or epaulettes,' but Heaven give us strength to guard the honor of the flag! THACKERAY. WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, an English novelist, essayist, and humor. ist, was born in Calcutta in 1811. His father, who descended from an old family of Yorkshire, was engaged in the civil service of the East India Company. He was sent to England in his seventh year, and placed at the Charterhouse School, London, from which he went to the university of Cambridge, but did not take his degree. He traveled and studied for several years in France, Italy, and Germany. He contributed to several leading magazines, and published works both in prose and verse, commencing before his thirtieth year; but his name was not generally known until he published "Vanity Fair," which was finished in 1848, when he was generally accounted, with Dickens and Bulwer, among the first British novelists. His "Pendennis," concluded in 1850, and "The Newcomes," in 1855, fully sustained his reputation. In the summer of 1851, he lectured in London before brilliant audiences on "The English Humorists of the 18th Century," the success of which induced him to prepare another series, "The Four Georges," which were first delivered in the principal cities of the United States in 1855-'6, and afterward in London and most of the large towns of England and Scotland. In January, 1860, appeared the first number of the "Cornhill Magazine," under his editorial charge, which soon reached a circulation of some one hundred thousand copies. He died December 24th, 1863. III. 79. THE PURITANS. Tth Puritansoweto daily contemplation of superior beings HE Puritans' were men whose minds had derived a peculiar and eternal interests. Not content with acknowledging, in general terms, an overruling Providence, they habituälly ascribed every event to the will of the Great Being, for whose power nothing (nuth'ing) was too vast, for whose inspection nothing was too minute. To know him, to serve him, to enjoy him, was with them the great end of existence. 2. They rejected with contempt the ceremonious homage which other sects substituted for the pure worship of the soul. Instead of catching occasional glimpses of the Deïty through an obscuring vail, they aspired to gaze full on the intolerable brightnèss, and to commune with him face to face. Hence originated their contempt for terrestrial distinctions. The difference be tween the greatest and meanest of mankind seemed to vanish, when compared with the boundless interval which separated the 1 Epaulettes, (èp′ â lêt`). 2 Puri tans, persons, in the time of Queen Elizabeth and her immediate successors, so called in de rision, because they professed to follow the pure word of God, and rejected the ceremonies and government of the Episcopal Church. whole race from Him on whom their own eyes were constantly fixed. They recognized no title to superiority but his favor; and, confident of that favor, they despised all the accomplishments and all the dignities of the world. 3. If they were unacquainted with the works of philosophers and poets, they were deeply read in the oracles of God; if their names were not found in the registers of heralds, they felt assured that they were recorded in the Book of Life; if their steps were not accompanied by a splendid train of mēnials, legions of ministering angels had charge over them. Their palaces were houses not made with hands: their diädems, crowns of glory which should never fade away! 4. On the rich and the eloquent, on nobles and priests, they looked down with contempt; for they esteemed themselves rich in a more precious treasure, and eloquent in a more sublime language-nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand. The very meanest of them was a being to whose fate a mysterious and terrible importance belonged-on whose slightest actions the spirits of light and darkness looked with anxious interest—who had been destined, before heaven and earth were creäted, to enjoy a felicity which should continue when heaven and earth should have passed away. 5. Events which short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes, had been ordained on his account. For his sake, empires had risen, and flourished, and decayed; for his sake, the Almighty had proclaimed his will by the pen of the evangelist and the harp of the prophet. He had been rescued by no common deliverer from the grasp of no common foe; he had been ransomed by the sweat of no vulgar agony, by the blood of no earthly sǎcrifice. It was for him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been rent, that the dead had arisen, that all nature had shuddered at the sufferings of her expiring God! MACAULAY. THOMAS BABBINGTON MACAULAY, the most attractive, and one of the most learned and eloquent of the essayists and critics of the age, was educated at the University of Cambridge, England, where he took his degree in 1822, after having achieved the highest honors of the university. After leaving the university, he studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and was admitted to the bar in 1826. He has been distinguished in politics, as an orator in parliament, and as an able officer of the Supreme Council in Calcutta, India. He returned to England in 1838, and a few years later was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. He is very meritorious as a poet; but his poetical merit dwindles into insignificance in comparison with the unrivaled brilliancy of his prose. His "Essay from the Edinburgh Review" have been published in three volumes. They have attained a greater popularity than any other contributions to the periodical works of the day. His last publication, the "History of England." is written in a style of great clearness, force, and eloquence, and is as popular among all classes as any history of the present century. He was raised to the peerage, as a tribute to his eminent literary merit, in 1857. He died December 28th, 1859. I IV. 80. THE PILGRIM'S VISION. 