Biographical Sketches of Eminent Lawyers, Statesmen, and Men of Letters |
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ANDROSS appointed attention Barnstable BENJAMIN PRATT BENJAMIN WEST Boston brother cause character Charlestown chief justice civil colony commenced common Commonwealth Congress considered constitution COOKE Council counsel course Court death disposition duty early eloquence eminent engaged England Essex exertions fame fear feelings felt friends gave genius gentlemen governor Grand Lodge Grand Master GRIDLEY habits happiness Harvard University heart honour House INCREASE SUMNER judge jury knew knowledge labours LATHROP lawyer learning legislature letters liberty literary lived Masons Massachusetts ment Middleborough mind muse nature ness never old charter opinions orator painful PARSONS patriotism poet poetry political PRATT principles profes profession pursue pursuits recollection respect SAMUEL WEST SEWALL sion sketch society soon spirit studies success talents taste thing thought TIMOTHY RUGGLES tion town virtues WARREN WILLIAM CUSHING wise youth
Popular passages
Page 6 - The necessity of complying with times and of sparing persons is the great impediment of biography. History may be formed from permanent monuments and records; but Lives can only be written from personal knowledge, which is growing every day less, and in a short time is lost for ever. What is known can seldom be immediately told, and when it might be told it is no longer known. The delicate features of the mind, the nice discriminations of character, and the minute peculiarities of conduct are soon...
Page 197 - ... The smiles of Joy, the tears of Woe, Deceitful shine, deceitful flow — There's nothing true but Heaven ! And false the light on Glory's plume, As fading hues of Even ; And Love and Hope, and Beauty's bloom, Are blossoms...
Page 114 - The scene was sublime ; a patriot in whom the flush of youth, and the grace and dignity of manhood were comhined, stood armed in the sanctuary of God, to animate and encourage the sons of liberty, and to hurl defiance at their oppressors.
Page 124 - ... engage in civil war. Unsuccessful resistance is not only ruin to its authors, but is esteemed, and necessarily so, by the laws of all countries, treasonable. This is the case, at least, till resistance becomes so general and formidable as to assume the form of regular war. But who can tell, when resistance commences, whether it will attain even to that degree of success ? Some of those persons who signed the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, described themselves as signing it " as with halters...
Page 115 - That struck the foremost man of all this world,' was hailed as the first of freeman, what honours are not due to him, who undismayed bearded the British lion, to show the world what his countrymen dared to do in the cause of liberty ? If the statue of Brutus was placed among those of the gods who were the preservers of Roman freedom, should not that of Warren fill a lofty niche in the temple reared to perpetuate the remembrance of our birth as a nation...
Page 140 - A mighty Tribe of Well-instructed Youth Tell what they owe to him, and Tell with Truth, All the Eight parts of Speech he taught to them They now Employ to Trumpet his Esteem. They fill Fames Trumpet, and they spread a Fame To last till the Last Trumpet drown the same.
Page 126 - ... only be acquired by long acquaintance with the trade of death ; but the heights of Charlestown will bear eternal testimony how suddenly in the cause of freedom the peaceful citizen can become the invincible warrior ; stung by oppression, he springs forward from his tranquil pursuits, undaunted by opposition and undismayed by danger, to fight even to death for the defence of his rights. Parents, wives, children, and country, all the hallowed properties of existence, are to him the talisman that...
Page 123 - ... embrace, but which was perceived in its full extent and expansion by minds of a higher order. Those men who were at the head of the colonial councils, who had been engaged for years in the previous stages of the quarrel with England, and who had been accustomed to look forward to the future, were well apprised of the magnitude of the events likely to hang on the business of that day. They saw in it not only a battle, but the beginning of a civil war of unmeasured extent and uncertain issue. All...
Page 147 - And leaves a wake behind. A mighty whale we rush upon, And in our irons throw ; She sinks her monstrous body down Among the waves below. And when she rises out again, We soon renew the fight ; Thrust our sharp lances in amain, And all her rage excite. Enraged she makes a mighty bound ; Thick foams the whiten'd sea ; The waves in circles rise around, And widening roll away.
Page 103 - It is good to make two blades of grass grow where only one grew before.