EXERCISE IV. From "The Discourse of the Wanderer."-Wordsworth. Ah! why in age Do we revert so fondly to the walks Of Childhood but that there the Soul discerns The dear memorial footsteps unimpaired Of her own native vigor- but for this, Though strength decay, to breathe in such estate 5 10 As shall divide them wholly from the stir Of hopeful nature. Rightly is it said That man descends into the Vale of years; 15 Yet have I thought that we might also speak, And not presumptuously, I trust, of Age, As of a final Eminence, though bare On which 't is not impossible to sit In awful sovereignty—a place of power A Throne, which may be likened unto his, Down from a mountain-top, — say one of those High peaks, that bound the Vale where now we are. Forest and field, and hill and dale appear, Yea, almost on the mind itself, and seems From the full River in the vale below, That suits not them. The murmur of the leaves, This he is freed from, and from thousand notes Are occupied; and the Soul, that would incline 335 40 45 EXERCISE V. Night.-MONTGOMERY. 1. Night is the time for rest; How sweet, when labors close, To gather round an aching breast The curtain of repose, Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head Upon our own delightful bed! When truth that is and truth that seems, Blend in fantastic strife; Ah! visions less beguiling far Than waking dreams by daylight are! 3. Night is the time to weep; To wet with unseen tears Those graves of memory where sleep Hopes that were angels in their birth, 4. Night is the time to watch; 5. Night is the time to muse; Then from the eye the soul Takes flight, and with expanding views Beyond the starry pole, Descries athwart the abyss of night The dawn of uncreated light. 6. Night is the time to pray; Steal from the throng to haunts untrod, 7. Night is the time for death; Calmly to yield the weary breath, Think of heaven's bliss, and give the sign 4 EXERCISE VI. From "The Fall of Jerusalem."-MILMAN. SIMON ALONE. The air is still and cool. It comes not yet: The chariot of his vengeance. I look out, And still, as I have seen, morn after morn, Th' accursed radiance of the Gentile arms. But oh! ye sky-descending ministers, 5 10 That on invisible and soundless wing Stoop to your earthly purposes, as swift 15 As rushing fire, and terrible as the wind That sweeps the tentless desert-ye that move, Shrouded in secrecy as in a robe, With gloom of deepest midnight, the vaunt-courier 20 Of your dread presence! will ye not reveal? 25 They know thy bidding, by fixed habit bound To the usage of obedience. Or the rather, Look we in weary yet undaunted hope To Him that is to come, the Mighty Arm, EXERCISE VII. Speech of Simon to Titus.-MILMAN. I speak to thee, Titus, as warrior should accost a warrior. The world, thou boastest, is Rome's slave; the sun Ye plant your giant foot in either ocean, 30 35 5 And vaunt that all which ye o'erstride is Rome's. Portioned and sealed unto us by the God Who made the round world and the crystal heavens; Invades it with miraculous intervention; 10 15 |