this merry gentleman sat upon his merry throne in merry England. 32 3. The first merry proceeding was, of course, to declare that he was one of the greatest, the wisest, and the noblest kings that ever shone, like the blessed sun itself, on this benighted earth. The next merry and pleasant piece of business was for the parliament, in the humblest manner, to give him one million two hundred thousand pounds a year. ΕΙ 4. Then, General Monk being made Earl of Al-bemarle, and a few other royalists similarly rewarded, the law went to work to see what was to be done to those persons (they were called Regicides) who had been concerned in making a martyr of the late king. Ten of these were merrily executed; that is to say, six of the judges, one of the council, Colonel Hacker and another officer who had commanded the Guards, and Hugh Peters, a preacher who had preached against the martyr with all his heart. 5. These executions were so extremely merry, that every horrible circumstance which Cromwell had abandoned was revived with appalling cruelty. Still, even so merry a monarch could not force one of these dying men to say that he was sorry for what he had done. Nay, the most memorable thing said among them was, that if the thing were to do again, they would do it. 6. Sir Harry Vane, who had furnished the evidence against Strafford, and was one of the most staunch of the republicans, was also tried, found guilty, and ordered for execution. When he came upon the scaffold on Tower Hill, after conducting his own defence with great power, his notes of what he had meant to say to the people were torn away from him, and the drums were ordered to sound lustily and drown his voice. 7. For the people had been so much impressed by what the regicides had calmly said with their last breath, that it was the custom now to have the drums and trumpets always under the scaffold, ready to strike up. Vane said no more than this: "It * The au of this word has the first elementary sound. See Exercises page 34. is a bad cause which cannot bear the words of a dying man!' and bravely died. 8. These merry scenes were succeeded by another, perhaps even merrier. On the anniversary of the late king's death, the bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw, were torn out of their graves in Westminster Abbey, dragged to Tyburn, hanged there on a gallows all day long, and then beheaded. 9. Imagine the head of Oliver Cromwell set upon a pole to be stared at by a brutal crowd, not one of whom would have dared to look the living Oliver in the face for half a moment Think, after you have read of this reign, what Engiand was under Oliver Cromwell, whose body was torn out of its grave, and under this merry monarch, who sold it, like a merry Judas, over and over again. Dickens. XCVI. THE MODERN PUFFING SYSTEM. FROM AN EPISTLE TO SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ. 1. UNLIKE those feeble gales of praise Which critics blew in former days, Our modern puffs¤1 are of a kind And since they've fairly set in blowing, We find them the best "trade-winds" going. 2. What steam is on the deep and more Is the vast power of Puff on shore; 3. In old times, when the god of song See Apollo, in the Explanatory Index. Their luggage, a few close-packed rhymes 4 But, now, how different is the story Raise but one general blast of Puff 5. In vain the critics, set to watch him, XCVII. THE FUTURE OF AMERICA. MOORE. 1. AMONG the first colonists from Europe to this part of America, there were some, doubtless, who contemplated the distant consequences of their undertaking, and who saw a great futurity; but, in general, their hopes were limited to the enjoy An allusion to the Edinburgh Review, the Edinburgh edition of which has blue covers, backed with yellow. + Murray, the publisher of the London Quarterly Review. ment of a safe asylum from tyranny, religious and civil, and tc respectable subsistence by industry and toil. A thick veil hid our times from their view. 2. But the progress of America, however slow, could not but, at length, awaken genius, and attract the attention of mankind. In the early part of the next century, Bishop Berkeley," who, it will be remembered, had resided, for some time, in Newport, in Rhode Island, wrote his well-known "Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America." 3. The last stanza of this little poem seems to have been produced by a high poetical inspiration: "Westward the course of empire takes its way; The first four acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama" with the day,- 4. This extraordinary prophecy may be considered only as the result of long foresight and uncommon sagacity; of a foresight and sagacity stimulated, nevertheless, by excited feeling and high enthusiasm. So clear a vision of what America would become was not founded on square miles, or on existing numbers, or on any vulgar laws of statistics." 5. It was an intuitive glance into futurity; it was a grand conception, strong, ardent, glowing; embracing all times since the creation of the world, and all regions of which that world is composed; and judging of the future by just analogy with the past. And the inimitable im ́age-ry and beauty with which the thought is expressed, joined to the conception itself, render it one of the most striking passages in our language. 6. On the day of the declaration of independence, our illustrious fathers performed the first act in this drama; an act in real importance infinitely exceeding that for which the great English poet invoked "A Muse" of fire, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene." 7. The Muse inspiring our fathers was the genius of Liberty, all on fire with the sense of oppression and a resolution to throw it off; the whole world was the stage, and higher characters than princes trod it; and instead of monarchs-countries, and nations, and the age, beheld the swelling scene. How well the characters were cast, and how well each acted his part, and what emotions the whole performance excited, let history now and hereafter tell. WEBSTER. . VERSES ON THE PROSPECT OF PLANTING ARTS ΕΙ 1. THE Muse, disgusted at an age and clime Barren of every glorious theme, In distant lands now waits a better time, And fancied beauties by the true; -- In happy climes, the seat of innocence, Where nature guides and virtue rules; 2. There shall be sung another golden age, Such as she bred when fresh and young, Westward the course of empire takes its way: A fifth shall close the drama with the day, - GEORGE BERKELEY. |