691. THE PASSING OF THE RUBICON. A gentleman, Mr. President, speaking of Cesar's benevolent disposition, and of the reluctance, with which he entered into the civil war, observes, "How long did he pause upon the brink of the Rubicon?" How came he to the brink of that river! How dared he cross it! Shall private men respect the boundaries of private property, and shall a man pay no respect to the boundaries of his country's rights? How dared he cross that river! Oh! but he paused upon the br.nk! He should have perished upon the brink, ere he had crossed it! Why did he pause? Why does a man's heart palpitate when he is on the point of committing an unlawful deed! Why does the very murderer, his victim sleeping before him, and his glaring eye, taking the measure of the blow, strike wide of the inortal part? Because of conscience! 'Twas that made Cesar pause upon the brink of the Rubicon. Compassion! What compassion! The compassion of an assassin, that feels a momentary shudder, as his weapon begins to cut! Cesar paused upon the brink of the Rubicon! What was the Rubicon? The boundary of Cesar's province. From what did it separate his province! From his country. Was that country a desert! No: it was cultivated and fertile; rich and populous! Its sons were men of genius, spirit, and generosity! Its daughters were lovely, susceptible, and chaste! Friendship was its inhabitant! Love was its inhabitant! Domestic affection was its inhabitant! Liberty was its inhabitant! All bounded by the stream of the Rubicon! What was Česar, that stood upon the bank of that stream! A traitor, bringing war and pestilence into the heart of that country! No wonder that he paused -no wonder if, his imagination wrought upon by his conscience, he had beheld blood-instead of water; and heard groans, instead of murmurs! No wonder if some gorgon horror had turned him into stone upon the spot! But, no!-he cried, "The die is cast!" He plunged!-he crossed!and Rome was free no more!-Knowles. 692. LORD ULLIN'S DAUGHTER. A chieftain to the Highlands bound, But still, as wilder grew the wind, And as the night-grew drearer, Their trampling-sounded nearer. One lovely hand-she stretched for aid, And I'll forgive your Highland chief: The waters wild went o'er his child, And he was left-lamenting.-Campbell. 693. PROGRESS OF GOVERNMENT. In government, as in science, it is useful, often to review its progress, and to revert, even to its simplest elements. It will be salutary, frequently to ascertain, how far society, and laws, in their present condition, accord with those, which we have been accustomed to consider, as their first and purest principles; how far, in the lapse of time, they may have deviated from their original form and structure. Even when we recur to inquiries, merely speculative, to imaginary" social contracts," to abstract rights, we may often gather instruction, and detect some concealed, or neglected truth, applicable to our own times, and to our own immediate condition. But when a government is derived, not from fictitious assumptions, not from ancient or obscure sources, or traditions, but, from actual, and specific agreement; when many, and various interests have been combined and compromised, and a written covenant has assured to many parties, rights, and powers, and privileges, it becomes a duty to revise this compact frequently and strictly, that no one entitled to its protection may be de "Now, who be ye-would cross Loch-Gyle, prived, through inadvertence on the one part This dark-and stormy water?" My blood-would stain the heather. or encroachment on the other, of his vested To habit in, and it more fairly dight This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned, Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind? On some fond breast the parting soul relies, Some pious drops the closing eye requires: Ev'n from the tomb, the vo ce of nature cries, Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires. 695. VICTIM BRIDE AND MISER. I saw her-in her summer bower, and oh! upon my sight, wake and weep, As traders love the merchandize, from which their profit springs: 694. ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge, in general, expands the mind, exalts the faculties, refines the taste of pleasure, and opens innumerable sources of intellectual enjoyment. By means of it, we become less dependent for satisfa tion upon the sensitive appetites; the gross pleasures of sense are more easily despised, and we That earth-has to creations, like the firments of our sleep. are made to feel the superiority of the spiri-Her father-lov'd he not his child-above all earthly things? tual to the material part of our nature. Instead of being continually solicited by the influence, and irritation of sensible objects, the mind can retire within herself, and expatiate in the cool and quiet walks of contemplation. The poor man, who can read, and who The hand he ne'er had gain'd from love, he won from her despair. possesses a taste for reading, can find enter-I saw them through the church-yard pass, and such a nuptial train, tainment at home, without being tempted to I would not for the wealth of worlds, should greet my sight again; repair to the public house for that purpose. The rilemails, each as beautiful as Eve-in Eden's bowers, His mind can find him employment, when