On gentle deeds, and shedding tears through smiles;
Undaunted Truth; and Dignity of Mind;

Courage composed and keen; sound Temperance,
Healthful in heart and look; clear Chastity,
With blushes reddening as she moves along,
Disordered at the deep regard she draws;
Rough Industry, Activity untired,
With copious life informed, and all awake.

·V.

Retirement.

O blest Retirement, friend to life's decline,
Retreat from care, that never must be mine!
How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,
A youth of labour with an age of ease;
Who quits a world where strong temptations try,
And, since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly!
For him no wretches, born to work and weep,
Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep;
No surly porter stands, in guilty state,
To spurn imploring Famine from the gate;
But on he moves to meet his latter end,
Angels around befriending virtue's friend;
Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay,
While resignation gently slopes the way;
And, all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past.
VI.

Athens.

Look once more ere we leave this specular mount,
Westward, much nearer by south-west, behold
Where on the Ægean shore a city stands,
Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil,—
Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts
And eloquence, native to famous wits
Or hospitable, in her sweet recess,
City or suburban, studious walks and shades.
See there the olive grove of Academe,
Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird

Trills her thick-warbled notes the summer long!
There flowery hill Hymettus, with the sound
Of bees' industrious murmur, oft invites
To studious musing; there Ilissus rolls

His whispering stream: within the walls then view
The schools of ancient sages; his, who bred
Great Alexander to subdue the world;

Lyceum there, and painted Stoa next.

There shalt thou hear and learn the secret power
Of harmony, in tones and numbers hit

By voice or hand; and various-measur❜d verse,
Eolian charms and Dorian lyric odes;

And his who gave them breath, but higher sung,
Blind Melesigenes, thence Homer call'd,
Whose poem Phœbus challeng'd for his own:
Thence what the lofty grave tragedians taught
In Chorus or Iambic, teachers best

Of moral prudence, with delight receiv'd
In brief sententious precepts, while they treat
Of fate, and chance, and change in human life,
High actions and high passions best describing:
Thence to the famous orators repair,

Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence
Wielded at will that fierce democratie,
Shook the arsenal, and fulmined over Greece
To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne.

To sage philosophy next lend thine ear,

From heaven descended to the low-roof'd house
Of Socrates; see there his tenement,

Whom well-inspired, the oracle pronounced
Wisest of men, from whose mouth issued forth
Mellifluous streams, that water'd all the schools
Of Academics old and new, with those
Surnamed Peripatetics, and the sect
Epicurean, and the Stoic severe;

These here revolve, or, as thou lik'st, at home,
Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight;
These rules will render thee a king complete
Within thyself, much more with empire join'd.

SECTION VII.

ANALOGIES.

Write a short illustration of the Analogies between the following subjects.

MODEL.

A Plant and an Animal.

Life is common to both animals and plants; and, in the possession of that attribute, they are both distinguished from inanimate or inorganic bodies.

Plants, as well as animals, require food to maintain them in existence, and, like them, are furnished with vessels to convey nourishment to the different parts of their system, the circulation of the sap in the one, and that of the blood in the other, presenting one of the most striking analogies that subsists between them. They breathe by means of the leaves, which thus perform the functions of lungs; and they also absorb and exhale moisture abundantly. In many other respects, plants exhibit a close resemblance to animals. They are benumbed by cold and revived by heat; frost or poison will deprive them of life; and, in adapting themselves to the situation in which they are placed, in closing or shifting their leaves on symptoms of danger, and in various other instances, they display qualities which may be termed instinctive. The development of a plant, also, through the successive stages of its existence, presents a close analogy to the progress of an animal from birth to death. Both are at first comparatively fragile, acquiring, as they advance, greater power of action or of resistance; and, supposing them undisturbed by external accidents, both must, after a certain period, sink under the sure decay of their faculties.

SKELETONS.

A Bird and a Fish.

Structure of both animals adapted to their respective spheres of action-Both characterised by a wedge-like form-Arrangement of scales in fishes-Disposition of feathers in birds-Oily secretions-Air cells in birdsSwimming bladder in fishes-Organs of locomotionWings and tail of birds-Fins and tail of fishes.

A Seed and an Egg.

Both contain the germ of life-Germinating principle in both exceedingly minute-Provisions for the safety of the germ-The nascent plant derives its support from the body of the seed-The young bird draws its aliment from the substance of the egg.

A Bee-hive and a Social Community.

Congregation into distinct societies common to both -Various classes in a community-Different orders in a bee-hive-The bee-hive and a monarchy-Body-guard of the queen-bee-Analogy in division of labour-Cooperation of all towards the common benefit-The hive, a city in miniature-Streets-Palaces-StorehousesProvident industry of the bee-Union in repelling invasion or avenging aggression-Analogy between the swarming of a hive and colonisation.

SECTION VIII.

DISTINCTIONS.

Write a short illustration of the Distinctions between the following subjects.

MODEL.

Reason and Instinct.

The noble gift of reason is the title by which man asserts his superiority over the lower animals. Instinct,

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which is merely a blind impulse, so far as they are concerned, is with them chiefly the guiding principle.

Let us consider, for example, the operations of pure instinct in the bee, whose whole history presents a most wonderful manifestation of the faculty, and observe in what respects it differs from reason. Besides the regular hexagon or six-sided figure, the bee constructs mathematical figures of various forms; provides for certain contingencies by a multitude of laborious and intricate arrangements; and rapidly and effectively repairs unusual or unexpected misfortunes; all its proceedings being founded on sure and infallible principles. It can never be supposed, notwithstanding, that the bee is capable of demonstrating to itself the perfect adaptation of the means it employs to attain the end produced. It works, in fact, by a mind which is not its own; and, in this respect, no higher title to intelligence can be claimed for it than if it were an automaton. A rational

mind, on the contrary, which arrives at any conclusion, either theoretical or practical, starts with a conscious grasp of the principles upon which it proceeds, and can trace, through all its stages, the process by which the result has been attained. Again, the operations of instinct are in all ages uniform and unvarying. The bee constructs its cells, the beaver erects its dams, and the bird builds its nest, in exactly the same manner from one generation to another. Their wants are

always the same; and, as they never commit any mistakes, their labours are capable of no improvement. The noble achievements of human ingenuity, on the contrary, are accomplished only after a succession of experiments and failures; no limits can be placed to its incessant improvements and inventions; the customs, the wants, and the desires of mankind vary and increase with every age; and, while the lower animals work only or principally for themselves, the discoveries of reason become the patrimony of the whole human race, and contribute to the elevation and enjoyment of all posterity.