IV. THE LETTER H.

BYRON.

1. 'Twas whispered in heaven, 'twas muttered in hell,
And Echo caught softly the sound as it fell;

In the confines of earth 'twas permitted to rest,
And the depths of the ocean its presence confessed.

2. It was seen in the lightning, and heard in the thunder; "Twill be found in the spheres when all riven asunder; It was given to man with his earliest breath,

It assists at his birth, and attends him in death;
Presides o'er his happiness, honor, and health;
Is the prop of his house, and the end of his wealth;
It begins every hope, every wish it must bound;
And though unassuming, with monarchs is crowned.

3. In the heaps of the miser 'tis hoarded with care,
But is sure to be lost in the prodigal heira.
Without it the soldier and sailor may roam,
But woe to the wretch that expels it from homeb.

4. In the whispers of conscience its voice will be found,
Nor e'er in the whirlwind of passion be drowned;
It softens the heart, and though deaf to the ear,
It will make it acutely and instantly hear.
But in shades let it rest, like an elegant flower;
Oh! breathe on it softly,-it dies in an hourd!

■ HEIR drops the h in pronunciation.

b Some of the English drop the h in pronunciation, wherever it begins a word. cc The sound of h is heard in conscience and passion.

a The sound of h is not heard in hour.

V. THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX.

It is said that the Sphinx, a ravaging monster, having come to Thebes, propounded the following riddle to the people: "What animal is that which walks upon four feet in the morning, two at noon, and upon three at evening?" The throne having been promised to whoever would solve the riddle, Edipus came forward and answered the Sphinx that it was MAN, who, when an infant, creeps on all fours; in manhood walks erect; and in old age uses a staff. Thereupon the Sphinx threw herself upon the earth, and perished.

LESSON LXX.

CHARADES.

[The Cha rādé, so called from the name of the inventor, is a species of riddle, the subject of which is a name or a word enigmatically described, first by its several letters or syllables, and then by their combination as a whole.]

ON THE NAME OF CAMPBELL THE POET.

W. M. PRAED.

WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED (Prāde), an English poet, born in 1802; died in 1889.

I. CAMP.

1. COME from my FIRST, ay, come'!

The battle dawn is nigh`;

And the screaming trump and the thund'ring drum

Are calling thee to die'!

Fight as thy father fought;

Fall as thy father fell;

Thy task is taught, thy shroud is wrought;
So-forward! and farewell'!

II. BELL.

2. Toll ye, my SECOND! toll!

Fling high the flambeau's light;
And sing the hymn for a parted soul

Beneath the silent night!

The wreath upon his head,

The cross upon his breast,

Let the prayer be said, and the tear be shed:
take him to his rest!

So

III. THE POET CAMPBELL.

3. Call ye my WHOLE, ay, call!
The lord of lute and lay;
And let him greet the sable pall

With a noble song to-day;

Go, call him by his name;

No fitter hand may crave

To light the flame of a soldier's fame

On the turf of a soldier's grave.

XII. HYPERBOLE.

LESSON LXXI.

CHARACTER OF HYPERBOLE.

[Analysis.-1. What is hy per'bo le? Examples.-2. It is a figure founded in nature. How this is shown. Who are prone to this kind of exaggeration.-3. What the abundance of hyperbole shows. Character of all great works of the imagination.— 4. The language of the Psalmist. Of St. John. How we interpret such passages. The examples in the following Lesson.]

1. HY PER BO LE, or exaggeration, is a figure which represents a thing as far greater, or far less,-better, or worse, than it is in reality; as when we call a tall person a giant, or steeple; or say of a lean man, he is a mere skeleton, or shadow; or when we use expressions like the following: as swift as the wind; as bright as the sun; as white as the snow; they are swifter than eagles; they are stronger than lions.

2. Yet, with all its extravagance, hyperbole is a figure founded in nature. If any thing be remarkably good or great of its kind, or exceedingly mean and despicable, we are ever ready to add to it some exaggerating epithet, and to make it the greatest or best, or the meanest we ever saw. People of lively imaginations are prone to this kind of exaggeration: hence young people deal much in hyperbole; and hence, also, the language of the Orientals is far more hyperbolical than that of the Europeans.

3. The abundance of hyperbole in all kinds of composition, and in common conversation, shows that language is not always to be taken literally, but according to what the speaker or writer may be properly supposed to mean when he uses it. Hence, in all great works of the imagination— such as the writings of Homer, Virgil, Milton, and Shakspeare-we naturally expect an excess of hyperbole; for the poet's imagination always outruns the cold severity of pure reason, and we are accustomed to make a proper allowance for the language of passion.

4. Thus, also, when the Psalmist says, "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law," we understand that he merely intended to describe his excessive grief: and when, in the last verse of the Gospel according to St. John, we read, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written," we do not take the words literally, but we understand that what John had written was but a scanty description of the deeds and words of Jesus.

The examples in the following lesson will convey a correct idea of the use and beauty of this figure, when properly used in continuous discourse.

LESSON LXXII.

BRIEF EXAMPLES OF HYPERBOLE.

I. GOD'S PROMISE TO ISRAEL.

Didactic, or Instructive.-Genesis xiii., 15, 16.

FOR all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

II. THE SWIFTNESS OF CAMILLA.
Descriptive.-DRYDEN's Virgil's Æneid, vii., 1094.
Last from the Volscians fair Camilla came,
And led her warlike troops, a warrior dame;
Unbred to spinning, in the loom unskill'd,
She chose the nobler Pallas of the field.
Mixed with the first, the fierce virago fought,
Sustained the toils of arms, the danger sought,
Outstripped the winds in speed upon the plain,
Flew o'er the field, nor hurt the bearded grain:
She swept the seas, and as she skimmed along,
Her flying feet unbathed on billows hung.

III. DESCRIPTION OF A BATTLE.

Descriptive.-POPE's Homer's Iliad, iv., 508.

Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet closed,
To armor armor, lance to lance opposed.

Host against host, with shadowy squadrons drew,
The sounding darts in iron tempests flew.
Victors and vanquished join promiscuous cries,
And shrilling shouts and dying groans arise;
With streaming blood the slippery fields are dyed,
And slaughtered heroes swell the dreadful tide.

IV. SATAN'S DESPAIR.

Declarative and Descriptive.-MILTON'S Paradise Lost, Book iv., 73.

Me miserable'! which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath and infinite despair'?

Which way I fly is hell'; myself am hell';
And in the lowest depth a lower deep,
Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.

V. THE NORTHEAST WIND.

Instructive and Descriptive.

"Boreas is a ruffian and a bully, but the northeast is a rascal. It withers like an evil eye; it blights like a parent's curse; unkinder than ingratitude, more biting than forgotten benefits. It comes with sickness on its wings, and rejoices only the doctor and the sexton. While it reigns, no fire heats, no raiment comforts, no walls protect. It deflowers the earth, and it wans the sky. The ghastliest of hues overspreads the face of things, and collapsing Nature seems expiring of cholera."

VI. CLEOPATRA IN HER BARGE.

Descriptive.-SHAKSPEARE'S Antony and Cleopatra, Act II., Scene 2.

1. The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold: Purple the sails, and so perfumèd, that

The winds were love-sick with them: the oars were silver, Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made