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Such the bard's prophetic words,
Pregnant with celestial fire,
Bending as he swept the chords
Of his sweet but awful lyre.
She, with all a monarch's pride,
Felt them in her bosom glow:
Rush'd to battle, fought, and died;
Dying, hurl'd them at the foe.

Ruffians, pitiless as proud,

Heaven awards the vengeance due;

Empire is on us bestow'd,

Shame and ruin wait on you.

Cowper.

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Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled,
And still where many a garden flower grows wild,
There where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village pastor's modest mansion rose.
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year;
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,

Nor e'er had chang'd, nor wish'd to change his place;
Unskilful he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour;
Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize,
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.
His house was known to all the vagrant train,
He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain;
The long-remember'd beggar was his guest,
Whose beard descending swept his aged breast;

The ruin'd spendthrift now no longer proud,

Claim'd kindred there, and had his claims allow'd;
The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,

Sate by his fire, and talk'd the night away;

Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done,
Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won.
Pleased with his guests, the good man learn'd to glow,
And quite forgot their vices in their woe;
Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began.

Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,
And e'en his failings lean'd to virtue's side;
But in his duty prompt, at every call,

He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt, for all :
And, as a bird each fond endearment tries,
To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.

Beside the bed where parting life was laid,
And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismay'd,
The reverend champion stood. At his control,
Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul;
Comfort came down, the trembling wretch to raise,
And his last faltering accents whisper'd praise.

At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorn'd the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remain'd to pray.
The service past, around the pious man,
With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran;
E'en children follow'd, with endearing wile,

And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile;
His ready smile a parent's warmth exprest,
Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distrest;
To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given,
But all his serious thoughts had rest in Heaven.
As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

Goldsmith.

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A barking sound the shepherd hears,
A cry as of a dog or fox;

He halts and searches with his eyes
Among the scatter'd rocks:

And now at distance can discern
A stirring in a brake of fern;
And instantly a dog is seen,
Glancing through that covert green.

The dog is not of mountain breed ;
Its motions, too, are wild and shy;
With something, as the shepherd thinks,
Unusual in its cry:

Nor is there any one in sight

All round, in hollow or on height;

Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear:

What is the creature doing here?

It was a cave, a huge recess,

That keeps, till June, December's snow;
A lofty precipice in front,

A silent tarn1 below!

Far in the bosom of Helvellyn 2,
Remote from public road or dwelling,
Pathway, or cultivated land ;

From trace of human foot or hand.

1 Tarn is a small mere or lake, mostly high up in the mountains.

Helvellyn is one of the highest mountains in Cumberland. It has an elevation of 3055 feet above the level

of the sea. The scenery around is of the most romantic and picturesque description; and the views from its summit are celebrated for their extent and grandeur.

There sometimes doth a leaping fish
Send through the tarn a lonely cheer;
The crags repeat the raven's croak,
In symphony austere ;

Thither the rainbow comes

the cloud.

And mists that spread the flying shroud;
And sunbeams; and the sounding blast,
That, if it could, would hurry past;
But that enormous barrier holds it fast.

Not free from boding thoughts, a while
The shepherd stood; then makes his way
O'er rocks and stones, following the dog
As quickly as he may;

Nor far had gone before he found
A human skeleton on the ground;
The appall'd Discoverer with a sigh
Looks round, to learn the history.
From those abrupt and perilous rocks
The man had fallen, that place of fear!
At length upon the shepherd's mind
It breaks, and all is clear:

He instantly recall'd the name,

And who he was, and whence he came ;
Remember'd, too, the very day

On which the Traveller pass'd this way.

But hear a wonder, for whose sake
This lamentable tale I tell!

A lasting monument of words

This wonder merits well.

The dog, which still was hovering nigh,

Repeating the same timid cry,

This dog, had been through three months' space

A dweller in that savage place.

Yes, proof was plain that since the day

When this ill-fated Traveller died,

The dog had watch'd about the spot,

Or by his master's side:

How nourish'd here through such long time
He knows, who gave that love sublime;
And gave that strength of feeling, great
Above all human estimate!

Wordsworth.

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If thou shouldst ever come to Modena 1
Stop at a palace near the Reggio-gate
Dwelt-in of old by one of the Orsini. 2
Its noble gardens, terrace above terrace,
And numerous fountains, statues, cypresses,
Will long detain thee; but before thou go,
Enter the house-pr'ythee forget it not -
And look awhile upon a picture there.
'Tis of a lady in her earliest youth ;—
She sits inclining forward as to speak,
Her lips half-open, and her finger up,

As though she said "Beware!"—her vest of gold
Broider'd with flowers, and clasp'd from head to foot-
An emerald stone in every golden clasp ;

And on her brow, fairer than alabaster,

A coronet of pearls.

But then her face,

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It haunts me still, though many a year has fled,
Like some wild melody!-Alone it hangs
Over a mouldering heirloom 3, its companion,
An oaken chest, half-eaten by the worms.

She was an only child: from infancy
The joy, the pride of an indulgent sire,
Her mother dying of the gift she gave,
That precious gift, what else remain'd to him?

1 Modena, the capital of the duchy of the same name, in Italy. It has a beautiful ducal palace.

2 Orsini, a noble Italian family.

3 Heirloom, a loom, or piece of furniture, which comes to the heir along with the house, as tables, presses, cupboards, &c.

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