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"Another year is gone!"

The ruined spire--the crumbling tower,
Nodding obeyed his awful power,
AS TIME flew swiftly on.

7. Since beauty, then, to Time must bow,
And age deform the fairest brow,

Let brighter charms be yours,-
The virtuous mind, embalmed in truth,
Shall bloom in everlasting youth,
While TIME himself endures."

LESSON XXXIV.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.-1. BABYLON was the capital of the Assyrian empire, situated on the river Euphrates. The extent of the city, as represented, approaches the miraculous. It was surrounded by a wall about 60 miles in circumference, 87 feet thick, and 35 feet high, with 250 towers and 100 brazen gates. But notwithstanding its greatness, its locality was, for a long time, a subject of doubt.

2. PALMYRA, an ancient city of Syria, is now but a vast assemblage of magnificent ruins. It was adorned with splendid palaces which, though the city has been twice destroyed, excite admiration.

TIME'S SOLILOQUY.

1. OLD'! call you mé? Ayè! when the Almighty spoke creation into birth I was there. Then was I born. Amid the bloom and verdure of paradise, I gazed upon the young world radiant with celestial smiles. I rose upon the pinions of the first morn, and caught the sweet dew-drops as they fell and sparkled on the boughs of the garden. Ere the foot of man was heard sounding in this wilderness, I gazed out on its thousand rivers, flashing in light, and reflecting the broad sun, like a thousand jewels upon their bosoms.

2. The cataracts sent up their anthems in these solitudes, and none was here but I, to listen to the new-born melody. The fawns bounded over the hills, and drank at the limpid streams, ages before an arm was raised to injure or make them afraid. For thousands of years the morning star rose in beauty upon

these unpeopled shores, and its twin-sister of the eve flamed in the forehead of the sky, with no eye to admire their 13 but mine.

3. Ayè! call me old'? Babylon' and Assyria, Palmyra and Thebes, rose, flourished, and fell, and I beheld them in their glory and their decline. Scarce a melancholy ruin marks the place of their existence; but when their first stones were laid in the earth, I was there! Amid all their splendor, glory, and wickedness, I was in their busy streets, and crumbling their magnificent palaces to the earth. My books will show a long and fearful account against them. empires-I give them their period of glory and splendor; but at their birth I conceal in them the seeds of death and decay. They must go down and be humbled in the dust-their heads bow down before the rising glories of young nations, to whose prosperity there will also come a date, and a day of decline.

I control the fate of

4. I poise my wings over the earth, and watch the course and doings of its inhabitants. I call up the violets upon the hill, and crumble the gray ruins to the ground. I am the agent of a Higher Power, to give life and to take it away. I spread silken tresses upon the brow of the young, and plant gray hairs on the head of the aged man. Dimples and smiles, at my bidding, lurk around the lips of the innocent child, and I furrow the brow of the aged with wrinkles.

5. Old'! call you mé? Ayè! but when will my days be numbered? When shall time end, and eternity begin? When will the earth and its waters-and the universe be rolled, and a new world commence its revolutions? Not till He who first bid me begin my flight, so orders it. When His purposes, who called me into being, are accomplished, then, and not till then, —and no one can proclaim the hour-I too shall go to the place of all living.

6. THE bell strikes one. We take no note of time But from its loss; to give it then a tongue

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I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright,
It is the knell of my departed hours.

Where are they? With the years beyond the flood. 7. It is the signal that demands dispatch ;

How much is to be done? My hopes and fears
Start up alarmed, and o'er life's narrow verge
Look down--on what? A fathomless abyss!
A dread eternity! how surely mine!

And can eternity belong to me,

Poor pensioner on the bounties of an hour?-YOUNG.

LESSON XXXV.

THE JUST RETRIBUTION.

DIMOND.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.-ALBERTI, the duke whose life had been assailed,JULIAN, MONTALDI,-STEPHANO, LUDOVICO,-AMBROSE, VINCENT,

-GUARDS, &c.

[Enter GUARDS, conducting JULIAN,-all the characters follow,ALBERTI ascends the judgment seat.]

