IMITATED FROM THE PERSIAN.

Mother! oh where is that radiant shore ?--
Shall we not seek it, and weep no more?
Is it where the flower of the orange blows,

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And the fire-flies dance through the myrtle boughs?" "Not there, not there, my child!"

"Is it where the feathery palm-trees rise,

And the date grows ripe under sunny skies?
Or 'midst the green islands of glittering seas,
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze,
And strange bright birds, on their starry wings,
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?"
"Not there, not there, my child!"

"Is it far away, in some region old,

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Where the rivers wander o'er sands of gold ?—
Where the burning rays of the ruby shine,

And the diamond lights up the secret mine,
And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand ?—
Is it there, sweet mother, that better land?"
"Not there, not there, my child!"

Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy!

Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy ;
Dreams cannot picture a world so fair,-
Sorrow and death may not enter there;
Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom,
For beyond the clouds, and beyond the tomb,
It is there, it is there, my child !"

MRS. HEMANS.

LXII. IMITATED FROM THE PERSIAN.

"ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent, create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."-The Collect for the first day of Lent.

LORD! who art merciful as well as just
Incline thine ear to me, a child of dust!
Not what I would, O Lord! I offer thee,
Alas! but what I can.

Father Almighty, who hast made me man,
And bade me look to Heaven, for Thou art there,
Accept my sacrifice and humble prayer.

1

Four things which are not in Thy treasury
I lay before Thee, Lord, with this petition:
My nothingness, my wants,
My sins, and my contrition.

SOUTHEY.

LXIII. ALEXANDER THE GREAT'S WILL.

"SURELY' (saith the Psalmist) 'men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie:' men of high degree-the mighty princes, the famous captains, the subtile statesmen, the grave senators-they who turn and toss about the world at their pleasure; who, in the prophet's language, make the earth tremble, and shake kingdoms: even these, they are a lie (said he, who himself was none of the least considerable among them, and by experience well knew their condition, the greatest and most glorious man of his time, king David). They are a lie; that is, their state presents something of brave and admirable to the eye of men; but it is only deceptio visus; a show without a substance; it doth but delude the careless spectators with false appearance -it hath nothing under it solid or stable; being laid in the balance. (the royal prophet there subjoins, that is, being weighed in the scales of right judgment, being thoroughly considered), it will prove lighter than vanity itself; it is less valuable than mere emptiness, and nothing itself."-Barrow's Sermons.

"We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out."-1 Tim. vi. 6.

By Grecian annals it remained untold,
But may be read in Eastern legend old,
How, when great Alexander died, he bade
That his two hands uncovered might be laid
Outside the bier, for men therewith to see-
Men who had seen him in his majesty-
That he had gone the common way of all,
And nothing now his own in death might call;
Nor of the treasures of two empires aught

Within those empty hands unto the grave had brought.

R. C. TRENCH

LXIV. A DUNGEON.

MAN'S TREATMENT OF THE VICIOUS COMPARED WITH NATURE's. "WHAT a journey had human nature to travel, before it reached the point of being mild even to the guilty, merciful to the injurious, humane to the inhuman. Doubtless they were men of God-like souls who first taught this, who spent their lives in rendering the practice of it possible and recommending it to others."- Goethe.

THE CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE.

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"If one class [in former times] were regarded, in some respects, as cattle, they were at least taken care of; they were trained, fed, sheltered, and protected, and there was an eye upon them when they strayed. But how large a part of our present population are unowned, unbroken to any useful purpose, subsisting by chance or by prey; living in filth, mischief, and wretchedness, a nuisance to the community while they live, and dying miserably at last."-Southey's Colloquies.

AND this place my forefathers made for man!
This is the process of our love and wisdom
To each poor brother who offends against us-
Most innocent, perhaps—and what if guilty?
Is this the only cure? Merciful God!
Each pore and natural outlet shrivelled up
By ignorance and parching poverty,
His energies roll back upon his heart,

And stagnate and corrupt, till, changed to poison,

They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot.
Then we call in our pampered mountebanks;
And this is their best cure! Uncomforted
And friendless solitude, groaning, and tears,
And savage faces, at the clanking hour,

Seen through the steam and vapours of his dungeon,
By the lamp's dismal twilight: so he lies,
Circled with evil, till his very soul
Unmoulds it essence, hopelessly deformed
By sights of evermore deformity!

