BLESSINGS OF PROVIDENCE EQUALLY DISPENSED.

GOLDSMITH. 1. E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,

I sit me down a pensive hour to spend;
And placed on high above the storm's career,
Look downward where a hundred realms appear ;
Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide,

The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humble pride. 2. When thus creation's charms around combine,

Amidst the store should thankless pride repíne ?
Sày, should the philosophic mind disdain
That good which makes each humble bosom váin ?
Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can,
These little things are great to little man;
And wiser he, whose sympathetic mind

Exults in all the good of all mankind. 3. Ye glittering towns, with wealth and splendor crowned ;

Ye fields, where summer spreads profusion round;
Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale;
Ye bending swains, that dress the flowery vale;
For me your tributary stores combine ;

Creation's lieir, the world, the world is mine! 4. As some lone miser, visiting his store,

Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts it o'er;
Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill,
Yet still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still :
Thus to my breast alternate passions rise,
Pleased with each good that Heaven to man supplies;
Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall,
To see the hoard of human bliss so small;
And oft I wish, amidst the scene to find
Some spot to real happiness consigned,
Where my worn soul, cach wandering hope at rest,

May gather bliss to see my fellows blest.
6. But where to find that happiest spot below,

Who can direct, when all pretend to know?
The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone,
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot bis own;
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas,
And his long nights of revelry and ease:

The naked negro, panting at the line,
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine,
Basks in the glare, or steins the tepid wave,

And thanks his gods for all the good they gave. 6. Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,

His first, best country, ever is at home,
And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare,
And estimate the blessings which they share,
Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find
An equal portion dealt to all mankind;
As different good, by art or nature given,
To different nations, makes their blessings even.

7. Nature, a mother kind alike to all,

Still grants her bliss' at labor's earnest call;
With food as well the peasant is supplied,
On Ida's cliffs, as Arno's shelvy side;
And though the rocky crested summit frown,
These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down.
From art more various are the blessings sent,-
Wealth, commerce, honor, liberty, content.
Yet these each other's power so strong contest,
That either seems destructive to the rest.

8. Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails,

And honor sinks where commerce long prevails ;
Hence, every state to one loved blessing prone,
Conforms and models life to that alone.
Each to the favorite happiness attends,
And spurns the plan that aims at other ends;
Till, carried to excess in each domain,
This favorite good begets peculiar pain.

QUESTIONS.—1. Where does the writer fancy himseif situated, while he pens this piece ? 2. Where are the Alps? 3. What did he fancy he saw from his lofty hight? 4. What did they combine to yield him ? 5. What did the writer desire ? 6. How does the tenant of the frigid zone, and the negro of the torrid zone. each regard their respective countries? 7. Of what does the patriot boast? 8. What is said of Nature ? 9. What is the ultiinate aim of all ?

What is meant by “the line,” in the fifth verse ? Ans. The Equator or Equinoctial line. What pause should be made at disdain and mind, second verse ? Why should such pause be made ? (Les. XII. 9.) How is heir parsed, last line, third verse? How is the emphasis on world, same line and verse, affected by its repetition ?

LESSON C. SPELL AND DEFINE-1. Robing, dressing with splendid attire; arraying with elegance. 2. PARADISE, a place of supreme felicity and delight the garden of Eden. In reading this lesson be careful to observe the final poetic pause. THE BIRD OF PARADISE.

C. B. FARNSWORTH. [This bird is fabled to have no feet, and never to leave its birth place, the sky. 1 1.

Fly on! fly on!
The blue sky is around thee, pure and bright

As when the sun, on the first morning, shone
Where thou wert cradled, robing thee in light.
2.

Those fields are nigh,-
The angels' home; below, the tempests dwell,

There soft inds feed thee, and thou dost rely, With constant trust, on One who loves thee well. 3.

Borne on thy wing
Of purple, gray, and gold, thy fellows near,

Uniting in the chorus, thou didst sing
Such songs as angels leave the heavens to hear.
4.

Thrice happy bird !
Would I were one of your

celestial choir;
Then only where thou art, my voice were heard,
Singing sweet hymns, instinct with sacred fire.
5.

Stay as thou art,
Loved bìrd ; come not near earth, lest thou shouldst finde

And weep the lore with me, the human heart
Is hard alike to thee and to its kind.
6.

Earth keeps me here
Awhile; yet I shall leave it, and shall rise

On fairer wings than thine, to skies more clear,
Better than thou,--a Child of Paradise !

