1.

LESSON LXI

URSA MAJOR.a—WARE.

When the sons of God

Sent forth that shout of joy, which rang through heaven, And echoed from the outer spheres that bound

The illimitable universe, thy voice

Joined the high chorus; from thy radiant orbs
The glad cry sounded, swelling to his praise,
Who thus had cast another sparkling gem,
Little, but beautiful, amid the crowd

Of splendors that enrich his firmament.

2. As thou art now, so wast thou then, the same.
And beauty still are thine, -as clear, as bright,.
As when the Almighty Former sent thee forth,
Beautiful offspring of his curious skill,

To watch earth's northern beacon, and proclaim
The eternal chorus of eternal love.

3. Ye glorious lamps of God, he may have quenched
Your ancient flames, and bid eternal night
Rest on your spheres; and yet no tidings reach
This distant planet. Messengers still come,
Laden with your far fire, and we may seem
To see your lights still burning, while their blaze
But hides the black wreck of extinguished realms,
Where anarchy and darkness long have reigned.

4. Yet what is this, which to the astonished mind Seems measureless, and which the baffled thought

• Ursa Major, (the great bear,) one of the northern constellations, which may be known by its seven stars forming the figure of a dipper.

5.

6.

Confounds? A span, a point, in those domains
Which the keen eye can traverse. Seven stars
Dwell in that brilliant cluster; and the sight
Embraces all at once; yet each from each
Recedes, as far as each of them from earth;
And every star from every other burns

No less remote. From the profound of heaven,
Untraveled even in thought, keen, piercing rays
Dart through the void, revealing to the sense
Systems and worlds unnumbered.

Take the glass

And search the skies. The opening skies pour down
Upon your gaze thick showers of sparkling fire,-
Stars, crowded, thronged, in regions so remote,
That their swift beams the swiftest things that be
Have traveled centuries on their flight to earth.
Earth, sun, and nearer constellations, what

Are ye, amid this infinite extent

And multitude of God's most infinite works!

In other days,

When death shall give the encumbered spirit wings,
Its range shall be extended; it shall roam,
Perchance, among those vast, mysterious spheres,
Shall pass from orb to orb, and dwell in each,
Familiar with its children,- learn their laws,
And share their state, and study and adore
The infinite varieties of bliss

And beauty, by the hand of Power divine,
Lavished on all its works.

7.

Eternity

Shall thus roll on with ever fresh delight;

No pause of pleasure or improvement; world
On world still op'ning to th' instructed mind
An unexhausted universe, and time
But adding to its glories; while the soul,
Advancing ever to the Source of light
And all perfection, lives, adores, and reigns
In cloudless knowledge, purity, and bliss.

LESSON LXII.

NATIONAL GLORY.- CLAY.

[Argumentative. See Rule 3, p. 168.]

1. We are asked, what have we gained by the war?a I have shown that we have lost nothing, either in rights, territory, or honor; nothing, for which we ought to have contended, according to the principles of the gentlemen on the other side, or according to our own. Have we gained nothing by the war?

Let any man look at the degraded condition of this country before the war,the scorn of the universe, the contempt of ourselves, and tell me if we have gained nothing by the war. What is our present situation? Respectability and character, abroad; security and confidence, at home. If we have not obtained, in the opinion of some, the full measure of retribution, our character and constitution are placed on a solid basis, never to be shaken.

2. The glory acquired by our gallant tars, by our Jacksons, and our Browns on the land, is that nothing? True we had our vicissitudes: there are humiliating events, which the patriot cannot review, without deep regret, but the great account, when it comes to be balanced, will be found vastly in our favor. Is there a man, who would obliterate from the proud pages of

The war of 1812.

our history, the brilliant achievements of Jackson, Brown, and Scott, and the host of heroes on land and sea, whom I cannot enumerate? Is there a man, who could not desire a participation in the national glory, acquired by the war? Yes, national glory, which, however the expression may be condemned by some, must be cherished by every genuine patriot.

3. What do I mean by national glory? Glory such as Hull, Jackson, and Perry a have acquired. And are gentlemen insensible to their deeds, to the value of them in animating the country in the hour of peril hereafter? Did the battle of Thermopylab preserve Greece but once? While the Mississippi continues to bear the tributes of the Iron mountains, and the Alleghanies to her delta, and to the Gulf of Mexico, the eighth of January shall be remembered, and the glory of that day shall stimulate future patriots, and nerve the arms of unborn freemen, in driving the presumptuous invader from our country's soil.

4. Gentlemen may boast of their insensibility to feelings inspired by the contemplation of such events. But I would ask, does the recollection of Bunker's Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown, afford no pleasure? Every act of noble sacrifice of the country, every instance of patriotic devotion to her cause, has its beneficial influence. A nation's character is the sum of its splendid deeds; they constitute one common patrimony, the country's inheritance. They awe foreign powers; they arouse and animate our own people. I love true glory. It is this sentiment which ought to be cherished; and, in spite of cavils, and sneers, and attempts to put it down, it will rise triumphant, and finally conduct this nation to that height, to which nature and nature's God have destined it.

Perry, the hero who commanded the American fleet on Lake Erie, and, in a very severe engagement, took the British fleet, September 10, 1813. Thermopyla, seo p. 118.

LESSON LXIII.

DESCRIPTION OF A THUNDER-STORM.-IRVING.

[The reader may determine the character of the language in this piece, and tell how it should be read. See Rule 1, p. 153.]

1. It was the latter part of a calm, sultry day, that we floated gently with the tide between those stern mountains, the highlands of the Hudson. There was that perfect quiet, which prevails over nature in the languor of summer heat; the turning of a plank, or the accidental falling of an oar on deck, was echoed from the mountain side, and reverberated along the shore; and if by chance the captain gave a shout of command, there were airy tongues that mocked it from every cliff.

2. I gazed about me in mute delight and wonder, at these scenes of nature's magnificence. To the left, the Dunderberg b reared its woody precipices, height over height, forest over forest, away into the deep, summer sky. To the right, strutted forth the bold promontory of Antony's Nose, with a solitary eagle wheeling about it; while beyond, mountain succeeded to mountain, until they seemed to lock their arms together, and confine this mighty river in their embraces. There was a feeling of quiet luxury in gazing at the broad, green bosoms, here and there scooped out among the precipices; or at woodlands high in air, nodding over the edge of some beetling bluff, and their foliage all transparent in the yellow sunshine.

3. In the midst of my admiration, I remarked a pile of bright, snowy clouds, peering above the western heights. It was succeeded by another, and another, each seemingly pushing onward its predecessor, and towering, with dazzling

Highlands, mountains between which the Hudson river passes, below Newburgh, N. Y. Dunderberg, a high point of land, or mountain. • Antony's Nose, a protuberance seen from the Hudson river, on the side of one of the mountains, fancifully said to resemble the human nose.