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Balmy and breathing music like the south ́, (He really brings my heart into my mouth!)

Bold as the hawk, yet gentle as the dove"; (I'll tell you what`, my love,

I can not write, unless he's sent above.)

XXIX. SPEECH OF WALPOLE IN REPROOF OF MR. PITT.

WILLIAM PITT, afterward EARL OF CHATHAM, and SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, were distinguished English statesmen of the last century. Pitt entered the house of Parliament before he was twenty-one. At that time Walpole was a leading politician, and as Pitt opposed his measures with a force and eloquence seldom equaled, he drew upon himself the opposition of Walpole, as expressed in this extract, and which Pitt answered in the succeeding extract with a vigor and eloquence never surpassed.

In this and some succeeding lessons the emphatic words are marked, in addition to the inflections.

1. I was unwilling to interrupt the course of this debate, while it was carried on with calmness and decency, by men who do not suffer the ardor of opposition to cloud their reason, or transport them to such expressions as the dignity of this assembly does not admit.

2. I have hitherto deferred answering the gentleman, who declaimed against the bill with such fluency and rhetoric, and such vehemence of gesture; who charged the advocates for the expedients now proposed, with having no regard to any interests but their own, and with making laws only to consume paper, and threatened them with the defection of their adherents, and the loss of their influence, upon this new discovery of their folly and ignorance. Nor, do I now answer him for any other purpose, than to remind him how little the clamor of rage` and petulancy of invective, contribute to the end for which this assembly is called together; how little the discovery of truth is promoted`, and the security of the nation established, by pompous diction and theatrical emotion.

3. Formidable sounds and furious declamation, confident assertions and lofty periods, may affect the young and inexpcrienced; and perhaps the gentleman may have contracted his

habits of oratory, by conversing more with those of his own age, than with such as have more opportunities of acquiring knowledge, and more successful methods of communicating their sentiments. If the heat of temper would permit him to attend to those, whose age and long acquaintance with business give them an indisputable right to deference and superiority, he would learn in time to reason`, rather than declaim ́; and to prefer justness of argument and an accurate knowledge of facts, to sounding epithets and splendid superlatives", which may disturb the imagination for a moment, but leave no lasting impression upon the mind. He would learn, that to accuse and prove are very different; and that reproaches, unsupported by evidence', affect only the character of him that utters them.

4. Excursions of fancy and flights of oratory', are indeed pardonable in young men, but in no other; and it would surely contribute more, even to the purpose for which some gentlemen appear to speak, (that of depreciating the conduct of the administration), to prove the inconveniences and injustice of this bill, than barely to assert them, with whatever magnificence of language, or appearance of zeal ́, honesty ́, or compassion.

XXX. - PITT'S REPLY TO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

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See note at the head of the preceding Exercise.

(Observe in this, examples of antithesis and relative emphasis.)

1. THE atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honorable gentleman has, with such spirit and decency, charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with hoping, that I may be one of those whose follies cease with their youth ́, and not of that number, who are ignorant in spite of experience. Whether youth can be imputed to a man as a reproach ́, I will not assume the province of determining; but surely age may become justly contemptible, if the opportunities which it brings have passed away without improvement, and vice appears to prevail', when the passions have subsided. The wretch, who, after having seen the consequences of a thou

sand errors, continues still to blunder ́, and whose age has only added obstinacy` to stupidity', is surely the object either of abhorrence or contempt, and deserves not that his gray hairs should secure him from insult. Much more is he to be abhorred, who, as he has advanced—in age ́, has receded - from virtue`, and become more wicked · with less temptation; who prostitutes himself for money which he can not enjoy, and spends the remains of his life, in the ruin of his country`.

2. But youth is not my only crime; I am accused of acting a theatrical part. A theatrical part may either imply some peculiarity of gesture, or a dissimulation of my real sentiments, and an adoption of the opinions and language of another man. In the first sense, the charge is too trifling to be confuted; and deserves only to be mentioned, that it may be despised. I am at liberty, like every other man, to use my own language; and though, perhaps, I may have some ambition to please this gentleman, I shall not lay myself under any restraint, nor very solicitously copy his diction or his mien`, however matured by age, or modeled by experience.

