9. He liberally recompensed all who served him. He showed a similar munificent spirit in his public works, constructing and embellishing the temples, bringing water into the capitol by a new channel, and establishing a hospital, or retreat for invalid soldiers, in the city of Colhuacan. CHAPTER VI. LAND DISCOVERED.-[ROGERS.] From the voyage of Columbus. Twice in the zenith blazed the orb of light; “O whence, as wafted from Elysium, whence 5 10 15 The sails were furl'd: with many a melting close, 20 Solemn and slow the evening anthem rose, Rose to the Virgin. "Twas the hour of day, To golden climes, and islands of the blest; Went o'er the waves in songs of gladness there! EVENING PRAYER AT A GIRLS' SCHOOL.-[HEMANS.] Hush! 'tis a holy hour-the quiet room Seems like a temple, while yon soft lamp sheds A faint and starry radiance, through the gloom And the sweet stillness, down on bright young heads, 10 Gaze on,-'tis lovely!—childhood's lip and cheek, – Thou seest what grief must nurture for the sky, Oh! joyous creatures, that will sink to rest 20 5 Though fresh within your breasts th' untroubled springs Of hope make melody where'ere ye tread, 26 And o'er your sleep bright shadows, from the wings Of spirits visiting but youth, be spread; Yet in those flute-like voices, mingling low, Is woman's tenderness-how soon her woe! 30 Her lot is on you-silent tears to weep,1 And patient smiles to wear1 through suffering's hour, To pour1 on broken reeds -a wasted shower! On through the dark days fading from their prime, HOPE. [CAMPBELL.] 5 10 15 Unfading Hope! when life's last embers burn, 20 What? though each spark of earth-born rapture fly Oh! lives there, Heaven! beneath thy dread expanse, 1 Rule I, Rem. 2 2 Rule XXIII Rem. 4. Content to feed, with pleasures unrefined, The lukewarm passions of a lowly mind; And call this barren world' sufficient bliss?1 10 15 But leave-oh! leave the light of Hope behind! 20 What though my winged hours of bliss have been, Like angel visits, few and far between, Her musing mood shall every pang appease, And charm-when pleasures lose the power to please! Yes, let each rapture, dear to nature, flee :2 25 Close not the light of Fortune's stormy sea- 1 Rule XI. 2 Rule XIX. 30 5 Why can no hymned charm of music heal To hide the sad realities of fate? Eternal Hope! when yonder spheres sublime 5 Peal'd their first notes to sound the march of Tirne, Thy joyous youth began—but not to fade,— When all the sister planets have decay'd: And Heaven's last thunder shakes the world below, 10 CHAPTER VII. COLLOQUIAL POWERS OF DR. FRANKLIN.-[WIRT.] 1. Never have I known such a fire-side companion as Dr. Franklin. Great as he was, both as a3 statesman and a philosopher, he never shone in a light more winning than when he was seen in a domestic circle. 2. It was once my good fortune to pass two or three weeks with him, at the house of a private gentleman, in the back part of Pennsylvania; and we were confined to the house, during the whole of that time, by the unintermitting constancy and depth of the snows. 3. But confinement could never be felt where Franklin was an inmate. His cheerfulness and his colloquial powers spread around him a perpetual spring. When I speak, however, of his colloquial powers, I do not mean to awaken any notion analagous to that which Boswell has given us, when he so frequently mentions the colloquial powers of Dr. Johnson. IR XXI, Rem. 10. 2R XXIII,Rem. 6. 3R. I, Rem. 3. NOTE. |