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lege in March, 1839; taught in Geneva College in 1841; lectured in 1839 before the members of the legislature in the capitol at Albany; on board the steamboat Champlain on its way from New-York to Albany, in May, 1826; gave four courses of instruction, each of which consisted of ten lessons, to a class of gentlemen of the legal profession in 1837 and 38, at Rochester; delivered an oration, July 4, 1840, to an audience of 3000 at De Ruyter, N. Y.; addressed the state convention of county superintendents at Syracuse, in April, 1845; taught elocution to the common school teachers of both sexes in the western jury district of Oswego county, at Oswego village, the same spring; lectured at Saratoga Springs in the summer of 1845; and in the state Normal school; taught a class of lawyers in the mayor's court room at Albany, the same season; in obedience to the request of the county superintendents of Rensselaer county, and being sustained by the liberality of William P. Van Rensselaer, Esq. son of the late Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, I delivered the introductory lecture at Sand Lake, September 29th, 1845, before the "Teacher's Institute, or Temporary Normal School," of which my younger brother, S. Rensselaer Sweet, the originator of such institutions, was principal, under the supervision of the county superintendent, Dr. P. H. Thomas, a very able educator; and I gave the ladies and gentlemen in attendance, phonological and elocutionary exercises, during the term. In a word, I have given hundreds of lectures and thousands of lessons, in cities, villages, academies, and common schools, in nearly all parts of this state, and in several other states of the union,

The first edition of my book on Elocution, consisting of 1500 copies, was published at Rochester, in August, 1839; the second edition, 3000 copies, at Auburn, in 1842; the third edition, 3000 copies, at Rochester, in 1844; the fourth, and stereotyped edition, at Albany, in 1846; and, for all subsequent editions, as well as this, the "Elocution" is greatly im proved.

123. EXTRACT FROM THE MOUNT HOPE DEDICATION ADDRESS. -Rev. Pharcellus Church.

1. Friends and fellow citizens: The rural and picturesque scenery with which we are surrounded, strikingly harmonizes to the object which has called us together. We have come to consecrate a home for the dead. Among these sequestered shades, the living tenants of our bustling city will soon find a repose, which has been denied them, amid the activities, the changes, and conflicts of Time's busy theatre; and the successors to their houses, occupations, and wealth, will come here to read on monumental marble, their forgotten names, and to enjoy an hour of sombre thought, over their silent abodes.

2. Ay, the green lawns, the deep shades, the sighing breezes, and the forest warblers of this wild retreat, will soon claim the

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beauty, fashion, aspiring hopes, loves and friendships, bitter animosities, and all the earthly elements of our present social fabric. The very anticipation invests the whole scene with an awful air of solemnity. Mount Hope:

"The shadow of departed hours

Hangs dim upon thine early flowers;
Even in thy sunshine seems to brood
Something more deep than solitude.”

3. The instincts of natural affection prompt us to a pious care of the dead. The tender attachments which spring up under the sunshine of our domestic habits and relations, intertwine around our hearts, like the vine around the oak, whose stateliness has lifted it to heaven; nor will they cease from their hold, even when their object, yielding to the blasts of disease, age or accident, lies cold and pallid, in the embrace of the grave.

4. Who can look upon a corpse as upon other clay? Or who can contemplate, without the deepest emotion, the relaxed features of that "human form divine," which he once pressed to his bosom, with the glow of generous love or with the warmth of honorable friendship? It matters not, though worms claim it for their prey, and it will soon be dissolved to common dust; still, so long as it retains the impress of those organs, through which the qualities shone, that commanded. our love or esteem, how can we withhold from it, the tokens of tender regard? Are not the heart's most virtuous promptings concerned, in our care of the dead?

5. And when the mortal remains are dissolved into their primeval elements, how does the place in which we left them to this mouldering process, become consecrated to our feelings and recollections? We approach it with reverence; our emotions yield to the rush of tender associations, and our eyes overflow with tears; the solemn hues of eternity tinge the whole scene, and we seem to "tread quite on the verge of heaven." If you have ever lost a friend, you know what it is to have the warmest feelings awakened towards a cold mass of clay. You have laid the hand of love on the marble brow, and imprinted the kiss of affection upon the blanched cheek; you have lingered among the graves as an enchanted spot,

"While silently around it spread,
You felt the presence of the dead."

6. Oh, thoughts of religion and eternity are no exotics, but plants of indigenous growth in the grave yard. We come here, not merely to look upon the cold earth, nor the blooming lawn, nor the smooth surface of the pool, that mirrors the neighboring landscape, nor the more inspiring monuments, with their lettered memorials of buried generations, nor the wild flowers that skirt the grave, and grow on the margin of the still waters; but we come for the nobler purpose of communing with a higher world; and to give scope to those tendencies within, which lead us up to immortality. It is a scene of high and awful import.

