2. THE SPACIOUS FIRMAMENT ON HIGH

THE spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining
frame,

Their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun, from day to
day,

Does his Creator's power display;
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous
tale;

And nightly to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;

Whilst all the stars that round

her burn,

And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole
to pole.

What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial
ball;

What though nor real voice nor
sound

Amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice;
For ever singing, as they shine,
'The hand that made us is divine.'
J. ADDISON.

3. HE MANY A CREATURE DID ANATOMIZE
HE many a creature did anatomize,

Almost unpeopling water, air, and land;
Beasts, fishes, birds, snails, caterpillars, flies,
Were laid full low by his relentless hand,
That oft with gory crimson was distained:

He many a dog destroyed, and many a cat
Of fleas his bed, of frogs the marshes drained,
Could tellen if a mite were lean or fat,
And read a lecture o'er the entrails of a gnat.
M. AKENSIDE (The Virtuoso).

4. THE HAND OF NATURE

THE hand of Nature on peculiar minds
Imprints a different bias, and to each
Decrees its province in the common toil.
Some within a finer mould

She wrought and tempered with a purer flame.
To these the Sire Omnipotent unfolds

The world's harmonious volume, there to read
The transcript of Himself. On every part
They trace the bright impressions of His hand;
In earth, or air, the meadow's purple stores,
The moon's mild radiance, or the virgin's form
Blooming with rosy smiles, they see portrayed
That uncreated Beauty which delights
The Mind supreme. They also feel her charms,
Enamoured: they partake the eternal joy.

M. AKENSIDE (The Pleasures of the Imagination).

5. FROM LINES WRITTEN BY A DEATH-BED'

BUT ah, though peace indeed is

here,

And ease from shame, and rest from fear;

Though nothing can dismarble now
The smoothness of that limpid
brow;

Yet is a calm like this, in truth,
The crowning end of life and youth?
And when this boon rewards the
dead,

Are all debts paid, has all been
said?

And is the heart of youth so light,
Its step so firm, its eye so bright,
Because on its hot brow there blows
A wind of promise and repose
From the fargrave, to which it goes?

S.

Because it has the hope to come,
One day, to harbour in the tomb?
Ah no, the bliss youth dreams is

one

For daylight, for the cheerful sun, For feeling nerves and living breath

Youth dreams a bliss on this side death.

It dreams a rest, if not more deep, More grateful than this marble sleep.

It hears a voice within it tellCalm's not life's crown, though calm is well.'

'Tis all perhaps which man ac-
quires:

But 'tis not what our youth desires.
M. ARNOLD.

WORDSWORTH AND GOETHE

BUT Wordsworth's eyes avert their | For though his manhood bore the

ken

From half of human fate;

And Goethe's course few sons of

men

May think to emulate.

For he pursued a lonely road,
His eyes on Nature's plan ;
Neither made man too much a
God,

Nor God too much a man.

Strong was he, with a spirit free
From mists, and sane, and clear;
Clearer, how much! than ours:

yet we

Have a worse course to steer.

blast

Of a tremendous time,

Yet in a tranquil world was passed
His tenderer youthful prime.
But we, brought forth and reared

in hours

Of change, alarm, surprise-
What shelter to grow ripe is ours?
What leisure to grow wise?

Too fast we live, too much are tried,
Too harassed, to attain
Wordsworth's sweet calm, or
Goethe's wide

And luminous view to gain.
M. ARNOLD (Stanzas in memory of the Author of ' Obermann').

7. CALM SOUL OF ALL THINGS

CALM Soul of all things! make it
mine

To feel, amid the city's jar,
That there abides a peace of thine,
Man did not make, and cannot mar.
M. ARNOLD (Lines

The will to neither strive nor cry,
The power to feel with others give.
Calm, calm me more; nor let me
die

Before I have begun to live.
written in Kensington Gardens).

2. THE SPACIOUS FIRMAMENT ON HIGH THE spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame,

Whilst all the stars that round

Their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun, from day to
day,

Does his Creator's power display;
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous
tale;

And nightly to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;

her burn,

And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole
to pole.

What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial
ball;

What though nor real voice nor
sound

Amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice ;
For ever singing, as they shine,
"The hand that made us is divine.'
J. ADDISON.

3. HE MANY A CREATURE DID ANATOMIZE
HE many a creature did anatomize,

Almost unpeopling water, air, and land;
Beasts, fishes, birds, snails, caterpillars, flies,
Were laid full low by his relentless hand,
That oft with gory crimson was distained:
He many a dog destroyed, and many a cat
Of fleas his bed, of frogs the marshes drained,
Could tellen if a mite were lean or fat,
And read a lecture o'er the entrails of a gnat.
M. AKENSIDE (The Virtuoso).

4. THE HAND OF NATURE

THE hand of Nature on peculiar minds
Imprints a different bias, and to each
Decrees its province in the common toil.
Some within a finer mould

She wrought and tempered with a purer flame.
To these the Sire Omnipotent unfolds

The world's harmonious volume, there to read
The transcript of Himself. On every part
They trace the bright impressions of His hand;
In earth, or air, the meadow's purple stores,
The moon's mild radiance, or the virgin's form
Blooming with rosy smiles, they see portrayed
That uncreated Beauty which delights
The Mind supreme. They also feel her charms,
Enamoured: they partake the eternal joy.

M. AKENSIDE (The Pleasures of the imagination).

5. FROM LINES WRITTEN BY A DEATH-BED'

BUT ah, though peace indeed is

WORDSWORTH

BUT Wordsworth's eyes avert their
ken

From half of human fate;
And Goethe's course few sons of

M. ARNOLD (Stanzas in memory of the Author of 'Obermann ').

7. CALM SOUL OF ALL THINGS

CALM Soul of all things! make it
mine

To feel, amid the city's jar,
That there abides a peace of thine,
Man did not make, and cannot mar.
M. ARNOLD (Lines

8. THE FORSAKEN MERMAN