From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes
That I have pass'd.

I ran it through, even from my boyish days,
To the very moment that he bade me tell it:
Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood and field;

Of hair-breadth 'scapes in the imminent deadly breach; Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,

And with it all my travel's history.

IV.

These things to hear,

Would Desdemona seriously incline;

But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste despatch,
She'd come again, and with a greedy ear
Devour up my discourse; which I observing,
Took once a pliant hour; and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
But not attentively.

V.

I did consent;

And often did beguile her of her tears,
When I did speak of some distressful stroke,
That my youth suffered. My story being done,

She gave me for my pains a world of sighs;

She swore in faith, 't was strange, 't was passing strange;

'Twas pitiful, 't was wondrous pitiful;

She wished she had not heard it; yet she wished
That Heaven had made her such a man.

VI.

She thank'd me;

And bade me if I had a friend that loved her,
I should but teach him how to tell my story,
And that would woo her. On this hint, I spaké;
She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd;
And I loved her, that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have used.

SHAKSPEARE

MAN

CXXXIII.—HARD WORK.

AN owes his growth, his energy, chieny to that striving of the will, that conflict with difficulty, which we call Effort. Easy, pleasant work does not make robust minds, does not give men a consciousness of their powers, does not train them to endurance, to perseverance, to steady force of will, without which all other acquisitions avail nothing. Manual labor is a school in which men are placed to get energy of purpose and character,―a vastly more important endowment than all the learning of all other schools.

2. I have great faith in hard work. The material world does much for the mind by its beauty and order; but it does more for our minds by the pains it inflicts, by its obstinate resistance which nothing but patient toil can overcome, by its vast forces which nothing but unremitting skill and effort can turn to our use, by its perils which demand continual vigilance, and by its tendencies to decay. I believe that difficulties are more important to the human mind than what we call assistances.

3. I would not, if I could, so temper the elements that they should infuse into us only grateful sensations, that they should make vegetation so exuberant as to anticipate every want, and the minerals so ductile as to offer no resistance to our strength and skill. Such a world would make a contemptible race. Work we all must, if we mean to bring out and perfect our nature.

4. Even if we do not work with the hands, we must undergo equivalent toil in some other direction. No business or study which does not present obstacles, tasking to the full the intellect and the will, is worthy of a man. In science, he who does not grapple with hard questions, who does not concentrate his whole intellect in vigorous attention, who does not aim to penetrate what at first repels him, will never attain to mental force.

5. The uses of toil reach beyond the present world. The capacity of steady, earnest labor is, I apprehend,

one of our great preparations for another state of being. When I see the vast amount of toil required of men, I feel that it must have important connections with their future existence; and that he who has met this discipline manfully, has laid one essential foundation of improvement, exertion, and happiness in the world to come.

6. You will here see that labor has great dignity. It is not merely the grand instrument, by which the earth is overspread with fruitfulness and beauty, and the ocean subdued, and matter wrought into innumerable forms for comfort and ornament. It has a far higher function, which, is to give force to the will, efficiency, courage, the capacity of endurance and of persevering devotion to far-reaching plans.

7. Alas, for the man who has not learned to work! He is a poor creature. He does not know himself. He depends on others, with no capacity of making returns for the support they give; and let him not fancy that he has a monopoly of enjoyment. Ease, rest, owes its deliciousness to toil; and no toil is so burdensome as the rest of him who has nothing to task and quicken his powers.

WILLIAM E. CHANNING, D. D.

CXXXIV. THE FIXED STARS.

THAT

HAT little gem, how large! a weight let fall
From a fixed star, in ages can it reach

This distant earth?

How distant some of these nocturnal suns!
So distant (says the sage) 't were not absurd
To doubt, if beams, set out at Nature's birth,
Are yet arrived at this so foreign world,
Though nothing half so rapid as their flight.
O let me gaze!-of gazing there's no end.
O let me think!—thought too is 'wildered here;
In midway flight Imagination tires;

Yet soon reprunes her wings to soar anew,
Her point unable to forbear or gain.

YOUNG.

G

CXXXV.-ADDRESS TO VOLUNTEERS.

O forth, ye defenders of your country, accompanied with every auspicious omen; advance with alacrity into the field, where God himself musters the hosts of war. Religion is too much interested in your success not to lend you her aid; she will shed over your enterprise, her selectest influence. While you are engaged in the field, many will repair to the closet, many to the sanctuary; the faithful of every name will employ that prayer which has power with God; the feeble hands which are unequal to any other weapon will grasp the sword of the Spirit; and from myriads of humble, contrite hearts, the voice of intercession, supplication, and weeping will mingle in its ascent to heaven amid the shock of arms.

2. I cannot but imagine the virtuous heroes, legislators, and patriots, of every age and country, are bending from their elevated seats to witness this contest, incapable, till it be brought to a favorable issue, of enjoying their eternal repose. Enjoy that repose, illustrious immortals! Your mantle fell when you ascended; and thousands, inflamed by your spirit, and impatient to tread in your steps, are ready to "swear by Him that sitteth upon the throne, and liveth for ever and ever," that they will protect freedom in her last asylum, and never desert that cause which you have sustained by your labors and cemented with your blood.

3. And thou, sole Ruler among the children of men, to whom the shields of the earth belong, "gird on thy sword, thou most Mighty:" go forth with our hosts in the day of battle! Impart, in addition to their hereditary valor, that confidence of success which springs from thy presence! Pour into their hearts the spirit of departed heroes! Inspire them with thine own; and, while led by thine hand and fighting under thy banners, open thou their eyes to behold in every valley and in every plain what the prophet beheld by the same illumination chariots of fire and

horses of fire! "Then shall the strong man be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them."

ROBERT HALL.

CXXXVI. THE TOUCHSTONE.

A

I.

MAN there came, whence none could tell,
Bearing a Touchstone in his hand,

And tested all things in the land

By its unerring spell.

II.

Quick birth of transmutation smote
The fair to foul, the foul to fair;
Purple nor ermine did he spare,
Nor scorn the dusty coat

III.

Of heir-loom jewels, prized so much,
Were many changed to chips and clods,
And even statues of the gods
Crumbled beneath its touch.

IV.

Then angrily the people cried,

"The loss outweighs the profit far;

Our goods suffice us as they are;

We will not have them tried."

V.

And since they could not so avail
To check his unrelenting quest,

They seized him, saying, "Let him test
How real is our jail!"

VI.

But though they slew him with the sword,
And in the fire his Touchstone burned,
Its doings could not be o'erturned,
Its undoings restored.