unbounded extent of the material creation; and, at another, with the endless subordination of animal life; -and, what is of yet more importance, might supply the decays of nature, and succour old age with subsidiary sight. Thus was the first artificer in glass employed, though without his own knowledge or expectation. He was facilitating and prolonging the enjoyment of sight, enlarging the avenues of science, and conferring the highest and most lasting pleasures; he was enabling the student to contemplate nature, and the beauty to behold herself. Johnson.

DISSOLUTION OF THE EARTH.

LET us reflect, upon this occasion, on the vanity and transient glory of this habitable world: how, by the force of one element breaking loose upon the rest, all the varieties of nature, all the works of art, all the labours of men are reduced to nothing! All that we admired and adored before, as great and magnificent, is obliterated or vanished: and another form and face of things, plain, simple, and every where the same, overspreads the whole earth. Where are now the great empires of the world, and their great imperial cities? their pillars, trophies, and monuments of glory? Show me where they stood; read the inscription; tell me the victor's name. What remains, what impressions, what difference or distinction do you see in this mass of fire? Rome itself, eternal Rome, the great city, the empress of the world, whose domination makes a great part of the history of this earth,-what is become of her now? She laid her foundations deep, and her palaces were strong and sumptuous. "She glorified herself, and lived deliciously, and said in her heart, I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow." But her hour is come. She is wiped away from the face of the earth, and buried in everlasting oblivion.-But it is not cities only, and works of men's hands, but the everlasting hills, the mountains and rocks of the earth, are melted as wax before the sun, and "their place is nowhere found." Here stood the Alps, the load of the earth, that covered

many countries, and reached their arms from the ocean to the Black Sea. This huge mass of stone is softened and dissolved as a tender cloud into rain. Here stood the African mountains, and Atlas with his top above the clouds: there was frozen Caucasus, and Taurus, and Imaus, and the mountains of Asia; and yonder, towards the north, stood the Riphæan hills, clothed in ice All these are vanished,-dropt away as the their heads. "Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Hallelujah!"

and snow.

snow upon

Burnet's Theory of the Earth.

SECTION VI.

POETRY.

I. BLANK VERSE.

THE BIBLE.

Most wondrous Book! bright candle of the Lord!
Star of Eternity! The only star,

By which the bark of man could navigate
The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss
Securely only star, which rose on time,
And, in its dark and troubled billows, still,
As generation driving swiftly by
Succeeded generation, threw a ray

Of Heaven's own light, and, to the hills of God,—
The everlasting hills,-pointed the sinner's eye.
By Prophets, Seers, and Priests, and sacred Bards,
Evangelists, Apostles, men inspired,

And, by the Holy Ghost, anointed, set

Apart and consecrated, to declare

On earth the counsels of the Eternal One,

This Book-this holiest, this sublimest Book

Was sent. Heaven's will, Heaven's code of laws entire

To man, this Book contained; defined the bounds
Of vice and virtue, and of life and death;

And what was shadow,-what was substance,-taught.
Pollok.

GOD.

How shall I then attempt to sing of Him,
Who, light himself, in uncreated light
Invested deep, dwells awfully retired
From mortal eye, or angel's purer ken:
Whose single smile has, from the first of time,
Filled overflowing all those lamps of Heaven,
That beam for ever through the boundless sky;
But, should he hide his face, the astonished sun,
And all the extinguished stars, would loosening reel
Wide from their spheres, and Chaos come again.
And yet, was every faltering tongue of man,
Almighty Father, silent in thy praise,

Thy works themselves would raise a general voice;
Even in the depth of solitary woods,

By human foot untrod, proclaim thy power;
And to the quire celestial thee resound,
The eternal cause, support, and end of all!

Thomson.

MAN.

THERE wanted yet the master-work, the end
Of all yet done; a creature, who, not prone
And brute as other creatures, but endued
With sanctity of reason, might erect

His stature, and upright, with front serene,
Govern the rest, self-knowing; and from thence
Magnanimous to correspond with Heaven,
But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
Descends, thither with heart, and voice, and eyes
Directed in devotion, to adore

And worship God Supreme, who made him chief
Of all his works.

Milton.

EVENING IN PARADISE.

Now came still Evening on, and 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 beauteous descant sung:
Silence was pleased. Now glow'd the firmament
With living sapphires; Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest, till the Moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length

Apparent queen unveil'd her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw :
When Adam thus to Eve, "Fair consort, the hour
Of night, and all things now retired to rest,
Mind us of like repose; since God hath set
Labour and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive; and the timely dew of sleep,
Now falling with soft cumbrous weight, inclines
Our eyelids. Other creatures, all day long,
Rove idle, unemploy'd, and less need rest:
Man hath his daily work of body or mind
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the regard of Heaven on all his ways;
While other animals inactive range,

And of their doings God takes no account." Milton.

ADAM'S REFLECTIONS ON HIMSELF.

As new waked from soundest sleep,

Soft on the flowery herb I found me laid,
Straight towards heaven my wondering eyes I turn'd,
And gazed awhile the ample sky; till, raised
By quick instinctive motion, up I sprung,
As thitherward endeavouring, and upright
Stood on my feet. About me round I saw
Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains,

And liquid lapse of murmuring streams; by these, Creatures that lived and moved, and walk'd or flew ; Birds on the branches warbling. All things smiled With fragrance; and with joy my heart o'erflow'd. Myself I then perused, and limb by limb

Survey'd, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran
With supple joints, as lively vigour led:

But who I was, or where, or from what cause,
Knew not. To speak I tried, and forthwith spake ;
My tongue obey'd, and readily could name
Whate'er I saw. "Thou Sun," said I, " fair light,
And thou enlighten'd Earth, so fresh and gay,
Ye hills and dales, ye rivers, woods, and plains,
And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell,
Tell, if ye saw, how I came thus, how here?
Not of myself! By some great Maker, then,
In goodness and in power pre-eminent:
Tell me how I may know him, how adore,
From whom I have that thus I move, and live,
And feel that I am happier than I know."

Milton.

BLESSINGS OF SOCIETY.

WITH thee conversing, I forget all time,
All seasons and their change; all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of Morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the Sun,
When first, on this delightful land, he spreads
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistering with dew; fragrant the fertile Earth
After soft showers; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful Evening mild; then silent Night,
With this her solemn bird, and this fair Moon,
And these the gems of Heaven, her starry train:
But neither breath of Morn, when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds; nor rising Sun
On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers;
Nor grateful Evening mild; nor silent Night,
With this her solemn bird; nor walk by moon
Or glittering starlight-without thee is sweet.

Milton.