God of the forest's solemn shade! When, side by side, their ranks they form, Where summer breezes sweetly flow, The fierce and wintry tempests blow; How gloriously above us springs, Thy name is written clearly bright And every spark that walks alone Her incense fires shall cease to burn; But still her grand and lovely scenes Have made man's warmest praises flow; For hearts grow holier as they trace The beauty of the world below. XXII. CLEON AND I. PEABODY. "THE charming landscape which I saw this morning is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has, but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their land-deeds give them no title."-Emerson. CLEON hath a million acres, Ne'er a one have I ; Cleon hath a dozen fortunes, Yet the poorer of the twain is Cleon, true, possesseth acres, Half the charms to me it yieldeth He in velvet, I in fustian, Cleon is a slave to grandeur, Death may come, he'll find me ready, Cleon sees no charms in nature, In a daisy, I; Cleon hears no anthems ringing In the sea and sky; Nature sings to me for ever, Earnest listener I ; State for state, with all attendants, Who would change ?-not I. CHARLES MACKAY. XXIII. THE DESERTED VILLAGE. "THE whole world is distracted with factions; and therefore, sure, the old time was much to be commended in tolerating, or rather giving occasion to some country May-games or sports, or dancing, piping, pageants, all which did serve to assuage the cruelty of man's nature, that, giving him some little ease and recreation, they might withhold him from worser attempts, and so preserve amity between men. Upon the abolishing of these, you could not conceive in reason, were it not that we find it true by experience (for, sometimes things which are small in the consideration are great in the practice), what dissolute and riotous course, what unlawful games, what drunkenness, what envy, hatred, malice, and quarrelling have succeeded in lieu of these harmless sports! And these are the fruits which our strict professors have brought into the world! I know not how they may boast of their faith (for, indeed, they are pure professors), but sure I am they have banished all charity."- Goodman's Fall of Man. SWEET Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain ; And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed; Seats of my youth, when every sport could please! Where humble happiness endeared each scene; The never-failing brook, the busy mill, The decent church that topp'd the neighbouring hill, The matron's glance that would those looks reprove. GOLDSMITH. A MAY-DAY SONG. 253 XXIV. A MAY-DAY SONG. "THERE is a want too much lost sight of in our estimate of the privations of the humbler classes, though it is one of the most incessantly craving of all our wants, and is actually the impelling power which, in the vast majority of cases, urges men into vice and crime. It is the want of amusement. It is in vain to declaim against it. Equally with any other principle of our nature, it calls for its natural indulgence, and we cannot be permanently debarred from it, without souring the temper, and spoiling the character. Like the indulgence of all other appetites, it only requires to be kept within due bounds, and turned upon innocent or beneficial objects, to become a spring of happiness; but gratified to a certain moderate extent it must be, in the case of every man, if we desire him to be either a useful, active, or contented member of society. Now I would ask, what provision do we find for the cheap and innocent and daily amusement of the mass of the labouring population of this country? What sort of resources have they to call up the cheerfulness of their spirits, and chase away the cloud from their brow, after the fatigue of a day's hard work, or the stupefying monotony of some sedentary occupapation?"-Sir John Herschel. COME out, come out from cities; Is this the proof we're wiser Shall we not hold a duty, Talk not of want of leisure, That social state from madness, For daily bread where's sold Man's natural right to gladness. Then out from lane and alley, From all things could but borrow { Are death to thoughts of sorrow. Are watching May's sweet coming, Its welcome loud are humming. Shouts out the joy it's bringing. Come, stretch you where the light And spend, O rare delight! An hour in summer dreaming. W. C. BENNEtt. XXV. THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US. "POETRY has a natural alliance with our best affections. It delights in the beauty and sublimity of the outward creation and of the soul. It indeed pourtrays, with terrible energy, the excesses of the passions; but they are passions which show a mighty nature, which are full of power, which command awe, and excite a deep, though shuddering sympathy. Its great tendency and purpose is, to carry the mind beyond and above the beaten, dusty, weary walks of ordinary life; to lift it into a purer element; and to breathe into it more pro |