QUESTIONS.-1. What is fabled of the Bird of Paradise ? 2. Does the writer address it as though it were a reality? 3. Is it represented as being above or below the clouds ? 4. Who is meant by One, last line, second verse; and who by fellows, second line, third verse ? 5. How is it represented as singing ? 6. What does the writer exhort it to do, fifth verse ? 7. What does the writer desire, fourth verse ? 8. What does he say he shall do, and be, last verse ?

What inflection does the first line take? Why the falling on bird, fourth and fifth verses? (Rule VII. Note I.) With what is thou contrasted, last line ?

LESSON CI. SPELL AND DEFINE-1. NEG'ATIVE, not positive, or real. 2. GENTRY, people of rank and distinction; a term of civility. 3. ASSENT'ING, agreeing to; admitting as true. 4. Topic, a subject of conversation. 5. INTRINSIC, internal; real. 6. PARTS, qualities; faculties ; lilerully, portions. T. UNWA'RY, not cautious; heedless. 8. EXHAUST'ED, drawn out; emptied. 9. DEPORT'MENT, manner of action; conduct.

A MIGHTY GOOD KIND OF MAN.

THORNTON. 1. Tre good qualities of a mighty good kind of man, if he has any, are of the negative kind. He does very little harm; but you never find him doing any good. He is very decent in appearance, and takes care to have all the externals of sense and virtue; but you never perceive the heart concerned in any thought, word, or action.

2. Not many love him, though very few think ill of him; every body is his “dear sir," though he cares not a farthing for any body but himself. If he writes to you, though you have but the slightest acquaintanee with him, he begins with “ dear sir,” and ends with “I am, good sir, your ever sincere and affectionate friend, and most obedient humble servant."

3. You may generally find him in company with older persons than himself

, but always with richer. He does not talk much, but he has a “yes,” or a true sir,” or you

observe very right, sir,” for every word that is said ; which, with the old gentry, that love to hear themselves talk, makes him pass for a mighty sensible and discerning, as well as a mighty good kind of a man.

It is so familiar to him to be agreeable, and he has such a habit of assenting to every thing said in company, that he does it without the trouble of thinking what he is about. I have known such a one, after having approved an observation, made by one of a company, assent with "

is

very just," to an opposite sentiment advanced by another; and I have frequently heard him contradict himself five times during the same conversation.

5. As the weather is a principal and favorite topic with a mighty good kind of man, you may make him agree that it is very hot, very cold, very cloudy, a fine sunshine, or it

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what you say

rains, snows, hails, or freezes, all in the same hour. The wind may be high, or not blow at all; it may be east, west, north, or south, or in any point of the compass, or any point not in the compass, just as you please. This makes him a mighty agreeable companion, as well as a mighty good kind of man.

6. No man is half so happy in his friendship. Almost every one he names is a friend of his, and every friend, a mighty good kind of man. I had the honor of walking lately with one of those good creatures, and I believe he pulled off his hat to every third person he met, with a how do you do, my dear sir ?” though I found he hardly knew the names of five of these intimate acquaintances.

7. I was highly entertained with the greeting between my companion, and another mighty good kind of man, whom we met in the Strand. You would have thought they were brothers, and had not seen one another for many years, by their mutual expressions of joy at meeting. They talked together, not with a design of opposing, but through eagerness to approve what each other said. I caught them frequently crying “yes,” together, and, “ very true," "you are very right, my dear sir;" and at last, having exhausted their favorite topic of news, and of the weather, they concluded by each begging to have the vast pleasure of an agreeable evening with the other, very soon; but parted without naming either time or place.

8. I must own that a good man, and a man of sense, certainly should have every thing that this kind of man has; yet, if he possesses no more, much is wanting to finish and complete his character. Many are deceived by French paste; it has the luster and brilliancy of a real diamond; but the want of hardness, the essential property of this valuable jewel, discovers the counterfeit, and shows it to be of no intrinsic value whatever.

9. If the head and the heart are left out in a man's character, you will vainly look for true worth and merit. But it often happens, that these mighty good kind of men are wolves in sheep's clothing ; that their want of parts is supplied by an abundance of cunning, and the outward behavior and deportment oalculated to entrap the short-sighted and unwary.

QUESTIONS.—1. What can you say of the qualities of the individua. alluded to? 2. In whose company is he generally found? 3. Does he readily assent to all that is said, whether true or false ? 4. Is such a