Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1800-1859, was born in the village of Rothley, Leicestershire. On his father's side, he descended from Scotch Highlanders and ministers of the kirk. His education began at home, and was completed at Trinity College, Cambridge. While a student, he gained much reputation as a writer and a debater. In 1826 he was admitted to the bar. In 1825 began his connection with the "Edinburgh Review," which continued twenty years. Some of his most brilliant essays appeared first in its pages. He was first chosen to Parliament in 1830, and was reelected several times. In 1840 his essays and some other writings were collected and published with the title of "Miscellanies." His "Lays of Ancient Rome" was published in 1842. His "History of England" was published near the close of his life. In 1857 he was given the title of Baron Macaulay. "His style is vigorous, rapid in its movement, and brilliant; and yet, with all its splendor, has a crystalline clearness. Indeed, the fault generally found with his style is, that it is so constantly brilliant that the vision is dazzled and wearied with its excessive brightness." He has sometimes been charged with sacrificing facts to fine sentences.
In his statesmanship, Macaulay was always an earnest defender of liberty. His first speech in Parliament was in support of a bill to remove the civil disabilities of the Jews, and his whole parliamentary career was consistent with this wise and liberal beginning. ###
The place in which the impeachment of Warren Hastings was conducted, was worthy of such a trial. It was the great hall of William Rufus; the hall which had resounded with acclamations at the inauguration of thirty kings; the hall which had witnessed the just sentence of Bacon, and the just absolution of Somers; the hall where the eloquence of Strafford had for a moment awed and melted a victorious party inflamed with just resentment; the hall where Charles had confronted the High Court of Justice with the placid courage which half redeemed his fame.
Neither military nor civil pomp was wanting. The avenues were lined with grenadiers. The streets were kept clear by cavalry. The peers, robed in gold and ermine, were marshaled by heralds. The judges, in their vestments of state, attended to give advice on points of law. The long galleries were crowded by such an audience as has rarely excited the fears or the emulation of an orator. There were gathered together, from all parts of a great, free, enlightened, and prosperous realm, grace and female loveliness, wit and learning, the representatives of every science and of every art.
There were seated around the queen, the fair-haired, young daughters of the house of Brunswick. There the embassadors of great kings and commonwealths gazed with admiration on a spectacle which no other country in the world could present. There Siddons, in the prime of her majestic beauty, looked with emotion on a scene surpassing all the imitations of the stage. There Gibbon, the historian of the Roman Empire, thought of the days when Cicero pleaded the cause of Sicily against Verres; and when, before a senate which had still some show of freedom, Tacitus thundered against the oppressor of Africa. There, too, were seen, side by side, the greatest painter and the greatest scholar of the age; for the spectacle had allured Reynolds from his easel and Parr from his study.
The sergeants made proclamation. Hastings advanced to the bar, and bent his knee. The culprit was indeed not unworthy of that great presence. He had ruled an extensive and populous country; had made laws and treaties; had sent forth armies; had set up and pulled down princes; and in his high place he had so borne himself, that all had feared him, that most had loved him, and that hatred itself could deny him no title to glory, except virtue. A person, small and emaciated, yet deriving dignity from a carriage which, while it indicated deference to the court, indicated, also, habitual self-possession and self-respect; a high and intellectual forehead; a brow, pensive, but not gloomy; a mouth of inflexible decision; a face, pale and worn, but serene, on which a great and well-balanced mind was legibly written: such was the aspect with which the great proconsul presented himself to his judges.
The charges, and the answers of Hastings, were first read. This ceremony occupied two whole days. On the third, Burke rose. Four sittings of the court were occupied by his opening speech, which was intended to be a general introduction to all the charges. With an exuberance of thought and a splendor of diction, which more than satisfied the highly raised expectations of the audience, he described the character and institutions of the natives of India; recounted the circumstances in which the Asiatic Empire of Britain had originated; and set forth the constitution of the Company and of the English Presidencies.
