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Who would have guarded, with a falcon eye,

Each trembling footstep, or each sport of fear?
Who would have marked my bosom bounding high,
And clasped me to her heart, with love's bright tear?
Who would have hung around my sleepless couch,
And fanned, with anxious hand, my burning brow?
Who would have fondly pressed my fevered lip,
In all the agony of love and wo?

None but a mother-none but one like thee,
Whose bloom has faded in the midnight watch;
Whose eye, for me, has lost its witchery;

Whose form has felt disease's mildew touch.

Yes, thou hast lighted me to health and life,

By the bright lustre of thy youthful bloom

Yes, thou hast wept so oft o'er every grief,

That wo hath traced thy brow with marks of gloom.

Oh, then, to thee this rude and simple song,

Which breathes of thankfulness and love for thee,

To thee, my mother, shall this lay belong,

Whose life is spent in toil and care for me.

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These were the last lines she ever composed, and were left unfinished.

LINDLEY MURRAY, 1745-1826.

No work which treats of American literature should fail to notice him whose works on English philology have been the standard educational books, on both sides of the Atlantic, for half a century. Lindley Murray was born at Swetara, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1745. He was the eldest of twelve children, and he was quite young when his father, an enterprising trader and miller, removed to New York, and there long distinguished himself as an active merchant, and a man of unsullied integrity. Lindley had, very early, a great ardor in the pursuit of knowledge; and so close was his application that his father felt it to be his duty to remove him from school, and introduce him into his counting-room. Its duties, however, of buying and selling, of unpacking and repacking, and of watching the fluctuations of the market, became exceedingly wearisome to him, and his physical energies were hardly equal to them. He therefore determined to enter the legal profession, for which he had long felt an inclination, and his father at length gave him permission to prepare himself for it. He entered the office of his father's counsellor, Benjamin Kissam, Esq., a person of great eminence and integrity in his profession, and was for some time a fellow-student of the illustrious John Jay, afterwards the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

After remaining four years in Mr. Kissam's office, Mr. Murray was admitted to the bar, and practised with great success, on the strength of which he formed a matrimonial connection that, from the fine mind and amiable disposition of the lady, was a source of happiness to him through life. Not long after he had commenced practice, his father, whose health was feeble, went to England on business, and in a year sent for his son to join him. He did so, and the united families remained some time in that country. In 1771, however, Lindley Murray returned to New York, and resumed the profession of law, which he practised on the principles of the strictest Christian benevolence, always urging a peaceable settlement of difficulties, in every case where it was at all practicable. What a world of vexations, heart-burnings, hatreds, and expense would be saved, if all lawyers were governed by these principles! At the commencement of the revolutionary struggle, being in poor health, he removed to a neat residence on Long Island; and, after four years, having recovered in a great degree, he returned to New York, and entered into mercantile pursuits. He was very suc

cessful, and had acquired sufficient to make him independent of business, when he was attacked by a disease that completely debilitated his whole muscular system. His physicians believed that the climate of England would be more favorable to his health, and accordingly he and his wife embarked for that country in 1784. He selected Yorkshire as his residence, and took a pleasant and convenient mansion in the village of Holdgate, within a mile of York. His health seemed to improve for a short time, and he was enabled to walk a little in his garden; but finally he had to give that up, and take exercise in his carriage. At length he was compelled to relinquish this, and from 1809 till his decease-sixteen years-he was wholly confined to the house. But his bodily sufferings were the means of chastening his spirit, and strengthening those feelings of piety and devotion which he had long cherished. An American' who visited him in 1819 remarks: "Though so weak as scarcely able to bear his own weight, he has been enabled, by the power of a strong and well-balanced mind, and by the exercise of the Christian virtues, to gain a complete ascendency over himself; and to exhibit an instance of meekness, patience, and humility which affords, I may truly say, one of the most edifying examples I have ever beheld." On the 16th of February, 1826, this eminently good man closed his earthly career.

