Hamlet. A murderer and a villain: A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe Of shreds and patches; [Enter GHOST. Save me and hover o'er me with your wings, You heavenly guards!-What would your gracious figure? Queen. Alas, he's mad! Hamlet. Do you not come your tardy son to chide, That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by The important acting of your dread command? Ghost. Do not forget: this visitation Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose. Hamlet. How is it with you, lady? Queen. Alas! how is't with you, That you do bend your eye on vacancy, And with the incorporal air do hold discourse? Where n do you look? Hamlet. On him! on him! Look you, how pale he glares! His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones, Would make them capable. Do not look on me, Lest, with this pitcous action, you convert My stern effects: then what I have to do Will want true color; tears, perchance, for blood. Do you see nothing there! Queen. Nothing at all; yet all that is I see. Queen. No, nothing, but ourselves. Hamlet. Why, look you there! look, how it steals away! My father, in his habit as he lived! Look, where he goes, even now, out at the porta.! Queen. This is the very coinage of your brain: This bodiless creätion, ecstasy My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time, Repent what's past; avoid what is to come; And do not spread the compost on the weeds, To make them ranker. [Exit GHOST Queen. O Hamlet! thou hast cleft my heart in twain. I 136. PUBLIC VIRTUE. SHAKSPEARE.' HOPE, that in all that relates to personal firmness, all that concerns a just appreciation of the insignificance of human life,-whatever may be attempted to threaten or alarm a soul not easily swayed by opposition, or awed or intimidated by měnace, -a stout heart and a steady eye, that can survey', unmoved and undaunted, any mere personal perils that assail this poor, transient, perishing frame,-I may, without disparagement, compare with other men. 1See Biographical Sketch, p. 348. 2. But there is a sort of courage, which, I frankly confess it, I do not possess,-—a boldness to which I dare not aspire, a valor which I can not covet. I can not lay myself down in the way of the welfare and happiness of my country. That I can not, I have not the courage to do. I can not interpose the power with which I may be invested-a power conferred, not for my personal benefit, nor for my ag'grandizement, but for my country's good-to check her onward march to greatness and glory. have not courage enough. I am too cowardly for that. 3. I would not, I dare not, in the exercise of such a trust, lie down, and place my body across the path that leads my country to prosperity and happiness. This is a sort of courage widely different from that which a man may display in his private conduct and personal relations. Personal or private courage is totally distinct from that higher and nobler courage which prompts the patriot to offer himself a voluntary sacrifice to his country's good. 4. Apprehensions of the imputation of the want of firmness. sometimes impel us to perform rash and inconsiderate acts. It is the greatest courage to be able to bear the imputation of the want of courage. But pride, vanity, egotism, so unamiable and offensive in private life, are vices which partake of the character of crimes, in the conduct of public affairs. The unfortunate victim of these passions can not see beyond the little, petty, contemptible circle of his own personal interests. All his thoughts are withdrawn from his country, and concentrated on his consistency, his firmness, himself. 5. The high, the exalted, the sublime emotions of a patriotism, which, soaring toward heaven, rises far above all mean, low, or selfish things, and is absorbed by one soul-transporting thought of the good and the glory of one's country, are never felt in his impenetrable bosom. That patriotism, which, cătching its inspirations from the immortal God, and leaving at an immeasura able distance below all lesser, groveling, personal interests and feelings, animates and prompts to deeds of self-sacrifice, of valor, of devotion, and of death itself,-that is public virtue; that is the noblest, the sublimest, of all public virtues. HENRY CLAY. HENRY CLAY, a distinguished statesman of the United States, was born at the Slashes, Hanover county, Virginia, on the 12th of April, 1777. His father, a clergyman, died in 1781, and HENRY acquired the rudiments of an education at a log school-house. At an early age he became clerk of the Court of Chancery in Richmond. He commenced the study of law at the age of nineteen, was admitted to the bar at the close of one year, and removed to Lexington, Ky., where he practiced his profession with great success. In 1803 he was elected to the legislature of his State, and in 1806 and 1809, was appointed to fill vacancies in the national senate. In 