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"While you are join'd in friendship's throng,
'My dearest children, you'll be strong!
"But if, by quarrel and dispute,
"You undermine affection's root,

"And thus the strengthening cord divide,
"Then will my children ill betide :
"E'en beasts of prey in bands unite,
"And kindly for each other fight;
"And shall not Christian children be
"Join'd in sweet links of amity?
"If separate, you will each be weak;
"Each, like a single stick, will break :
"But if you're firm, and true and hearty,
"The world, and all its spite, can't part ye."
The father having closed his lesson,
Proceeded to pronounce his blessing:
Embraced them all, then pray'd and sigh'd,
Look'd up, and dropp'd his head-and died!

APPLICATION.

And thus, my countrymen, should you,
And I, and all, be firm and true,

If Christian faith and love combine us,
And sweet affection's cord entwine us,
We need encourage no dejection,
Secure in the Divine protection;

In

prosperous days we'll bless our God, And when He smites, we'll kiss the rod.

LESSON CCLXXVIII.

OCTOBER THE FIFTH.

On Epistolary Writing.

ONE of the greatest errors amongst acquaintances is, that they suffer the letters of their friends to remain so long unanswered, that they eventually lose all the relish to answer them at all. They make many resolves that they will set about writing ere long; but something intervenes that banishes the idea from their minds. Perhaps, some time after, the thought again recurs, but as the impression made by the sentiments of their friend's letter grows weaker, they have not sufficient energy to incite to the task. They then grow indifferent about the matter, and set themselves at rest by the consideration that the time elapsed is unpardonable, and, therefore, it is unnecessary to write at all.

THE CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS, BY W. IRVING. 389

In the end, probably, the impulse will be so strong, that the procrastinating correspondent is determined to set about the business in good earnest: he sits down in a bustle-begins by making a number of unmeaning and generally false apologies for his negligence, and pens a languid, fulsome, unanimated epistle, which (as the case generally terminates) seemingly contributes to confirm his friend, that he has been injudicious in the choice of a confidant, who is incapable of answering the obligations of friendship.

Every man who is acquainted with the human mind must know that all impressions upon the senses are weakened by the lapse of time. Resolve, therefore, in future, whenever you receive a letter replete with sentiments congenial with your own, or that call forth all the tender feelings, then, while the heart is warmed with enthusiasm or softened with sympathy, to pour forth the involuntary effusions of nature without restraint.

I never dictated a letter with frigid premeditation that pleased either myself or my correspondent. It is by immediately conforming to the present exigency that we can alone produce salutary effects, either in business or the softer walks of sentimental correspondence.

1. What is one of the greatest errors amongst acquaintances? 2. How are impressions upon the senses affected by the lapse of time? 3. What are we told to do in future, with regard to letter-writing?

LESSON CCLXXIX.

OCTOBER THE SIXTH.

The Character of Columbus, by Washington Irving. COLUMBUS was a man of great and inventive genius. The operations of his mind were energetic, but irregular; bursting forth at times with that irresistible force which characterizes intellects of such an order. His mind had grasped all kinds of knowledge connected with his pursuits; and though his information may appear limited at the present day, and some of his errors palpable, it is because knowledge, in his peculiar department of science, was but scantily developed in his time. His own

discoveries enlightened the ignorance of that age; guided conjecture to certainty; and dispelled numerous errors with which he himself had been obliged to struggle.

His ambition was lofty and noble. He was full of high thoughts, and anxious to distinguish himself by great

achievements. It has been said that a mercenary feeling mingled with his views, and that his stipulations with the Spanish court were selfish and avaricious. The charge is inconsiderate and unjust. He aimed at dignity and wealth in the same lofty spirit in which he sought renown; but they were to arise from the territories he should discover, and be commensurate in importance. He asked nothing of the sovereigns but a command of the countries he hoped to give them, and a share of the profits to support the dignity of his command. The gains that promised to arise from his discoveries, he intended to appropriate in the same princely and pious spirit in which they were demanded. He contemplated works and achievements of benevolence and religion; vast contributions for the relief of the poor of his native city; the foundation of churches, where masses should be said for the souls of the departed; and armies for the recovery of the holy sepulchre in Palestine.

