Canst thou descend from converse with the skies
    And seize thy brothers throat For what a clod Young

    In two short precepts all your business lies
    Would you be great—­be virtuous and be wise Denham

    But sometimes virtue starves while vice is fed
    What then is the reward of virtue bread Pope

    A life all turbulence and noise may seem
    To him that leads it wise and to be praised
    But wisdom is a pearl with most success
    Sought in still waters and beneath clear skies Cowper

    All but the swellings of the softened heart
    That waken not disturb the tranquil mind Thomson

    Inspiring God who boundless spirit all
    And unremitting energy pervades
    Adjusts sustains and agitates the whole Id

    Ye ladies for indifferent in your cause
    I should deserve to forfeit all applause
    Whatever shocks or gives the least offence
    To virtue delicacy truth or sense
    Try the criterion tis a faithful guide
    Nor has nor can have Scripture on its side. Cowper

EXERCISE VIII.—­SCANNING.

Divide the following VERSES into the feet which compose them, and distinguish by marks the long and the short syllables.

    Example I.—­“Our Daily Paths”—­By F. Hemans.

    “There’s Beauty all around our paths, if but our watchful eyes
    Can trace it ’midst familiar things, and through their lowly guise;
    We may find it where a hedgerow showers its blossoms o’er our way,
    Or a cottage-window sparkles forth in the last red light of day.”

    Example II.—­“Fetching Water”—­Anonymous.

    “Early on a sunny morning, while the lark was singing sweet,
    Came, beyond the ancient farmhouse, sounds of lightly-tripping feet. 
    ’Twas a lowly cottage maiden, going,—­why, let young hearts tell,—­
    With her homely pitcher laden, fetching water from the well.”

    Example III.—­Deity.

     Alone thou sitst above the everlasting hills
     And all immensity of space thy presence fills: 
    For thou alone art God;—­as God thy saints adore thee;
    Jehovah is thy name;—­they have no gods before thee.—­G.  Brown.

    Example IV.—­Impenitence.

    The impenitent sinner whom mercy empowers,
     Dishonours that goodness which seeks to restore;
    As the sands of the desert are water’d by showers. 
     Yet barren and fruitless remain as before.—­G.  Brown.

    Example V.—­Piety.

    Holy and pure are the pleasures of piety,
     Drawn from the fountain of mercy and love;
    Endless, exhaustless, exempt from satiety,
     Rising unearthly, and soaring above.—­G.  Brown.