Has run his raging race, has closed the scene of blood. Hark! at the call of Liberty, All Nature lifts the choral song. The fir-trees on the mountain's head, The lordly cedars nod on sacred Lebanon: Tyrant! they cry, since thy fell force is broke, Our proud heads pierce the skies, nor fear the woodman's stroke. Hell, from her gulf profound, Rouses at thine approach; and all around, E'en mighty kings, the heirs of empire wide, "What! dost thou join our ghostly train, Proud king! Corruption fastens on thy breast; And calls her crawling brood, and bids them share the feast. "O Lucifer! thou radiant star; Son of the Morn; whose rosy car Flamed foremost in the van of day; How art thou fallen, thou King of Light! Who saidst, 'The distant poles shall hear me and obey. He spake, he died. Distained with gore, See where his livid corse is laid. The aged pilgrim, passing by, Surveys him long with dubious eye, And muses on his fate, and shakes his reverend head. "Just Heavens! is thus thy pride imperial gone? Is this poor heap of dust the King of Babylon? Is this the man, whose nod Made the earth tremble; whose terrific rod Saw her rich realms transformed to deserts dry; Stood stern Captivity. Vain man! behold thy righteous doom; "No trophied arch, no breathing bust, No laurel flourish o'er thy grave. For why, proud king, thy ruthless hand Hurled desolation o'er the land, And crushed the subject race, whom kings are born to save: And all thy sons shall share their impious father's shame. "Rise, purple Slaughter! furious rise; Dart thy vindictive shafts around: Let no strange land a shade afford, Nor let their cities rise to curse the goodly ground. Thus saith the righteous Lord: My vengeance shall unsheathe the flaming sword; I'll spread the stagnant flood; And there the bittern in the sedge shall lurk, While, sweeping o'er the plain, Yes, on mine holy mountain's brow, The irrevocable word is spoke. From Judah's neck the galling yoke Spontaneous falls, she shines with wonted state; 5 10 15 20 25 30 LESSON CLXXIX. THE DOWNFALL OF POLAND.— Thomas Campbell. O sacred Truth! thy triumph ceased a while, Warsaw's last champion from her height surveyed, He said, and on the rampart-heights arrayed In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few! From rank to rank your volleyed thunder flew :- Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 The sun went down, nor ceased the carnage there; O righteous Heaven! ere Freedom found a grave, That smote the foes of Sion and of God; That crushed proud Ammon, when his iron car Departed spirits of the mighty dead! Ye that at Marathon and Leuctra bled! Friends of the world! restore your swords to man, LESSON CLXXX.-NAPOLEON AT REST.-JOHN PIERPONT. His falchion flashed along the Nile; His hosts he led through Alpine snows; O'er Moscow's towers, that blazed the while, 5 10 15 20 25 Here sleeps he now, alone! Not one, Has ever seen or sought his grave. Behind this sea-girt rock, the star, That led him on from crown to crown, Gazed as it faded and went down. High is his couch;-the ocean flood, Alone he sleeps! The mountain cloud, That night hangs round him, and the breath Of morning scatters, is the shroud That wraps the conqueror's clay in death. Pause here! The far-off world, at last, Breathes free; the hand that shook its thrones, And to the earth its mitres cast, Lies powerless now beneath these stones. Hark! comes there, from the pyramids, And Europe's hills, a voice that bids The world he awed to mourn him?-No: The only, the perpetual dirge That's heard there, is the sea-bird's cry,— The cloud's deep voice, the wind's low sigh. LESSON CLXXXI.-NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.-DR. CHANNING. Such was Napoleon Bonaparte. But some will say, he was still a great man. This we mean not to deny. But we would have it understood, that there are various kinds or orders of greatness, and that the highest did not belong 5 to Bonaparte. There are different orders of greatness. Among these the first rank is unquestionably due to moral greatness, or magnanimity; to that sublime energy, by which the soul, smitten with the love of virtue, binds itself |