6. So high at last the contest rose, :

From words they almost came to blows;
When luckily came by a third ;
To him the question they referred,
And begged he'd tell them, if he knew,

Whether the thing was green or blue.
7. “ Sirs," cries the umpire, Ei o cease your pother

The creature 's neither one nor t'other;
I caught the animal last night,
And viewed it o'er by candle-light:
I marked it well, - 't was black as jet, -
You stare ; but, sirs, I've got it yet,
And can produce it.” –“ Pray, sir, do;
I'll lay my life the thing is blue.”
“ And I 'll be bound, that when you 've seen
The reptile, you 'll pronounce him green.”-
“ Well, then, at once to end the doubt,"
Replies the man, “I'll turn him out:
And when before your eyes I 've set him,
If you don't tind him black, I 'll eat him.”
He said ; then full before their sight
Produced the beast, and, lo! – 't was white.

MERRICK.

CXCIII. – AFFECTATION IN THE PULPIT.

In man or woman, but far most in man,
And most of all in man that ministers
And serves the altar, in my soul I loathe
All affectation ; 't is my perfect scorn,
Object of my implacable disgust.
What! will a man play tricks, will he indulge
A silly fond conceit of his fair form
And just proportion, fashionable mien
And pretty face, in presence of his God?
Or will he seek to dazzle me with tropes, EI
As with the diamond on his lily hand,
And play his brilliant parts before my eyes,
When I'am hungry for the bread of life?
He mocks his Maker, prostitutes and shames
His noble office, and, instead of truth,
Displaying his own beauty, starves his flock.
Therefore, avaunt! all attitude and stare,
And start theatric, practised at the glass.
I seek divine simplicity in him
Who handles things divine; and all beside,
Though learned with lahor, and though mach admired
By curious eyes and judgments ill-informed,
To me is odious.

COWPER. CXCIV. — TO THE SKYLARK.

1. Hail to thee, blithe spirit!

Bird thou never wert, —
That from heaven, or near it,

Pourest thy full heart,
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
2. Higher still and higher

From the earth thou springest;
Like a cloud of fire,

The blue deep thou wingest,
And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

3 All the earth and air

With thy voice is loud ;
As, when night is bare,

From one lonely cloud
The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflowed.

4. Teach us, sprite or bird,

What sweet thoughts are thine ;
I have never heard

Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.

5. Chorus hymenē'al,

Or triumphal chant,
Matched with thine would be all

But an empty vaunt,
A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.

6. With thy clear keen joyance

Languor cannot be ;
Shadow of annoyance

Never came near thee.
Thou lovest, but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.

7. Better than all measures

Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures

That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground: 8. Teach me half the gladness

That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness

From my lips would flow,
The world should listen then, as I am listening now.

SHELLEY (ABRIDGED).

CXCV. — ODE ON CECILIA'S DAY. 1. From harmony, from heavenly harmony.

This universal frame began! -
When nature underneath a heap

Of jarring atoms lay,
And could not heave her head,
The tuneful voice was heard from high,

“ Arise, ye more than dead!”.
Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry,
In order to their stations leap,

And Music's power obey.

2. From harmony, from heavenly harmony,

This universal frame began ;

From harmony to harmony,
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,

The dia pa'sone closing full in man.
3. What passion cannot music raise and quell?
When Jubale struck the chorded shell, a

His listening brethren stood around,
And, wondering, on their faces fell

To worship that celestial sound.
Less than a god they thought there could not dwell

Within the hollow of that shell,

That spoke so sweetly and so well.
What passion cannot music raise and quell?
4. The trumpet's loud clangor

Excites us to arms,
With shrill notes of anger,

And mortal alarms.
The double, double, double beat

Of the thundering drum,

Cries, “ Hark! the foes come; Charge, charge! 't is too late to retreat." 5. The soft complaining flute

In dying notes discovers

The woes of hapless lovers,
Whose dirge is whispered by the warbling lute.

6. Sharp violins proclaim
Their jealous pangs, and desperation,

Fury, frantic indignation,
Depths of pain and height of passion,
For the fair disdainful dame.

