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*

Energy, power,
strength.
Dewy wing, the lark
builds its nest on the
ground, and conse-
quently when the
dew falls at night it
gets covered with it.
Thy lay is in heaven,
the lark soars high
into the air, and there
warbles forth its song.
Fell, a rocky hill.
Shren, brightness,
glitter.
Cloudlet, a little
cloud.
Cherub, an angel.
Gloaming, twilight,
the evening.

15

Love gives its energy,* love gave it birth.

Where, on thy dewy wing,*

Where art thou journeying?
Thy lay is in heaven,* thy love is on earth.

O'er fell * and fountain sheen, *

O'er moor and mountain green,
O'er the red streamer that heralds the day ;

Over the cloudlet * dim,

Over the rainbow's rim,
Musical cherub,* soar, singing, away!

Then, when the gloaming * comes,

Low in the heather blooms
Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be}

Emblem of happiness,

Blest is thy dwelling-place-
Oh to abide in the desert with thee!

20

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5

VISION OF BELSHAZZAR.*-Byron

THE King was on his throne, Satraps, the chief

The Satraps * thronged the hall; governors and nobles.

A thousand bright lamps shone

O'er that high festival.

A thousand cups of gold, In Judah, &c., these

In Judah * deemed divine vessels were set apart

Jehovah's vessels hold for the service of the Temple, and were,

The godless Heathen's wine, therefore, held most sacred.

In that same hour and hall,

The fingers of a hand
Came forth against the wall,

And wrote as if on sand :
The fingers of a man ;-

A solitary hand
Along the letters ran,

And traced them like a wand.

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LO

15

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Men of lore, the
learned men of the
kingdom.
Expound, explain.
Mar, spoil.
Chaldea's seers, the
wise men of Babylon.
No skill, 20 know-
ledge or power.

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85

*

30

Lore, learning, know.
ledge.
Sage, wise.

6 Let the men of lore * appear,

The wisest of the earth,
And expound * the words of fear,
Which mar

our royal mirth."
Chaldea's seers are good,

But here they hav no skill ; *
And the unknown letters stood

Untold and awful still.
And Babel's men of

age
Are wise and deep in lore;
But now they were not sage,

They saw-but knew no more.
A captive * in the land,

A stranger and a youth,
He heard the King's command,

He saw that writing's truth.
The lamps around were bright

The prophecy * in view;
He read it on that night,-

The morrow proved it true.
C Belshazzar's grave is made,

His kingdom passed away,
He, in the balance weighed,

Is light and worthless clay.
The shroud * his robe of state,
His
canopy

* the stone :
The Mede * is at his gate!

The Persian * on his throne ! »

A captive, the prophet Daniel, who had been carried captive into Babylon.

35

40

The prophecy, that
which foretold what
was about to happen,
Shroud, the dress with
which a dead body is
covered.
Canopy, the covering
above a throne.
The stone, here means
his tombstone.
The Medes were the
inhabitants of Media,
a district to the north
of Persia.
The Persian, Cyrus,
king of the Medes and
Persians,

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45

*

*

THE BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN.*-Campbell.
On Linden, when the sun was low,

Sun, &c., at sunset.
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow;
And dark as winter was the flow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly.

Fires of death, the

discharge of the artilBut Linden showed another sight,

lery which carried When the drum beat at dead of night, death and destruction Commanding fires of death * to light

among the troops.

Scenery, the appearThe darkness of her scenery.*

5

20

Revelry, the bustle and din of battle. Then shook the hills, the surrounding country seemed to shake again with the dreadful noise made by the firing of the artillery. Riven, torn asunder; here it refers to the ground being torn up with the cannonballs. Frank, the ancient name for the French, who in the 3d century overthrew the Roman dominion in Gaul, and settled there, Huns, or, as they are now called, Magyars, are the inhabitants of Hungary, and belong to the Mongol race. They form the chief portion of the Austrian empire. Munich, the capital of Bavaria, on the river Iser. It is a very fine city, and in its palace there is one of the finest collections of paintings in Europe. Sepulchre, a place of burial, a tonub.

By torch and trumpet fast arrayed,
Each horseman drew his battle-blade;
And furious every charger neighed,

To join the dreadful revelry.*
Then shook the hills * with thunder riven ;*
Then rushed the steed to battle driven ;
And, louder than the bolts of heaven, 15

Far flashed the red artillery.
But redder yet those fires shall glow
On Linden's hills of stained snow;
And bloodier yet shall be the flow

Of Iser, rolling rapidly.
'Tis morn—but scarce yon level sun
Can pierce the war-cloud rolling dun,
Where furious Frank * and fiery Hun *

Shout 'mid their sulphurous canopy.
The combat deepens : On, ye brave ! 25
Who rush to glory or the grave !
Wave, Munich,* all thy banners wave,

And charge with all thy chivalry !
Few, few shall part where many meet !
The snow shall be their winding-sheet ; 30
And every turf beneath their feet

Shall be a soldier's sepulchre !

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*

THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH.-Longfellow.

UNDER a spreading chestnut-tree Smithy, a black

The village smithy * stands ; smith's shop Mighty, full of

The smith, a mighty * man is he, strength.

