The sea-bird had flown to her wave-girdled nest, The fisherman sunk to his slumbers: One moment I looked from the hill's gentle slope, And thought that the light-house looked lovely as Hope,— 3. The time is long past, and the scene is afar, That blazed on the breast of the billow: Like a star on eternity's ocean. QUESTIONS.-1. To what is the light-house compared? 2. What does the poet call hope? 3. What does the poet's memory sometimes re-kindle? 4. For what does he wish in life's closing hour? Has each line the same number of accented syllables? What difference in the sounds of z in azure, and z in blazed? See Table of Elementary Sounds, p. 12. LESSON CI. WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING. SU PER CIL' I Ous, proud. Ex CESS IVE, overmuch. NA BOB, Viceroy of India; also, DIF' FI DENCE, modesty. a man of great wealth. OB SCURED, hid; concealed. A MODEST WIT. 1. A supercilious nabob of the east, ANON. Haughty, being great,-purse-proud, being rich, A governor, or general, at the least, Had, in his family, a humble youth, Who went from England in his patron's suite, A lad of decent parts, and good repute. 2. This youth had sense and spirit; But yet, with all his sense, Excessive diffidence Obscured his merit. 8. One day, at table, flushed with pride and wine, His honor, proudly free, severely merry, Conceived it would be vastly fine To crack a joke upon his secretary. 4. "Young man," he said, "by what art, craft, or trade, Did your good father gain a livelihood ?" "He was a saddler, sír," Modestus said, And, in his time, was reckoned good." 5. Each parasite, then, as in duty bound, Said, (craving pardon, if too free he made,) 66 Sír, by your leave, I fain would know Your father's trade!" 6. "My father's trade! ah, really, that's too bad! He was a gentleman, I'd have you know." 7. "Excuse the liberty I take," Modestus said, with archness on his brow, “ "Pray, why did not your father make QUESTIONS.-1. How did the nabob address the humble youth, at table? 2. What was his reply? 3. What did the nabob say, when he heard that the youth's father was a saddler? 4. What was the young man's reply, when the nabob said his father was a gentleman? 5. What moral in this piece? LESSON CII. WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING. REL 10, that which remains. IN EX PRESS' I BLE, unspeakable. VER SI FI CA' TION, art of com SATIRE, severity of language. EX AG GER A' TION, that which A BOL ISH, annul; destroy. 1. THOMAS GRAY, a distinguished English poet, author of the celebrated "Elegy written in a Country Church Yard," was born in London, in 1716, and died in 1771. 2. JOHN DRY' DEN, one of the most celebrated English poets, was born at Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, in 1631, and died in 1700. 3. ALEXANDER POPE, a celebrated English poet, born May 22, 1688, and died May 30, 1744. 4. JOHN MILTON, the celebrated author of "Paradise Lost," was born in London, 1608, and died in 1674. 5. SI LO A, or SI LO' AM, is the name of a pool or stream of water near Jerusalem. John, vii. 11. 6. OR A CLE, from the Latin oraculum, and that from os, oris, the mouth, signifies that which is spoken, or uttered by the mouth. The word was applied among the Romans to the responses of the gods, when consulted in regard to the future. It was, also, used to designate the place, where such responses were usually given; as the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, the oracle of Delphi. By an easy transition, the word came to be applied, as in the quotation in the piece following, to the sanctuary or most Holy Place in the temple, where was deposited the ark of the covenant. CLASSICAL STUDIES. JOSEPH STORY. 1. There is not a single nation from the North to the South of Europe, from the bleak shores of the Baltic, to the bright plains of immortal Italy, whose literature is not imbedded in the very elements of classical learning. The literature of England is, in an emphatic sense, the production of her scholars; of men who have cultivated letters in her universities, and colleges, and grammar-schools; of men who thought any life too short, chiefly because it left some relic of antiquity unmastered, and any other fame humble, because it faded in the presence of Roman and Grecian genius. 2. He who studies English literature without the lights of classical learning, loses half the charms of its sentiments and style, of its force and feelings, of its delicate touches, of its delightful allusions, of its illustrative associations. Who that reads the poetry of 'Gray, does not feel that it is the 1.finement of classical taste, which gives such inexpressible vividness and transparency to its diction? 3. Who that reads the concentrated sense and melodious versification of 'Dryden, and 'Pope, does not perceive in them the disciples of the old school, whose genius was inflamed by the heroic verse, the terse satire, and the playful wit of antiquity? Who that meditates over the strains of 'Milton, does not feel that he drank deep at "Siloa's brook, that flowed Fast by the "oracle of God,"― that the fires of his magnificent mind were lighted by coals from ancient altars? 4. It is no exaggeration to declare, that he who proposes to abolish classical studies, proposes to render, in a great measure, inert and unedifying, the mass of English literature for three centuries; to rob us of the glory of the past, and much of the instruction of future ages; to blind us to excellencies which few may hope to equal, and none to surpass; to annihilate associations which are interwoven with our best sentiments, and give to distant times and countries a presence and reality, as if they were in fact his own. QUESTIONS.-1. In what estimation has classical literature ever been held by men of learning? 2. What does he lose, who studies English literature without a knowledge of classical literature? 3. What impressions are produced in reading the poetry of Gray! 4. What, in reading Dryden, and Pope, and Milton? 5. What is meant by "flows fast by the oracle of God"? 6. What is it no exaggeration to declare? LESSON CIII. WORDS FOR SPELLING AND DEFINING. GORGEOUS, Showy; splendid. COL ON NADES', ranges of columns. U TIL I TY, usefulness. 1. PER SEP O LIS, a celebrated city of ancient Persia. 2. NE' RO, a Roman emperor, chiefly remarkable for his crimes and cruelties, was born A. D. 37, and put an end to his own existence, A. D. 68. 3. A' QUA CLAU DI A, an aqueduct built by the emperor Claudius, and conveying water from the river Arno to Rome. 4. TAD MOR, afterwards called Palmyra, was a city founded by Solomon, in the desert of Syria, near the river Euphrates. ruins still remain. Its 5. BABY LON, a celebrated city, the capital of the ancient Babylonian empire, situated on the Euphrates river. ENDURING MONUMENTS. EDINBURGH REVIEW. 1. The tomb of Moses is unknown; but the traveler slakes his thirst at the well of Jacob. The gorgeous palace of the wisest and wealthiest of monarchs, with the cedar, and gold, and ivory, and even the great temple of Jerusalem, hallowed by the visible glory of the Deity himself, are gone; but Solomon's reservoirs are as perfect as ever. Of the ancient architecture of the Holy City, not one stone is left upon another; but the pool of Bethesda commands the pilgrim's reverence at the present day. 2. The columns of 'Persepolis are moldering in dust; but its cisterns and aqueducts remain to challenge our admiration The golden house of 'Nero is a mass of ruins; but the Aqua Claudia still pours into Rome its limpid stream. The temple of the sun at Tadmor, in the wilderness, has fallen; but its fountain sparkles as freshly in his rays, as when a thousand worshipers thronged its lofty colonnades. 3. It may be that London will share the fate of 'Babylon, |