various forms. In the species, with which we are best acquainted, namely our own, I am far, even as an observer of human life, from thinking that youth is its happiest season, much less the only happy one. As a Christian, I am willing to believe, that there is a great deal of truth in the following representation: "To the intelligent and virtuous, old age presents a scene of tranquil enjoyments, of obedient appetites, of well-regulated affections, of maturity in knowledge, and of calm preparation for immortality. In this serene and dignified state, placed, as it were, on the confines 11 of two worlds, the mind of a good man reviews what is past with the complacency 12 of an approving conscience; and looks forward with humble confidence in the mercy of God, and with devout aspirations,13 towards His eternal and everincreasing favour." PALEY.

1. TEEM, to be fruitful.

2. MYRIADS, an immense number.

3. GRATUITOUS, free; done or given gratis, or for nothing. (Lat. gratia, favour.)

4. FACULTY, the power of performing anything. (Lat. facilis, easy.)

5. ATMOSPHERE, the air which surrounds the earth.

6. APHIDES. The plural of APHIS, a genus of minute insects very injurious to vegetation. Their colour is generally green, and they are found in abundance on the rose and other plants.

7. FRY OF FISH, a swarm of fish just spawned.

8. INTELLIGIBLY, in a manner easy to understand. (Lat. intelligo, to understand.)

9. EQUIVALENT, a thing equal to another in power or effect.

10. STIMULATED, encouraged.

11. CONFINES, borders, limits. (Lat. finis, the end.)

12. COMPLACENCY, satisfaction, pleasure. (Lat. placeo, to please.)

13. ASPIRATIONS, the eager desire for something elevated or above us: hopes. (Lat spiro, to breathe.)

To

you

OLD AGE.

the beauties of the autumnal year
Make mournful emblems, and you think of man
Doom'd to the grave's long winter, spirit-broken,
Bending beneath the burden of his years,

Sense dulled and fretful, "full of aches and pains,"
Yet clinging still to life. To me they show
The calm decay of nature, when the mind
Retains its strength, and in the languid eye,
Religion's holy hope kindles a joy,
That makes old age look lovely.

SOUTHEY.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE POET
SHIRLEY.

JAMES SHIRLEY was born in 1594 and died in 1656. He composed several dramas of considerable merit, which obtained for him the notice of Henrietta Maria, the Queen of Charles I. He was a faithful and devoted royalist, served in the civil wars under the Duke of Newcastle.

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Besides his dramas, Shirley wrote several short poems, and the one here given has been likened to a piece of massive gold."

DEATH'S FINAL CONQUEST.

THE glories of our birth 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.

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.
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:
All heads must come

To the cold tomb;

Only the actions of the just,

Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust.

SHIRLEY.

CIVIL LIBERTY.

CIVIL1 liberty is the not being restrained by any law but what conduces in a greater degree to the public welfare.

To do what we will is natural liberty: to do what we will consistently with the interest of the community to which we belong, is civil liberty; that is to say, the only liberty to be desired in a state of civil society.

I should wish, no doubt, to be allowed to act in every instance, as I please, but I reflect that the rest of mankind would then do the same; in which state of universal independence and self-direction, I should meet with so many

E

checks and obstacles to my own will, from the interference and opposition of other men's, that not only my happiness, but my liberty, would be less than whilst the whole community were subject to the dominion of equal laws.

The boasted liberty of a state of nature exists only in the state of solitude. In every kind and degree of union and intercourse with his species, it is possible that the liberty of the individual may be augmented 2 by the very laws which restrain it; because he may gain more from the limitation of other men's freedom, than he suffers by the diminution of his own. Natural liberty, is the right of common upon a waste; civil liberty, is the safe, exclusive, unmolested enjoyment of a cultivated enclosure.

The definition of civil liberty above laid down imports, that the laws of free people impose no restraint upon the private will of the subject, which do not conduce in a greater degree to the public happiness.

Thus we are able to comprehend the distinction between personal and civil liberty. A citizen of the freest republic in the world may be imprisoned for his crimes: and though his personal freedom be restrained by bolts and fetters, so long as his confinement is the effect of a beneficial public law, his civil liberty is not invaded. And if this be true of the coercion of a prison, that it is compatible with a state of civil freedom, it cannot with reason be disputed of those more moderate constraints, which the ordinary operation of government imposes upon the will of the individual. It is not the rigour, but the inexpediency of laws and acts of authority, which make them tyrannical.

There is another idea of civil liberty, which, though neither so simple nor so accurate as the former, agrees better with the signification, which the usage of common

This

discourse, as well as the example of many respectable writers upon the subject, has affixed to the term. idea places liberty in security, making it to consist not merely of an actual exemption from the constraint of useless and noxious laws and acts of dominion, but in being free from the danger of having such hereafter imposed and exercised. The loss of this security we denominate the loss of liberty: thus the Act of Parliament, in the reign of Henry VIII., which gave to the king's proclamation the force of law, has properly been called a complete and formal surrender of the liberty of the nation; and would have been so, although no proclamation were issued in pursuance of these new powers, or none but what was recommended by the highest wisdom and ability. The security was gone. PALEY.

1. CIVIL, pertaining to internal policy, government, and order. Lit. belonging to a city. (Lat. civis, a citizen.)

2. AUGMENTED, increased, grown larger. (Lat. augeo, to increase.) 3. COERCION, act of restraint or compulsion. (Lat. arceo, to shut in.)

4. NOXIOUS, hurtful, destructive. (Lat. noceo, to hurt.)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE POET
MILTON.

JOHN MILTON was born in London in 1608, and died in 1674. He received an excellent education, and passed his time in study and travel, until the Rebellion of 1642, in which he took an important part, supporting the parliamentary party with earnest essays, &c., in favour of freedom of thought and liberty of conscience. He was appointed Latin secretary to the Council of State, and afterwards to the Protector Cromwell. On the Restoration he was arrested and imprisoned, but after some time he was released, and suffered to sink into a seclusion, in which he died, poor and forgotten.