Having thus attempted to communicate to his hearers an idea of eastern society, as vivid as that which existed in his own mind, he proceeded to arraign the administration of Hastings, as systematically conducted in defiance of morality and public law. The energy and pathos of the great orator extorted expressions of unwonted admiration from all; and, for a moment, seemed to pierce even the resolute heart of the defendant. The ladies in the galleries, unaccustomed to such displays of eloquence, excited by the solemnity of the occasion, and perhaps not unwilling to display their taste and sensibility, were in a state of uncontrollable emotion. Handkerchiefs were pulled out; smelling bottles were handed round; hysterical sobs and screams were heard, and some were even carried out in fits.
At length the orator concluded. Raising his voice, till the old arches of Irish oak resounded—"Therefore," said he, "hath it with all confidence been ordered by the Commons of Great Britain, that I impeach Warren Hastings of high crimes and misdemeanors. I impeach him in the name of the Commons House of Parliament, whose trust he has betrayed. I impeach him in the name of the English nation, whose ancient honor he has sullied. I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose rights he has trodden under foot, and whose country he has turned into a desert. Lastly, in the name of human nature itself, in the name of both sexes, in the name of every age, in the name of every rank, I impeach the common enemy and oppressor of all."
NOTES.—Warren Hastings (b. 1732, d. 1818) was Governor-general of British India. He was impeached for maladministration, but, after a trial which extended from Feb. 13th, 1788, to April 23d, 1795, and occupied one hundred and forty-eight days, he was acquitted by a large majority on each separate count of the impeachment.
William Rufus, or William II. (b. 1056, d. 1100), built Westminster Hall in which the trial was held. Bacon; see biographical notice, pages 332 and 333. Somers, John (b. 1651. d. 1716) was impeached for maladministration while holding the office of lord chamberlain. Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, earl of, (b. 1593, d. 1641,) was impeached for his mismanagement while governor of Ireland. He conducted his own defense with such eloquence that the original impeachment was abandoned, although he was immediately condemned for high treason and executed. Charles I. (b. 1600, d. 1649), after a war with Parliament, in which the rights of the people were at issue, was captured, tried, and condemned to death.
The House of Brunswick is one of the oldest families of Germany. A branch of this family occupies the British throne. Siddons, Sarah (b. 1755, d. 1831), was a famous English actress. Gibbon, Edward (b. 1737, d. 1794), was a celebrated English historian. Cicero; see note on page 156. Tacitus (b. about 55, d. after 117 A. D.) was a Roman orator and historian, who conducted the prosecution of Marius, proconsul of Africa. Reynolds, Sir Joshua (b. 1723, d. 1792), an English portrait painter of note. Parr, Samuel (b. 1747, d. 1825), was an English author. Burke, Edmund; see biographical sketch accompanying the following lesson.
Edmund Burke, 1730-1797, one of the most able and brilliant of England's essayists, orators, and statesmen, was born in Dublin, and was the son of an able lawyer. He graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1748. As a student, he was distinguished for ability and industry. From 1750 to 1766 he was in London writing for periodicals, publishing books, or serving as private secretary. His work on "The Sublime and Beautiful" appeared in 1756. From 1766 to 1794 he was a member of Parliament, representing at different times different constituencies. On the first day of his appearance in the House of Commons he made a successful speech. "In the three principal questions which excited his interest, and called forth the most splendid displays of his eloquence—the contest with the American Colonies, the impeachment of Warren Hastings, and the French Revolution—we see displayed a philanthropy the most pure, illustrated by a genius the most resplendent." Mr. Burke's foresight, uprightness, integrity, learning, magnanimity, and eloquence made him one of the most conspicuous men of his time; and his writings stand among the noblest contributions to English literature. ###
When at length Hyder Ali found that he had to do with men who either would sign no convention, or whom no treaty and no signature could bind, and who were the determined enemies of human intercourse itself, he decreed to make the country possessed by these incorrigible and predestinated criminals a memorable example to mankind. He resolved, in the gloomy recesses of a mind capacious of such things, to leave the whole Carnatic an everlasting monument of vengeance, and to put perpetual desolation as a barrier between him and those against whom the faith which holds the moral elements of the world together was no protection.
