proved himself as magnanimous as he was brave by refusing a large ransom offered him by a Spanish captive, to whose family the chevalier was under obligation at the bridge of Gargliano, he fought literally single-handed for half an hour against two hundred Spaniards, and thereby covered the retreat of his own troops, while he emulated Horatius Cocles in the exploit: after the battle of Marignano, Francis the First, astonished at the deeds of Bayard, insisted on receiving knighthood at his hand, and at Meziéres with only a thousand men the chevalier successfully resisted thirty-five thousand. To conclude, he died as he had lived, fulfilling the eulogy of Solon on the happy man; full of honours, on the battle-field where his ancestors for many generations had bled before him, with his face to the coming foe who humanely pitched a tent over the wounded hero, he "commended his soul to God, his life to his country," and so, like a soldier and a Christian, died Bayard. LUTHER. COULDST thou look down upon us from thy rest, And note that persecuting horn of Rome How would thy zeal flame out, thou second Paul : Thy spurious children, who should still protest Against a church apostate and impure Now bid her prosper, and insanely call Liberal, to help in forging more secure No sign of our times is in a national point of view more fearful than the resurrection of popery. The students of Daniel and the Apocalypse have long looked for it, and now that it appears, entertain the most just apprehension of accompanying judgments; and the enlightened statesman, who is versed in the politics of the world, knows well that the influence of the papacy is one most blighting to a country. Not to look nearer our own shores, witness the contrast afforded respectively by the Protestant and Popish cantons of Switzerland. Other second causes are indeed in operation, but they emanate indirectly from one root: and the disciple of Luther, whose school is not yet quite empty, still learns to look for the vengeance of Almighty God upon presumption and idolatry. Luther is a second Paul,' not merely in character and conduct, but more remarkably perhaps from the mode of his conversion. It happened to him while yet a youth, at Erfurt, (about A. D. 1500,) that in the course of a country walk with a friend, a thunderstorm came on, and a flash of lightning struck Luther senseless: his companion was killed at his side; and the circumstance made a religious impression upon “ the other that was left," never afterwards to be effaced. 66 The life of this most eminent servant of God, who, in his single person carried on for years the conflict of truth, is too replete with important incident to be briefly condensed in this place. It is a matter of Christian education, if not of Protestant duty, to peruse it in full; and very few of those, who, for their own advantage, are here called upon to do so, can have to urge a lack of opportunity: every manual of biography includes a life of Luther, at a far greater length than is here expedient. Suffice it to say, that but for the miner's son, who unassisted, save by Heaven, in the true spirit of an apostle, before kings and rulers preached truth to a world drowned in error, but for him, who alone braved the vengeance of the mighty, and demolished the bulwarks of ignorance, but for his zeal, talents, energy, and wisdom, but for Martin Luther (under Providence,) England might still be groaning under spiritual tyranny, the dependent province of a foreign despot, filed with the agents of the murderous inquisition, and in every feature, social and private, covered with the plaguespots of Popery. wwwwwww JANE GREY. So young, so fair, so simple, so deceived !— Of stealing for thyself another's crown Of splendour forced and fear'd, so soon laid down, Cost thee most bitter wages;-yet most sweet, If prison-haunting wisdom bade thee seek This heav'nly crown, for thy fair brow so meet, This higher majesty my song would greet. M |