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CII. THE CORAL GROVE.

1. Deep in the wave is a coral grove,

Where the purple mullet and goldfish rove;
Where the sea flower spreads its leaves of blue,
That never are wet with the falling dew,
But in bright and changeful beauty shine,
Far down in the green and glassy brine.

2. The floor is of sand, like the mountain drift,
And the pearl shells spangle the flinty snow;
From coral rocks the sea plants lift

Their boughs, when the tides and billows flow.

3. The water is calm and still below,

For the winds and waves are absent there, And the sands are bright as the stars that glow In the motionless fields of upper air.

4. There, with its waving blade of green,

The sea flag streams through the silent water, And the crimson leaf of the dulse is seen

To blush like a banner bathed in slaughter.

5. There, with a light and easy motion,

The fan coral sweeps through the clear deep sea; And the yellow and scarlet tufts of ocean Are bending like corn on the upland lea ;

6. And life in rare and beautiful forms

Is sporting amid those bowers of stone,
And is safe when the wrathful spirit of storms
Has made the top of the waves his own.

7. And when the ship from his fury flies,
When the myriad voices of ocean roar,

When the wind god frowns in the murky skies, And demons are waiting the wreck on shore; 8. Then, far below, in the peaceful sea,

The purple mullet and goldfish rove,
Where the waters murmur tranquilly

Through the bending twigs of the coral grove.

James G. Percival.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. The manners and habits of the coral insect (or polyp rather; it is not an insect): Does it build its "groves" in the frigid zone? (It is incorrect to say "build," for it merely leaves its skeleton when it dies, and this skeleton is the "coral formation.") What temperature must the water be for the coral insect to flourish? What is the mullet ?dulse? (reddish seaweed, sometimes used for food.) Have you seen the "fan coral"?

II. Єor'-al, boughs (bouz), pearl (perl), slaugh'-ter (slaw'-), wräth'-ful (rath'-), change'-ful (why not changful?), peace'-ful (why not peacful ?), trăn-quil-ly (trăn’kwil-) (n=ng).

III. Correct: "I seen the animal who done it"; "The lady which gave me my dinner has did me a kindness"; "He warn't there"; "You won't do it." IV. Spangle, lea, myriad, murky, brine, “pearl shells," sea flower," "bowers of stone."

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V. "Flinty snow" (the deposit of flint sand on the bottom of the ocean, resembling snow). "Scarlet tufts of ocean (tuft: = head of flowers). How deep down (5) do the largest waves affect the ocean? (A wave twenty feet high, according to theory, should produce slight effects two hundred feet deep.) "Wind god" (6) (Æolus). Note the return to the lines, “The purple mullet," etc. (7), near the end, and the last line brings us back to "coral grove," the ending of the first. Repetition of the same, or of the like, is the principle of poetic form. Repetition of time and accent and their combinations = rhythm, meter, and stanzas; repetition of sound = rhyme; repetition of a phrase or line refrain; repetition of sense is the Hebraic rhythm. (See CIII., note.) What is the tone of this piece-gay, or solemn? Is there anything human about it? or is it only inanimate matter-vegetable and brute life, and that, too, a low order of brute lifethat is spoken of? Is not the beauty described by the poet as existing in the deep sea, and the peace and tranquillity there, a very melancholy affair, without human beings, or even their semblance in the form of mermaids or sea nymphs?

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CIII. THE GLORY OF GOD.

1. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

2. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

3. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

4. Their line is, gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

5. Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

6. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

7. The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

8. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

10. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

12. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

14. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Psalm XIX.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. The words in italics in this piece are printed as they are in King James's version of the Bible, and were supplied by the translators to make the sense complete.

II. Hǎnd'-y-work= handiwork, knŏwl'-edġe (nõl ́ej), çîr'-euit (-kit). III. The prefix dis (di) denotes movement asunder or apart; mis, moral divergence, error, or defect. Make a list of words with these prefixes. Mult (or multi) means many; semi, demi, mean half of, or in part; bi (and bis), twice. Form a list of words having these prefixes.

IV. Declare, uttereth, line, tabernacle, converting, testimony, statutes, enduring, desired, warned, reward, errors, presumptuous, dominion, transgression, meditation, acceptable, redeemer.

V. "The fear of the Lord is clean" (free from corrupt ceremonies). Note the rhythm of Hebrew poetry. It has no rhyme, nor rhythm of syllabic feet, like European poetry. The poetic form consists in the rhythm of thoughts, or a parallelism of stanzas, which produces symmetry, and answers in the place of the rhythmical beat which we enjoy in our poetry. Tautology (repetition of the same word, or of the same idea in different words) and synonyms are frequently used to produce this species of internal rhythm. The English translation of the Bible accordingly presents the poetic aroma of the Hebrew poetry better than the versification of Addison (see II.) or Watts. Note the parallelism which constitutes the rhythm: (1.) Synonyms: heavens-firmament. (2.) Tautology: glory of God-his handiwork; day unto day-night unto night. (3.) Correspondence of expres sion and thing expressed: uttereth-sheweth; speech-knowledge. Apply this rhythmical analysis to the remaining verses of this psalm. (See CII., note, and CXLV., note. Later English poetry, and also German poetry, has caught the spirit of this rhythm of sense from the Bible, and betrays

its influence in the use of parallelisms, of tautology, synonyms, and correspondence, especially in compositions of a stately and elevated character. See Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, CXLIV.; also CXXIV., CXXX., CXIX., CXV., and even in the prose piece of Tyndall, C., and Bunyan's writings, LXX., LXI., LXII.)

CIV. THE HAPPY VALLEY.

1. The place which the wisdom or policy of antiquity had destined for the residence of the Abyssinian princes was a spacious valley in the kingdom of Amhara, surrounded on every side by mountains, of which the summits overhang the middle part. The only passage by which it could be entered was a cavern that passed under a rock, of which it has been long disputed whether it was the work of Nature or of human industry.

2. The outlet of the cavern was concealed by a thick wood, and the mouth, which opened into the valley, was closed with gates of iron forged by the artificers of ancient days, so massy that no man could, without the help of engines, open or shut them.

3. From the mountains, on every side, rivulets descended, that filled all the valley with verdure and fertility, and formed a lake in the middle, inhabited by fish of every species, and frequented by every fowl which Nature has taught to dip the wing in water. This lake discharged its superfluities by a stream, which entered a dark cleft of the mountain on the northern side, and fell, with dreadful noise, from precipice to precipice, till it was heard no more.

4. The sides of the mountains were covered with trees. The banks of the brooks were diversified with

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