He became at length so confident of his force, so collected in his might, that he made no secret whatsoever of his dreadful resolution. Having terminated his disputes with every enemy and every rival, who buried their mutual animosities in their common detestation against the creditors of the Nabob of Arcot, he drew from every quarter whatever a savage ferocity could add to his new rudiments in the arts of destruction; and compounding all the materials of fury, havoc, and desolation into one black cloud, he hung for a while on the declivities of the mountains.
Whilst the authors of all these evils were idly and stupidly gazing on this menacing meteor which blackened all their horizon, it suddenly burst, and poured down the whole of its contents upon the plains of the Carnatic.
Then ensued a scene of woe, the like of which no eye had seen, no heart conceived, and which no tongue can adequately tell. All the horrors of war before known or heard of, were mercy to that new havoc. A storm of universal fire blasted every field, consumed every house, destroyed every temple. The miserable inhabitants, flying from their flaming villages, in part were slaughtered; others, without regard to sex, to age, to the respect of rank, or sacredness of function,—fathers torn from children, husbands from wives, enveloped in a whirlwind of cavalry, and, amidst the goading spears of drivers, and the trampling of pursuing horses,—were swept into captivity, in an unknown and hostile land.
Those who were able to evade this tempest, fled to the walled cities; but escaping from fire, sword, and exile, they fell into the jaws of famine. The alms of the settlement of Madras, in this dreadful exigency, were certainly liberal, and all was done by charity that private charity could do; but it was a people in beggary; it was a nation which stretched out its hands for food.
For months together these creatures of sufferance, whose very excess and luxury in their most plenteous days had fallen short of the allowance of our austerest fasts, silent, patient, resigned, without sedition or disturbance, almost without complaint, perished by a hundred a day in the streets of Madras; every day seventy at least laid their bodies in the streets, or on the glacis of Tanjore, and expired of famine in the granary of India.
I was going to wake your justice toward this unhappy part of our fellow-citizens, by bringing before you some of the circumstances of this plague of hunger. Of all the calamities which beset and waylay the life of man, this comes the nearest to our heart, and is that wherein the proudest of us all feels himself to be nothing more than he is.
But I find myself unable to manage it with decorum. These details are of a species of horror so nauseous and disgusting; they are so degrading to the sufferers and to the hearers; they are so humiliating to human nature itself, that, on better thoughts, I find it more advisable to throw a pall over this hideous object, and to leave it to your general conceptions.
For eighteen months, without intermission, this destruction raged from the gates of Madras to the gates of Tanjore; and so completely did these masters in their art, Hyder Ali, and his more ferocious son, absolve themselves of their impious vow, that when the British armies traversed, as they did, the Carnatic, for hundreds of miles in all directions, through the whole line of their march they did not see one man—not one woman—not one child—not one four-footed beast of any description whatever! One dead, uniform silence reigned over the whole region.
With the inconsiderable exceptions of the narrow vicinage of some few forts, I wish to be understood as speaking literally;—I mean to produce to you more than three witnesses, who will support this assertion in its full extent. That hurricane of war passed through every part of the central provinces of the Carnatic. Six or seven districts to the north and to the south (and these not wholly untouched) escaped the general ravage.
NOTES.—This selection is an extract from Burke's celebrated speech in Parliament, in 1785, on the Nabob of Arcot's debts; it bore upon the maladministration of Hastings.
Arcot, a district in India, had been ceded to the British on condition that they should pay the former ruler's debts. These were found to be enormous, and the creditors proved to be individuals in the East India Company's employ. The creditors, for their private gain, induced the Nabob to attempt the subjugation of other native princes, among whom was Hyder Ali. The latter at first made successful resistance, and compelled the Nabob and his allies to sign a treaty. The treaty was not kept, and the destruction above recounted took place.