Few authors have so wide-spread a fame as Lindley Murray, and few have had so many readers. His first publication was "The Power of Religion on the Mind;" a treatise of great excellence, which was very favorably received, and passed through numerous editions, though not much known now. His next work was his "English Grammar," which was soon followed by his "English Reader;" and it is doubtless the fact that no school-books have ever enjoyed so wide a circulation. For more than half a century they were the books used by the young of all classes, on both sides of the Atlantic, in their early studies of the character of our language. He also published an "Introduction" and a "Sequel" to the "Reader;" and afterwards an octavo edition of his grammar, which has been considered as a standard in settling the principles of English composition. He is the author of several other minor works on the English language.

The following extracts are from a series of letters, of an autobiographical character, written by himself.

Prof. Griscom.
15*

MODERATION IN ONE'S DESIRES.

My views and wishes, with regard to property, were, in every period of life, contained within a very moderate compass. I was early persuaded that, though "a competence is vital to content," I ought not to annex to that term the idea of much property. And I determined that when I should acquire enough to enable me to maintain and provide for my family, in a respectable and moderate manner, and this according to real and rational, not imaginary and fantastic wants, and a little to spare for the necessities of others, I would decline the pursuits of property, and devote a great part of my time, in some way or other, to the benefit of my fellow-creatures, within the sphere of my abilities to serve them. I perceived that the desire of great possessions generally expands with the gradual acquisition and the full attainment of them; and I imagined that charity and a generous application do not sufficiently correspond with the increase of property. I thought, too, that procuring great wealth has a tendency to produce an elated independence of mind, little connected with that humility which is the ground of all our virtues; that a busy and anxious pursuit of it often excludes views and reflections of infinite importance, and leaves but little time to acquire that treasure which would make us rich indeed. I was inclined to think that a wish for personal distinction, a desire of providing too abundantly for their children, and a powerful habit of accumu lation, are the motives which commonly actuate men in the acquisition of great wealth. The strenuous endeavors of many persons to vindicate this pursuit, on the ground that the idea of a competency is indefinite, and that the more we gain, the more good we may do with it, did not make much impression upon me. I fancied that, in general, experience did not correspond with this plausible reasoning; and I was persuaded that a truly sincere mind could be at no loss to discern the just limits between a safe and competent portion and a dangerous profusion of the good things of life. These views of the subject I reduced to practice; and terminated my mercantile concerns when I had acquired a moderate competency.

EMPLOYMENT ESSENTIAL TO HEALTH.

In the course of my literary labors, I found that the mental exercise which accompanied them was not a little beneficial to my health. The motives which excited me to write, and the objects which I hoped to accomplish, were of a nature calculated to cheer the mind, and to give the animal spirits a salutary impulse. I am persuaded that, if I had suffered my time to pass away, with little or no employment, my health would have been still more impaired, my spirits depressed, and, perhaps, my life considerably shortened. I have, therefore, reason. to deem it a happiness, and a source of gratitude to Divine Providence, that I was enabled, under my bodily weakness and confinement, to turn my attention to the subjects which have, for so many years, afforded me abundant occupation. I think it is incumbent upon us, whatever may be our privations, to cast our eyes around, and endeavor to discover whether there are not some means yet left us of doing good to ourselves and to others; that our lights may, in some degree, shine in every situation, and, if possible, be extinguished only with our lives. The quantum of good which, under such circumstances, we do ought not to disturb or affect us. If we perform what we are able to perform, how little soever it may be, it is enough; it will be acceptable in the sight of Him who knows how to estimate exactly all our actions, by comparing them with our disposition and ability.

THE BLESSINGS OF AFFLICTION.

I consider myself as under deep obligations to God for the trials and afflictions with which he has been pleased to visit me, as well as for the prosperous events of my life. They have been the corrections and restraints of a wise and merciful Father; and may justly be ranked among the number of my choicest blessings. I am firmly persuaded that cross occurrences and adverse situations may be improved by us to the happiest purposes. The spirit of resignation to the will of Heaven, which they inculcate, and the virtuous exertions to which they prompt us, in order to make the best of our condition, not only often greatly amend it, but confer on the mind a strength and elevation which dispose it to survey with less

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