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and wept." I walked home almost upon air, and every pulsation on the way was a throb of gratitude to Him who, for our solace and delight, hath "planted the ear," and opened all hearts to the inspiration of the truly gifted master of this wonderful art.

9. Being some days afterwards in the society of an accomplished lady, herself no mean musician, and describing to her the effect produced on my mind by this remarkable performance, she surprised me by saying that she had been present at it, and that the same imagery had passed with slight variation before her, as she listened, that I have here endeavored faintly to portray.

10. I was charmed at the assurance, for it confirmed me in the belief, that this was not a mere flitting of the rainbow spirit across the imagination, rearing in its passage a fabric of happiness, beautiful at times as a palace of the genii, and alas! as illusory, but a substantive and truthful joy, to be recalled at will; to be remembered in solitude; to be dwelt upon for the enrichment of the soul; and, (may I entertain the hope ?) in some degree perhaps even to br imparted.

LESSON XXXV.

ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.— WIRT.

[The reader may point out the questions which occur in this piece, tell to which kind they belong, and how they should be read. See Remark, p. 81, and Rules 1 and 8, p. 79 and 109.]

1. The scenes which have been lately passing in our country, and of which this meeting is a continuance, are full of

* Ge ́ni-i, a sort of imaginary, intermediate beings between men and angels, some good and some bad.

moral instruction. They hold up to the world a lesson of wisdom by which all may profit.

2. In the structure of their characters; in the course of their action; in the striking coincidences which marked their high career; in the lives and in the deaths of the illustrious men whose virtues and services we have met to commemorate; and in that voice of admiration and gratitude which has since burst with one accord from the millions of freemen who people these United States, there is a moral sublimity which overwhelms the mind, and hushes all its powers into silent amazement!

3. The European, who should have heard the sound, without apprehending the cause, would be apt to inquire, "What is the meaning of all this? what had these men done to elicit this unanimous and splendid acclamation? Why has the whole American nation risen up as one man, to do them honor, and offer to them this enthusiastic homage of the heart?

4. "Were they mighty warriors, and was the peal that we have heard, the shout of victory? Were they great commanders, returning from their distant conquests, surrounded with the spoils of war, and was this the sound of their triumphal procession? Were they covered with martial glory in any form, and was this 'the noisy wave of the multitudes, rolling back at their approach?"" Nothing of all this no; they were peaceful and aged patriots, who, having served their country together through their long and useful lives, had now sunk together to the tomb.

5. They had not fought battles; but they had formed and moved the great machinery, of which battles were only a small, and comparatively trivial consequence. They had not commanded armies; but they had commanded the master springs of the nation, on which all its great, political, as well as military movements depended. By the wisdom and energy of their counsels, and by the potent mastery of their

spirits, they had contributed preeminently to produce a mighty revolution, which has changed the aspect of the world.

6. And this, be it remembered, has been the fruit of intellectual exertion! — the triumph of mind! What a proud testimony does it bear to the character of our nation, that it is able to make a proper estimate of services like these!— that while in other countries, the senseless mob fall down in stupid admiration before the bloody wheels of the conqueror —even of the conqueror by accident, — in this, our people rise with one accord, to pay their homage to intellect and virtue! This is a spectacle of which we may be permitted to be proud. It honors our country no less than the illustrious dead. And could these great patriots speak to us from the tomb, they would tell us, that they have more pleasure in the testimony which these honors bear to the character of their country, than in that which they bear to their individual services.

7. Jefferson and Adams were great men by nature. Not great and eccentric minds "shot madly from their spheres" to affright the world and scatter pestilence in their course; but minds, whose strong and steady lights, restrained within their proper orbits by the happy poise of their characters, came to cheer and gladden a world that had been buried for ages in political night. They were heaven-called avengers of degraded man. They came to lift him to the station for which God had formed him, and to put to flight those idiot superstitions with which tyrants had contrived to inthrall his reason and his liberty.

8. That Being who had sent them upon this mission, had fitted them preeminently for his glorious work. He filled their hearts with a love of country, which burned strong within

Ad ́ams, (John,) and Jeff'er-son, (Thomas,) ex-presidents of the United States, both of whom died July 4th, 1826, fifty years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, of which both were signers, July 4th, 1776.

them even in death. He gave them a power of understanding, which no sophistry could baffle, no art elude; and a moral heroism, which no dangers could appall. Careless of themselves, reckless of all personal consequences, trampling underfoot that petty ambition of office and honor, which constitutes the master passion of little minds, they bent all their mighty powers to the task for which they had been delegated, the freedom of their beloved country, and the restoration of fallen man.

9. They felt that they were apostles of human liberty; and well did they fulfill their high commissions. They rested not until they had accomplished their work at home, and given such an impulse to the great ocean of mind, that they saw the waves rolling on the furthest shore before they were called to their reward; and then left the world, hand in hand, exulting, as they rose, in the success of their labors.

LESSON XXXVI.

EXTRACT FROM THE TEMPLE OF FAME.*- POPE.†
1. A troop came next, who crowns and armor wore,
And proud defiance in their looks they bore:
"For thee," they cried, "amidst alarms and strife,
We sailed in tempests down the stream of life;
For thee, whole nations filled with flames and blood,
And swam to empire through the purple flood:
Those ills, we dared, thy inspiration own;
What virtue seemed, was done for thee alone."

In this poem, the author represents the pursuers of fame as repairing in crowds to the temple of that goddess, in quest of her approbation, and the different manner they were received, according to their respective merits.

† Pope, (Alexander). See note, p. 100.

2. "Ambitious fools!" the queen replied, and frowned, "Be all your acts in dark oblivion drowned; There sleep forgot, with mighty tyrants gone, Your statues moldered, and your names unknown!" A sudden cloud straight snatched them from my sight, And each majestic phantom sunk in night.

3. Then came the smallest tribe I yet had seen; Plain was their dress, and modest was their mien. "Great idol of mankind, we neither claim

The praise of merit, nor aspire to fame;

But safe in deserts from the applause of men,
Would die unheard-of as we lived unseen:

"T is all we beg thee, to conceal from sight,
Those acts of goodness which themselves requite.
O let us still the secret joy partake,

To follow virtue e'en for virtue's sake."

4. "And live there men, who slight immortal Fame?
Who then with incense shall adore our name?
But, mortals, know, 'tis still our greatest pride
To blaze those virtues, which the good would hide :-
Rise! Muses, rise! add all your tuneful breath;
These must not sleep in darkness and in death,"
She said. In air the trembling music floats,
And on the winds, triumphant swell the notes;
So soft, though high, so loud, and yet so clear,
E'en listening angels lean from heaven to hear:
To farthest shores the ambrosial spirit flies,
Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies.

5. While thus I stood, intent to see and hear,

One came, methought, and whispered in my ear:
"What could thus high thy rash ambition raise?
Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise?"
""T is true," said I, "not void of hopes I came :

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