124

THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE.

Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery; of my redemtion thence,

And portance in my travel's history:

Wherein of antres vast, and deserts idle,

Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,

It was my hint to speak, such was the process;

And of the Cannibals that each other eat,

The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads

Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to hear,
Would Desdemona seriously incline:

But still the house affairs would draw her thence;
Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,

She'd come again, and with a greedy ear

Devour up my discourse: Which I observing,
Took once a pliant hour; and found good meaen
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart,
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,
Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
But not intentively: I did consent;

And often did beguile her of her tears,

When I did speak of some distressful stroke,

That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,

She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:

She swore. In faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange;

'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful:

She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd

That Heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me

And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,

I should but teach him how to tell my story,

And that would woo her. Upon this hint, I spake;

She loved me for the dangers I had passed;

And I loved her, that she did pity them..
This only is the witchcraft I have used.

BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE.

This piece should be spoken in a full, deep voice, as solemn and sweet as the gravest tones of an organ:

Not a drum was heard nor a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot,
O'er the grave where our hero was buried.
We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning-
By the struggling moon-beam's misty light
And the lantern dimly burning.

TO THE AMERICAN UNION

No useless coffin enclosed his breast,

Nor in sheet, nor in shroud we bound him
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest,

With his martial cloak around him.
Few and short were the prayers we said,
And we spoke not a word of sorrow;

But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead,
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

We thought as we hollowed his narrow bed,
And smoothed down his lowly pillow,

That the foe and the stranger would tread on his head,
And we far away on the billow;

Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,

And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him,

But nothing he'll reck, if they'll let him sleep on

In the grave where a Briton has laid him

But half of our heavy task was done,

When the clock told the hour for retiring,
And we heard by the distant and random gun
That the foe was suddenly firing;

Slowly and sadly we laid him down

From the field of his fame fresh and gory,
We carved not a line-we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone in his glory.

125

TO THE AMERICAN UNION.

TUPPER.

This piece needs little action or gesture; but should be spoken in a clear, bold tone of voice:

Giant aggregate of nations,

Glorious whole of glorious parts,

Unto endless generations

Live united, hands and hearts!

Be it storm or summer-weather,
Peaceful-calm or battle-jar,

Stand in beauteous strength together,
Sister States, as now ye are !

Every petty class-dissension,

Heal it up as quick as thought;

Every paltry place-pretension,
Crush it, as a thing of naught:

126

TO THE AMERICAN UNION.

Let no narrow private treason
Your great onward progress bar.
But remain, in right and reason,
Sister States, as now ye are!
Fling away absurd ambition!
People, leave that toy to kings:
Envy, jealousy, suspicion,

Be above such grovelling things,
In each other joys delighted,

All your hate be-joys of war,
And by all means keep united,
Sister States, as now ye are !

Were I but some scornful stranger,
Still my counsel would be just;
Break the band, and all is danger,
Mutual fear and dark distrust:
But you know me for a brother

And a friend who speak from far;
Be as one, then, with each other.
Sister States, as now ye are !

If it seems a thing unholy

Freedom's soil by slaves to till,
Yet, be just, and sagely, slowly
Nobly, cure that ancient ill:
Slowly,-haste is fatal ever;
Nobly,-lest good faith ye mar;
Sagely, not in wrath to sever
Sister States, as now ye are !

Charmed with your commingled beauty,
England sends the signal round,

"Every man must do his duty

To redeem from bonds the bound
Then indeed your banner's brightness,
Shining clear from every star,
Shall proclaim your joint uprightness.
Sister States, as now ye are !

So, a peerless constellation

May those stars forever blaze!
Three-and-ten-times-threefold nation.
Go-ahead in power and praise!
Like the many-breasted goddess
Throned on her Ephesian car,
Be-one heart in many bodies!
Sister States, as now ye are !

REPLY OF MR. PITT TO HORACE WALPOLE.

127

REPLY OF MR. PITT TO HORACE WALPOLE,

On being taunted on account of youth.

The attitude of the speaker throughout this speech should be proudly erect-as if conscious that he was fully the peer of any that listened to his harangue. As he lashes his adversary with a scourge of serpents, his curled lip and bitter invective should be in manitest contrast with his lofty bearing, as he compares himself with his calumniator:

Sir, 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 wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience. Whether youth can be imputed to any man as a reproach, I will not, sir, 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 thousand 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, sir, 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 cannot enjoy, and spends the remains of his life in the ruin of his country.

But youth, sir, is not my only crime; I have been accused of acting a theatrical part. A theatrical part may either imply some peculiarities of gesture, or a dissimulation of my real sentiments, and an adoption of the opinions and language of another man.

In the first sense, sir, 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 modelled by experience.

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 anything but age restrain

128

THE TWO WEAVERS.

my resentment,-age, which always brings one privilege, that of being insolent and supercilious, without punishment.

But with regard, sir, 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 is 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 villainy, and whoever may partake of his plunder.

THE TWO WEAVERS.

HANNAH MORE.

This piece should be spoken in a simple, unaffected conversational manner; still it admits of much quiet emphasis, and subdued irony:

As at their work two weavers sat,
Beguiling time with friendly chat,
They touched upon the price of meat,
So high, a weaver scarce could eat.

"What with my brats and sickly wife,"
Quota Dick, "I'm almost tired of life;
So hard my work, so poor my fare,
'Tis more than mortal man can bear.

"How glorious is the rich man's state
His house so fine, his wealth so great!
Heaven is unjust, you must agree;
Why all to him? Why none to me?

"In spite of what the Scripture teaches
In spite of all the parson preaches,
This world (indeed I've thought so long)
Is ruled, methinks extremely wrong.

"Where'er I look, howe'er I range,
'Tis all confused and hard and strange;
The good are troubled and oppressed,
And all the wicked are the blest."

Quoth John, " Our ignorance is the cause
Why thus we blame our Maker's laws;