115 HYMNS AND POETICAL RECREATIONS. THOUGHTS ON A STAR-LIGHT EVENING. BEAUTEOUS Sparklers! as ye roll Silently from pole to pole, Yes, ye tell that power divine Since the morn, when God's right hand Ye have kept the track design'd But can man, his image, say No! that image once imprest Now by pride and sin defil'd, Shows him error's wandering child— Yet a ransom has been paid, Xise! oh! rise on wings sublime- Blessed through eternity. H. N. TO A BIRD That was never heard to sing after the death of its companion in a neighbouring cage. POOR prisoner! where is now the note So blithe, that wak'd the loit'ring day? "Twas not thy prison bars that still'd Nor thought of liberty bereav'd, Thy note of melody suppress'd. While one thou lov'st could list thy song Encaged, and captive as thou wert, Thou still wert gay and still wert glad. But now thy little breast is sad And cold, since what thou lov'st is gone— And now thy blithful note is heard No more-for now thou art alone. From morn to night with restless wing Methinks thy melancholy eye But not a note has ever stolen Forth from thy breast since she was gone, Nor ever song shall more be heard From thee-for now thou art alone. Poor prisoner! many a bosom bound Is hush'd in solitude and tears. They must not go, though fain they would To stay, where now they are alone. We'll sing no more on earth, sweet bird, Till he who robb'd us of our joy Return and take our sorrow too. They'll open then our prison doors, And we shall lay our fetters down- THE LONELY STAR. THE twilight was closing in darkness profound, The wild winds were chasing the clouds through the heavens, And fleetly they closed o'er each tremulous orb When high in the heavens one pale, single star, It seem'd she was weeping for those that were gone. "And wherefore, thou lone one, thus loiter behind, "Where nothing beside thee has courage to shine? "Methinks thou art like to earth's flattering hope, "A thing ill-befitting the heart where it dwells, "Which deaf to the reason that bids it away, "Shines on through a darkness it never dispels : "Shines on through adversity's fast-growing night, "The watch-light of hearts that look off from it never, "As if it in pity forbore to depart "From a world that without it were darkness for ever." 'Twas thus that I whisper'd and bade it farewell, For I saw where the clouds were pursuing it fast, And I thought that ere long, like the hope it resembled, The smile of my lone star would surely be past. I left it awhile, and I sought it again, And again, and again, but it still was not gone— The darkness increas'd, and the tempest grew loud, But the lamp of my lone star was still shining on. The clouds gather'd round her, the clouds pass'd her o'er, And her cheek grew more pale as they flitted across— And sometimes a moment she seem'd to be gone, But brighten'd again ere I sigh'd for her loss. Ah! surely, thou lone one, I liken'd thee ill There's nothing on earth is so constant as thou— I will liken thee rather to that brilliant hope, Fair star of a bosom alone and benighted Shining on, when each promise of earth has been broken, And sorrow has left us no beacon beside Shining on, when the dark pass of death must be trodden, In seerch of a bliss that the world has denied. BAKER AND SON, PRINTERS, SOUTHAMPTON, THE ASSISTANT OF EDUCATION. MARCH, 1824. A SKETCH OF GENERAL HISTORY. -- HISTORY OF THE ISRAELITES FROM THE DEATH OF JOSHUA TO THE DEATH OF DAVID. JOSHUA at his death appointed no general to succeed him, and during the time they remained in peace,-how long it was we are not informed,-the Hebrews seem to have had no supreme governor. Probably the magistrates of the different tribes, or the Levites and High Priests administered the laws of Moses at this period, and during several other intervals in which there was no ruling prince. Indeed there scarcely seemed to need one-since no law could be made or abrogated, nor any thing undertaken, but by the express command of God. And it was only on particular occasions, when something was to be done or to be reformed, that a supreme magistrate was elected under the title of Judge, to take precedence of all the rest. And this sort of interrupted rule continued with the Judges till the government of Israel became monarchical. Meantime the nation increased in population, and wanting room perhaps, began in different parts to renew the war, in order to get possession of the remainder of the land that had been allotted them. In arms they were as usual successful-but the pious Joshua was dead, and the elders his contemporaries were dead, and by degrees |