SONG OF THE ANGELS IN 'FAUST.' TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE. BY GEORGE W. HAVEN. RAPHAEL. THE Sun resounds with ancient wont, GABRIEL. And, swift incomprehensibly, With shuddering night profound. Foams on the cliff's deep-sunken basement, Earth, sea, and cliff, in fearful mazement, MICHAEL. Fell, rival storms sweep forth amain, Waste, waste and wild the lightning gleams Yet, Lord, thy servants praise the beams THE THREE TOGETHER. Thy vision gives the angels might, While rest thy lofty works of light, THE RIVER MERRIMAC. BY HON. WILLIAM MERCHANT RICHARDSON. [Born at Pelham, January 4, 1774. Died at Chester, March, 1838.] SWEET MERRIMAC! thy gentle stream From her whose charms alone control Thus, from life's stormy, troubled sea, My heart returns to visit thee. Sweet Nymph, whose fairy footsteps press, By moonlight or by Hesper's beam, My breast a stranger to a sigh, And my blood danced through every vein, Of youths and maids, who gathering round, The bliss our bosoms felt, dispense; And make our hearts with joy brim o'er. And many a face a charm possess, The nymphs that rule these banks so green What though ne'er tinged this crystal wave No deathless deed by hero done, No battle lost, no victory won; Here ever waked with praise or blame, Here bounteous Spring profusely showers The spreading elm and towering pine, 9* 101 DANGERS INCIDENT TO A REPUBLIC. BY REV. WM. S. BALCH. AGAINST the operation of the great practical doctrine that all men are created free and equal, two powers have been perpetually warring; the domination of physical force and the corruption of wealth. Wordly ambition has seized upon each of these in turn and wielded them against the liberties of the people. Sometimes both have been combined to keep the great mass of men in ignorance and bondage; for when all are equal, these distinctions are destroyed. Hence their struggles have been determined, hot and deathlike. The conflict has been so long and severe, the triumphs of the right so temporary, and the chances so uncertain, that doubters have often given over, by scores and by thousands, to a settled despair for the success of the true, the equal, and the free, over the false, the partial, and the bound. The first encroachment upon the rights and liberties of man was the work of deception and falsehood, and the first triumph over him was gained by physical power. From that day darkness prevailed and animal strength bore rule. Among all savages he that was mightiest in war, or swiftest in the chase, was installed chief of his tribe: and he that has been shrewdest in management has been the most successful competitor for renown amongst those a few grades elevated above the savage state. As tribes increased in numbers and the social ties were strengthened, these habits were changed from a nomad or wandering to an agricultural or fixed life, and emirs became kings of nations. Physical force, skill and bravery were then employed to conquer and make trib DANGERS INCIDENT TO A REPUBLIC. 103 utary the surrounding clans or nations, to reduce the people to actual slavery or vassalage, and consolidate authority in the person of the monarch. Hence sprang into being great kingdoms and empires based on brute power, and propped by general ignorance, which spread wide their borders over the dwellers on the earth, the sole management of which was intrusted to kings and their counsellors. Successful in so much, rulers grew giddy in their elevation and idly dreamed of universal dominion, in attempts at which their vision was so dazzled that they could not discern the means of their own safety, and they stumbled and fell. Man, physically, has no limitless powers. Bounds are set which he cannot pass. When he attempts to transcend them he falls, and the huge fabrics of his creation crumble to pieces, and resolve into new and generally improved combinations. So rose and so fell the mightiest empires of the East. rose into greatness and sank into ruin and faded into night, the kingdoms and glory of the kingdoms of the Pharaohs and Ptolemies; of Cyrus, Cambyses, and Xerxes; of Philip and Alexander; of the Cæsars and the Bonapartes. And so shall fall every other kingdom, nation, and state not based on the principles of eternal right and equity. Let them fall! So But the wreck and ruin which follow the overthrow of nations based on false principles, and adopting unequal and unjust practices, is no loss, but a gain; for the world, on the whole, is not made worse but better. When tyrants fall the people rise. And when thrown upon their own resources, they begin to learn that they are men, and have rights as well as kings and rulers; and they begin to task their ingenuity to find out means to defend and render them permanent. A temporary and sometimes tremendous concussion will follow the breaking up of old established orders, the tearing in sunder of party lines which have bounded the ambition of despots; and the greatest consternation will justly fill the bosom of those snugly at ease; safely, as they think, ensconced in power and privilege. The darkest scenes of |