2. Rome had its Cesar, great and brave; but stain was on his wreath; He liv'd the heartless conqueror, and died the tyrant's death. France had its eagle; but his wings, though lofty they might soar, Were spread in false ambition's flight, and dipp'd in murder's gore. Those hero-gods, whose mighty sway would fain have chain'd the waves;

Who flesh'd their blades with tiger zeal, to make a world of slaves; Who, though their kindred barr'd the path, still fiercely waded on; O, where shall be their "glory" by the side of WASHINGTON ?

3. He fought, but not with love of strife; he struck, but to defend;
And ere he turn'd a people's foe, he sought to be a friend.

He strove to keep his country's right by reason's gentle word,
And sighed when fell injustice threw the challenge,-sword to sword;
He stood the firm, the calm, the wise, the patriot and sage;

-no burst of despot rage;

He showed no deep avenging hate,-
He stood for Liberty and Truth, and dauntlessly led on,
Till shouts of victory gave forth the name of WASHINGTON.

4. No car of triumph bore him through a city fill'd with grief;
No groaning captives at the wheels proclaim'd him victor chief;
He broke the gyves of slavery, with strong and high disdain,
And forged no scepter from the links, when he had crushed the chain.
He saved his land; but did not lay his soldier trappings down,
To change them for the regal vest, and "don" a kingly crown.
Fame was too earnest in her joy,-too proud of such a son,--
To let a robe and title mask a noble WASHINGTON!

5. England, my heart is truly thine, my loved, my native earth!
The land that holds a mother's grave, and gave that mother birth.
O, keenly sad would be the fate that thrust me from thy shore,
And faltering my breath that sighed, "Farewell for evermore!"
But did I meet such adverse lot, I would not seek to dwell
Where olden heroes wrought the deeds for Homer's songs to tell.
"Away, thou gallant ship!" I'd cry, " and bear me swiftly on;
But bear me from my own fair land to that of WASHINGTON."

LESSON LXXV.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.-1. CICERO, the great Roman orator, was driven into exile by the ambitious CLODIUS and his faction. He went into Macedonia, where meeting PHILISCUS, a sculptor, whom he had formerly known at Athens, the following dialogue ensued. CICERO was afterward recalled by the Roman people.

2. HIPPOCRATES was a celebrated physician of Athens, who, under the

impression that he had delivered the city from a dreadful pestilence, was presented with a golden crown.

3. CAMILLUS, a Roman, was styled a second Romulus for his services to his country. For slight reasons, however, he was banished. During his exile, Rome was besieged by the Gauls. In the midst of their misfortunes, the Romans elected him dictator, and he, forgetting their ingratitude, marched to the relief of his country, which he delivered, after it had been for some time in the possession of the enemy.

4. SCIPIO, one of a Roman family, defeated the Carthaginians, in several bloody battles, in one of which 54,000 of them were left dead on the field; in another 20,000. For his success he was styled Africanus. But he was afterward falsely accused of extortion and indolence, when he retired in disgust at the injustice of his countrymen, to Liternum, a town of Campania.

5. ARISTIDES, though he was styled Just, yet through THEMISTOCLES, his rival, he was banished for ten years, but was recalled by the Athenians before six years of his exile had expired.

6. THEMIS TOCLES, an Athenian general, who successfully and courageously fought the army of Xerxes, was disinherited in his youth by his father, on account of his vicious conduct. This act roused his ambition for renown.

7. SOLON, one of the seven wise men of Greece, is distinguished as a lawgivor. After having established the most salutary laws and regulations, and bound the Athenians by a solemn oath, to observe them for 100 years, he resigned the office of legislator, and traveled in other countries. After ten years he returned, but had the mortification to find that the greater part of his laws was disregarded by the factious spirit of his countrymen.

DESPONDENCY; OR, CICERO AND PHILISCUS,

Philiscus.-I AM surprised, Cicero', to see you lamenting your misfortune in this childish manner. What! you! who have been disciplined in every kind of learning;-you! who have been so often the guide and counselor of others!

Cicero. I am just beginning, Philiscus, to learn practically the truth of the old remark, that to know what is a proper course of action, and to pursue it, are widely different things.

Philiscus.-Yet still, permit me to say it, this weakness surprises me. Let us reason the matter together. I would gladly administer any consolation in my power. Though, indeed, the case is much the same as if some ordinary physician had offered to prescribe for Hippocrates' in a fit of the spleen or the gout.

Cicero.-If you can say any thing whatever, Philiscus, which may help to remove this darkness from my mind, and to restore me to myself, most ready am I to hear you.

