3. Where are the heroes of ages past,
Where the brave chieftains,-where the mighty ones Who flourished in the infancy of days?
All to the grave gone down !-On their fall'n fame
Exultant, mocking at the pride of man,
Sits grim Forgetfulness.-The warrior's arm
Lies nerveless on the pillow of its shame;
Hush'd is his stormy voice, and quench'd the blaze
Of his red eye-ball.
Was mighty on the earth-To-day-'tis what?
The meteor of the night of distant years,
That flash'd unnotic'd, save by wrinkled eld,
Musing at midnight upon prophecies,
Who at her lonely lattice saw the gleam
Point to the mist-pois'd shroud, then quietly
Clos'd her pale lips, and lock'd the secret up,
Safe in the charnel's treasures.
5.
O how weak
Is mortal man! How trifling-how confin'd
His scope of vision!-Puff'd with confidence,
His phrase grows big with immortality;
And he, poor insect of a summer's day,
Dreams of eternal honors to his name,-
Of endless glory, and perennial bays.
He idly reasons of eternity,
As of the train of ages,-when, alas!
Ten thousand thousand of his centuries
Are, in comparison, a little point,
Too trivial for account.
O it is strange, Tis passing strange, to mark his fallacies: Behold him proudly view some pompous pile Whose high dome swells to emulate the skies, And smile and say, my name shall live with this Till Time shall be no more ;-while at his feet, Yea, at his very feet, the crumbling dust Of the fall'n fabric of the other day
Preaches the solemn lesson.
That time must conquer,-that the loudest biast
That ever fill'd Renown's obstrep'rous trump
Fades in the lapse of ages, and expires.
Who lies inhum'd in the terrific gloom
Of the gigantic pyramid? Or who
Rear'd its huge wall ?-Oblivion laughs and says
The prey is mine. They sleep, and never more Their names shall strike upon the ear of man : Their memory burst its fetters.
8. Where is Rome ?She lives but in the tale of other times; Her proud pavilions are the hermit's home; And her long colonnades, her public walks, Now faintly echo to the pilgrim's feet, Who comes to muse in solitude, and trace, Through the rank moss reveal'd, her honor'd dust. But not to Rome alone has fate confined The doom of ruin; cities numberlessTyre, Sidon, Carthage, Babylon, and Troy, And rich Phoenicia,-they are blotted out, Half-raz'd from memory; and their very name And being in dispute !
1. God of the year!-With songs of praise,
And hearts of love, we come to bless
Thy bounteous hand; for thou hast shed
Thy manna o'er the wilderness:
In early spring-time thou didst fling
O'er earth its robe of blossoming;
And its sweet treasures, day by day,
Rose quickening in the blessed ray.
2. And now they whiten hill and vale,
And hang from every vine and tree,
Whose pensile branches, bending low,
Seem'd bowed in thankfulness to thee:
The earth, with all its purple isles,
Is answering to the genial smiles;
And gales of perfume breathe along,
And lift to thee their voiceless song.
3. God of the seasons! Thou hast blest
The land with sunlight and with showers;
And plenty o'er its bosom smiles,
To crown the sweet Autumnal hours:
Praise, praise to thee !-Our hearts expand
To view the blessings of thy hand;
And, on the incense breath of Love
Go off to their bright home above.
1. ALAS! what differs more than man from man! And whence this difference ?-whence but from himself? For, see the universal race, endowed
With the same upright form! The sun is fixed
And th' infinite magnificence of heaven,
Within the reach of every human eye;
The sleepless ocean murmurs in all ears;
The vernal field infuses fresh delight
Into all hearts. Throughout the world of sense,
Even as an object is sublime or fair,
That object is laid open to the view
Without reserve or veil; and as a power
Is salutary, or its influence sweet,
Are each and all enabled to perceive
That power, that influence, by impartial law
2. Gifts nobler are vouchsafed alike to all, Reason, and, with that reason, smiles and tears, Imagination, freedom of the will,
Conscience to guide and check, and death
To be foretasted,-immortality presumed.
