have no substantial existence, are in truth everything, and all in all. 1 Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. If we are conscious of our situation, and glow with zeal to fill our place as becomes our station and ourselves, we ought to auspicate all our public proceedings on America with the old warning of the church, Sursum Corda! We ought to elevate our minds to the greatness of that trust to which the order of Providence has called us. By adverting to the dignity of this high calling our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a glorious empire, and have made the most extensive and the only honorable conquests, not by destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, the happiness of the human race. al le' giance (jans), loyalty. aus' pi cate, to inaugurate; to begin. in dict' ment (dīt), a written accusation of crime. par' tic i pa' tion, act of sharing with others. sov' er eign (suv' er in) supreme; highest. viv' i fies, animates; inspires it with life. HYMN. (BEFORE SUNRISE IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI.) SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. Hast thou a charm to stay the morning-star The Arve and Arveiron at thy base 1 Lift up your hearts. Rave ceaselessly; but thou, most awful Form! O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee, Didst vanish from my thought: entranced in prayer I worshiped the Invisible alone. Awake, my soul! not only passive praise Thou too again, stupendous Mountain! thou Slow traveling with dim eyes suffused with tears, To rise before me- Rise, O ever rise, Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth! ABOU BEN ADHEM. LEIGH HUNT. Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) "What writest thou?"-The vision raised its head, And with a look made of all sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." The angel wrote and vanished. The next night THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN. (Extract from "A Short History of the Norman Conquest.") Meanwhile King Harold marshalled his army on the hill, to defend their strong post against the attack of the Normans. All were on foot; those who had horses made use of them only to carry them to the field, and got down when the time came for actual fighting. The army was made up of soldiers of two very different kinds. There was the King's personal following, his house-carls, his own thanes, and the picked troops generally, among them the men of London who claimed to be the King's special guards, and the men of Kent who claimed to strike the first blow in the battle. The Norman writers were specially struck with the close array of the English, and they speak of them as standing like trees in a wood. Besides these choice troops, there were also the general levies of the neighboring lands, who came armed anyhow, with such weapons as they could get, the bow being the rarest of all. These inferior troops were placed to the right, on the least exposed part of the hill, while the King with his choice troops stood ready to meet Duke William himself. The King stood between his two ensigns, the national badge, the dragon of Wessex, and his own standard, a great flag with the figure of a fighting man wrought on it in gold. Close by the King stood his brothers Gyrth and Leofwine, and his other kinsfolk among them doubtless his uncle Elfwig, the Abbot of the New Minster at Winchester, who came to the fight with twelve of his monks. By nine in the morning, the Normans had reached the hill of Senlac, and the fight began. First came a flight of arrows from each division of the Norman army. Then the heavy-armed foot pressed on, to make their way up the hill, and to break down the palisade. But the English hurled their javelins at them as they came up, and cut them down with their axes when they came near enough for handstrokes. The Normans shouted "God help us;" the English shouted "God Almighty," and the King's own war-cry of "Holy Cross"-the Holy Cross of Waltham. William's heavy-armed foot pressed on along the whole line, the native Normans having to face King Harold's chosen troops in the center. The attack was vain; they were beaten back, and they could not break down the palisade. Then the horsemen themselves, the Duke at their head, pressed on up the hillside. But all was in vain; the English kept their strong ground; the Normans had to fall back; the Bretons on the left actually turned and fled. Then the worse-armed and less disciplined English troops could not withstand the temptation to come down from the hill and chase them. The whole line of the Norman army began to waver, and in many parts to give way. A tale spread that the Duke was killed. William showed himself to his troops, and with his words, looks, and blows, helped by his brother the Bishop, he brought them back to the fight. The flying Bretons now took heart; they turned, and cut in pieces the English who were chasing them. Thus far the resistance of the English had been thoroughly successful, wherever they had obeyed the King's orders and kept within their defenses. But the fault of those who had gone down to follow the enemy had weakened the line of defense, and had shown the Normans the true way of winning the day. Now came the fiercest struggle of the whole day. |