Cross'd ever and anon by plank or arch;
And for like use, lo! what might seem a zone
Chosen for ornament--stone match'd with stone
In studied symmetry, with interspace

[Illustration]

For the clear waters to pursue their race
Without restraint. How swiftly have they flown--
Succeeding, still succeeding! Here the child
Puts, when the high-swoll'n flood runs fierce and wild,
His budding courage to the proof; and here
Declining manhood learns to note the sly
And sure encroachments of infirmity--
Thinking how fast time runs--life's end how near.

WORDSWORTH.

* * * * *




HUMANITY.


During the retreat of the famous King Alfred at Athelney, in
Somersetshire, after the defeat of his forces by the Danes, the
following circumstance happened, which shows the extremities to which
that great man was reduced, and gives a striking proof of his pious and