Mr. Dennie has succeeded in diffusing through this cultivated little
circle that love for good literature and sound politics which he feels so
zealously himself, and which is so very rarely the characteristic of his
countrymen. They will not, I trust, accuse me of illiberality for the
picture which I have given of the ignorance and corruption that surround
them. If I did not hate, as I ought, the rabble to which they are opposed,
I could not value, as I do, the spirit with which they defy it; and in
learning from them what Americans _can be_, I but see with the more
indignation what Americans _are_.
BALLAD STANZAS.
I knew by the smoke, that so gracefully curled
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near.
And I said, "If there's peace to be found in the world,
"A heart that was humble might hope for it here!"
It was noon, and on flowers that languished around
In silence reposed the voluptuous bee;
Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound
But the woodpecker tapping the hollow beech-tree.
And, "Here in this lone little wood," I exclaimed,
"With a maid who was lovely to soul and to eye,
"Who would blush when I praised her, and weep if I blamed,
How blest could I live, and how calm could I die!
"By the shade of yon sumach, whose red berry dips
"In the gush of the fountain, how sweet to recline,
"And to know that I sighed upon innocent lips,
"Which had never been sighed on by any but mine!"
A CANADIAN BOAT SONG.
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