Philiscus.-Come, then, let us consider whether these are really evils which have befallen you; if they are, how they can be remedied. First of all, I see you in possession of perfect bodily health, a good which in the order of nature, may be reckoned the first. Next, you have a sufficiency of all the necessaries of life, which may be accounted the second good according to nature. Possessing health, then, and in no danger of want, you surely have the means of happiness in your own power.

Cicero. But of what avail, Philiscus, is mere corporeal good, when some great affliction is devouring the soul? Is it possible, think you, in the pleasures of sense, to forget the pangs of the mind?

Philiscus.-But at least you will agree with me in thinking that our mental maladies are, in a great degree, under our own control, certainly much more so than our bodily ills. The body carries in itself the seeds of incurable disorder; but the mind, being of a divine nature, is easily brought back to a state of order and harmony. Your afflictions are mental, not corporeal. With an exertion of ordinary energy, you could cast them from you.

Cicero. Do you then look upon ignominy and flight as evils of such very trivial magnitude?—To be deprived of home and of friends, to be driven from one's country with contumely, to wander an exile in a strange land, an object of laughter to one's enemies, and a cause of disgrace to one's kindred?

Philiscus. Frankly, yes. Man is constituted of two elements, a mind and a body, to each of which nature has assigned certain specific evils and specific goods.. Disgrace and exile, with other things of a like kind, are evils of custom and opinion merely. They hurt neither the body nor the mind. The body is neither bruised nor made sick by them, nor does the mind become less intelligent or less just, in consequence of them. And why? because they are not natu

rally and in themselves, evils. Just so neither is honorable station nor a residence in one's own country, naturally good.

2. Consider, too, how variable human opinion is on such subjects.. The very same things which are reckoned disgraceful at one place or period, are lauded at another; and an action which in Greece might deserve a statue, would very possibly be regarded in India as an atrocious crime. One would think it ridiculous enough, if one were to hear of a vote being taken, declaring a certain person to be sick or to have a depraved heart. Disease and depravity are evils, simply because nature has made them so. Human opinion can add no force to the decrees of nature, nor can it substitute its own decrees for hers.

3. What is it to be an exile ? It is to be forced to live unwillingly out of one's own country. "To live out of one's own country,"-does that constitute the evil? How many thousands are there who do so voluntarily, thinking it no evil at all! But "unwillingly!" For myself, I do not see how this unwillingness can, in any case, appertain to a wise man. At any rate, if it is this which constitutes the evil of exile, the remedy is in your own power. You can live as willingly in Macedonia as in Rome. There is truth in the old saying, that we ought not to require things to happen as we wish, but rather to wish for such things as do of necessity happen.

But such as it

4. Our lot in life is not of our own choosing. pleases Providence to assign unto us; such, willingly or unwillingly, we must accept. If, however, it is not merely the ignominy and the exile which afflict you, but the fact, that, while you had not only done no injury to your country, but, on the other hand, actually merited rewards for most important services rendered to her, you should thus be banished and dishonored, consider, I pray you, that it having been once allotted that you were to fall, it, at least, happened well and fortunately that you fell without guilt.

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5. You had toiled in behalf of your fellow-citizens, not in private capacity, but as consul; not unauthorized and officiously, but in obedience to the decrees of the Senate; not out of se

ditious views, but with the best and purest intentions. Certain ambitious and vindictive men conspired to destroy you. It is for them to mourn over the injustice of their conduct. To bear manfully on your part, whatever good or evil Providence. sees fit to send upon you, is both praiseworthy and necessary.

6. What can it matter whether you are to pass the remainder of your life in Macedon or elsewhere? Place can cause neither happiness nor misery. The mind is its own place, and it is there that we are to seek our country and our happiness, Aware of this, Camillus went cheerfully to dwell in Ardea. Conscious of this, Scipio lived without murmuring at Liternum. Need I mention Aristides or Themistocles, whom exile only made more glorious? Or Solon', who was a voluntary exile for ten years?

7. It is useless to repine at our lot. We shall not by our murmuring escape what is assigned us, and we shall certainly add to our misfortunes the painful reflection that we grieve in vain. If you will be persuaded by me, Cicero, you shall select for a habitation some retired spot by the sea-shore, and there devote the rest of your life to study, and to the composition of literary works. In the delights of letters and philosophy, in the desire of being useful to men, in the hope of the applause of after ages, your ambition would find ample scope, and your peace of mind be assured.

8. The hill of the Muses, my Cicero, is above tempests, always clear and calm; a hill of the goodliest discovery that man can have, being a prospect upon all the errors and wanderings of the present and former times. Nay, from some cliff, the eye ranges beyond the horizon of the present time, and catches no obscure glimpses of the times to come. So that if one would indeed lead a life that unites safety and dignity, pleasure and merit; if one would win admiration without envy; if one would be in the feast, and not in the throng; in the light, and not in the heat; let him embrace the life of study and contemplation,