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which carried Prescott, and Warren, and Putnam to the battle field, are good,-good, humanly speaking, of the highest order It is good to have them; good to encourage them; good to honor them; good to commemorate them: and whatever tends to cherish, animate, and strengthen such feelings does as much right-down practical good as filling low grounds and building railroads.

4. This is my demonstration. I wish, sir, not to be misunderstood. I admit the connection between enterprises, which promote the physical prosperity of the country, and its intellectual and moral improvement; but I maintain that it is only this connection that gives these enterprises all their value, and that the same connection gives a like value to every thing else which, through the channel of the senses, the taste, or the imagination, warms and elevates the heart.

LESSON CLXXVIII.

WIND AND SEA.

BY BAYARD TAYLOR.

1. THE sea is a jovial comrade:
He laughs wherever he goes;

His merriment shines in the dimpling lines
That wrinkle his hale repose;

He lays himself down at the feet of the sun,
And shakes all over with glee,

And broad-back'd billows fall faint on the shore
In the mirth of the mighty sea.

2. But the wind is sad and restless,

And cursed with an inward pain:
You may hark as you will by valley or hill,
But you hear him still complain.
He wails on the barren mountains,
And shrieks on the wintry sea;

He sobs in the cedar and moans in the pine,
And shudders all over the aspen-tree.

3. Welcome are both their voices,

And I know not which is best,

The laughter that slips from the ocean's lips,
Or the comfortless wind's unrest.

There's a pang in all rejoicing,

A joy in the heart of pain,

And the wind that saddens, the sea that gladdens,
Are singing the selfsame strain.

LESSON CLXXIX.

PUBLIC FAITH.

BY FISHER AMES.

FISHER AMES, one of the most eloquent of American statesmen, was born at Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1758, and died in 1808. While in Congress, of which he was a member during the whole of Washington's administration, he made his celebrated speech on "The British Treaty," from which this and a following lesson are taken.

1. To expatiate on the value of public faith may pass with some men for declamation: to such men I have nothing to say. To others, I will urge, can any circumstances mark upon a people more turpitude and debasement? Can any thing tend more to make men think themselves mean, or degrade to a lower point their estimation of virtue and their standard of action? It would not merely demoralize mankind; it tends to break all the ligaments of society, to dissolve that mysterious charm which attracts individuals to the nation, and to inspire, in its stead, a repulsive sense of shame and disgust.

2. What is patriotism? Is it a narrow affection for the spot where a man was born? Are the very clods where we tread entitled to this ardent preference, because they are greener? No, sir; this is not the character of the virtue; it soars higher for its object. It is an extended self-love, mingling with all the enjoyments of life, and entwining itself with the minutest filaments of the heart. It is thus we obey the laws of society, because they are the laws of virtue. In their authority we see, not the array of force and terror, but the venerable image of our country's honor. Every good citizen makes that honor his own, and cherishes it, not only as precious, but as sacred. He is willing to risk life in its defence; and is conscious that he gains protection, while he gives it. For what rights of a citizen will be deemed inviolable, when a state renounces the principles that constitute their security? Or, if this life should not be invaded, what would its enjoyments be, in a country odious in the eyes of strangers and dishonored in his own? Could he look with affection and veneration to such a

country as his parent? The sense of having one would die within him; he would blush for his patriotism, if he retained any, and justly, for it would be a vice. He would be a banished man in his native land.

It

3. I see no exception to the respect that is paid among nations to the law of good faith. If there are cases, in this enlightened period, when it is violated, there are none when it is decried. is the philosophy of politics, the religion of governments. It is observed by barbarians: a whiff of tobacco-smoke, or a string of beads, gives not merely binding force, but sanctity, to treaties. Even in Algiers a truce may be bought for money; but, when ratified, even Algiers is too wise or too just to disown or annul its obligations.

4. It is painful, I hope it is superfluous, to make even the supposition that America should furnish the occasion of this opprobrium. No! let me not even imagine that a republican government-sprung, as our own is, from a people enlightened and uncorrupted, a government whose origin is right, and whose daily discipline is duty-can, upon solemn debate, make its option to be faithless; can dare to act what despots dare not avow, what our own example evinces the states of Barbary are unsuspected of. No! let me rather make the supposition that Great Britain refuses to execute the treaty, after we have done every thing to carry it into effect. Is there any language of reproach pungent enough to express your commentary on the fact? What would you say, or, rather, what would you not say? Would you not tell them, wherever an Englishman might travel, shame would stick to him; he would disown his country? You would exclaim, "England, proud of your wealth, and arrogant in the possession of power, blush for these distinctions, which become the vehicles your dishonor!" Such a nation might truly say "to corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister." We should say of such a race of men, "Their name is a heavier burden than their debt."

of

LESSON CLXXX.

