LESSON CLI.

THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS.

Mostly Dactyl'ic.

A notable example of Allusion. See p. 128.-THOMAS HOOD.
"Drowned! drowned!"-Hamlet.

["Bridge of Sighs" is the name popularly given to the covered passage-way which connects the doge's palace, in Venice, with the public prisons, from the circumstance that the condemned prisoners were transported over this bridge from the hall of judgment to the place of execution. To them it was truly a bridge of sighs, for their passage over it was the extinction of all earthly hopes. Hood, in using the name as the title of the following poem, would heighten the coloring of the picture by associating, in our minds, the sad fate of the unknown "unfortunate" with that of the condemned criminals of Venice. The "allusion" here is a fine example of the implied simile. See p. 128. To the reader of Shakspeare, the quotation from Hamlet, recalling, as it does, the like manner of the death of the gentle Ophelia, is also a happy allusion.]

[This celebrated poem, which was long attributed to Addison, on account of its having been published anonymously in "The Spectator," which was edited by Addison, was written by Andrew Marvel. He was born at Hull, Eng., in 1620; died in 1678.]

1. THE spacious firmament on high,

With all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim:

Th' unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's powers display,
And publishes, to every land,
The work of an Almighty hand.

2. Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And, nightly, to the list'ning earth,
Repeats the story of her birth:

Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.

3. What though, in solemn silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though nor real voice, nor sound,
Amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,

Forever singing, as they shine,

"The hand that made us is divine."

LESSON CLIII.

TIME: AN ALLEGORY.

[Here Morning, Noon, and Night are personified, and made allegorical of the three seasons of life-Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. Let the pupil show why the piece, as a whole, is neither a simile nor a metaphor.

What are meant by "golden meadows," and "flowery store," in the first verse? What picture of life is presented in the second verse? What is meant by the "flickering light" in the third verse? By "Night calls him ?" etc.]

1. MORN calleth fondly to a fair boy straying

'Mid golden meadows, rich with clover dew;

She calls-but he still thinks of naught save playing,
And so she smiles and waves him an adieu!
Whilst he, still merry with the flowery store,
Deems not that morn returns no more.

2. Noon cometh-but the boy, to manhood growing,
Heeds not the time-he sees but one sweet form,
One young, fair face from bower of jasmine glowing,
And all his loving heart with bliss is warm.
So noon, unnoticed, seeks the western shore,
And man forgets that noon returns no more.

3. Night tappeth gently at a casement gleaming
With the thin firelight flickering faint and low,
By which a gray-haired man is sadly dreaming
Of pleasures gone, as all life's pleasures go.
Night calls him, and he leaves his door
Silent and dark-and he returns no more.

. LESSON CLIV.

DESCRIPTIVE AND DIDACTIC.

I. PESTILENCE AND CONTAGION PERSONIFIED.

"AT dead of night,

In sullen silence stalks forth PESTILENCE:
CONTAGION, close behind, taints all her steps
With poisonous dew: no smiting hand is seen;
No sound is heard; but soon her secret path
Is marked with desolation: heaps on heaps
Promiscuous drop. No friend, no refuge near:
All, all is false and treacherous around,

All that they touch, or taste, or breathe, is DEATH!"

II. DIFFERENT CONDITIONS IN LIFE.

Antithetic. Didactic.

The high' and the low', the rich' and the poor', approach, in point of real enjoyment, much nearer to each other than is commonly imagined. Providence never intended that any state here should be either completely happy' or entirely miserable. If the feelings of pleasure' are more numerous and more lively in the higher departments of life, such also are those of pain. If greatness flatters our van

ity', it multiplies our dangers'. If opulence increases our gratifications', it increases, in the same proportion, our desires and demands'. If the poor are confined to a more narrow circle, yet within that circle lie most of those natural satisfactions which, after all the refinements of art, are found to be the most genuine and true.

III. SECURITY OF THE POOR.

Antithetic. From JUVENAL.

The traveler, freighted with a little wealth,
Sets forth at night, and wins his way by stealth:
E'en then he fears the bludgeon and the blade,
And starts and trembles at a rush's shade;
While, void of care, the beggar trips along,
And, in the spoiler's presence, trōlls his song.

IV. A CONTRAST.

Soliloquy. Interrogation and Exclamation.

1. "Alas!" exclaimed a silver-headed sage, "how narrow is the utmost extent of human science'!-how circumscribed the sphere of intellectual exertion'! I have spent my life in acquiring knowledge; but how little do I know! The farther I attempt to penetrate the secrets of nature', the more I am bewildered and benighted'. Beyond a certain limit, all is but confusion or conjecture; so that the advantage of the learned over the ignorant consists greatly in having ascertained how little is to be known.

2. "Alas! then, what have I gained by my laborious researches but a humbling conviction of my weakness and ignorance'? How little has man, at his best estate, of which to boast! What folly in him to glory in his contracted powers, or to value himself upon his imperfect acquisitions !"

3. "Well," exclaimed a young lady, just returned from school, "my education is at last finished!-indeed, it would be strange if, after five years' hard application, any thing were left incomplete. Happily, my school-days are over now, and I have nothing to do but to exercise my various accomplishments."