Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

EXERCISES.

Where the letters EI occur, attached to a word, they refer to it in the Explanatory Index near the end of the volume.

§ 55. Exercises in Inflection. (See § 30.)

nor

1. For I am persuaded that neither death', nor life` angels', nor principalities', nor powers- nor things present', nor things to come nor height', nor depth, nor any other` creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God. 2. They, through faith, subdued kingdoms-wrought righteousness' obtained promises' — stopped the mouths of lions' quenched the violence of fire' escaped the edge of the sword' out of weakness, were made strong' waxed valiant in fight', and turned to flight the armies of the aliens`.

--

3. Can such things be',

-

And overcome us, like a summer cloud',
Without our special wonder?

4. Who can look down upon the grave, even of an enemy, and not feel a compunctious throb that he should ever have warred with the poor handful of earth that lies mouldering before him?

5. O my son Absalom! my son', my son Absalom'! Would God I had died for thee, Absalom', my son', my son'!

6. If I were an American', as I am an Englishman', while a foreign troop was landed in my country', I never` would lay down my arms` never! never! never!

7. Could you come back to me, Douglas', Douglas',
In the old likeness that I knew',

I would be so faithful', so loving', Douglas',
Douglas', Douglas', tender and true.

Stretch out your hand to me', Douglas', Douglas',
Drop forgiveness from heaven' like dew`;
As I lay my hand on your dead heart, Douglas',
Douglas', Douglas', tender and true`.

8. How shall I curse' whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy' whom the Lord hath not` defied`?

9. Abhor the sword'? Stigmatize the sword'? No! for at its blow a giant nation started from the waters of the Atlantic', and by the redeeming magic of the sword', and in the quivering of its crimson light', the crippled colony sprang into the attitude of a proud republic', - prosperous', limitless', and invincible!

10. "Knowledge is power." Yes! Power!-power to do what? Power to employ the senses and faculties which God has given us in examining the works which He has made`; and thus to acknowledge, in all creation, “These are Thy glorious works'!"

11. Flag of the heroes who left us their glory',

Borne through our battle-fields' thunder and flame', Blazoned in song and illumined in story',

Wave o'er us all who inherit thy fame`;

Up with our banner bright',

Sprinkled with starry light;

Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore`;

While through the sounding sky',

Loud rings the nation's cry',

Union and Liberty`! one evermore` !

[ocr errors]

12. Swear', sir'? I', a man', an American citizen', a Christian', swear to submit myself to the guidance and direction of other men', surrendering my own judgment to their judgment, and my own conscience to their keeping? sir, no!

No,

13. Secession'? Peaceable secession'? Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle. The dismemberment of this vast country without convulsion'! The breaking up of the fountains of the great deep without ruffling the surface! Who is.so foolish' I beg everybody's pardon`· as to

[ocr errors]

expect to see any such thing`?

[ocr errors]

There can be no such thing as a peaceable secession. Peaceable secession is an utter impossibility`. Is the great constitu

tion under which we live, covering this whole country, is it to be thawed and melted away by secession, as the snows on the mountain melt under the influence of a vernal sun, disappear almost unobserved, and run off'? No, sir! No, sir! I will not state what might produce the disruption of the Union`; but, sir, I see as plainly as I see the sun in heaven, what that disruption itself must produce. I see that it must produce war', and such a war as I will not describe, in its twofold character.

-

14. What is a man',

If his chief good and market of his time'
Be but to sleep and feed`?- a beast',
no more!
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse',
Looking before and after, gave us not

That capability and godlike reason'

To rust in us unused`!

15. And what is death', my friends, that I should fear it`?
To die'! why, 't is to triumph! 't is to join
The great assembly of the good and just`;
Immortal worthies', heroes', prophets', saints`!
'Tis to behold' (O'! rapture to conceive'!)
Those we have known and loved and lost below!

To join in blest hosannas to their king`!

This is to die!

Who would not die for this`?

Who would not die?

Who would not live forever!

16. Show me what thou 'lt do`!

Wilt weep'? wilt fight'? wilt fast'? wilt tear' thyself"

Wilt drink up Esill'? eat a crocodile'?

