7. WHAT IS AMBITION? WHAT is ambition? 'Tis a glorious cheat! The shining walls of heaven. The unsearched mine His kindred are forgotten or estranged; But what is its reward? At best, a name! He sends us, stripped and naked, to the grave! NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS 8. THE ORATOR DESCRIBED. IMAGINE to yourselves Demosthenes, addressing the most illustrious assembly in the world, upon a point whereon the fate of the most illustrious of nations depended. How awful such a moment! How vast the subject! Is the man possessed of talents equal to the great occasion? Yes, superior! By the power of his eloquence, the augustness of the assembly is lost in the dignity of the orator; and the importance of the subject, for a while, is superseded by admiration of his talents. With what strength of argument, with what powers of the fancy, with what emotions of the heart, does he assault and subjugate the whole man, and at once captivate his reason, his imagination, and his passions! To effect this, must be the utmost effort of the most improved state of human nature. Not a faculty that he possesses is here unemployed; not a faculty that he possesses but here is exerted to its utmost pitch. All his internal powers are at work. All his external, testify their energies. Within, the memory, the fancy, the judgment, the passions, are all busy. Without, every muscle, every nerve, is excited. Not a feature, not a limb, but speaks. The organs of the body, attuned to the exertions of the mind, through the kindred organs of the hearers, instantly vibrate those energies from soul to soul. Notwithstanding the diversity of minds in such a multitude, by the lightning of eloquence they are melted into one mass; the whole assembly, actuated in one and the same way, become, as it were, but one man, and have but one voice. The universal cry is, "Let us march against Philip! Let us fight for our liberties! Let us conquer, or die!" RICHARD BRINSLEY BUTLER SHERIDAN. 9. PROCRASTINATION. BE wise to-day. "Tis madness to defer: Procrastination is the thief of time: Of man's miraculous mistakes, this bears The palm, that all men are about to live, Forever on the brink of being born. All pay themselves the compliment to think At least, their own; their future selves applaud. And scarce in human wisdom to do more. All promise is poor dilatory man, And that through every stage. When young, indeed, At thirty, man suspects himself a fool; In all the magnanimity of thought, EDWARD YOUNG. 10. A PETITION TO TIME. TOUCH us gently, Time. Let us glide adown thy stream Humble voyagers are we: Husband, wife, and children three (One is lost, an angel, fled To the azure overhead). Touch us gently, Time. We've not proud or soaring wings; Our ambition, our content, Lies in simple things. Humble voyagers are we, O'er life's dim, unsounded sea, Seeking only some calm clime: Touch us gently, gentle Time. BRYAN WALLER PROCTER (Barry Cornwall). "TO-MORROW," didst thou say? Methought I heard Horatio say, "To-morrow!" And pays thee nought but wishes, hopes, and promises,- That gulls the easy creditor. "To-morrow ?" It is a period nowhere to be found No, my dear Horatio, 'Tis Fancy's child, and Folly is its father; Wrought of such stuff as dreams are, and as baseless But soft, my friend, arrest the present moments, Then stay the present instant, dear Horatio; |