object.

6. Accordingly, the judge shifted himself from top to toe, and put on a complete suit of the miller's best. Armed with a miller's hat, and shoes, and stick, away he marches to Chelmsford, and procured good lodging, suitable for the assizes that should come on next day. When the trials came on, he walked, like an ignorant country fellow, backwards and forwards along the county hall. He had a thousand eyes within him, and when the court began to fill, he found out the poor fellow who was : the plaintiff.

7. As soon as he came into the hall, the miller drew up to him. "Honest friend," said he, "how is your cause like to go to-day?" "Why," replied the plaintiff," my cause is in a very precarious situation, and, if I lose it, I am ruined for life." "Well, honest friend," replied the miller, "if you will take my advice, I will let you into a secret, which perhaps you do not know; every Englishman has the right and privilege to except against any one juryman through the whole twelve; now do you insist upon your privilege, without giving a reason why, and, if possible, get me chosen in his room, and I will do you all the service in my power."

8. Accordingly, when the clerk had called over the names of the jurymen, the plaintiff excepted to one of them. The judge on the bench was highly offended with this liberty. "What do you mean," said he, "by excepting against that gentleman ?" "I mean, my Lord, to assert my privilege as an Englishman, without giving a reason why."

9. The judge, who had been highly bribed, in order to conceal it by a show of candor, and having a confidence in the

*Sir Matthew Hale, a very distinguished lawyer, born in A. D. 1609, and died in 1676.

superiority of his party, said, "Well, sir, as you claim your privilege in one instance, I will grant it. Whom would you wish to have in the room of that man excepted ?" After a short time, taken in consideration, "My lord," says he, "I wish to have an honest man chosen in ;" and looking round the court"My lord, there is that miller in the court, we will have him, if you please." Accordingly, the miller was chosen in.

10. As soon as the clerk of the court had given them all their oaths, a little dexterous fellow came into the apartment, and slipped ten guineas into the hands of eleven jurymen, and gave the miller but five. He observed, that they were all bribed as well as himself, and said to his next neighbor, in a soft whisper, "how much have you got?" "Ten pieces," said he. But he concealed what he had got himself. The cause was opened by the plaintiff's counsel, and all the scraps of evidence they could pick up were adduced in his favor.

11. The younger brother was provided with a great number of witnesses, and pleaders, all plentifully bribed as well as the judge. The evidence deposed, that they were in the self same country when the brother died, and saw him buried. The counsellors pleaded upon this accumulated evidence: and every thing went with a full tide in favor of the younger brother. The judge summed up the evidence with great gravity and deliberation ;-"And now, gentlemen of the jury," said he, "lay your heads together, and bring in your verdict as you shall deem most just."

66

12. They waited but a few minutes, before they determined in favor of the younger brother. The judge said, "Gentlemen, are you agreed, and who shall speak for you?"- "We are all agreed, my lord," replied one; our foreman shall speak for us." "Hold, my lord," replied the miller, "we are not all agreed." "Why?" said the judge, in a very surly manner, "what's the matter with you? what reasons have you for disagreeing?"

13 "I have several reasons, my lord," replied the miller: "the first is, they have given to all these gentlemen of the jury ten broad pieces of gold, and to me but five; which, you know, is not fair. Besides, I have many objections to make to the false reasonings of the pleaders, and the contradictory evidence of the witnesses." Upon this, the miller began a discourse, which discovered such vast penetration of judgment, such extensive knowledge of law, and was expressed with such energetic and manly eloquence, that astonished the judge and the whole court.

« ZurückWeiter »