LESSON CCXXI. ROBERT OF LINCOLN. BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 1. MERRILY Swinging on brier and weed, Spink, spank, spink; Snug and safe is that nest of ours, Hidden among the summer flowers. 2. Robert of Lincoln is gayly drest, Wearing a bright black wedding-coat; White are his shoulders, and white his crest: Hear him call, in his merry note, Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, Spink, spank, spink; Look, what a nice new coat is mine! Chee, chee, chee. 3. Robert of Lincoln's quaker wife, Pretty and quiet, with plain brown wings, Broods in the grass while her husband sings, Spink, spank, spink; Brood, kind creature; you need not fear Chee, chee, chee. 4. Modest and shy as a nun is she; One weak chirp is her only note. Spink, spank, spink; Never was I afraid of man; Catch me, cowardly knaves, if you can 5. Six white eggs on a bed of hay, Spink, spank, spink; Nice good wife, that never goes out, 6. Soon as the little ones chip the shell This new life is likely to be Hard for a gay young fellow like me. 7. Robert of Lincoln at length is made 8. Summer wanes; the children are grown; Robert of Lincoln's a hum-drum crone; When Spink, spank, spink; you can pipe that merry old strain, Robert of Lincoln, come back again. Chee, chee, chee. LESSON CCXXII. FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE SENATE. BY HENRY CLAY. 1. EVERYWHERE throughout the extent of this great conti nent, I have had cordial, warm-hearted, faithful, and devoted fitends; who have known me, loved me, and appreciated my motives. To them, if language were capable of fully expressing my acknowledgments, I would now offer all the return I have the power to make for their genuine, disinterested, and persevering fidelity and devoted attachment, the feelings and sentiments of a heart overflowing with never-ceasing gratitude. If, however, I fail in suitable language to express my gratitude to them for all the kindness they have shown me, what shall I say, what can I say, at all commensurate with those feelings of gratitude with which I have been inspired by the State whose humble representative and servant I have been in this chamber? 2. I emigrated from Virginia to the State of Kentucky, now nearly forty-five years ago; I went as an orphan boy who had not yet attained the age of majority; who had never recognised a father's smile, nor felt his warm caresses; poor, penniless, without the favor of the great, with an imperfect and neglected education, hardly sufficient for the ordinary business and common pursuits of life; but scarce had I set my foot upon her generous soil, when I was embraced with parental fondness, caressed as though I had been a favorite child, and patronized with liberal and unbounded munificence. 3. From that period the highest honors of the State have been freely bestowed upon me; and when, in the darkest hour of calumny and detraction, I seemed to be assailed by all the rest of the world, she interposed her broad and impenetrable shield, repelled the poisoned shafts that were aimed for my destruction, and vindicated my good name from every malignant and unfounded aspersion. I return, with indescribable pleasure, to linger a while longer, and mingle with the warm-hearted and whole-souled people of that State; and, when the last scene shall forever close upon me, I hope that my earthly remains will be laid under her green sod with those of her gallant and patriotic sons. 4. In the course of a long and arduous public service, especially during the last eleven years in which I have held a seat in the Senate, I have no doubt, in the heat of debate, and in an honest endeavor to maintain my opinions against adverse opinions alike honestly entertained, as to the best course to be adopted for the public welfare, I may have often, inadvertently and unintentionally, made use of language that has been offensive, and suscep¬ tible of injurious interpretation, toward my brother Senators. 5. If there be any here who retain wounded feelings of injury or dissatisfaction produced on such occasions, I beg to assure them that I now offer the most ample apology for any departure on my part from the established rules of parliamentary decorum and courtesy. On the other hand, I assure Senators, one and all, without exception and without reserve, that I retire from this chamber without carrying with me a single feeling of resentment or dissatisfaction to the Senate or any one of its members. 6. I go from this place under the hope that we shall mutually consign to perpetual oblivion whatever personal collisions may at any time unfortunately have occurred between us; and that our recollections shall dwell in future only on those conflicts of mind with mind, those intellectual struggles, those noble exhibitions of the powers of logic, argument, and eloquence, honorable to the Senate and to the nation, in which each has sought and contended for what he deemed the best mode of accomplishing one common object, the interest and the best happiness of our beloved country. To these thrilling and delightful scenes it will be my pleasure and my pride to look back, on my retirement, with unmeasured satisfaction. 7. In retiring, as I am about to do, forever from the Senate, suffer me to express my heartfelt wishes that all the great and patriotic objects of the wise framers of our Constitution may be fulfilled; that the high destiny designed for it may be fully answered; and that its deliberations, now and hereafter, may eventuate in securing the prosperity of our beloved country, in maintaining its rights and honor abroad, and upholding its interests at home. May the most precious blessings of Heaven rest upon the whole Senate and each member of it, and may the labors of every one redound to the benefit of the nation and the advancement of his own fame and renown! And now, Mr. President and Senators, I bid you all a long, a lasting, and a friendly farewell. LESSON CCXXIII. THE CHILD PLAYING WITH A WATCH. BY FRANCES S. OSGOOD. ART thou playing with Time, in thy sweet baby glee? Let him look on that cheek, where thy rich hair reposes; And still through all seasons, in storm and fair weather LESSON CCXXIV. NO CAUSE MORE JUST THAN THAT OF HUNGARY. BY LOUIS KOSSUTH. 1. To prove that Washington never attached to his doctrine of neutrality more than the sense of temporary policy, I refer to ɔne of his letters, written to Lafayette, wherein he says, "Let |