The Carnatic is a province in British India, on the eastern side of the peninsula; it contains about 50,000 square miles. Madras is a city, and Tanjore a town, in this province.
Edgar Allan Poe, 1809-1849, was born in Boston, and died in Baltimore. He was left a destitute orphan at an early age, and was adopted by Mr. John Allan, a wealthy citizen of Richmond. He entered the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, where he excelled in his studies, and was always at the head of his class; but he was compelled to leave on account of irregularities. He was afterwards appointed a cadet at West Point, but failed to graduate there for the same reason. Poe now quarreled with his benefactor and left his house never to return. During the rest of his melancholy career, he obtained a precarious livelihood by different literary enterprises. His ability as a writer gained him positions with various periodicals in Richmond, New York, and Philadelphia, and during this time he wrote some of his finest prose. The appearance of "The Raven" in 1845, however, at once made Poe a literary lion. He was quite successful for a time, but then fell back into his dissipated habits which finally caused his death. In his personal appearance, Poe was neat and gentlemanly; his face was expressive of intellect and sensibility; and his mental powers in some directions were of a high order. His writings show care, and a great degree of skill in their construction; but their effect is generally morbid. ###
Once upon a midnight dreary,While I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curiousVolume of forgotten lore—While I nodded, nearly napping,Suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping,Rapping at my chamber door."'Tis some visitor," I muttered,"Tapping at my chamber doorOnly this, and nothing more."
Ah, distinctly I remember,It was in the bleak December,And each separate dying emberWrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow;Vainly I had sought to borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrowSorrow for the lost Lenore—For the rare and radiant maidenWhom the angels name Lenore—Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken, sad, uncertainRustling of each purple curtainThrilled me,—filled me with fantasticTerrors, never felt before;So that now, to still the beatingOf my heart, I stood repeating," 'Tis some visitor entreatingEntrance at my chamber doorSome late visitor entreatingEntrance at my chamber door;This it is, and nothing more."
Presently my soul grew stronger;Hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, trulyYour forgiveness I implore;But the fact is I was napping,And so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping,Tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you."—Here I opened wide the door;Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering,Long I stood there, wondering, fearing,Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortalsEver dared to dream before;But the silence was unbroken,And the stillness gave no token,And the only word there spokenWas the whispered word, "Lenore!"This I whispered, and an echoMurmured back the word, "Lenore!"Merely this, and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning,All my soul within me burning,Soon again I heard a tapping,Something louder than before."Surely," said I, "surely, that isSomething at my window lattice;Let me see then, what thereat is,And this mystery explore—Let my heart be still a moment,And this mystery explore;—'Tis the wind, and nothing more."
Open here I flung the shutter.When, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately RavenOf the saintly days of yore;Not the least obeisance made he;Not a minute stopped or stayed he,But, with mien of lord or lady,Perched above my chamber door—Perched upon a bust of PallasJust above my chamber door—Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguilingMy sad fancy into smiling,By the grave and stern decorumOf the countenance it wore,"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven,Thou," I said, "art sure no craven,Ghastly, grim, and ancient Raven,Wandering from the nightly shore,Tell me what thy lordly name isOn the night's Plutonian shore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
Much I marveled this ungainlyFowl to hear discourse so plainly,Though its answer little meaning—Little relevancy bore;For we can not help agreeingThat no living human beingEver yet was blest with seeingBird above his chamber door—Bird or beast upon the sculpturedBust above his chamber door,With such name as "Nevermore."
But the Raven, sitting lonelyOn that placid bust, spoke onlyThat one word, as if his soul inThat one word he did outpour.Nothing farther then he uttered,Not a feather then he fluttered,Till I scarcely more than muttered,"Other friends have flown before—On the morrow he will leave me,As my Hopes have flown before."Then the bird said, "Nevermore."