his Shed bitter tears-upon the path they should have strown w body is at rest; he does not lie prostrate, and flowers; afloat, on the current of incidents, liable to be carried, whithersoever the impulse of appetite may direct. There is, in the mind of such a man, an intellectual spring, urging him to the pursuit of mental good; and if the minds of his family, also, are a little cultivated, conversation becomes the more interesting, and the sphere of domestic enjoyment enlarged. The calm satisfaction, which books afford, puts him into a dispos on to relish, more exquisitely, the tranquil delight, inseparable from the indulgence of conjugal, and parental affection: and as he will be more respectable, in the eyes of his family, than he, who can teach them nothing, he will be naturally induced to cultivate, whatever may preserve, and shun whatever would impair that respect. He, who is inured to reflection, will carry his views beyond the present hour; he will extend his prospect a little into futurity, and be disposed to inake some provision for his approaching wants; whence will result, an increased motive to industry, together with a care to husband his earnings, and to avoid unnecessary expense. The poor man, who has gained a taste for good books, will, in all likelihood, become thoughtful, and when you have given the poor a habit of thinking, you have conferred on them a much greater favor, than by the gift of a large sum of money; since you have put them in possession of the principle of all legitimate prosperity.-R. Hull. TIME'S SOFTENING POWER. As the stern grandeur of a Gothic tower But wins the heart and wakes the social sigh, Hope and fear, alternate, swayed his breast, Who had not thought, that white-rob'd band—the funeral array eyes, And deen'd it less a christian rite, than a pagan sacrifice; hold, It seem'd a very mockey-to breath so vain a prayer. He will not find one rose to swell the wreath, that decks his assuage; [age. Thus early-beauty-sheds her bloom-on the wintry breast of It smiles on the lark as he upward flies; And forgets in its slumber the sports of the day. 097. SPECIMEN OF INDIAN LANGUAGE. We are happy, in having buried, under ground, the red axe, that has so often been dyed-with the blood of our brethren. Now, in this fort, we inter the axe, and plant the tree of Peace. We plant a tree, whose top will reach the sun, and its branches spread abroad, so that it shall be seen afar off. May its growth never be stifled and choked; but may it shade both your country and ours with its leaves. Let us make fast its roots, and extend them to the uttermost of your colonies. If the French should come to shake this tree, we should know it by the motion of its roots reaching into our country. May the Great Spirit-allow us to rest, in tranquillity, upon our mats, and never again dig up the axe, to cut down the tree of Peace! Let the earth be trod hard over it, where it lies buried. Let a strong stream run under the pit, to wash the evil away, out of our sight and remembrance. The fire, that had long burned in Albany, is extinguished. The bloody bed is washed clean, and the tears are wiped from our eyes. We now renew the covenant-chain of friendship. Let it be kept bright and clean as silver, and not suffered to contract any rust. Let not any one pull away his arin from it. MARSEILLES HYMN OF LIBERTY. Hark! hark, what myriads bid you rise! Now, now, the dangerous storm is rolling, While lawless force w th guilty stride, 698. OTHELLO'S APOLOGY. Most potent, grave, and reverend seigniors: My very noble, and approv'd good masters: That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, It is most true; true, I have married her: The very head and front of my offending Hath this extent; no more. Rude am I in speech, And little blessed with the set phrase of peace: For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith, [us'd Till now some nine moons wasted, they have charms, What conjuration, and what mighty magic, Her father lov'd me; oft invited me ; I ran it through, e'en from my boyish days, All these to hear, Would Desdemona seriously incline; But still the house affairs would draw her thence, I did consent; And often did beguile her of her tears, 699. MAJESTY OF THE LAW. How imposing is the majesty of the law! how calm her dignity; how vast-her power; how firm, and tranquil, in her reign! It is not by fleets, and arms, by devastation, and wrong, by op pression, and blood-she maintains her sway, and executes her decrees. Sustained by justice, reason, and the great interests of man, she but speaks, and is obeyed. Even those, who do not approve, hesitate not-to support her; and the individual, upon whom her judgment falls, knows, that submission-is not only a duty, he must perform, but, that the security, and enjoyment, of all that is dear to him, depend upon it. A mind-accustomed to acknowledge no power, but physical force, no obedience, but personal fear, must view, with astonishment, a feeble individual, sitting, with no parade of strength, surrounded by no visible agents of power, issuing his decrees with oracular authority; while the rich, and the great, the first and the meanest-await. alike, to perform his will. Still more wonderful is it-to behold the co-ordinate officers of the same government, yielding their pretensions to his higher influence: the executive, the usual depository and instrument of power; the legislature even the representative of the people, yield a respectful acquiescence-to the judgments of the tribunals of the law, pronounced by the minister, and expounder of the law. Is it enough for him to say-"It is the opinion of the court-" and the farthest corner of our republic-feels, and obeys the mandate. What a subline spectacle! This is indeed, the empire of the law; and safe, and happy-are all they, who dwell within it.