NOTE.--The Bridge of Sighs, from which the title of the above poem was borrowed, was the popular name given to the covered passage-way which connects the Doge's palace in Venice with the state prisons, from the fact that the condemned prisoners were transported over this bridge from the hall of judgment to the place of execution.

LESSON LIV.

WASHINGTON.

Fer'vent, warm in feeling; ardent; glowing.

€ŏl'o-ny, a company of people transplanted from their mother country to a remote province

or country.

E-jǎe'u-la'tion, a short, sudden

exclamation or prayer.

Creed, that which one believes
with reference to religion,
science, politics, etc.
Pŏl'i-ties, the science of gov-

"TE

ernment; the management of a political party. Dog'må, that which is held as an opinion; a doctrine. Pro-mē’the-an, relating to

Prometheus, who is fabled to have stolen fire from heaven; inspiring.

Çin'çin-na'tus, a celebrated

Roman, who, on relieving his country from her foes, resigned the office of dictator to which he had been elected, and went back to his plow.

HE first in the hearts of his countrymen!" Yes, Washington has our first and our most fervent love. Undoubtedly there were brave, and wise, and

good men before his day in every colony.

But the

American nation, as a nation, I do not reckon to have begun before 1774.

2. And the first love of that young America was Washington. The first word she lisped was his name. Her earliest breath spoke it. It is still her proud ejaculation, and it will be the last gasp of her expiring life.

3. Yes! Others of our great men have been appreciated many admired-by all. But him we love. Him we all love. No sectional prejudice or bias, no party, nc creed, no dogma of politics-none of theso shall assail him. When the storm of battle blows darkest and rages highest, the memory of Washington shall nerve every American arm and cheer every American heart.

4. It shall relume that Promethean fire, that sublime flame of patriotism, that devoted love of country, commended by his words, consecrated by his example!

5. His character, towering in its worth and radiant in its purity, stands like a pillar of light by the hill-born fountain of our liberties, and will shine upon them forever as they flow widening and brightening through the vales of time.

"Where may the wearied eye repose,
When gazing on the great,
Where neither guilty glory glows

Nor vile and sordid state?

Yes, one; the first, the last, the best,
The Cincinnatus of the west,

Whom Envy dared not hate,
Bequeathed the name of Washington
To make men blush there was but one."

RUFUS CHOATE.

LESSON LV.

THE EXILE.

E'rin, an early name of Ireland, now used in poetry.

T

HERE came to the beach a poor exile of Erin,

The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill; For his country he sighed, when at twilight repairing To wander alone by the wind-beaten hill. But the day-star attracted his eye's sad devotion, For it rose o'er his own native isle of the ocean, Where once, in the fire of his youthful emotion, He sang the bold anthem of Erin go bragh!

2. "Sad is my fate !" said the heart-broken stranger; "The wild deer and wolf to a covert can flee, But I have no refuge from famine and danger, A home and a country remain not to me! Never again, in the green sunny bowers, [hours, Where my forefathers lived, shall I spend the sweet Or cover my harp with the wild-woven flowers,

And strike to the numbers of Erin go bragh!

3. "Erin! my country! though sad and forsaken, In dreams I revisit thy sea-beaten shore; But, alas! in a far foreign land I awaken,

And sigh for the friends who can meet me no more! O cruel fate! wilt thou never replace me

In a mansion of peace, where no perils can chase me? Never again shall my brothers embrace me?

They died to defend me!—or live to deplore!

4. "Where is my cabin-door, fast by the wildwood?———
Sisters and sire, did ye weep for its fall?
Where is the mother that looked on my childhood?
And where is the bosom-friend, dearer than all?
Ah! my sad soul, long abandoned by pleasure!
Why did it dote on a fast-fading treasure?
Tears like the rain-drops may fall without measure,
But rapture and beauty they cannot recall!
5. "Yet all its sad recollections suppressing,

One dying wish my lone bosom can draw;—
Erin! an exile bequeaths thee his blessing!

Land of my forefathers! Erin go bragh! Buried and cold, when my heart stills its motion, Green be thy fields, sweetest isle of the ocean! And thy harp-striking bards sing aloud with devotion: 'Erin mavournin-Erin go bragh !""

THOMAS CAMPBELL.

LESSON LVI.

THE REVEILLE.

H

ARK! I hear the tramp of thousands
And of armed men the hum;

Lo! a nation's hosts have gathered
Round the quick alarming drum-
Saying, "Come,

Freemen, come!

Ere your heritage be wasted," said the quick

Alarming drum.

2. Let me of my heart take counsel:
War is not of Life the sum;

Who shall stay and reap the harvest
When the autumn days shall come?
But the drum

Echoed, "Come!

Death shall reap a braver harvest," said the
Solemn-sounding drum.

3. But when won the coming battle,
What of profit springs therefrom?
What if conquest, subjugation,
Even greater ills become?
But the drum,

Answered, "Come!

You must do the sum to prove it," said the
Yankee-answering drum.

4. "What if, 'mid the cannons' thunder,
Whistling shot and bursting bomb,
When my brothers fall around me,
Should my heart grow cold and numb?"
But the drum,

Answered, "Come!

Better there in death united, than in life a
Recreant,--come!"

5. Thus they answered,-hoping, fearing,
Some in faith, and doubting some,
Till a trumpet-voice proclaiming,
Said, "My chosen people, come!"

Then the drum,

Lo! was dumb,

For the great heart of the nation, throbbing,
Answered, "Lord, we come!"