I'll do 't!-Dost thou come here to whine'?
To outface me with leaping in her grave'?

Be buried quick with her, and so will I`:
And, if thou prate of mountains', let them throw
Millions of acres on us`; till our ground,

Singeing his pate against the burning zone,

Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thou 'lt mouˇth,
I'll rant as well as thou^.

17. I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN`! Is not this enough to boast of"? or must we add, I have a commission, I have a diploma,

[ocr errors]

I carry written certificates of my respectability? Time was when the explanation, I am a Roman citizen'! was a passport everywhere; and shall we, who acknowledge no aristocracy but that of nature', who respect no charter of nobility but that which the Almighty has given, by stamping us for men'; shall we, THE PEOPLE, who call ourselves the fountain of all honor, and those to whom we delegate authority our servants', shall we prostrate ourselves before the images our own fiat has set up'?

18. Homer was the greater genius'; Virgil, the better artist`: in the one, we most admire the man'; in the other, the work`. Homer hurries us with a commanding impetuosity'; Virgil leads us with an attractive majesty'. Homer scatters with a generous profusion'; Virgil bestows with a careful magnificence. Homer, like the Nile, pours out his riches with a sudden overflow'; Virgil, like a river in its banks, with a constant stream.

19. Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust"?

Or Flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of Death'?

66

20. "'Tis green, 't is green, sir, I assure ye!"
"Green!" cries the other in a fury;

Why, sir, d'ye think I've lost my eyes?"

21. Queen. Hamlet, you have your father much offended. Hamlet. Mother, you have my father much offended.

22. If thou dost slander hêr and torture me,

Never pray more`: abandon all remorse`.
On horror's head' horrors accumulate`!

23. They follow an adventurer whom they feˇar, and obey a power which they hâte; wê serve a monarch whom we loˇve,· a God whom we adôre.

ΕΙ

24. "I hope," says Mr. Hastings, "it will not be a departure from official language to say, that the majesty of justice ought not to be approached without solicitation. She ought not to descend to inflame or provoke, but to withhold her judgment until she is called on to determine." Justice ought not to be approached without solicitation! Justice ought not to descend!

But, my lords, do you, the judges of this land, and the expounders of its rightful laws', do you approve of this mockery, and call it justice'? No! justice is not this halt and miserable object'; it is not the ineffective bauble of an Indian pagod`; it is not the pôrtentous phantom of despair`; it is not like any fabled monster, formed in the eclipse of reason, and found in some unhallowed grove of superstitious darkness and political dismay! No, my lords`.

[ocr errors]

§ 56. Continuative Tone.* (See § 31.)

1. As we perceive the shadow to have moved along the dial, but did not perceive it moving; and it appears that the grass has grown, though nobody ever saw it grow, so the advances we make in knowledge, as they consist of such minute steps, are only perceivable by the distance gone over.

2. Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery! still thou art a bitter draught: and, though thousands, in all ages, have been made to drink of thee, thou art no less bitter on that account. It is thou, Liberty! thrice sweet and gracious goddess, whom all in public or in private worship, whose taste is grateful, and ever will be so, till Nature herself shall change. No tint of words can spot thy snowy mantle, or chemic power turn thy sceptre into iron ; with thee to smile upon him, as he eats his crust, the swain is happier than his monarch, from whose court thou art exiled. Gracious Heaven! grant me but health, thou Great Bestower of it, and give me but this fair goddess as my companion, and shower down thy mitres, if it seem good unto thy divine providence, upon those heads which are aching for them!

[ocr errors]

3. Ashamed to toil, art thou? Ashamed of thy dingy workshop and dusty labor-field; of thy hard hand, scarred with service more honorable than that of war; of thy soiled and weather-stained garments, on which mother Nature has em

* The old name of slur has been given by some authorities to the continuative tone, that subdued, gliding movement of the voice, by which parts of a sentence of inferior stress (here presented in italics) are contrasted with the more emphatic passages.

« AnteriorContinuar »