Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair,
Presented with an universal blank

Of Nature's works, to me expunged and rased,
And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.
So much the rather thou, celestial light,

Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate; there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.

11.-ROLLA'S ADDRESS TO THE PERUVIANS.
R. B. SHERIDAN.

[See p. 298.]

My brave associates-partners of my toil, my feelings, and my fame!-Can Rolla's words add vigour to the virtuous energies which inspire your hearts? No! you have judged, as I have, the foulness of the crafty plea by which these bold invaders would delude you. Your generous spirit has compared, as mine has, the motives which, in a war like this, can animate their minds and ours. They, by a strange frenzy driven, fight for power, for plunder, and extended rule;-we, for our country, our altars, and our homes. They follow an adventurer whom they fear, and obey a power which they hate;—we serve a monarch whom we love, a God whom we adore. Whene'er they move in anger, desolation tracks their progress! where'er they pause in amity, affliction mourns their friendship! They boast they come but to improve our state, enlarge our thoughts, and free us from the yoke of error:-Yes; they will give enlightened freedom to our minds, who are themselves the slaves of passion, avarice, and pride!-They offer us their protection:-yes, such protection as vultures give to lambs-covering and devouring them!-They call upon us to barter all the good we have inherited and proved, for the desperate chance of something better-which they promise. Be our plain answer this: the throne we honour is the people's choice-the laws we reverence are our brave fathers' legacy-the faith we follow teaches us to live in bonds of charity with all mankind, and die with hope of bliss beyond the grave. Tell your invaders this, and tell them too, we seek no change; and, least of all, such change as they would bring us.

12.-DOUGLAS'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF.
REV. JOHN HOME.
[See p. 355.]

My name is Norval. On the Grampian hills
My father feeds his flocks; a frugal swain,
Whose constant cares were to increase his store,

And keep his only son, myself, at home:

For I had heard of battles, and I longed

To follow to the field some warlike lord:

And Heaven soon granted what my sire denied.
This moon, which rose last night, round as my shield,
Had not yet filled her horns, when, by her light,
A band of fierce barbarians, from the hills,
Rushed, like a torrent, down upon the vale,
Sweeping our flocks and herds. The shepherds fled
For safety and for succour. I alone,

With bended bow, and quiver full of arrows,
Hovered about the enemy, and marked
The road he took; then hasted to my friends;
Whom, with a troop of fifty chosen men,
I met advancing. The pursuit I led,

Till we o'ertook the spoil-encumbered foe.

We fought and conquered! Ere a sword was drawn,
An arrow from my bow had pierced their chief,
that day, the arms which now I wear.
Returning home in triumph, I disdained

Who wore,

The shepherd's slothful life; and, having heard
That our good king had summoned his bold peers
To lead their warriors to the Carron side,

I left my father's house, and took with me
A chosen servant to conduct my steps-

Yon trembling coward, who forsook his master.
Journeying with this intent, I passed these towers;
And, heaven-directed, came this day, to do
The happy deed, that gilds my humble name.

[Dr. Marston was born at Boston, Lincolnshire, Jan. 30, 1820. He was articled to a solicitor in London, but relinquished the law for the more genial, though frequently less profitable, profession of literature. His fine tragedy, "The Patrician's Daughter," produced some years ago, at once stamped him as a dramatist of the highest order. He has since produced "The Heart and the World," a play; "Strathmore," a tragedy; "Ann Blake," a play; "A Life's Ransom," a play; and, in 1863, "Pure Gold," a play. Dr. Marston is the author of several novels; and has contributed many charming lyrics to the Athenæum, of which journal he is understood to be one of the critics.]

STAY!

Before we part, I have a word or two

For Lady Mabel's ear.-I know right well
The world has no tribunal to avenge
An injury like mine; you may allure

The human heart to love, warm it with smiles,

To aspirations of a dream-like bliss,

From which to wake is madness; and when spells
Of your enchantment have enslaved it quite,
Its motives, feelings, energies, and hopes,
Abstracted from all objects save yourself,
So that you are its world, its light, its life,
And all beside is void, and dark, and dead:
I say, that very heart, brought to this pass,
You may spurn from your path, pass on and jest,
And the crowd will jest with you; you will glide
With eye as radiant, and with brow as smooth,
And feet as light, through your charmed worshippers,
As though the angel's pen had failed to trace
The record of your crimes; and every night
Lulled by soft flatteries, you may calmly sleep,
As do the innocent;-but it is crime,

Deep crime, that you commit. Had you, for sport,
Trampled upon the earth a favourite rose,
Pride of the garden, or, in wantonness,
Cast in the sea a jewel not your own,

All men had held you guilty of offence.