Strange then, nor less than monstrous might be deemed
The failure, if th' Almighty, to this point
Liberal and undistinguishing, should hide
The excellence of moral qualities
From common understanding,-leaving truth
And virtue, difficult, abstruse and dark
Hard to be won, and only by a few :-
Strange, should he deal herein with nice respects,
And frustrate all the rest! Believe it not:
The primal duties shine aloft-like stars;
The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless.
Are scattered at the feet of man-
-like flowers.
3. The generous inclination, the just rule,
Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts
No mystery is here; no special boon
Fo high and not for low-for proudly graced
And not for meek in heart. The smoke ascends
To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth,
As from the haughty palace. He whose soul
Ponders its true equality, may walk
The fields of earth with gratitude and hope;
Yet in that meditation will he find
Motive to sadder grief, when his thoughts turn
From nature's justice, to the social wrongs
That make such difference betwixt man and man.
4. Oh for the coming of that glorious time,
When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth
And best protection, this imperial realm,
While she exacts allegiance, shall admit
An obligation on her part, to teach
Those who are born to serve her and obey;
Binding herself by statute to secure,
For all the children whom her soil maintains,
The rudiments of Letters, and inform
The mind with moral and religious truth,
Both understood and practised;-so that none
However destitute, be left to droop,
By timely culture unsustained, or run
Into a wild disorder, or be forced
To drudge through weary life, without the aid
Of intellectual implements and tools,-
A savage horde among the civilized,-
A servile band among the lordly free!
5. This right-as sacred, almost, as tae right
T'exist and be supplied with sustenance
And means of life-the lisping babe proclaims
To be inherent in him by heaven's will,
For the protection of his innocence;
And the rude boy who knits his angry brow,
And lifts his wilful hand on mischief bent,
Or turns the sacred faculty of speech
To impious use, by process indirect
Declares his due, while he makes known his need.
6. This sacred right is fruitlessly announced-
This universal plea in vain addressed--
To eyes and ears of parents, who themselves
Did, in the time of their necessity,
Urge it in vain; and, therefore, like a prayer
That from the humblest floor ascends to heaven,
It mounts to reach the State's parental ear;
Who, if indeed she own a mother's heart,
And be not most unfeelingly devoid
Of gratitude to Providence, will grant
Th' unquestionable good.
7. The discipline of slavery is unknown Among us, hence the mcre do we require
The discipline of virtue, order else
Cannot subsist, nor confidence, nor peace.
Thus, duties rising out of good possessed,
And prudent caution, needful to avert
Impending evil, do alike require
That permanent provision should be made
For the whole people to be taught and trained :-
So shall licentiousness and black resolve
Be rooted out, and virtuous habits take
Their place; and genuine, piety descend,
Like an inheritance, from age to age.
SECTION VI.
Address to Liberty.
1. O could I worship aught beneath the skies
That earth háth seen, or fancy could devise,
Thine altar, sacred Liberty, should stand,
Built by no mercenary vulgar hand,
With fragrant turf, and flowers as wild and fair,
As ever dressed a bank, or scented summer air.
2. Duly, as ever on the mountain's height,
The peep of morning shed a dawning light;
Again, when evening in her sober vest
Drew the grey curtain of the fading west;
My soul should yield thee willing thanks and praise,
For the chief blessings of my fairest days.
But that were sacrilege: praise is not thine,
But his who gave thee, and preserves thee mine:
Else I would say,-and, as I spake, bid fly
A captive bird into the boundless sky,
This rising realm adores thee; thou art come
From Sparta hither, and art here at home:
We feel thy force still active; at this hour
Enjoy immunity from priestly power;
While conscience, happier than in ancient years,
Owns no superior but the God she fears.
3. Propitious Spirit! yet expunge a wrong,
Thy rights have suffered, and our land, too long ;
Teach mercy to ten thousand hearts that share
The fears and hopes of a commercial care:
Prisons expect the wicked, and were built
To bind the lawless, and to punish guilt;
But shipwreck, earthquake, battle, fire, and flood,
Are mighty mischiefs, not to be withstood;
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