The chaise drove on; our journey's end HARP of the Zephyr, whose least breath, o'er The leaf that curls upon youth's warm hand, When thankless flowers in silence bend, Thou hailest the freshness of heaven with song; When forests the air with their howlings rend, Thou soothest the storm as it raves along. Yes: thine is the magic of Friendship's bower,- Harp of the breeze, whether gentle or strong, Hark! hark!-even the swell of my own wild song Hath awakened a mild, responsive strain. It is not an echo: 'tis far too sweet To be born of a lay so rude as mine: But, oh! when terror and softness meet, How pure are the hues of the wreath they twine! Thus the breath of my rapture hath swept thy chords, I hear it, I hear it,-now fitfully swelling, Heaven's own harp! save angel fingers, None should dare open thy mystic treasures. Farewell! for each note on mine ear still lingers, And mine may not mingle with thy blest measures LESSON CV. Burial of Sir John Moore.*-C. WOLFE. NOT a drum was heard, nor a funeral note, We buried him darkly, at dead of night, No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Nor in sheet, nor in shroud, we bound him; But he lay, like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him. *Who fell in the battle of Corunna, in Spain, 1808 Few and short were the prayers we said, We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed, Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone, But half of our heavy task was done, When the clock tolled the hour for retiring; Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory; LESSON CVI. War contrary to the Courses of Nature, and the Spirit of the Gospel.-MELLEN. Он! how shall man his crime extenuate ! He sees the trees wave in the peaceful sky, There is no war among them; they pass on, Each calling to the other through the year! Who bade them roll in peace around his throne. Oh! may the fearful eventide of time, LESSON CVII. Brief Account of the first Settlers of New England; their departure from Europe; and their landing at Plymouth, Mass. 22d Dec. 1620.-Abridged from ROBERTSON and NEAL. ROBERT BROWN, a popular preacher in high estimation among the Puritans of England, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, maintained that a society of Christians, uniting together to worship God, constituted a church, possessed of complete jurisdiction in the conduct of its own affairs, independent of any other society, and accountable to no superior:-that the priesthood neither was a distinct order in the church, nor conferred an indelible character; but that every man, qualified to teach, might be set apart for that office by the election of the brethren, and by imposition of their hands; and that, in like manner, by their authority, he might be discharged from that function, and reduced to the rank of a private Christian. Those who adopted this democratical form of government, which abolished all distinction of ranks in the church, and conferred an equal portion of power on each individual, were, from the founder of the sect, denominated Brownists: and, as their te'nets were more hostile to the established religion than those of other separatists, the fiercest storm of persecution fell upon their heads. Many of them were fined or imprisoned, and some were put to death. Still, the sect not only subsisted, but continued to spread. But, as all their motions were carefully watched, both by the ecclesiastical and civil courts, which, as often as they were detected, punished them with the utmost rigour, a body of them, weary of living in a state of continual danger and alarm, fled to Holland, and settled in Leyden, under the care of Mr. John Robinson their pastor. There they resided for several years, unmolested and obscure. But, many of their aged members dying, and some of the younger marrying into Dutch families, while their church received no increase, either by recruits from England, or by proselytes gained in the country, they began to be afraid, that all their high attainments in spiritual knowledge would be lost, and that that perfect fabric of policy, which they had erected, would be dissolved, and consigned to oblivion, if they remained longer in a strange land. At length, after several solemn addresses to Heaven, the younger part of the congregation resolved to remove into some part of America, under the protection of the king of England, where they might enjoy the liberty of their consciences, and be capable of encouraging their friends and countrymen to follow them. Accordingly, they sent over agents into England, who, having obtained a patent from the crown, agreed with seve ral merchants to become adventurers in the undertaking. Se |