7. But, O! what art can teach,

What human voice can reach,

The sacred organ's praise !

Notes inspiring holy love,
Notes that wing their heavenly ways

To mend the choirs" above.
Orpheugel could lead the savage race;
And trees uprooted left their place,

Sequaciousel of the lyre ;
But bright Cecilia er raised the wonder higher :
When to her organ vocal breath was given,
An angel heard, and straight appeared,
Mistaking earth for heaven.

DRYDEN.

CXCVI. — PIZARRO IN PERU.

1. — SUFFERINGS IN THE FORESTS. On the departure of his vessels, Pizarroel marched into the interior, in the hope of finding the pleasant champaign country which had been promised him by the natives. But at every step the forests seemed to grow denser and darker, and the trees towered to a height such as he had never seen, even in these fruitful regions, where nature works on so gigantic a scale. Hill continued to rise above hill, as he advanced, rolling onward, as it were, by successive waves, to join that colossal barrier of the Andes, whose frosty sides, far away above the clouds, spread out like a curtain of burnished silver, that seemed to connect the heavens with the earth.

On crossing these woody eminences, the forlorn adventurers would plunge into ravines' of frightful depth, where the exhala. tions of a humid soil steamed up amidst the incense of sweetscented flowers, which shone through the deep glooms in every conceivable variety of color. Birds, especially of the parrot tribe, mocked this fantastic variety of nature with tints as brilliant as those of the vegetable world. Monkeys chattered in crowds above their heads, and made grima'ces like the fiendish spirits of these solitudes; while hideous reptiles, engendered in the slimy depths of the pools, gathered round the footsteps of the wanderers.

Here was seen the gigantic boä, coiling his unwieldy folds about the trees, so as hardly to be distinguished from their trunks, till he was ready to dart upon his prey; and alligators lay basking on the borders of the streams, or, gliding under the waters, seized their incautious victim before he was aware of their approach Many of the Spaniards perished miserably in

this way, and others were waylaid by the natives, who kept a jealous eye on their movements, and availed themselves of every opportunity to take them at advantage. Fourteen of Pizarro's men were cut off at once in a canoe which had stranded on the bank of a stream.

Famine came in addition to other troubles, and it was with difficulty that they found the means of sustaining life on the scanty fare of the forest, - occasionally the potato, as it grew without cultivation, or the wild cocoa-nut, or, on the shore, the salt and bitter fruit of the mangrove; though the shore was less tolerable than the forest, from the swarms of mosquitos, which compelled the wretched adventurers to bury their bodies up to their very faces in the sand. In this extremity of suffering they thought only of return; and all schemes of avarice and ambition – except with Pizarro and a few dauntless spirits were exchanged for the one craving desire to return to Panama'. EI

2. — ON THE ISLAND OF Gallo. A ray of hope was enough for the courageous spirit of Pizarro. It does not appear that he himself had entertained, at any time, thoughts of returning. He prepared to stand the fortune of the cast on which he had so desperately ventured. He knew, how. ever, that solicitations or remonstrances would avail little with the companions of his enterprise ; and he probably did not care to win over the more timid spirits, who, by perpetually looking back, would only be a clog on his future movements. He anpounced his own purpose, however, in a laconice but decided manner, characteristic of a man more accustomed to act than to talk, and well calculated to make an impression on his rough fol. lowers.

Drawing his sword, he traced a line with it on the sand from east to west. Then, turning towards the south, “ Friends and comrades!” he said, “ on that side are toil, bunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, desertion, and death; on this side, ease and pleasure. There lies Peru with its riches : here, Panama' and its poverty. Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Cas. tilian. For my part, I go to the south.” So saying, he stepped across the line. He was followed by the brave pilot Ruiz; next by Pedro de Candia, a cavalier, born, as his name implies, in one of the isles of Greece. Eleven others successively crossed the line, thus intimating their willingness to abide the fortunes of their leader, for good or for evil.

There is something striking to the imagination in the spectacle of these few brave spirits, thus consecrating themselves to