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The Music of Nature.

NAY, tell me not of lordly halls!
My minstrels are the trees;

The moss and the rock are my tapestried walls,
Earth's sounds my symphonies.

There's music sweeter to my soul

In the weed by the wild wind fanned,
In the heave of the surge, than ever stole
From mortal minstrel's hand.

There's mighty music in the roar

Of the oaks on the mountain's side,

When the whirlwind bursts on their foreheads hoar,
And the lightning flashes wide.

There's music in the city's hum,
Heard in the noontide glare,
When its thousand mingling voices come
On the breast of the sultry air.

There's music in the forest stream,
As it plays through the deep ravine,
Where never summer's breath or beam
Has pierced its woodland screen.
There's music in the thundering sweep
Of the mountain waterfall,

As its torrents struggle, and foam, and leap
From the brow of its marble wall.

There's music in the dawning morn,

Ere the lark his pinion dries·

In the rush of the breeze through the dewy corn,
Through the garden's perfumed dyes.

There's music on the twilight cloud,
As the clanging wild swans spring;
As homeward the screaming ravens crowd,
Like squadrons on the wing.

There's music in the depth of night,

When the world is still and dim,

And the stars flame out in their pomp
Like thrones of the cherubim!

of light,

N.B. In lieu of questions on this day's Lesson, the pupil may, as an exercise of the memory, be directed to repeat any of the foregoing stanzas.

DESTRUCTION OF THE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY. 19

LESSON XIV.-JANUARY THE FOURTEENTH.

Destruction of the Alexandrian Library.

Ir has been generally asserted that on this day, A. D. 640, the magnificent library of Alexandria, containing more than seven hundred thousand volumes, was utterly destroyed by order of the Caliph Omar, when he obtained possession of that celebrated city. At that time, John, surnamed the Grammarian, a famous peripatetic philosopher, being at Alexandria, and in high favour with Amrou, Omar's general, begged that such of the philosophical books as were useless to the Arabian commander might be given to him. Amrou replied that it was not in his power to grant the request; but that he would write to the caliph on the subject, since, without knowing his pleasure, he dared not dispose of a single volume. He accordingly wrote to Omar, who returned an answer to the following purport: "As to the books of which you have made mention, if there be in them what accords with the Koran, they can be of no use, since the Koran contains all necessary truths. But if they contain any thing contrary to that holy book, they ought not to be suffered. I command you, therefore, to order them all to be destroyed."

Amrou, upon this, ordered them to be distributed among the public baths, where, for the space of six months, they served to supply the fires of those places, of which there was an incredible number in Alexandria.

This celebrated library was founded by Ptolemy Soter, for the use of an academy that he instituted in Alexandria; and, by continual additions by his successors, became at last the finest library in the world. The method followed in collecting books for this library was to seize all those which were brought into Egypt by Greeks or other foreigners. The books were transcribed in the museum by persons appointed for that purpose, the copies were then delivered to the proprietors, and the originals laid up in the library.

Notwithstanding the foregoing account is generally received as one of the established facts in history, it is necessary to observe that the destruction of the Alexandrian library is by some writers attributed to very different parties and different causes. It was divided, they say, into two parts: one part, consisting of 400,000 volumes, was placed in the academy and museum; the other, amounting to 300,000, was in the Serapion, or temple of Jupiter Serapis. The

larger portion was burned during the siege of Alexandria by Julius Cæsar, but was afterwards replaced by the library of Pergamus, which Antony presented to Cleopatra. The museum, where many scholars lived and were supported, ate together, studied, and instructed others, remained unhurt till the reign of Aurelian, when it was destroyed in a period of civil commotion. The library in the Serapion was preserved to the time of Theodosius the Great. He caused all the heathen temples throughout the Roman empire to be destroyed; and even the splendid temple of Jupiter Serapis was not spared. A crowd of fanatic Christians (according to this account) headed by their archbishop, Theodosius, stormed and destroyed it. Taking this version as the only correct one, the writers alluded to indignantly exclaim, "Christian barbarians, therefore, and not Arabs under Omar, as is usually asserted, were the cause of this irreparable loss to science!"

1. What number of volumes did the Alexandrian library contain? 2. By whose order was the Alexandrian library said to be destroyed? 3. What is meant by a peripatetic philosopher?

4. How was this library first collected?

5. What other account have we of the destruction of this stupendous collection?

LESSON XV.-JANUARY THE FIFTEENTH.

