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It is the knell of my departed hours.

Where are they? With the years beyond the flood.
It is the signal that demands despatch:

How much is to be done? My hopes and fears
Start up alarm'd, and o'er life's narrow verge
Look down-on what? A fathomless abyss ;
A dread eternity! how surely mine!
And can eternity belong to me,

Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour?

How poor, how rich, how abject, how august,
How complicate, how wonderful is man!
How passing wonder He who made him such!
Who center'd in our make such strange extremes
From different natures marvellously mix'd,
Connexion exquisite of distant worlds!
Distinguish'd link in being's endless chain!
Midway from nothing to the Deity!
A beam ethereal, sullied and absorpt!
Though sullied and dishonour'd, still divine!
Dim miniature of greatness absolute!
An heir of glory! a frail child of dust:
Helpless immortal! insect infinite!

A worm! a god !—I tremble at myself,
And in myself am lost. At home, a stranger,
Thought wanders up and down, surpris'd, aghast,
And wondering at her own. How reason reels!
O what a miracle to man is man!

Triumphantly distress'd! what joy! what dread!
Alternately transported and alarm'd !

What can preserve my life! or what destroy! An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave; Legions of angels can't confine me there.

FOLLY OF HUMAN PURSUITS.

BLEST be that hand divine, which gently laid
My heart at rest beneath this humble shed!
The world's a stately bark, on dangerous seas,
With pleasure seen, but boarded at our peril;
Here, on a single plank, thrown safe ashore,
I hear the tumult of the distant throng,
As that of seas remote, or dying storms;
And meditate on scenes more silent still;
Pursue my theme, and fight the fear of death.
Here like a shepherd, gazing from his hut,
Touching his reed, or leaning on his staff,
Eager ambition's fiery chase I see;

I see the circling hunt of noisy men
Burst law's enclosure, leap the mounds of right,
Pursuing and pursued, each other's prey;
As wolves for rapine; as the fox for wiles;
Till death, that mighty hunter, earths them all.
Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour?
What, tho' we wade in wealth, or soar in fame,
Earth's highest station ends in "here he lies,"
And dust to dust" concludes her noblest song.

RESIGNATION.

THESE hearts, alas! cleave to the dust
By strong and endless ties:

Whilst ev'ry sorrow cuts a string,

And urges us to rise.

When Heaven would kindly set us free,

And earth's enchantment end;

It takes the most effectual way,
And robs us of a friend.

Resign-and all the load of life That moment you remove; Its heavy load, ten thousand cares, Devolve on One above

Who bids us lay our burden down
On His almighty hand;

Softens our duty to relief,
To blessing a command.

ALEXANDER POPE.

BORN 1688-DIED 1744.

THIS great poet, whose name is familiar to every reader of verse, was born in London. His father was a linen-draper, and acquired considerable wealth, with which he retired into the country. Pope, like Milton and Cowley, was a poet from his boyhood; for his naturally sickly and delicate constitution rendered him unfit for the ordinary occupations and amusements of children. On this account

his education was wholly private. Pope was an affectionate son, a constant friend, according to worldly notions of friendship, and in many instances he showed benevolence of disposition. But his private history is not one of the bright spots of literature. His quiet was continually embittered by paltry squabbles with petty critics and ignoble rivals; nor does it appear that in his latter years there was one individual on whom he could rely for sympathy and

affection. Pope, if he had any fixed religious creed, was a Roman Catholic, as both his parents had been; but he appears rather to have felt the poetical beauty of Christianity than its power and importance.

MESSIAH.

YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the song:
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mossy fountains and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus and the Aonian maids,
Delight no more-O Thou my voice inspire
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!
Rapt into future times, the bard begun:
A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son!
From Jesse's (a) root behold a branch arise,
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies :
The ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic dove.
Ye heavens! (b) from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower!
The sick (c) and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storm a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail;
Returning Justice (d) lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn!
Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See, Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring:

(a) Isa. xi. ver. 1. (b) Ch. xiv. ver. 8.
(d) Ch ix. ver. 7.

(c) Ch. xxv. ver. 4.

See lofty Lebanon (e) his head advance,
See nodding forests on the mountains dance :
See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise,
And Carmel's flowery top perfume the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonély desert cheers;
Prepare the way! (ƒ) A god, a God appears!
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply;
The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains; and ye valleys, rise!
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way.
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold:
Hear him, ye deaf; and all the blind, behold!
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day :
'Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm the unfolding ear:
The dumb (g) shall sing, the lame his crutch
forego,

And leap exulting, like the bounding roe.

No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear;
From every face he wipes off every tear.
In adamantine (h) chains shall death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound.
As the good shepherd (i) tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture, and the purest air;
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects;
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,

Feeds from his hand,

(e) Isa. xxxv. ver. 2.
(g) Ch. xliii. ver. 18.
(h) Ch. xxv. ver. 8.

and in his bosom warms:

(f)Ch. xl. ver. 3, 4, Ch. xxxv. ver. 5, 6. (i) Ch. xl. ver. 11,

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