iNature has cast me in so soft a mould,
That, but to hear a story, feign'd for pleasure,

Of some sad lover's death, moistens my eyes
And robs me of my manhood.

DRYDEN.

Thy narrow soul

Knows not the God-like glory of forgiving;
Nor can thy cold, thy ruthless heart conceive
How large the power, how fix'd the empire is,
Which benefits confer on generous minds.

The greatest attribute of heaven is mercy,
And 't is the crown of justice, and the glory,
Where it may kill with right, to save with pity.

ROWE.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

He, that is merciful

Unto the bad, is cruel to the good.

RANDOLPH.

Those moving tears will quite dissolve my frame;
They melt the soul which threats could never shake.

A

the hero's soul,

generous warmth opens
And soft compassion flows where courage dwells.

The generous heart

HIGGONS.

C. JOHNSON

Should scorn a pleasure which gives others pain.

Great conquerors greater glory gain

By foes in triumph led than slain;

THOMSON

The laurels that adorn their brows,
Are pull'd from living, not dead, boughs.

BUTLER'S Hulibras.

FORGIVENESS - MERCY &c.

Young men soon give, and soon forget affronts,
Old age is slow in both.

ADDISON'S Cato

Yet oh! when thou shalt die, May death be mild as thou art cruel now; And may thy beauties gently sink to earth, While circling angels waft thee to repose!

Man may dismiss compassion from his heart,
But God will never.

NAT. LEE.

285

COWPER'S Task.

The truly brave are soft of heart and eyes,
And feel for what their duty bids them do.

BYRON'S Marino Faliero.

Pity! is it pity to recall to feeling

The wretch too happy to escape to death

By the compassionate trance, poor nature's last
Resource against the tyranny of pain?

BYRON'S Two Foscari.

Go to you are a child,

Infirm of feeling and of purpose, blown
About by every breath, shook by a sigh
And melted by a tear-a precious judge.

BYRON'S Two Foscari

With tears for nought but others' ills;
And then they flow'd like mountain rills,
Unless he could assuage their woe.

BYRON'S Prisoner of Chillon Hate shuts her soul when dove-ey'd Mercy pleads.

CHARLES SPRAGUE.

Forgive and forget!-why the world would be lonely,
The garden a wilderness left to deform,
If the flowers but remember'd the chilling winds only,
And the fields gave no verdure for fear of the storm.
CHARLES SWAIN.

How eloquent in every look

Thro' her expressive eyes, her soul distinctly spoke.

LORD LYTTLETON.

Whate'er the emotions of her heart,
Still shone conspicuous in her eyes—

Stranger to every female art,

Alike to feign, or to disguise.

SHAW

Heart on her lips, and soul within her eyes.

BYRON.

If tenderness touch'd her, the dark of her eye

At once took a darker, a heavenlier dye,

From the depth of whose shadow, like holy revealings,
From the innermost shrine, came the light of her feelings.

FREEDOM — LIBERTY.

Oh! give me liberty!

For were even Paradise my prison,

Still I should long to leap the crystal walls.

MOORE.

DRYDEN.

FREEDOM-LIBERTY.

Oh, Liberty! thou goddess heavenly bright!
Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight!
Eternal pleasures in thy presence reign,
And smiling Plenty leads thy wanton train.

287

ADDISON'S Italy.

A day, an hour of virtuous liberty,
Is worth a whole eternity of bondage.

ADDISON'S Cato.

The greatest glory of a free-born people,
Is to transmit that freedom to their children.

But slaves, that once conceive the glowing thought
Of freedom, in that hope itself possess

HAVARD

All that the contest calls for ;-spirit, strength,
The scorn of danger, and united hearts,
The surest presage of the good they seek.

COWPER'S Task

'Tis liberty alone that gives the flowers Of fleeting life their lustre and perfume, And we are weeds without it.

COWPER'S Task

Easier were it

To hurl the rooted mountain from its base,
Than force the yoke of slavery upon men
Determin'd to be free.

We will not be the traitor slaves,

While heaven has light, or earth has graves.

SOUTHEY.

Go, tame the wild torrent, or stem with a straw The proud surges that sweep o'er the sands that confin'd them;

But presume not again to give Freemen a law,

Or think, with the chains they have broken, to bind them

288

FREEDOM-LIBERTY.

By the hope within us springing,
Herald of to-morrow's strife;

By that sun, whose light is bringing
Chains or freedom, death or life-
Oh! remember, life can be

No charm for him who lives not free!

And Oh! if there be, on this earthly sphere,

A boon, an offering Heaven holds dear,
'Tis the last libation Liberty draws

MOORE.

From the heart that bleeds, and breaks in her cause!

MOORE'S Lalla Rookh

Tho' too true to themselves e'er to crouch to oppression,
Who can yield to just rule a more loyal submission?

HON. W. GASTON.

Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.

BYRON'S Childe Harold.

For Freedom's battle, oft begun,
Bequeath'd from bleeding sire to son,
Tho' baffled oft, is ever won.

BYRON'S Giaour.

Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art,
For then thy habitation is the heart!

BYRON's Prisoner of Chillon.

Should a conqueror tread on our forefathers' dust,
It would wake the old bones from their graves.

CAMPBELI

AKENSIDE

Those sacred rights to which themselves were born.

Oh, Liberty! can man resign thee,

Once having felt thy generous flame?

Can dungeons, bolts, and bars confine thee,

Or whips thy noble spirit tame?

Marseilles Hymn.