Startled at the stillness brokenBy reply so aptly spoken,"Doubtless," said I, "what it uttersIs its only stock and store,Caught from some unhappy masterWhom unmerciful DisasterFollowed fast and followed fasterTill his songs one burden bore—Till the dirges of his Hope thatMelancholy burden boreOf 'Never—nevermore.' "
But the Raven still beguilingAll my sad soul into smiling,Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat inFront of bird, and bust, and door;Then, upon the velvet sinking,I betook myself to linkingFancy unto fancy, thinkingWhat this ominous bird of yore—What this grim, ungainly, ghastly,Gaunt, and ominous bird of yoreMeant in croaking "Nevermore."
This I sat engaged in guessing,But no syllable expressingTo the fowl whose fiery eyes nowBurned into my bosom's core;This and more I sat divining,With my head at ease recliningOn the cushion's velvet liningThat the lamplight gloated o'er,But whose velvet violet lining,With the lamplight gloating o'erShe shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser,Perfumed from an unseen censerSwung by Seraphim, whose footfallsTinkled on the tufted floor."Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee—By these angels he hath sent theeRespite—respite and nepenthe [1]From thy memories of Lenore!Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe,And forget this lost Lenore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
[Transcriber's Note 1: nepenthe—A drug to relieve grief, by blocking memory of sorrow or pain.]
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!—Prophet still, if bird or devil!—Whether Tempter sent, or whetherTempest tossed thee here ashore,Desolate, yet all undaunted,On this desert land enchanted—On this home by Horror haunted—Tell me truly, I implore—Is there—is there balm in Gilead?Tell me—tell me, I implore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil,—Prophet still, if bird or devil!—By that heaven that bends above us,By that God we both adore,Tell this soul with sorrow laden,If, within the distant Aidenn,It shall clasp a sainted maidenWhom the angels name Lenore—Clasp a rare and radiant maiden,Whom the angels name Lenore."Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
"Be that word our sign of parting,Bird or fiend," I shrieked, upstarting;"Get thee back into the tempestAnd the night's Plutonian shore!Leave no black plume as a tokenOf that lie thy soul hath spoken!Leave my loneliness unbroken!—Quit the bust above my door!Take thy beak from out my heart, andTake thy form from off my door!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
And the Raven, never flitting,Still is sitting, still is sittingOn the pallid bust of PallasJust above my chamber door;And his eyes have all the seemingOf a demon's that is dreaming,And the lamplight o'er him streamingThrows his shadow on the floor;And my soul from out that shadow,That lies floating on the floor,Shall be lifted—nevermore!
NOTES.—Pallas, or Minerva, in ancient mythology, was the goddess of wisdom.
Plutonian, see note on Pluto, page 242.
Gilead is the name of a mountain group of Palestine, celebrated for its balsam or balm made from herbs. It is here used figuratively.
Aidenn is an Anglicized and disguised spelling of the Arabic form of the word Eden: it is here used as a synonym for heaven.
Orville Dewey, 1794-1882, a well known Unitarian clergyman and author, was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, graduated with distinction at Williams College in 1814, and afterward studied theology at Andover. For a while he was assistant to Dr. W. E. Channing in Boston, and later, was a pastor in New Bedford, New York City, and Boston. He made two or three voyages to Europe, and published accounts of his travels.
"Discourses on Human Life," "Discourses on the Nature of Religion," "Discourses on Commerce and Business," are among his published works. His writings are both philosophical and practical; and, as a preacher, he was esteemed original, earnest, and impressive. ###
On the eighth of November, from the high land, about fourteen miles distant, I first saw Rome; and although there is something very unfavorable to impression in the expectation that you are to be greatly impressed, or that you ought to be, or that such is the fashion; yet Rome is too mighty a name to be withstood by such or any other influences. Let you come upon that hill in what mood you may, the scene will lay hold upon you as with the hand of a giant. I scarcely know how to describe the impression, but it seemed to me as if something strong and stately, like the slow and majestic march of a mighty whirlwind, swept around those eternal towers; the storms of time, that had prostrated the proudest monuments of the world, seemed to have left their vibrations in the still and solemn air; ages of history passed before me; the mighty procession of nations, kings, consuls, emperors, empires, and generations had passed over that sublime theater. The fire, the storm, the earthquake, had gone by; but there was yet left the still, small voice like that at which the prophet "wrapped his face in his mantle."
