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The treasured wrongs of fifty years are in | Bright was their steel: 'tis bloody now, their their hearts to-day

The treaty broken ere the ink wherewith

'twas writ could dry,

guns are filled with gore; Through shattered ranks and severed files. and trampled flags they tore.

paused, rallied, staggered, fled:

Their plundered homes, their ruined shrines, The English strove with desperate strength, their women's parting cry, Their priesthood hunted down like wolves, The green hillside is matted close with dying their country overthrown; and with dead.

Each looks as if revenge for all were staked Across the plain and far away passed on that on him alone. hideous wrack,

On Fontenoy, on Fontenoy, nor ever yet else- While cavalier and fantassin dash in upon where their track. Rushed on to fight a nobler band than these On Fontenoy, on Fontenoy, like eagles in

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Thin is the English column now, and faint THE TWO ARMIES; OR, A BOY'S REV

their volleys grow,

Yet, mustering all the strength they have, they make a gallant show:

They dress their ranks upon the hill to face the battle-wind,

ERIE OVER AN OLD PICTURE.

WHAT shall I be?

I'd like to be a soldier strong and tall,
Like grandpapa, drawn in the picture here;
And be the first to hear the trumpet's call,

Their bayonets the breakers' foam, like rocks And be the first to scale the castle-wall.

the men behind.

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She hopes with all her heart her boy some

day

Will lead the people in his father's way.
And when I tell her, "No,

I want to be a soldier-meet the foe,"
She says (and dear old auntie just the
same)

That there's a soldier's service nobler far,
With surer triumph and a grander fame,
Than any fighting in an earthly war—
Great battles that no eye has ever seen
'Gainst foes more fierce than men have ever
been,

And that a clergyman does wear a sword
As captain in the armies of the Lord.

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Forty times over let Michaelmas pass:
Grizzling hair the brain doth clear;
Then you know a boy is an ass,
Then you know the worth of a lass,
Once have come to forty year.
you

Pledge me round, I bid ye
declare,
All good fellows whose beards are gray;
Did not the fairest of the fair
Common grow and wearisome ere

Ever a month was past away ?

The reddest lips that ever have kissed,

The brightest eyes that ever have shone, May pray and whisper and we not list, Or look away and never be missed, Ere yet ever a month is gone.

Gillian's dead! God rest her bier!
How I loved her twenty years syne!
Marian's married, but I sit here,
Alone and merry at forty year,
Dipping my nose in the Gascon wine.

WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY.

TERRORS OF A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. | What poor fate followed thee and plucked

URSED with unnumbered groundless
fears,

How pale yon shivering wretch appears !
For him the daylight shines in vain,
For him the fields no joys contain;
Nature's whole charms to him are lost,
No more the woods their music boast,
No more the meads their vernal bloom,
No more the gales their rich perfume;
Impending mists deform the sky,
And beauty withers in his

eye.

In hopes his terrors to elude,
By day he mingles with the crowd,
Yet finds his soul to fears a prey
In busy crowds and open day.
If night his lonely walks surprise,
What horrid visions round him rise!
The blasted oak which meets his way,
Shown by the meteor's sudden ray,
The midnight murderer's lone retreat,
Felt Heaven's avengeful bolt of late;
The clashing chain, the groan profound,
Loud from yon ruined tower resound,
And now the spot he seems to tread
Where some self-slaughtered corse was laid;
He feels fixed earth beneath him bend,
Deep murmurs from her caves ascend,
Till all his soul, by fancy swayed,
Sees livid phantoms crowd the shade.

THOMAS BLACK LOCK.

CESAR'S LAMENTATION OVER

POMPEY'S HEAD.

Он, thou conqueror, Thou glory of the world once, now the pity, Thou awe of nations, wherefore didst thou fall thus?

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ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH LIFE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY

YEARS

THE BRITISH MUSEUM IN

1750.

