BENE MERENTI IN PACE VIT XX MESIS VI DIAES XVIII FELIX FECIT HORIE QUE ANNOS. For-Felix fecit Horiæ, quæ annos vixit xx, menses vi., dies xviii., benemerenti in pace.1 VIA ADREATINA. It has been disputed whether the gate that opens into this way, was anciently called Capena or Camena. If the former, it was because the way ran to a town of the same name mentioned by Virgil; if the latter, because near it were situated a grot and grove dedicated to the Camænæ. On this way, there were several celebrated cemeteries, the principal of which is that of S. S. Balbina and Mark. We are informed by S. Damasus, that St. Mark Pope, erected a basilick on it, in which he was buried together with Balbina. The ruins of this ancient monument are still to be seen. (To be continued) U. U. ON THE EXTENSION OF THE IMAGINATION. FROM the just exercise of our intellectual powers, arises the chief sources of happiness: the light of the sun is not more pleasant to the eye, than the light of knowledge to the mind: the gratifications of sense yield but a delusive charm, compared with the intellectual joys of which we are susceptible: but these joys, however refined, are at present much obscured: however wide the extent of human knowledge, however deep the researches of human wisdom, it must be confessed, that in this life our faculties are exceedingly limited: to us light is every where blended with darkness. Wherever we cast our eyes, or turn our thoughts, we are reminded of our ignorance; are liable to perpetual mistakes; and 1 The antique characters in which this inscription is written cannot be inserted for want of the type; they are extremely curious. 2 The following lines of Propertius seem to decide the literary controversy: "Armaque dum tulero portæ vicina capena, often fall into them even when in the pursuit of our wisest projects: but when the day of immortality arrives, all this shall vanish: the impervious shades of ignorance shall no more surround us: the happy spirit emancipated from mortality, shall be able to comprehend, fully and at once, all truths and objects: here we are as children, in heaven we shall arrive at the manhood of our being: hence we may justly infer, that we shall be capable of receiving abundant emanations of the excellence of God, and even of tracing the hidden springs of his mysterious operations. We already perceive in some measure, the charms of novelty, and the delight which arises from the contemplation of objects, new, grand, and beautiful: let us place before our imagination, the pleasing sensations we shall experience, the high transports we shall feel, when other worlds shall be unfolded to our view: when the glory of the celestial paradise shall beam upon our astonished vision: such felicity, even in prospective, enlarges the mind, and fills it with emotions which it cannot express: that our intellectual powers in a future state, shall be thus enlarged, is not a matter of mere conjecture, experience, reason, and revelation, combine to convince us. Experience teaches us, that activity is essential to the mind, and necessary for true enjoyment: reason tells us, that the acquisition of knowledge, particularly that which has reference to the works of the MOST HIGH, is the noblest exercise in which the active powers of the mind can be employed, and a source of the most refined enjoyment of which an intellectual being is capable: revelation assures us, that, "Now we know only in parthereafter that which is in part shall be done away-now we see darkly as through a glass-then we shall see God face to face, and know him even as also we are known." Blissful perfection! Amazing exaltation! Whilst those of the world fatigue themselves in search after folly: O! Let us expatiate in the fields of wisdom, explore the traces of infinite beauty, behold the omnipotent impressions of celestial majesty, lose ourselves in the depth of gratitude unutterable, in the knowledge and love of God, and thus, taste in time the happiness of eter nity. S. ON FUTURITY. THE idea of another and a better world, seems to be congenial to the human mind: it has been generally entertained in every age: the philosophers of ancient times, who possessed but the light of nature to direct them, cherished the ennobling notion of an immortal existence: even the untutored savage, flatters himself with the pleasing prospect of being one day transported into happier regions, and anticipates the pleasure which he will there enjoy in the company of his fathers: all feel within themselves, the "pleasing hope, the fond desire, the longing after immortality:" but, though nature has given to all her children some conceptions of immortality, it must be acknowledged that her information is far from proving satisfactory: hence we find, the most eminent sages of the heathen world, even while desiring and hoping for such a state, confessing themselves unable to demonstrate its existence: while towards futurity they bent their longing eyes, a thick cloud, impenetrable by unassisted reason, intercepted their view. From this state of painful anxiety we are happily relieved: to us, immortal life is clearly revealed: more clearly than even to those ancient personages, to whom God graciously revealed himself and committed his oracles: during the dispensation under which they lived, the prospect of a better world was afforded them, but by dark and distant allusions: the city of God was seen only from afar: its glory was obscured by intervening shades: but by the gospel these shades are dispelled: the sun of righteousness has arisen: eternal objects brighten: heaven in all its glory opens to our eyes: there, we behold those who are devoted to the service of their God, adorned with all holiness: filled with all happiness: and robed with all the honour which can be conferred upon their nature: they are the light of the world: yet, this is not worthy to be named, when we behold them "shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Old things shall have passed away, and all things have become new; their happiness shall have every increase, and nothing to diminish its value: its nature full and satisfactory: its duration eternity. S. ON THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE. PAUSE for a while, ye travellers on earth, to contemplate the universe in which you dwell, and the glory of him, who created it: what a scene of wonders is here presented to your view! if beheld with a religious eye, what a temple for the worship of the Almighty! the earth is spread out before you; reposing amid the desolation of winter, or clad in the verdure of spring: smiling in the beauty of summer, or loaded with autumnal fruit: opening to an endless variety of beings the treasures of their maker's goodness, and ministering subsistence and comfort to every creature that lives: the heavens, also, declare the glory of the Lord: the sun cometh from his chambers to scatter the shades of night: inviting you to the renewal of your labours: adorning the face of nature: and, as he advances to meridian brightness, cherishing every herb and every flower that springeth from the bosom of the earth: nor, when he retires from your view, does he leave the Creator without a witness: he only conceals his own splendor for a while to disclose to you, a more glorious scene: to show you the immensity of space filled with worlds unnumbered, that your imagination may wander without a limit, in the vast creation of God. What a field is here opened for the exercise of every pious emotion! how irresistibly do such contemplations awaken the sensibility of the soul! here is infinite power to impress you with awe: infinite wisdom to fill you with admiration: infinite goodness to call forth your gratitude and love. The correspondence between these great objects, and the affections of the human heart, is established by nature itself; and they require only to be placed before us, to excite every religious feeling. M. ON THE DEATH OF FRANCISCA, NIECE TO PAUL III.* Nymph! more tender than the dove, Fairer than the rose's bloom, So the soft expanding flower, Yes, and parting, thou hast left There the gloomy Naiads stray, While down their eyelids, lately gay, Rolls the melancholy tear, And the seven-hilled city's sighs, Go ascending to the skies. Yes, behind a gloomy shade The sun conceals his cheerful light; For within thy grave are laid, Beauty, and the graces bright: Death! inexorable death! Why steal so soon this virgin's breath! While the oaks for ages stand, So fair, so young a nymph to die! Nymph, whom thou shouldst well have spared, * From Flaminius. |