Alberti.-My people!-the cause of your present assemblage, too well, is known to you. You come to witness the dispensations of an awful, but impartial justice;-either to rejoice in the acquittal of innocence, wrongfully accused, or to approve the conviction of guilt, arrested in its foul career. Personal feelings forbid me to assume this seat myself; yet fear not but that it will be filled by nobleness and honor ;~to MONTALDI Only, I resign it.

Julian.-He, my júdge! then I am lost indeed!

Alb.-Ascend the seat, my friend, and decide from it as your own virtuous conscience shall direct. This only will I say ;should the scales of accusation and defense poise doubtfully, let mercy touch them with her downy hand, and turn the balance on the gentler side.

Montaldi. [Ascending the judgment seat.]-Your will and honor are my only governors! [Bowing.] Julian, stand forth! you are charged with a most foul and horrible attempt upon

the life of my noble kinsman. The implements of murder have been found in your possession, and many powerful circumstances combine to fix the guilt upon you. What have you to urge in vindication?

Jul.-First, I aver by that Power whom vice dreads, and virtue reverences, that no word but strictest truth shall pass my lips. On yesterday evening, I crossed the mountain to the monastery of St. Bertrand; my errand thither finished, I returned directly to the valley. Rosalie saw me enter the cottage. Soon afterward, a strange outcry recalled me to the door; a mantle spread before the threshhold caught my eye;— I raised it, and discovered a mask within it. The mantle was newly stained with blood !---Consternation seized upon my soul, -the next moment I was surrounded by guards, and accused of murder! They produced the weapon which I had lost in defending myself against a ferocious animal. Confounded by terror and surprise, I had not power to explain the truth, and loaded with chains and reproaches, I was dragged to the dungeons of the castle. Here my knowledge of the dark transaction ends, and I have only this to add ;-I may become the victim of circumstance, but I never have been the slave of crime!

Mon. [Ironically smiling.]-Plausibly urged; have you no more to offer?

Jul.-Truth needs but few words-I have spoken!

Mon.-Yet bethink yourself. Dare you abide by this wild tale, and brave a sentence on no stronger plea?

Jul.-Alas! I have none else so offer.

Mon.-You say, on yesterday evening, you visited the monastery of St. Bertrand. What was your business there? Jul.-To engage Father Nicolo to marry Rosalie and myself on the following morning.

Mon.-A marriage too! Well, at what time did you quit the monastery?

Jul.-The bell for vesper-service had just ceased to toll.
Mon.-By what path did you return to the valley?

Jul.-Across the mountain.

Mon.—Did you not pass through the wood of olives, where the dark deed was attempted?

Jul. [Pausing.]-The wood of olives?

Mon.-Ha! mark! he hesitates-speak!

Jul.-No! my soul scorns to tell a falsehood. I did pass through the wood of olives.

Mon.-Aye! and pursuit was close behind. Stephano, you scized the prisoner?

Stephano.—I did. The bloody weapon bore his name; the mask and mantle were in his hands, confusion in his countenance, and every limb trembling with alarm.

Mon.-Enough! Heavens! that villainy so monstrous 'should inhabit with such tender youth! I fain would doubt, and in spite of reason, hesitate to give my sentence'; but conviction glares from every point, and incredulity would now be madness. Not to descant on the absurdity of your defensea tale too wild for romance to sanction-I find from your admission a chain of circumstances, that confirms your criminality. The time, at which you passed the wood, and the hour of the duke's attack, precisely correspond. You sought to rush on fortune by the readiest path, and snatch from the unwary traveler that sudden wealth which honest labor could only by slow degrees obtain. Defeated in the dark attempt, you fled. Pursuit was instant-your steps were traced—and at the very door of your cottage, you were seized before the evidences of your guilt could be secreted. Oh! wretched youth! I warn you to confess. Sincerity can be your only claim to mercy.

*

Jul. My heart will burst,-but I have spoken truth.

Mon.-Then I must exercise my duty.

tence.

Jul.-Hold! pronounce it not as yet!

Death is my sen

Mon.-If you have any further evidence, produce it.
Jul. [With despairing look.]-I call on Ludovico!

[Ludovico hastily steps forward. Montaldi starts back with evident
trepidation.]

Ludovico.-I am here!

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