And they whiz and they quiz, and they spy with their eye, And they sigh as they fly,

For they meet to be sweet, and are fleet on their feet, Pattering, and flattering, and chattering—

Spluttering, and fluttering, and buttering—

Advancing, and glancing, and dancing, and prancing, And bumping, and jumping, and stumping, and thumping

Sounding and bounding around and around,

And sliding and gliding with minuet pace-
Pirouetting, and sitting with infinite grace.

4. They like dashing and flashing, lashing and splashing, Racing and pacing, chasing and lacing;

5.

They are flittering and glittering, gallant and gay, · Yawning all morning, and lounging all day; Love living in London, life loitering away

At their clubs in the dubs, or with beaux in the rows, Or, what's propera, at the opera,

Reaching home in the morning-fie! fie! sirs, for shameAt an hour, for their sakes, I won't venture to name.

But when the bachelor-boy grows old,

And these butterfly days are past—
When threescore years their tale have told,
And the days are wet, and the nights are cold,
And something more is required than gold
His heart to cheer, and his hearth uphold-
When, in fact, he finds he's completely sold,
And the world can grumble, and women can scold--
His sun setting fast, and his tale being told-
He then repents at last!

6. When he, at length, is an odd old man,
With no warmer friend than a warming-pan,
He is fidgety, fretful, and frowstye-in fine,
Loves self, and his bed, and his dinner, and wine;
And he rates and he prates, and reads the debates,
And abuses the world, and the women he hates,

And is cozing and prosing, and dozing all day,
And snoring, and roaring, and boring away;
And he's huffy, and stuffy, and puffy, and snuffy,
And musty, and fusty, and rusty, and crusty;
Sneezing, and wheezing, and teasing, and freezing, [bling;
And grumbling, and fumbling, and mumbling, and stum-
Falling, and bawling, and crawling, and sprawling,
Withering, and ditherings, and quivering, and shivering,
Waking, and aching, and quaking, and shaking,
Ailing, and wailing, and always bewailing,
Weary, and dreary, and nothing that's cheery,
Groaning, and moaning, his selfishness owning;
And crying, and sighing, while lying and dying,
Grieving and heaving, though naught he is leaving
But wealth, and ill health, and his pelf, and himself.

7. Then he sends for a doctor to cure or to kill, With his wonderful skill,

And a very big bill,

All of which is worth nilh,

But who gives him offense, as well as a pill,
By dropping a hint about making his will;

For the game's up at last,

The grave die is cast,

Never was fretful antiquity mended—
So the lonely life of the bachelor's ended.
Nobody mourns him', nobody sighs',
Nobody misses him', nobody cries';
For', whether a fool', or whether he's wise',
Nobody grieves' when a bachelor dies`.

8. Now, gentlemen! mark me, for this is the life
That is led by a man never bless'd with a wife;
And this is the way that he yields up his breath,
Attested by all who are in at the death.

a Benedicks, married men; from Benedick, one of the characters in Shakspeare's play of "Much Ado about Nothing." b Minuet, a slow, graceful dance. c Pir ou et'ting, whirling, or turning about on the toes, in dancing. d Dubs, low inns. Frowsty, for frosty-chilly. 1 Fusty, mouldy. Dithering, going about fret

e

fully.

h Nil, nothing.

DESCRIPTION OF EVENING.

'Tis twilight now:

How deep is the tranquillity'!-The trees

MOIR.

Are slumbering through their multitude of boughs,
Even to the leaflet on the frailest twig'!

A twilight gloom pervades the distant hills,
An azure softness mingling with the sky.

DESCRIPTION OF NIGHT.

YOUNG.

NIGHT, sable goddess! from her ebon throne,
In rayless majesty, now stretches forth
Her leaden sceptre o'er a slumb'ring world.
Silence how dead'! and darkness how profound'!
Nor eye', nor listening ear', an object finds:
Creation sleeps. 'Tis as the general pulse
Of life stood still, and Nature made a pause':
An awful pause! prophetic of her end.

LESSON XVIII.

DESCRIPTION OF NOVEMBER.

THOMAS HOOD.

[THOMAS HOOD, a comic poet and quaint humorist, born in London, Eng., in 1798, died in 1845. His poetic writings are full of whims and oddities: but even in his puns and levities there is generally a."spirit of good" directed to some kindly or philanthropic object.

The month of November, in England, is noted for its dismal, foggy weather. This piece is written in iambic measure (see p. 329), and is to be read with a slow movement, and in the ironic monotone.]

No dawn-no dusk-no proper time of day-
No sky-no earthly view-

No distance looking blue—

2. No roads-no streets-no t'other side the way—
No end to any row—

No indication where the crescents go-
No tops to any steeple-

No recognition of familiar people

No courtesies for showing 'em-
No knowing 'em-

3. No travelers at all-no locomotion-
No inkling of the way—no motion—
"No go" by land or ocean—

No mail-no post

No news from any foreign coast-
No park-no ring-no afternoon gentility-
No company-no nobility-

4. No warmth-no cheerfulness-no healthful ease—
No comfortable feel in any member-

No shade-no shine-no butterflies-no bees-
No fruits-no flowers-no leaves-no birds-
No-vember!

CHARACTER OF DIDACTIC WRITINGS.

[Analysis.-1. What Didactic Writings embrace. What works belong to this class. -2. The Essay-what it includes. What we look for in such compositions.-3. Other writings that aim at instruction, and by what means.-4. Didactic poetry-how it differs from the prose essay. Writings of this class.-5. Peculiar character of such poetical works. How the poet manages his subject.-6. Embellishment in didactic poems. Illustration.-7. Second illustration.-S. Advantages and disadvantages of didactic poetry.]

1. DIDACTIC WRITINGS, avowedly designed for instruction, as the term implies, embrace all kinds of composition connected with the principles of art and science, or with the investigation of moral and physical truth. Of such is the great mass of works included under the term knowledge; embracing all books of instruction, and all moral, political, and philosophical writings.

2. The Essay is a favorite form of this kind of composition, designed for popular reading, and including such writings as the Spectator by Addison, the Tattler, and the Guardian, and many of the leading articles of the standard Magazines and Reviews of the present day. In compositions of this kind we look for sound thought, just principles, and clear and apt illustrations; with plainness, simplicity, and perspicuity of style; and clear, accurate, and methodical arrangement.

3. But writings other than those professedly didactic, make instruction, more or less, one of their objects: even plays, fables, and romances, whose professed design is amusement, aim also to make some useful impression on the mind, although they do this by indirect methods, such as the representation of character in its various phases.

4. But aside from the works of instruction referred to, and philosophical, moral, and critical essays, there is a species of