Columbus was a man of quick sensibility, liable to great excitement, to sudden and strong impressions, and powerful impulses. He was naturally irritable and impetuous, and keenly sensible to injury and injustice; yet the quickness of his temper was counteracted by the benevolence and generosity of his heart. The magnanimity of his nature shone forth through all the troubles of his stormy career. Though continually outraged in his dignity, and braved in the exercise of his command; though foiled in his plans, and endangered in his person by the seditions of turbulent and worthless men, and that, too, at times when suffering under anxiety of mind and anguish of body sufficient to exasperate the most patient, he restrained his valiant and indignant spirit; and, by the strong powers of his mind, brought himself to forbear, and reason, and even to supplicate: nor should we fail to notice how free he was from all feeling of revenge, how ready to forgive and forget, on the least signs of repentance and atonement. He has been extolled for his skill in controlling others; but far greater praise is due to him for the firmness he displayed in governing himself.

His magnanimous benignity made him accessible to all kinds of pleasurable sensations from external objects. In his letters and journals, instead of detailing circumstances with the technical precision of a mere navigator, he notices the beauties of nature with the enthusiasm of a poet or a painter.

He was devoutly pious; religion mingled with the whole course of his thoughts and actions, and shines

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forth in all his most private and unstudied writings. Whenever he made any great discovery he celebrated it by solemn thanks to God. The voice of prayer and melody of praise rose from his ships when they first beheld the New World, and his first action on landing was to prostrate himself upon the earth and return thanksgivings.

With all the visionary fervour of his imagination its fondest dreams fell short of the reality. He died in ignorance of the real 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 remote parts of Asia. 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, amidst the afflictions of age and the 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.

1. To what did the discoveries of Columbus tend?

2. What did he ask of the sovereigns who patronised his undertaking? 3. In what way did the magnanimity of Columbus's nature shine forth?

4. What idea did Columbus entertain till his death?

LESSON CCLXXX.

OCTOBER THE SEVENTH.

Zimmerman.

On this day, in 1795, died Dr. John George Zimmerman, an eminent Swiss physician and miscellaneous writer.

In the year 1786 one of the most memorable incidents in the life of Zimmerman occurred, that of his being sent for to attend the Great Frederic in his last illness. There was little room for his medical skill; but it gave

him the opportunity of publishing an account of his "Conversations" with that celebrated prince, together with various particulars and anecdotes relative to him. He was also induced by that partial attachment which the favour of a superior is so apt to excite in an inferior, to undertake a defence of the character of Frederic against the caustic censures of the Count de Mirabeau. These writings exposed him to some severe criticisms, which he felt too acutely for his peace; and his mind was farther disquieted by the part he took in the controversies then agitating the Continent relative to the principles which effected the French revolution.

Attached by court habits to the cause of kings, by birth to that of aristocracy, and by faith to the Christian religion, he viewed with jealousy and detestation those societies which were supposed to aim at the subversion of established forms and authorities, and declared open war against them. He even proceeded so far as to address to the Emperor Leopold a memoir recommending their suppression by the hand of power; and he involved himself in prosecution for libel, by a charge which he brought against a person by name for an unavowed publication.

While his mind was in a state of high irritation from these causes, the approach of the French towards Hanover, in 1794, almost subverted his reason. He could think of nothing but the pillage of his house and ruin of his fortune; he abstained from food, wasted to a skeleton, and died absolutely worn out, at the age of sixty-six. Such was the melancholy end of a man whose moral and intellectual qualities rendered him in a high degree the object of private friendship and public esteem.

1. What eminent physician and miscellaneous writer died on this day, in 1795?

2. What most memorable incident occurred, in 1786, in the life of this person?

3. What was he induced to undertake ?

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The great Fall of Tequendama.

THIS Stupendous fall (though not the greatest in the world), combined with the objects around it, forms one of the most wild, romantic, and sublimely picturesque scenes in nature. It is on the Rio de Bogota. "This river," says Humboldt, "collecting all the waters of the valley

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