7. In selecting the places of repose for our departed friends, we contrive to give vent to the tender feelings which their loss has awakened. Beautiful groves in the neighborhood of pellucid streams, and the silvery expanse of the deep still lake, where the dove delights to utter her plaintive tones of love, and the cuckoo sings her mournful ditty; there, amid the bold elevations, gentle slopes, and profound valleys of broken surface, remote from the tumults of a contending world, affection and piety have ever been wont, to seek a place of rest, for the relics of the dead.

8. Nor are we less solicitous, in preparing the body for the grave. What a mournful care do we bestow on those silent remains, which never return a token of pleasure, to requite our toil! Not a look, nor pressure of the hand, nor single pulsation, responds to our expression of sympathy, and yet, what heart would restrain the emotions which prompt to these affectionate offices? Though we confer no pleasure, is it not a sweet relief, to our overburdened feelings, to perform them?

9. No sooner does the breath cease to heave the lungs, than we close the eyes, as in sleep, compose the hands to rest upon the motionless bosom, oil and comb the hair; and then, instead of wrapping the body in worthless cloth, which would be equally satisfactory to the dead, we dress it in muslins of the purest white, deposite it in a coffin decently made, and with every mark of tenderness, we bear the precious relic to its last abode. And, as it sinks to its final resting place, the language of our hearts to the new-made grave, is, rest lightly, O earth, upon the bosom of my friend.

10. And when all is past, our friends are beyond our sight, and we, in the character of mourners are going about the streets, there is a melancholy pleasure in ornamenting the

place of their burial, and preserving it from desecration. Who could witness without pain, the grave of a husband, a wife, a child, or a parent, trampled down and profaned?

11. At few points on the surface of the globe, has nature been more liberal, in its provision for giving scope to the principles in question, than in the neighborhood of our own city. When you stand on the summit of Mount Hope, how enchanting is the prospect! Before you lies the thronged city, with its spires and minarets, pointing to heaven. Far off beyond the city, the broad blue Ontario skirts the undefined distance, as if to remind you of the boundless fields of existence, which eternity will unfold, and to make you feel how few and meagre are the objects subjected to our present inspection, compared with those in the distance, which a future world will disclose.

12. How favorable are these hills and slopes for the construction of tombs! But it matters not whether our dead repose in a mean or honored locality, whether their names perish with the age in which they lived or survive in the enduring granite of the tomb, their dust will spring to life, at the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. His searching survey, penetrating even to the crude elements of nature, will single out the portion necessary to the reconstruction of the soul's original casement, and his power will consign it to immortality. Till that eventful period, we dedicate this wild retreat to the repose of the dead.

13. Let this place henceforth be visited, to revive the mem ory of departed friends, and to anticipate the exalted scenes of eternity. Here, let the lover find a retreat of quiet weeping, over the untimely fate of his betrothed, and to deck her grave with flowers. Here, let the father erect his monument, to the memory of his noble son, who, from the threshold of a promising manhood, dropped into eternity.

14. Here, let the profligate son catch the inspirations of repentance and virtue, as he gazes on the last memorials of his pious parents. Here, let the daughter revive a mother's image and endearments,

"While this place of weeping still

Its lone memorial keeps,

Whilst on her name 'midst woods and hills

The quiet sunshine sleeps."

15. Here, let maternal love find a calm resort to awaken associations of its infant charge, and to dwell, with thankful

Interest, upon Him who has said, "in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." And O, that coming generations may receive, amid these wild and impressive scenes, the inspiring lessons of truth, of piety, and religious hope.

16. May the eye that from this point, looks mournfully upon the surrounding landscape, be favored like Moses from the summit of Pisgah, with bright visions of the promised rest in heaven. May the tears that fall upon these consecrated grounds, water a harvest of religious fruits, which shall be gathered into life everlasting. From this mount of vision, may "Prayer, ardent, open heaven,

Let down a stream of sacred glory,
On the consecrated hour,

Of man in audience with the Deity."

17. From these groves, may levity be for ever banished, to give place to the awful emotions, awakened by the conscious presence of etherial spirits. Let the step be slow and reverential, let the voice be pitched to tones of seriousness and truth,— let the bosom heave with tenderness and love,—and let the whole soul bow, in devout adoration of Him who holds the keys of life and of death.

The address from which this beautiful and eloquent extract is taken, was delivered, at the Rochester Cemetry, called "Mount Hope," in the fall of 1838, and repeated before the athenæum and young men's association of that city. Mount Hope is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in America. It is about a mile south of Rochester. The thought did not occur to me, when the above portion of the dedication address was embodied in the "Elocution," that my beloved wife would so soon be buried there. But alas! so it is. On the 26th January, 1844, her immortal spirit passed peacefully into the regions of endless day. With a mother's fondness and exultation, she may, by the permission of God, attend our dear daughter, Isidore, as an invisible guardian angel, to warn her of dangers, and to conduct her

to fairer worlds on high."

It seems but as yesterday when she

-"flung her white arms round"

me, and our mutual language to each other was:

"Thou art all that this poor heart can cling to."

The address of Dr. Church, commanded the silence and admiration of the multitude who heard it. This extract from it should be read or recited, under the influence of "the awful emotions awakened by the conscious presence of etherial spirits."

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