EXERCISES IN READING AND DECLA

MATION.

SPEECH OF SATAN TO HIS LEGIONS.

(MILTON.)

Narrative.

He scarce had ceas'd, when the superior fiend | Was moving tow'rd the shore. ; | his pond'rous shield, | Etherial temper, mas'sy, large', and round', | Behind him cast; | the broad circumference" | IIung on his shoulders like the moon' | whose orb Through optic glass | the Tuscan artist views At evening from the top of Fes'o-le, Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands', I Riv'ers, or mountains, in her spotty globe. 1 His spear' (to equal which the tallest pine, Ilewn on Norwegian hills, I to be the mast Of some great amiral, were but a wand') | He walk'd with, I to support uneasy steps Over the burning marl, (not like those steps On heaven's a'zure!) I and the torrid clime | Smote on him sore besides, ! vaulted with fire: Nathless he so endur'd, | till on the beach ་ Of that inflamed sea he stood, | and call'd His legions, angel-forms | who lay entranc'd |

• Sèr-kům'fé-rèns.

Gallileo. He was born at Florence, the capital of Tuscany, in Italy. Valdarno, Válle'di Arno (Italian), the vale of the Arno, a delightful valley in Tuscany. Moun'tinz. • Am'i-ral (French), admiral. A'žůr. Náth'lès.

Thick as autumnal leaves | that strow the brooks
In Vallombro'sa' | where the Etrurian shades,|
High over-arch'd, imbow'r.; or scatter'd sedge,
Afloat, when with fierce winds, | Orion," arm'd, |
Hath vex'd the Red-Sea coast | whose waves o'erthrew
Busiris, and his Memphian chivalry,'|

While with perfidious hatred | they pursu'd
The sojourners" of Go' shen, I who beheld
From the safe shore, their floating carcasses,
And broken chariot wheels: | so thick bestrown, |
Abject, and lost, | lay these, covering the flood, |
Under amazement of their hideous change. I
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep
Of hell resound.ed! |

Speech.

"Princes, potentates, |

Warriors, the flow'r of heav'n, once yours', now lost,
If such astonishment' as this' I can seize ..

Eternal spirits: | ir or have ye chosen this place, |
After the toil of battle, to repose

Your wearied virtue, | for the case you find
To slum ber here, as in the vales of heav'n? |
"Or, in this abject posture, I have ye sworn
To adore the Conqror? | who now beholds"
Cherub, and seraph, rolling in the flood |
With scatter'd arms, and ensigns; | till anon |
His swift pursuers, | from heav'n-gates | discern
The advantage, and descending, tread us down', |
Thus drooping; or, with linked thunderbolts, |
Transfix' us to the bottom of this gulf. I
Awake! arise'! | or be for ever fallen,!|

a A-tům'nál. Vallombrosa (válle, a vale; ombróso, shady), a shady valley in the Apennines, fifteen miles east of Florence. Orl'on, a constellation, in the southern hemisphere. Busi'ris, Pharaoh. • Memphian, from Memphis, ancient capital of Egypt. Tshiv'al-re. Per-fld'yds. So'džurn-åri. A-må'ment. 'Hidè-ús. * Warydrż. As-ton'Ish-ment. - E-tèr nål. • Be-holdź, not burholds. Diz-zèrn'.

OSSIAN'S ADDRESS TO THE SUN.

O thou that rollest above, | round as the shield of my fathers! Whence are thy beams', O sun', | thy everlasting light? Thou comest forth in thy awful beauty;| the stars hide themselves in the sky; the moon, cold, and pale', | sinks in the western wave. | But thou thyself movest alone, | who can be a companion of thy course? |

The oaks of the mountains a fall; the mountains themselves', decay with years; the ocean shrinks, and grows again; | the moon herself is lost in heav、n; ¦ but thou art for ever the same, | rejoicing in the brightness of thy course.

