15. The innocent face of nature gives him an open and fair mind; pain and death seem passing away, for all about him is cheerful and in its spring. His virtues are not taught him as lessons, but are shed upon him and enter into him like the light and warmth of the sun; and amidst the variety of the earth he sees a fitness which frees him from the formalities of rule, and lets him abroad to find a pleasure in all things, and order becomes a simple feeling of the soul. 16. Religion, to such a one, has thoughts and visions and sensations tinged, as it were, with a brighter light than falls on other men. The love and reverence of the Creator make their abode in his imagination, and he gathers about them earth and air and ideal worlds. His heart is made glad with the perfectnèss in the works of God, when he considers that even of the multitude of things that are growing up and decaying, and of those which have come and gone, on which the eye of man has never rested, each was as fair and complete as if made to live for ever for our instruction and delight. 17. Freedom, and order, and beauty, and grandeur are in accordance in his mind, and give largenèss and height to his thoughts; he moves among the bright clouds; he wanders ǎway into the measurelèss depths of the stars, and is touched by the fire with which God has lighted them. All that is made partakes of the eternal, and religion becomes a perpetual delight. DANA. RICHARD HENRY DANA was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the 15th of November, 1787. He graduated at Harvard in 1807. He opened a law-office in Newport, R. I., in 1811, and became a member of the legislature; but his constitutional sensitiveness and feeble health compelled him to abandon his profession soon after. For two years, from 1818, he aided in editing the N. A. Review; and in 1821 began the publication of "The Idle Man," a periodical in which he communicated to the public his Tales and Essays. After the discontinuance of that paper, he wrote able articles for several of the best periodicals of the country. The first volume of his poems, containing "The Buccaneer," was printed in 1827. An edition of his writings, in two volumes, was published in New York in 1850. Mr. DANA at present passes his time between his town residence at Boston and his country retirement at Cape Ann, where he can indulge in his love of nature. He is regarded always, by as many as have the honor of his acquaintance, with admiration and the most reverent affection. All of his writings belong to the permanent literature of the country, and yearly find more and more readers. They are distinguished for profound philosophy, simple sentiment, and pure and vigorous diction. ALL V. 35. THE LAST MAN. LL worldly shapes shall melt in gloom, Before this mortal shall assume I saw a vision in my sleep That gave my spirit strength to sweep I saw the last of human mold, 2. The sun's eye had a sickly glare, Some had expired in fight-the brands In plague and famine some! Earth's cities had no sound nor tread; 3. Yět, prophet-like, that lone one stood, Saying, We are twins in death, proud sun, "Tis mercy bids thee go; For thou ten thousand thousand years 4. What though beneath thee man put fōrth His pomp, his pride, his skill; And arts that made fire, flood, and earth, Yet mourn I not thy parted sway, And triumphs that beneath thee sprang, 5. Go, let oblivion's' curtain fall Nor with thy rising beams recall 2 Its piteous pageants' bring not back, Stretched in disease's shapes abhorred, 6. Even I am weary in yon skies My lips that speak thy dirge of death- The eclipse of nature spreads my pall- 7. This spirit shall return to Him 1 Ob liv' i on, cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. 2 Pageant (păj' ant), a fleeting show; a spectacle for the entertainment of a distinguished personage, or the public; an exhibition. Who robbed the grave of victory, 8. Go, sun, while mercy holds me up To drink this last and bitter cup Of grief that man shall taste- CAMPBELL. SECTION IX. I. 36. THE DOWER. Characters: SIR GILES OVERREACH, a cruel extortioner, and LORD LOVELL. Ο VERREACH. To my wish: we are private. I come not to make offer with my daughter A certain portion, that were poor and trivial: With her, my lord, comes to you; nor shall One motive to induce you to believe you have I live too long, since every year I'll add Over. Lov. "Tis a wholesome air, And well-built pile; and she that's mistrèss of it, It may be so for a time: but let my lord Say only that he likes it, and would have it, Over. You do conclude too fast, not knowing me, Lov. Over. You run, my lord, no hazard. Your reputation shall stand as fair, In all good men's opinions, as now; Nor can my actions, though condemned for ill, Shall e'er be sullied with one taint or spot |