With large and sinewy * hands; Sinewy, strong.

And the muscles * of his brawny * arms
Muscles, the fleshy
parts of the body by Are strong as iron bands.
which it moves.
Brawny, strong, full His hair is crisp,* and black, and long ;
of muscle, powerful,

His face is like the tan;
Crisp, curly.
Tan, the bark of the His brow is wet with honest sweat ;
oak-tree, means here

He earns whate'er he can,
that his face was very
brown, and

And looks the whole world'in the face, burnt.

For he owes not any man.
Week in, week out, from morn till night,

You can hear his bellows blow;

*

*

10

sun

20

Wield, to zling with
force.
Sledge, a large heavy
hammer.
Sexton, a man who
has charge

of a church, rings the bell, digs graves, &.. Forge, a smithy, a workshop, also furnace in

which metal is heated. Chaff, the husks of corn. Threshing-floor, the floor on which grain is threshed or beaten out with a fiail.

*

*

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15 You can hear him wield * his heavy sledge, *

With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton * ringing the village bell

When the evening sun is low.
And children coming home from school

Look in at the open door ;
They love to see the flaming forge, *

And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly

Like chaff * from a threshing-floor.* 25 He goes on Sunday to the church,

And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach ;

He hears his daughter's voice

Singing in the village choir, * 30'

And it makes his heart rejoice :
It sounds to him like her mother's voice,

Singing in Paradise !
He needs must think of her once more,

How in the grave she lies ;
35 And with his hard, rough hand, he wipes

A tear out of his eyes.
Toiling * -rejoicing-sorrowing,

Onward through life he goes ;

Each morning sees some task begun, 40 Each evening sees its close ; *

Something attempted, * something done,

Has earned a night's repose.*
Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,

For the lesson thou hast taught ! 45 Thus at the flaming forge of Life

Our fortunes must be wrought ! *
Thus on its sounding anvil * shaped

Each burning deed and thought!

Choir, band of
singers; the part in a
church assigned to
the singers.
Rejoice, to be glad,

Toiling, working hard.

*

Close, end or finish.
Attempted, tried.
Repose, rest.

*

BARBARA FRITCHIE.-J. G. Whittier. JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (1808– ) was born at Havershill, Massachusetts, where his ancestors had long been settled. Many of his poems were devoted to the cause of Abolition. He contributes to all the leading American Magazines of the present day.

Clustered, crowded together, Up from the meadows, rich with corn, Frederick, or Fredericksburg, Clear from the cool September morn,

in Virginia, U.S.

Green-walled, &c., surrounded, The clustered * spires of Frederick * stand, as by a natural wall, by the hills Green-walled * by the hills of Maryland. of the Blue Ridge, a branch of

*

*

15

on

Round about them orchards sweep,

Apple and peach-tree fruited deep; Famished, very

Fair as a garden of the Lord hungry.

To the eyes of the famished * rebel * horde.* Rebel, one who shakes off, or fights against, On that pleasant morn of the early fall, lawful authority.

When Lee* marched over the mountain wall, 10 Horde, company. The early fall, the Over the mountains winding down, beginning of autumn,

Horse and foot, into Frederick town, Lee, the heroic leader of the Southern forces in the American

civil Forty flags * with their silver stars, war, which

com; Forty flags with their silver bars, menced in 1861 and continued till 1865.

Flapped in the morning wind : the sun Forty flags, &c. The Of noon looked down and saw not one. American flag is composed of thirteen Up rose old Barbara Fritchie then, bars or stripes alter

Bowed with her fourscore years and ten, Dately red and white, and thirteen white Bravest of all in Frederick town, stars

a blue ground in the upper

She took up the flag the men hauled * down; 20 corner next the staff. Hence the allusion to In her attic window the staff she set, stars, and bars or To show that one heart was loyal * yet. stripes. Hauled, pulled,

Up the street came the rebel tread, dragged with vio- Stonewall Jackson * riding ahead; lence. Loyal, to be faithful

Under his slouched * hat, left and right, and obedient to the

25 laws of one's country. He glanced, the old flag met his sight. Stonewall Jackson, “Halt !”the dust-brown ranks stood fast; an able general, famous for his bravery.

“Fire !"-out blazed the rifle blast. He received the nickname of “Stonewall' It shivered * the window, pane and sash ; from the firmness

It rent the banner with seam and gash, with which his men

30 resisted every attack. Quick, as it fell from the broken staff

, He was accidentally Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf; killed by a

bullet fired by one of ais

She leaned far out on the window sill own soldiers at the battle of Chancellors- And shook it forth with a royal will. ville, May 2, 1863. “Shoot, if you must, this old grey head, 35 Slouched, turned down.

But spare your country's flag," she said. Shiver, shatter, to break into small A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, pieces by sudden

Over the face of the leader came; violence. Silken scarf, the ban.

The noble nature within him stirred per, which was made To life at that woman's deed and word.

40 of silk.

“Who touches a hair of yon grey head,
Dies like a dog. March on!” he said.
All day long through Frederick street
Sounded the tread of marching feet;

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