indeed, a happy and glorious event, but by no means unnatural; and I intend no slight to the revered actors in the revolution, when I assert that their fathers before them were as free as they every whit as free. 7. The principles of the revolution were not the suddenly acquired property of a few bosoms; they were abroad in the land in the ages before; they had always been taught, like the truths of the Bible; they had descended from father to son, down from those primitive days, when the pilgrim, established in his simple dwelling, and seated at his blazing fire, piled high from the forest which shaded his door, repeated to his listening children the story of his wrongs and his resistance, and bade them rejoice, though the wild winds and the wild beasts were howling without, that they had nothing to fear from great men's oppression. 8. Here were the beginnings of the revolution. Every settler's hearth was a school of independence; the scholars were apt, and the lessons sunk deeply; and thus it came that our country was always free; it could not be other than free. 9. As deeply seated as was the principle of liberty and resistance to arbitrary power, in the breasts of the Puritans, it was not more so than their piety and sense of religious obligation. They were emphatically a people whose God was the Lord. Their form of government was as strictly theocratical,. if direct communication be excepted, as was that of the Jews; insomuch that it would be difficult to say, where there was any civil authority among them entirely distinct from ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 10. Whenever a few of them settled a town, they immediately gathered themselves into a church; and their elders were magistrates, and their code of laws was the Pentateuch. These were forms, it is true, but forms which faithfully indicated principles and feelings for no people could have adopted such forms, who were not thoroughly imbued with the spirit, and bent on the practice, of religion. 11. God was their King; and they regarded him as truly and literally so, as if he had dwelt in a visible palace in the midst of their state. They were his devoted, resolute, humble subjects; they undertook nothing which they did not beg of him to prosper; they accomplished nothing without rendering to him the praise; they suffered nothing without carrying up their sorrows to his throne; they ate nothing which they did not implore him to bless. 12. Their piety was not merely external; it was sincere; it had the proof of a good tree in bearing good fruit; it produced and sustained a strict morality. Their tenacious purity of mauners and speech obtained for them, in the mother country, their name of Puritans, which, though given in derision, was as honorable an appellation as was ever bestowed by man on man. 13. That there were hypocrites among them, is not to be doubted; but they were rare; the men who voluntarily exiled themselves to an unknown coast, and endured there every toil and hardship for conscience' sake, and that they might serve God in . their own manner, were not likely to set conscience at defiance, and make the services of God a mockery; they were not likely to be, neither were they, hypocrites. I do not know that it would be arrogating too much for them to say, that, on the extended surface of the globe, there was not a single community of men to be compared with them, in the respects of deep religious impressions, and an exact performance of moral duty. 1 GREENWOOD. QUESTIONS.-What was one of the prominent traits of character in the Puritans? How did they regard liberty? What was their conduct in support of liberty? Why was the revolution a perfectly natural event, or just what might have been expected? From whence were derived the principles of the revolution? How were their systems of government formed? What was the character of their piety? As a community, how will they bear comparison, for moral worth, with all other communities, past or present? Which are the pronouns in the 12th paragraph? For what noun does "their" stand? For what does "it" stand? Parse "which." Parse the last "as." ARTICULATION. Shrill, trump, scramble, scribblers, scrawl, strange, scratch. The shrill trump of victory. We scrambled up the hill. Scribblers scrawl strange stories. Diamonds scratch glass. They furl'd the sails. His chains clank'd. He handles the instruments skillfully. The blue waves curl'd. We were unharm'd amid the conflict of elements. LESSON XCVII. GIVE each letter its full and correct sound.-Gov-ern-or, not gov'nor: come-li-ness, not come-li-niss: e-rect, not e-rec: hon-or-a-ble, not hon-rer-ble: hands, not han's: venge-ance, not venge-unce. Come-li-ness, n, that which is becoming | Fledge'-ling, n. a young bird. or graceful. Port, n. manner of movement or walk. Tarn'-ish, v. to soil, to dirty. Av-a-lanche', n. a vast body of snow Rec-og-ni'-tion, n. acknowledgmont of Pre-con-cert'-ed, p. planned beforehand. WILLIAM TELL. [The events here referred to, occurred in 1307. Switzerland had been conquered by Austria; and Gesler, one of the basest and most tyrannical of men, was her governor. As a refinement of tyranny, he had his cap elevated on a pole, and commanded that every one should bow before it. William Tell proudly refused to submit to this degrading mark of slavery. He was arrested and carried before the governor. The day before, his son Albert, without he knowl edge of his father, had fallen into the hands of Gesler.] Enter Gesler, Officers, and Sarnem, with Tell in chains and guarded. SCENE 1.-A Chamber in the Castle. Sar. Down, slave! Behold the governor. Ges. (Seated.) Does he hear? Sar. He does, but braves thy power. Officer. Why don't you smite him for that look? My eyes? He smiles! Nay, grasps His chains as he would make a weapon of them Why speakest thou not? Tell. For wonder. Ges. Wonder? Tell. Yes, that thou shouldst seem a man. Ges. What should I seem? Tell. A monster. Ges. Ha! Beware! Think on thy chains. Tell. Though they were doubled, and did weigh me down Thou art a monster! Think upon my chains? Ges. Darest thou question me? Tell. Darest thou not answer? Ges. Do I hear? Tell. Thou dost. Ges. Beware my +vengeance. It can not take away the grace of life; + Its port erect with consciousness of truth; Its fair report that's rife on good men's tongues: Ges. But it can make thee writhe. Tell. It may. Ges. And groan. Tell. It may; and I may cry, Go on, though it should make me groan again. Ges. Whence comest thou? Tell. From the mountains. Wouldst thou learn Ges. Canst tell me any? Tell. Ay: they watch no more the avalanche. Tell. Because they look for thee. The hurricane The torrent breaks, and finds them in its track. Ges. What do they then? Tell. Thank heaven, it is not thou! Thou hast perverted nature in them. There's not a blessing heaven vouchsafes them, but Ges. That's right! I'd have them like their hills, + That never smile, though wanton summer tempt Tell. But they do sometimes smile. Gres. Ay! when is that? Tell. When they do talk of vengeance. Ges. Vengeance? Dare they talk of that? Tell. Ay, and expect it too. Ges. From whence? Tell. From heaven! Sar. My lord, the boy-(Gesler signs to Sarnem to keep silence, and, whispering, sends him off) Tell. The boy? What boy? Is 't mine? and have they netted my young fledgeling? Would put him on his guard; yet how to give it! That step that step Upon the ground, how heavy does it fall that little step, so light (Enter Sarnem with [carries.) Upon my heart! I feel my child! Albert, whose eyes are riveted on Tell's bow, which Sarnem 'Tis he! We can but perish. |