No portents now our foes amaze, Forsaken Israel wanders lone: Our fathers would not know THY ways, And oh, when stoops on Judah's path And mute are timbrel, trump, and horn. Ivanhoe. ELLEN-THE LADY OF THE LAKE. But scarce again his horn he wound, A little skiff shot to the bay. With head upraised, and look intent, In listening mood she seem'd to stand, And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace Of finer form, or lovelier face! What though the sun, with ardent frown, A foot more light, a step more true, Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew; What though upon her speech there hung Those silver sounds, so soft, so dear, A chieftain's daughter seem'd the maid; Her satin snood, her silken plaid, Her golden brooch, such birth betray'd. Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid, Whose glossy black to shame might bring With maiden pride the maid conceal'd, One hour with Thee! When sun is set, The increasing wants, and lessening gains, Woodstock. FAREWELL TO THE MUSE.1 Enchantress, farewell, who so oft has decoy'd me At the close of the evening through woodlands to roam, Farewell, and take with thee thy numbers wild speaking Oh! none but some lover, whose heart-strings are breaking, Each joy thou couldst double, and when there came sorrow, What voice was like thine, that could sing of to-morrow, But when friends drop around us in life's weary waning, As vain thine enchantments, O Queen of wild Numbers, THE NECESSITY AND DIGNITY OF LABOUR. I rely upon it that you are now working hard in the classical mine, getting out the rubbish as fast as you can, and preparing yourself to collect the oré. I cannot too much impress upon your mind that labour is the condition which God has imposed on us in every station of life-there is nothing worth having that can be had without it, from the bread which the peasant wins with the sweat of his brow, to the sports by which the rich man must get rid of his ennui. The only difference betwixt them is, that the poor man Written, during illness, for Mr. Thomson's Scottish Collection, and first published in 1822. labors to get a dinner to his appetite, the rich man to get an appetite to his dinner. As for knowledge, it can no more be planted in the human mind without labor, than a field of wheat can be produced without the previous use of the plough. There is indeed this great difference, that chance or circumstances may so cause it that another shall reap what the farmer sows; but no man can be deprived, whether by accident or misfortune, of the fruits of his own studies; and the liberal and extended acquisitions of knowledge which he makes are all for his own use. Labour, my dear boy, therefore, and improve the time. In youth our steps are light, and our minds are ductile, and knowledge is easily laid up. But if we neglect our spring, our summer will be useless and contemptible, our harvest will be chaff, and the winter of our old age unrespected and desolate. EDUCATION OF THE HEART. From a Letter to his Son. I fear you have some very young ideas in your head. Are you not too apt to measure things by some reference to literature-to disbelieve that anybody can be worth much care who has no knowledge of that sort of thing, or taste for it! God help us! what a poor world this would be if that were the true doctrine! I have read books enough, and observed and conversed with enough of eminent and splendidly cultivated minds, too, in my time; but I assure you, I have heard higher sentiments from the lips of the poor, uneducated men and women, when exerting the spirit of severe yet gentle heroism under difficulties and afflictions, or speaking their simple thoughts as to circumstances in the lot of friends and neighbors, than I ever yet met with out of the pages of the Bible. We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine compared with the education of the heart. From his Life. A TRUE MAN. The man whom I call deserving the name, is one whose thoughts and exertions are for others rather than himself,-whose high purpose is adopted on just principles, and never abandoned while heaven or earth affords means of accomplishing it. He is one who will neither seek an indirect advantage by a specious road, nor take an evil path to secure a really good purpose. Such a man were one for whom a woman's heart should beat constant while he breathes, and break when he dies.1 1 A much fuller, nobler definition of a "True Man," is the following by the great Christian philosopher, Sir Robert Boyle: "In my apprehension, the man that has a great mind is he that uses his utmost moral A TRUE WOMAN. Her very soul is in home, and in the discharge of all those quiet virtues of which home is the centre. Her husband will be to her what her father is now-the object of all her care, solicitude, and affection. She will see nothing, and connect herself with nothing, but by or through him. If he be a man of sense and virtue, she will sympathize in his sorrows, divert his fatigues, and share his pleasures. If she become the portion of a churlish or negligent husband, she will suit his taste also, for she will not long survive his unkindness. FORTITUDE AND PERSEVERANCE. The great art of life, so far as I have been able to observe, consists in fortitude and perseverance. I have rarely seen, that a man who conscientiously devoted himself to the studies and duties of any profession, and did not omit to take fair and honorable opportunities of offering himself to notice when such presented themselves, has not at length got forward. The mischance of those who fall behind, though flung upon fortune, more frequently arises from want of skill and perseverance. Life, my young friend, is like a game at cards: our hands are alternately good or bad, and the whole seems, at first glance, to depend on mere chance. But it is not so, for in the long run the skill of the player predominates over the casualties of the game. Therefore, do not be discouraged with the prospect before you, but ply your studies hard, and qualify yourself to receive fortune when she comes your way. From a Letter in his Life. SIR WALTER RALEIGH'S FIRST INTERVIEW WITH QUEEN ELIZABETH. They were soon launched on the princely bosom of the broad Thames, upon which the sun now shone forth in all its splendor. "There are two things scarce matched in the universe," said Walter to Blount,-"the sun in heaven, and the Thames on the earth." "The one will light us to Greenwich well enough," said Blount, "and the other would take us there a little faster if it were ebb tide." "And this is all thou think'st-all thou carest-all thou deem'st the use of the king of elements and the king of rivers, to guide three such poor caitiffs as thyself, and me, and Tracy upon an idle journey of courtly ceremony!" diligence to find out what are the best things he can do, and then, without being deterred by dangers or discouraged by difficulties, does resolutely and steadily pursue them, so far as his abilities will serve; and this out of an internal principle of love to God and man, and with a sincere aim to glorify the one and benefit the other." |