And the dark Winter of my dream, Unhappy Spain! though nature pours From rock, and vale, and village spire, The watch-word name of Washington. But oh, Italia! mark'd by fate, So glorious, yet so desolate ! He mourn'd, - till Memory's flowrets sigh'd, And Hope's last, faint illusion died. FILIAL DUTY. "HONOR thy father and thy mother," is the first commandment, with promise. The honor which children are required to give to their parents includes in it, love, reverence, obedience, and relief, if needed. From them, they have received their very existence, and consequently all the pleasures and enjoyments of life. The occasion which demands from children the greatest tokens of respect and tenderness in their behaviour to their parents, is when they labor under infirmities of body or mind, and in the time of extreme old age. "Me let the tender office long engage To rock the cradle of declining age, With lenient arts extend a parent's breath, Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death; Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, And keep awhile a parent from the sky." Shall we our servitude retain, Because our sires have borne the chain? A general nod approved the cause, "When I had health and strength, like you The toils of servitude I knew. Now grateful man rewards my pains, At will I crop the year's increase; "Friendship's the wine of life; but friendship new Is neither strong nor sweet." Without friendship, life has no charm. The only things which can render friendship sure and lasting, are virtue, purity of manners, an elevated soul, and perfect integrity of heart. Lovers of virtue should have none but men of virtue for their friends; and on this point, the proof ought principally to turn; because where there is no virtue, there is no security that our honor, confidence and friendship will not be betrayed and abused. The necessary appendages of friendship are confidence and benevolence. |