And thus, when the rainbow had passed in the sky,
The thoughts it awoke were too deep to pass by;
It left my full heart, like the wing of a dove,
All fluttering with pleasure, and fluttering with love.

6. I know that each moment of rapture or pain,

But shortens the links of life's mystical chain:
I know that my form, like that bow from the wave,
Must pass from the earth, and lie cold in the grave:
Yet O! when Death's shadows my bosom encloud,
When I shrink at the thought of the coffin and shroud,
May hope, like the rainbow, my spirit enfold
In her beautiful pinions of purple and gold!

EXERCISE CXLI.

[The following piece is well adapted for reading in concert.]

THE LIGHT-HOUSE.

1. The scene was more beautiful far to my eye

THOMAS MOORE

Than if day in its pride had arrayed it;
The land-breeze blew mild, and the azure-arched sky
Looked pure as the Spirit that made it.

The murmur rose soft as I silently gazed

On the shadowy wave's playful motion,

From the dim distant hill, till the Light-house fire blazed Like a star in the midst of the ocean.

2. No longer the joy in the sailor-boy's breast,
Was heard in his wildly-breathed numbers;
The sea-bird had flown to her wave-girded nest,
The fisherman sunk to his slumbers:

One moment I looked from the hill's gentle slope,
All hushed was the billows' commotion;

And thought that the Light-house looked lovely as Hope,

That star of life's tremulous ocean.

3. The time is long past, and the scene is afar,
Yet, when my head rests on its pillow,
Will memory sometimes rekindle the star

That blazed on the breast of the billow.
Ir life's closing hour, when the trembling soul flies,
And Death stills the heart's last emotion;
O, then may the seraph of mercy arise,
Like a star on eternity's ocean.

EXERCISE. CXLII.

SOLID IMPROVEMENT,-THE TRUE END OF FEMALE

EDUCATION.

SYDNEY SMITH.

1. If the objections against the better education of women could be overruled, one of the great advantages that would ensue, would be the extinction of innumerable follies. A decided and prevailing taste for one or another mode of education there must be. A century past, it was for housewifery, now it is for accomplishments. The object now is, to make women artists,-to give them an excellence in drawing, music, painting, and dancing,-of which, persons who make these pursuits the occupation of their lives, and derive from them their subsistence, need not be ashamed.

2. Now, one great evil of this is, that it does not last. If the whole of life were an Olympic game,—if we could go on feasting and dancing to the end,-this might do; but it is in truth merely a provision for the little interval between coming in to life, and settling in it; while it leaves a long and dreary expanse behind, devoid both of dignity and cheerfulness. No mother, no woman who has passed over the few first years of life, sings, or dances, or draws, or plays upon musical instru ments. These are merely means for displaying the grace and

vivacity of youth, which every woman gives up, as she gives up the dress and manners of eighteen; she has no wish to retain them, or if she has, she is driven out of them by diameter and derision.

3. The system of female education, as it now stands, aims only at embellishing a few years of life, which are in themselves so full of grace and happiness, that they hardly want it; and then leaves the rest of existence a miserable prey to dle insignificance. No woman of understanding and reflection can possibly conceive she is doing justice to her children by such kind of education. The object is, to give to children resources that will endure as long as life endures,—habits that time will ameliorate, not destroy,―occupations that will render sickness tolerable, solitude pleasant, age venerable, life more dignified and useful, and, therefore, death less terrible: and the compensation which is offered for the omission of all this, is a short-lived blaze, a little temporary effect, which has no other consequence than to deprive the remainder of life of all taste and relish.

4. There may be women who have a taste for the fine arts, and who evince a decided talent for drawing, or for music. In that case, there can be no objection to the cultivation of these arts. But the error is, to make such things the grand and universal object, to insist upon it that every woman is to sing, and draw and dance,—with nature or against nature,—to bind her apprentice to some accomplishment, and, if she can not succeed in oil or water-colors, to prefer gilding, varnishing, burnishing, box-making, to real solid improvement in taste, knowledge, and understanding.

5. A great deal is said in favor of the social nature of the fine arts. Music gives pleasure to others. Drawing is an art, the amusement of which does not center in him who ex ercises it, but is diffused among the rest of the world. This is true; but there is nothing, after all, so social as a cultivated mind. We do not mean to speak slightingly of the fine arts, or to depreciate the good-humor with which they are some

times exhibited; but we appeal to any man, whether a little spirited and sensible conversation-displaying, modestly, useful acquirements, and evincing rational curiosity-is not well worth the highest exertions of musical or graphical skill.

6. A woman of accomplishments may entertain those who have the pleasure of knowing her for half an hour with great brilliancy; but a mind full of ideas, and with that elastic spring which the love of knowledge only can convey, is a perpetual source of exhilaration and amusement to all that come within its reach ;-not collecting its force into single and insulated achievements, like the effort made in the fine arts,but diffusing equally over the whole of existence, a calm pleasure, better loved as it is longer felt, and suitable to every variety and every period of life. Therefore, instead of hang. ing the understanding of a woman upon walls, or hearing it vibrate upon strings, instead of seeing it in clouds, or hearing it in the wind, we would make it the first spring and ornament of society, by enriching it with attainments, upon which alone such power depends.

7. If the education of women were improved, the educa tion of men would be improved also. Let any one consider, (in order to bring the matter more home by an individual in stance,) of what immense importance to society it is, whether a nobleman of first-rate fortune and distinction is well or ill brought up; what a taste and passion he may inspire for private and for political vice? and what misery and mischief he may produce to the thousand human beings who are dependent on him! A country contains no such curse within its bosom. Youth, wealth, high rank, and vice, form a combination which battles all remonstrance and beats down all opposition. A man of high rank, who combines these qualifications for corruption, is almost the master of the manners of the age, and has the public happiness within his grasp.

8. But the most beautiful possession which a country can have, is a noble and rich man, who loves virtue and knowledge; who, without being feeble or fanatical, is pious, and

who, without being factious, is firm and independent; who, in his political life, is an equitable mediator between king and people; and, in his civil life, a firm promoter of all which can shed a luster upon his country, or promote the peace and order of the world. But, if these objects are of the importance which we attribute to them, the education of women must be important, as the formation of character, for the first seven or eight years of life, seems to depend almost entirely upon them.

9 It is certainly in the power of a sensible and well-educated mother to inspire, within that period, such tastes and propensities as shall nearly decide the destiny of the future man; and this is done, not only by the intentional exertions of the mother, but by the gradual and insensible imitation of the child; for there is something extremely contagious in greatness and rectitude of thinking, even at that age; and the character of the mother with whom he passes his early infancy, is always an event of the utmost importance to the child. A merely accomplished woman can not infuse her tastes into the minds of her sons; and, if she could, nothing could be more unfortunate than her success.

10. Besides, when her accomplishments are given up, she has nothing left for it but to amuse herself in the best way she can; and, becoming entirely frivolous, either declines altogether the fatigue of attending to her children, or, attending to them, has neither talents nor knowledge to succeed; and, therefore, here is a plain and fair answer to those who ask so triumphantly, why should a woman dedicate herself to this branch of knowledge, or why she should be attached to such science? Because, by having gained information on these points, she may inspire her son with valuable tastes, which may abide by him through life, and carry him up to all the sublimities of knowledge; because she can not lay the foun dation of a great character, if she is absorbed in frivolous amusements, nor inspire her child with noble desires, when a long course of trifling has destroyed the little talents which were left by a bad education.