way; and beautiful, beyond thought, was the landscape that broke upon his view. A plain covered with the richest verdure lay before him: through the trees that here and there darkened the emerald ground were cut alleys, which were overarched with festoons of many-colored flowers, whose hues sparkled amid the glossy foliage, and whose sweets steeped the air as from gardens of roses. A stream, clear as crystal, flowed over golden sands; and, wherever the sward was greenest, gathered itself into delicious fountains, and sent upward dazzling spray, as if to catch the embraces of the sun, whose beams kissed it in delight.

2. The wanderer paused in ecstasy; a sense of luxurious rapture, which he had never before experienced, crept into his soul. "Behold!" murmured he, "my task is already done; and Aidenn, the land of happiness and of youth, lies before me!"

While he thus spake, a sweet voice answered, "Yes, oh happy stranger! thy task is done: this is the land of happiness and of youth!"

3. He turned, and a maiden of dazzling beauty was by his side. "Enjoy the present," said she, "and so wilt thou defy the future. Ere yet the world was, Love brooded over the unformed shell, till from beneath the shadow of his wings burst forth the life of the young creation. Love, then, is the true God; and whoso serveth him, he admits into the mysteries of a temple erected before the stars. Behold! thou enterest now upon the threshold of the temple, in which youth, and beauty, and joy dwell forever."

4. Enchanted with these words, Arasmānes gave himself up to the sweet intoxication they produced upon his soul. He suffered the nymph to lead him deeper into the valley: and now, from a thousand vistas in the wood, trooped forth beings, some of fantastic, some of the most harmonious shapes. There were the satyrb and the faun, and the youthful Bacchus, mingling with the multiform deities of India, and the wild objects of Egyptian worship; but more numerous than all were the choral nymphse, that spiritualized the reality by incorporating the dreams of beauty; and wherever he looked, one laughing face seemed to peer forth

from the glossy leaves, and to shed, as from its own joyous yet tender aspect, a tenderness and a joy over all things; and he asked what this being, that seemed to have the power of multiplying itself every where, was called? And its name was E'ros.

5. For a time, the length of which he knew not—for in that land no measurement of time was kept—Arasmānes was fully persuaded that it was Aidenn to which he had attained. He felt his youth as if it were something palpable; every thing was new to him—even in the shape of the leaves, and in the whisper of the odorous airs, he found wherewithal to marvel at and admire. Enamored of the maiden that had first addressed him, at her slightest wish (and she was full of beautiful caprices) he was ready to explore even the obscurest recess in the valley, which now appeared to him unbounded. He never wearied of a single hour. He felt as if weariness were impossible; and, with every instant, he repeated to himself, "In the land of happiness and youth I am a dweller."

6. One day, as he was conversing with his beloved, and gazing upon her face, he was amazed to behold that, since. the last time he had gazed upon it, a wrinkle had planted itself upon the ivory surface of her brow; and, even while half doubting the evidence of his eyes, new wrinkles seemed slowly to form over the forehead, and the transparent roses of her cheek to wane and fade! He concealed, as well as he could, the mortification and wonder that he experienced at this strange phenomenon; and no longer daring to gaze upon a face from which before he had drunk delight as from a fountain, he sought excuses to separate himself from her, and wandered, confused and bewildered with his own thoughts, into the wood. The fauns, and the dryads, and the youthful face of Bacchus, and the laughing aspect of E'ros, came athwart him from time to time; yet the wonder that had clothed them with fascination was dulled within his breast. Nay, he thought the poor wine-god had a certain vulgarity in his air, and he almost yawned audibly in the face of E'ros.

7. And now, whenever he met his favorite nymph-who

was as the queen of the valley—he had the chagrin to perceive that the wrinkles deepened with every time; youth seemed rapidly to desert her; and, instead of a maiden scarcely escaped from childhood, it was an old coquette that he had been so desperately in love with.