AFFECTION CONQUERS.

Saladin. Malek Adhel. Attendant.

Attendant. A STRANGER craves admittance to your Highness.

Saladin. Whence comes he?

Attendant. That I know not.

Enveloped with a vestment of strange form,
His countenance is hidden; but his step,
His lofty port, his voice in vain disguised,
Proclaim if that I dare pronounce it-
Saladin. Whom?

Attendant. Thy royal brother!

Saladin. Bring him instantly. [Exit Attendant.] Now, with his specious, smooth, persuasive tongue, Fraught with some wily subterfuge, he thinks

To dissipate my anger. He shall die.

[Enter Attendant and Malek Adhel.]

Leave us together. [Exit Attendant.] [Aside.] I should know

that form.

Now summon all thy fortitude, my soul,

Nor, though thy blood cry for him, spare the guilty!
[Aloud.] Well, stranger, speak: but first unvail thyself;
For Saladin must view the form that fronts him.

Malek Adhel. Behold it, then!
Saladin. I see a traitor's visage.
Malek Adhel. A brother's!
Saladin. No!

Saladin owns no kindred with a villain.

Malek Adhel. Oh, patience, Heaven! Had any tongue but

thine

Utter'd that word, it ne'er should speak another.

Saladin. And why not now? Can this heart be more pierced By Malek Adhel's sword than by his deeds

Oh, thou hast made a desert of this bosom
For open candor, planted sly disguise;
For confidence, suspicion; and the glow
Of generous friendship, tenderness, and love,
Forever banish'd! Whither can I turn,
When he by blood, by gratitude, by faith,
By every tie, bound to support, forsakes me?
Who, who can stand when Malek Adhel falls?
Henceforth I turn me from the sweets of love:
The smiles of friendship, and this glorious world,
In which all find some heart to rest upon,
Shall be to Saladin a cheerless void:
His brother has betray'd him!

Malek Adhel. Thou art soften'd;

I am thy brother, then; but late thou saidst-
My tongue can never utter the base title!
Saladin. Was it traitor? True!

Thou hast betray'd me in my fondest hopes!

Villain? 'Tis just; the title is appropriate !
Dissembler? 'Tis not written in thy face;
No, nor imprinted on that specious brow;
But on this breaking heart the name is stamp'd,
Forever stamp'd, with that of Malek Adhel!

Thinkest thou I'm soften'd? By Mohammed! these hands
Should crush these aching eyeballs, ere a tear

Fall from them at thy fate! Oh, monster, monster!
The brute that tears the infant from its nurse

Is excellent to thee, for in his form

The impulse of his nature may be read;
But thou, so beautiful, so proud, so noble,
Oh, what a wretch art thou! Oh, can a term
In all the various tongues of man be found
To match thy infamy?

Malek Adhel. Go on! go on!

'Tis but a little while to hear thee, Saladin; And, bursting at thy feet, this heart will prove Its penitence, at least.

Saladin. That were an end

Too noble for a traitor! The bow-string is

A more appropriate finish! Thou shalt die!

Malek Adhel. And death were welcome at another's mandate

What, what have I to live for? Be it so,

If that, in all thy armies, can be found
An executing hand.

Saladin. Oh, doubt it not!

They're eager for the office. Perfidy

So black as thine effaces from their minds

All memory of thy former excellence.

Malek Adhel. Defer not, then, their wishes. Saladin,

If e'er this form was joyful to thy sight,

This voice seem'd grateful to thine ear, accede

To my

last prayer:-Oh, lengthen not this scene,

To which the agonies of death were pleasing!
Let me die speedily!

Saladin. This very hour!

[Aside.] For, oh, the more I look upon that face,
The more I hear the accents of that voice,
The monarch softens, and the judge is lost
In all the brother's weakness; yet such guilt,
Such vile ingratitude,—it calls for vengeance;
And vengeance

shall have! What, ho! who waits there?
[Enter Attendant.

Attendant. Did your Highness call?

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