"YET OFT A SIGH PREVAILS AND SORROWS FALL, TO SEE THE HOARD OF HUMAN BLISS SO SMALL."-GOLDSMITH.

"AND OFT I WISH, AMIDST THE SCENE, TO FIND SOME SPOT TO REAL HAPPINESS CONSIGNED."-GOLDSMITH.

In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill,
For e'en though vanquished, he could argue still;
While words of learnèd length, and thund'ring sound,
Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around,
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
That one small head could carry all he knew.
But past is all his fame. The very spot
Where many a time he triumphed, is forgot.

Near yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high,
Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye,
Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired,
Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired,

THESE LITTLE THINGS ARE GREAT TO LITTLE MAN."-GOLDSMITH.

"HOW BLEST IS HE WHO CROWNS IN SHADES LIKE THESE, A YOUTH OF LABOUR WITH AN AGE OF EASE!"-GOLDSMITH.

BUT SMALL THE BLISS THAT SENSE ALONE BESTOWS."-GOLDSMITH.

ENGLISH COUNTRY LIFE.

Where village statesmen talked with looks profound,
And news much older than their ale went round.
Imagination fondly stoops to trace

The parlour splendours of that festive place;
The white-washed hall, the nicely sanded floor,
The varnished clock that clicked behind the door;

66 EVEN HIS FAILINGS LEANED TO VIRTUE'S SIDE."-GOLDSMITH.

103

"ILL FARES THE LAND, TO HAST'NING ILLS A PREY, WHERE WEALTH ACCUMULATES AND MEN DECAY."-GOLDSMITH.

104

"GRIEF IS ITSELF A MEDICINE, AND BESTOWED

BOADICEA.

The chest contrived a double debt to pay,
A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day;

The pictures placed for ornament and use,
The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose;
The hearth, except when winter chilled the day,
With aspen boughs and flowers and fennel gay,
While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for show,
Ranged o'er the chimney, glistened in a row.

[OLIVER GOLDSMITH, poet, novelist, essayist-a man of delicate genius
and tender sympathies-was born in 1728, died 1774. His best works are,
"The Vicar of Wakefield,"
," "Citizen of the World," "She Stoops to Con-
quer,"
," "The Traveller," and "The Deserted Village." Our extract is from

the latter.]

"EVEN WHILE FASHION'S BRIGHTEST ARTS DECOY, THE HEART, DISTRUSTING, ASKS IF THIS BE JOY!"-GOLDSMITH.

BOADICEA.*

HEN the British warrior queen,
Bleeding from the Roman rods,
Sought, with an indignant mien,
Counsel of her country's gods,

Sage beneath the spreading oak
Sat the Druid, hoary chief;
Every burning word he spoke
Full of rage, and full of grief.

"Princess! if our aged eyes

Weep upon thy matchless wrongs, 'Tis because resentment ties

All the terrors of our tongues.

* Boadicea, or Bonduca, was Queen of the Iceni, an ancient British nation, and offered an heroic resistance to the Roman invaders, by whose orders she had been cruelly scourged. She attacked and captured the Roman colony of Camalodunum (Maldon), in Essex, destroyed Londinium and Verulamium (St. Albans), but was finally defeated by Suetonius (A.D. 62). In despair she committed suicide.

T'IMPROVE THE FORTITUDE THAT BEARS THE LOAD."-COWPER.

"STILL TO OURSELVES, IN EVERY PLACE CONSIGNED, OUR OWN FELICITY WE MAKE OR FIND."-GOLDSMITH.

"WHERE MEN OF JUDGMENT CREEP AND FEEL THEIR WAY, THE POSITIVE PRONOUNCE WITHOUT DISMAY."-COWPER.

"GOD MADE THE COUNTRY, AND MAN MADE THE TOWN."-COWPER.

"LET ETERNAL INFAMY PURSUE THE WRETCH TO NOUGHT BUT HIS AMBITION TRUE."-WILLIAM COWPER.

"Rome shall perish-write that word

In the blood that she has spilt;
Perish, hopeless and abhorred,
Deep in ruin as in guilt.

"Rome, for empire far renowned,
Tramples on a thousand states;
Soon her pride shall kiss the ground-
Hark! the Gaul is at her gates!

"Other Romans shall arise,

Heedless of a soldier's name;

Sounds, not arms, shall win the prize,

Harmony the path to fame.

"FREEDOM HAS A THOUSAND CHARMS TO SHOW, THAT SLAVES, HOWE'ER CONTENTED, NEVER KNOW."-COWPER.

106

NEGLECTED TALENTS RUST INTO DECAY."-WILLIAM COWPER.

[WILLIAM COWPER, a descriptive and didactic poet of deserved repute, who is endeared to our sympathies by the melancholy story of his life. Born 1731, died 1800. Wrote "The Task," Conversation," "Retirement," "Table Talk," and numerous minor poems.]

"HE IS THE FREEMAN WHOM THE TRUTH MAKES FREE "-COWPER.

"THEY THAT FIGHT FOR FREEDOM UNDERTAKE THE NOBLEST CAUSE MANKIND CAN HAVE AT STAKE."-COWPER.