Queen Elizabeth.

On this day, in 1559, Queen Elizabeth was crowned. The historian Hume thus sums up her character:—Her vigour, her constancy, her magnanimity, her penetration, vigilance, and address, are allowed to merit the highest praises, and appear not to have been surpassed by any person that ever filled a throne; a conduct less rigorous, less imperious, more sincere, more indulgent to her people, would have been requisite to form a perfect character.

By the force of her mind she controlled all her more active and stronger qualities, and prevented them from running into excess; her heroism was exempt from temerity, her frugality from avarice, her friendship from partiality, her active temper from turbulency and a vain ambition. She guarded not herself with equal care, or equal success, from lesser infirmities; the rivalship of beauty, the desire of admiration, the jealousy of love, and the sallies of anger. Her singular talents for government were founded equally on her temper and on her capacity. Endowed with a great command over herself, she soon

DEATH OF SIR JOHN MOORE.

127

obtained an uncontrolled ascendant over her people; and while she merited all their esteem by her real virtues, she also engaged their affections by her pretended ones.

Few sovereigns of England succeeded to the throne in more difficult circumstances; and none ever conducted the government with such uniform success and felicity. Though unacquainted with the practice of toleration, the true secret for managing religious factions, she preserved her people, by her superior prudence, from those confusions in which theological controversy had involved all the neighbouring nations; and though her enemies were the most powerful princes of Europe, the most active, the most enterprising, the least scrupulous, she was able by her vigour to make deep impressions on their states: her own greatness, meanwhile, remained untouched and unimpaired.

To the above we add a few striking lines from "The Worthies of Devon:"

If ever royal virtues crowned a crown,
If ever mildness shone in majesty,
If ever honour honoured renown,
If ever courage dwelt with courtesy,
If ever princess put all princes down

For temperance, prowess, prudence, equity -
This! this was she, that in despite of death
Lives still adored, admired ELIZABETH:

Spain's rod, Rome's ruin, Netherland's relief,

Heaven's gem, earth's joy, world's wonder, Nature's chief.

1. Under what circumstances did Elizabeth succeed to the throne ? 2. How did she conduct the government?

3. Repeat the ten concluding lines.

LESSON XVI.

-JANUARY THE SIXTEENTH,

Death of Sir John Moore.

On the 16th of January, 1809, was fought the battle of Corunna, when Sir John Moore, in bringing up the guards where the enemy's fire was most destructive, received his mortal wound from a cannon-ball. From the spot where he fell, the general was carried to the town by a party of soldiers, his blood flowing fast, and the torture of his wound being great; yet such was the unshaken firmness of his mind, that those about him, judging from the resolution of his countenance that his hurt was not mortal, expressed a hope of his recovery: hearing this, he looked

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steadfastly at the injury for a moment, and then said, 'No, I feel that to be impossible." Several times he caused his attendants to stop and turn him round, that he might behold the field of battle, and when the firing indicated the advance of the British, he discovered his satisfaction, and permitted the bearers to proceed.

Being brought to his lodgings, the surgeons examined his wound; but there was no hope, the pain increased, and he spoke with great difficulty. At intervals he asked if the French were beaten, and addressing his old friend, Colonel Anderson, he said, "You know that I always wished to die this way." Again he asked if the enemy were defeated, and being told they were, observed, "It is a great satisfaction to me to know we have beaten the French."

His countenance continued firm and his thoughts clear; once only, when he spoke of his mother, he became agitated; but he often inquired after the safety of his friends, and the officers of his staff, and he did not, even in this moment, forget to recommend those whose merit had given them claims to promotion. His strength failed fast, and life was just extinct, when, with an unsubdued spirit, as if anticipating the baseness of his posthumous calumniators, he exclaimed, "I hope the people of England will be satisfied!" "I hope my country will do me justice!"

In a few minutes afterwards he died, and his corpse, wrapped in a military cloak, was interred by the officers of his staff in the citadel of Corunna; the guns of the enemy paid his funeral honours; and Soult, with a noble feeling of respect for his valour, raised a monument to his memory.

Thus ended the career of Sir John Moore, a man whose uncommon capacity was sustained by the purest virtue, and governed by a disinterested patriotism more in keeping with the primitive, than the luxurious age of a great nation.

ON THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE, WHO FELL AT CORUNNA,

Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried:
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

We buried him darkly, at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light,
And the lantern dimly burning.

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