hast done; and whom all the world have flattered, thou only hast cast out and despised: thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, Hic jacet.-RALEIGH.

P. 83, 1. 13.

Now, seraph-winged, among the stars we soar;

Inconceivable are the limits to our progress in Science. "A point that yesterday was invisible, is our goal to-day, and will be our starting-post to-morrow."

P. 83, 1. 19.

Through the dim curtains of Futurity.

Fancy can hardly forbear to conjecture with what temper Milton surveyed the silent progress of his work, and marked his reputation stealing its way in a kind of subterraneous current through fear and silence. I cannot but conceive him calm and confident, little disappointed, not at all dejected, relying on his own merit with steady consciousness, and waiting, without impatience, the vicissitudes of opinion, and the impartiality of a future generation.-JOHNSON.

After line 19, in the MS.

O'er place and time we triumph; on we go,
Ranging at will the realms above, below;

Yet, ah, how little of ourselves we know!

And why the heart beats on, or how the brain
Says to the foot, "Now move, now rest again."
From age to age we search and search in vain.

P. 83, 1. 22.

Behold him now unbar the prison-door,

An allusion to John Howard.

"Wherever he came, in

whatever country, the prisons and hospitals were thrown open to him as to the general Censor. Such is the force of pure and exalted virtue !"

P. 84, 1. 6.

Long with his friend in generous enmity,

Aristotle's definition of Friendship, "one soul in two bodies," is well exemplified by some ancient Author in a dialogue between Ajax and Achilles. "Of all the wounds you ever received in battle," says Ajax, "which was the most painful to you?""That which I received from Hector," replies Achilles.- -"But Hector never gave you a wound?".

66

Yes, and a mortal one; when he slew my friend, Patroclus."

P. 84, 1. 8.

Do what he will, &c.

These ideas, whence are they derived; or as Plato would have expressed himself, where were they acquired? There could not be a better argument for his doctrine of a pre-ex

istent state.

L'homme ne sait à quel rang se mettre. Il est visiblement égaré et sent en lui des restes d'un état heureux, dont il est déchu, et qu'il ne peut retrouver. Il le cherche partout avec inquiétude et sans succès dans des ténèbres impenétrables.—Sa misère se conclut de sa grandeur, et sa grandeur se conclut de sa misère.-PASCAL.

P. 85, 1. 1.

But soon 'tis past—

This light, which is so heavenly in its lustre, and which is every where and on every thing when we look round us on our arrival here; which, while it lasts, never leaves us, rejoicing us by night as well as by day, and lighting up our very dreams; yet when it fades, fades so fast, and, when it goes, goes out for ever, we may address it in the words of the Poet, words which we might apply so often in this transitory life:

Too soon your value from your loss we learn.

P. 85, 1. 3.

Epistles in Verse, ii.

like the stone

That sheds awhile a lustre all its own,

See "Observations on a diamond that shines in the dark."BOYLE'S WORKS, i. 789.

P. 85, 1. 18.

Schooled and trained up to Wisdom from his birth;

Cicero, in his Essay De Senectute, has drawn his images

from the better walks of life; and Shakspeare, in his Seven Ages, has done so too. But Shakspeare treats his subject satirically; Cicero as a philosopher. In the venerable portrait of Cato we discover no traces of "the lean and slippered Pantaloon."

Every object has a bright and a dark side; and I have endeavoured to look at things as Cicero has done. By some, however, I may be thought to have followed too much my own dream of happiness; and in such a dream indeed I have often passed a solitary hour. It was Castle-building once; now it is no longer so. But whoever would try to realize it, would not perhaps repent of his endeavour.

P. 85, 1. 20.

The day arrives, the moment wished and feared;

A Persian Poet has left us a beautiful thought on this subject, which the reader, if he has not met with it, will be glad to know, and, if he has, to remember.

Thee on thy Mother's knees, a new-born child,
In tears we saw when all around thee smiled.

So live, that, sinking in thy last long sleep,

Smiles may be thine, when all around thee weep.

For my version I am in a great measure indebted to Sir William Jones.

P. 87, 1. 23.

"These are MY Jewels!"

The anecdote here alluded to, is related by Valerius Maximus, Lib. iv. c. 4.

P. 87, 1. 25.

"Suffer these little ones to come to me!”

In our early Youth, while yet we live only among those we love, we love without restraint, and our hearts overflow in every look, word, and action. But when we enter the world and are repulsed by strangers, forgotten by friends, we grow more and more timid in our approaches even to those we love best.

How delightful to us then are the little caresses of children! All sincerity, all affection, they fly into our arms; and then, and then only, do we feel our first confidence, our first pleasure.

The brow engraven with the Thoughts of Years;

This is a law of Nature. Age was anciently synonymous with power; and we may always observe that the old are held in more or less honour as men are more or less virtuous. "Shame," says Homer, "bids the youth beware how he accosts. the man of many years." "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of an old man."-Leviticus.

Among us, and wherever birth and possessions give rank and authority, the young and the profligate are seen continually above the old and the worthy: there Age can never find its due respect. But among many of the ancient nations it was otherwise; and they reaped the benefit of it. Rien ne maintient plus les mœurs, qu'une extrême subordination des jeunes.