8. One day he could not resist saying to her, though with some embarrassment,

"Pray, dearest, is it many years that you have inhabited this valley ?"

"Oh, indeed many!" said she, smiling.

"You are not, then, very young," rejoined Arasmānes, ungallantly.

"What!" cried the nymph, changing color, "do you begin to discover age in my countenance? Has any wrinkle yet appeared upon my brow? You are silent. Oh, cruel Fate! will you not spare even this lover?" And the poor nymph burst into tears.

9. "My dear love," said Arasmānes, painfully, "it is true that time begins to creep upon you; but my friendship shall be eternal."

Scarcely had he uttered these words, when the nymph, rising, fixed upon him a long, sorrowful look, and then with a loud cry vanished from his sight. Thick darkness, as a veil, fell over the plains; the novelty of life, with its attendant poetry, was gone from the wanderer's path forever.

10. A sudden sleep crept over his senses. He awoke, confused and unrefreshed; and a long and gradual ascent, but over mountains green indeed, and watered by many streams gushing from the heights, stretched before him. Of the valley he had mistaken for Aidenn, not a vestige remained. He was once more on the real solid earth.

Ãïdenn is an Anglicized and disguised spelling of the Arabic form of the word Eden;-used sometimes as a synonym for the celestial paradise. See this latter al!usion in Poe's "Raven:"

"Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels call Lenore."

Sa'tyr, a sylvan deity, part man and part goat, characterized by riotous merri

ment.

The fauns were dancing gods of the fields, and shepherds, differing but little from the satyrs.

d Bắc'-chus, the god of wine.

e Choral nymphs, singing nymphs. The nymphs were beautiful female forms

LESSON LXIII.

THE PRODIGAL SON.

Narrative form. A Parable.-Luke xv.

[A Parable is an allegorical relation of something which takes place among mankind, and from which an instructive moral is designed to be drawn. The parable requires both possibility and probability in the narration.

The following parable, which beautifully embodies the principle of paternal affection, is evidently designed as a farther illustration of the truth already twice previously stated in the same chapter-that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.]

1. A CERTAIN man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." And he divided unto them his living. And, not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

2. And, when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled himself with the husks that the swine did eat; but no man gave unto him.

3. And when he came to himself, he said, "How many hired servants of my father have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants."

4. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."

5. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the

goddesses-who, as the early Greeks imagined, peopled the mountains, meadows, forests, waters, etc.

E'ros, in ancient mythology, is the Greek name of the deity of Love; the same as the Cupido (Cupid) of the Latins.

Dry'ad, a nymph of the woods.

best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."

6. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, "Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound."

7. And he was angry, and would not go in; therefore came his father out and entreated him. And he, answering, said to his father, "Lo, these many years have I served thee, neither transgressed I, at any time, thy commandment; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, who hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf."

8. And the father said unto him, "Son, thou art ever with me; and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad; for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found."

LESSON LXIV.

THE TREES THAT DESIRED A KING.

A Narrative. The oldest Fable known.-Judges ix.

[The Fable, or Apologue, is an allegory founded upon supposed actions of brutes or inanimate things, and therefore is not limited, like the parable, by the rules of probability. In common with all allegories, the fable is intended to enforce some useful truth or precept. The fables of Æsop, which are confined mostly to the doings and sayings of animals, are good examples of apologue.

The fable here given, the oldest on record, and which Addison declares to be as beautiful as any made since, originated in the following manner. Abim'e lech, by conspiracy with the people of She'ehem, and by the murder of all his brethren except Jō'tham the youngest, who hid himself, is made ruler over the people of Israel, who had long wickedly desired a king, instead of the Lord, to rule over them. Jotham, by the following fable, rebukes the She'ehem ites, and foretells their ruin. Ere long the people of She'ehem were all destroyed, as Jotham had foretold, and Abĭm'e lech himself was slain; so that the curse of Jotham fell upon all who were engaged in the conspiracy.]

1. AND all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by