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3. Who, when great trials come,

Nor seeks nor shuns them; but doth calmly stay
Till he the thing and the example weigh,
All being brought into a sum,

What place or person calls for, he doth pay.

4. Whom none can work or woo,

To use in anything a trick or sleight;
For above all things he abhors deceit !
His words and works, and fashion too,
All of a piece, and all are clear and straight.

5. Who never melts or thaws

At close temptations; when the day is done,
His goodness sets not, but in dark can run;
The sun to others writeth laws,

And is their virtue; virtue is his sun.

6. Who when he is to treat

With sick folks, women, those whom passions sway, Allows for that, and keeps his constant way;

Whom others' faults do not defeat,

But though men fail him, yet his part doth play.

7. Whom nothing can procure,

When the world runs bias, from his will

To writhe his limbs, and share, not mend the ill.
This is the marksman safe and sure

Who still is right, and prays to be so still.

George Herbert (1593 — 1633).

THE EQUALITY OF THE GRAVE.

1. The glories of our blood and state

Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:

Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,

And in the dust be equal made

With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

2. Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill;
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late,

They stoop to fate,

And must give up their murmuring breath,
When they, pale captives, creep to death.

3. The garlands wither on your brow,

Then boast no more your mighty deeds;
Upon Death's purple altar now

See, where the victor-victim bleeds:
Your heads must come

To the cold tomb,

Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust.

James Shirley (1594-1666).

Note. This is said to have been a favourite song of Charles II.

THE SHEPHERD AND THE PHILOSOPHER.

1. Remote from cities lived a swain
Unvexed with all the cares of gain,
His head was silvered o'er with age,
And long experience made him sage;
In summer's heat and winter's cold
He fed his flock and penned the fold;
His hours in cheerful labour flew,
Nor envy nor ambition knew:
His wisdom and his honest fame
Through all the country raised his name.

2. A deep Philosopher (whose rules

Of moral life were drawn from schools),

The Shepherd's homely cottage sought,
And thus explored his reach of thought:-
Whence is thy learning? hath thy toil
O'er books consumed the midnight oil?
Hast thou old Greece and Rome surveyed
And the vast sense of Plato1 weighed?
Hath Socrates 2 thy soul refined,

And hast thou fathomed Tully's3 mind?
Or, like the wise Ulysses, thrown,
By various fates, on realms unknown,
Hast thou through many cities strayed,
Their customs, laws, and manners weighed?

3. The Shepherd modestly replied,
I ne'er the paths of learning tried ;
Nor have I roamed in foreign parts
To read mankind, their laws and arts;
For man is practised in disguise,
He cheats the most discerning eyes;
Who by that search shall wiser grow,
When we ourselves can never know?
The little knowledge I have gained,
Was all from simple Nature drained ;
Hence my life's maxims took their rise,
Hence grew my settled hate to vice.

4. The daily labours of the bee
Awake my soul to industry;
Who can observe the careful ant,
And not provide for future want?
My dog (the trustiest of his kind)
With gratitude inflames my mind ;

1 A Grecian philosopher, born at Athens B.C. 429. He was a follower of Socrates, and one of his most ardent admirers.

2 The celebrated Athenian philosopher, born B.C. 469. He had an immovable conviction of the immortality of the soul.

3 M. Tullius Cicero, the Roman orator, born B. C. 106. In his works, the Latin language appears in the greatest perfection.

One of the principal Greek heroes in the Trojan war. He was distinguished for his valour, prudence, and eloquence.

I mark his true, his faithful sway,
And, in my service, copy Tray.
In constancy and nuptial love,
I learn my duty from the dove.
The hen, who from the chilly air,
With pious wing, protects her care,
And every fowl that flies at large,
Instruct me in a parent's charge.

5. From Nature, too, I take my rule,
To shun contempt and ridicule.
I never, with important air,
In conversation overbear.

Can grave and formal pass for wise,
When men the solemn owl despise?
My tongue within my lips I rein;
For who talks much, must talk in vain.
We from the wordy torrent fly;

Who listens to the chattering pye?

Nor would I, with felonious sleight,

By stealth invade my neighbour's right;
Rapacious animals we hate:

Kites, hawks, and wolves, deserve their fate.

6. Do not we just abhorrence find

Against the toad and serpent kind?
But Envy, Calumny, and Spite,
Bear stronger venom in their bite.
Thus every object of creation
Can furnish hints to contemplation;
And from the most minute and mean,
A virtuous mind can morals glean.

7. Thy fame is just, the Sage replies,
Thy virtue proves thee truly wise.
Pride often guides the author's pen;
Books as affected are as men:
But he who studies Nature's laws,
From certain truth his maxims draws;

And those, without our schools, suffice
To make men moral, good, and wise.

John Gay (1688 — 1732).

THE CUCKOO.

(From the German.)

A cuckoo to a starling said,

Who from the city's din had fled, "What say the city's busy throng,

What say they of our melody and song? What of the nightingale, I pray?" "With one accord they laud her strain." "And of the lark?" he cried again. "The half at least applaud her tuneful lay." "And of the blackbird?" he went on. "Is also praised by more than one.” "I pray one question more," he cried; "What say they in the town of me?" "I really cannot tell," his friend replied, "For not a soul e'er speaks of thee."

“Then will I on ungrateful man my vengeance wreak, And ever of myself will speak."

Gellert (1715-1769).

TO THE LARK.

1. Mount, child of morning, mount and sing,
And gaily beat thy fluttering wing,

And sound thy shrill alarms :
Bathed in the fountains of the dew
Thy sense is keen, thy joys are new;
The wide world opens to thy view,

And spreads its earliest charms.

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