17. The officers were seen running hither and thither, with promises, with exhortations, and with menaces, attempting to rally the soldiers, and inspirit them for a second attack. Final ly, after the most painful efforts, they resumed their ranks, and marched up to the enemy. The Americans reserved their fire as before, until their approach, and received them with the same deluge of balls. The English, overwhelmed and routed, again fled to the shore.

18. In this perilous moment, General Howe remained for some time alone upon the field of battle-all the officers, who surrounded him, were killed or wounded. It is related, that, at this critical conjuncture, upon which depended the issue of the day, General Clinton,* who, from Cop's Hill, examined all the movements, on seeing the destruction of his troops, immediately resolved to fly to their succor.

19. This experienced commander, by an able movement, re-established order; and seconded by the officers, who felt all the importance of success to English honor and the course of events, he led the troops to a third attack. It was directed against the redout at three several points.

20. The artillery of the ships not only prevented all reinforcements from coming to the Americans, by the isthmus of Charlestown, but even uncovered, and swept the interior of the trench, which was battered in front at the same time. The ammunition of the Americans was nearly exhausted, and they could have no hopes of a recruit. Their fire must, of necessity, languish.

21. Meanwhile, the English had advanced to the foot of the redout. The provincials, destitute of bayonets, defended themselves valiantly with the butt end of their muskets. But the redout being already full of enemies, the American General gave the signal of retreat, and drew off his men.

22. While the left wing and centre of the English army were thus engaged, the light infantry had impetuously attacked the palisades, which the provincials had erected, in haste, upon the bank of the river Mystic. On the one side, and on the other, the combat was obstinate; and if the assault was furious, the resistance was not feeble.

23. In spite of all the efforts of the royal troops, the provincials still maintained the battle in this part; and had no thoughts

*Sir Henry Clinton, a British General during a greater part of the Revolutionary war, was the son of George Clinton, one of the colonial governors of New-York. He returned to England in 1782, and was made governor of Gibraltar in 1795, where he soon died.

of retiring, until they saw the redout and upper part of the trench were in the power of the enemy. Their retreat was executed with an order not to have been expected from new levied soldiers. This strenuous resistance of the left wing of the American army was, in effect, the salvation of the rest; for, if it had given ground but a few instants sooner, the enemy's light infantry would have taken the main body and right wing in the rear, and their situation would have been hopeless.

24. But the Americans had not yet reached the term of their toils and dangers. The only way that remained of retreat was by the isthmus of Charlestown; and the English had placed there a ship of war and two floating batteries, the balls of which raked every part of it. The Americans, however, issued from the peninsula, without any considerable loss.

25. It was during the retreat that Dr. Warren* received his death. Finding the corps he commanded hotly pursued by the enemy, despising all danger, he stood alone before the ranks, endeavouring to rally his troops, and to encourage them by his own example. He reminded them of the mottos inscribed on their ensigns; on one side of which were these words—“ An Appeal to Heaven;" and on the other-"Qui transtulit, sustinet;" meaning the same providence which brought their ancestors through so many perils, to a place of refuge, would also deign to support their descendants.

26. An English officer perceived Dr. Warren, and knew him; he borrowed the musket of one of his soldiers, and hit him with a ball, either in the head or in the breast. He fell dead upon the spot. The Americans were apprehensive lest the English, availing themselves of victory, should sally out of the peninsula, and attack the head quarters at Cambridge.

27. But they contented themselves with taking possession of Bunker's Hill, where they entrenched themselves, in order to guard the entrance of the neck against any new enterprise on the part of the enemy. The provincials, having the same suspicion, fortified Prospect Hill, which is situated at the mouth of the isthmus, on the side of the main land.

* Joseph Warren was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1740. He studied medicine, and became eminent in the profession. He distinguished nimself, at an early period, by a zealous opposition to the unjust measures of the British government toward the colonies. He was bold, ardent, decisive, eloquent, and accomplished in literature, and soon rose to the first place in the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. Four days previous to the battle of Bunker's Hill, he was appointed a Major-General in the American army, and on the day of that battle, to encourage the soldiers within the ines, he joined them as a volunteer. He was killed in the 35th year of his age,

28. But neither the one nor the other were disposed to haz ard any new movement; the first, discouraged by the loss of so many men, and the second, by that of the field of battle and the peninsula. The provincials had to regret five pieces of cannon, with a great number of utensils, employed in fortifications, and no little camp equipage.

29. General Howe was greatly blamed by some, for having chosen to attack the Americans, by directing his battery in front against the fortifications upon Breed's Hill, and the trench that descended towards the sea, on the part of Mystic river.

30. It was thought, that if he had landed a respectable detachment upon the isthmus of Charlestown, an operation which the assistance of the ships of war and floating batteries would have rendered perfectly easy to him, it would have compelled the Americans to evacuate the peninsula, without the necessity of coming to a sanguinary engagement.

