Thick lightnings flash; the mutt'ring thunder rolls, Their strength he withers (1), and unmans (2) their souls. Before his wrath the trembling hosts retire,

The God in terrors, and the skies on fire.

POPE.

THE SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE PROVES ITS DIVINE ORIGIN.

The lofty pillars (5) of the sky

And spacious concave raised on high,

Spangled (4) with stars, a shining frame (5),

Their great original proclaim.

The unwearied sun from day to day

Pours knowledge on his golden ray,

And publishes to every land

The work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up (6) the wond'rous tale,
And nightly to the list'ning (7) earth
Repeats the story of her birth;

(1) To wither, détruire, flétrir.

(2) To unman, affaiblir, amollir.

(3) Pillars, colonnes.

(4) Spangled, parsemé, de spangle, paillette.

(5) Frame, cadre.

(6) To take up, prendre, commencer.

(7) List'ning, qui écoute.

THE TEAR AND THE SIGH.

Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings (1) as they roll,
And spread (2) the truth from pole to pole.

What tho' (3), in solemn silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball!
What tho' nor real voice, nor sound,
Amid their radiant orbs be found!
In Reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth (4) a glorious voice,
For ever singing as they shine,

66 The hand that made us is divine. "

ADDISON.

THE TEAR AND THE SIGH.

The grief of slighted (5) love, supprest,
Scarce dull'd her eye, scarce heav'd (6) her breast:
Or if a tear she strove to check (7),

A truant tear (8) stole down her neck,
It seem'd a drop that, with his bill,

(1) Tidings, nouvelles.

(2) To spread, répandre.

(3) Tho' pour though, quoique.

(4) To utter forth, prononcer, proférer.

(5) Slighted, négligé.

(6) To heave, agiter, soulever.

(7) To check, réprimer, arrêter.

(8) A truant tear, une larme involontaire.

251

The linnet scatters (1) from a rill (2), ́
Flirting his sweet and tiny shower
Upon a milk-white April flower:
Or if a sigh, breath'd soft, and low,
Escaped her fragrant lips, e'en (3) so
The zyphyr will, in heat of day,

Between two rose-leaves fan its way (4).

COLMAN.

OCEAN.

Oh! that the desert were my dwelling-place,
With one fair spirit for my minister,
That I might all forget the human race,
And, hating no one, love but only her!

Accord me such a being? Do I err

In deeming such inhabit many a spot?

Though with them to converse can rarely be our lot.

There is a pleasure in the pathless (6) woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore ;

(1) To scatter, répandre. (2) A rill, un ruisseau.

(3) E'en, pour even, de même.

(4) Fan its way, se faire un chemin (en soufflant). To fan, au propre, signifie, éventer, faire du vent avec un éventail. (5) Stir, action, mouvement.

(6) Pathless, qui n'est pas frayé.

OCEAN.

There is society, where none intrudes (1),
By the deep sea, and music in its roar :
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews in which I steal
From (2) all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the universe, and feel

What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean-roll!
Ten thousand fleets sweep over (3) thee in vain ;
Man marks the earth with ruin-his control
Stops with the shore (4):
The wrecks (5) are all thy deed, nor doth remain
A shadow of man's ravage, save his own,

upon the watery plain,

When, for a moment, like a drop of rain,

253

He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan (6), Without a grave, unknell'd (7), uncoffin'd, and un

[known.

(1) To intrude, s'ingérer, se fourrer, entrer sans permission.

(2) To steal from, se dérober de, oublier.

(3) To sweep over, balayer, passer rapidement sur.

(4) Stops with the shore, s'arrête au rivage.

(5) Wreck, ruine, destruction, débris.

(6) Bubbling groan, gémissement lugubre.

(7) Knell, glas, son funèbre d'une cloche pour annoncer la mort de quelqu'un. Unknelled, dont la mort n'est pas annoncée par la cloche. Un est un privatif que nous mettons devant les verbes, les adverbes et les adjectifs pour leur donner un sens négatif.

His steps are not upon thy paths

thy fields

Are not a spoil for him thou dost arise

-

And shake him from thee; the vile strengths he wields

For earth's destruction thou dost all despise,

Spurning (1) him from thy bosom to the skies,
And send'st him, shivering in the playful spray (2),
And howling to his Gods, where haply lies

His petty hope in some near port or bay,
And dashest him again to earth :

there let him lay.

Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form
Glasses itself (3) in tempests; in all time,

Calm or convulsed-in breeze, or gale (4), or storm,
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime

Dark heaving;-boundless, (5) endless, and sublime,
The image of eternity-the throne

Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime (6)
The monsters of the deep are made; each zone
Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone.

And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful (7) sports was on thy breast to be

(1) To spurn, repousser.

(2) Spray, écume de la mer emporté par le vent.

(5) Glasses itself, se montre comme dans une glace.

(4) Gale, un vent fort, grain de vent.

(5) Less, moins, sans; privatif que nous ajoutons aux noms pour en faire des adjectifs qui marquent privation.

(6) Slime, limon.

(7) Youthful, jeune ; la terminaison ful marque l'abondance de la chose ou de la qualité désignée par la première partie du

mot.