Слике страница
PDF
ePub

and holier origin: for ourselves we feel strangely moved when we see the spire of the village church pointing to the heavens, or hear the faintest sound of the distant church bells float above the landscape.

The accompanying sketch of the poet's monument was made before the ground around the testimonial was arranged as a parterre. Here it appears uncultivated, whereas it is exquisitely arranged, and contains numberless flowers, breathing incense to the poet's memory.

The interior of the church is picturesque and well cared for, and after service, which was performed throughout with dignified simplicity, and completed by a sermon sufficiently plain to be comprehended by the unlettered, while its graceful language and unaffected piety carried the listener beyond this world to the happiness rather than the terrors of the next; we were shown the private entrance-porch from Stoke-Park, and the pew appropriated to the use of the family-the old seats, the richly-stained glass, the subdued light, the beautiful domain beyond, the overhanging trees, the full-bosomed melody of the birds, the murmurs of the half-whispered greetings and retreating footsteps of the congregation as they passed out, the manner of our guide, whose attention increased in proportion to the expression of our sympathy with the scene-are all vividly impressed upon our memory.

"The churchyard was full, very full," our guide had said, "and a wonderful quantity of persons visited it and read the epitaphs, and even scratched their names on the church walls, though it was forbidden, and took away bits of the yew and wild flowers. It was," he thought, "a pleasant churchyard to be buried in. Not too full, but not lonely;" and indeed he said truly, for in those country churchyards- once at least each week - the children's children of the silent dead pass beside their graves; the modest headstone and the light waving grass seem more akin to humanity and human feeling than the dungeon-like vaults, or huge "slabs," pressing so heavily upon what we loved so well in the churches or churchyards of our towns. Again we stood beside the poet's grave, read the epitaph on his mother, and cast many a "longing, lingering look behind," while leaving the churchyard immortalized by the most perfect elegy in our language.

HAGAR, IN THE WILDERNESS.
AMID the wilderness, alone,
When noon with burning splendor shone,
Beneath her sky serene

Two mournful forms were seen-
A sad and anxious mother there,
Who wept, in wild and deep despair;
And near her, in the shade,
A pallid boy was laid.
With care her weary feet had sought
Each channel, that she fondly thought
Might hold some trace of rain,
But ever sought in vain.
And bravely had she borne till now;
But death was on that youthful brow-
No water-spring was nigh,

And he-her child-must die.
She turn'd away-she could not brook
On that beloved face to look-

And hid her weeping eye.
"Let me not see him die !"
Alas! my own, my 'cherish'd one,
What has thy mournful mother done

That thou shouldst thus be reft,
The only treasure left?
How many streams and fountains bright
Are flashing in the golden light,

With music sweet and clear!

But none, alas! are near.

O for one draught from some sweet spring,
Upon its bright course murmuring!

O for one silver wave,

Its drooping brow to lave!

O God, to thee I turn, for thou
Alone canst aid and comfort now;
Hear in this lonely wild
A mother for her child!
How can I bear to see him die!
How can I watch his glazing eye!
Yes, I have err'd-but he-
O spare him yet to me !"
Then from the far-off azure sky
A silv'ry radiance gleam'd on high,
As through its portals blue
A swift-wing'd angel flew,
And gentle words of kindest cheer
Fell on the weeping mother's ear:
"Look up, for help is nigh!
Look up, he shall not die!"
And lo a fount of waters bright
Flash'd on the grateful mourner's sight,
Who brought the healing wave
The pallid lips to lave.
For God had watch'd his wandering child
E'en in the desert lone and wild,
And life and joy were there,
Where late had breathed despair.
Pilgrim, whose mournful footsteps stray
O'er life's forlorn and rugged way;

Though worn with grief and pain,
Think not thy toil is vain.
Still looking from the midnight sky,
Behold a heavenly watcher nigh;

Droop not in doubt and fear,
The water-spring is near.
Though throbs thy heart with anguish strong,
Though grief's sad reign endureth long,
Dark as thy lot may be
Hope's waters flow for thee.

P. J. OWENS.

THE FRENCH CRYSTAL PALACE.

HE magnificent edifice in Paris, erect

beauty, it has also given to the upper galleries, as well as to the whole building, a general aspect of grandeur and elegance,

Ted for the display of the world's best combined with a feeling of durability,

specimens of art and manufacture, is called, after its great prototype in London, to which by the way it bears no sort of resemblance, The Crystal Palace. The French themselves call it the Palais de l'Industrie. It is a substantial oblong building, one hundred and ninety-two meters (French yards) long, and forty-eight wide, having lateral galleries twenty-four meters in width; above which are galleries of precisely the same dimensions. Although the sides of the edifice are of stone and metal, the roof being of glass, there is no want of light anywhere; the galleries of the ground-floor, which are covered by the flooring of the upper galleries, are also lighted by two hundred and eight windows, opening on the Champs Elysées, in addition to the arches which open upon the nave; added to which there are openings in the flooring of the upper gallery at certain distances to let down light and air.

The grand entrance to the palace is surmounted by a group, representing France crowning Industry, Commerce, and Arts. To the right and left are other sculptures surmounting Corinthian pillars, and consisting of cherubs supporting the escutcheon of the Emperor. Below the central group, extending the whole length of the gate, is a frieze, representing Industry and the Arts offering their productions to the "Universal Exposition." On the right and left of the arch are figures of Fame, and beneath the arch is sculptured a grand subject, also relating to the arts and industry. The whole design is at once grand and imposing-a fitting entrance to an exhibition of human skill and ingenuity gathered from all parts of the world.

strength, and comfort, which, without lessening in any degree, the general light and brilliancy, adds materially to the effect of the whole.

