McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader Part 61

CXXVII. LINES TO A WATERFOWL. (434)

Whither 'midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way?

Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, As, darkly painted on the crimson sky, Thy figure floats along.

Seek'st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, Or where the rocky billows rise and sink On the chafed ocean side?

There is a Power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast.

The desert and illimitable air, Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day, thy wings have fanned, At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end, Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend, Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou'rt gone; the abyss of heaven Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart, Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given, And shall not soon depart.

He, who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright.

--Bryant.

CXXVIII. GOLDSMITH AND ADDISON. (435)

William Makepeace Thackeray, 1811-1863, was born in Calcutta, and is one of the most popular of English novelists, essayists, and humorists. While a boy, he removed from India to England, where he was educated at the Charterhouse in London, and at Cambridge. When twenty-one years of age, he came into possession of about 20,000 pounds. He rapidly dissipated his fortune, however, and was compelled to work for his living, first turning his attention to law and then to art, but finally choosing literature as his profession. He was for many years correspondent, under a.s.sumed names, at the "London Times," "The New Monthly Magazine," "Punch," and "Fraser's Magazine." His first novel under his own name, "Vanity Fair," appeared in monthly numbers during 1846-8, and is generally considered his finest production: although "Pendennis," "Henry Esmond," and "The Newcomes" are also much admired. His lectures on "English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century," from which the following selections are taken, were delivered in England first in 1851, and afterwards in America, which he visited in 1852 and again in 1855-6. During the latter visit, he first delivered his course of lectures on "The Four Georges," which were later repeated in England. At the close of 1859, Thackeray became editor of the "Cornhill Magazine," and made it one of the most successful serials ever published.

Thackeray has been charged with cynicism in his writings, but he was noted for his happy temper and genial disposition towards all who came in contact with him.

1. GOLDSMITH.

To be the most beloved of English writers, what a t.i.tle that is for a man!

A wild youth, wayward, but full of tenderness and affection, quits the country village where his boyhood has been pa.s.sed in happy musing, in idle shelter, in fond longing to see the great world out of doors, and achieve name and fortune--and after years of dire struggle, and neglect, and poverty, his heart turning back as fondly to his native place as it had longed eagerly for change when sheltered there, he writes a book and a poem, full of the recollections and feelings of home; he paints the friends and scenes of his youth, and peoples Auburn and Wakefield with the remembrances of Lissoy.

Wander he must, but he carries away a home relic with him, and dies with it on his breast. His nature is truant; in repose it longs for change: as on the journey it looks back for friends and quiet. He pa.s.ses to-day in building an air castle for to-morrow, or in writing yesterday's elegy; and he would flyaway this hour, but that a cage, necessity, keeps him. What is the charm of his verse, of his style, and humor? His sweet regrets, his delicate compa.s.sion, his soft smile, his tremulous sympathy, the weakness which he owns?

Your love for him is half pity. You come hot and tired from the day's battle, and this sweet minstrel sings to you. Who could harm the kind vagrant harper? Whom did he ever hurt? He carries no weapon, save the harp on which he plays to you, and with which he delights great and humble, young and old, the captains in the tents, or the soldiers round the fire, or the women and children in the villages, at whose porches he stops and sings his simple songs of love and beauty. With that sweet story of "The Vicar of Wakefield" he has found entry into every castle and every hamlet in Europe. Not one of us, however busy or hard, but once or twice in our lives has pa.s.sed an evening with him, and undergone the charm of his delightful music.

II. ADDISON. (436)

We love him for his vanities as much as his virtues. What is ridiculous is delightful in him; we are so fond of him because we laugh at him so. And out of that laughter, and out of that sweet weakness, and out of those harmless eccentricities and follies, and out of that touched brain, and out of that honest manhood and simplicity--we get a result of happiness, goodness, tenderness, pity, piety; such as doctors and divines but seldom have the fortune to inspire. And why not? Is the glory of Heaven to be sung only by gentlemen in black coats?

When this man looks from the world, whose weaknesses he describes so benevolently, up to the Heaven which shines over us all, I can hardly fancy a human face lighted up with a more serene rapture; a human intellect thrilling with a purer love and adoration than Joseph Addison's.

