4. However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

5. Towards the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance irregular opposition to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect in the forms of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown.

6. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each mem

ber of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

7. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity.

8. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

9. It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

DEFINITIONS.-1. Єov'ert ly, secretly. In sĭd'i oŭs ly, treacherously. Mo'ment, importance. Pal la'di ŭm, something that affords effectual protection and safety. 2. In dis pen ́sa ble, absolutely neces

sary. Ăd'e quate, fully sufficient. In frǎe'tions, violations. Ĕs'say, attempt. Ef fi ea cious, effectual. Ex pliç'it, clear. Au then'tie, genuine; true. 3. Făe'tion, a political party acting in opposition to the government. In eon'grụ oŭs, improper. Di ġěst'ed, well thought 5. In no vā'tion, change. Spe'cious, apparently right. 6. Hy poth ́e sis, supposition. 7. Trib'üte, that which is due or deserved. Sub vẽrtí, to overturn; to ruin.

over.

92. THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE GLOW

WORM.

WILLIAM COWPER was born in the county of Hertford, England, November 26, 1731. He was placed in a school in Hertfordshire, and afterward completed his studies at Westminster School. His chief works are Truth, Table-Talk, The Progress of Error, Expostulation, The Task, and a translation of Homer. His writings are natural and unaffected, and his letters are charming. He died April 27, 1800.

1. A NIGHTINGALE that all day long
Had cheered the village with his song,
Nor yet at eve his note suspended,
Nor yet when eventide was ended,
Began to feel, as well he might,
The keen demands of appetite,
When, looking eagerly around,
He spied far off, upon the ground,
A something shining in the dark,
And knew the glow-worm by his spark;
So, stooping down from hawthorn-top,
He thought to put him in his crop.
The worm, aware of his intent,
Harangued him thus, right eloquent.

2. "Did you admire my lamp," quoth he,
"As much as I your minstrelsy,
You would abhor to do me wrong
As much as I to spoil your song;

For 'twas the self-same Power Divine
Taught you to sing, and me to shine,
That you with music, I with light,
Might beautify and cheer the night.”
The songster heard his short oration,
And, warbling out his approbation,
Released him, as my story tells,
And found a supper somewhere else.

3. Hence jarring sectaries may learn
Their real interest to discern,—

That brother should not war with brother,
And worry and devour each other,

But sing and shine by sweet consent
Till life's poor transient night is spent,
Respecting in each other's case
The gifts of Nature and of grace.
Those Christians best deserve the name
Who studiously make peace their aim,-
Peace, both the duty and the prize
Of him that creeps and him that flies.

DEFINITIONS.-1. Erop, the place for food in the throat of a bird; the craw. 2. Min'strel sy, singing. 3. See'ta riēş, members of different religious denominations.

93.-WINTER EVENING IN THE COUNTRY.

1. HARK! 'tis the twanging horn o'er yonder bridge,
That with its wearisome but needful length
Bestrides the wintry flood, on which the moon
Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright:

He comes, the herald of a noisy world,

With spattered boots, strapped waist, and frozen

locks,

News from all nations lumbering at his back.
True to his charge, the close-packed load behind,
Yet careless what he brings, his one concern
Is to conduct it to the destined inn,

And, having dropped the expected bag, pass on.

2. He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful: messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some,
To him indifferent whether grief or joy.
Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks,
Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet
With tears, that trickled down the writer's cheeks
Fast as the periods from his fluent quill,

Or charged with amorous sighs of absent swains,
Or nymphs responsive, equally affect

His horse and him, unconscious of them all.

3. But, oh, the important budget! ushered in
With such heart-shaking music, who can say
What are its tidings? Have our troops awaked?
Or do they still, as if with opium drugged,
Snore to the murmurs of the Atlantic wave?
Is India free? and does she wear her plumed
And jeweled turban with a smile of peace,
Or do we grind her still? The grand debate,
The popular harangue, the tart reply,
The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit,
And the loud laugh,-I long to know them all 1;
I burn to set the imprisoned wranglers free,
And give them voice and utterance once again.