With other ministrations thou, oh Nature!
Healest thy wandering and distempered child :
Thou pourest on him thy soft influences,

Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets;
Thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters!
Till he relent, and can no more endure
To be a jarring and a dissonant thing
Amid this general dance and minstrelsy,
But, bursting into tears, wins back his way,
His angry spirit healed and harmonised
By the benignant touch of love and beauty.

COLERIDGE.

LXV. THE CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE.

"LET me tell you that Diogenes walked one day, with his friend, to see a country fair; where he saw ribbons and looking-glasses, and nutcrackers, and fiddles and hobby-horses, and many other gimcracks: and having observed them, and all the other finnimbruns that made a

complete country-fair, he said to his friend, Lord! how many things are there in this world of which Diogenes hath no need!' And truly it is so, or might be so, with very many who vex and toil themselves to get what they have no need of. Can any man charge God, that he hath not given him enough to make his life happy? No, doubtless; for nature is content with a little. And yet you shall hardly meet with a man that complains not of some want; though he, indeed, wants nothing but his will; it may be, nothing but his will of his poor neighbour, for not worshipping or not flattering him; and thus, when we might be happy and quiet, we create trouble to ourselves."Izaac Walton.

How happy is he born and taught,

That serveth not another's will!
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill!
Whose passions not his masters are,
Whose soul is still prepared for death;
Untied unto the world by care

Of public fame or private breath.

Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Nor vice hath ever understood;
How deepest wounds are given by praise,
Nor rules of state, but rules of good.
Who hath his life from rumours freed,
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great.
Who God doth late and early pray
More of his grace and gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day
With a well-chosen book, or friend.
This man is freed from servile bands,
Of hope to rise, or fear to fall:
Lord of himself, though not of lands;
And having nothing, yet hath all.

SIR HENRY WOTTON.

LXVI. MY FATHER'S AT THE HELM.

"THEY that deny a God, destroy a man's nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature. It destroys likewise magnanimity, and the raising human nature; for take an example of a dog, and mark what a generosity and courage he will put on when he finds him

VERSES LEFT AT A FRIEND'S HOUSE.

897 self maintained by a man, who to him is instead of a God, or 'melior natura; which courage is manifestly such as that creature, without that confidence of a better nature than his own, could never attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth himself upon Divine protection and favour, gathereth a force and faith, which human nature in itself could not obtain; therefore, as atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this, that it depriveth human nature of the means to exalt itself above human frailty."-Bacon's Essays.

THE curling waves, with awful roar,
A little boat assailed;

And pallid fear's distracting power
O'er all on board prevailed.

Save one, the captain's darling child,
Who stedfast viewed the storm;
And cheerful, with composure, smiled
At danger's threatening form.

"And sport'st thou thus," a seaman cried,
"While terrors overwhelm ?"

"Why should I fear?" the boy replied,
"My father's at the helm !"

So when our worldly all is reft-
Our earthly helper gone,

We still have one true anchor left-
God helps, and He alone.

He to our prayers will bend an ear,
He gives our pangs relief;

He turns to smiles each trembling tear,
To joy each torturing grief.

Then turn to Him, 'mid sorrows wild,
When want and woes o'erwhelm ;
Remembering, like the fearless child,
Our Father's at the helm.

ANONYMOUS,

LXVII. VERSES LEFT AT A FRIEND'S HOUSE.

"AMONG the feelings of our nature which have less of earth in them than heaven,' are those which bind together the domestic circle in the various sympathies, affections, and duties which belong to this class of tender relations. It is beautiful also to observe, how these affections arise out of each other, and how the right exercise of them tend to their mutual cultivation. *** It is not by direct instruction alone, that, in such a domestic circle, the highest principles and best feelings of our nature are cultivated in the minds of the young. It is by the