person present, he was gentle and good-tempered; and his enmity to me arose, as the keeper declared, solely from the circumstance of the little affront which I had formerly put upon him.-This incident made some impression upon me; and perhaps contributed to subdue a curiosity, which could not be gratified but at the expense of the feelings of others.

LESSON LXXX.

Thoughts on Thinking.-CONNECTICUT MIRROR.

THE human mind is said to be progressive; but there is one fact about it that has not been attended to. It is as apt to go backward as forward. The work of improving the mind must progress or recede, for it can be stationary but for a short time. Four or six years spent in a school or a college are far from making an educated man. In teaching the art of thinking, consists the whole mystery of education.-The object is, to strengthen, enlarge, and render more agreeable the faculties of the mind-not to furnish subjects on which they are to act. It is to teach the use of tools, not to supply senses or raw materials.

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Great proficiency has been often made in this art of thinking, by such as have never been to a college, perhaps not even to a school.-There are divers schools, besides the charities which the law or private munificence has established, in which an education can be obtained cheap in one sense, but dear in another. There is a fund more exhaustless than the school fund, that pours its bounties on many a reluctant scholar, and leads him struggling through all the degrees of experience.

It

In this school, ambition is checked, vanity is mortified, and the premiums, if possible, declined. In this school is taught, if the scholar "be capable to learn," the art of thinking; and it is called the school of ADVERSITY. is largely endowed: it is supplied with professors, teachers, and scholars, who never envy one another's promotion, and who would decline their own offices if they could. An elderly instructor in this school, by the name

of Experience, has gone through with a Lancastrian sys tem, which is older than the Proverbs of Solomon. He is said to be a dear schoolmaster, though he declines pay, and teaches on principles the most disinterested. Under him are those ushers from whom wit is bought; here necessity teaches her pupils all the diversities of invention. In this school, every instrument of discipline is freely used, from the birch to the dungeon; and no scholar, however mean his capacity, can escape without his portion of instruction.

In this school, the greatest and most useful men have been brought up, and few have arrived at distinction without the tuition of a quarter, or at least some serious lessons. This school has turned out poets from the days of Jeremiah, and heroes from the days of Sampson. It records more statesmen than the catalogue of any other. It monopolizes martyrdom, and can number more great men than all others put together. In this spot, by way of historical proof, a writer more so by profession than I am, might insert a volume of examples. All that this school has ever professed to teach is, the art of thinking, and it has depended for its success entirely upon discipline.

Those, therefore, whose means for the present exempt them from such rude discipline, may borrow a hint, in time, from that source of instruction. But will they voluntarily subject themselves to it, or those under their charge? That such discipline of the mind, and of the passions, too, is necessary, however rude the means, must be owned; but when the forming process does not overtake us against our own will, it is difficult and natural not to undergo it.

LESSON LXXXI.

Eloquence of John Adams.-WEBSTER.

THE eloquence of Mr. Adams resembled his general character, and formed, indeed, a part of it. It was bold, manly, and energetic; and such the crisis required. When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions

excited, nothing is valuable, in speech, farther than it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, and earnestness, are the qualities which produce conviction.

True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labour and learning may toil for it; but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire after it-they cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men, when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their children, and their country, hang on the decision of the hour. Then, words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory contemptible.

Even genius itself then feels rebuked, and subdued, as in the presence of higher qualities. Then, patriotism is eloquent; then, self-devotion is eloquent. The clear conception, out-running the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right onward, to his object-this, this is eloquence; or, rather, it is something greater and higher than all eloquence,-it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action.

In July, 1776, the controversy had passed the stage of argument. An appeal had been made to force, and opposing armies were in the field. Congress, then, was to decide, whether the tie, which had so long bound us to the parent State, was to be severed at once, and severed forever. All the colonies had signified their resolution to abide by this decision, and the people looked for it with the most intense anxiety. And surely, fellow-citizens, never, never were men called to a more important political deliberation. If we contemplate it from the point where they then stood, no question could be more full of interest; if we look at it now, and judge of its importance by its effects, it appears in still greater magnitude.

Let us, then, bring before us the assembly, which was about to decide a question thus big with the fate of empire. Let us open their doors, and look in upon their deliberations. Let us survey the anxious and care-worn countenances, let us hear the firm-toned voices, of this band of patriots.

Hancock presides over the solemn sitting; and one of those not yet prepared to pronounce for absolute independence, is on the floor, and is urging his reasons for dissenting from the declaration.

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It was for Mr. Adams to reply to arguments like these. We know his opinions, and we know his character. He would commence with his accustomed directness and earnestness.

We

'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 which shapes our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and, blinded to her own interest, for our good she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now within our grasp. have but to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the declaration? Is any man so weak as now to hope for a reconciliation with England, which shall leave either safety to the country and its liberties, or safety to his own life, and his own honor? Are not you, sir, who sit in that chair, is not he, our venerable colleague near you, are you not both already the proscribed and predestined objects of punishment and of vengeance?

Cut off from all hope of royal clemency, what are you, what can you be, while the power of England remains, but outlaws? If we postpone independence, do we mean to carry on, or to give up, the war? Do we mean to submit to the measures of parliament, Boston port-bill and all? Do we mean to submit, and consent that we ourselves shall be ground to powder, and our country and its rights trodden down in the dust? I know we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. Do we intend to violate that most solemn obligation ever entered into by men, that plighting, before God, of our sacred honour to Washington, when, putting him forth

to incur the dangers of war, as well as the political hazards of the times, we promised to adhere to him, in every extremity, with our fortunes, and our lives?

I know there is not a man here, who would not rather see a general conflagration sweep over the land, or an earthquake sink it, than one jot or tittle of that plighted faith fall to the ground. For myself, having, twelve months ago, in this place, moved you, that George Washington be appointed commander of the forces, raised, or to be raised, for defence of American liberty, may my right hand forget her cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate or waver, in the support I give him. The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. And, if the war must go on, why put off longer the declaration of independence? That measure will strengthen us. It will give us character abroad. The nations will then treat with us, which they never can do while we acknowledge ourselves subjects, in arms against our sovereign.

Nay, I maintain that England, herself, will sooner treat for peace with us on the footing of independence, than consent, by repealing her acts, to acknowledge, that her whole conduct towards us has been a course of injustice and oppression. Her pride will be less wounded by submitting to that course of things which now predestinates our independence, than by yielding the points in controversy to her rebellious subjects. The former she

would regard as the result of fortune; the latter she would feel as her own deep disgrace. Why then, why then, sir, do we not, as soon as possible, change this from a civil to a national war? And, since we must fight it through, why not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all the benefits of victory, if we gain the victory?

If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. The cause will raise up armies; the cause will create navies. The people, the people, if we are true to them, will carry us, and will carry themselves, gloriously, through this struggle. I care not how fickle other people have been found. I know the people of these colonies; and I know, that resistance to British aggression is deep and settled in their hearts, and cannot be eradicated. Every colony, indeed, has expressed its willingness to follow, if we but take the lead. Sir, the declaration will