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/*? Drew down in showers the choicest blessings
there.
With voice subdued the benediction said,
Heaven pours its blessing on each humble hea l,
When each departs, a happier home to find,
With blissful heart, and thought to Heaven re
signed,
Well mailed to fight the battle stern of life,
And armed for victory in the deadly strife.
Amid yon oaks that stretch their giant forms
Proud toward the sky, and still defy the storms,
There oft I’ve heard devotion’s accents rise,
And push its heaving pulses toward the skies.
Beneath the dome whose arch went swelling high,
Whose upward concave was the smiling sky,
There have I seen the gathering thousands meet,
And heard their voice the rapturous song repeat,
Till earth and sky responded to their praise,
As glory o’er the prospect seemed to blaze.
Here oft I’ve heard the penitential moan,
Here have I heard the stricken sinners groan,
And when the Spirit spake the pardon found,
Their shouts triumphant cleaved the air around.
Here oft the clariou voice of one was heard,
Whose burning words the hearts of thousands
stirred,
As well he pleaded Calvary’s holy cause,
And Heaven’s design, and God’s mysterious
laws.
His gleaming eye upon his hearers fell,
And searched the heart of every listener well;
His words directed with unerring aim,
The coldest heart would kindle to the flame.
.Now all the Woes the man of God pronounced,
And now the flesh and all of sin denounced,
Convicting power descending from on high,
Like molten metal from a flaming sky.
As griefs remorseful bursting bosoms tear,
The weeping mourners rend the burdened air,
While terror in the starting pupil glares,
And hope for mercy calls, and then despairs.
As when the bolt of angry thunder falls,
And all the heaving multitude appals,
Strikes some to earth, while others prostrate bow,
These with affright, those with a blasted brow;
So fell his words upon the trembling crowd,
Like Sinai’s thunder from the rended cloud.
Joseph Addison.
‘‘Joseph Addison, one of the ornaments
of English literature, was the son of dean
Addison, and was born at Milston in 1672.
At his birth, it is said that he was supposed
to be dead-born, and was accordingly laid
out. The Charter House, at which he be
came acquainted with Steele, and the Col
leges of Queen’s and Magdalen at Oxford,
have the honor of his education. The
first written proofs which he gave of his tal
ents were Latin poems of very superior ele
gance. Some English poems, a translation
of the 4th Georgic, ana a Discourse on
the Georgies, sustained his reputation, and
his praise of King William gained him the
patronage of Lord Somers. In 1699, Som
ers obtained for him an annual pension of
d£300 to enable him to travel in Italy. In
__T H E COUNTRYMAN,
that country he remained nearly 3 years,
when, his pension being lost by the death of
King William, necessity drove him home.
During his absence, he collected materials
foi a narrative of his tour, and wrote his
Letter to Lord Halifax, his Dialogues on
Medals, and 4 acts of Cato. On his re
turn, he published liis Travels. It was Dot,
however, till 1704 that fortune began to
smile upon him. At the suggestion of Hal
ifax, he was then employed to celebrate in
verse the splendid victory of Blenheim ;
and, as soon as he had shown his patrons
the simile of the angel, he was rewarded
with the place of Commissioner of Appeals.
In 1705, he attended Lord Halifax to Han
over ; in 1706, he was appointed undersec
retary of state ; and in 1709, he went over
to Ireland as secretary to the lord lieuten
ant, the Marquis of Wharton, and also re
ceived the almost sinecure office of keeper
of the records at Dublin, with a salary of
<££300 a year. During this period, he wrote
the opera of Rosamond, and contributed a
prologue aud some scenes to Steele’s Ten
der Husband. The Tatler was begun by
Steele while Addison was in Ireland, and
without the knowledge of the latter, who,
however, soon detected his friend, and came
forward to his aid. In 1711, in conjunction
with Steele, he began the Spectator, which
alone would immortalize his name. As an
essayist, he subsequently contributed to
the Guardian, the Lover, the Whig Exam
iner, the Freeholder, and the Old Whig.
In 1713, bis Cato, to which Pope gave a
prologue, was brought upon the stage, and
the state of parties at that time, at least as
much as its intrinsic merit, ensured its com
plete success. It did not, however, escape
from the critics, among whom Dennis was
conspicuous for his acuteness and bitter
ness. This tragedy, the comedy of the
Drummer, and the opera of Rosamond,
constitute the whole of Addison’s dramatic
efforts. He projected a tragedy on the
death of Socrates, but went no further. In
1716, after a long courtship, he married
the countess dowager of Warwick ; a union
which was productive of nothing but one
daughter and infelicity. The lady was a
woman vain of her rank, who had the folly
to think that she had honored a commno-
er of genius by giving him her hand ; and
the result was such as was naturally to be
expected. Though Hymen frowned on
him, his ambition was gratified in the fol
lowing year by the post of secretary of
state. But the toil, his own inaptitude for
business, and bis sufferings from asthma,!
soon compelled liim to resign it, and be re
ceived a yearly pension of <£61500. After
bis retirement, he completed his Treatise
on the Christian Religion, and was enga
ged in a political contest with his old friend
Steele, whom he treated with a contemp
tuous asperity that cannot easily be defend
ed. He died at Holland House, on the
17th of June, 1719. In his last moments,
he sent for Lord Warwick, whom he was
anxious to reclaim from irregular habits
and erroneous opinions, and, pressing his
hand, faintly said, ‘ I have sent for you
that you may see in what peace a Christian
can die.’ As a man, Addison was of blame
less morals. As a statesman, be was ill cal
culated for office, for he had not the nerve,
promptitude of action, and readiness of re
source, which are more necessary in such a
character than even the loftier intellectual
powers. As a poet and dramatist, he cannot
aspire to more than a place in the second
class, and, perhaps, not a high place in that
class. But as an essayist, he stands unrival
led for ethic instructiveness, skill in deline
ating life and manners, exquisite lmmor,
fine imagination, and a dulcet, graceful, idi
omatic flow of language, which amply jus
tifies the eulogium of Johnson, that ‘ who
ever wishes to attain an English style, fa
miliar but not coarse, and elegant but not
ostentatious, must give his days aud uights
to the volumes of Addison.’ ”
.
“ Impromptu.”
I thank you very much for your good
opinion, of The Countryman and The
Chairman expressed in such glowing terms.
But it would be indelicate on my part to
publish your communication in my own
journal. Hence it is respectfully declined.
“Autumn ” is respectfully declined.
“ It is with gratitude as with honesty
among traders : it helps to carry on busi
ness : and we pay, not because we ought,
but in order to find easier credit another
time.”
Declined.
Several articlos are declined on account
of their too great length. Correspondents
for The Countryman must remember that
I do not want long articles, but only par
agraphs, and they must be packed brim
ful of ideas, and good ideas.
“We make a virtue of moderation, in
order to bound the ambition of great men,
and to comfort moderate geniuses for their
slender fortune, aud their slender merit.”
“There are people fated to he fools. They
not only commit follies by choice, but are
even constrained to do so by fortune.”