villainy till it wants a has been done, by abler name. To the fiercer vices pens than mine, to the sepof former ages they have arate merits of your life added the dregs and scum- and character. Let it be mings of the most finished my humble office to collect rascality, and are so com- the scattered sweets till pletely sunk in serpentine their united virtue tortures deceit that there is not left the sense."-Let. 41. among them one generous "In what language shall enemy."-Crisis, v. I address so black, so cowWe sometimes experi- ardly a tyrant. Thou ence sensations to which worse than one of the language is not equal. The Brunswicks and all the conception is too bulky to Stuarts."-Let. 56.

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be born alive, and in the "The king has been adtorture of thinking we vised to make a public surstand dumb. Our feel- render, a solemn sacrifice in ings imprisoned by their the face of all Europe, not magnitude, find no way only of the interest of his out, and in the struggle of subjects, but of his own perexpression every finger tries sonal reputation, and of the to be a tongue. The ma- dignity of that crown which chinery of the body seems his predecessors have worn too little for the mind, and with honor. These are we look about us for help strong terms, sir, but they to show our thoughts by. are supported by fact and Such must be the sensation argument."-Let. 42. of America whenever Britain teeming with corruption shall propose to her to sacrifice her faith."-Crisis, xii.

In the last parallel above, it will be noticed, the strong terms were called forth by a sacrifice of national honor with Great Britain, and a prospect of it in the United States. I call attention to this in this place to

save repetition of proofs, showing that proud spirit of personal honor so prominent in Paine and Junius, and from which they both say: national honor is governed by the same rules as personal honor. I now pass to notice the most prominent mental characteristics.

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS.

IF the reader will carry forward in his mind what I have already said on style and the object for which Mr. Paine and Junius wrote, it will greatly aid me in reducing the size of this book. I shall act on the principle of this suggestion, and while I give new matter upon new subjects, the reader will find the parallels greatly strengthened by what has already been said. The reader will also apply the facts already brought forward to the passages I shall hereafter present, so that, like a two-edged sword, it may be made to cut both ways. And first of avarice and the miser:

Paine.

"Could I find a miser

Junius.

"Of all the vices avarice

whose heart never felt the is most apt to taint and coremotion of a spark of prin- rupt the heart."-Let. 27. ciple, even that "As for the common soruninman, fluenced by every love but did views of avarice," etc.— the love of money, and ca- Let. 53. pable of no attachment but

"The miser himself selto his interest, would and dom lives to enjoy the fruits must, from the frugality of his extortion."-Let. 20, which governs him, con- note.

tribute to the defense of the "I could never have a country, or he ceases to be doubt in law or reason that a miser and becomes an a man convicted of a high idiot. breach of trust and of a no(131)

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"Every passion that acts torious corruption in the upon mankind has a pe- execution of a public office, culiar mode of operation. was and ought to be incaMany of them are tempo- pable of sitting in the same rary and fluctuating; they parliament."-Let. 20. admit of cessation and variety. But avarice is a fixed, uniform passion. It neither abates of its vigor nor changes its object."Crisis, x.

I call attention to that pride of character and personal honor, so conspicuous in both Paine and Junius:

"A man who has no sense "Honor and honesty of honor, has no sense of must not be renounced, alshame."-Let. to Cheetham, though a thousand modes," "Knowing my own heart, etc.-Let. 58.

and feeling myself, as I now

"Junius will never dedo, superior to all the skir- scend to dispute with such mish of party, the inveter- a writer as Modestus."-acy of interested, or mis- Let. 29.

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taken opponents, I answer For my own part, my not to falsehood or abuse." lord, I am proud to affirm, -R. M., part ii. that if I had been weak

"Fortified with that enough to form such a proud integrity, that dis- friendship, I would never dain to triumph or to yield, have been base enough to I will advocate the rights betray it.”—Let. 9. of man."-Do.

A thousand passages might be selected from both to show this ruling trait of character. The proud, imposing spirit that would dare to undertake the business of a world for the good of mankind, and to tread on the pride of courtiers, and to tell the king, who ruled

over the greatest nation on earth, that nature had only intended him for a good-humored fool, is pre-eminently the leading trait in Junius and Paine. No one can mistake it; no one can fail in finding it; no one can help feeling the force of it. It has never been produced in any other man. The world's history has given us but the one example of it. We search in vain for another parallel. And if Mr. Paine did not write Junius, nature produced twins of the same mental type to do the same work for mankind, and then defeated all her arts and gave the lie to all her laws, by exhibiting the one and forever concealing the other. But surely nature can conceal nothing. Her method is to reveal, not to conceal. She writes the character of man on all he touches, and reveals it in the very language he would employ to conceal it.

It was this proud spirit which gave Paine that contempt for monarchy which he so often expressed. “I have an aversion to monarchy," he says, "as being too debasing to the dignity of man." This is a language which courtiers could not understand, and they would consider it the vain babbling of a mad-man; but it is the very basis of that government which he labored to establish in America and France. This is also the - spirit of Junius when he says with such withering sarcasm: "It may be matter of curious speculation to consider, if an honest man were permitted to approach a king, in what terms he would address himself to his sovereign," And after having gained the ear of the king, when he says: "Let it be imagined, no matter how improbable, that he has spirit enough to bid him speak freely and understanding enough to