to know their power over one so unworthy. My heart 60 will, I believe, soon cease to beat, even with that feeling which it shall lose the latest.-To love Miss Walton could not be a crime.--If to declare it is one, the expiation will be made." Her tears were now flowing without control.--"Let me entreat you (said she to 65 have better hopes--let not life be so indifferent to you; if my wishes can put any value upon it--I will not pretend to misunderstand you--I know your worth-I have long known it--I have esteemed it--what would you have me say?--I have loved it, as it deserved !" He 70 seized her hand :—a languid colour reddened his cheek —a smile brightened faintly in his eye. As he gazed on her, it grew dim, it fixed, it closed--he sighed, and fell back on his seat-Miss Walton screamed at the sight--his aunt and the servants rushed into the room 75 they found them lying motionless together.-His physician happened to call at that instant-every art was tried to recover them--with Miss Walton they succeeded-but Harley was gone for ever! 1 To-morrow, didst thou say? Mackenzie. Methought I heard Horatio say, To-morrow. 5 Against thy plenty-who takes thy ready cash, It is a period no where to be found 10 In all the hoary registers of Time, Unless perchance in the fool's calendar. 15 Wrought of such stuff as dreams are, and as baseless As the fantastic visions of the evening. But soft, my friend-arrest the present moment: For be assur'd they all are arrant tell-tales: And though their flight be silent, and their path 20 Trackless, as the wing'd couriers of the air, They post to heaven, and there record thy folly, Because, though station'd on th' important watch, Thou, like a sleeping, faithless sentinel, Didst let them pass unnotic'd, unimprov❜d. 25 And know, for that thou slumb'rest on the guard, Thou shalt be made to answer at the bar For every fugitive: and when thou thus Shalt stand impleaded at the high tribunal Of hood-wink'd Justice, who shall tell thy audit? Then stay the present instant, dear Horatio, Imprint the marks of wisdom on its wings. 30 "Tis of more worth than kingdoms ! far more precious 35 The good old patriarch upon record, Cotton SECULAR ELOQUENCE. 53. The Perfect Orator. Imagine to yourselves a Demosthenes, addressing the most illustrious assembly in the world, upon a point whereon the fate of the most illustrious of nations depended-How awful such a meeting! how vast the sub5 ject!-Is man possessed of talents adequate to the great occasion ?-Adequate! Yes, superior. By the power of his eloquence, the augustness of the assembly is lost in the dignity of the orator; and the importance of the subject, for a while, superseded by the admiration of 10 his talents. With what strength of argument, with what powers of the fancy, with what emotions of the heart, does he assault and subjugate the whole man; and, at once, captivate his reason, his imagination, and his passions! -To effect this, must be the utmost effort of 15 the most improved state of human nature.--Not a faculty that he possesses, is here unemployed; not a faculty that he possesses, but is here exerted to its highest pitch. All his internal powers are at work; all his external, testify their energies. Within, the memory, the 20 fancy, the judgment, the passions, are all busy without, every muscle, every nerve is exerted; not a feature, not a limb, but speaks. The organs of the body, attuned to the exertions of the mind, through the kindred organs of the hearers, instantaneously vibrate those 25 energies from soul to soul. Notwithstanding the diversity of minds in such a multitude; by the lightning of eloquence, they are melted into one mass--the whole assembly, actuated in one and the same way, become, as it were, but one man, and have but one voice-The 30 universal cry is-LET US MARCH AGAINST Philip, let US FIGHT FOR OUR LIBERTIES-LET US CONQUER OR DIE ! Sheridan. 54. Character of True Eloquence. When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions excited, nothing is valuable, in speech, farther than it is connected with high intellectual and 5 moral endowments. Clearness, force, and earnestness are the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may 10 be marshalled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire after it-they cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of 15 a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments, and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men, when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, 20 their children, and their country, hang on the decision of the hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked, and subdued, as in the presence of higher qualities. Then, patriotism is 25 eloquent; then, self-devotion is eloquent. The clear conception, out-running the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward, 30 right onward to his object-this, this is eloquence; or rather it is something greater and higher than all eloquence, it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action. 55. The Pilgrims. Webster From the dark portals of the star chamber, and the stern text of the acts of uniformity, the pilgrims received a commission, more efficient, than any that yond the sea; was it some, or all of these united, that hurried this forsaken company to their melancholy fate? --And is it possible that neither of these causes, that not all combined, were able to blast this bud of hope ?— 90 Is it possible, that from a beginning so feeble, so frail, so worthy, not so much of admiration as of pity, there has gone forth a progress so steady, a growth so wonderful, an expansion so ample, a reality so important, a promise, yet to be fulfilled, so glorious? Everett. 56. The Progress of Poesy. Or where Mæander's amber waves 5 In ling'ring lab'rinths creep, How do your tuneful echoes languish, 10 Ev'ry shade and hallow'd fountain Till the sad Nine, in Greece's evil hour, 15 And coward vice, that revels in her chains. They sought, O Albion! next thy sea-encircled coast. In thy green lap was nature's darling laid, 25 Richly paint the vernal year; Thine too these golden keys, immortal boy! Of horror, that, and thrilling fears, Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic tears. |