I envy that unfeeling shrub,
Fast-rooted against every rub."
The plant he meant grew not far off,
And felt the sneer with scorn enough;
Was hurt, disgusted, mortified,
And with asperity replied.-

("When," cry the botanists, and stare,
"Did plants called sensitive grow there?"
"No matter when:- a poet's muse is
To make them grow just where she chooses.")
"You shapeless nothing in a dish,
You that are but almost a fish,
I scorn your coarse insinuation,
And have most plentiful occasion
To wish myself the rock I view,
Or such another dolt as you;
For many a grave and learned clerk,
And many a gay unlettered spark,
With curious touch examines me,
If I can feel as well as he;

And when I bend, retire, and shrink,

Says, 'Well, 'tis more than one would think!'

Thus life is spent, (oh! fie upon't!)

In being touched, and crying-Don't!"

A poet, in his evening walk,

O'erheard and checked this idle talk.

66 And your fine sense," he said, “and yours,

Whatever evil it endures,

Deserves not, if so soon offended,

Much to be pitied or commended.
Disputes, though short, are far too long,
Where both alike are in the wrong:
Your feelings, in their full amount,
Are all upon your own account.
You, in your grotto-work enclosed,
Complain of being thus exposed;
Yet nothing feel in that rough coat,
Save when the knife is at your throat,
Wherever driven by wind or tide,
Exempt from every ill beside.

And as for you, my Lady Squeamish, –
Who reckon every touch a blemish,
If all the plants that can be found
Embellishing the scene around,

Should droop and wither where they grow,
You would not feel at all,-

not you.

The noblest minds their virtue prove
By pity, sympathy, and love:

These, these are feelings truly fine,
their owner half divine."

And prove

His censure reached them as he dealt it,
And each, by shrinking, showed he felt it.

The following extract forms an example of animated description, im plying "pure tone,” moderate force, and rate, with distinct pauses.]

THE singular aërial phenomenon, to which the name of *Fata Morgana has been given, is observed in the Straits of Messina. This atmospherical refraction is not, however, altogether confined to that locality, it having occasionally been seen on our own coasts. But we will describe it as it there appears.

-

- on

When the rising sun shines from that point whence its incident ray forms an angle of about 45° on the Sea of † Reggio, and the bright surface of the water in the bay is not disturbed either by the wind or current, - when the tide is at its height, and the waters are pressed up, by currents, to a great elevation in the middle of the channel, the spectator being placed on an eminence, with his back to the sun, and his face to the sea, the mountains of Messina rising like a wall behind it, and forming the background of the picture, a sudden, there appear on the water, as in a catoptric theatre, various multiplied objects, -numberless series of pilasters, arches, castles, well-delineated regular columns, lofty towers, superb palaces, with balconies and windows, extended alleys of trees, delightful plains, with herds and flocks, armies of men on foot, and on horseback, and many other things, in their natural colours and proper actions, passing rapidly in succession along the surface of the sea, during the whole of

* A, in these words, sounds as in arm. + Pronounced, Raidjo.

the short period of time while the above-mentioned causes remain.

All these figures, which are exhibited in the Fata Morgana, are proved by the accurate observations of the coast and town of Reggio, by * Minasi, to be derived from the reflection of objects on shore.

If, in addition to the circumstances we before described, the atmosphere be highly impregnated with vapour and dense exhalations, not previously dispersed by the action of the wind and waves, or rarefied by the sun, it then happens, that in this vapour, as in a curtain extended along the channel to the height of above forty palms, and nearly down to the sea, the observer will behold the scene of the same objects not only reflected from the surface of the sea, but likewise in the air, though not so distinctly or well defined as the former objects of the sea. Lastly, if the air be slightly hazy and opaque, and at the same time dewy, and adapted to form the iris, then the above-mentioned objects will appear only at the surface of the sea, as in the first case; but all vividly coloured or fringed with red, green, blue, and other prismatic colours

EXERCISE XIX.

THE INSTRUCTIONS OF JESUS.

Hannah Adams.