1. SAW in the naked forest our scattered remnant cast A screen of shivering branches between them and the blast ; The snow was falling round them, the dying fell as fast; I looked to see them pĕrish, when lo! the vision passed. 2. Again mine eyes were opened the feeble had waxed strong; The babes had grown to sturdy men, the remnant was a throng. By shadowed lake and winding stream, and all the shores ǎlong, The howling demons quaked to hear the Christian's godly song. dads They slept the village fathers-by river, lake, and shōre, 4. Their Leader rode before them, of bearing calm and high, 5. Once more; the strife was ended, the solemn issue tried; 6. A crash-as when some swollen cloud cracks o'er the tangled trees! With side to side, and spar to spar, whose smoking decks are these? I know Saint George's blood-red cross, thou Mistress of the Seas; But what is she, whose streaming bars roll out before the breeze. 7. Ah! well her iron ribs are knit, whose thunders strive to quell The bellowing throats, the blazing lips that pealed the Armada's knell! The mist was cleared, a wreath of stars rose o'er the crimsoned swell, And wavering from its haughty peak, the cross of England fell! 8. O, trembling Faith! though dark the morn, a heavenly torch is thine; While feebler races melt away, and paler orbs decline, Still shall the fiery pillar's ray along thy pathway shine, To light the chosen tribe that sought this Western Palestine! 9. I see the living tide roll on, it crowns with flaming towers showers From eastern rock to sunset wave the Continent is ours! OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES V. A 81. THE ROCK OF THE PILGRIMS. ROCK in the wilderness welcomed our sires, Jehovah, which glow in our bosoms for Thee. And Heaven encircled and smiled on the land. 3. The Pilgrims of old an example have given 4. In church and cathedral we kneel in our prayer-- But God is the same in the aisle or the air, And He is the Rock that we lean upon still. MORRIS GEORGE P. MORRIS, the popular song-writer, was born at Philadelphia, in 1801. He commenced his literary career by contributions to the journals at the early age of fifteen. In 1823, with Mr. Woodworth, he established the "New York Mirror," a weekly miscellany, which was conducted with much taste and ability for nearly nineteen years. In conjunction with Mr. Willis, he reestablished "The Mirror" in 1843, which was soon after succeeded by "The Home Journal," which he aided in conducting until a short time before his death. In 1827, his Ilay, in five acts, entitled "Brier Cliff, a tale of the American Revolution," was brought out by Mr. Wallack, and acted forty nights successively. So great was its popularity, that it was played at four theaters in New York on the same evening, to full houses, and yielded its author a profit of three thousand five hundred dollars. The last complete edition of his works appeared in 1860. He died in New York, July Cth, 1864. F VI. 82. ADVANTAGES OF ADVERSITY. ROM the dark portals of the star-chamber, and in the stern text of the acts of uniformity, the Pilgrims received a commission, more efficient than any that ever bōre the royal seal. Their banishment to Holland was fortunate; the decline of their little company in the strange land was fortunate; the difficultics which they experienced in getting the royal consent to banish themselves to this wilderness were fortunate; all the tears and heart-breakings of that ever memorable parting at Delfthaven' had the happiest influence on the rising destinies of New England. All this purified the ranks of the settlers. These rough touches of fortune brushed off the light, uncertain, selfish spirits. They made it a grave, solemn, self-denying expedition, and required of those who engaged in it to be so too. They cast a broad shadow of thought and seriousness over the cause; and, if this sometimes deepened into melancholy and bitterness, can we find no apology for such a human weakness? 2. It is sad, indeed, to reflect on the disasters which the little band of Pilgrims encountered; sad to see a portion of them, the prey of unrelenting cupidity, treacherously embarked in an unsound, unseaworthy ship, which they are soon obliged to abandon, and crowd themselves into one vessel; one hundred persons, besides the ship's company, in a vessel of one hundred and sixty tons. One is touched at the story of the long, cold, and 1 Dělft ha' ven, a fortified town in South Holland (now Belgium), between Rotterdam and Schiedam. At this place the Pilgrims of New Eng. land took their last farewell of their European friends. |