27. "Hard by yon wood, now smiling, as in scorn,
Muttering his wayward fancies, he would rove:
Now drooping, woeful, wan, like one forlorn,
Or crazed with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.

28. "One morn I miss'd him on the 'custom'd hill, Along the heath, and near his favorite tree;

Another came-nor yet beside the rill,

Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

29. "The next, with dirges due, in sad array,

Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne.
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay
Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."

30. Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth,
A youth, to fortune and to fame unknown,
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.

31. Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere ; Heaven did a recompense as largely send :

He gave to Misery all he had-a tear;

He gain'd from Heaven ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.

32. No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose),
The bosom of his Father and his God.

THE RAZOR-SELLER.

The following is a fine reading exercise, and pains should be taken to give it the same degree of naturalness that we should expect if the original scene had been acted before our eyes.

1.

A fellow in a market town,

Most musical, cried razors up and down,
And offered twelve for eighteen pence,
Which certainly seemed wondrous cheap,
And for the money quite a heap,

As every man would buy, with cash and sense.

2. A country bumpkin the great offer heard-
Poor Hodge, who suffered by a broad black beard,
That seemed a shoe-brush stuck beneath his nose-

With cheerfulness the eighteen pence he paid,

And proudly to himself, in whispers, said,
"This rascal stole the razors, I suppose'.

3. "No matter if the fellow be a knave,
Provided that the razors shave';

It certainly will be a monstrous prize."
So home the clown, with his good fortune, went,
Smiling in heart and soul, content,

And quickly soap'd himself to ears and eyes.
4. Being well lathered from a dish or tub,
Hodge now began with grinning pain to grub,
Just like a hedger cutting furze :

'Twas a vile razor!-then the rest he tried-
All were impostors-"Ah!" Hodge sigh'd,

"I wish my eighteen pence within my purse."
5. Hodge sought the fellow-found him—and begun :
"P'rhaps, Master Razor-rogue', to you 'tis fun',

That people flay themselves out of their lives':
You rascal! for an hour have I been grubbing,
Giving my crying whiskers here a scrubbing,
With razors just like oyster' knives.
Sirrah'! I tell you, you're a knave',
To cry up razors that can't shave".""

6. "Friend," quoth the razor-man, “I'm not a knave:
As for the razors you have bought',

Upon my soul' I never thought'

That they would shave'."

"Not think they'd shave' !" quoth Hodge, with wondering eyes,
And voice not much unlike an Indian yell;

"What were they made for, then, you dog?" he cries:

"Made'!" quoth the fellow, with a smile-"TO SELL'."

JOHN WOLCOTT (PETER PINDAR).

PART X.

FIRST DIVISION OF GEOLOGY.

[This subject is continued in the Sixth Reader.]

Behold! a new kind of medals, much more important and incomparably more ancient than those of the Greeks and the Romans.-KNORR'S Monuments.

1. Ir is from the "Medals of Creation"-the fossil remains of plants and animals scattered throughout the rocky strata of the globe-that we are enabled to read that wonderful portion of our earth's history which reaches back even into chaos itself, myriads of ages before the creation of man. These are the electrotypes of nature-faithful records, which there is no conflicting testimony to invalidate, and which no criticism can gainsay.

2. It is believed by most geologists that the earth was at one time a molten mass, surrounded by an atmosphere filled with dense gases and vapors; and that, as the outer portions cooled, forming the rocks and the dry land, the vapors, condensing and falling in showers, formed springs, rivers, and the waters of the ocean. This is the geological theory of the gradual calling of order out of chaos, after the great work of creation had been completed.

3. It is maintained that this view of the early condition of our globe, and of the successive changes that subsequently occurred in it during thousands and perhaps millions of years prior to the creation of man, does not at all conflict with the scriptural account of the creation. The scriptural account, U

as paraphrased by a modern commentator, would read thus: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was desolate. Afterward, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters;" thus allowing the possibility of even millions of years between the first act of creative power and the six days' work of arranging the universe. 4. Different opinions long prevailed among the learned with regard to the nature, the extent of time, and the date of the six days' work of creation, for the Bible gives us no explanation on these points; but by most of the learned of the present day, and by all eminent geologists, the "six days" are understood to be indefinite periods of time, as it is said that, with the Almighty, "a thousand years are to be reckoned but as one day." It seems reasonable to suppose that they may have been prophetic periods looking into the past, and seen in vision by the inspired historian. "The Creation" has been chosen as a theme for august description by the poet Milton, and it likewise forms the subject of Haydn's grandest oratorio.

LESSON II.-RAPHAEL'S ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION.

1.

HEAVEN opened wide

Her ever-during gates-harmonious sound-
On golden hinges moving, to let forth

The King of Glory, in his powerful Word

And Spirit coming to create new worlds.

On heavenly ground they stood; and, from the shore,
They viewed the vast, immeasurable abyss,
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild,

Up from the bottom turned by furious winds
And surging waves, as mountains to assault
Heaven's height, and with the centre mix the pole.

2. "Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou deep, peace!"
Said then the omnific Word; "your discord end!"
Nor stayed, but, on the wings of cherubim

Uplifted, in paternal glory rode

Far into chaos, and the world unborn;

For chaos heard his voice: him all his train
Followed in bright procession, to behold
Creation, and the wonders of his might.

3. Then stayed the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the golden compasses, prepared
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he centred, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure,

MILTON.