stages of decline, growing lovelier and dearer to her friends till the close) she disarmed hostility, conciliated kindness, and secured affection. She was admired, beloved, and unenvied by all. At length there came a night when there was no moon. There was silence in heaven all that night. In serene meditation on the changes of the month, the stars pursued their journey from sunset to daybreak. The comet had likewise departed into unknown regions. His fading lustre had been attributed, at first, to the bolder radiance of the moon in her meridian; but, during the wane, while inferior luminaries were brightening round her, he was growing fainter and smaller every evening, and now he was no more. Of the rest, planets and stars, all were unimpaired in their light, and the former only slightly varied in their positions. The whole multitude, wiser by experience, and better for their knowledge, were humble, contented, and grateful, each for his lot, whether splendid or obscure. Next evening, to the joy and astonishment of all, the moon, with a new crescent, was descried in the west; and instantly, from every quarter of the heaven, she was congratulated on her happy resurrection. Just as she went down, while her bow was yet recumbent in the dark purple horizon, it is said that an angel appeared standing between her horns. Turning his head, his eye glanced rapidly over the universe; the sun far sunk behind him, the moon under his feet, the earth spread in prospect before him, and the firmament all glittering with constellations above. He paused a moment, and then, in that tongue wherein, at the accomplishment of creation, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy," he thus brake forth: "Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty! In wisdom hast Thou made them all. Who would not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy." He ceased and from that hour there has been harmony in heaven. 8 JAMES MONTGOMERY. 1 1 levée, a meeting; especially an assembly of gentlemen called to Court to meet the Sovereign. 2galaxy, commonly called the Milky Way, a broad, white, luminous band stretching across the nocturnal sky like a path or girdle. 3degenerate, become worse; not worthy of one's ancestors. ether, a fluid finer than air, formerly supposed to pervade the universe outside our atmosphere. 5 horoscope, a system of stars, by means of which astrologers professed to be able to foretell future events. gibbous, a word describing the shape of the moon between the quarters and the full. profile, outline. James Montgomery, see App 8 6 WATERLOO. THERE was a sound of 'revelry by night, Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, But, hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell ! Did ye not hear it?-No; 'twas but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the stony street; And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before! Arm! arm!—it is! it is!—the cannon's opening roar ! Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago Which ne'er might be repeated; who could guess If ever more should meet those mutual eyes, Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise? And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed, Or whispering, with white lips-"The foe! they come, they come!" And wild and high the "Cameron's gathering" rose ! Have heard and heard, too, have her Saxon foes. The stirring memory of a thousand years; And 13 Evan's, Donald's fame, rings in each clansman's ears! And" Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, Grieving-if aught inanimate e'er grieves Over the unreturning brave,-alas! Ere evening to be trodden like the grass Which now beneath them, but above shall grow In its next verdure; when this fiery mass Of living valour, rolling on the foe, And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low! Last noon beheld them full of 15 lusty life, The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife, |