And is it then no sin,

To crush those flowers of life, our freshest hopes,
With all the incipient beauty in the bud,

Which know no second growth ?-to cast our faith
In humankind, the only amulet

By which the soul walks fearless through the world,
Into those floods of memoried bitterness,
Whose awful depths no diver dares explore ;-
To paralyse the expectant mind, while yet
On the world's threshold, and existence' self
To drain of all save its inert endurance ?
To do all this unprovoked, I put it to you,
Is not this sin? To the unsleeping eye
Of Him who sees all aims, and knows the wrongs
No laws save His redress, I make appeal
To judge between us. There's an hour will come,
Not of revenge, but righteous retribution!

14. THE PRAYER OF FESTUS.
P. J. BAILEY.

[Philip James Bailey was born in Nottingham in 1816, and educated for the bar. His first poem, "Festus," appeared in 1839. He is also the author of "The Angel World," 1850; "The Mystic," 1855; and "The Age: a Satire," 1858. There is some fine imagery in many of his works, which are, upon the whole, very unequal. Still living.]

GRANT us, O God! that in Thy holy love
The universal people of the world

May grow more great and happy every day;
Mightier, wiser, humbler, too, towards Thee.
And that all ranks, all classes, callings, states
Of life, so far as such seem right to Thee,
May mingle into one, like sister trees,
And so in one stem flourish:-that all laws
And powers of
government be based and used
In good and for the people's sake;-that each
May feel himself of consequence to all,

And act as though all saw him!--that the whole,
The mass of every nation may so do

As is most worthy of the next to God;

For a whole people's souls, each one worth more
Than a mere world of matter, make combined
A something godlike something like to Thee.
We pray Thee for the welfare of all men.

Let monarchs who love truth and freedom feel
The happiness of safety and respect

From those they rule, and guardianship from Thee.
Let them remember they are set on thrones
As representatives, not substitutes

Of nations, to implead with God and man.
Let tyrants who hate truth, or fear the free,
Know that to rule in slavery and error,

For the mere ends of personal pomp and power,
Is such a sin as doth deserve a hell

To itself sole. Let both remember, Lord!

They are but things like-natured with all nations;
That mountains issue out of plains; and not
Plains out of mountains, and so likewise kings
Are of the people, not the people of kings.
And let all feel, the rulers and the ruled,
All classes and all countries, that the world
Is Thy great halidom; that Thou art King,
Lord! only owner and possessor. Grant
That nations may now see, it is not kings,
Nor priests they need fear so much as themselves;
That if they keep but true to themselves, and free,
Sober, enlightened, godly-mortal men

Become impassible as air, one great

And indestructible substance as the sea.

Let all on thrones and judgment-seats reflect
How dreadful Thy revenge through nations is

On those who wrong them; but do Thou grant, Lord!
That when wrongs are to be redressed, such may
Be done with mildness, speed, and firmness, not
With violence or hate, whereby one wrong
Translates another-both to Thee abhorrent.
The bells of time are ringing changes fast,
Grant, Lord! that each fresh peal may usher in

An era of advancement, that each change
Prove an effectual, lasting, happy gain.
And we beseech Thee, overrule, O God!
All civil contests to the good of all;
All party and religious difference
To honourable ends, whether secured
Or lost; and let all strife, political
Or social, spring from conscientious aims,
And have a generous self-ennobling end,

Man's good and Thine own glory in view always!
The best may then fail and the worst succeed
Alike with honour. We beseech Thee, Lord!
For bodily strength, but more especially

For the soul's health and safety. We entreat Thee
In Thy great mercy to decrease our wants,
And add autumnal increase to the comforts
Which tend to keep men innocent, and load

Their hearts with thanks to Thee as trees in bearing :-
The blessings of friends, families, and homes,
And kindnesses of kindred. And we pray
That men may rule themselves in faith in God,
In charity to each other, and in hope

Of their own souls' salvation :-that the mass,
The millions in all nations may be trained,
From their youth upwards, in a nobler mode,
To loftier and more liberal ends. We pray
Above all things, Lord! that all men be free
From bondage, whether of the mind or body;—
The bondage of religious bigotry,

And bald antiquity, servility

Of thought or speech to rank and power: be all
Free as they ought to be in mind and soul
As well as by state-birthright;-and that Mind,
Time's giant pupil, may right soon attain
Majority, and speak and act for himself.

Incline Thou to our prayers, and grant, O Lord!
That all may have enough, and some safe mean
Of worldly goods and honours, by degrees,
Take place, if practicable, in the fitness

And fulness of Thy time. And we beseech Thee,

That truth no more be gagged, nor conscience dungeoned,

Nor science be impeached of godlessness,

Nor faith be circumscribed, which as to Thee,
And the soul's self affairs is infinite;
But that all men may have due liberty
To speak an honest mind, in every land,
Encouragement to study, leave to act
As conscience orders. *

*

*