fident of the permanence of our institutions. Let us not im agine that our republic will be preserved by miracle. Repub lics have fallen in days gone by,- splendid, powerful repub lics. The crash of their fall echoes on the ear of ages. We may see their ruins now, magnificent even in decay.

Like causes will produce like effects, the wide world over, and through all time. Let us not rest upon the glorious promises of the past, nor its memorable deeds. Let us not think our cause impregnable, because it was baptized with prayer, - because great men, like Penn and Washington, were its pioneers. It is just as durable as Virtue, as Principle, as reverence for Right, is durable in the hearts of the people. It has no roots in the ashes of the dead. It lives in the vital force of the acting generation, it lives with their morality, their truth, their righteousness : it dies when these die out. Let these dwindle and rot, and we are sure to perish as ever a nation perished in the past. And with all our advantages and all our anticipations deepening the shame of our fall, others will clap their hands at us, and hiss, and wag their heads, saying, 'Is this the land of great experiments and lofty principles, of glorious promise and unprecedented opportunities?'

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EXERCISE CIX.

PETER THE GREAT.- Coxe,

Having determined, with a view to improving the condiion of his people, to visit, in person, several countries of Europe, Peter appointed an embassy extraordinary on a grand scale, to proceed, in the first instance, to the Statesgeneral of Holland, and resolved to accompany it himself, incognito, in the character of a private gentleman, attached to the embassy.

Having reached Emmerie, on the Rhine, the czar, impatient to arrive at his destination, left the embassy, and, having hired a small boat, proceeded to Amsterdam, through which he flew like lightning, and never once stopped till he arrived at Zaandam,* fifteen days before the embassy reached Am

sterdam.

* Sometimes, but incorrectly, spelled Saardam.

The first person seen by the Russian party in the boat was a man fishing in a small skiff, of the name of Kist, who had worked as a smith in Russia, and was immediately recognized by one of the six persons who were with the czar. To this person they called to come over to them, which he did. The man's astonishment may be conceived, on seeing the czar of Russia sailing in a little boat, dressed like a Dutch skipper, in a red jacket and white linen trousers.

Peter told Kist that he wanted lodgings, and should like to take them with him. Kist was but in poor circumstances, and would have excused himself, but Peter persisted; and as a poor woman had a small house behind his, she consented to move to a little adjoining hut, in order to accommodate the royal stranger. Peter's lodgings consisted of two small rooms, with a loft over them, and an adjoining shed.

Kist received strict injunctions on no account, whatever, to let it be known who his lodger was, as he did not wish to be discovered. To the questions which the crowd, collected to see the strangers, put to them, the czar replied, (for he could speak the Dutch fluently,) that they were all carpenters and laborers from a foreign country, who had come to Zaandam in search of work. But no one believed this; indeed, the clothes of his companions, who had kept on their proper Russian dresses, sufficiently contradicted any such idea.

The first business after landing, which Peter set about, and which showed a favorable trait in his character, was to inquire after and visit the families and the widows of several Dutch seamen and ship-carpenters, with whom he had associated at Archangel and Flescow; representing himself, to each, as a brother ship-builder of their relatives.

Having made all his inquiries after the families of his Dutch friends in Russia, Peter next proceeded to visit the shops of Zaandam, to purchase carpenter's tools for himself and his young companions, whom he had directed to clothe themselves in the common dress of the dock-yards, and to handle the tools, and work at ship-building, as well as himself.

His first exploit in the dock-yard of Mynheer *Calf, a wealthy merchant and ship-builder, with whom he was prevailed on to lodge, after quitting his first cabin, was to purchase a small yacht, and to fit her with a new bowsprit, made

*Pronounced with the sound of 7 retained.

entirely with his own hands, to the astonishment of all the shipwrights: they could not conceive how a person of his high rank could submit to work till the sweat ran down his face, or where he could have learned to handle the tools so dexterously.