'When the world is dark with tempests', | 2when thunder rolls, and lightning flies', | thou lookest in thy beauty from the clouds', [ 'and laugh'est at the storm. 'But, to Ossian, thou lookest in vain; for he beholds thy beams no more, whether thy yellow hairs flow on the eastern clouds', or thou tremblest at the gates of the west. I

But thou art perhaps like me'. for a season: | thy years will have an end. Thou shalt sleep in the clouds', careless of the voice of the morning. | 'Exult', then, O sun', | in the strength of thy youth!'Age, is dark, and unlovely: it is like the glimmering light of the moon', when, it shines through broken clouds'; | and the mist is on the hills', the blast of the north is on the plain', the traveller shrinks in the midst of his journey. I

TELL'S ADDRESS TO THE MOUNTAINS.
(KNOWLES.)

"Ye crags, and peaks', I'm with you once again;f | I hold to you the hands you first' beheld,

■ Moun'tinz.

b Moon herself, not moo'-ner-self.

с He

beholds

thy beams; not He'be holds thy beams. d Ossian was blind. Crags and peaks; not cragz'n peaks, nor crags Ann Peaks. 'Agèn'.

e

To show they still are free. 'Methinks I hear
A spirit in your echoes, an'swer me, |

2

And bid your tenant welcome to his home',

Again! O sacred forms, how proud, you looka! | How high you lift your heads into the sky'!|

How huge you are! | how mighty, and how free!|
Ye are the things that tow'r-that shine.whose smile
Makes glad whose frown is terrible-whose forms
Robed, or unrobed, I do all the impress wear |
Of awe divine. | Ye guards of liberty,
I'm with you once again!- fff I call to you |
With all my voice'! I hold my hands to you |
To show they still are free-I rush to you
As though I could embrace, you'!]

с

BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN.

(CAMPBELL.)

On Linden, when the sun was low',
All bloodless lay the untrodd'n_snow1, |
And dark as win'ter, was the flow' |
Of Iser rolling rapidly. |

But Linden saw another sight,
When the drum beat at dead of night, |
Commanding fires of death, to light |
The darkness of her scenery'. ]

By torch, and trumpet fast array'd', |
Each horsemank drew his battle blade; |
And furious every charger neigh'd', |
To join the dreadful revelry. |

e

Lin'

Still, are; not stillar. b Methinks I; not me-think' si. Agên. a Proud, you look; not prow'jew-look. are; not hew'jew-are. Embrace you; not embra'shew. dên; not Lindun. b E'sûr. i Sèn'er-è; not sce'nury. Hårs'mân; not hosmun.

Huge, you

Trump'it.

Then shook the hills with thunder riv'n;]
Then rush'd the steed to battle driv'n; |
And louder than the bolts of heav'n, |
Far flash'd the red artillery". |

And redder yet those fires shall glow |
On Linden's hills of blood-stain'd snow、 ; |
And darker yet, shall be the flow' |
Of Iser rolling rapidly. |

'Tis morn',

but scarce yon lurid_sun', |
Can pierce the war-clouds, rolling dun, |
Where furious Frank, and fiery Hun' |
Shout in their sulph'rous canopy.
The combat deep''ns-ffOn', ye brave', I
Who rush to glory, or the grave, !|
fff Wave, Munich,d | all thy banners, wave'! |
And charge with all thy chivalry® ! |

mpFew, few shall part where many meet! |
The snow shall be their winding-sheet, |
And every turf beneath their feet', |
Shall be a soldier's sepulchre. |

11

SPEECH OF ROLLA TO THE PERUVIAN ARMY.
[From Kotzebue's Pizarro.]
(R. B. SHERIDAN.)

My brave associates! | partners of my toil', my feel'ings, and my fame! Can Rolla's words add vigour to the virtuoush energies which inspire your hearts'? No! you have judged as I have, the foulness of the crafty plea by which these bold invaders would delude, you. Your generous spirit | has compared as mine has, the motives which, in a war, like this', can animate their minds, and ours,. |

Artil'lår-rẻ. b Lin'dên; not Lindun. C Kům'båt. • Tshiv'al-rè. Bè-nètн'. Rôl'lå; not Rolluz. ůs. i En'êr-džèż. j And ours; not Ann Dowers.

d Mu'nik. h Vertshu