LESSON CXXXVIII.

SPECIMEN OF THE ELOQUENCE OF JAMES OTIS.

1. ENGLAND may as well dam up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes as to fetter the step of freedom, more proud and firm in this youthful land, than where she treads the sequestered glens of Scotland, or couches herself among the magnificent mountains of Switzerland. Arbitrary principles, like those against which we now contend, have cost one king of England his life -another his crown-and they may yet cost a third his most flourishing colonies.

2. We are two millions-one-fifth fighting men. We are bold and vigorous, and we call no man master. To the nation from whom we are proud to derive our origin, we were ever, and we ever will be, ready to yield unforced assistance; but it must not, and it never can be extorted.

3. Some have sneeringly asked, "Are the Americans too poor to pay a few pounds on stamped paper?" No! America, thanks to God and herself, is rich. But the right to take ten pounds, implies the right to take a thousand; and what must be the wealth, that avarice, aided by power, cannot exhaust. True, the specter is now small; but the shadow he casts before him is huge enough to darken all this fair land. Others, in sentimental style, talk of the immense debt of gratitude which we owe to England. And what is the amount of this debt? Why, truly, it is the same that the young lion owes to the dam, which has brought it forth on the solitude of the mountain, or left it amid the winds and storms of the desert.

4. We plunged into the wave, with the great charter of freedom in our teeth, because the fagot and torch were behind us, We have waked this new world from its savage lethargy; forests have been prostrated in our path; towns and cities have grown up suddenly as the flowers of the tropics and the fires

in our autumnal woods are scarcely more rapid than the increase of our.wealth and population. And do we owe all this to the kind succor of the mother country? No! we owe it to the tyranny that drove us from her—to the pelting storms which invigorated our helpless infancy.

5. But perhaps others will say, "We ask no money from your gratitude-we only demand that you should pay your own expenses." And who, I pray, is to judge of their necessity? Why, the king-(and with all due reverence to his sacred majesty, he understands the real wants of his distant subjects as little as he does the language of the Choctaws.) Who is to judge concerning the frequency of these demands? The ministry. Who is to judge whether the money is properly expended? The cabinet behind the throne. In every instance those who take are to judge for those who pay. If this system is suffered to go into operation, we shall have reason to esteem it a great privilege, that rain and dew do not depend upon parliament; otherwise they would soon be taxed and dried.

6. But thanks to God, there is freedom enough left upon earth to resist such monstrous injustice. The flame of liberty is extinguished in Greece and Rome, but the light of its glowing embers is still bright and strong on the shores of America. Actuated by its sacred influence, we will resist unto death. But we will not countenance anarchy and misrule. The wrongs that a desperate community have heaped upon their enemies, shall be amply and speedily repaired. Still, it may be well for some proud men to remember, that a fire is lighted in these colonies, which one breath of their king may kindle into such fury, that the blood of all England cannot extinguish it.

PART III,

COMICAL AND MUSICAL.

LESSON I.

THE WHISKERS, OR POWER OF FASHION.

WOODWORTH.

1. THE kings who rule mankind with haughty sway,
The prouder pope, whom even kings obey-
Love, at whose shrine both popes and monarchs fall,
And e'en self-interest, that controls them all
Possess a petty power when all combined,
Compared with fashion's influence on mankind!
For love itself will oft to fashion bow;
The following story will convince you how:

2. A petit maitre wooed a fair,

Of virtue, wealth, and graces rare;
But vainly had preferred his claim,
The maiden owned no answering flame;
At length by doubt and anguish torn,
Suspense, too painful to be borne,
Low at her feet he humbly kneeled,
And thus his ardent flame revealed:

3. Pity my grief, angelic fair,
Behold my anguish and despair;
For you this heart must ever burn
O, bless me with a kind return;
My love no language can express,
Reward it then, with happiness;
Nothing on earth, but you, I prizə,
All else is trifling in my eyes;
And cheerfully would I resign
The wealth of worlds, to call you
But, if another gain your hand,
Far distant from my native land,
Far hence from you and hope I'll fly,
And in some foreign region die.”

mine.

4 The virgin heard, and thus replied:
"If my consent to be your bride
Will make you happy, then be blest;
But grant me, first, one small request;
A sacrifice I must demand,

And in return, will give my hand."

5. "A sacrifice! O speak its name,
For you I'd forfeit wealth and fame;
Take whole fortune

every cent

my "'Twas something more than wealth I meant." "Must I the realms of Neptune trace? O, speak the word - where'er the place, For the idol of my soul,

you,

7. "Sir, these are trifles - she replied

66

"But, if you wish me for

your bride, You must-but still I fear to speak

You'll never grant the boon I seek."

"O say!" he cried—“ dear angel, say—

What must I do, and I obey;

No longer rack me with suspense,

Speak your commands, and send me hence."

8 "Well, then, dear generous youth!" she cries, "If thus my heart you really prize,

And wish to link your fate with mine,
On one condition I am thine:
"Twill then become my pleasing duty,
To contemplate a husband's beauty;
And, gazing on his manly face,
His feelings and his wishes trace;
To banish thence each mark of care,
And light a smile of pleasure there.
O let me then, 'tis all I ask,
Commence at once the pleasing task;
O let me, as becomes my place,
Cut those huge whiskers from your

face."

9. She said- but O, what strange surprise

Was pictured in her lover's eyes!

Like lightning, from the ground he sprung,
While wild amazement tied his tongue.