XC. — ARNOLD WINKELRIED.

JAMES MONTGOMERY

James Montgomery was born in Scotland, in 1771, and died in 1854. He wrote numerous poems, which are distinguished for their religious tone, purity of feeling, and gentle, sympathetic spirit. Many of his shorter pieces are alike beautiful in sentiment and style. The incident narrated in the following poem occurred in the battle of Sempach, in which the Swiss, fighting for their independence, totally defeated the Austrians, in the fourteenth century.]

1. “MAKE way for Liberty!” he cried,

Made way for Liberty, and died !

In arms the Austrian phalanx'stood,
A living wall, a human wood ! —
A wall, where every conscious stone
Seemed to its kindred thousands grown;
A rampart all assaults to bear,
Till time to dust their frames should wear.
So still, so dense the Austrians stood,
A living wall, a human wood!
Impregnable their front appears,
All horrent’ with projected spears,
Whose polished points before them shine,
From flank to flank, one brilliant line,
Bright as the breakers' splendors run
Along the billows, to the sun.

2. Opposed to these a hovering band

Contended for their father-land;
Peasants, whose new-found strength had broke
From manly necks the ignoble: yoke,
And beat their fetters into swords,
On equal terms to fight their lords;
And what insurgent“ rage had gained,
In many a mortal fray maintained:

Marshalled, once more, at Freedom's call,
They came to conquer or to fall, -
When he who conquered, he who fell,
Was deemed a dead or living Tell! -

3. Such virtue had that patriot breathed,

So to the soil his soul bequeathed,
That wheresoe'er his arrows flew,
Heroes in his own likeness grew,
And warriors sprang from every sod
Which his awakening footstep trod.

4. And now the work of life and death

Hung on the passing of a breath :
The fire of conflict burned within, —
The battle trembled to begin.
Yet, while the Austrians held their ground,
Point for attack was nowhere found;
Where'er the impatient Switzers gazed,
The unbroken line of lances blazed;
The line 'twere suicide to meet,
And perish at their tyrants' feet; —
How could they rest within their graves,
And leave their homes, the haunts of slaves ?
Would they not feel their children tread,
With clanging chains above their head?

5. It must not be :— this day, this hour,

Annihilates the invader's power.
All Switzerland is in the field ;-
She will not fly, - she cannot yield, -
She must not fall: her better fate
Here gives her an immortal date.
Few were the numbers she could boast;
Yet every freeman was a host,
And felt, as 'twere, a secret known,

That one should turn the scale alone,
While each unto himself was he
On whose sole arm hung victory.

6. It did depend on one, indeed;

Behold him, — Arnold Winkelried !
There sounds not to the trump of fame
The echo of a nobler name.
Unmarked he stood amid the throng,
In rumination • deep and long,
Till you might see with sudden grace,
The very thought come o'er his face,
And by the motion of his form
Anticipate the bursting storm;
And by the uplifting of his brow
Tell where the bolt would strike, and how.

7. But 'twas no sooner thought than done,

The field was in a moment won;“Make way for Liberty!” he cried, Then ran with arms extended wide, As if his dearest friend to clasp ;Ten spears he swept within his grasp:“ Make way for Liberty!” he cried: Their keen points crossed from side to side;He bowed amidst them like a tree, And thus made way for Liberty.

8. Swift to the breach his comrades fly:

“Make way for Liberty !” they cry,
And through the Austrian phalanx dart,
As rushed the spears through Arnold's heart;
While, instantaneous as his fall,
Rout, ruin, panic seized them all:—
An earthquake could not overthrow
A city with a surer blow.

Thus Switzerland again was free:
Thus death made way for Liberty !

· PHA'LĂNX (or phållạnx). A body | 3 IG-NO'BLE. Dishonorable ; base.

of troops or men in close array. 4 IN-SÜR'GENT. Rebellious. 9 HÖR'RENT. Pointed outwards like 5 RO-MI-NÄ'TION. Musing; medita bristles; bristling.

tion ; reflection,

XCI. - SPEECH OF MARULLUS.

SHAKSPEARE.

William Shakspeare was born at Stratford-upon-Avon, in England, April 23, 1564, and died April 23, 1616. He married young, went to London soon after his marriage, became an actor, a dramatic author, and a shareholder in one of the London theatres; acquired considerable property, and retired to his native place a few years before his death, and there lived in ease and honor. He was the author of thirty-five plays, written between 1590 and 1613, besides poems and sonnets.

This extract is taken from Julius Cæsar. A citizen tells Flavius and Marullus, Tribunes of Rome, that the rabble seen in the street “make holiday to see Cæsar and to rejoice in his triumph.” The following is the reply of Marullus

WHEREFORE rejoice? what conquest brings he heme?
What tributaries follow him to Rome,
To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels ?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseles l'ings;
0, you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey ? Many a time and oft
Have you climbed up to 'walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The livelong day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made a universal shout,
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks,
To hear the replication of your sounds,
Made in her concave shores ?
And do you now cull out a holiday ?
And do you now strew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood :

Be gone :
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the gods to intermit? the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.

I RÉP-L.-CĀ'TIỌN. A rolling back ; re: 1 2 ÎN-TER-MİT'. Cause to cease for a verberation.

time ; suspend; interrupt.

CXII.— ELEVATING INFLUENCE OF A LIBERAL

EDUCATION.

WALKER. [Rev. James Walker, D. D., a native of Burlington, Massachusetts, is a grad. aate of Harvard College of the class of 1814. He was pastor of a church in Charlestown, Massachusetts, from 1818 to 1839, when he was appointed Alford Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at Harvard College, which office he held till 1853, when he was elected President. He resigned this post in 1860, and has since lived in Cambridge. The following extract is from an address delivered by him before the Alumni of Harvard College, in July, 1863.]

1. TIME would fail me to speak of the eminent men who have carried into a long life of public service the principles and the spirit inculcated here. I cannot speak, as I would, even of him * who has so many titles to our notice on this occasion, who stands alone for his years, and for the veneration that is felt for him, - chiefly known to this generation as che honored head of the university, but long before that, and long before a large proportion of this audience were born, actively and earnestly engaged in matters of state — the scholar, the statesman, and the patriot. He has lived to see the best and the worst days of the republic, and still lives, — may we not hope, in order that his last look may be on his country, redeemed and renovated by the trials through which it is now passing, and with every vestige of rebellion and bondage swept away.

2. And let no one dream that public virtue and devo

* Josiah Quincy, Senior, a graduate of the class of 1.90.