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might be addressed in my client's behalf. In countries, where the passions have a more predominating sway, where the organization of man is more excitable, and his blood more easily stirred, an advocate would not omit to urge these considerations,-to appeal to these sensibilities.

I might speak to you of the gloom which an unfavorable verdict will spread among a large circle of friends and relatives, of the anguish of his heart-broken wife, of the withering blight which will fall upon his innocent children, 10 of the deep, unmoving shadow which will settle upon his once cheerful hearth.

But that stern fibre, which the mind and character derives from our northern skies, rebukes such attempts, and ensures their failure, if made. Such chords, if skilfully 15 struck, will tremble and vibrate for a moment, but will not draw the judgment from its place. Justice is deaf, passionless, inexorable. Upon the guilty head, the great axe must fall, no matter what chords of love it severs in its sweep.

But, of these considerations, I may make a legitimate 20 use. From them I may deepen the earnestness, with which I adjure you to deal with this case wisely, soberly, conscientiously, with the best faculties of your minds, and the brightest effluence of your moral sense. Judge it mercifully, as you would be judged, when the verdict is to pass 25 upon your lives. Give to the prisoner all that you can, not inconsistent with the claims of truth, not repugnant to the solemn sanctions of your oath.

By all that makes life sweet to you, take not his away lightly. By that good name which is the immediate jewel 30 of your souls, by the tranquil satisfaction of regular and successful industry, by the sustaining sympathy of your friends, by the sunshine that beams from old familiar faces, by the sweet charities of domestic life, by the kisses of your children, which perhaps are warm upon your lips, 35 close not the gates of mercy against your brother man, unless driven by that awful voice of duty, before which all earthly considerations must ever give way.

LESSON CXXX.-THE GENIUS OF ARISTOPHANES.-C. C. FELTON

The greatness of the genius of Aristophanes, is not generally appreciated. The value of his comedies, as illustrations of the political antiquities, the life, morals, and manners of Athens, is not fully understood. The truth is,

we are indebted to him for information upon the working of the Attic institutions, which, had all his plays been lost, we should have vainly sought for in the works of other authors. With what boldness and vigor does he sketch 5 that many-headed despot, the Demos of Athens; with what austere truth, does he draw the character of the Athenian Demagogue, and, in him, the Demagogue of all times; how many rays of light are poured from his comedies, upon the popular and judicial tribunals,—the assem10 blies in the Pnyx, the Senate, and the Heliastic courts!

No intelligent reader can doubt, that Aristophanes was a man of the most profound acquaintance with the political institutions of his age; no reader of poetic fancy can fail to see that he possessed an extraordinary creative 15 genius. It is impossible to study his works attentively, without feeling that his was the master mind of the Attic drama. The brightest flashes of a high poetical spirit, are constantly breaking out, from the midst of the broadest merriment, and the sharpest satire. An imagination of 20 endless variety and strength, enlivens those lyrical passages which gem his works, and are among the most precious brilliants of the Greek language. In the drawing of characters, his plays exhibit consummate skill. The clearness of his conceptions, the precision of his outlines, the con25 sistency with which his personages are throughout maintained, cannot fail to impress the reader, with the perfection of his judgment, and the masterly management of the resources of his art.

He had the inestimable advantage, too, of writing in a 30 language which is undoubtedly the highest attainment of human speech; and all the rich varieties and harmonies of this wondrous instrument, he held at his supreme command. Its flexibility, under his shaping hand, is almost miraculous. At one moment, he is revelling in the wildest 35 mirth, and the next, he is sweeping through the loftiest region of lyrical inspiration; but the language never breaks down under his adventurous flight. The very words he wants, come, like beings instinct with life, and fall into their proper places, at his bidding. His wit is as manifold 40 and startling, as the myriad-minded Shakspeare's. Indeed, although these great men stood two thousand years apart, and moved in widely differing spheres of poetical activity, still many striking points of resemblance exist between the genius of the English, and of the Grecian bard.

LESSON CXXXI.-RESPONSIBILITY OF AMERICANS.

E. S. GANNETT.

The Christian world is passing through a momentous crisis. A struggle has begun, such as the kingdoms of Europe have never before known. The elements of revolution no longer slumber in any one of them. Ever and 5 anon, they break forth in tumult and bloodshed. Smothered, they are not idle; pent up in the confinement which sovereigns impose on them, they are but accumulating strength for new eruptions. Two parties exist throughout all the states of Europe, with the exception perhaps of 10 imperial Russia, the popular party, and the party that support old institutions, either because they know that, if these fall, they shall be buried in the ruins, or because habit has so accustomed them to subjection, that they feel no wish to part with their chains.

