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been in the parlor window three days, three days, gentlemen, a being, erect upon two legs, and bearing all the outward semblance of a man and not of a monster, knocked at the door of Mrs. Bardell's house. He inquired within; he took the lodgings; and on the very next day he entered into possession of them. This man was Pickwick, Pickwick the defendant.

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And now, gentlemen, but one word more. Two letters have passed between these parties, letters which are admitted to be in the handwriting of the defendant, and which speak volumes indeed. These letters, too, bespeak 1 the character of the man. They are not open, fervent, eloquent epistles, breathing nothing but the language of affectionate attachment. They are covert, sly, underhanded communications, but, fortunately, far more conclusive than if couched in the most glowing language and the most poetic imagery, letters that must be viewed with a cautious and suspicious eye; letters that were evidently intended at the time, by Pickwick, to mislead and delude any third parties into whose hands they might fall. Let me read the first: "Garraway's,5 twelve o'clock. Dear Mrs. B.-Chops and tomato sauce. Gentlemen, what does this mean? sauce. Yours, Pickwick! Chops! and tomato sauce! Gentlemen, is the happiness of a sensitive and confiding female to be trifled away by such shallow artifices as these? The next has no date what

1 bespeak, indicate.

Yours, Pickwick." Chops and tomato Gracious heavens!

4 imagery (îm'age-ry, not im'ağ

2 covert (literally, "covered "), | er-y), figures of speech. secret, disguised.

8 couched, expressed, phrased.

5 Garraway's, a noted club in London.

ever, which is in itself suspicious. "Dear Mrs. B. — I shall not be at home till to-morrow. Slow coach." And then follows this very remarkable expression: "Don't trouble yourself about the warming pan."

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The warming pan! Why, gentlemen, who does trouble himself about a warming pan? Why is Mrs. Bardell so earnestly entreated not to agitate herself about the warming pan, unless (as is no doubt the case) it is a mere cover for hidden fire, a mere substitute for some endearing word or promise, agreeably to a preconcerted system of correspondence, artfully contrived by Pickwick with a view to his contemplated desertion, and which I am not in a condition to explain? And what does this allusion to the slow coach mean? For aught I know, it may be a reference to Pickwick himself, who has most unquestionably been a criminally slow coach during the whole of this transaction, but whose speed will now be very unexpectedly accelerated, and whose wheels, gentlemen, as he will find to his cost, will very soon be greased by you!

But enough of this, gentlemen: it is difficult to smile with an aching heart; it is ill jesting when our deepest sympathies are awakened. My client's hopes and prospects are ruined, and it is no figure of speech to say that her occupation is gone indeed. The bill is down; but there is no tenant. Eligible single gentlemen pass and repass; but there is no invitation for them to inquire within or without. All is gloom and silence in the house: even

1 But enough, etc. To be read in a mock-heroic tone.

2 Eligible, worthy to be chosen, desirable,

the voice of the child is hushed; his infant sports are disregarded when his mother weeps.

But Pickwick,' gentlemen, - Pickwick, the ruthless destroyer of this domestic oasis in the desert of Goswell Street; Pickwick, who has choked up the well, and thrown ashes on the sward; Pickwick, who comes before you to-day with his heartless tomato sauce and warming pan, Pickwick still rears his head with unblushing effrontery, and gazes without a sigh on the ruin he has made. Damages, gentlemen, heavy damages is the only punishment with which you can visit him; the only recompense you can award to my client. And for those damages she now appeals to an enlightened, a high-minded, a right-feeling, a conscientious, a dispassionate, a sympathizing 2 jury of her civilized countrymen.

DICKENS.

77.-The Crossing of the Rubicon.

This piece is the speech of one of the speakers in an imaginary debate on the character of Cæsar by James Sheridan Knowles. Hence the form of address, "Mr. President." By "A gentleman" is meant a previous speaker.

A gentleman, Mr. President, speaking of Cæsar's benevolent disposition and of the reluctance with which he had entered into the civil war, observes, "How long did

1 But Pickwick, etc. The voice should here imitate the simulated indignation of the lawyer.

2 enlightened

sympathiz

ing. What is the figure of speech? (See Def. 6.)

he pause upon the brink of the Rubicon?" How came he to the brink of that river! How dared he cross it? Shall private men respect the boundaries of private property, and shall a man pay no respect to the boundaries of his country's rights? How dared he cross that river! O, but he paused upon the brink! He should have perished upon the brink ere he had crossed it! Why did he pause? Why does a man's heart palpitate when he is on the point of committing an unlawful deed? Why does the very murderer, his victim sleeping before him, and his glaring eye taking the measure of the blow, strike wide of the mortal part? Because of conscience! 'Twas that made Cæsar pause upon the brink of the Rubicon.

Cæsar paused upon the brink of the Rubicon. What was the Rubicon? The boundary of Cæsar's province.1 From what did it separate that province? From his country. Was that country a desert? No: it was cultivated and fertile, rich and populous. Its sons were men of genius, spirit, and generosity. Its daughters were pure, lovely, and ingenuous. Friendship was its inhabitant. Love was its inhabitant. Domestic affection was its inhabitant. Liberty was its inhabitant. All bounded by the stream of the Rubicon!

What was Cæsar, that stood upon the bank of that

1 province. eight campaigns (B.C. 58-50), conquered the whole region north of the Pyrenees and west of the Rhine; and of this province, named Gaul (Gallia), he was made governor. The small stream called the Rubicon separated his province from

Julius Cæsar, in the territories of the Roman repub

lic.

Believing that his political enemies were trying to destroy him, he crossed the Rubicon in January, B.C. 49, and, after some years of war, made himself master of Rome.

2 ingenuous, artless.

stream? A traitor, bringing war and pestilence into the heart of that country. No wonder that he paused; no wonder, if, his imagination wrought upon by his conscience, he had beheld blood instead of water, and heard groans instead of murmurs! No wonder, if some Gorgon1 horror had turned him into stone upon the spot! But He plunged, he no! he cried, "The die is cast!" crossed, and Rome was free no more.

JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES.

78. Supposed Speech of John Adams.

In the three days' debate (July 2-4, 1776) in the Continental Congress, on the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the most ardent and eloquent champion of the measure was John Adams of Massachusetts. There is no report of his speeches; but from traditional hints as to their tenor and language, Daniel Webster composed the following masterly speech, which represents the sentiments, if not the language, of Adams. (See Lesson 68, Fourth Reader.)

Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at independence. But

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends."

112

The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest, she has obstinately persisted,

2 "There's .

1 Gorgon. In Greek mythology | upon, that the beholder was turned the Gorgon Medusa was represented into stone. as a frightful female creature, whose head, on which were serpents instead of hair, was so terrible to look

ends" is a quotation from Shakespeare's play of Hamlet."

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