Oh, blindness to the future! kindly given

That each may fill the circle marked by heaven,
Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish or a sparrow fall,

Atoms or systems into ruin hurled,

And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

2. Hope humbly, then; with trembling pinions soar,
Wait the great teacher, Death, and God adore.
What future bliss He gives not thee to know,
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be, blest.
The soul, uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

3. Lo, the poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind!
His soul proud Science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk or Milky Way;

Yet simple nature to his hope has given,
Behind the cloud-topped hill, a humbler heaven,-
Some safer world in depth of woods embraced,
Some happier island in the watery waste,

Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire,

He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire,
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog shall bear him company.

DEFINITIONS.-1. Pre seribed', appointed. Riot, luxury. 2. Ex pā'ţi ateş, wanders without restraint.

NOTE.-3. Milk'y Way, a broad, irregular, luminous zone in the heavens.

104.-CONTENTMENT.

JOSEPH ADDISON was born at Milston, in Wiltshire, England, May 1, 1672. He entered Oxford at the age of fifteen, and while there he greatly distinguished himself, especially by the facility with which he wrote Latin verse. His principal works are The Guardian and the tragedy of Cato, which for many years were very popular, but which now are seldom read. He also wrote a comedy, The Drummer, or the Haunted House, and at his death left an unfinished manuscript on The Evidences of the Christian Religion. His fame as a writer rests chiefly on his contributions to The Tatler and The Spectator. Dr. Johnson says of him, "Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison." He died June 17, 1719.

1. CONTENTMENT produces, in some measure, all those effects which the alchemist usually ascribes to what he calls the Philosopher's Stone; and if it does not bring riches, it does the same thing by banishing the desire of them. If it cannot remove the disquietudes arising out of a man's mind, body, or fortune, it makes him easy under them. It has indeed a kindly influence on the soul of man, in respect of every being to whom he stands related.

2. It extinguishes all murmur, repining, and ingratitude toward that Being who has allotted him his part to act in this world. It destroys all inordinate ambition and every tendency to corruption, with regard to the community wherein he is placed. It gives sweetness to his conversation, and a perpetual serenity to all his thoughts. Among the many methods which might be made use of for the acquiring of this virtue, I shall only mention the two following. First of all, a man should always consider how much he has more than he wants; and, secondly, how much more unhappy he might be than he really is.

3. First of all, a man should always consider how much he has more than he wants. I am wonderfully pleased

with the reply which Aristippus made to one who condoled with him upon the loss of a farm. "Why," said he, "I have three farms still, and you have but one; so that I ought rather to be afflicted for you than you for me." On the contrary, foolish men are more apt to consider what they have lost than what they possess, and to fix their eyes upon those who are richer than themselves rather than on those who are under greater difficulties. All the real pleasures and conveniences of life lie in a narrow compass; but it is the humor of mankind to be always looking forward and straining after one who has got the start of them in wealth and honor.

4. For this reason, as there are none can be properly called rich who have not more than they want, there are few rich men in any of the politer nations, but among the middle sort of people, who keep their wishes within their fortunes and have more wealth than they know how to enjoy. When Pittacus, after the death of his brother, who had left him a good estate, was offered a great sum of money by the King of Lydia, he thanked him for his kindness, but told him he had already more by half than he knew what to do with. In short, content is equivalent to wealth, and luxury to poverty; or, to give the thought a more agreeable turn, "content is natural wealth," says Socrates; to which I shall add, Luxury is artificial poverty.

5. I like the story of the honest Dutchman who, upon breaking his leg by a fall from the main-mast, told the standers by it was a great mercy that it was not his neck. To which, since I am got into quotations, give me leave to add the saying of an old philosopher, who, after having invited some of his friends to dine with him, was ruffled by his wife, that came into the room in a passion and threw down the table that stood before them. "Every

one," says he, " has his calamity; and he is a happy man that has no greater than this."

DEFINITIONS.-1. Al'ehe mist, one who practiced the ancient science of alchemy, one aim of which was to change the baser metals into gold. Dis qui'e tūdeş, anxieties. 4. Po līt'er, more refined.

NOTES.-1. The Philosopher's Stone, a stone or preparation which the alchemists formerly sought as the instrument of converting the baser metals into gold.

3. År is tip'pus, a Grecian philosopher, a disciple of Socrates.

4. Pit'ta eus, one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece.

Soe'ra teş, the illustrious founder of Grecian philosophy, was born at Athens about 470 B. C., and died about 400 B. C.

105.-PARAPHRASE OF THE NINETEENTH PSALM.

1. THE spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim;

Th' unwearied sun from day to day
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an almighty Hand.

2. Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth;

Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.

3. What though in solemn silence all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball?

What though nor real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing, as they shine,

"The Hand that made us is divine."

JOSEPH ADDISON.

DEFINITIONS.-Păr'a phrase, a free translation into the same or another language. 1. E the're al, pertaining to the higher regions beyond the earth.

NOTE. The original of this beautiful paraphrase is given on page 381.

106.-PARAPHRASE OF THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM.

1. THE Lord my pasture shall prepare,
And feed me with a shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply,
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noonday walks He shall attend,
And all my midnight hours defend.

2. When in the sultry glebe I faint,
Or on the thirsty mountain pant,
To fertile vales and dewy meads
My weary, wandering steps He leads,
Where peaceful rivers soft and slow
Amid the verdant landscape flow:

3. Though in the paths of death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread,
My steadfast heart shall fear no ill,
For Thou, O Lord, art with me still :
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide me through the dreadful shade.