Page images
PDF
EPUB

Cheshire. That awful" "spirit of order!" For my own part, I do so execrate the phrase, that if I were a member of the House of Commons, and the "order" of the day were called for, I should make it a "rule" to walk out.

LIII. THE FATHER'S RETURN FROM A FOREIGN LAND.

--

1. O JOYFUL hour when to our longing home

The long-expected wheels at length drew nigh!

When the first sound went forth, "They come, they come !
And hope's impatience quickened every eye.

"Never had man whom Heaven would heap with bliss
More glad return, more happy hour, than this."

2. Aloft on yonder bench, with arms dispread,

My boy stood, shouting there his father's name,
Waving his hat around his happy head;

39

And there, a younger group, his sisters came;
Smiling they stood with looks of pleased surprise,
While tears of joy were seen in elder eyes.

3. Soon each and all came crowding round to share
The cordial greeting, the beloved31 sight;
What welcomings of hand and lip were there!
And when those overflowings of delight

Subsided to a sense of quiet bliss,

Life hath no purer, deeper happiness.

4. Bring forth the treasures now, - a proud display,-
For rich as Eastern merchants we return!
Behold the black Beguine, the Sister gray,

EI

The Friars whose heads with sober motion turn;
The Ark well-filled, with all its numerous hives,
Noäh, and Shem, and Ja'phet, and their wives;·

[ocr errors]

;

5. The tumbler, loose of limb; the wrestlers twain
EI
And many a toy beside of quaint device,
Which, when his fleecy troops no more can gain
Their pasture on the mountains hōar with ice,-
The German shepherd carves with curious knife,
Earning in easy toil the food of frugal life.

6. It was a group which Richter, had he viewed,
Might have deemed worthy of his perfect skill;
The keen impatience of the younger brood,
Their eager eyes, and fingers never still;
The hope, the wonder, and the restless joy
Of those glad girls and that vociferous boy

[ocr errors]

7. The aged friend serene, with quiet smile,
Who in their pleasure finds her own delight;
The mother's heartfelt happiness the while;

28

The aunt's, rejoicing in the joyful sight;

And he who, in his gayety of heart,

With glib and noisy tongue performed the showman's part.

8. Scoff ye who will! but let me, gracious Heaven,
Preserve this boyish heart till life's last day!
For so that inward light by nature given

Shall still direct and cheer me on my way,
And, brightening as the shades of age descend,
Shine forth with heavenly radiance at the end.

SOUTHEY

[blocks in formation]

THE bird, let loose in Eastern skies, when hastening fondly home, Ne'er stoops to earth her wing, nor flies where idle warblers roam; But high she shoots through air and light, above all low delay, Where nothing earthly bounds her flight, nor shadow dims her way

So grant me, God, from every care and stain of passion free, Aloft, through Virtue's purer air, to hold my course to thee; No sin to cloud, no lure to stay12 my Soul, as home she springs; Thy Sunshine on her joyful way, thy Freedom in her wings!

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

3. The great, the gay, shall they partake
The Heaven that thou alone canst make?
And wilt thou quit the stream

The

That murmurs through the dewy mead,
grove, and the sequestered shed,
To be a guest with them?

4. For thee I panted, thee I prized,
For thee I gladly sacrificed

Whate'er141 I loved before;

And shall I see thee start away,
And, helpless, hopeless, hear thee say
Farewell! we meet no more ?181

COWFER.

LVI.

[ocr errors]

SPIRIT THE MOTIVE POWER OF THE BODY.

1. A MACHINE is a combination of parts composed of material substances, solid or fluid, or both, as the case may be; having certain definite forms and arrangements, and possessing certain capabilities of transmitting force or motion. Its objects are to move, press, sustain, combine, divide, or otherwise, those substances to which it is applied. But the machine itself, merely as such, cannot accomplish this.

ΕΙ

2. It possesses not its own principle of motion; it cannot urge its own levers, or stretch its own cords, or turn its own wheels, or put its own fluids into circulation. The application of some efficient cause, extrinsic to and altogether distinct from the machine itself, is necessary to accomplish this. This extrinsic cause, whatever it be, from which the machine derives its motion and efficacy, is called the prime mover.

3. The point on which I desire now to fix your attention is, that this prime mover is altogether distinct from and independent of the machine; that it possesses, or at least may possess, no property in common with it; and that its existence, or nonexistence, is not decided by the existence or non-existence of the machine.

