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MORNING.

I.

BEHOLD glad Nature's triumph! Lo, the sun
Hath burst the pall of night, and o'er the earth
Reviving radiance scattered. Sleep hath done
Her death-resembling reign, and thoughts have birth
That thrill the grateful heart with holy mirth :
While fresh as flowers that deck the dewy ground
Gay Fancy's bright-hued images abound,

And mortals feel the glory and the worth

Of that dear boon-existence;-all around Unnumbered charms arise in every sight and sound!

II.

The scene is steeped in beauty-and my soul,

No longer lingering in the gloom of care,

Doth greet Creation's smile. The gray clouds roll E'en from the mountain peaks and melt in air! The landscape looks an Eden! Who could wear The frown of sorrow now? This glorious hour Reveals the ruling God! The heavens are bare! Each sunny stream, and blossom-mantled bower Breathes of pervading love, and proves the Power That spoke him into life, hath bless'd Man's earthly dower.

EVENING.

I.

OH! sweet is the hour

When low in the west,

The sun gilds the bower Where fond lovers rest, Then gorgeously bright,

Beneath the blue stream,

In garments of light,

Departs like a dream!

II.

Oh! sweet and serene
The spell that beguiles,
When night's gentle queen
More tenderly smiles!

The boldest are coy

The wildest are grave

The sad feel a joy

Loud mirth never gave!

III.

The spirits of love,

To hallow the time,

From regions above

Pour music sublime; Their harmonies cheer

The mystical night,

And steal on the ear

Of dreaming delight!

SONNET-TO NETLEY ABBEY.

ROMANTIC Ruin! who could gaze on thee
Untouched by tender thoughts, and glimmering dreams

Of long-departed years? Lo! nature seems

Accordant with thy silent majesty!

The far blue hills-the bright reposing sea

The lonely forest-the meandering streams

The gorgeous summer sun, whose farewell beams
Illume thine ivied halls, and tinge each tree

Whose green arms round thee cling-the balmy air—
The stainless vault above, that cloud or storm
'Tis hard to deem will ever more deform-
The season's countless graces,—all appear
To thy calm beauty ministrant, and form
A scene to peace and meditation dear!

SONNET-SUNSET.

THE summer sun had set,-the blue mist sailed

Along the twilight lake,-no sounds arose,

Save such as hallow Nature's sweet repose,

And charm the ear of Peace. Young Zephyr hailed
The trembling Echo,-o'er the lonely grove
The Night's melodious bard, sad Philomel,

A plaintive music breathed,-the soft notes fell
Like the low-whispered vows of timid love!
I paused awhile, entranced, and such sweet dreams
As haunt the pensive soul-intensely fraught
With sacred incommunicable thought,
And silent bliss profound-with fitful gleams,
Caught from the memory of departed years,
Flashed on my mind, and woke luxurious tears.

MEN OF THE WORLD.

Swift had a friend on whose success in life he could not always look with complacency" Stafford (a merchant)," said he, "is worth a plum, and is now lending the Government £40,000, yet we were educated together at the same school and university."

Budgell in the Spectator (No. 353) thus describes these school-fellows ;"One of them was not only thought an impenetrable blockhead at school, but still maintained his reputation at the university; the other was the pride of his master, and the most celebrated person in the college of which he was a member. The man of genius is at present buried in a country parsonage of eightscore pounds a year; while the other with the bare abilities of a common scrivener has got an estate of above an hundred thousand pounds."

Chalmer's Preface to the Rambler.

THERE is a great difference between the power of giving good advice and the ability to act upon it. Theoretical wisdom is, perhaps, rarely associated with practical wisdom; and we often find that men of no talent whatever contrive to pass through life with credit and propriety, under the guidance of a kind of instinct. These are the persons who seem to stumble by mere good luck upon the philosopher's stone. In the commerce of life every thing they touch seems to turn into gold.

We are apt to place the greatest confidence in the advice of the successful and none at all in that of the unprosperous, as if fortune never favoured fools nor neglected the wise. A man may have more intellect than does him good, for it tempts him to meditate and to compare when he should act with rapidity and decision; and by trusting too much to his own sagacity and too little to fortune, he often loses many a golden opportunity, that is like a prize in the lottery to his less brilliant competitors. It is not the men of thought but the men of action who are best fitted to push

their way upwards in the world. The Hamlets or philosophical speculators are out of their element in the crowd. They are wise enough as reflecting observers, but the moment they descend from their solitary elevation and mingle with the thick throng of their fellow-creatures, there is a sad discrepancy between their dignity as teachers and their conduct as actors. Their wisdom in busy life evaporates in words. They talk like sages, but they act like fools. There is an essential difference between those qualities that are necessary for success in the world, and those that are required in the closet. Bacon was the wisest of human beings in his quiet study, but when he entered the wide and noisy theatre of life, he sometimes conducted himself in a way of which he could have admirably pointed out the impropriety in a moral essay. He knew as well as any man that honesty is the best policy, but he did not always act as if he thought so. The fine intellect of Addison could trace with subtlety and truth all the proprieties of social and of public life, but he was himself deplorably inefficient both as a companion and as a statesman. A more delicate

and accurate observer of human life than the poet Cowper, is not often met with, though he was absolutely incapable of turning his knowledge and good sense to a practical account, and when he came to act for himself, was as helpless and dependent as a child. The excellent author of the Wealth of Nations, could not manage the economy of his own house.

People who have sought the advice of successful men of the world, have often experienced a feeling of surprise and disappointment when listening to their common-place maxims and weak and barren observations. There is very frequently the same discrepancy, though in the opposite extreme, between the words and the actions of prosperous men of the world that I have noticed in the case of unsuccessful men of wisdom. The former talk like fools, but they act like men of sense. The reverse is the case with the latter. The thinkers may safely direct the movements of

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