ON Leven's banks, while free to rove,
And tune the rural pipe to love,
I envied not the happiest swain
That ever trod the Arcadian plain.

Pure stream, in whose transparent wave
My youthful limbs I wont to lave;
No torrents stain thy limpid source,
No rocks impede thy dimpling course,
That sweetly warbles o'er its bed,
With white round polish'd pebbles spread;
While, lightly poised, the scaly brood
In myriads cleave thy crystal flood;
The springing trout in speckled pride,
The salmon, monarch of the tide;
The ruthless pike, intent on war,

The silver eel, and mottled par.
Devolving from thy parent lake,
A charming maze thy waters make,
By bowers of birch and groves of pine,
And hedges flower'd with eglantine.
Still on thy banks so gaily green,
May numerous herds and flocks be seen:
And lasses chanting o'er the pail,
And shepherds piping in the dale;
And ancient faith that knows no guile,
And industry embrown'd with toil;
And hearts resolved and hands prepared
The blessings they enjoy to guard!

SMOLLET.

Leven.-A small stream in Dumbartonshire, which drains the waters of Loch Lomond. It falls into the Clyde at Dumbarton. Smollet was born on its banks, near the modern village of Renton, in the year 1721. The valley through which the Leven flows is now one of the chief industrial seats in the West of Scotland, and the lines of the poet are no longer applicable.

Tune the rural pipe to love.-Warble love-songs in a rude, simple style.

Arcadian plain.-Arcadia was a country in the middle of Peloponnesus, or Morea, surrounded on all sides by mountains-the Switzerland of Greece. The natives regarded themselves as the most ancient people of Greece, and employed themselves chiefly in hunting and the tending of cattle. From their isolated position, they experienced fewer changes than any of the other tribes of Greece. Hence the poets took Arcadia as the type of rural peace and contentment.

No torrents stain thy limpid source, &c.—The elevation of Loch Lomond above the Clyde is so small that boats can be rowed up the Leven into the loch. So smoothly does the stream issue from the lake that it is difficult to tell where the one begins and the other ends. The scaly brood.-Fish, several kinds of which are mentioned. The salmon, monarch of the tide, not only on account of his size, but for the place he occupies among fish; the ruthless pike—the pike is noted for his voracity, and is a notorious fighter.

Devolving from thy parent lake.--Issuing from Loch Lomond.

Lasses chanting o'er the pail.- Milkmaids. Compare L'Allegro, "And the milkmaid singeth blithe;" The Deserted Village, "The swain responsive as the milkmaid sung;" Grahame's Sabbath, "Hushed is the plough-boy's whistle, and the milkmaid's song." Shepherds piping in the dale.—It is a favourite poetical theory that shepherds always carry with them pipes made of reeds-Pan's pipes-on which they play when attending their flocks.

EXERCISES.

1. Give the meaning of these phrases-(a) I envied not the happiest swain that ever trod the Arcadian plain; (b) No rocks impede thy dimpling course; (c) The scaly brood in myriads cleave thy crystal flood; (d) Devolving from thy parent lake, a charming maze thy waters make.

2. Explain all the allusions in the poem.

3. Explain the meaning and force of the portions of the following words that are in italics-rural, happiest, transparent, youthful, impede, monarch, ruthless, devolving, numerous, embrown'd, resolved.

4. Give the derivation of these words-rural, transparent, torrent, impede, intent, devolving, chanting, resolved.

5. Connect the meaning of the following words with volvo, I roll -revolve, revolution (e.g., the revolution of the heavenly bodies; the French Revolution), involve, evolve, volume, convolvulus, devolve.

6. Point out all the strictly poetical expressions in the ode (e.g., thy dimpling course).

Be sure of your curb and rein;

For I scorn the power of your puny hands

As the tempest scorns a chain.

How I laughed, as I lay concealed from sight
For many a countless hour;

At the childish boast of human might,
And the pride of human power!

When I saw an army upon the land,
A navy upon the seas,
Creeping along, a snail-like band,

Or waiting the wayward breeze;
When I mark'd the peasant faintly reel
With the toil which he daily bore,
As he feebly turned at the tardy wheel,
Or tugged at the weary oar.

When I measured the panting courser's speed,
The flight of the carrier dove,

As they bore the law a king decreed,

Or the lines of impatient love;

I could not but think how the world would feel, As these were out-stripp'd afar,

When I should be bound to the rushing keel, Or chain'd to the flying car.

In the darksome depths of the fathomless mine,
My tireless arm doth play,

Where the rock never saw the sun decline,
Or the dawn of a glorious day,
I bring earth's glittering jewels up
From the hidden cave below;
And I make the fountain's granite cup
With a crystal gush o'erflow.

I blow the bellows, I forge the steel,
In all the shops of trade;

I hammer the ore and turn the wheel

Where my arms of strength are made:
I manage the furnace, the mill, the mint,
I carry, I spin, I weave;

And all my doings I put into print
On every Saturday eve.

I've no muscle to weary, no breast to decay,
No bones to be "laid on the shelf;"
And soon I intend you may "go and play,"
While I manage the world by myself.
But harness me down with your iron bands-
Be sure of your curb and rein;

For I scorn the strength of your puny hands
As the tempest scorns a chain.

G. W. CUTTER.