3. When the world is dark with tempests; when thunder rolls, and lightning flies, thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds, and laughest at the storm. But to Ossian, thou lookest in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more; whether thy yellow hairs flow on the eastern clouds, or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. 4. But thou art, perhaps, like me for a season; thy years will have an end. Thou shalt sleep in the clouds, careless of the voice of the morning. Exult, then, O sun! in the strength of thy youth! 5. Age is dark and unlovely; it is like the glimmering light of the moon, when it shines through broken clouds, and the mist is on the hills; the blast of the north is on the plain; the traveller shrinks in the midst of his journey.—Ossian. Ossian, whose beautiful and sublime address to the sun is here inserted, was a Caledonian, and is supposed to have been the son of Fingal. It is presumed that he flourished in the fourth century, from which period to the present time, his writings have commanded the admiration of the world. His effusions have been the delight of men highly distinguished for their talents, among whom may be mentioned Napoleon Bonaparte. At the time Ossian made this magnificent apostrophe to the sun, he was blind, to which circumstance he alludes, when he says: "For he beholds thy beams no more." Homer and Milton were also blind when they wrote some of their best pieces. It seems, that in proportion as physical light was excluded from the three great poets, eyes of genius were planted in their minds. The sun is the first material object to which man ever bowed in worship. It both discovers and conceals the glory of its great Creator, who alone is entitled to our adoration. Ossian's cotemporaries doubtless worshipped the sun; but it appears that he, at least, doubted the propriety of doing it, as he calls in question its eternity. It is, however, believed that Ossian paid more homage to the sun, than to any other object: and, therefore, his address to it may be regarded as a prayer, emanating from the heart of a blind and aged man. Its elocution requires slow time, somewhat of a low key, and long quantity. It is one of the most exquisite productions in our language; and, when properly read or recited, appeals powerfully to the sympathetic feelings of our naThe author is aware the question is not settled with certainty, that Ossian really existed, or if he did, that he actually wrote the poems attributed to him. ture. 1. RIENZI'S ADDRESS TO THE ROMANS. I come not here to talk. You know too well The story of our thraldom. We are slaves! 2. 3. The bright sun rises to his course, and lights Strong in some hundred spearmen-only great Each hour, dark fraud, Cry out against them. But this very day, Full of gentleness, of calmest hope, Of sweet and quiet joy-there was the look How I lov'd That gracious boy! Younger by fifteen years, Brother at once, and son! He left my side, A summer bloom on his fair cheek,-a smile Parting his innocent lips. In one short hour The pretty harmless boy was slain! I saw The corse, the mangled corse, and then I cried For vengeance! Rouse ye, Romans!-ROUSE YE, SLAVES ! Have ye brave sons? Look in the next fierce brawl To see them die. Have ye fair daughters? Look To see them live, torn from your arms, distained, Dishonored; and if ye dare call for justice, Be answered by the lash. 4. Yet this is Rome, That sat on her seven hills, and, from her throne Was greater than a king! And once again, Hear me, ye walls, that echoed to the tread The eternal city shall be free.-Miss Mitford. The above address was written by Miss Mitford, and it is a most admirable piece for an elocutionary exercise. It requires sudden transitions of voice; in other words, the high, low, and middle keys of the voice are all heard in it. The talent displayed in the composition of the address, exhibits evidence of the high intellectual endowments of the writer. It shows, moreover, that ladies may sometimes wield as powerful a pen as men. ADDRESS TO THE OCEAN. 1. Oh! that the desert were my dwelling place, 2. There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal. 3. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean-roll! Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain ; Man marks the earth with ruin-his control He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan, 4. Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Calm or convulsed-in breeze, or gale, or storm, Dark heaving;-boundless, endless, and sublime- Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime 6. My task is done-my song hath ceased-my theme Has died into an echo; it is fit The spell should break of this protracted dream. The torch shall be extinguished which hath lit My midnight lamp-and what is writ, is writ,— Would it were worthier! but I am not now That which I have been-and my visions flit Less palpably before me-and the glow, Which in my spirit dwelt, is fluttering, faint, and low. Byron. The above address to the ocean was written by George Gordon Byron, a nobleman of England, who was born in London, in January, 1788, and died at Missolonghi in Greece, in April, 1824. He was decidedly the greatest poet of the age in which he lived, Phrenologists say, that he had destructiveness too prominently developed. However that may be, he fell a martyr in the cause of freedom, while assisting the Greeks to obtain it, at the early age of thirty-six. It is a matter of regret that his moral habits were not in all respects correct, and that some of his writings are apparently hostile to the pure principles of christianity. His address to the ocean is from "Childe Harold." It should be given on a middle key, with slow time, and long quantity. Elocution requires that it be so read or recited as to call up all the internal feelings which animated the author at the time he wrote it, in the minds of both reader and hearer. SPEECH OF HENRY V., TO HIS TROOPS BEFORE THE GATES OF HARFLEUR. 1. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead! In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man, But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Let it pry through the portage of the head, O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, 3. And teach them how to war! And you, good yeomen, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture; let us swear That you are worth your breeding, which I doubt not; For there is none of you so mean and base, |