that the candlestick is a symbol of the light which should emanate from the Christian pulpit, and from the life of every individual Christian. The crown of thorns is a representation of the trials and sufferings which the faithful Christian has to endure for conscience' sake. The cup signifies that spiritual communion, which we should share with all our brethren of mankind, and that readiness to drink the bitter cup of suffering for their sake, and for conscience' sake, which He manifested, who offered it to his disciples before he was betrayed. The cross is a type of Him who gave his life for us all, and whose example we must stand ready to follow, even though it lead to death. The circle of stars represents the wreath of eternal glory and happiness, which awaits the faithful soul in the presence of God." – Vol. I., pp. 578, 579. The simple words of his biographer best describe his departure: Dr. "He arranged his papers against his return. He was going to take his lectures on German literature with him, but I urged him to leave them with me, to be put in my trunk, where they would be kept in better order. He made a little memorandum of what he had to do when he returned. One article was to get theSelections from Fenelon' reprinted; the next, to inquire about a poor German, who was an exile, and a sufferer for freedom's sake. The last was to get a New Year's gift for a poor little girl, whom he had taken to live with us. Just as I left the door at Lexington, I told this child, that if she was a good girl, I would bring her a New Year's gift from New York. Follen overheard me; I never spoke of it to him. My illness and anxiety had put it out of my head, but he remembered it. As he put his sermon in his pocket, he said, 'I shall not go to bed, but devote the night to my sermon; I want to make something of it that is worth hearing.' He gave Charles some money, and told him to go presently and get some grapes for me at a shop where he had found some very fine ones. They are good for your mother,' he said, ' and you must keep her supplied till my return.' 'Be of good courage till you see me again,' he said to me as he took leave of me. Be a good boy, and obey your mother till I come back again,' were his words to Charles, as he took him in his arms, and kissed him." — Vol. I., pp. 580, 581. 6 The partner of his joys; the prime cheerer of his sorrows, has built up a beautiful monument to his character. How beautifully she has done her work; with what suppression of anguish for shattered hopes, and buds of promise never opening on earth, we have not words to tell. But the calmness, with which the tale is told; the absence of pane gyric; the sublime trust in the great principles of Religion, apparent from end to end of this heart-touching record of trials borne and ended, these show that she likewise drank at that fountain, whence he derived his strength and his joy. We would gladly say more; but delicacy forbids us to dwell on the mortal. Let us pass again to him who has put off this earthly shroud. This record of life is to us a most hopeful book. It shows a man true to truth; an upright man, whom Fame and Fortune could not bribe; whom the menace of Monarchs and the oppressions of Poverty could never swerve from the path of Duty. Disappointment attended his steps, but never conquered his Spirit, nor abated his Hope. He had the consolations of Religion; that gave him strength, which neither the Monarchs, nor Poverty, nor Disappointment, nor the neglect of the world, nor the attacks of men narrow-minded and chained down to bigotry, could ever take from him. How beautifully he bears his trials. In the balance of adversity God weighs choice spirits. In their hour of trial he gives them meat to eat, which the world knows not of. But Dr. Follen did not stand alone. Not to name others, there was one brave soul, in a Pulpit, whose counsel and sympathy gave new warmth to his heart, new energy to his resolution; one like himself, whom Fear could not make afraid. They rest from their labors. The good they have done shall live after them; the kind words they spoke, the pure lives they lived, shall go up as a testimonial to Him that liveth for ever; their example kindles the fire in earnest hearts on earth, a light that never dies. Dr. Follen was fortunate in his life. Talents God gave him, and an occasion to use them; Defeat gave him courage, not dismay. Deep, rich blessings fell on him, "Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere; Heaven did a recompense as largely send; He gave to misery all he had, — a tear; He gained from Heaven, 't was all he wished, -a Friend." Some men will look on his life, and say, as the skeptic in the Bible, "How dieth the Wise? as the Fool; one event happeneth to them all; for there is no remembrance of the Wise more than of the Fool forever. Why should I be more wise?" Let a modern poet answer, in his Complaint and Reply. "COMPLAINT. "How seldom, friend, a good, great man inherits 66 REPLY. "For shame, dear friend! renounce this canting strain, Or throne of corses which his sword hath slain? The good great man? Three treasures, Love and LIGHT And three firm friends, more sure than day and night, — We cannot but apply the words of Milton, weeping over his "loved Lycidas": "Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more, For Lycidas, your sorrow is not dead, Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor: So sinks the day-star in the ocean's bed, And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore So Lycidas, sunk low but mounted high, Through the dear might of him that walked the waves, The following lines of Grotius are not misapplied: In Astra tendit et Deum studet nosse. Cui charitate temperata Libertas Certat manere dissidentibus concors; Grotii Poemata; Lug. Bat. 1637, THE PROMETHEUS BOUND. [We present our readers with a new and careful translation of the tragedy of Eschylus, in which fidelity to the text, and to the best text, is what is mainly attempted. We are the more readily drawn to this task, by the increasing value which this great old allegory is acquiring in universal literature, as a mystical picture of human life, and the most excellent work in that kind that exists in Greek poetry. Coleridge said of this play, that "it was more properly tragedy itself, in the plenitude of the idea, than a particular tragic poem."] PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. KRATOS and BIA, (Strength and Force.) PROMETHEUS. CHORUS OF OCEAN NYMPHS. OCEANUS. Io, Daughter of Inachus. HERMES. KRATOS and BIA, HEPHAISTUS, PROMETHEUS. KR. WE are come to the far-bounding plain of earth, Which the father has enjoined on thee, this bold one In indissoluble fetters of adamantine bonds. For thy flower, the splendor of fire useful in all arts, A crime 't is fit he should give satisfaction to the gods; To love, and cease from his man-loving ways. HEPH. Kratos and Bia, your charge from Zeus Already has its end, and nothing further in the way; But I cannot endure to bind A kindred god by force to a bleak precipice, Yet absolutely there's necessity that I have courage for these things; For it is hard the father's words to banish. High-plotting son of the right-counselling Themis, Unwilling thee unwilling in brazen fetters hard to be loosed I am about to nail to this inhuman hill, Where neither voice [you'll hear,] nor form of any mortal Will change your color's bloom; and to you glad The various-robed night will conceal the light, Will wear you; for he that will relieve you has not yet been born. Such fruits you've reaped from your man-loving ways, For a god, not shrinking from the wrath of gods, Will you utter; for the mind of Zeus is hard to be changed; KR. Well, why dost thou delay and pity in vain? HEPH. The affinity indeed is appalling and the familiarity. How is it possible? Fear you not this more? HEPH. Aye you are always without pity, and full of confidence. Cherish not vainly troubles which avail nought. HEPH. O much hated handicraft! KR. Why hatest it? for in simple truth, for these misfortunes HEPH. Yet I would't had fallen to another's lot. KR. All things were done but to rule the gods, HEPH. I knew it, and have nought to say against these things. HEPH. Already at hand the shackles you may see. KR. Taking them, about his hands with firm strength HEPH. 'T is done, and not in vain this work. KR. Strike harder, tighten, no where relax, For he is skilful to find out ways e'en from the impracticable. HEPH. Aye but this arm is fixed inextricably. KR. And this now clasp securely; that He may learn he is a duller schemer than is Zeus. HEPH. Except him would none justly blame me. |