31. They would thus, in effect, have been deprived of all communication with their camp, situated without the peninsula, and, on the part of the sea, they could have hoped for no retreat as it was commanded by the English.

32. In this mode, the desired object would, therefore, have been obtained without the sacrifice of men. Such, it is said, was the plan of General Clinton; but it was rejected, so great was the confidence reposed in the bravery and discipline of the English soldiers, and in the cowardice of the Americans.

33. The first of these opinions was not, in truth, without foundation; but the second was absolutely chimerical, and evinced more of intellectual darkness in the English, than of prudence, and just notions upon a state of things. By this fatal error, the bravery of the Americans was confirmed; the English army debilitated; the spirit of the soldiers, and perhaps the final event of the whole contest, decided.

LESSON XXI.
Application.-DODSLEY.

1. SINCE the days that are past are gone for ever, and those that are to come may not come to thee; it behoveth thee, O man, to employ the present time, without regretting the loss of that which is past, or too much depending on that which is to

come.

2. This instant is thine; the next is in the bosom of futurity, and thou knowest not what it may bring forth. Whatsoever

hou resolvest to do, do it quickly; defer not until evening what the morning may accomplish.

3. Idleness is the parent of want and of pain; but the labor of virtue bringeth forth pleasure. The hand of diligence defeateth want; prosperity and success are the industrious man's attendants.

4. Who is he that hath acquired wealth, that hath risen to power, that hath clothed himself with honor, that is spoken of in the city with praise, and that standeth before the king in his council? Even he that hath shut out idleness from his house; and hath said to sloth-thou art my enemy.

5. He riseth up early, and lieth down late; he exerciseth nis mind with contemplation, and his body with action; and preserveth the health of both.

6. The slothful man is a burden to himself; his hours hang heavy on his head; he loitereth about; and knoweth not what he would do. His days pass away like the shadow of a cloud; he leaveth behind him no mark for remembrance.

7. His body is diseased for want of exercise; he wisheth for action, but hath not power to move. His mind is in darkness; his thoughts are confused; he longeth for knowledge, but hath no application. He would eat of the almond, but hateth the trouble of breaking the shell.

8. His house is in disorder; his servants are wasteful and riotous; and he runneth on towards ruin; he seeth it with his eyes; he heareth it with his ears; he shaketh his head and wisheth; but hath no resolution; until ruin cometh upon him like a whirlwind; and shame and repentance descend with him to the grave.

LESSON XXII.

The Shortness of Life.

1. WE see the grass fall by the mower's scythe, and the gay flowers that adorn the meadows, unregarded, swept away. The green, the yellow, the crimson, the succulent, fall undistinguished before the fatal instrument that cuts them off. They are scattered on the ground, and withered by the intense heat of the day.

2. That blooming flower which stands the pride of the verdant field, glowing in beautiful colors, and shining with the dawn of the morning, ere the sun gains its meridian height, falls a sacrifice to the severing steel, and fades in the scorching rays of

oon.

3. Thus is it with human life-The thread is cut, and man falls into the silent tomb. Nothing can ward off the fatal stroke; the aged, old and infirm--manhood, in strength and vigoryouth, in bloom and beauty-the infant, weak and helpless, are without distinction swept away by the scythe of the great destroyer, Death.

4. The active youth, who in the morning rises with health and vivacity, may at noon lie pale and motionless, at the feet of this great victor; and at the setting of the morrow's sun, be consigned to the dark and lonesome mansions of the dead. Cities and nations are subject to the same fate.

5. How soon is a flourishing town depopulated by a pestilential disease. How soon is a nation cut off by the raging of a direful war.

"O! that mine head were waters, and mine eyes
"Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies;
"Then would I give the mighty flood release,
"And weep a deluge for the human race."

LESSON XXIII.

The Faithful Greyhound.-M. DWIGHT.

1. THE story on which the following ballad is founded is traditionary. In a village at the foot of Snowdon,* Lewellyn the Great had a house. His father-in-law, King John, had made him a present of a hound named Gelert-a dog of extraordinary qualities, both in the family and in the chase.

2. On one occasion he staid away from the chase, as it would seem by instinct, that he might prove to be guardian of a young son of his master. On returning from the hunt, Lewellyn was met by Gelert, who fawned upon him, as usual, but was covered with blood.

3. Alarmed at the spectacle, the master pressed onward to the spot where his child's bed was placed, which he found overturned, and the covering and floor stained with blood, but no child to be seen.

4. After calling with a frantic voice, but receiving no answer, believing that Gelert had destroyed him, he plunged his sword into the heart of the faithful animal, who cast a piteous look at his master, gave a single yell, and expired.

* Snowdon, a mountain in Wales, 3,571 feet high above the level of the