As where heaven its dews shall shed' And the rocks shall raise their head', LESSON XCVII. BIRTHDAY OF WASHINGTON. Anapestic. Four feet and three. In the first and fourth stanza, each third and sixth line has an additional short syllable. * 1. BEHOLD the moss'd corner-stone dropp'd from the wall',* And hope that some hand may replace it'; 2. Mourn Washington's death', when ye think of his birth, To hallow his funeral pile. 3. Flow gently, Potomac'! thou washest away' Ever pressed by the foot-prints of Spring. To remind the sad shore of his story'; And darker', and softer', and sadder the gloom' 5. Great God! when the spirit of freedom shall fail', Oh`, send back a form that shall stand as he stood, *This line is faulty in its measure, and is a specimen of the carelessness of many modern poets. Unsubdu'd by the tempest', unmov'd by the flood'; LESSON XCVIII. KING RICHARD'S SOLILOQUY. Iambic verse, with some irregularities.. I have endeavored to mark this extract from Shakspeare so as to give the true expression. Where there is such a tumult of conflicting passions, however, it is not easy to express the transitions, by any scheme of notation, with perfect accuracy; but it is hoped that the notation here used will not be materially deficient. GIVE me another horse-bind up my wounds— O coward consciencè, how dost thou afflict mè !— Is there a murderer heré? Nò;-Yes'; I' am: Then fly',-What', from myself? Great reason! Why'? 10 Lest I revenge. What? Myself, on myself? I love myself. Whereforé? for any good That I'myself' have doné unto myself"? 15 I am a villain`: Yet I lie'--I am not. Fool', of thyself speak well' :-Fool', do not flatter'. : Nay, wherefore should they'? since that I myself Methought', the souls of all that I had murdered' Came to my tent': and every one did threat 30 To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard. LESSON XCIX. SNOW STORM. Iambic. Epic. As thus the snows arisé, and foul, and fiercé, All winter drives along the darken'd air', In his own loose-revolving fields', the swain' Disaster'd stands`; sees other hills ascend', 5 Of unknown joyless brow'; and other scenes', Of horrid prospect', shag the trackless plain': Nor finds the river', nor the forest, hid Beneath the formless wild`; but wanders on' From hill to dalé, still more and more astray`; 10 Impatient flouncing through the drifted heaps', Stung with the thoughts of home; the thoughts of homé Rush on his nerves', and call their vigor forth' In many a vain attempt'. How sinks his soul! What black despair', what horror' fills his heart'! 15 When, for the dusky spot which fancy feign'd', His tufted cottagé rising through the snow', He meets the roughness of the middle waste^, Far from the track, and blest abode of man`; While round him night resistless closes fast', 20 And every tempest, howling o'er his head', Renders the savage wilderness mōre wild. Then throng the busy shapes into his mind', Of cover'd pits unfathomably deep', A dire descent, beyond the power of frost'! 25 Of faithless bogs'; of precipices hugé, Smooth'd up with snow! and what is land unknown', In the loose marsh' or solitary laké, Where the fresh fountain from the bottom boils',30 These check his fearful steps'; and down he sinks' Beneath the shelter of the shapeless drift', Thinking o'er all the bitterness of death, Mix'd with the tender anguish Nature shoots' Through the wrung bosom of the dying man', 35 His wife, his children', and his friends unseen'. In vain for him the officious wife prepares' Into the mingling storm', demand their siré 40 With tears of artless innocencè. Alas'! - Nor wife nor children more shall he behold', LESSON C. VAIN ANTICIPATIONS. Iambic. Epic. OF man's miraculous mistakes this bears' All pay themselves the compliment to think' At least, their own`; their fûture selves applauds: Time lodged in their own hands', is Folly's' 'vails; And scarce in human wisdom to do mōrē. All promise, is poor dilatory man", 15 And that, through every stage. When young', indeed', As duteous sons', our fâthers were more wisé. Resolves', and re-resolves; then dies the same. Strikes through their wounded hearts the sudden dread': But their hearts wounded', like the wounded air', 30 Sōon close; where passed the shaft no trace is found. As from the wing no scar the sky retains', The parted wavé no furrow from the keel', So dies in human hearts the thought of death': Even with the tender tear which nature sheds' 35 O'er those we lové, we drop it' in their gravè. LESSON CI. THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB. Anapestic. Four feet. 1. THE Assyrian came down* like the wolf on the fold, 5. And there lay the rider distorted and palé, With the dew on his brow^ and the rust on his mail'; 6. And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail', *In the second foot there are three very short syllables and one long. It is at best a faulty foot. + Pronounced by the poet, Bale, but improperly. |