Definitions.—­1.  Ec’sta-sy, overmastering joy, rapture. 2.  Ax’i-om, a self-evident truth. 3.  Pal’pi-tat-ing, throbbing, fluttering.  Wells, pours, flows.  Gy-ra’tions, circular or spiral motions. 4.  Af—­fla’tus, breath, inspiration.  Un’du-la-ting, rising and falling like waves.  Rhap’so-dy, that which is uttered in a disconnected way under strong excitement.  Gen-er-a’tion, the mass of beings at one period. 5.  Met’ric-al, arranged in measures, as poetry and music.  Roof ’tree, the beam in the angle of a roof, hence the roof itself.  Ham’let, a little cluster of houses.

LXII.  HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE.

William Collins (b. 1721, d. 1759) was born at Chichester, England.  He was educated at Winchester and Oxford.  About 1745, he went to London as a literary adventurer, and there won the esteem of Dr. Johnson.  His “Odes” were published in 1746, but were not popular.  He was subsequently relieved from pecuniary embarrassment by a legacy of 2,000 Pounds from a maternal uncle; but he soon became partially insane, and was for some time confined in an asylum for lunatics.  He afterwards retired to Chichester, where he was cared for by his sister until his death.

1.  How sleep the brave who sink to rest
   By all their country’s wishes blessed! 
   When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
   Returns to deck their hallowed mold,
   She there shall dress a sweeter sod
   Than Fancy’s feet have ever trod.

2.  By fairy hands their knell is rung;
   By forms unseen their dirge is sung;
   There honor comes a pilgrim gray,
   To bless the turf that wraps their clay;
   And Freedom shall awhile repair
   To dwell a weeping hermit there!

LXIII.  THE RAINBOW.

John Keble (b. 1792. d. 1866) was born near Fairfax, Gloucestershire, England.  He graduated at Oxford with remarkably high honors, and afterwards was appointed to the professorship of poetry in that university.  Since his death, Keble College, at Oxford, has been erected to his memory.  In 1835, he became vicar of Hursley and rector of Otterbourne, and held these livings until his death.  His most famous work is “The Christian Year,” a collection of sacred poems.

1.  A fragment of a rainbow bright
     Through the moist air I see,
   All dark and damp on yonder height,
     All bright and clear to me.

2.  An hour ago the storm was here,
     The gleam was far behind;
   So will our joys and grief appear,
     When earth has ceased to blind.

3.  Grief will be joy if on its edge
     Fall soft that holiest ray,
   Joy will be grief if no faint pledge
     Be there of heavenly day.

LXIV.  SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS.