The frugal wifie, garrulous, will tell, How 'twas a towmond auld, sin' lint was i' the bell. The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, His lyart haffets wearing thin an' bare; And "Let us worship God!" he says, with solemn air. They chaunt their artless notes in simple guise, The priest-like father reads the sacred page, With Amalek's ungracious progeny; Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre. How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed; How he, who lone in Patmos banished, Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand; And heard great Babylon's doom pronounc'd by Heav'n's command. Then kneeling down, to Heaven's Eternal King, The saint, the father, and the husband prays: Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing, There ever bask in uncreated rays, No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear ; Together hymning their Creator's praise, In such society, yet still more dear; While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere. When men display to congregations wide May hear, well pleased, the language of the soul; Then homeward all take off their sev'ral way; And proffer up to Heav'n the warm request, O Scotia! my dear, my native soil! For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent; Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved Isle. O Thou! who pour'd the patriotic tide That stream'd through Wallace's undaunted heart; (The patriot's God, peculiarly Thou art, His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward!) O never, never, Scotia's realm desert; But still the patriot, and the patriot-bard, In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard! 1. What are the signs of this chill November day's close? 2. Why is the cotter glad when Satur day night comes? 3. Where is his cot situated? 4. Who run to meet him? 5. What are the things that make him forget his cares and toil? 6. How are the elder bairns employed during the week? 7. Name the eldest daughter. 8. What may she be bringing with her? 9. What thoughts fill the parents' minds at seeing their children around them? 10. How is this good mother employed? 11. How is the father employed? 12. Repeat the several portions of the father's advice to them. 13. After supper in what holy exercise do they engage? 14. Describe the father as he holds the Bible before him. 15. In what way do they sing God's praises? 16. With what do they sing, which is better than the finest instrument? 17. Name these church tunes, and characterize them. 18. What favourite portions may the father read in the Bible? 19. Which of the Apostles was banished to Patmos? 20. Who is the saint, the father, and the husband? 21. What glorious hope fills the bosom of parents and children? 22. How are the "parent-pair" employed when their family retire? 23. What is the chief blessing they pray for to their children? 24. Repeat the warm wishes of the bard in regard to his dear native land. 25. Who will quote Joshua xxiv. 15, to me? RESIGNATION. Ce-lest'ial, adj. (L. coelum). see eo). LONGFELLOW. Sub'urb, n. (L. sub, urbs). Rap'ture, n. (L. raptum, see rapio). THERE is no flock, however watched and tended, But one dead lamb is there! There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, But has one vacant chair! The air is full of farewells to the dying, The heart of Rachel,' for her children crying, Let us be patient! These severe afflictions But oftentimes celestial benedictions Assume this dark disguise. We see but dimly through the mists and vapours; What seem to us but sad funereal tapers, May be heaven's distant lamps. There is no Death! What seems so is transition; This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life Elysian,2 Whose portal we call death. She is not dead,-the child of our affection,- Where she no longer needs our poor protection, In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, Day after day, we think what she is doing Year after year, her tender steps pursuing, Behold her grown more fair. Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken The bond which nature gives; Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken, May reach her where she lives. 1 Rachel, see Jeremiah xxxi. 15, and Matt. ii. 18. 2 Elysian, of or belonging to Elysium. Elysium, in ancient mythology, was a place assigned to the pious souls after death; furnished with rich fields, groves, shades, streams, &c.; the seat of happiness. Not as a child 3 shall we again behold her, In our embraces we again enfold her, But a fair maiden, in her Father's mansion, And beautiful with all the soul's expansion And though at times, impetuous with emotion The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean, We will be patient, and assuage the feeling We may not wholly stay; By silence sanctifying, not concealing, The grief that must have way. BOADICE'A. COWPER. BOADICE A lived in the middle of the first century, and was the wife of Prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, a tribe of Britons inhabiting Norfolk and Suffolk. Nero was at this time emperor; and Suetonius Paulinus, a general of great skill and energy, commanded in Britain. While Suetonius was occupied in attacking the Isle of Anglesey (then called Mona), Boadice'a was scourged and her daughters violated. The crime, however, brought its own punishment. The Iceni, and their neighbours the Trinobantes (who dwelt in what is now Essex and Middlesex), flew to arms. They first attacked and destroyed the Roman colony of Camalodunum (Colchester), and defeated a Roman legion which was coming to the relief of the place. The insurgents also massacred the Romans at Verolamium (St. Albans), and at London, which was then famous for its commerce. Tacitus says that the Romans and their allies were destroyed to the number of 70,000, many of whom perished under torture. Boadice'a killed herself by poison.-Knight's Cyclopædia. Dru-id, n. (Gr. drus). Re-sent'ment, n. (L. re, sentio). Prog ́e-ny, n. (L. pro, gigno). WHEN THE British warrior Queen, Bleeding from the Roman rods, Sage beneath a spreading oak Princess! if our aged eyes Weep upon thy matchless wrongs, "Tis because resentment ties All the terrors of our tongues. 1 "Not as a child,"-see Isaiah lxv. 20, and 1 Cor. xiii. 11. Rome shall perish-write that word Rome, for empire far renown'd, Other Romans shall arise, Heedless of a soldier's name; Then the progeny2 that springs Regions Cæsar never knew, Thy posterity shall sway; Such the Bard's prophetic words, She, with all a monarch's pride, Ruffians, pitiless as proud, Heaven awards the vengeance due; Empire is on us bestow'd, Shame and ruin wait for you. PRIDE AND HUMILITY. COWPER. "The comparison of the proud and the humble believer to the peacock and the pheasant, and the parallel between Voltaire and the poor cottager, are exquisite pieces of eloquence and poetry."-Campbell. THE self-applauding bird, the peacock, see— 1 The modern Romans, the Italians, are passionately fond of music. 2 The ships of England. 3 The British, not the Romans. |