THE LANDSMAN'S SONG.

8. I love, oh, how I love to ride

On the fierce, foaming, bursting tide,
When every mad wave drowns the moon,
Or whistles aloft his tempest tune,
And tells how goeth the world below,
And why the sou'west blasts do blow.

4. I never was on the dull, tame shore,

But I loved the great sea more and more,
And backward flew to her billowy breast,
Like a bird that seeketh its mother's nest;
And a mother she was and is to me;
For I was born on the open sea!

5. The waves were white, and red the morn,
In the noisy hour when I was born;
And the whale it whistled, the porpoise roll'd,
And the dolphins bared their backs of gold;
And never was heard such an outcry wild
As welcom❜d to life the ocean-child!

6. I've lived since then, in calm and strife,
Full fifty summers a sailor's life,

With wealth to spend and a power to rānge,
But never have sought nor sigh'd for change;
And Death, whenever he comes to me,
Shall come on the wild, unbounded sea!

PROCTER.

62. THE LANDSMAN'S SONG.

1. OH, who would be bound to the barren sea,

If he could dwell on land

Where his step is ever both firm and free,
Where flowers arise, like sweet girls' eyes,
And rivulets sing, like birds in spring?—
For me-I will take my stand
On land, on land!

Forever and ever on solid land!

157

2. I've sail'd on the riotous, roaring sea,
With an undaunted band:

Yět my village home more pleaseth me,
With its valleys gay, where maidens stray,
And its grassy mead, where the white flocks feed-
And so I will take my stand,
On land, on land!

Forever and ever on solid land!

3. Some say they could die on the salt, salt sea!
(But have they been loved on land?)
Some rave of the ocean in drunken glee—
Of the music born on a gusty morn,

When the tempest is waking, and billows are breaking,
And lightning flashing, and the thick rain dashing,
And the winds and the thunders shout forth the sea
wonders-

Such things may give joy to a dreaming boy—
But for me,-I will take my stand

On land, on land!

Forever and ever on solid land!

PROCTER.

I

63. GOLDEN RULES OF DAVID COPPERFIELD.

FEEL as if it were not for me to record, even though the manuscript' is intended for no eyes but mine, how hard I worked at that tremendous short-hand, and all improvement appertaining to it, in my sense of responsibility to Dora and her aunt. I will only add, to what I have already written of my perseverance at this time of my life, and of a patient and continuous energy which then began to be matured within me, and which I know to be the strong part of my character, if it

Mån' u script, any thing written with the hand. Tre men' dous, terrible; dreadful.- Ap per tàin'ing, belonging.-- Re spon si bil' i ty, the state of being answerable; obligation to provide for, or pay.-' Contin' u ous, closely joined; not interrupted.

GOLDEN RULES OF DAVID COPPERFIELD.

159

have any strength at all, that there, on looking back, I find the source of my success.

2. I have been very fortunate in worldly matters; many men have worked much harder, and not succeeded half so well; but I never could have done what I have done, without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate' myself on one object at a time, no matter how quickly its successor should come upon its heels, which I then formed. Heaven knows I write this in no spirit of self-lauda tion.2

3. The man who reviews his life, as I do mine, in going on here, from page to page, had need to have been a good man, indeed, if he would be spared the sharp consciousness of many talents neglected, many opportunities wasted, many erratic3 and perverted' feelings constantly at war within his breast, and defeating him. I do not hold one natural gift, I dare say, that I have not abused. My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that, in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest.

4. I have never believed it possible that any natural or improved ability can claim immunity' from the companionship of the steady, plain, hard-working qualities, and hope to gain its end. There is no such thing as such fulfillment on this earth. Some happy talent, and some fortunate opportunity, may form the two sides of the ladder on which some men mount; but the rounds of that ladder must be made of stuff to stand wear and tear; and there is no substitute for thorough-going, ardent, and sincere earnestness. Never to put one hand to any thing, on which I could throw my whole self; and never to affect depreciation' of my work, whatever it was; I find, now, to have been my GOLDEN RULES. CHARLES DICKENS.

1Con con' tråte, bring all one's powers together.---2 Sålf-lau då' tion, self-praise. Er råt' ic, wandering; roving.-' Per vêrt' ed, turned the wrong way.— Im mù' ni ty, freedom from.— Sůb' sti tùte, a thing put in the place of another.- Depreciation (de pre she à' shun), the act of lessening or crying down price or value.

1.

I

64. CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

WOULD not enter on my list of friends,

Though graced with polish'd manners and fine sense (Yet wanting sensibility),' the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.

2. The creeping vermin, loathsome3 to the sight,
And charged perhaps with venom, that intrudes,
A visitor unwelcome, into scenes

Sacred to neatness and repose, the ǎl'cove,

5

The chamber, or refectory, may die;

A necessary act incurs no blame.

3. Not so, when, held within their proper bounds,
And guiltless of offense, they range the air,
Or take their pastime in the spacious field.
There they are privileged; and he that hunts
Or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong,
Disturbs the economy of Nature's realm,
Who, when she form'd, design'd them an abode.
4. The sum is this: If man's convenience, health,
Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
Else they are all—the meanest things that are—
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,

As God was free to form them at the first,

Who in his sovereign3 wisdom made them all.

1 Sen si bil' i ty, delicacy of feeling; the condition in which the better feelings of the heart are easily moved.—2 In ad vårt' ent, careless; done without paying attention.-' Loath' some, disgusting; sickening.— Al' cove, a recess of a library, or a room; any shady recess.— Re fèc' to ry, a room where refreshment is taken.-E côn'o my, prudent ar rangements, or plans.-' Pår' a mount, superior to all others. Sover eign (sův' er in), superior; unbounded.

SENSIBILITY

5. Ye, therefore,' who love mercy, teach your sons
To love it too. The spring-time of our years
Is soon dishonor'd, and defiled in most,
By budding ills that ask a prudent hand
To check them. But, alas! none sooner shoots,
If unrestrain'd, into luxuriant growth,

Than cruelty, most devilish of them all.

6. Mercy to him that shows it, is the rule
And righteous limitation of its act,

By which Heaven moves in pardoning guilty man ;
And he that shows none, being ripe in years,
And conscious of the outrage he commits,
Shall seek it, and not find it, in his turn!

WM. COWPER.

161

65. SENSIBILITY.

1. SINCE trifles make the sum of human things,

SINCE

And half our misery from our foibles2 springs;
Since life's best joys consist in peace
and ease,
And though but few can serve, yet all may please,
Oh let the ungentle spirit learn from hence,
A small unkindness is a great offense.

2. To spread large bounties, though we wish in vain,
Yet all may shun the guilt of giving pain.

To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth,
With rank to grace them, or to crown with health,
Our little lot denies; yet liberal3 still,

God gives its counterpoise to every ill;
Nor let us murmur at our stinted powers,
When kindness, love, and concord may be ours.

3. The gift of ministering to others' ease,

To all her sons impartial Heaven decrees;

'Therefore (ther' for).— Foi' bles, weak faults; failings. Lib' er al, free; generous.- Coun' ter poise, that which compensates or balances. -Stint' ed, restrained; kept small.- Concord (kỏng' kård), agree ment; union.