to ermine, to save us from this pollution. I call upon the honor of your lordships to reverence the dignity of your ancestors, and to maintain your own. I call upon the spirit and humanity of my country, vindicate the national character. I solemnly call upon your lordships, and upon every order of men in the state, to stamp upon this infamous procedure, the indelible stigma of the public abhorMore particularly, I call upon the holy prelates of our religion, to do away this iniquity; let them perform a lustration, to purify the country from this deep and deadly sin. rence. V. EXTRACT FROM PATRICK HENRY'S SPEECH IN FAVOR OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. (Declamatory Expostulation, Courage, Confidence, Resolute Defiance, Rousing Appeal, Deep Determination.) They tell us, sir, that we are weak - unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed; and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means, which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight alone. There is a just God, who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone: it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. - Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat, but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come ! It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace, - but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale, that sweeps from the north, will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? - Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me - give me liberty, or give me death! VI. THE OCEAN. - Byron. - roll! Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean- Stops with the shore; - upon the watery plain When, for a moment, like a drop of rain, The armaments, which thunderstrike the walls And monarchs tremble in their capitals The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs make These are thy toys; and, as the snowy flake, Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee- not so thou, Unchangeable save to thy wild waves' play- Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Dark heaving boundless, endless, and sublime! - The image of Eternity! - the throne Of the Invisible. - Even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made! Each zone Obeys Thee! Thou go'st forth; dread! fathomless! alone! VII. BATTLE OF WATERLOO. - Byron. There was a sound of revelry by night; The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men : Music arose with its voluptuous swell, Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again, And all went merry as a marriage bell; But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell ! Did ye not hear it? - No; 't was but the wind, On with the dance! let joy be unconfined; No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet - that heavy sound breaks in once more, As if the clouds its echo would repeat; And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before! Arm! Arm! it is! it is! the cannon's opening roar ! Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed, Went pouring forward with impetuous speed, And near, the beat of the alarming drum, Roused up the soldier ere the morning star; While thronged the citizens with terror dumb, Or whispering, with white lips-"The foe! they come! they come!" And wild and high the "Cameron's gathering" rose! The war-note of Lochiel, which Albyn's hills Have heard; and heard, too, have her Saxon foes: How in the noon of night that pibroch thrills, Savage and shrill! But with the breath which fills Their mountain-pipe, so fill the mountaineers With the fierce native daring, which instils The stirring memory of a thousand years; And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears! And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves, Over the unreturning brave, alas! Ere evening to be trodden like the grass Which now beneath them, but above shall grow In its next verdure; when this fiery mass Of living valor, rolling on the foe, And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low! Last noon beheld them full of lusty life, Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay, - the day The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife, The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which when rent Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent, VIII. SATAN RALLYING THE FALLEN ANGELS. Milton. He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend Behind him cast, the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders, like the moon, whose orb, Thro' optic glass, the Tuscan artist views, Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, Hath vexed the Red Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew While with perfidious hatred they pursued "Princes! Potentates! Warriors! the flower of heaven, once yours, now lost, If such astonishment as this can seize Eternal spirits or have ye chosen this place, To rest your wearied virtue, for the ease ye find Or in this abject posture have you sworn |