LESSON LXIII.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. Foundering, filling with water and near sinking. 2. Beetling, projecting, as a rock over the water. 3. Ardent, warin; much engaged. 4. Legions, bodies of soldiers. 5. Clarion, a kind of trumpet; an instrument of sound. 6. Crouching, cringing; bending. 7. Pinions, wings.

The Eagle. -PERCIVAL.

1 BIRD of the broad and sweeping wing,
Thy home is high in heaven,

Where wide the storms their banners fling,
And the tempest clouds are driven.
Thy throne is on the mountain top;
Thy fields, the boundless air;
And hoary peaks, that proudly prop
The skies, thy dwellings are.

2. Thou sittest like a thing of light,
Amid the noon-tide blaze:

The mid-day sun, though clear and bright,
Can never dim thy gaze.

When the night storm gathers dim and dark,
With a shrill and boding scream,

Thou rushest by the foundering bark,
Quick as a passing dream.

3. Thou art perched aloft on the beetling crag,
And the waves are white below,

And on, with a haste that can not lag,
They rush in an endless flow.

Again thou hast plumed thy wing for flight
To lands beyond the sea,

And away, like a spirit wreathed in light,
Thou hurriest, wild and free.

4. Lord of the boundless realm of air,
In thy imperial name,

The hearts of the bold and ardent dare
The dangerous path of fame.

Beneath the shade of thy golden wings,

The Roman legions bore,

From the river of Egypt's cloudy springs,
Their pride, to the polar shore

5. For thee they fought, for thee they fell,
And their oath was on thee laid;

To thee the clarions raised their swell,
And the dying warrior prayed.

Thou wert, through an age of death and fears,
The image of pride and

power,

Till the gathered rage of a thousand years
Burst forth in one awful hour.

6. And then a deluge of wrath it came,
And the nations shook with dread;

And it swept the earth till its fields were flame,
And piled with the mingled dead.
Kings were rolled in the wasteful flood,
With the low and crouching slave;
And together lay, in a shroud of blood,
The coward and the brave.

7. And where was then thy fearless flight?
"O'er the dark mysterious sea

To the lands that caught the setting light,
The cradle of Liberty.

There, on the silent and lonely shore,

For ages,

I watched alone,

And the world, in its darkness, asked no more
Where the glorious bird had flown.

8. "But then came a bold and hardy few,
And they breasted the unknown wave;
I caught afar the wandering crew;
And I knew they were high and brave.
I wheeled around the welcome bark,
As it sought the desolate shore,
And up to heaven, like a joyous lark,
My quivering pinions bore.

9. "And now that bold and hardy few
Are a nation wide and strong;

And danger and doubt I have led them through
And they worship me in song;

And over their bright and glancing arms,
On field, and lake, and sea,

With an eye that fires, and a spell that charms,
I guide them to victory."

QUESTIONS.-1. What bird is addressed? 2. Where does it dwell 1 3. Where fly? 4. What is it described as doing in the third verse? 5. What was the Roman ensign? 6. What is meant by the polar shore'? 7. What was finally the fate of the Romans? 8. What is supposed to commence speaking in the eighth verse? 9. Where does its speech end': 10. What land is meant by the cradle of Liberty'? 11. Who were the bold and hardy few,' mentioned in the first line, ninth verse? 12. What have they become now? 13. What bird is inscribed on the American flag?

What difficulty in giving a clear and distinct articulation in reading the second line of the first verse? (Les. II. Note II.) Point out those words in the second verse which are the most difficult to articulate. What poetical pause should be observed at the end of each line in this lesson? (Les. XII. 9.) For what does thee stand, first line, fifth verse? Is the metrical accent in the fourth line, seventh verse, and last line ninth verse, the same as in the lines with which they rhyme ?

LESSON LXIV.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. Cohorts, bands of warriors. 2. Sheen, glitter 3. Steed, a horse-particularly for war. 4. Distorted, not having natural form or shape. 5. Mail, a coat of steel, or armor for defense. 6. Gentile, a worshiper of idols; any one not a Jew.-7. Behest, command.

