8. Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth, Or he must go to dust without his fame, Whom every Man in arms should wish to be. WORDSWORTH. WILLIAM WORDSWORTH, the greatest of metaphysical poets, and one of the purest and most blameless of men, was born at Cockermouth, Cumberland county, England, April 7th, 1770. He read much in boyhood, and wrote some verses. He received his carly education at the endowed school of Hawkshead; entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1787, and though he disliked the system of the university, and attended little to the studies of the place, graduated with his degree of B. A. in 1791. In the close of the same year he went to France, where he passed nearly a year; and there he wrote the poem called "Descriptive Sketches," which, with "The Evening Walk," was published in 1793. In 1795 he received a legacy of £900 from his friend, Raisley Calvert, and at the close of the same began to live with his sister, their first residence being at Racedown, Dorsetshire. He here made the acquaintance of Coleridge, and wrote many of the fine passages that afterward appeared in "The Excursion." In the autumn of 1798 he published the first edition of his "Lyrical Ballads," and then went to Germany with his sister and Coleridge; and, the party separating, Miss Wordsworth and her brother passed the winter at Goslar, in Hanover. Here were written "Lucy Gray," and several beautiful pieces. His long residence among the lakes of his native district began immediately after his return to England. His second volume of "Lyrical Ballads " appeared at the close of 1800. In 1802 he married Mary Hutchinson, of Penrith, to whose amiability his poems pay warm and beautiful tributes. In the spring of 1813, after various changes of residence, he took up his abode at Rydal Mount, two miles from Grasmere, which was his home for thirty-seven years, and the scene of his death. There, too, he was appointed distributor of stamps for Westmoreland; an office which was executed by a clerk, and yielded about £500 a year. In the summer of 1814 was published "The Excursion," a poem which, if judged by its best passages, has hardly an equal in our language. The following year appeared "The White Doe of Rylstone." From his fiftieth to his eightieth year the poet traveled much, suffered a great deal, and wrote but little. In 1842 he resigned his distributorship in favor of one of his two sons, and received from Sir Robert Peel, a pension of £300 a year. In 1843 he was appointed poet-laureate. He died on the 23d of April, 1850. W VIII. 35. THE CONQUEROR'S GRAVE. ITHIN this lowly grave a conqueror lies; The emblems of a fame that never dies— To the great world unknown, Is graven here, and wild flowers rising round, 2. Here, in the quiet earth, they laid apart Of gentle womankind, Timidly shrinking from the breath of blame; One in whose eyes the smile of kindness made Its haunt, like flowers by sunny brooks in May; Yet at the thought of others' pain, a shade Of sweeter sadness chased the smile away. 3. Nor deem that when the hand that mōlders here Was raised in menace, realms were chilled with fear, Alone her task was wrought; Alone the battle fought; Through that long strife her constant hope was staid On God alone, nor looked for other aid. 4. She met the hosts of sorrow with a look That altered not beneath the frown they wore ; And soon the lowering brood were tamed, and took Meekly her gentle rule, and frowned no more. Her soft hand put aside the assaults of wrath, And calmly broke in twain The fiery shafts of pain, And rent the nets of passion from her path. By that victorious hand despair was slain : Glory that with the fleeting season dies; How heaven's bright depths with sounding welcomes rung, Pain, scorn, and sorrow bōre, The mighty Sufferer, with aspect sweet, Smiled on the timid stranger from His seat— He who, returning glorious from the grave, Dragged death, disarmed, in chains, a crouching slave. 6. See, as I linger here, the sun grows low; Cool airs are murmuring that the night is near. Consoled, though sad, in hope, and yet in fear. The warfare scarce begun ; Yet all may win the triumphs thou hast won; WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. TE SECTION VII. I. 36. DESTINY OF AMERICA. HE Muse, disgusted at an age and clime In distant lands now waits a better time Producing subjects worthy fame: 2. In happy climes, where, from the genial sun 3. In happy climes, the seat of innocence, 4. There shall be sung another golden age, 5. Not such as Europe breeds in her decay: 6. Westward the course of empire takes its way: A fifth shall close the drama with the day Time's noblest offspring is the last. BERKELEY, GEORGE BERKELEY, Bishop of Cloyne, was born at Thomastown, County of Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1684, and died at Oxford, England, in 1753. He was the author of several works, principally on metaphysical science. He visited America in 1728 for the purpose of founding a college for the conversion of the Indians; but failing to obtain the promised funds from the government, after remaining seven years in Rhode Island, he returned to Europe. While inspired with his transatlantic mission, he penned the above fine moral verses, so truly prophetic of the progress of the United States. II. 37. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. E was decidedly a visionary,' but a visionary of an uncommon and successful kind. The manner in which his ardent imagination and mercurial nature were controlled by a powerful judgment, and directed by an acuto sagacity, is the most extraordinary' feature' in his character. Thus governed, 1 Visionary, (viz'un a ri), one who is confident of success in a project which others perceive or think to be idle and fanciful; a dreamer. 'Extraordinary, (èks trár' di narl), beyond or out of the common method or order; remarkable. Feature, (fèt vår). 3 his imagination, instead of wasting itself in idle soarings, lent wings to his judgment, and bore it away to conclusions at which common minds could never have arrived; nay, which they could not perceive when pointed out. 2. To his intellectual vision it was given to read, in the signs of the times and the reveries of past ages, the indications of an unknown world, as soothsayers were said to read predictions in the stars, and to foretell events from the visions of the night "His soul," observes a Spanish writer, "was superior to the age in which he lived. For him was reserved the great enterprise to plow the sea which had given rise to so many fables, and to decipher the mystery of his time.” 3. With all the visionary fervor of his imagination, its fōndèst dreams fell short of the reality. He died in ignorance of the reäl grandeur of his discovery. Until his last breath, he entertained the idea that he had merely opened a new way to the old resorts of opulent commerce, and had discovered some of the wild regions of the East. He supposed Hispaniola to be the ancient Ophir which had been visited by the ships of Solomon, and that Cuba and Terra Firma were but remōte parts of Asia. 4. What visions of glory would have broke upon his mind, could he have known that he had indeed discovered a new continent, equal to the whole of the old world in magnitude, and separated, by two vast oceans, from all the earth hitherto known by civilized man! And how would his magnanimous spirit have been consoled, amid the chills of age and cares of penury, the neglect of a fickle public and the injustice of an ungrateful king, could he have anticipated the splendid empires which were to spread over the beautiful world he had discovered, and the nations and tongues and languages which were to fill its lands with his renown, and to revere and bless his name to the latest posterity! WASHINGTON IRVING III. 88. RETURN OF COLUMBUS. N the spring of 1493, while the court was still at Barcelona, In the spring of lived, wom Christopher Columbus, announ cing his return to Spain, and the successful achievement of his great enterprise, by the discovery of land beyond the western |