Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light,
Angels; for ye behold him, and with songs
And choral symphonies, day without night,
Circle his throne rejoicing; ye in heaven;
On earth join all ye creatures to extol
Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.

2. Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,

If better thou belong not to the dawn,

Sure pledge of day, that crownest the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere,
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul,
Acknowledge him thy greater; sound his praise
In thy eternal course, both when thou climbest,
And when high noon hast gained; and when thou

3. Ye mists and exhalations, that now rise

From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray,
Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honor to the world's great Author rise;
Whether to deck with clouds the uncolored sky,
Or wet the thirsty earth with falling showers,
Rising or falling, still advance his praise.

His praise, ye winds that from four quarters blow,
Breathe soft or loud; and wave your tops, ye pines,
With every plant, in sign of worship wave.
Fountains, and ye that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious murmurs, warbling tune his praise.

4. Join voices, all ye living souls; ye birds,
That singing up to heaven's gate ascend,
Bear on your wings and in your notes his praise.
Ye that in waters glide, and ye that walk

The earth and stately tread or lowly creep;
Witness if I be silent, morn or even,

To hill or valley, fountain or fresh shade,
Made vocal by my song, and taught his praise.
Hail, universal Lord; be bounteous still
To give us only good; and if the night
Have gathered aught of evil or concealed,
Disperse it, as more light dispels the dark.

I. Verse 1.-What "great epic poem"? An epic is a narrative poem of elevated character, generally describing the exploits of heroes.-Who wrote the Iliad?-the Eneid?-the Divina Commedia? [Dan'te wrote the latter.] Tell what you can about them. V. 3. What "king's trial"?-Meaning of "polemical"?-What is meant by "freedom of the press" ?-Who was the "Protector"? V. 4. What is meant by "restoration of Charles the Second"?— "Public life"?

V. 6. A typical poem" is one that has certain leading characteristics, of which the one referred to is the type, and which other poems imitate or copy. "Samson Agonistes" [Samson the Athlete].-Meaning of "buskin and mask"?" Hellas," Greece. What figure of speech is here used?-Sophocles, a Greek tragic poet, born about 495 B.C.-Meaning of tragic, tragedy, tragedian.-" Unities of the drama." See p. 106, v. 3. "Germanic feelings and ideas." See the "Puritan austerity." Who were the Puritans?" Classical See p. 106, v. 3.

same.

forms."

V. 7. Who were the "three poets" here referred to?

V. 8.-" Titan," one of the fabled giants of ancient mythology.— What figures are embraced in the phrases, "an intellectual Titan," a blind Samson,' "" the Philistines"?

II. What simile in the last verse of The Death of Samson ? — V. 5. "Lyrical poetry"-among the ancients, poetry sung to the lyre; among the moderns, poetry that expresses the individual emotions of the poet, as opposed to epic poetry, which details external circumstances and events.

III. Point out the numerous examples of apostrophe and personification in this selection.-V. 2. "Fairest of stars." The planet Venus, at certain seasons called "the evening star," at others, "the morning star."

CHAPTER IV.-MISCELLANEOUS.

I.-Elsie.

1. On the table a goblet of sweet, fresh milk; On the sofa a banner of crimson silk;

Over the picture a garland of flowers;

On the hearth a bright fire, giving cheer to the hours;
In the cage a gay bird, on an ivory ring,
Singing a carol to welcome the Spring;
In Elsie's young heart a beneficent thought,
From the story of Jesus the Merciful caught.

2. Baby drank up the fresh goblet of milk;

- John marched away with the banner of silk;
The flowers dropped silently, one by one;
The fire turned to ashes at setting of sun;
The cage was left open, one warm, sunny day,
And, beckoned by Summer, the bird flew away;
But the thought haply planted in Elsie's child-heart
Took root and became of her spirit a part,
And blossomed in many a generous deed,

Like flowers blooming fair from a wayside seed.

Mrs. E D. Harrington.

What are here represented as fleeting and transitory ?-Designed to picture forth what?" Planting a thought." What figure is this?— What simile at the close of the second verse?

1.

II.-Hannah Binding Shoes.

Poor lone Hannah,

Sitting at the window binding shoes,
Faded, wrinkled,

Sitting, stitching, in a mournful muse.

Bright-eyed beauty once was she,
When the bloom was on the tree;

Spring and winter,

Hannah's at the window binding shoes.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Not a neighbor

Passing, nod or answer will refuse
To her whisper,

"Is there from the fishers any news?"
Oh, her heart's adrift with one
On an endless voyage gone!
Night and morning,

Hannah's at the window binding shoes.

Fair young Hannah,

Ben, the sunburnt fisher, gayly wooes;
Hale and clever,

For a willing heart and hand he sues.
May-day skies are all aglow,

And the waves are laughing so!
For her wedding

Hannah leaves her window and her shoes.

May is passing;

'Mid the apple-boughs a pigeon cooes.

Hannah shudders,

For the mild south wester mischief brews.
Round the rocks of Marblehead,
Outward bound, a schooner sped;
Silent, lonesome,

Hannah's at the window binding shoes.

"Tis November;

Now no tear her wasted cheek bedews.
From Newfoundland

Not a sail returning will she lose,

Whispering hoarsely, "Fishermen,
Have you, have you heard of Ben?"
Old with watching,

Hannah's at the window binding shoes.

Bleach and tear the ragged shore she views.
Twenty seasons!

Never one has brought her any news.
Still her dim eyes silently

Chase the white sails o'er the sea:

Hopeless, faithful,

Hannah's at the window binding shoes.

Lucy Larcom.

CHAPTER V.-JOHN BUNYAN, 1628-1688.

I.-Biographical.

1. Right in the midst of the great and shining lights of the Augustan Age of English literature, appears John Bunyan, the celebrated author of the world-renowned Pilgrim's Progress from this World to that which is to come. The history of this man, and the character and reputation of his writings, illustrate, in a very marked manner, the times in which he lived. Of his style of writing, Southey says, "His is a homespun style, not a manufactured one. If it is not a well of English undefiled to which the poet as well as the philologist must repair, if they would drink of the living waters, it is a clear stream of current English, the vernacular speech of his age, sometimes, indeed, in its rusticity and coarseness, but always in its plainness and its strength."

2. The poet Cowper thus alludes to Bunyan, but does not name him, lest the name should provoke a sneer!

66

'Ingenious dreamer! in whose well-told tale

Sweet fiction and sweet truth alike prevail:

Whose humorous vein, strong sense, and simple style,
May teach the gayest, make the gravest smile;