I went to see the Colosseum by moonlight. It is the monarch, the majesty of all ruins; there is nothing like it. All the associations of the place, too, give it the most impressive character. When you enter within this stupendous circle of ruinous walls and arches, and grand terraces of masonry, rising one above another, you stand upon the arena of the old gladiatorial combats and Christian martyrdom; and as you lift your eyes to the vast amphitheater, you meet, in imagination, the eyes of a hundred thousand Romans, assembled to witness these bloody spectacles. What a multitude and mighty array of human beings; and how little do we know in modern times of great assemblies! One, two, and three, and, at its last enlargement by Constantine, more than three hundred thousand persons could be seated in the Circus Maximus!
But to return to the Colosseum; we went up under the conduct of a guide upon the walls and terraces, or embankments, which supported the ranges of seats. The seats have long since disappeared; and grass overgrows the spots where the pride, and power, and wealth, and beauty of Rome sat down to its barbarous entertainments. What thronging life was here then! What voices, what greetings, what hurrying footsteps upon the staircases of the eighty arches of entrance! And now, as we picked our way carefully through the decayed passages, or cautiously ascended some moldering flight of steps, or stood by the lonely walls—ourselves silent, and, for a wonder, the guide silent, too—there was no sound here but of the bat, and none came from without but the roll of a distant carriage, or the convent bell from the summit of the neighboring Esquiline.
It is scarcely possible to describe the effect of moonlight upon this ruin. Through a hundred lonely arches and blackened passageways it streamed in, pure, bright, soft, lambent, and yet distinct and clear, as if it came there at once to reveal, and cheer, and pity the mighty desolation. But if the Colosseum is a mournful and desolate spectacle as seen from within—without, and especially on the side which is in best preservation, it is glorious. We passed around it; and, as we looked upward, the moon shining through its arches, from the opposite side, it appeared as if it were the coronet of the heavens, so vast was it—or like a glorious crown upon the brow of night.
I feel that I do not and can not describe this mighty ruin. I can only say that I came away paralyzed, and as passive as a child. A soldier stretched out his hand for "un dona," as we passed the guard; and when my companion said I did wrong to give, I told him that I should have given my cloak, if the man had asked it. Would you break any spell that worldly feeling or selfish sorrow may have spread over your mind, go and see the Colosseum by moonlight.
NOTES.—The Colosseum (pro. Col-os-se'um) was commenced by the Roman emperor Vespasian, and was completed by Titus, his son, 79 A.D. Its construction occupied but three years, notwithstanding its size; a great part of its walls are standing today.
The Circus Maximus was an amphitheater built by Tarquin the Elder about 600 B. C.
Constantine. See note on page 175.
The Esquiline is one of the seven hills upon which Rome is built. Un dona, an Italian phrase meaning a gift or alms.
I stood on the bridge at midnight,As the clocks were striking the hour,And the moon rose o'er the city,Behind the dark church tower.
I saw her bright reflectionIn the waters under me,Like a golden goblet fallingAnd sinking into the sea.
And far in the hazy distanceOf that lovely night in June,The blaze of the flaming furnaceGleamed redder than the moon.
Among the long, black raftersThe wavering shadows lay,And the current that came from the oceanSeemed to lift and bear them away;
As, sweeping and eddying through them,Rose the belated tide,And, streaming into the moonlight,The seaweed floated wide.
