of triumphs, which is alone conducive to the equal happiness of all, the triumph of intellect over force, and of virtue over intellect, then, indeed, will those who prize intellect, or delight in virtue, throughout all time, turn to him, whose intellectual and moral greatness first introduced and recommended this systemstanding, at last, all alone in his pre-eminence, fixed forever in the solitude of his glory, as the Miracle of Men, the greatest earthly Benefactor of mankind,-and will exult that they belong to the same race of beings with WASHINGTON.

EXERCISE CXIII.

1 PALLADIUM is the name of a statue of Pallas (Minerva), on the preservation of which depended the safety of ancient Troy; hence the application of the word to a safeguard of any kind.

2 COLISEUM (also written Colosseum) is the name of a celebrated amphitheater, at Rome, the ruins of which are still standing. It was begun by the emperor Vespasian, and finished by his son Titus, and is said to have held over 100,000 spectators.

3 PAR/THENON, from a Greek word meaning a virgin, is the name applied to a celebrated temple in ancient Athens, dedicated to the virgin-goddess Minerva,

WASHINGTON'S SOLICITUDE FOR THE UNION.

WEBSTER.*

1. There was in the breast of Washington one sentiment so deeply felt, so constantly uppermost, that no proper occasion escaped without its utterance. From the letter which he signed in behalf of the convention when the Constitution was sent out to the people, to the moment when he put his hand to that last paper in which he addressed his countrymen, the Union-the Union was the great object of his thoughts. In that first letter he tells them that, to him and his brethren of the convention, union appears to be the greatest interest of every true American; and, in that last paper, he conjures them to regard that unity of government, which constitutes them one people, as the very

*See Exercise LXXXVI.

palladium1 of their prosperity and safety, and the security ɔf liberty itself.

2. He regarded the union of these states, not so much as one of our blessings, as the great treasure-house which contained them all. Here, in his judgment, was the great magazine of all our means of prosperity; here, as he thought, and as every American still thinks, are deposited all our animating prospects, all our solid hopes for future greatness. He has taught us to maintain this Union, not by seeking to enlarge the powers of the government, on the one hand, nor by surrendering them, on the other; but by an administration of them, at once firm and moderate, adapted for objects truly national, and carried on in a spirit of justice and equity.

3. The extreme solicitude for the preservation of the Union, at all times manifested by him, shows not only the opinion he entertained of its importance, but his clear perception of those causes which were likely to spring up to endanger it, and which, if once they should overthrow the present system, would leave little hope of any future beneficial reünion. Of all the presumptions indulged by presumptuous man, that is one of the rashest, which looks for the repeated and favorable opportunities for the deliberate establishment of a united government over distinct and widely extended communities.

4. Such a thing has happened once in human affairs, and but once; the event stands out as a prominent exception to all ordinary history; and, unless we suppose ourselves running into an age of miracles, we may not expect its repetition. Washington, therefore, could regard, and did regard, nothing as of paramount political interest, but the integrity of the Union itself. With a united government, well administered, he saw we had nothing to fear; and without it, nothing to hope. The sentiment is just, and its momentous truth should solemnly impress the whole country.

5. If we might regard our country as personated in the spirit of Washington, if we might consider him as representing her, in her past renown, her present prosperity, and her future career, and as, in that character, demanding of us all to account for

our conduct, as political men or as private citizens, how should he answer him who has ventured to talk of disunion and dismemberment? How should he answer him who dwells perpetually on local interests, and fans every kindling flame of local prejudice? How should he answer him who would array State against State, interest against interest, and party against party, careless of the continuance of that unity of government which constitutes us one people?

6. The political prosperity which this country has attained, and which it now enjoys, it has acquired mainly through the instrumentality of the present government. While this agent continues, the capacity of attaining to still higher degrees of prosperity exists also. We have, while this lasts, a political life. capable of beneficial exertion, with power to resist or overcome misfortunes, to sustain us against the ordinary accidents of human affairs, and to promote, by active efforts, every public interest. But dismemberment strikes at the very being which preserves the faculties. It would lay its rude and ruthless hand on this great agent itself. It would sweep away, not only what we possess, but all the power of regaining lost, or acquiring new possessions. It would leave the country, not only bereft of its prosperity and happiness, but without limbs, or organs, or faculties, by which to exert itself hereafter in the pursuit of that prosperity and happiness.

7. Other misfortunes may be borne, or their effects overcome. If disastrous war should sweep our commerce from the ocean, another generation may renew it; if it exhaust our treasury, future industry may replenish it; if it desolate and lay waste our fields, still, under a new cultivation, they will grow green again, and ripen to future harvests. It were but a trifle, even if the wall of yonder capitol were to crumble, if its lofty pillars should fall, and its gorgeous decorations be all covered by the dust of the valley. All these might be rebuilt. But who shall reconstruct the fabric of demolished government? Who shall rear again the well proportioned columns of constitutional liberty? Who shall frame together the skillful architecture which unites national sovereignty with State rights, individual security, and public prosperity?

8. No; if these columns fall, they will be raised not again. Like the Coliseum' and the Parthenon, they will be destined to a mournful, a melancholy immortality. Bitterer tears, however, will flow over them than ever were shed over the monuments of Roman or Grecian art; they will be the remnants of a more glorious edifice than Greece or Rome ever saw-the edifice of constitutional American liberty!

EXERCISE CXIV.

THE MILL.

Don't you remember, Lill,

The mill by the old hill side,

M. ELVA WOOD.

Where we used to go in the summer days
And watch the foamy tide?

And throw the leaves of the rocking beech
On its surface, smooth and bright;
When they'd float away like emeralds,
In a flood of golden light?

And the miller, Lill, with slouchy cap,

And eyes of mildest grey;
Plodding about his dusty work,

Singing the livelong day,

And the coat that hung on the rusty nail,

With many a motley patch,

By the rude old door, with broken sill,

And string and wooden latch.

And the water-wheel, with its giant arms

Dashing the beaded spray,

And pulling the weeds from the sand below,
That it tossed in scorn away.

The sleepers, too, bearded and old,

Frowning over the tide;

Defying the waves, while the chinks of Time
Were made in the old mill's side.

Well, Lill, the mill is torn away,
And a factory, dark and high,
Looms like a tower, and puffs its smoke
Over the clear blue sky.

And the stream is turned away, above-
The bed of the river is bare;
The beech is withered, bough and trunk,
And stands like a spectre there.

The miller, too, has gone to rest ;—-
He sleeps in the vale below;
They made his grave in the winter time,
Down where the willows grow.
But now the boughs are green again,
And the winds are soft and still;
I send you a sprig, to mind you, Lill,
Of me, and the rude old mill.

EXERCISE CXV.

NATHANIEL PArker Willis is a native of Portland, in the state of Maine. He was born in January, 1807. He had no small reputation as a poet, even before he left college. He afterwards spent much time abroad, and gave such a record of his observations as showed no want of penetration, as an observer of men and manners, and no want of wit in making his observations known. He is, indeed, a very versatile writer: developing at pleasure, and often with surprising effect, not only those lighter motives that lie but little below the surface of the social stream, but, also, those deeper sources of human conduct and character, out of which spring the great events and issues of life. His delineations of Scripture scenes and characters are especially fine. Take, as a specimen, the following.