Listen to him: from your childhood you have known the verses; but who can hear their sacred music without love and awe?

"Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth; And all the stars that round her burn, And all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole.

"What though, in solemn silence, all Move round this dark terrestrial ball; What though no real voice nor sound Among their radiant orbs be found; In reason's ear they all rejoice, And utter forth a glorious voice, Forever singing, as they shine, The Hand that made us is divine."

It seems to me those verses shine like the stars. They shine out of a great, deep calm. When he turns to Heaven, a Sabbath comes over that man's mind; and his face lights up from it with a glory of thanks and prayers.

His sense of religion stirs through his whole being. In the fields, in the town; looking at the birds in the trees; at the children in the streets; in the morning or in the moonlight; over his books in his own room; in a happy party at a country merrymaking or a town a.s.sembly, good will and peace to G.o.d's creatures, and love and awe of Him who made them, fill his pure heart and shine from his kind face. If Swift's life was the most wretched, I think Addison's was one of the most enviable. A life prosperous and beautiful--a calm death--an immense fame and affection afterwards for his happy and spotless name.

NOTES.--Goldsmith (see biographical notice, page 215) founded his descriptions of Auburn in the poem of "The Deserted Village," and of Wakefield, in "The Vicar of Wakefield," on recollections of his early home at Lissoy. Ireland.

Addison. See biographical notice, page 295. The quotation is from a "Letter from Italy to Charles Lord Halifax."

Swift, Jonathan (b. 1667, d. 1745), the celebrated Irish satirist and poet, was a misanthrope. His disposition made his life miserable in the extreme, and he finally became insane.

CXXIX. IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. (438)

SCENE--CATO, alone, sitting in a thoughtful posture;--in his hand, Plato's book on the immortality of the soul; a drawn sword on the table by him.

Cato. It must be so. Plato, thou reasonest well!

Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality?

Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction?

'T is the divinity that stirs within us; 'T is heaven itself that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man.

Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!

Through what variety of untried being, Through what new scenes and changes must we pa.s.s?

The wide, unbounded prospect lies before me: But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.

Here will I hold. If there's a Power above us, (And that there is, all Nature cries aloud Through all her works) he must delight in virtue; And that which he delights in must be happy.

But when?--or where?--This world was made for Caesar.

I'm weary of conjectures--this must end them.

(Seizes the sword.) Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life, My bane and antidote are both before me.

This in a moment brings me to an end; But this informs me I shall never die.

The soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger and defies its point.

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years; But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

--Addison.

NOTES.--The above selection is Cato's soliloquy just before committing suicide. It is from the tragedy of "Cato."

Cato, Marcus Porcius, (b. 95, d. 46 B. C.) was a Roman general, statesman, and philosopher. He was exceptionally honest and conscientious, and strongly opposed Caesar and Pompey in their attempts to seize the state.

When Utica, the last African city to resist Caesar, finally yielded, Cato committed suicide.

Plato (b. 429, d. about 348 B. C.) was a celebrated Greek philosopher. His writings are all in the form of dialogues, and have been preserved in a wonderfully perfect state.

Cx.x.x. CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON. (440)

Jared Sparks, 1789-1866, was born at Willington, Connecticut, and graduated at Harvard in 1815. He was tutor in the University for two years, and in 1819 was ordained pastor of the Unitarian Church in Baltimore. In 1823 he returned to Boston, purchased the "North American Review," and was its sole editor for seven years. From 1839 to 1849 he was Professor in Harvard, and for the next three years was President of the University. Mr. Sparks has written extensively on American history and biography, including the lives of Washington and Franklin. He collected the materials for his biographies with great care, and wrought them up with much skill.

The person of Washington was commanding, graceful, and fitly proportioned; his stature six feet, his chest broad and full, his limbs long and somewhat slender, but well-shaped and muscular. His features were regular and symmetrical, his eyes of a light blue color, and his whole countenance, in its quiet state, was grave, placid, and benignant. When alone, or not engaged in conversation, he appeared sedate and thoughtful; but when his attention was excited, his eye kindled quickly, and his face beamed with animation and intelligence.