Peter would lend a helping hand at every thing connected with ship-building; such as rope-making, sail-making, smith's work, &c. On his return from his Archangel expedition, he gave proof of what he could do in forging iron. On visiting Muller's manufactory at Istia, he forged several bars of iron, and put his own mark on each of them: he made the companions of his journey blow the bellows, stir the fire, carry coals, and do all the laboring work of journeymen blacksmiths.

The czar demanded payment from Muller for his work, at the same rate as he paid the other workmen. Having received eighteen altins,This will serve,' said he, 'to buy me a pair of shoes, of which I stand in great need,' at the same time showing those he wore, which had already been soled. He then went to a neighboring shop, bought a pair of shoes, and took great pleasure in showing them; saying to his companions, 'I have earned them well, by the sweat of my brow, with hammer and anvil.' A bar of iron, forged and marked with his own hand, is still in the cabinet of the Academy of Sciences at Petersburgh; but this was forged at a later date at Olonetz.

EXERCISE CX.

THE PILGRIM FATHERS.

The pilgrim fathers where are they?
The waves that brought them o'er,
Still roll in the bay, and throw their spray,
As they break along the shore:

Still roll in the bay, as they rolled that day,
When the May-flower moored below,
When the sea around was black with storms,
And white the shore with snow.

The mists that wrapped the pilgrim's sleep,

Still brood upon the tide;

And his rocks yet keep their watch by the deep,
To stay its waves of pride.

But the snow-white sail, that he gave to the gale,
When the heavens looked dark, is gone; --
As an angel's wing, through an opening cloud,
Is seen, and then withdrawn.

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The pilgrim exile sainted name !
The hill, whose icy brow

Rejoiced, when he came, in the morning's flame
In the morning's flame burns now.

And the moon's cold light, as it lay that night,
On the hill-side and the sea,

Still lies where he laid his houseless head;
But the pilgrim — where is he?

The pilgrim fathers are at rest:

When summer's throned on high,

And the world's warm breast is in verdure drest,
Go, stand on the hill where they lie.

The earliest ray of the golden day

On that hallowed spot is cast;

And the evening sun, as he leaves the world,
Looks kindly on that spot last.

The pilgrim spirit has not fled:

It walks in noon's broad light;

And it watches the bed of the glorious dead,
With the holy stars by night.

It watches the bed of the brave who have bled,

And shall guard this ice-bound shore,

Till the waves of the bay, where the May-flower lay, Shall foam an 1 freeze no more.

EXERCISE CXI.

OUR IDEAS OF TIME.- Addison..

It is said, in Mahometan tradition, that the angel Gabriel took Mahomet out of his bed, one morning, to give him a sight of all things in the seven heavens, in paradise and in hell, which the prophet took a distinct view of; and, after having held ninety thousand conferences with God, was brought back again to his bed. All this was transacted in so small a space of time, that Mahomet, at his return, found his bed still warm, and took up an earthen pitcher, which was thrown down at the very instant that the angel Gabriel carried him away, before all the water was spilt.

It is related, in the Turkish Tales, that a sultan of Egypt, who was an infidel, used to laugh at this circumstance in Mahomet's life, as what was altogether impossible and absurd. But conversing, one day, with a great doctor in the law, who had the gift of working miracles, the doctor told him he would quickly convince him of the truth of this passage in the history of Mahomet, if he would consent to do what he should desire of him.

Upon this, the sultan was directed to place himself by a huge tub of water, which he accordingly did; and as he stood by the tub, amidst a circle of his great men, the holy man bid him plunge his head into the water, and draw it up again. The king, accordingly, thrust his head into the water, and at the same time found himself at the foot of a mountain on the seashore.

The king immediately began to rage against his doctor, for this piece of treachery and witchcraft; but at length, knowing it was in vain to be angry, he set himself to think on proper methods for getting a livelihood in this strange country. Accordingly, he applied himself to some people whom he saw at work in a neighboring wood: these people conducted him to a town, that stood at a little distance from the wood, where he married a woman of great beauty and fortune. He lived with this woman so long, that he had by her seven sons and seven daughters.

He was afterwards reduced to great want, and forced to think of plying in the streets, as a porter, for his livelihood.