But should you ever be called to act the stern, yet glorious part which patriot statesmen have heretofore performed, fail not in the requisite energy. It may be, that, not as of old, another robust barbarian from Thrace, like Maximin-not a gladiator slave, like Spartacus-but some frontier Catiline may come up with the insolent ambition to command you and your children. More dangerous still, the people may be bartered away as other sovereigns have been, by faithless favourites, just as the very guards at Rome sold the empire at open auction to the highest bidder, Julian. The same arts which succeeded of old, may not be unavailing here. A conspiracy of profligate men, pandering to the passions of the people, may inflame them to their ruin-and the country, betrayed into the hands of its worst citizens, may be enslaved with all the appearances of freedom. Should that day come, remember never to capitulatenever to compromise-never to yield to the country's enemies. Remember that crime is not the less guilty-it is only the more dangerous by success. If you should see the cause betrayed by those who ought to defend it, be you only the more faithful. Never desert the country-never despond over its fortunes. Confront its betrayers, as madmen are made to quail beneath the stern gaze of fearless reason. They will denounce you. Disregard their outcriesit is only the scream of the vultures whom you scare from their prey. They will seek to destroy you. Rejoice that your country's enemies are yours. You can never fall more worthily than in defending her from her own degenerate children. If overborne by this tumult, and the cause seems hopeless, continue self-sustained and self-possessed. Retire to your fields, but look beyond them. Nourish your spirits with meditation on the mighty dead who have saved their country. From your own quiet elevation, watch calmly this servile rout, as its triumph sweeps before you. The avenging hour will at last come. It cannot be that our free nation can long endure the vulgar dominion of ignorance and profligacy. You will live to see the laws re-established these banditti will be scourged back to their caverns-the penitentiary will reclaim its fugitives in office, and the only remembrance which history will preserve of them, is the energy with which you resisted and defeated them. XXXIV. Soliloquy of Manfred.-BYRON. THE spirits I have raised abandon me— It hath no power upon the past, and for Why are ye beautiful? I cannot love ye. Art a delight-thou shinest not on my heart. In dizziness of distance; when a leap, And my brain reels-and yet my foot is firm : If it be life to wear within myself Thou winged and cloud-cleaving minister, But we, who name ourselves its sovereigns, we, To sink or soar, with our mixed essence make And men are-what they name not to themselves, And trust not to each other. Hark! the note, [The shepherd's pipe in the distance is heard. The natural music of the mountain reed For here the patriarchal days are not A pastoral fable-pipes in the liberal air, Mixed with the sweet bells of the sauntering herd; My soul would drink those echoes.-Oh, that I were The viewless spirit of a lovely sound, XXXV. The Utility of Spectacles; or, Helps to Read.- A CERTAIN artist, I've forgot his name, Or Helps to Read-as, when they first were sold, Was writ upon his glaring sign in gold; And book produced, to see how they would fit : Asked how he liked 'em?-Like 'em? not a bit Then, sir, I fancy, if you please to try, These in my hand will better suit your eyeNo, but they don't-Well, come, sir, if you please, Here is another sort, we'll e'en try these ; Still somewhat more they magnify the letter: So odd a case, thought, sure the man is blind : XXXVI. The Newcastle Apothecary.-COLMAN. A MEMBER of the Esculapian race Or mix a draught, or bleed, or blister, His fame full six miles round the country ran; All the old women called him "a fine man!" His name was Bolus. Benjamin Bolus, though in trade, (Which often will genius fetter) |