JAMES MONTGOMERY. 1771-1854. (Manual, p. 432.)
FROM "THE WEST INDIES."
314. THE LOVE OF COUNTRY AND OF HOME.
There is a land, of every land the pride,
Beloved by heaven, o'er all the world beside ; Where brighter suns dispense serener light, And milder moons emparadise the night; A land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth, Time-tutored age, and love-exalted youth: The wandering mariner, whose eye explores The wealthiest isles, the most enchanting shores, Views not a realm so bountiful and fair, Nor breathes the spirit of a purer air; In every clime the magnet of his soul,
Touched by remembrance, trembles to that pole; For in this land of heaven's peculiar grace, The heritage of nature's noblest race, There is a spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest; Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside His sword and sceptre, pageantry and pride, While in his softened looks benignly blend The sire, the son, the husband, father, friend: Here woman reigns: the mother, daughter, wife, Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life; In the clear heaven of her delightful eye, An angel-guard of loves and graces lie; Around her knees domestic duties meet, And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet.
"Where shall that land, that spot of earth, be found?" Art thou a man? a patriot?-look around;
O, thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam, That land THY COUNTRY, and that spot THY HOME!
315. PRAYER.
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of an eye. Wher none but God is near.
Prayer is the simplest form of speech That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach The Majesty on high.
Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, The Christian's native air;
His watchword at the gates of death, He enters heaven by prayer
Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice Returning from his ways;
While angels in their songs rejoice, And say, "Behold, he prays!"
The saints in prayer appear as one, In word, and deed, and mind, When with the Father and his Son Their fellowship they find.
Nor prayer is made on earth alone; The Holy Spirit pleads;
And Jesus, on the eternal throne, For sinners intercedes.
O Thou, by whom we come to God, The Life, the Truth, the Way, The path of prayer thyself hast trod, Lord, teach us how to pray!
HORACE SMITH. 1780-1849. (Manual, p. 432.) 316. ADDRESS TO A MUMMY.
And thou hast walked about (how strange a story!) In Thebes's streets three thousand years ago, When the Memnonium was in all its glory, And time had not begun to overthrow Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, Of which the very ruins arc tremendous!
Speak! for thou long enough hast acted dumb3 : Thou hast a tongue, come, let us hear its tune; Thou'rt standing on thy legs above ground, mummy! Revisiting the glimpses of the moon.
Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures.
But with thy bones, and flesh, and limbs, and features.
for doubtless thou canst recollectTo whom we should assign the Sphinx's fame i' Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect
Of either Pyramid that bears his name?
Is Pompey's Pillar really a misnomer?
Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer?
Perhaps thou wert a mason, and forbidden By oath to tell the secrets of thy trade-
Then say, what secret melody was hidden In Memnon's statue, which at sunrise played? Perhaps thou wert a Priest- if so, my struggles Are vain, for priestcraft never owns its juggles.
Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat,
Has hob-a-nobbed with Pharaoh, glass to glass; Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat,
Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass, Or held, by Solomon's own invitation, A torch at the great Temple's dedication.
I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed, Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled, For thou wert dead, and buried, and embalmed, Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled: Antiquity appears to have begun
Long after thy primeval race was run.
Thou couldst develop, if that withered tongue
Might tell us what those sightless orbs have seen, How the world looked when it was fresh and young, And the great deluge still had left it green; Or was it then so old, that history's pages Contained no record of its early ages?
Still silent, incommunicative elf!
Art sworn to secrecy? then keep thy vows; But prythee tell us something of thyself,
Reveal the secrets of thy prison-house;
Since in the world of spirits thou hast slumbered, What hast thou scen - what strange adventures numbered?
Since first thy form was in this box extended,
We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations; The Roman empire has begun and ended,
New worlds have risen - - we have lost old nations,
And countless kings have into dust been humbled, Whilst not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled.
Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head,
When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses, Marched armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread, O'erthrew Osiris, Orus, Apis, Isis,
And shook the pyramids with fear and wonder, When the gigantic Memnon fell asunder?
If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed, The nature of thy private life unfold:
A heart has throbbed beneath that leathern breast, And tears adown that dusky cheek have rolled; Have children climbed those knees and kissed that face? What was thy name and station, age and race?
- immortal of the dead!
Imperishable type of evanescence!
Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed, And standest undecayed within our presence, Thou wilt hear nothing till the judgment morning, When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning.
Why should this worthless tegument endure,
If its undying guest be lost forever?
O, let us keep the soul embalmed and pure
In living virtue, that, when both must sever, Although corruption may our frame consume, The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom.
GEORGE CANNING. 1770-1827.
FROM "THE ANTIJACOBIN."
317. THE FRIEND OF HUMANITY AND THE KNIFE-GRINDER.
Needy Knife-grinder, whither are you going? Rough is your road, your wheel is out of order; Bleak blows the blast-your hat has got a hole in't So have your breeches.
Weary Knife-grinder, little think the proud ones, Who, in their coaches, roll along the turnpike- Road, what hard work 'tis crying all day, "Knives and
Tell me, Knife-grinder, how came you to grind knives? Did some rich man tyrannically use you?
Was it the squire or parson of the parish,
Was it the squire, for killing of his game? or Covetous parson, for his tithes distraining? Or roguish lawyer, made you lose your little All in a lawsuit?
(Have you not read the Rights of Man, by Tom Paine?) Drops of compassion tremble on my eyelids,
Ready to fall, as soon as you have told your Pitiful story.
Story! God bless you, I have none to tell, Sir; Only last night, a-drinking at the Chequers, This poor old hat and breeches, as you see, were Torn in a scuffle.
Constables came up for to take me into Custody; they took me before the justice; Justice Oldmixon put me in the parish
I should be glad to drink your honor's health in A pot of beer, if you will give me sixpence; But, for my part, I never love to meddle
I give thee sixpence! I will see thee hanged first Wretch, whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance Sordid, unfeeling, reprobate, degraded,
[Kicks the Knife-grinder, overturns his wheel, and exit in a transport of republican enthusiasm and universal philanthropy.]
JOHN WILSON. 1785-1854. (Manual, p. 469.) 318. FROM "THE CITY OF THE PLAGUE.”
Together will ye walk through long, long streets, All standing silent as a n idnight church. You will hear nothing but the brown-red grass Rustling beneath your feet; the very beating Of your own hearts will awe you; the small voice Of that "ain bawble, idly counting time,
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