fatal blow is given ! and the victim passes without a struggle or a motion, from the repose of sleep to the repose of death! The deed is done. He retreats, retraces his steps to the window, passes out through it as he came in, and escapes. He has done the murder; no eye has seen him, no ear has heard him.

5. The secret is his own, and it is safe! Ah! gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake. Such a secret can be safe no where. The whole creation of God has neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it, and say it is safe. A thousand eyes turn at once to explore every man, every thing, and every circumstance, connected with the time and place; a thousand ears catch every whisper; a thousand excited minds intensely dwell on the scene, shedding all their light, and ready to kindle the slightest circumstance into a blaze of discovery.

6. Meantime the guilty soul cannot keep its own secret. It is false to itself; or rather, it feels an irresistible impulse of conscience to be true to itself. It labors under its guilty possession, and knows not what to do with it. He feels it beating at his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding disclosure. He thinks that the whole world sees it in his face, reads it in his eyes, and almost hears its workings in the very silence of his thoughts.

7. It betrays his discretion, it breaks down his courage, it conquers his prudence. When suspicions from without begin to embarrass him, and the net of circumstance to entangle him, the fatal secret struggles with still greater violence to burst forth. It must be confessed, it will be confessed; there is no refuge from confession but suicide, and suicide is confession.

a Conscience; that moral faculty of the mind which decides what is right or wrong from the facts presented.

LESSON CXVIII.

EULOGY ON HAMILTON.

MASON.

1. He was born to be great. Whoever was second, Hamilton must be first. To his stupendous and versatile mind no investigation was difficult, no subject presented which he did. not illuminate. Superiority in some particular, belongs to thousands. Preeminence, in whatever he chose to undertake, was the prerogative of Hamilton. No fixed criterion could be applied to his talents. Often has their display been supposed to have reached the limit of human effort; and the judgment stood firm till set aside by himself.

2. When a cause of new magnitude required new exertions, he rose, he towered, he soared; surpassing himself as he surpassed others. Then was nature tributary to his eloquence! Then was felt his despotism over the heart! Touching, at his pleasure, every string of pity or terror, of indignation or grief, he melted, he soothed, he roused, he agitated; alternately gentle as the dews, and awful as the thunder.

3. Yet, great as he was in the eyes of the world, he was greater in the eyes of those with whom he was most conversant. The greatness of most men, like objects seen through a mist, diminishes with the distance; but Hamilton, like a tower seen afar off under a clear sky, rose in grandeur and sublimity with every step of approach. Familiarity with him was the parent of veneration.

4. Over these matchless talents, probity threw her brightest luster. Frankness, suavity, tenderness, benevolence, breathed through their exercise. And to his family! but he is gone. That noble heart beats no more; that eye of fire is dimmed; and sealed are those oracular lips. Americans, the serenest beam of your glory is extinguished in the tomb!

a Hamilton (Alexander;) an orator and statesman, born at Nevis, one of the West India islands.

LESSON CXIX. 19

LAFAYETTE'S LAST VISIT TO THIS COUNTRY.

1. AGAIN, in his old age, Lafayette determined to look on the young republic that had escaped the disasters which had overwhelmed France. When his plans were made known, our government offered to place a national vessel at his disposal; but he declined accepting it, and embarked at Havre in a merchantman, and arrived at New York, August 15, 1824. He was at this time sixty-seven years old.

2. His reception in this country, and triumphal march through it, is one of the most remarkable events in the history of the world. Such gratitude and unbounded affection were never before received by a man from a foreign nation. As he passed from Staten Island to New York, the bay was covered with barges decorated with streamers; and when the beautiful fleet shoved away, the bands struck up, "Where can one better be, than in the bosom of his family?"

3. Never did this favorite French air seem so appropriate; not even when the shattered Old Guard closed sternly around its Emperor, and sang it amid the fire of the enemy's guns; as when a free people thus chanted it around the venerable Lafayette. As he touched the shore, the thunder of cannon shook the city; old soldiers rushed weeping into his arms; and, "Welcome Lafayette!" waved from every banner, rung from every trumpet, and was caught up by every voice, tili Welcome, welcome!" rose and fell in deafening shouts from the assembled thousands.

