Now, said my heavenly Teacher, all is clear!-
Bear the Beginning and the End in mind,
The course of human things will then appear

Beneath its proper laws; and thou wilt find,
Through all their seeming labyrinth, the plan
Which "vindicates the ways of God to Man."
2.

Free choice doth Man possess of good or ill;
All were but mockery else. From Wisdom's way,
Too oft, perverted by the tainted will,

Is his rebellious nature drawn astray;
Therefore an inward monitor is given,
A voice that answers to the law of Heaven.

3.

Frail as he is, and as an infant weak,

The knowledge of his weakness is his strength; For succor is vouchsafed to those who seek

In humble faith sincere; and when at length Death sets the disimbodied spirit free, According to their deeds their lot shall be.

And we did well when on our Mountain's height
For Waterloo we raised the festal flame,
And in our triumph taught the startled night
To ring with Wellington's victorious name,
Making the far-off mariner admire

To see the crest of Skiddaw plumed with fire.
25.

The Moon who had in silence visited

His lonely summit from the birth of time, That hour an unavailing splendor shed,

Lost in the effulgence of the flame sublime, In whose broad blaze rejoicingly we stood, And all below a depth of blackest solitude.

So at her will, in that receding sheet
Of mist wherewith the world was overlaid,
A living picture moved beneath our feet.

A spacious City first was there display'd,
The seat where England from her ancient reign
Doth rule the Ocean as her own domain.

34.

In splendor with those famous cities old,

Whose power it hath surpass'd, it now might

vie;

Through many a bridge the wealthy river roll'd; Aspiring columns rear'd their heads on high; Triumphal arches spann'd the roads, and gave Due guerdon to the memory of the brave.

35.

A landscape follow'd, such as might compare With Flemish fields for well-requited toil :

For of all ages and all parts of earth,

To choose thy time and place did Fate allow,
Wise choice would be this England and this Now.

Subdued all circumstance of stubborn soil; In fen and moor reclaim'd, rich gardens smiled, And populous hamlets rose amid the wild.

36.

There the old seaman, on his native shore, Enjoy'd the competence deserved so well;

The soldier, his dread occupation o'er,

Of well-rewarded service loved to tell;

44.

Around the rude Morai, the temple now

Of truth, hosannahs to the Holiest rung: There, from the Christian's equal marriage-vow, In natural growth, the household virtues sprung;

And age in hope look'd on to its release.

45.

The light those happy Islanders enjoy'd, Good messengers from Britain had convey'd: (Where might such bounty wiselier be employ'd?)

One people with their teachers were they made, Their arts, their language, and their faith the

same,

And, blest in all, for all they blest the British name.

46.

Then rose a different land, where loftiest trees High o'er the grove their fan-like foliage rear, Where spicy bowers upon the passing breeze

Diffuse their precious fragrance far and near; And yet untaught to bend his massive knee, Wisest of brutes, the elephant roams free.

47.

Ministrant there to health and public good, The busy axe was heard on every side, Opening new channels, that the noxious wood With wind and sunshine might be purified, And that wise Government, the general friend, Might every where its eye and arm extend.

48.

The half-brutal Bedah came from his retreat,
To human life by human kindness won;
The Cingalese beheld that work complete

Which Holland in her day had well begun; The Candian, prospering under Britain's reign, Blest the redeeming hand which broke his chain.

49.

Colors and castes were heeded there no more; Laws which depraved, degraded, and oppress'd, Were laid aside, for on that happy shore

All men with equal liberty were blest ; And through the land, the breeze upon its swells Bore the sweet music of the Sabbath bells.

50.

Again the picture changed; those Isles I saw With every crime through three long centuries curst,

While unrelenting Avarice gave the law;

Scene of the injured Indians' sufferings first, Then doom'd, for Europe's lasting shame, to see The wider-wasting guilt of Slavery.

51.

That foulest blot had been at length effaced;
Slavery was gone, and all the power it gave,
Whereby so long our nature was debased,
Baleful alike to master and to slave.

O lovely Isles! ye were indeed a sight
To fill the spirit with intense delight!

The second day was that when Martel broke
The Mussulmen. - I. 3, p. 749.

Upon this subject Miss Plumptre relates a remarkable anecdote, in the words of one of the sufferers at Lyons:

"At my entrance into the prison of the Recluse I found about twelve hundred of my fellow-citizens already immured

56.

Enough! the Goddess cried: with that the cloud
Obey'd, and closed upon the magic scene:
Thus much, quoth she, is to thine hopes allow'd;
Ills may impede, delays may intervene,
But scenes like these the coming age will bless,
If England but pursue the course of righteousness.

57.

On she must go progressively in good,

In wisdom and in weal, - or she must wane. Like Ocean, she may have her ebb and flood, But stagnates not. And now her path is plain: Heaven's first command she may fulfil in peace, Replenishing the earth with her increase.

58.

Peace she hath won, with her victorious hand Hath won through rightful war auspicious peace; Nor this alone, but that in every land

The withering rule of violence may cease. Was ever War with such blest victory crown'd? Did ever Victory with such fruits abound?

59.

Rightly for this shall all good men rejoice,
They most who most abhor all deeds of blood;
Rightly for this with reverential voice

Exalt to Heaven their hymns of gratitude;
For ne'er till now did Heaven thy country bless
With such transcendent cause for joy and thank-

fulness.

fifths of them at least was considered as inevitable; it was less a prison than a fold, where the innocent sheep patiently waited the hour that was to carry them to the revolutionary shambles. In this dreary abode, how long, how tedious did the days appear! they seemed to have many more than twenty-four hours. Yet we were allowed to read and write, and were composed enough to avail ourselves of this privilege; nay, we could sometimes even so far forget our situation as to sport and

gambol together. The continued images of destruction and

devastation which we had before our eyes, the little hope that appeared to any of us of escaping our menaced fate, so familiarized us with the idea of death, that a stoical serenity had taken possession of our minds: we had been kept in a state of fear till the sentiment of fear was lost. All our conversation bore the character of this disposition: it was reflective, but not complaining; it was serious without being melancholy; and often presented novel and striking ideas. One day, when we were conversing on the inevitable chain of events, and the irrevocable order of things, on a sudden one of our party exclaimed that we owed all our misfortunes to Charles Martel. We thought him raving; but thus he reasoned to prove his hypothesis. Had not Charles Martel,' said he, 'conquered the Saracens, these latter, already masters of Guienne, of Saintonge, of Perigord, and of Poitou, would soon have extended their dominion over all France, and from that time we should have had no more religious quarrels, no more state disputes; we should not now have assemblies of the people, clubs, committees of public safety, sieges, imprisonments, bloody executions. To this man the Turkish system of government appeared preferable to the revolutionary regime; and, all chances calculated, he preferred the bow-string of the Bashaw, rarely drawn, to the axe of the guillotine, incessantly at work."

That old siege - I. 10, p. 750.

"It is uncertain what numbers were slain during the siege of Osten, yet it is said that there was found in a commissary's cket, who was slain before Ostend the 7th of August, before