[An example of "serious and grave expression," in didactic style. Didactic compositions require, usually, a very distinct enunciation, a firm and regular style of utterance, rising, in dignity and expression, above the character of mere conversation.]

OUR Lord cautions his hearers against extreme anxiety respecting their earthly subsistence, and gives a striking exhortation to trust in the providential care of our heavenly Father. It added a peculiar force to our Saviour's words, that they were delivered in view of the surrounding beauties of nature. He could point to the fowls of the air, and the flowers of the field, and show his auditors, that the whole creation attested the truth of his instructions. "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor

* Pronounced, Meendzee.

gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them; are ye not much better than they?" The ravens, in particular, are mentioned in Luke's Gospel, and our Lord, in directing his disciples to trust in God for their subsistence, bids them consider the ravens.

It may appear to some surprising, that so abject a creature should be so frequently recognized in Scripture, as an object of care to the Maker and Preserver of all things. When the Most High challenged Job out of the whirlwind, he demanded, "Who provided for the raven his food? When his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat." The Psalmist uses it as an argument for praising God. "The Lord giveth food to the young ravens which cry."

The ravens are sometimes driven rather prematurely from their nest, before they are all able to subsist by their own industry. In this case, pinched with hunger, and abandoned by their parents, they fill the air with their cries; as it were complaining to God concerning their destitute and helpless condition. Nor do they cry in vain; the almighty Benefactor supplies all their wants. But the care of Providence is not confined to the young. It extends also to their parents, (who "neither sow nor reap, have neither storehouse nor barn,") and provides food for them from His inexhaustible stores.

Even the meanness of the character of this bird, may serve the more strongly, in a considerate mind, to excite and establish a firm reliance on the wise and bountiful arrangements of Providence. The argument of our Lord is exceedingly strong and pointed. If the Almighty hear not in vain the croaking of a young raven, he surely will not turn a deaf ear to the supplications of his people.

66

.

Our divine Instructor again turns our attention to the beauties of nature, to demonstrate the providential care of our heavenly Father. Consider," says he, "the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." "It is," says Sir J. E. Smith, "natural to presume that our Saviour, according to his usual custom, called the attention of his hearers to some object at hand; and as the fields of the Levant were overrun with the amaryllis lutea, whose golden liliaceous flowers, in autumn, afford one of the most brilliant and gorgeous objects in nature, the expression of, Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these,' is peculiarly appropriate."

A description of probably the same species of flower, is

given by Mr. Salt, in his Voyage to Abyssinia. "At a few miles from Adowa," says he, 66 we discovered a new and beautiful species of amaryllis, which bore from ten to twelve spikes of bloom on each stem, springing from the common receptacle. The general colour of the corolla was white; and every petal was marked with a single streak of bright purple in the middle. The flower was sweet-scented; and its smell, though more powerful, resembled that of the lily of the valley." Our Saviour's words, "Consider the lilies," &c. acquire additional force and beauty, when we call to mind, that they were suggested by the sight of the splendid species of lily which abounds in Palestine. We may imagine our Lord, when delivering his divine Sermon on the Mount, pointing to those superb flowers, which decked the surrounding plain, and deducing from their beauty lessons of contentment, and reliance on the bounty of our heavenly Father.

EXERCISE XX.

EVENING HYMN OF MIRIAM, IN THE "FALL OF JERUSALEM.' Milman.

[This piece furnishes an example of the union of solemnity and sublimity. Its tone of utterance is "orotund" in the "effusive" form. The reading requires a full-toned swell of voice, and, at the same time, the most delicate attention to the form of metre, so as to render it distinctly perceptible to the ear, and yet not to obtrude it, or mark it mechanically.]

Thou didst come,

For thou wert born of woman!
O Holiest! to this world of sin and gloom,
Not in thy dread omnipotent array;

And not by thunders strewed

Was thy tempestuous road;

Nor indignation burned before thee on thy way.
But thee, a soft and naked child,

Thy mother undefiled,
In the rude manger laid to rest
From off her virgin breast.

The heavens were not commanded to prepare
A gorgeous canopy of golden air ;