LXIV. HOTSPUR AND VERNON. HOTSPUR. My cousin y news be worth a welcome, lord. OTSPUR. My cousin Vernon! Welcome, by my soul. The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, Ver. And further, I have learned, The king himself in person is set forth, With strong and mighty preparation. Hot. He shall be welcome too. Where is his son The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales, Ver. All furnished, all in arms : I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, As if an angel dropped down from the clouds And witch the world with noble horsemanship. Hot. No more, no more; worse than the sun in March, His praise doth nourish agues. Let them come; They come like sacrifices in their trim, And to the fire-eyed maid of smoky war, And yet not ours :-Come, let me take my horse, Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales: Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse, Meet, and ne'er part, till one drop down a corse ! But I profess not talking; only this,— Let each man do his best: and here I draw a sword, Whose worthy temper I intend to stain With the best blood that I can meet withal, SHAKSPEARE LXV.-BEAUTY OF THE UNIVERSE. WE E all of us, in a great measure, create our own happiness, which is not half so much dependent upon scenes and circumstances as most people are apt to imagine. And so it is with beauty: Nature does little more than furnish us with materials of both, leaving us to work them out for ourselves. Stars, and flowers, and hills, and woods, and streams, are letters, and words, and voices. vehicles, and missionaries; but they need to be interpreted in the right spirit. We must read and listen for them, and endeavor to understand and profit by them. 2. And when we look around us upon earth, we must not forget to look upward to heaven. Those who can see God in everything," writes a popular author, "are sure to see good in everything." We may add, with truth, that they are also sure to see beauty in everything and everywhere. 3. When we are at peace with ourselves and the world, it is as though we gazed upon outward objects through a golden-tinted glass, and saw a glory resting upon them all. We know that it cannot long be thus: sin and sorrow, and blinding tears, will dim the mirror of our inmost thoughts; but we must pray and look again, and by and by the cloud will pass away. 4. There is beauty everywhere; but it requires to be sought, and the seeker after it is sure to find it: it may be in some out-of-the-way place, where no one else would think of looking. 5. Beauty is a fairy; sometimes she hides herself in a flower-cup or under a leaf, or creeps into the old ivy and plays hide-and-seek with the sunbeams, or haunts some ruined spot, or laughs out of a bright young face. Sometimes she takes the form of a white cloud, and goes dancing over the green fields or the deep blue sea, where her misty form, marked out in a momentary darkness, looks like the passing shadow of an angel's wing. 6. Beauty is a coquette, and weaves herself a robe of various hues, according to the season; and it is hard to say which is the most becoming of all the attitudes and shades she is wont to assume, as she traces her lineaments on the broad canvas of Nature. G. A. SALA. LXVI. THE RISING IN 1776. I. UT of the North the wild news came, OUT Far flashing on its wings of flame, The fife's shrill note, the drum's loud beat, II. Within its shade of elm and oak And some esteemed of gentle blood. In that republic of the dead. III. How sweet the hour of Sabbath talk, The vale with peace and sunshine full Decked in their homespun flax and wool! Where youth's gay hats with blossoms bloom; And every maid with simple art, Wears on her breast, like her own heart, A bud whose depths are all perfume; IV. The pastor came; his snowy locks The pastor rose; the prayer was strong; V. He spoke of wrongs too long endured, In face of death he dared to fling VI. Even as he spoke, his frame, renewed Rose, as it seemed, a shoulder higher; VII. A moment there was awful pause,- VIII. And now before the open door- IX. "Who dares?"-this was the patriot's cry, T. B READ. |