-Hopkinson. 700. SPEECH OF CATILINE, BEFORE THE ROMAX SENATE. ON HEARING HIS SENTENCE OF BANISHMENT. "Banish'd--from Rome !"-what's banish'd, but set From daily contact-of the things I loathe! [free Or make the infant's sinew strong as steel. For there, henceforth, shall sit, for household gods. 701. DOCTOR AND PUPIL. A pupil of the Esculapian school, "A better method he could scarce devise; And now, behold them at a patient's bed And briefly of his corps performed each motion. Manoeuvres that for Death's platoon are meant: A kind of a Make-ready-and-Present, Before the fell discharge of pill and potion. At length, the patient's wife he thus addressed: "Madam, your husband's danger's great, And (what will never his complaint abate,) The man's been eating oysters, I perceive." "Dear! you're a witch, I verily believe," Madam replied, and to the truth confessed. Skill so prodigious, Bobby, too, admired; And home returning, of the sage inquired How these same oysters came into his head? Psha! my dear Bob, the thing was plain- I saw the shells lie underneath the bed." And to the self-same sufferer paid his courtBut soon, with haste and wonder out of breath, Returned the stripling minister of death, And to his master made this dread report: "Why, sir, we ne'er can keep that patient under⚫ Zounds such a man I never came across! The fellow must be dying, and no wonder, For ne'er believe me if he has n't eat a horse." "A horse!" the elder man of physic cried, As if he meant his pupil to deride"How got so wild a notion in your head?" "How! think not in my duty I was idle; Like you, I took a peep beneath the bed, And there I saw a saddle and a bridle!" Mr. Locke--was asked, how he had contrived to accumulate a mine of knowledge so rich, yet so extensive and so deep. He replied, that he attributed what little he knew-to the not having been ashames to ask for information, and to the rule ne had laid down, of conversing with all descriptions of men, on those topics chiefly, that formed their own peculiar professions or pursuits. 702. THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD. | And the fell blast, that sweeps Arabian sazda, Twice--had the sun--gone down upon the It withered-every floweret of the vale. earth, and all as yet, was silent--at the sep alchre. Death-held his sceptre-over the Son of God. Still--and silent-the hours passed on; the guar is-stood at their post; the rays of the midnight moon-gleamet on their helmets, and on their spears. The enemies of Christ-exulted in their success; the hearts of his friends-were sunk in despondency; the spirits of glory--waited, in anxbus suspense-to behold the event, and wondered at the de, th-of the ways of God. At length, the morning stur, arising in the east, announced the approach of light. The third day-began to dawn upon the world; when, on a sudden, the earth-trembled-to its centre; and the powers of heaven were shaken; an angel of Go-descended; the guards-shrunk back-from the terror of his presence, and fell prostrate on the ground. "His countenance-was like lightning, and his raiment--white as snow." He rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and sat upon it. But who is this, that cometh forth from the tomb, with dyed garments-from the bed of death? He, that glorious in his appearance, walking in the greatness of his strength? It is thy prince, I saw it tread upon a lily fair. A maid-of whom the world-could say no harm; - Zion! Christian, it is your Lord! He hath trodden the wine-press alone; he hath stained his raiment with blood; but now, as the first born-from the womb of nature, he meets-the morning of his resurrection. He arises a conqueror-from the grave; he returns with blessings-from the world of spirils; he brings salration-to the sons of men. Never did the returning sun-usher in a day so glorious. It was the jubilee-of the universe. The morning stars sung together, and all the sons of God shouted aloud--for joy. The Father of mercies--looked down from his throne in the heavens; with complacency he beheld his world--restored; he saw his work, that it was good. Then, did the desert rejoice, the face of nature was gladdened before him, when the blessings of the Eternal descended, as the dews of heaven, for the refreshing of the nations. 703. SLANDER. Tis an assassin-at the midnight hour THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. When marshaled-on the nightly plain, Can fix the sinner's wandering eye. It is the star of Bethlehem. The storm was loud, the night was dark, Death-struck, 1 ceased the tide to stem; It was the star of Bethlehem. It was my guide, my Ight, my all, It bade my dark forebodings cease, The star, the star of Bethlehem.-White' To whom thus Eve, with perfect beauty adorn'd. God is thy law, thou mine: to know no more |