The emperor made the attempt, but relinquished it. "I cannot," he said "the light dazzles me.” 5. "If, then," rejoined the triumphant rabbi, "thou art unable to endure the light of one of his creatures, how canst thou expect to behold the unclouded glory of the Creator?" XXXV. THE PLACE TO DIE. 1. How little reckSEI it where men die, when once the moment 's past In which the dim and glazing eye has looked on earth its last; Whether beneath the sculptured urn the coffined form shall rest, Or, in its nakedness, return back to its mother's breast! 2. Death is a common friend or foe, as different men may hold, And at its summons each must go, the timid and the bold; But when the spirit, free and warm, deserts it, as it must, What matter where the lifeless form dissolves again to dust? 3. 'T were sweet, indeed, to close our eyes with those we cherish near, And, wafted upwards by their sighs, soar to some calmer sphere; But whether on the scaffold high, or in the battle's van, The fittest place where man can die is where he dies for man! BREATHES there a man with soul so dead, "This is my own, my native land!" To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, 2. THE ANCIENT HEROES OF GREECE. Byron. They fell devoted, but undying; The very gale their names seemed sighing: The woods were peopled with their fame; 3. DIVERSITIES OF JUDGMENT.- Pope. 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, Go just alike, yet each believes his own. In poets as true genius is but rare, True taste as seldom is the critic's share; none Both must alike from Heaven derive their light, - 4. INWARD GRIEF. Seems, 184 madam! -nay, it is: I know not seems, "Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, .188 5. THE VIRTUOUS LADY IN PERIL. Milton. That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill 6. WOLSEY'S ADVICE TO CROMWELL. Shakspeare. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not. Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, Thy God's and truth's: then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell : Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. 7. AGAINST INDIFFERENCE TO NATURE'S CHARMS. Beattie. O, how canst thou renounce the boundless store The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, And all that echoes to the song of even, All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, O, how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven! 8. OMNIPRESENCE OF THE DEITY. Thomson. Should fate command me to the furthest verge In the void waste as in the city full; And where He vital breathes there must be joy. Myself in him, in light ineffable; EI Come then, expressive Silence, muse his praise. XXXVII. APPEAL TO THE MOTHER COUNTRY. FROM THE ADDRESS OF THE TWELVE UNITED COLONIES, JULY 8, 1775, BY THEIR DELEGATES IN CONGRESS, TO THE INHABITANTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1. FRIENDS, Countrymen, and brethren! The once populous, flourishing and commercial town of Boston, is now garrisoned by an army, sent not to protect, but to enslave, its inhabitants. The civil government is overturned, and a military despotism erected upon its ruins. Without law, without right, powers are assumed unknown to the constitution. 2. To what are we to attribute this treatment? If to any secret principle of the constitution, let it be mentioned! Let us learn that the government we have long revered is not without its defects; and that while it gives freedom to a part, it necessarily enslaves the rest of the empire. If such a principle exists, why, for ages, has it ceased to operate? Why at this time is it called into action? 3. Can no reason be assigned for this conduct? Or must it be resolved into the wanton exercise of arbitrary power? And shall the descendants of Britons tamely submit to this? No, sirs! While we revere the memory of our gallant and virtuous ancestors, we never will, we never can,' 189 surrender those glorious privileges, for which they fought, bled, and conquered. 4. Admit that your fleets can destroy our towns and ravage our sea-coasts; those are inconsiderable objects - things of no moment to men whose bosoms glow with the ardor of liberty. We can retire beyond the reach of your navy, and, without any sensible diminution of the luxuries of life, enjoy a luxury which from that moment you184 will want the luxury of being free! 5. We know the force of your arms; and, were it called forth in the cause of justice and your country, we might dread the exertion; but will Britons fight under the banners of tyranny? Will they counteract the labors, and disgrace the victories, of their ancestors? Will they forge chains for their posterity? If they descend to this unworthy task, will their swords retain their edge - their arms their accustomed vigor? 6. No! Britons can never become the instruments of oppression, till they lose the spirit of freedom, by which alone they are invincible! Since, then, your liberties must be the price of your victories, your ruin of your defeat, what blind fatality can urge you to a pursuit destructive of all that Britons hold dear? 7. If you have no regard for the constitution that has for ages subsisted between us—if you have forgot the wounds we |