8 Now shining forth, thou mad'st compliant The Conscript Fathers to thy charms; Rous'd the world-bestriding giant,

Sinking fast in Slavery's arms!

9 I see thee stand by Freedom's fane,
Pouring the persuasive strain,
Giving vast conceptions birth:
Hark! I hear thy thunder's sound,
Shake the Forum round and round-
Shake the pillars of the earth!

10 First-born of Liberty divine !

Put on Religion's bright array ;
Speak! and the starless grave shall shine
The portal of eternal day!

11 Rise, kindling with the orient beam;
Let Calvary's hill inspire the theme!
Unfold the garments roll'd in blood!
O touch the soul, touch all her chords,
With all the omnipotence of words,

And point the way to Heaven-to God.

Cary.

2. Hohenlinden....Description of a Battle with Firearms.

1 (6)On Linden, when the sun was low,
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow,
And dark as winter, was the flow
Of Iser, rolling rapidly.

2 But Linden saw another sight,
When the drum beat at dead of night,
Commanding fires of death to light
The darkness of her scenery.

3 By torch and trumpet fast arrayed,
Each warriour drew his battle blade,

And furious every charger neighed,
To join the dreadful revelry.

4 Then shook the hills with thunder riven,
Then rushed the steeds to battle driven,
And louder than the bolts of Heaven,
Far flashed the red artillery.

5 And redder yet those fires shall glow,
On Linden's hills of bloodstained snow;
And darker yet shall be the flow
Of Iser rolling rapidly.

6 'Tis morn, but scarce yon lurid sun
Can pierce the war clouds, rolling dun,
While furious Frank and fiery Hun
Shout in their sulph'rous canopy.

7 The combat deepens. (0°) On, ye brave,
Who rush to glory, or the grave!
Wave, Munich, all thy banners wave!
And charge with all thy chivalry!

8 (0) Ah! few shall part where many meet!*
The snow shall be their winding sheet,

And every turf beneath their feet

Shall be a soldier's sepulchre.

3. Hamlet's Soliloquy.

Campbell.

This is one of the most difficult things to read in the English language. No one should attempt it without entering into the sentiment, by recurring to the story of Hamlet. The notation which I have given, however imperfect, may at least furnish the reader with some guide in the management of his voice. Want of discrimination, has been the common fault in reading this soliloquy.

To bé, or not to be?.. that is the question.-
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

* Soft.

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

5 And by opposing, end them?--To díe--to sleep-
No more :--and, by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-arch, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heír to ?--'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To dìe ;—to sleep ;--

10 To sleep! perchance, to dream:-Ay, there's the rùb;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There's the respect,
That makes calamity of so long life;

15 For who would bear the whips and scorns of tìme,*
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contùmely,
The pangs of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes ;
20 When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To groan and sweat under a weary life?
() But that the dread of something after death,
That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne
25 No traveller returns, puzzles the will;

And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,-
And thus the native hue of resolution

30 Is sicklied o'er with the pàle cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

1

4.

Battle of Waterloo.

There was a sound of revelry by night,

And Belgium's capital had gathered then

* The indignant feeling awakened in Hamlet by this enumeration of particulars, requires the voice gradually to rise on each, till it comes to the mark of transition.

P

2

Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright

The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men:
A thousand hearts beat happily; and when

Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,
And all went merry as a marriage-bell;

(o)But hush! hark! .. a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!

Did ye not hear it?-No; 'twas but the wind,
Or the car rattling o'er the stonny street:

(°)On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when youth and pleaure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet-
(o)But, hark!-that heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat.

And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!

(°o) `Arm! àrm! it is--it is--the cannon's opening
roar !

3 *Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,
And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress,
And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago
Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness:
And there were sudden partings, such as press
The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs
Which ne'er might be repeated--who could guess
If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,
Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise?
4 And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,
And swiftly forming in the ranks of

war,

And the deep thunder, peal on peal afar;
And near, the beat of the alarming drum
Roused
up
the soldier ere the morning star;
While thronged the citizens with terror dumb.

* Plaintive.

5

Or whispering with white lips-"The foe! They
come! they come !"

*And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves,
Dewy with nature's tear-drops, as they pass,
Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,

Over the unreturning brave,--alas!

Ere evening to be trodden like the grass,

Which now beneath them, but above shall grow

In its next verdue, when this fiery mass

Of living valour, rolling on the foe,

And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and

low.

6 Last noon beheld them full of lusty life,
Last eve in beauty's circle proudly gay,
The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife,
The morn, the marshalling in arms,--the day,
Battle's magnificently-stern array!

The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which when rent,
The earth is covered thick 'with other clay,

Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent,
Rider and horse,-friend, foe,--in one red burial
blent !
Byron.

5. Negro's Complaint.

1 FORCED from home and all its pleasures,
Afric's coast I left forlorn;

To increase a stranger's treasures,
O'er the raging billows borne.

Men from England bought and sold me,
Paid my price in paltry gold;
But though slave they have enrolled me,
Minds are never to be sold.

2 Still in thought as free as ever,

What are England's rights, I ask,

Me from my delights to sever,
Me to torture, me to task?

*Plaintive.