ES, doctor, I have seen the British Museum, which is a noble collection, and even stupendous if we consider it was made by a private man, a physician, who was obliged to make his own. fortune at the same time; but, great as the collection is, it would appear more striking if it were arranged in one spacious saloon, instead of being divided into different apartments which it does not entirely fill. I could wish the series of medals were connected, and the whole of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms completed, by adding to each, at the public expense, those articles that are wanting. It would likewise be a great improvement with respect to the library if the deficiencies were made up by purchasing all the books of character that are not to be found already in the collection. They might be classed in centuries, according to the dates of their publication, and catalogues printed of them and the manuscripts, for the information of those that want to consult or compile from such authorities. I could also wish, for the honor of the nation, that there was a complete apparatus for a course of mathematics, mechanics and experimental philosophy, and a good salary settled on an able professor who should give regular lectures on these subjects.

AGO.

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LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.

But this is all idle speculation which will never be reduced to practice. Considering the temper of the times, it is a wonder to see any institution whatsoever established for the benefit of the public. The spirit of party is risen to a kind of frenzy unknown to former ages, or, rather, degenerated to a total extinction of honesty and candor. You know I have observed for some time that the public papers are become the infamous vehicles of the most cruel and perfidious defamation. Every rancorous knave, every desperate incendiary, that can afford to spend half a crown or three shillings may skulk behind the press of a newsmonger and have a stab at the first character in the kingdom without running the least hazard of detection or tection or punishment.

I have made acquaintance with a Mr. Barton, whom Jery knew at Oxford-a good sort of man, though most ridiculously warped in his political principles; but his partiality is the less offensive as it never appears in the style of scurrility and abuse. He is a member of Parliament and a retainer to the court, and his whole conversation turns on the virtues and perfections of the ministers who are his patrons. T'other day, when he was bedaubing one of those worthies with the most fulsome praise, I told him I had seen the same nobleman characterized very differently in one of the daily papers-indeed, so stigmatized that if one half of what was said of him was true he must be not only unfit

to rule, but even unfit to live; that those impeachments had been repeated again and again, with the addition of fresh matter; and that, as he had taken no steps toward his own vindication, I began to think there was some foundation for the charge.

"And pray, sir," said Mr. Barton, "what steps would you have him take? Suppose he should prosecute the publisher who screens the anonymous accuser and bring him to the pillory for a libel; this is so far from being counted a punishment in terrorem that it will probably make his fortune. The multitude immediately take him into their protection as a martyr to the cause of defamation, which they have always espoused. They pay his fine, they contribute to the increase of his stock, his shop is crowded with customers, and the sale of his paper rises in proportion to the scandal it contains. All this time the prosecutor is inveighed against as a tyrant and oppressor for having chosen to proceed by the way of information, which is deemed a grievbut if he lays an action for damages, he must prove the damage. And I leave you to judge whether a gentleman's character may not be brought into contempt and all his views in life blasted by calumny without his being able to specify the particulars of the damage he has sustained. This spirit of defamation is a kind of heresy that thrives under persecution. The liberty of the press is a term of great efficacy, and, like that of the Protestant religion, has often served the purposes of sedition. of sedition. A minister, therefore, must arm himself with patience and bear those attacks without repining. Whatever mischief they may do in other respects, they certainly contribute in one

ance;

particular to the advantage of government; for these defamatory articles have multiplied papers in such a manner and augmented their sale to such a degree that the duty on stamps and advertisements has made a very considerable addition to the revenue.'

Certain it is a gentleman's honor is a very delicate subject to be handled by a jury composed of men who cannot be supposed remarkable either for sentiment or impartiality. In such a case, indeed, the defendant is tried not only by his peers, but also by his party; and I really think that, of all patriots, he is the most resolute who exposes himself to such detraction for the sake of his country.

As for the liberty of the press, like every other privilege, it must be restrained within certain bounds; for if it is carried to a breach of law, religion and charity, it becomes one of the greatest evils that ever annoyed the community. If the lowest ruffian may stab your good name with impunity in England, will you be so uncandid as to exclaim against Italy for the practice of common assassinatian? To what purpose is our property secured if our moral character is left defenceless? People thus baited grow desperate, and the despair of being able to preserve one's character untainted by such vermin produces a total neglect of fame; so that one of the chief incitements to the practice of virtue is effectually destroyed.

Mr. Barton's last consideration-respecting the stamp-duty-is equally wise and laudable with another maxim which has been long adopted by our financiers; namely, to connive at drunkenness, riot and dissipation. because they enhance the receipt of the excise, not reflecting that in providing this

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