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The cause of freedom, of human rights, and the world's improvement, depends on the fidelity of the popular party to the principles which they have undertaken to sustain. A fearful contest must ensue, with reciprocal defeat, and mutual obstinacy. If the popular party should prevail, it 20 can only be after long and desperate efforts, under which they will need every encouragement. With this party, our sympathies are inseparably linked. From our exam ple, came the first ray that penetrated the darkness, from which they have awoke. Under its steady influence, they 25 hope to press on to the accomplishment of their wishes. If its aspect should be changed, their disappointment would be severe, it might be fatal.

The eyes of Europe are upon us; the monarch, from his throne, watches us with an angry countenance; the peas30 ant turns his gaze on us, with joyful faith; the writers, on politics, quote our condition, as a proof of the possibility of popular government; the heroes of freedom animate their followers, by reminding them of our success. At no moment of the last half century, has it been so important, 35 that we should send up a clear and strong light which may be seen across the Atlantic. An awful charge of unfaithfulness to the interests of mankind, will be recorded against us, if we suffer this light to be obscured, by the mingling vapors of passion, and misrule, and sin.

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But not Europe, alone, will be influenced by the character we give to our destiny. The republics of the south have no other guide towards the establishment of order

and freedom, than our example. If this should fail them, the last stay would be torn from their hope. We are placed under a most solemn obligation, to keep before them this motive to perseverance, in their endeavors to place 5 free institutions on a sure basis. Shall we leave.those wide regions to despair and anarchy? Better that they had patiently borne a foreign yoke, though it bowed their necks to the ground.

Citizens of the United States, it has been said of us, 10 with truth, that we are at the head of the popular party of the world. Shall we be ashamed of so glorious a rank? or shall we basely desert our place, and throw away our distinction? Forbid it, self-respect, patriotism, philanthropy! Christians, we believe that God has made us a 15 name and a praise, among the nations. We believe that our religion yields its best fruits in a free land. Shall we be regardless of our duty, as creatures of the Divine Power, and recipients of his goodness? Shall we be indifferent to the effects which our religion may work in the world? 20 Forbid it our gratitude, our faith, our piety!

In one way only, can we discharge our duty to the rest of mankind; by the purity and elevation of character that shall distinguish us as a people. If we sink into luxury, vice, or moral apathy, our brightness will be lost, our 25 prosperity deprived of its vital element; and we shall appear disgraced before man, guilty before God.

LESSON CXXXII.-THE MOCKING-BIRD.-ALEXANDER WILSON.

The plumage of the mocking-bird, though none of the homeliest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it; and, had he nothing else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice; but his figure is well-proportioned, and 5 even handsome. The ease, elegance, and rapidity of his movements, the animation of his eye, and the intelligence he displays in listening, and laying up lessons from almost every species of the feathered creation within his hearing, are really surprising, and mark the peculiarity of his 10 genius.

To these qualities, we may add that of a voice full, strong, and musical, and capable of almost every modulation, from the clear, mellow tones of the wood-thrush, to the savage screams of the bald eagle. In measure and 15 accent, he faithfully follows his originals. In force and

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sweetness of expression, he greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, mounted upon the top of a tall bush, or half-grown tree, in the dawn of a dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, 15 his admirable song rises preeminent over every competitor.

The ear can listen to his music alone, to which that of all the others seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this strain altogether imitative. His own native notes, 10 which are easily distinguishable by such as are acquainted with those of our various song birds, are bold and full, and varied seemingly beyond all limits. They consist of short expressions of two, three, or, at the most, five or six syllables, generally interspersed with imitations, and all 15 of them uttered with great emphasis and rapidity, and continued with undiminished ardor, for half an hour, or an hour, at a time; his expanded wings and tail, glistening with white, and the buoyant gaiety of his action, arresting the eye, as his song most irresistibly does the 20 ear. He sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstasy. He mounts and descends, as his song swells, or dies away; and, as my friend, Mr. Bartram, has beautifully expressed it, "he bounds aloft with the celerity of an arrow, as if to recover or recall his very soul, which expired in the last 25 elevated strain."

While thus exerting himself, a bystander, destitute of sight, would suppose that the whole feathered tribe had assembled together, on a trial of skill, each striving to produce his utmost effect :-so perfect are his imitations. 30 He many times deceives the sportsman, and sends him in search of birds that perhaps are not within miles of him, but whose notes he exactly imitates. Even birds themselves are frequently imposed on, by this admirable mimic, and are decoyed, by the fancied calls of their 35 mates; or dive with precipitation into the depths of thickets, at the scream of what they suppose to be the sparrow-hawk.

LESSON CXXXIII.—THE EUROPEAN AND THE AMERICAN NA-
TIONS. DANIEL WEBSTER.

In many respects, the European and the American nations are alike. They are alike Christian states, civilized states, and commercial states. They have access to the same common fountains of intelligence; they all dra

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