4. During the four days he remained in the city, it was one constant jubilee; and when he left for Boston, all along als route, the people rose to welcome him. He traveled every night till 12 o'clock, and watch-fires were kept burning on the hill-tops, all along his line of progress. Blazing through the darkness, they outshone the torches that heralded him,

■ Havre (Hav'r;) a seaport town in the northern part of France,

while in the distance, the pealing of bells from every church spire announced his coming. The same enthusiastic joy received him at Boston; and when he returned to New York, the city was wilder than ever with excitement.

5. In Castle-garden there was a splendid illumination in honor of him; the bridge leading to it was surmounted by a pyramid sixty feet high, with a blazing star at the top, from the center of which flashed the name of Lafayette. The planks were covered with carpets, and trees and flowers innumerable lined the passage. Over the entrance was a triumphal arch of flowers; huge columns arose from the area, supporting arches of flowers, and flags, and statues. 6. As he entered this wilderness of beauty, the bands struck up, "See, the conquering hero comes!" and shouts shook the edifice to its foundations. He had scarcely taken his seat in a splendid marquee, prepared for his reception, when the curtain before the gallery in front of him lifted, and there was a beautiful transparency, representing La Grange,^ with its grounds and towers, and beneath it, "This is his home." Nothing could be more touching and affectionate than this device; and as Lafayette's eye fell upon it, a tear was seen to gather there, and his lip to quiver with feeling.

7. Thus the people received the "people's friend." From New York he went to Albany and Troy, and one long shout of welcome rolled the length of the Hudson, as he floated up the noble stream. Returning, he went to Philadelphia, and, passing through the same scenes that had been enacted in every city he had visited, continued his route to Mount Vernon, to visit the tomb of Washington. The thunder of cannon announced his arrival at the consecrated ground, calling to his mind the time when he had seen that now lifeless chieftain move through the tumult of battle.

8. Wishing no one to witness his emotions, as he stood beside the ashes of his friend, he descended alone into the vault. With trembling steps and uncovered head he passed down to the tomb. The secrets of that meeting of the living

a La Grange; Lafayette's place of residence in France.

with the dead no one knows; but when the aged veteran came forth again, his face was covered with tears.

9. He then took his son and secretary by the hand, and led them into the vault. He could not speak; his bursting heart was too full for utterance, and he mutely pointed to the coffin of Washington. They knelt reverently beside it, kissed it, then rising, threw themselves into Lafayette's arms, and burst into tears. It was a touching scene, there in the silent vault, and worthy the noble sleeper.

10. From thence he went to Yorktown, where a magnificent reception was given him. Proceeding south, he passed through all the principal cities to New Orleans, and thence up the Mississippi to Cincinnati, and across to Pittsburg, and finally to western New York, through which he hastened rapidly to Boston, to be present at the laying of the cornerstone of the Bunker's Hill monument."

11. Previously to his southern trip, however, he had visited congress, and been received by that body with distinguished honor. A few days after this a bill was passed, giving him a hundred and forty thousand dollars, as payment, in part, for the money he had expended in our behalf. He had clothed and fed our naked, starving soldiers at his own cost; expended money for the State; fought our battles; endured, suffered, and toiled for our welfare; yet he never asked, never expected, compensation. His had been entirely a free-will offering; his youth, his wealth, his life, all, an unselfish, noble sacrifice to a weak, but brave people, struggling to be free.

12. This generous, and yet only just, remuneration, took Lafayette by surprise, and affected him deeply. Indeed, to a heart like his, the open arms and overflowing affection of the people were a sufficient reward. The entire nation had risen to do him homage. "Honor to Lafayette!" "Welcome to Lafayette, the nation's guest!" and such like exclamations, had met him at every step.

a Bunker's Hill monument; a monument built of granite, two hundred and twenty feet high. It is situated in Charlestown, near Boston.