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Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee;

Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they? Thy waters wasted them while they were free, And many a tyrant since; their shores obey The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay

Has dried up realms to deserts: - not so thou, Unchangeable, save to thy wild waves' play;

Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow,-
Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now.

Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time,

Calm or convulsed-in breeze, or gale, or storm
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime
Dark-heaving; boundless, endless, and sublime-
The image of eternity-the throne

Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime

The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone!

And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Bōrne, like thy bubbles, onward from a boy
I wantoned with thy breakers: they to me
Were a delight; and if the freshening sea
Made them a terror, 't was a pleasing fear,
For I was, as it were, a child of thee,

And trusted to thy billows far and near,
And laid my hand upon thy mane

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as I do here.

LORD BYRON.

Be brave, be just; and, when your country's laws
Call you to witness in a dubious cause,

Though Power should plant his rack before your eye,

And, frowning, dictate to your lips the lie,

Think it a crime no tears can e'er efface
To purchase safety with compliance base,—
At honor's cost, a feverish span extend,
And sacrifice, for life, life's only end!-GIFFORD.

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Avoid saying ax for acts. Give o in nothing and none the sound of short u.

1. EVERY morning we enter upon a new day, that carries an unknown future in its bosom. How stirring the reflection! Thoughts may be born to-day, which may never die. Feelings may be awakened today, which may never be extinguished. Hopes may be excited to-day, which may never expire. Acts may be performed to-day, the consequence of which may not be reälized till eternity.

2. There is something solemn and awful in the consideration that there is not an act nor a thought in the life of a human being, that does not carry with it a train of consequences, the end of which we may never trace. We all, to a certain extent, influence the lives and minds of those about us. The good deed or thought will live, even though we may not see it fructify; but so will the bad; and no person is so insignificant as to be sure that his example will not do good on the one hand, or evil on the other.

3. There is, indeed, an element of immortality in the life of man, even in this world. No individual in the universe stands alone; he is a component part of a system of mutual dependences; and by his several acts he either increases or diminishes the sum of human good now and forever. As the present is rooted in the past, and the lives and examples of our fore fathers still to a great extent influence us, so are we by our daily acts contributing to form the condition and character of the future.

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4. No man's acts die utterly. It is a terrible thought to remember that nothing can be forgotten. I have somewhere read that not an oath is uttered that does not continue to vibrate through all time, in the widespread current of sound; not a prayer lisped, that its record is not to be found stamped on the laws of nature by the indelible seal of the Almighty's will.

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best;
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the longest."

5. Every act we do, or word we utter, as well as every act we witness, or word we hear, carries with it an influence which not only extends over our whole future life, and gives to it color and direction, but produces some effect, slight or important, upon the whole frame of society. We may not, and indeed can not, trace the influence working itself into action in its various ramifications among children, friends, associates; yet there it is, assuredly, working on forever. And herein lies the great significance of setting forth a good example,— a silent teaching, which even the poorest person and the humblest child can enforce by his daily life.

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6. Let us first take heed to our thoughts; for thoughts resolve themselves, sooner or later, into habits and deeds. To think is to live. Let us, then, reject all evil and impure thoughts, and give entertainment only to those that are good and kind, noble and forgiving, instructive and elevating. Time and life, unfilled with thought, are useless, unenjoyed, bringing no pleasure for the present, storing no good for future need. To-day is the golden chance, wherewith to snatch thought's blessed fruition,-the joy of the

present, the hope of the future. To-day is the time for all good resolutions, and for all first steps in improvement:

O, bright presence of To-day, let me wrestle with thee, gracious angel!
I will not let thee go except thou bless me; bless me, then, To-day!
O, sweet garden of To-day, let me gather of thee, precious Eden;
I have stolen bitter knowledge, give me fruits of life To-day.
O, true temple of To-day, let me worship in thee, glorious Zion;
I find none other place nor time than where I am To-day.

O, living rescue of To-day, let me run into thee, ark of refuge;
I see none other hope nor chance, but standeth in To-day.
O, rich banquet of To-day, let me feast upon thee, saving manna -
I have none other food nor store but daily bread To-day.

LXXVI.

AMERICA'S OBLIGATIONS TO ENGLAND.

FROM THE SPEECH IN REPLY TO CHARLES TOWNSHEND, A MEMBER OF THE BRITISH MINISTRY, 1765.

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Pronounce distinctly the consonant terminations here represented: askt; handz; frendz; beasts; subjekts; akts; tri'umfs; feelingz; bandz. These and similar consonant combinations are too often slighted.

"And now

1. THE honorable member has asked: will these Americans, children planted by our care, nourished up by our indulgence, and protected by our arms, will they grudge to contribute their mite?" They planted by your care!- No, your oppressions planted them in America! They fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated and inhospitable country, where they exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable; and, among others, to the cruelties of a savage foe the most subtle, and I will take upon me to say the most formidable,

of any people upon the face of the earth; and yet, actuated by principles of true English liberty, our American brethren met all hardships with pleasure, compared with those they suffered in their own country from the hands of those that should have been their friends:

2. They nourished up by your indulgence! They grew by your neglect of them! As soon as you be gan to care about them, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule them, in one department and another, who were, perhaps, the deputies of deputies to some members of this House, sent to spy out their liberties, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them; - men whose behavior, on many occa sions, has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them; men promoted to the highest seats of justice, some who, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to a foreign country, to escape being brought to the bar of a court of justice in their own.

3. They protected by your arms! They have nobly taken up arms in your defense!-have exerted a valor, amid their constant and laborious industry, for the defense of a country whose frontier was drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little savings to your emolument. And, believe me,-remember I this day told you so, that same spirit of freedom which actuated that people at first will accompany them still; but prudence forbids me to explain, myself further.

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4. Heaven knows I do not at this time speak from motives of party heat. What I deliver are the genuine sentiments of my heart. However superior to me, in general knowledge and experience, the respectable body of this House may be, yet I claim to know more of America than most of you, having seen that country and been con'versant with its affairs. The people,

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