1811 he was chosen a member of the House of Representatives, and was at once elected speaker, which office he retained until his appointment, in January, 1814, as one of the commissioners to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent. On his return he was reelected to Congress; and, in 1823, was again elected speaker of the House. During the presidency of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS he was secretary of state. In 1831 he was elected United States senator from Kentucky, and was soon after nominated a candidate for the presidency, but was defeated. In 1836 he was reelected to the United States Senate, and served until 1842. In 1844 he was again nominated to the presidency, and again. defeated. He was returned to the U. S. Senate in 1849, and died on the 29th of June, 1852, at the age of 75 years. He was ever an advocate of "protection to American industry" by a sufficient tariff, and of“ internal improvements." He was in favor of the war in 1812, of the recognition of the South American republics, and of the independence of Greece. Some of his noblest oratorical efforts were delivered in support of these measures. His speeches are sincere, impassioned, and distinguished for their eminent practicalness. Full, flowing, sensuous, his style of oratory was modulated by a voice of sustained sweetness and power, and a heart of chivalrous courtesy. His life and speeches, compiled and edited by MALLORY, in two volumes, 8vo., appeared in 1843; and his "Life and Times," and entire works, by CALVIN COLTON, have since been published in New York. 137. WASHINGTON'S SWORD AND FRANKLIN'S STAFF.1 THE sword of Washington! The staff of Franklin! Oh, Sir, what associations are linked in adamant with these names! Washington, whose sword was never drawn but in the cause of his country, and never sheathed when wielded in his country's cause! Franklin, the philosopher of the thunderbolt, the printing-press, and the plowshare! What names are these in the scanty catalogue of the benefactors of human kind! Washington and Franklin! What other two men, whose lives belong to the eighteenth century of Christendom, have left a deeper impression of themselves upon the age in which they lived, and upon all after time? 2. Washington, the warrior and the legislator! In war, contending, by the wager of battle, for the independence of his country, and for the freedom of the human race,-ever manifest From an address in the U. S. House of Representatives, on the reception of these memorials by Congress. ing, amidst its horrors, by precept and by example, his reverence for the laws of peace, and for the tenderest sympathies of humanity; in peace, soothing the ferocious spirit of discord, among his own countrymen, into harmony and union, and giving to that very sword, now presented to his country, a charm more potent than that attributed, in ancient times, to the lyre of Orpheus. 3. Franklin! The mechanic of his own fortune; teaching, in early youth, under the shackles of indigence, the way to wealth, and, in the shade of obscurity, the path to greatness; in the maturity of manhood, disarming the thunder of its terrors, the lightning of its fatal blast; and wresting from the tyrant's hand the still more afflictive scepter of oppression: while descending into the vale of years, traversing the Atlantic Ocean, braving, in the dead of winter, the battle and the breeze, bearing in his hand. the charter of Independence, which he had contributed to form, and tendering, from the self-created Nation to the mightiest monarchs of Europe, the olive-branch of peace, the mercurial wand of commerce, and the amulet of protection and safety to the man of peace, on the pathless ocean, from the inex'orable cruelty and merciless rapacity of war. 4. And, finally, in the last stage of life, with fourscore winters upon his head, under the torture of an incurable disease, returning to his native land, closing his days as the chief magistrate of his adopted commonwealth, after contributing by his counsels, under the presidency of Washington, and recording his name, under the sanction of devout prayer, invoked by him to God, to that Constitution under the authority of which we are here assembled, as the Representatives of the North American People, to receive, in their name and for them, these venerable relics of the wise, the valiant, and the good founders of our great confederated Republic-these sacred symbols of our golden age. 5. May they be deposited among the archives of our govern 'ORPHEUS, a mythical personage, was regarded by the Greeks as the most celebrated of the early poets who lived before the time of HOMER. Presented with the lyre of APOLLO, and instructed by the Muses in its use, he enchanted with its music not only the wild beasts, but the trees and rocks upon Olympus, so that they moved from their places to follow the sound of his golden harp. |