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As threatening, in their angry play,
To sweep both king and court away.
The monarch with upbraiding look,
Turned to the courtly ring;

But none the kindling eye could brook
Even of his earthly king;

For in that wrathful glance they see
A mightier monarch wronged than he!

Canute! thy regal race is run;
Thy name had passed away,
But for the meed this tale hath won,
Which never shall decay:
Its meek, unperishing renown,
Outlasts thy sceptre and thy crown.

defied,

The Persian, in his mighty pride,1
Forged fetters for the main;
And when its floods his power
Inflicted stripes as vain ;-
But it was worthier far of thee
To know thyself, than rule the sea!

1. Of what countries was Canute king? 2. How great did his flatterers say his power was?

3. To what verb is they, in verse 4th the nominative?

4. When seated on the shore, what command did the monarch give the sea? 5. What effect did it produce?

6. Who are meant by the word all, in verse 5th?

7. What mightier monarch is meant? 8. When did Canute flourish?

9 What keeps his name still alive i our minds?

10. Relate the historical fact referred to in the last verse.

ABOU BEN ADHEM AND THE ANGEL.

LEIGH HUNT.

1 John iii. 14. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

ABOU BEN ADHEM (may his tribe increase),
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel, writing in a book of gold:-
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,

"What writest thou?"-The vision raised its head,
And, with a look made of all sweet accord,

Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

1 Xerxes king of Persia was the son and successor of Darius. He raised an immense army of nearly three millions of men, it is said, to subdue Greece, caused a bridge of boats to be built over the Hellespont, and in his folly had the sea flogged for breaking the bridge to pieces. This great army was completely scattered, and the fleet also destroyed by the bravery of the Greeks, and Xerxes himself was assassinated by Artaba'nus the captain of his guard. Xerxes is called in scripture Ahasuerus.

"Nay, not so,'

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"And is mine one?" said Abou.
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then
Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

STUDY OF THE WORKS OF NATURE.

THOMSON.

O NATURE! all-sufficient! over all!
Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works!
Snatch me to heaven; thy rolling wonders there,
World beyond world, in infinite extent,
Profusely scattered o'er the blue immense,
Show me; their motions, periods, and their laws,
Give me to scan; through the disclosing deep-
Light my blind way; the mineral strata there;
Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world
O'er that the rising system more complex,
Of animals; and higher still, the mind,
The varied scene of quick-compounded thought,
And where the mixing passions endless shift;
These ever open to my ravished eye;

A search, the flight of time can ne'er exhaust!
But if to that unequal; if the blood,

;

In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid
That best ambition; under closing shades,
Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook,
And whisper to my dreams. From thee begin,
Dwell all on thee, with thee conclude my song;
And let me never, never stray from thee!

1. What is meant by Nature here?
2. What mean you by the rolling wonders
of heaven?

3. What would the poet like to learn about these worlds?

4. Name the kingdoms of nature in their order, beginning with the lowest.

5. Where are the strata or beds of minrals found?

6. Whence is the vegetable world thrust? 7. What system of works stands above the vegetable kingdom?

8. What is the grandest work of creation here below?

9. What perfections of God may we learn from the material world?

10. Ah! but where do we learn that He is a God of mercy and justice combined?

NAPOLEON AND THE BRITISH SAILOR.

I LOVE Contemplating-apart

From all his homicidal glory

The traits that soften to our heart

Napoleon's story.

CAMPBELL.

'Twas when his banners at Boulogne,
Armed in our island every freeman,
His navy chanced to capture one
Poor British seaman.

They suffered him, I know not how,
Unprisoned on the shore to roam;
And aye was bent his youthful brow
On England's home.

His eye, methinks, pursued the flight
Of birds to Britain, half way over,
With envy-they could reach the white
Dear cliffs of Dover.

A stormy midnight watch, he thought,
Than this sojourn would have been dearer,
If but the storm his vessel brought

To England nearer.

At last when care had banished sleep,
He saw one morning, dreaming, doating,
An empty hogshead from the deep
Come shoreward floating.

He hid it in a cave, and wrought
The live long day, laborious, lurking,
Until he launched a tiny boat,
By mighty working.

Oh dear me! 'twas a thing beyond
Description!-such a wretched wherry,
Perhaps, ne'er ventured on a pond,
Or crossed a ferry.

For ploughing in the salt sea field,
It would have made the boldest shudder;
Untarred, uncompassed, and unkeeled,—
No sail-no rudder.

From neighbouring woods he interlaced
His sorry skiff with wattled willows;
And thus equipped he would have passed
The foaming billows.

A French guard caught him on the beach,
His little Argo sorely jeering,

Till tidings of him chanced to reach
Napoleon's hearing.

With folded arms Napoleon stood,
Serene alike in peace and danger,
And, in his wonted attitude,

Addressed the stranger.

"Rash youth, that wouldst yon channel pass
On twigs and staves so rudely fashioned,
Thy heart with some sweet English lass
Must be impassioned."

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ONE MORNING (raw it was and wet,

A foggy day in winter time),

A woman on the road I met,

Not old, though something past her prime;
Majestic in her person, tall and straight;

And like a Roman matron's was her mien and gait.

The ancient spirit is not dead,

Old times, thought I, are breathing there;
Proud was I that my country bred

Such strength, a dignity so fair:

She begged an alms, like one in poor estate,
I looked at her again, nor did my pride abate.

When from these lofty thoughts I woke,
"What is it," said I, "that you bear,
Beneath the covert of your cloak,
Protected from this cold damp air?"
She answered, soon as she the question heard,
"A simple burthen, Sir, a little singing-bird."

And, thus continuing, she said,
"I had a son, who many a day
Sailed on the seas, but he is dead;

In Denmark he was cast away:

And I have travelled weary miles to see

If aught which he had owned might still remain for me.

The bird and cage they both were his:

'Twas my son's bird; and neat and trim
He kept it: many voyages

This singing-bird had gone with him;

When last he sailed, he left the bird behind;

From bodings, as might be, that hung upon his mind.

He to a fellow lodger's care

Had left it to be watched and fed,
And pipe its song in safety ;- there
I found it when my son was dead;

And now, God help me for my little wit!

I bear it with me, Sir;-he took so much delight in it.”

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"TIS PLEASANT by the cheerful hearth to hear
Of tempests, and the dangers of the deep,

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