The machinery gallery, which lines the Quai de la Conférence-the ancient Port aux Pierres-is most remarkable for its great length. It extends, indeed, twelve hundred meters in a straight line under a vault of glass seventeen meters in elevation. Within, two galleries have been constructed, one on the borders of the Seine, the other on one side of the Champs Elysées, each of which is six meters in width, and by which the whole extent of the perspective may be embraced at once.

One of the most difficult and delicate tasks which had to be performed was the appropriation of space to the various nations from which articles were expected for exhibition. Room, of course, was not wanted for Russia, and how much the United States would need it was not possible to say. In this matter no fault can be found with the directors of the exhibition. An English journalist from whom we quote, admits that France has been more liberal than we were upon a similar occasion; with a building little more than half the size of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, more space has been granted to Great Britain than was given to the French. Half of the ground-floor and two-thirds of the galleries are given up to strangers.

To the south, going from east to west, we meet first with the English, then the Americans, next the Belgians, then the Austrians, and, lastly, the Zollverein. In the galleries to the east we have Persia, China, Turkey, Egypt, Tunis, Greece, and the Italian States; to the west, Denmark, Not only is the monumental entrance Sweden and Norway, Holland, Switzerimposing, but the general appearance of land, Spain and Portugal. England has the palace is magnificent in the extreme. allotted to her a space equivalent to 8,470 The building, being destined to become a meters; the Zollverein, 4,499; Austria, permanent repository of the trophies of 2,694; Belgium, 2,412; the United States, science and art, is far more solid in its 2,286; Switzerland, 1,099. China, Greece, structure than the Crystal Palace of Hyde and Persia united, only cover a space of Park; but the durability of the edifice has 262 meters. Most of these nations have in no way affected the general beauty of spaces both below and above; but some, design which pervades all parts. While whose contributions are of minor importit has enabled the architect to construct ance, have only space allotted to them in spacious staircases of solid materials and the galleries. But in such circumstances noble landing-places of great architectural ¦ the contributions are always so arranged,

[graphic][subsumed]

that a certain amount of frontage is ob- | tions, and seemingly interminable vista, tained toward the balustrade, from whence presents an air of solidity and majestic the national colors are to be suspended.

The building, differing from the London Palace in extent, in its fairy-like propor

grandeur to which the celebrated structure of Sir Joseph Paxton made no pretensions.

THE FRENCH CRYSTAL PALACE.

[graphic][subsumed][merged small][subsumed]

THE CAPTIVITY, AND ITS MEMENTOES.*

THE appointed destiny of the Hebrews was not to exhibit valor, not to teach philosophy, but to be ministers of true religion. Instead of this, however, they plunged into all the absurdities and crimes

In this narrative, the autobiographic form of which has been chosen as that which admitted

of the greatest condensation of fact and implication, in union with the greatest amount of interest, the writer, under the general guidance of Professor Lepsius, has combined the substance of what may be learned alike from Manetho and the monuments, from Herodotus, Diodorus, Pliny, and other Greek and Latin authorities, together with the inspired and invaluable records of the Pentateuch. The antiquity and reliableness of the latter divine records come into prominence the more carefully and thoroughly they are compared with other sources of information, and without them it would be

impossible to reproduce, in living outline, the age of the Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty. The best justification of the narrative now submitted to the reader is to be found in its consistency. If these parts so combine as to form a living whole, we may regard that whole as representing a reality that once passed over the stage of the world. The view which underlies the signs and wonders of the narrative is strictly the Biblical view-namely, that the plagues were inflicted by the very hand of God, and that the doings of the magicians were bungling attempts, manifest failures, and, so far as they had any accomplishment, the results of merely superior scientific skill. Believing in the Bible, the author believes in miracles, and consequently is not forced to any idle endeavors to bring about a compromise between supernaturalism and naturalism.

of idolatry. Because of this it was that God appointed them to an ordeal of captivity and chastisement. The reason of their captivity is as plainly declared as the fact of the captivity itself. And it is to this great event in sacred history that the present article is devoted, in which our object will be not only to unfold the Scripture account of it, but also to point out how that account is confirmed and illustrated by recent discoveries.

In a former paper, we remarked how in the eighth century, before the Christian era, Assyria and Egypt were the two great eastern powers contending for the mastery of the world, and that, as Palestine lay between them, there was the great battle-field where the question of lordship was to be settled by the issues of war. That fact is a key to the relations subsisting between the Jews and the Egyptians on the one hand, and the Jews and the Assyrians on the other. The story of the Captivity brings us into contact with the last of these. For some account of their extraordinary character, exploits, civilization, and monuments, we refer to the paper already mentioned.

As early as 771 B. C. we notice Menahem, king of Israel, in a position of dependency upon the empire of Assyria. "And Pul," we are told in 2 Kings xv, 19, 20, "came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land." From this passage it appears that the Assyrian monarch invaded the Israelitish frontier, probably for the express purpose of levying tribute on it, and that Menahem, in paying it, sought his friendly protection and help. It implies that his government was feeble, and his position anything but independent; and though this is the earliest allusion in the sacred volume to any connection between Palestine and Assyria, Mr. Layard observes that "the Jewish tribes, as long suspected by Biblical scholars, can now be proved to have held their dependent position upon the Assyrian king from a very early period; indeed, long before the time inferred from any passage of Scripture." This invasion,

[graphic]
« ПретходнаНастави »