The English Reader, Or, Pieces in Prose and Poetry: Selected from the Best Writers : Designed to Assist Young Persons to Read with Propriety and Effect, to Improve Their Language and Sentiments, and to Inculcate Some of the Most Important Principles of Piety and Virtue : with a Few Preliminary Observations on the Principles of Good Reading : to which is Added a Vocabulary of All the Words Therein Contained

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Holbrook & Fessenden, 1826 - Readers - 204 pages
 

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Page 164 - There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart, It does not feel for man ; the natural bond Of brotherhood is sever'd as the flax That falls asunder at the touch of fire.
Page 30 - I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding ; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Page 176 - I am lord of the fowl and the brute. 0 solitude ! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face ? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place. 1 am out of humanity's reach, I must finish my journey alone, Never hear the sweet music of speech, — I start at the sound of my own. The beasts that roam over the plain My form with indifference see, They are so unacquainted with man, Their tameness is shocking to me.
Page 154 - Twilight gray had in her sober livery all things clad : Silence accompanied ; for Beast and Bird, they to their grassy couch, these to their nests, were slunk, — all but the wakeful nightingale; she, all night long, her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleased. Now...
Page 184 - Though in the paths of death I tread, With gloomy horrors overspread, My steadfast heart shall fear no ill, For Thou, O Lord, art with me still : Thy friendly crook shall give me aid, And guide me through the dreadful shade.
Page 180 - Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run Perpetual circle, multiform ; and mix And nourish all things ; let your ceaseless change Vary to our Great Maker still new praise. Ye Mists and Exhalations that now rise From hill or steaming lake, dusky or gray, Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold, In honour to the world's Great Author rise...
Page 189 - Lo, the poor Indian ! whose untutored mind Sees GOD in clouds, or hears Him in the wind ; His soul proud science never taught to stray Far as the solar walk or Milky Way...
Page 173 - Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more ; I mourn, but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for you ; For morn is approaching, your charms to restore, Perfumed with fresh fragrance, and glittering with dew: Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn ; Kind nature the embryo blossom will save.
Page 73 - The earth was at first without form, and void ; and darkness was on the face of the deep.
Page 180 - Fairest of stars, last in the train of night, If better thou belong not to the dawn, Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere, While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.

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