The Destruction of Sennacherib's Host.-BYRON.

"And it came to pass, that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred four score and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses."— II. Kings 19th Chap. 35th verse.

1. THE Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Gallilee.
2. Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strewn.
3. For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved-and for ever grew still

4. And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

5 And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

6. And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.

1. THE Lord our God is full of might,
The winds obey His will;

He speaks-and in his heavenly hight,
The rolling sun stands still.

2. Rebel, ye waves, and o'er the land
With threatening aspect roar;
The Lord uplifts His awful hand,
And chains you to the shore.

3. Ye winds of night, your force combine;
Without His high behest,

Ye shall not in the lofty pine,
Disturb the sparrow's nest.

4. His voice sublime is heard afar-
In distant peal it dies;

He yokes the whirlwind to His car,
And sweeps the howling skies.

5. Ye nations bend,-in reverence bend;
Ye monarchs, wait his nod;

And bid the choral song ascend,

To celebrate your God. HENRY KIRKE WHITE. QUESTIONS.-1. In what manner did the Assyrian come down on Jerusalem? 2. What was the fate of the host? 3. By whom were they destroyed? 4. How is the steed described? 5. The rider? 6. The widows of Ashur, &c.? 7. At what places in the Bible is this circumBtance mentioned ?-8. What is said of the power of God in the second extract?

With what modulation should the second part of this lesson be read? Why the rhetorical pause before the last clause of the third verse? Flow should that clause be read? What poetic pause, beside the cesural, and final, occurs in the poetry of the first part, and how does it divide the lines? (Les. XII. 7) Which are the accented syllables in the first verse, second part? What does a succession of accented syllable contitute? (Les. XII. 5.) What examples in this lesson ?

LESSON LXV.

SPELL AND DEFINE.-1. Rural, belonging to the country. 2. Busbandman, a tiller of the ground; a farmer. 3. Omniprésent, every where present. 4. Proximity, nearness. 5. Auspicious, very favorable. 6. Fascinated, charmed. 7. Annually, yearly. 8. Periodical, returning at stated times. 9. Invigorate, strengthen.-10. Pervades, spreads through. 11. Quickens, makes alive. 12. Fluctuates, moves like the waves. Legible, that may be read.

13.

Rural Occupations favorable to Sentiments of Devotion.

BUCKMINSTER.

1. No situation in life is so favorable to established habits of virtue, and to powerful sentiments of devotion, as a residence in the country, and rural occupations. No man, one would think, would feel so sensibly his immediate dependence upon God, as the husbandman. For all his peculiar blessings he is invited to look immediately to the bounty of Heaven. No secondary cause stands between him and his Maker. To him are essential the regular succession of the seasons, and the timely fall of the rain, the genial warmth of the sun, the sure productiveness of the soil, and the certain operations of those laws of nature, which must appear to him nothing less than the varied exertions of omnipresent energy.

2. In the country, we seem to stand in the midst of the great theater of God's power, and we feel an unusual proximity to our Creator. His blue and tranquil sky spreads itself over our heads, and we acknowledge the intrusion of no secondary agent in unfolding this vast expanse. Nothing but Omnipotence can work up the dark horrors of the tempest, dart the flashes of the lightning, and roll the longresounding rumor of the thunder. The breeze wafts to his senses the odors of God's beneficence-the voice of God's power is heard in the rustling of the forest-and the varied forms of life, activity, and pleasure, which he observes at every step in the fields, lead him irresistibly, one would suppose, to the Source of being, and beauty, and joy.

3. How auspicious such a life to the noble sentiments of devotion! Besides, the situation of the husbandman is peculiarly favorable to purity and simplicity of moral sentiment. He is brought acquainted chiefly with the real and native wants of mankind. Employed solely in bringing food out of then, ne is not liable to be fascinated with the ficti