4. The machine may be broken, destroyed, worn by age, or otherwise disabled, and yet the prime mover may still retain its original energy. Thus a steam-engine is moved by fire, a mill by wind or water; the steam-engine may deteriorate by age, and the mill be broken by accident, and yet the fire, and the wind, and the water, will still preserve their powers.

5. These observations, which correctly describe a machine, may with propriety be applied to the human body. This body is also a combination of parts, composed of material substances, solid and fluid, having certain definite forms and arrangements, possessing certain capabilities of motion and force, destined and

admirably adapted to obey the dictation of its prime mover, the living principle, the immaterial spirit.

ΕΙ

6. So long as it pleases the Great Engineer who constructed this body to permit its connection with that intellectual spirit, so long will it obey the impulses which it receives; nor does the decay in this bodily machine infer any corresponding decay of the moving spirit, any more than the wear and tear of a steamengine proves the destruction of the principle of heat which gives it motion.

7. Neither are we to infer, because this bodily machine, in its obedience to the vital spirit, acts mechanically, and follows all the ordinary properties and laws of matter, that, therefore, the spirit which moves it partakes of the nature of matter, or is answerable to its laws, any more than we should infer that the lēvers, wheels, pumps, chains, cords, and valves, of a steamengine, are regulated by the laws which govern heat. On the contrary, I submit it to the candor of the most sceptical46 materialist, whether the whole tendency of analogy does not directly overthrow the hypothesis, that the principle of life is organic."

[ocr errors]

ΕΙ

ΕΙ

8. We are assured in the Scriptures that in the first instance "God formed man of the dust of the ground;" that is to say, He created that curious and beautiful machine, the organized human body; but that body was still an inert structure, without the principle of motion, or spontaneity. A more noble work remained to be performed; the immaterial spirit, the divine essence, the prime mover of this machine, was to be applied; and, accordingly, we learn that God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;" and then, and not till then, "man became a living soul."

LARDNER.

LVII. THE LION AND THE SPANIEL.

1. In the afternoon our company went again to the Tower to see the great lion and the little dog, as well as to hear the recent story of their friendship. They found the place thronged, and all were obliged to pay treble prices on account of the unprec edented novelty of the show; so that the keeper, in a short space, acquired a little fortune.

2. The great cage in the front was occupied by a beast, who, by way of preeminence, was called the king's lion; and, white he traversed the limits of his straitened dominions, he was attended by a small and very beautiful black spaniel, who frisked and gambolled about him, and at times would pretend to snarl

36

and bite at him; and again the noble animal, with an air of fond com'plaisance, would hold down his head, while the little creature licked his formidable chaps. Their history, as the keeper related it, was as follows:

ΕΙ

3. It was customary for all who were unable or unwilling to pay their sixpence, to bring a dog or cat as an oblation to the beast in lieu of money to the keeper. Among others, a fellow had caught up in the streets this pretty black spaniel, who was accordingly thrown into the cage of the great lion. Immediately the little animal trembled, and shivered, and crouched, and threw itself on its back, and put forth its tongue, and held up its paws in sup'plicatory attitudes, as an acknowledgment of superior power, and praying for mercy.

4. In the mean time, the lordly brute, instead of devouring it, beheld it with an eye of philosophic inspection. He turned it over with one paw, and then turned it with the other; smelled of it, and seemed desirous of courting a further acquaintance. The keeper, on seeing this, brought a large mess of his own family dinner; but the lion kept aloof, and refused to eat, keeping his eye on the dog, and inviting him, as it were, to be his taster. At length, the little animal's fears being something abated, and his appetite quickened by the smell of the victuals," he approached slowly, and with trembling ventured to eat. The lion then advanced gently and began to partake, and they finished their meal very lovingly together.

5. From this day the strictest friendship commenced between them,- -a friendship consisting of all possible affection and tenderness on the part of the lion, and of the utmost confidence and boldness on the part of the dog; insomuch that he would lay himself down to sleep within the fangs and under the jaws of his terrible patron.

6. A gentleman who had lost the spaniel, and had ad'vertised a reward of two guineas to the finder, at length heard of the adventure, and went to reclaim the dog. "You see, sir," said the keeper, "it would be a great pity to part such loving friends; however, if you insist upon having your property, you must even be pleased to take him yourself; it is a task that I would not engage in for five hundred guineas." The gentleman rose into great wrath, but finally chose to acquiesce rather than have a personal dispute with the lion.

7. As Mr. Felton had a curiosity to see the two friends eat together, he sent for twenty pounds of beef, which was accordingly cut in pieces, and given into the cage; when immediately the little brute, whose appetite happened to be eager at the time, was desirous of making a monop'oly of the whole, and putting

« EelmineJätka »