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Show I ' 'i I' 260 ON FREEDO}[. While half forgetful of her cl1:mging sphere, The loathful summer lingers year by ycnr. llere, in the light of God's supern"a] cycTiis realms unbounded, nnd his woes n. sighrrhc dusky son of evening pbccd whilcomc Found with the Gnu an CYcr-vcmnlliomC', And wiser than A then as' wisest scllools,·:+ Nor led by zealots, nor scholn.stic rules, Gazed at the stars that stud yon lender blue, And hoped, and ucomcd the cheat of death untrue; • "And wiser ihnn Athcnns' wisest schools, No1· led by zealots, not· scholastic rules, Gnz~d nt the stnt·s which stnd yon tender blue, And hoped and deemed the cheat of death untrue." Though Socrat.cs and Pinto, pnrticulnl'iy the former, nt·c gcncl·nlly ndrnittcd by \nitcrs of tHtthot·ity, nmong whom, indeed, nrc Polycnt·pc, Cln-ysotom, and EusciJius, to have in a mannet· ~uspeeled rather than believed, the immortnlity of the soul; yet wo ha\'e no C\•idence of their C\'Cr having, by the fiucst pt·occss of rntiocination, so thoroughly convinced themselves as to in troduce it generally ns a tenniJie thesis on the portico. A benutiful thread of implicit belief flnd fct'\'ent hope, of after life, assimil:tting to tho htmting-gronnd of om· own American Jndinns, a1~d though sensuous still, a step fat· in ndvnncc of tho IJlack Yoid of ancient philosophy, l1as always rml through the hi~het· mythologies of the Negro. So notol'irms, indcc,l, was the fact nmong cady Cltri~ti:ws, tlwt thnt ubiquitous riddle, "P1·e.;;tor John," wns, by beliC\' eJ·s, t•e;;ar-ded ns having a locale iu Centml Aft·ica; while Hcury of Portugal actu· ally despatched two nmbass:J(loJ·s, Con·illa ntH.l Pnyvan, to n rurnoz·oJ. Christian CO:tl't, sout.h of the ~ahat·a.-.1:..-:tin. Bnc!Jc. Earl!J Chris. lli1. Port. 0,; FREEDOM. y ct, ·supple sophist to a phs tic mind* Saw gods in woods, and spirits in the wind, Jlcard iu the tones thot stirred the waves within, rrhe n1inglcd voice of IIndna and Odin, Doomed the fleeced tenant of the wild to bleed i'l. guileless yotiYe to his llrtrmlcss creed, 'l.'hcn gladly grateful nt each rite fulfilled, 261 Sought the cool shadow where the spring distilled, And lightly lab'rous tbro' the torpid day, \YL.iled in sweet pence the sultry eve away. Or if pcrcl1ance to nature darkly true, lie strikes the >mr-path thro' the mid11ight dew, Steals in the covert on the sleeping foe, And wreaks the llorrors of a. b~rbarous woe; Yet, yet returning to the home-girt spot- •" Yet supple sopl1ist ton plastic mind, Sees gods in woods, n.nJ spil'ita in the wind." Tho imagination of the Af!'icnn, like his musical genius, wh_ich extracts surpz·ising harmony ft·om the rudest of sources, tho clnppmg of hands, the clanking of chaius, the resonance of lasso wood, nnd pc..Comtct\ shells, l'ccms to in\'CSt C\'erything with a r<miLlcnt spil·it of peculiar powcz· . .Acconlingly, his mythologie-; nz·c most uumer·ous nnd poetical-his en!.ir·o cal:tlo;;uo of superior go(ls nlonc, cmhrncing n more cxtcn<lcll length th:m tho As.syro-llabylon .Alphabet, wit.h ils three hun<.lrcd letters. |