60. "Woe! Woe! the great city! She, who was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, . wealth!" + And every shipmaster, and every supercargo, 65. And mariners, and all who labor on the sea, Stood afar off, and cried aloud, When they saw the smoke of her burning; saying, And they cast dust upon their heads, 70. And cried aloud, weeping and mourning; saying, Wherein all who had ships upon the sea waxed rich For in one hour has she been made 75. Rejoice over her thou heaven! desolate !" And ye saints! and ye apostles! and ye prophets ! For God hath for her crimes against you passed sentence upon her! And a mighty angel took up a stone like a huge millstone, and cast it into the sea; saying, "Thus with violence shall be thrown down Babylon the great city, and shall be found no more: 80. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and flute players, and trumpeters shall be heard in thee no more: And any artificer of any ingenious art shall be found in thee no more: And the sound of a millstone shall be heard in thee no more: 85. For thy merchants were the great ones of the earth; For by thy sorceries were deceived all the nations; And in her, the blood of prophets and saints hath been found, And after these things, I heard as it were, the voice of a great 90. +Salvation, and glory, and honor, And power, be unto the Lord our God! For true and righteous are his judgments; Who corrupted the earth with her lewdness; 95. And he hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand." And, a second time, they said, "HALLELUJAH!” And her smoke ascendeth forever and ever! JEBB'S SACRED LITERATURE. QUESTIONS. -To what city does this prophecy refer? From what book is it taken? Why is evil denounced upon Babylon? Who are represented as lamenting her fall? Who are they that sing "hallelujah" to God? How long ago was this prophecy written? Is it supposed to be yet fulfilled? Is Babylon, here, the real name of the city, or is it used figuratively? Where was the Babylon whose destruction is foretold in the Old Testament? Was that fulfilled? To what inflections in this lesson is Rule II, §3, applicable? To what, Rule II, §2, and §4? Which nouns in the lesson specify the merchandise spoken of in the 39th and 40th lines? Parse the sixteen nouns found in lines 47 to 53 inclusive. Parse each word contained in the 60th line. LESSON LXXXIII. REMARK. -In reading poetry, that does not rhyme, the pauses should be regulated chiefly by the sense, as in prose. The poetic measure, however, should be observed, whenever it is consistent with the sense, and the construction of the sentence. PRONOUNCE Correctly and ARTICULATE distinctly.—Ru-ins, not runes: burst, not buss: bul-warks, not bul-wuks: pal-ace, not pal-iss: lab-y-rinth, not lab-er-inth, nor lab'rinth: wan-der-ing, not wan-d'rin: dan-ger-ous, not dan-g'rous: aw-ful, not awe-fl: col-umns, not col-yums: whith-er-ward, not with-er-wud. 1. Domes, n. buildings. Dusk'-y, a. dark, gloomy. Bit'-tern, n. a water fowl. Bask'-ed, v. lay in the sun. Sanct'-u-a-ry, n. a place devoted to the worship of God. Boom, n. the sound which the bittern 3. A-e'-ri-al, a. placed in the air. Do'-tage, n. the childishness of old age. Fane, n. a temple. Be'-lus, n. one of the Gods of Babylon. THALABA AMONG THE RUINS OF BABYLON. THE many-colored domes * Yet wore one dusky hue; The cranes upon the + mosque Kept their night clatter still; *Of Bagdad. When through the gate the early traveler passed. Distinct in darkness seen, Above the low horizon's lingering light, 2. Once, from the lofty walls the charioteer + Looked down on swarming myriads; once she flung And, through her brazen portals, when she poured She was fallen! The queen of cities, Babylon was fallen! + Low lay her bulwarks; the black scorpion basked 3. Is yonder huge and shapeless heap, what once 4. The Assyrian slaves adored? A labyrinth of ruins, Babylon Spreads o'er the blasted plain. The wandering Arab never sets his tent Euphrates rolls along, Eternal nature's work. bridgeless tide, Through the broken portal, Cautious he trod, and felt The dangerous ground before him with his bow. The stork, alarmed at sound of man, The adder, in her haunts disturbed, 5. Twilight and moonshine, dimly mingling, gave The moon still pale and faint: Broken by many a mass of blackest shade; Long columns stretching dark through weeds and moss; And of their former shape, low-arched or square, Figured with long grass fringed. 6. Reclined against a column's broken *shaft, The ruins closed him in : + Musing on Babel's pride, and Babel's fall; SOUTHEY. QUESTIONS. Where was Babylon situated, and of what was it the capital? How could a charioteer look down from the walls? Do you understand what is meant by the ærial gardens? Do you recollect any thing in the Bible about the "golden image" here mentioned? What was formerly the condition of Babylon? What became of the city? What is here represented as the appearance of the place where it stood? Where was its ruin foretold? ARTICULATION. Fragrance and aromatic odors every where. Frolic and gleesomeness characterized the scene. We arranged the change. await all. Thou troubl'st thy father's friends. Chance and change executed three busts. The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods. LESSON LXXXIV. REMARK-Avoid reading in a monotonous way, as if you were not interested, and did not understand what you read. PRONOUNCE Correctly. - Sub-due, not sub-doo, nor sub-jue: reg-ula-tions, not reg-ew-la-tions, nor reg-gy-la-tions: stren-u-ous, not strenew-ous: spec-u-la-tion, not spec-ky-la-tion: val-u'd, (pro. val-yude), not val-ewd: vir-tue, not vir-too, nor vir-tew, nor vir-tshue: su-pe-ri-or, not shu-pe-ri-ar: survey, not survey (the noun is pronounced survey, and the verb, sur-vey'). 3. Pol'-i-cy, n. the art of governing nations. 4. Stren'-u-ous, a. bold, active. 5. Reg'-is-ter, n. a book in which records are kept. Dis'-taff, n. the staff of a spinning wheel, to which flax is tied. 6. Pan-e-gyr'-ic, n. praise bestowed on eminent persons. Chi-me'-ra, n. a vain or idle fancy. 9. Drudg'-er-y, n. hard labor. 10. Ar-tif-i-cer, n. one who makes and contrives. 13. Ef-fem'-i-nate, a. womanish, tender. BENEFITS OF LITERATURE. 1. Hercules. Do you pretend to sit as high on Olympus as Hercules? Did you kill the Nemean lion, the Erymanthian boar, the Lernean serpent, and Stymphalian birds? Did you destroy tyrants and robbers? You value yourself greatly on subduing one serpent: I did as much as that while I lay in my cradle. 2. Cadmus. It is not on account of the serpent, that I boast myself a greater benefactor to Greece than you. Actions should be valued by their utility, rather than their splendor. I taught Greece the art of writing, to which laws owe their precision and + permanency. You subdued monsters; I civilized men. It is from untamed passions, not from wild beasts, that the greatest evils arise to human society. By wisdom, by art, by the united strength of a civil community, men have been enabled to subdue the whole race of lions, bears, and serpents; and, what is more, to bind by laws and wholesome regulations, the ferocious violence and dangerous treachery of the human disposition. Had lions |