3. But, if any man shall, by charging me with theatrical behavior, imply, that I utter any sentiments but my own ́, I shall treat him as a calumniator and a villain`; nor shall any protection shelter him from the treatment he deserves. I shall, on such an occasion, without scruple, trample upon all those forms with which wealth and dignity intrench themselves, nor shall any thing but age restrain my resentment; age, which always brings one privilege, that of being insolent and supercilious, without punishment`.

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4. But, with regard to those whom I have offended, I am of opinion, that if I had acted a borrowed part", I should have avoided their censure: the heat that offended them, was the ardor of conviction, and that zeal for the service of my country which neither hope nor fear shall influence me to suppress. I will not sit unconcerned while my liberty is invaded, nor look in silence upon public robbery`. I will exert my endeavors, at whatever hazard, to repel the aggressor, and drag the thief to justice, whoever may protect him. in his villanies, and whoever may partake of his plunder.

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1. THE secretary stood alone. Modern degeneracy had not reached him. Original and unaccommodating, the features of his character had the hardihood of antiquity. His august mind overawed majesty itself. No state chicanery`, no narrow system of vicious politics`, no idle contest for ministerial victories, sank him to the vulgar level of the great`; but overbearing, persuasive`, and impracticable ́, his object was England', his ambition was fame`.

2. Without dividing', he destroyed party; without corrupting ́, he made a venal age unanimous. France sunk beneath him. With one hand he smote the house of Bourbon, and wielded in the other the democracy of England. The sight of his mind was infinite`; and his schemes were to affect, not England`, not the present age only, but Europe and posterity. Wonderful were the means by which those schemes were accomplished; always seasonable, always adequate, the suggestion of an understanding animated by ardor, and enlightened by prophecy.

3. The ordinary feelings which make life amiable and indolent were unknown to him. No domestic difficulties, no domestic weakness reached him; but aloof from the sordid occurrences of life, and unsullied by its intercourse, he came occasionally into our system, to counsel and decide. A character so exalted, so strenuous, so various, so authoritative", astonished a corrupt age, and the treasury trembled at the name of Pitt, through all classes of venality. Corruption. imagined, indeed, that she had found defects` in this statesman, and talked much of the inconsistency of his glory`, and much of the ruin of his victories; but the history of his country, and the calamities of the enemy, answered and refuted` her.

4. Nor were his political his only talents. His eloquence was an era in the senate; peculiar, and spontaneous; familiarly expressing gigantic sentiments and instructive wisdom; not like the torrent of Demosthenes, or the splendid conflagration of Tully; it resembled sometimes the thunder', and sometimes the music of the spheres. He did not conduct the understanding through the painful subtility of argumen

tation, nor was he ever on the rack of exertion`; but rather lightened upon the subject, and reached the point by the flashings of the mind, which, like those of the eye, were felt", but could not be followed.

5. Upon the whole, there was in this man something that could create, subvert', or reform; an understanding, a spirit, and an eloquence, to summon mankind to society, or to break the bonds of slavery asunder, and to rule the wildness of free minds with unbounded authority; something that could establish', or overwhelm empires, and strike a blow in the world that should resound through the universe`.

XXXII. - THE GOUTY MERCHANT AND THE STRANGER. PUBLIC LEDGER; a noted newspaper in London.

King's Head; a tavern in London.
Newgate; a London prison

1. IN Broadstreet building, (on a winter night),
Snug by his parlor-fire, a gouty wight
Sat all alone, with one hand rubbing
His feet, rolled up in fleecy hose,

2.

3.

With t'other he'd beneath his nose

The Public Ledger, in whose columns grubbing,
He noted all the sales of hops,

Ships, shops, and slops;

Gum`, galls ́, and groceries; ginger`, gin`,
Tar, tallow, turmeric, turpentine, and tin`;
When lo! a decent personage in black,

Entered and most politely said—

"Your footman, sir, has gone his nightly track
To the King's Head,

And left your door ajar, which I

Observ'd in passing by;

And thought it neighborly to give you notice`.”

"Ten thousand thanks; how very few do get,

In time of danger,

Such kind attentions from a stranger`!

Assuredly, that fellow's throat is

Doom'd to a final drop at Newgate`:

He knows, too, (the unconscionable elf),

That there's no soul at home except myself`."

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