Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

have retired with pleasure. The impression had remained so strong on his mind, that he pitched upon it as the place of his retreat.

5. It was seated in a vale of no great extent, watered by a small_brook, and surrounded by rising grounds, covered with lofty trees. From the nature of the soil, as well as the temperature of the climate, it was esteemed the most healthful and delicious situation in Spain.

6. Some months before his resignation, he had sent an architect thither, to add a new apartment to the monastery, for his accommodation; but he gave strict orders that the style of the building should be such as suited his present station, rather than his former dignity. It consisted only of six rooms, four of them in the form of friar's cells, with naked walls; the other two, each twenty feet square, were hung with brown cloth, and furnished in the most simple manner. They were all on a level with the ground; with a door on one side into a garden, of which Charles himself had given the plan, and had filled it with various plants, which he proposed to cultivate with his own hands On the other side, they communicated with the chapel of the monastery, in which he was to perform his devotions.

7. Into this humble retreat, hardly sufficient for the comfortable accommodation of a private gentleman, did Charles enter, with twelve domestics only. He buried there, in solitude and silence, his grandeur, his ambition, together with all those vast projects, which, during half a century, had alarmed and agitated Europe; filling every kingdom in it, by turns, with the terror of his arms, and the dread of being subjected to his power.

8. In this retirement, Charles formed such a plan of life for himself, as would have suited the condition of a private person of a moderate fortune. His table was neat but plain; his domestics few; his intercourse with them familiar; all the cumbersome and ceremonious forms of attendance on his person were entirely abolished, as destructive of that social ease and tranquillity, which he courted, in order to sooth the remainder of his days. As the mildness of the climate, together with his deliverance from the burdens and cares of government, procured him, at first, a considerable remission from the acute pains with which he had beer. long tormented, he enjoyed, perhaps, more complete satisfaction in this humble solitude, than all his grandeur had ever yielded him.

9. The ambitious thoughts and projects which had so ong engrossed and disquieted him, were quite effaced from

his mind. Far from taking any part in the political transactions of the princes of Europe, he restrained his curiosity even from any inquiry concerning them; and he seemed to view the busy scene which he had abandoned, with all the contempt and indifference arising from his thorough experience of its vanity, as well as from the pleasing reflection of having disentangled himself from its cares. DR. ROBERTSON.

PART II.

PIECES IN POETRY.

CHAPTER I.

SELECT SENTENCES AND PARAGRAPHS.

SECTION I.

SHORT AND EASY SENTENCES.

Education.

TIS education forms the common mind:
Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin❜d.
Candour.

With pleasure let us own our errors past,
And make each day a critic on the last.
Reflection.

A soul without reflection, like a pile
Without inhabitant, to ruin runs.
Secret Virtue.

The private path, the secret acts of men,
If noble, far the noblest of their lives.

Necessary Knowledge easily attained.
Our needful knowledge, like our needful food,
Unhedg'd, lies open in life's common field,
And bids all welcome to the vital feast.

Disappointment.
Disappointment lurks in many a prize,
As bees in flow'rs, and stings us with success.
Virtuous Elevation.

The

d that would be happy, must be great;
Great in its wishes; great in its surveys.
Extended views a narrow mind extend.
Natural and Fanciful Life.

Who lives to nature, rarely can be poor;
Who lives to fancy, never can be rich.

NOTE.-In the first chapter, the Compiler has exhibited a considerable variety of poetical construction, for the voung reader's preparatory exercises.

Charity.

In faith and hope the world will disagree;
But all mankind's concern is charity.

The Prize of Virtue.

What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy,
The soul's calm sunshine, and the heart-felt joy,
Is virtue's prize.

Sense and Modesty connected.

Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks;
It still looks home, and short excursions makes;
But rattling nonsense in full volleys breaks.
Moral Discipline salutary.

Heav'n gives us friends to bless the present scene,
Resumes them to prepare us for the next.
All evils natural are moral goods;
All discipline, indulgence, on the whole.
Present Blessings undervalued.

Like birds, whose beauties languish, half conceal'd
Till, mounted of the wing, their glossy plumes
Expanded, shine with azure, green, and gold,
How blessings brighten as they take their flight!
Hope.

Hope, of all passions, most befriends us here;
Passions of prouder name befriend us less.
Joy has her tears, and transport has her death;
Hope, like a cordial, innocent, though strong,
Man's heart', at once, inspirits and serenes.
Happiness modest and tranquil.
-Never man was truly blest,
But it compos'd and gave him such a cast,
As folly might mistake for want of joy.
A cast unlike the triumph of the proud;
A modest aspect, and a smile at heart.
True Greatness.

Who noble ends by noble means obtains,
Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains,
Like good Aurelius, let him reign, or bleed
Like Socrates, that man is great indeed.
The Tear of Sympathy.

No radiant pearl, which crested fortune wears,
No gem, that, twinkling, hangs from beauty's ears,
Nor the bright stars, which night's blue arch adorn,

Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn,

Shine with such lustre, as the tear that breaks,
For others' wo, down Virtue's manly cheeks.

SECTION II.

VERSES IN WHICH THE LINES ARE OF DIFFERENT LENGTH. Bliss of Celestial Origin.

RESTLESS mortals toil for naught;

Bliss in vain from earth is sought;

Bliss, a native of the sky,

Never wanders. Mortals, try;
There you cannot seek in vain;
For to seek her, is to gain

The Passions.

The passions are a num❜rous crowd,
Imperious, positive, and loud.
Curb these licentious sons of strife;
Hence chiefly rise the storms of life:
If they grow mutinous, and rave,
They are thy master's, thou their slave.
Trust in Providence recommended.
"Tis Providence alone secures,

In ev'ry change, both mine and yours.
Safety consists not in escape

From dangers of a frightful shape:
An earthquake may be bid to spare
The man that's strangled by a hair.
Fate steals along with silent tread,
Found oft'nest in what least we dread;
Frowns in the storm with angry brow,
But in the sunshine, strikes the blow.

Epitaph.

How lov'd, how valu'd once, avails thee not;
To whom related, or by whom begot:
A heap of dust alone remains of thee;
"Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.
Fame.

All fame is foreign, but of true desert;

Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart.
One self-approving hour, whole years outweighs
Of stupid starers, and of loud huzzas;

And more true joy Marcellus exil'd feels,
Than Cæsar with a sena e at his heels.

Virtue the Guardian of Youth.

Down the smooth stream of life the stripling darts,
Gay as the morn; bright glows the vernal sky,
Hope swells his sails, and Passion steers his course.
Safe glides his little bark along the shore,
Where Virtue takes her stand: but if too far

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »