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What time the daisy decks the green,
Thy certain voice we hear;
Hast thou a star to guide thy path,
Or mark the rolling year?

Delightful visitant! with thee
I hail the time of flowers,

And hear the sound of music sweet
From birds among the bowers.

The schoolboy, wandering through the wood,
To pull the primrose gay,

Starts the new voice of spring to hear,

And imitates thy lay.

What time the pea puts on the bloom,

Thou flyest thy vocal vale,

An annual guest in other lands

Another spring to hail.

Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green,
Thy sky is ever clear;

Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,

No winter in thy year.

Oh! could I fly, I'd fly with thee!
We'd make, with joyful wing,
Our annual visit o'er the globe,
Companions of the spring.

LOGAN.

3. THOU ART, O GOD.

The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter. Psalm lxxiv. 16, 17.

the sun.

THOU art, O God, the life and light

Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,

Are but reflections caught from thee!
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are thine.
When day with farewell beam delays

Among the opening clouds of even,

And we can almost think we gaze

Through golden vistas into heaven;
Those hues that mark the sun's decline,
So soft, so radiant, Lord, are thine.

When night, with wings of stormy gloom,
O'ershadows all the earth and skies,
Like some dark beauteous bird, whose plume
Is sparkling with a thousand eyes;
That sacred gloom, those fires divine,
So grand, so countless, Lord, are thine.

When youthful spring around us breathes,
Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh,
And every flower the summer wreathes
Is born beneath that kindling eye;
Where'er we turn thy glories shine,
And all things bright and fair are thine.

THOMAS MOORE.

4.-HORATIUS OFFERING TO DEFEND THE BRIDGE.

THEN outspake brave Horatius,

The captain of the gate:

"To every man upon the earth
"Death cometh soon or late.
"And how can man die better
"Than facing fearful odds,
"For the ashes of his fathers,
"And the temples of his gods.

"And for the tender mother
"Who dandled him to rest,
"And for the wife who nurses
"His baby at her breast.
"And for the holy maidens
"Who feed the eternal flame,

"To save them from false Sextus,
"That wrought the deed of shame?

"Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,
"With all the speed ye may;

"I, with two more to help me,
"Will hold the foe in play.
"In yon strait path a thousand
"May well be stopped by three ;
"Now who will stand on either hand,
"And keep the bridge with me?"

Then outspake Spurius Lartius;
A Ramnian proud was he:

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Lo, I will stand at thy right hand,
"And keep the bridge with thee."
And outspake strong Herminius;
Of Titian blood was he:

"I will abide on thy left side,
"And keep the bridge with thee."

"Horatius," quoth the Consul,
"As thou say'st, so let it be;"
And straight against that great array
Forth went the dauntless three.
For Romans in Rome's quarrel
Spared neither land nor gold,

Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,
In the brave days of old.

Then none was for a party;

Then all were for the state;

Then the great man helped the poor,
And the poor man loved the great;
Then lands were fairly portioned;
Then spoils were fairly sold;
The Romans were like brothers

In the brave days of old.

MACAULAY.

5.-SKETCH OF CHATHAM.

A. PATRIOTS, alas! the few that have been found
Where most they flourish, upon English ground,
The country's need have scantily supplied,
And the last left the scene when Chatham died.
B. Not so the virtue still adorns our age,
Though the chief actor died upon the stage.

In him Demosthenes was heard again;
Liberty taught him her Athenian strain;
She clothed him with authority and awe,
Spoke from his lips, and in his looks gave law.
His speech, his form, his action, full of grace,
And all his country beaming in his face,
He stood, as some inimitable hand

Would strive to make a Paul or Tully stand.
No sycophant or slave, that dared oppose
Her sacred cause, but trembled when he rose;
And every venal stickler for the yoke
Felt himself crushed at the first word he spoke.

6.-SKETCHES OF BURKE AND GARRICK.

COWPER.

HERE lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such,
We scarcely can praise it or blame it too much;
Who, born for the universe, narrowed his mind,
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind.
Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat
To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote;
Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining,
And thought of convincing, while they thought of dining.
Though equal to all things, for all things unfit;
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit;
For a patriot too cool; for a drudge disobedient,
And too fond of the right to pursue the expedient.
In short, 'twas his fate, unemployed or in place, Sir,
To eat mutton cold and cut blocks with a razor.
Here lies David Garrick, describe him who can,
An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man;
As an actor, confessed without rival to shine;
As a wit, if not first, in the very first line;
Yet with talents like these and excellent heart,
The man had his failings-a dupe to his heart;
Like an ill-judging beauty, his colours he spread,
And beplastered with rouge his own natural red.
On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting;
'Twas only that when he was off he was acting.
With no reason on earth to go out of his way,
He turned and he varied full ten times a-day;

Though secure of our hearts, yet confoundedly sick

If they were not his own by finessing and trick ;

He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack,

For he knew when he pleased he could whistle them back.
Of praise a mere glutton, he swallowed what came,

And the puff of a dunce he mistook it for fame;
Till his relish grown callous almost to disease,
Who peppered the highest was surest to please.
But let us be candid, and speak out our mind,
If dunces applauded, he paid them in kind.

Ye Kenricks, ye Kellys, and Woodfalls so grave,

What a commerce was yours, while you got and you gave;
How did Grub-street reecho the shouts that you raised,
While he was be-Rosciused and you were bepraised!
But peace to his spirit, wherever it flies,

To act as an angel and mix with the skies,

Those poets who owe their best fame to his skill,
Shall still be his flatterers, go where he will.

Old Shakspeare, receive him with praise and with love,
And Beaumonts and Bens be his Kellys above.

GOLDSMITH.

7.-SLAVERY.

CANST thou, and honoured with a Christian name,
Buy what is woman-born, and feel no shame;
Trade in the blood of innocence, and plead
Expedience as a warrant for the deed?

So may the wolf, whom famine has made bold
To quit the forest and invade the fold:
So may the ruffian, who, with ghostly glide,
Dagger in hand, steals close to your bedside;
Not he, but his emergence forced the door,
He found it inconvenient to be poor.

COWPER.

8.-CONFIDENCE IN GOD.

How are thy servants blest, O Lord!

How sure is their defence!

Eternal wisdom is their guide,

Their help omnipotence.

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