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Angels are painted fair, to look like you.
There's in you all that we believe of heaven,
Amazing brightness, purity and truth,
Eternal joy and everlasting love.

OTWAY'S Venice Preserved.

ON SCIENCE.

Best, earthly friend of man!
Since first thy reign began,

How has he shaken off (1) his mortal sleep!-
That torpor of the soul, in which his powers
Lay buried and unknown,

Like tracks of earth unblest (2) by sun or showers -
The spirits of the frigid zone.

But taught by thee, how boundless and how deep
The intellectual stores, that Heaven

To gild his path (53) of live has given !

He springs aloft (4) and spurns the bounds of earth
Becomes a being of superior birth;

And, by thy wing upheld, surveys

The amazing scene, where space displays

The power of an Almighty Hand:

And taught by thee to wonder and admire,

Amidst the beautiful, the grand,

(1) To shake, secouer; to shake off, se débarrasser de, chasser.

(2) Unblest, qui n'a pas de bonheur.

(3) Path, sentier, chemin.

(4) To spring aloft, monter rapidement.

HONOUR.

Catches (1) a spark of that ethereal fire,

That makes his bosom glow, his soul expand!
And while he feasts (2) his ravish'd eye,

On miracles of earth and sky,

With holier fervour bends before the throne

Of him who, by a word alone,

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Bade all these wonders be, and claims them for his own.

J. B.

AMBITION.

"Tis a common proof,

That lowliness is young Ambition's ladder,
Where to the climber (3) upwards turns his face;
But when he once attains the upmost round (4),
He then unto the ladder turns his back,

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend.

SHAKSPEARE. Julius Cæsar, ACT. 2, Sc. 1.

HONOUR.

Let none presume

To wear an undeserved dignity.

Oh! that estates, degrees, and offices,

Were not derived corruptly (5) ! that clear honour

(1) To catch, saisir, se saisir de. (2) To feast, régaler.

(3) The climber, celui qui monte. (4) Round of a ladder, échelon.

(5) Derived corruptly, obtenu indignement.

Were purchased by the merit of the wearer!
How many then should cover, that stand bare (1)!
How many be commanded, that command!

How much low peasantry would then be glean'd (2)
From the true seed (3) of honour! How much honour
Pick'd from the chaff (4) and ruin of the times,
To be new varnished!

SHAKSPEARE. Merchant of Venice, Act. 3, Sc. 2.

ON NAVIGATION BY STEAM.

But see! what means that spectre hulk (5)
Gliding on in giant bulk (6);
Not a sail is fluttering there,
Wooing the propellent air;
But against her onward course

Rage the winds with baffled force (7),

While despite she keeps her way

Through the opposing waves that play :

(1) To stand bare, rester découvert, sans chapeau. (2) To glean, glaner, cueillir, ramasser.

(3) True seed, véritable semence, vrai germe.

(4) Chaff, au propre, signifie de la paille hachée, balle d'avoine. Shakspeare l'a employé pour désigner les gens de mérite qui sont ou dans l'obscurité, ou dans le malheur.

(5) Spectre hulk, spectre de vaisseau; hulk, corps d'un vaisseau sans mâts ni agrès.

(6) Bulk, forme, volume.

(7) Baffled force, force inutile.

THE VANITY OF HUMAN HOPES.

Nor courts (1) the breeze, nor asks the surge (2)
Her spell-assisted (3) prow to urge;
But clouds of smoke around her rise,
Spreading blackness o'er the skies;
And strokes (4) like distant thunder sound,
Rumbling (5) o'er the vast profound!
Has she some demon in her breast,
Who speeds her o'er the watery crest (6),
And spurns the elemental strife;

And laughs to scorn (7) the waves and wind,
And bids her leave the lessening shores behind,
As if she were some giant form of life?

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Science! this triumph too is thine; thy hand
Conducts the vessel to the wish'd-for strand;
And STEAM impels her on the destin'd track,
Through adverse winds and waves that else (8) would
[drive her back (9).
J. B.

THE VANITY OF HUMAN HOPES.

What are the hopes of man? Old Egypt's king,

(1) To court, inviter, courtiser.

(2) The surge, le courant, le mouvement, l'aide des flots, de la marée.

(3) Spell-assisted, aidé par une puissance occulte, un agent caché.

(4) Strokes, des coups.

(5) To rumble, faire un bruit sourd.

(6) Watery crest, l'écume des vagues, crête, crinière.

(7) To laugh to scorn, se moquer de, mépriser.

(8) Else, sans cela, autrement.

(9) To drive back, repousser.

Cheops erected the first pyramid,

And largest, thinking it was just the thing
To keep his memory whole (1), and mummy hid;
But somebody or other rummaging (2),
Burglariously (3) broke his coffin's lid :
Let not a monument give you or me hopes,
Since not a pinch of dust remains of Cheops.

BYRON.

DELIGHT.

An infant when it gazes on a light,

A child the moment when it drains (4) the breast,
A devotee when soars the host (5) in sight,

An Arab with a stranger for a guest,

A sailor when the prize has struck (6) in fight,
A miser filling his most hoarded (7) chest,

Feel rapture; but not such true joy are reaping (8)

As they who watch o'er (9) what they love while sleep

[blocks in formation]

(1) Whole, entier, intact.

(2) To rummage,

fouiller.

(3) Burglariously, avec effraction pour y voler,

(4) To drain, sucer, épuiser.

(5) The host, l'hostie.

(6) To strike, terme de marine, amener le pavillon, se rendre.

(7) His most hoarded chest, le coffre où il a amassé ou recélé le plus d'argent.

(8) To reap, moissonner, cueillir, recevoir.

(9) To watch o'er, veiller sur, contempler.

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