And like those waters rushingAmong the wooden piers,A flood of thoughts came o'er meThat filled my eyes with tears
How often, oh, how often,In the days that had gone by,I had stood on that bridge at midnightAnd gazed on that wave and sky!
How often, oh, how often,I had wished that the ebbing tideWould bear me away on its bosomO'er the ocean wild and wide.
For my heart was hot and restless,And my life was full of care,And the burden laid upon meSeemed greater than I could bear.
But now it has fallen from me,It is buried in the sea;And only the sorrow of othersThrows its shadow over me.
Yet, whenever I cross the riverOn its bridge with wooden piers,Like the odor of brine from the oceanComes the thought of other years.
And I think how many thousandsOf care-encumbered men,Each bearing his burden of sorrow,Have crossed the bridge since then.
I see the long processionStill passing to and fro,The young heart hot and restless,And the old, subdued and slow!
And forever and forever,As long as the river flows,As long as the heart has passions,As long as life has woes;
The moon and its broken reflectionAnd its shadows shall appearAs the symbol of love in heaven,And its wavering image here.—Longfellow.
Robert Charles Winthrop, 1809-1894, was a descendant of John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. He was born in Boston, studied at the public Latin School, graduated at Harvard in 1828, and studied law with Daniel Webster. Possessing an ample fortune, he made little effort to practice his profession. In 1834 he was elected to the Legislature of his native state, and was reelected five times; three years he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1840 he was chosen to Congress, and sat as Representative for ten years. In 1847 he was chosen Speaker of the House. He also served a short time in the Senate. His published writings are chiefly in the form of addresses and speeches; they are easy, finished, and scholarly. As a speaker, Mr. Winthrop was ready, full-voiced, and self-possessed. ###
There are fields enough for the wildest and most extravagant theorizings, within man's own appropriate domain, without overleaping the barriers which separate things human and divine. Indeed, I have often thought that modern science had afforded a most opportune and providential safety valve for the intellectual curiosity and ambition of man, at a moment when the progress of education, invention, and liberty had roused and stimulated him to a pitch of such unprecedented eagerness and ardor. Astronomy, Chemistry, and, more than all, Geology, with their incidental branches of study, have opened an inexhaustible field for investigation and speculation. Here, by the aid of modern instruments and modern modes of analysis, the most ardent and earnest spirits may find ample room and verge enough for their insatiate activity and audacious enterprise, and may pursue their course not only without the slightest danger of doing mischief to others, but with the certainty of promoting the great end of scientific truth.
Let them lift their vast reflectors or refractors to the skies, and detect new planets in their hiding places. Let them waylay the fugitive comets in their flight, and compel them to disclose the precise period of their orbits, and to give bonds for their punctual return. Let them drag out reluctant satellites from "their habitual concealments." Let them resolve the unresolvable nebulae of Orion or Andromeda. They need not fear. The sky will not fall, nor a single star be shaken from its sphere.
Let them perfect and elaborate their marvelous processes of making the light and the lightning their ministers, for putting "a pencil of rays" into the hand of art, and providing tongues of fire for the communication of intelligence. Let them foretell the path of the whirlwind, and calculate the orbit of the storm. Let them hang out their gigantic pendulums, and make the earth do the work of describing and measuring her own motions.
Let them annihilate human pain, and literally "charm ache with air, and agony with ether." The blessing of God will attend all their toils, and the gratitude of man will await all their triumphs. Let them dig down into the bowels of the earth. Let them rive asunder the massive rocks, and unfold the history of creation as it lies written on the pages of their piled up strata. Let them gather up the fossil fragments of a lost Fauna, reproducing the ancient forms which inhabited the land or the seas, bringing them together, bone to his bone, till Leviathan and Behemoth stand before us in bodily presence and in their full proportions, and we almost tremble lest these dry bones should live again! Let them put nature to the rack, and torture her, in all her forms, to the betrayal of her inmost secrets and confidences. They need not forbear. The foundations of the round world have been laid so strong that they can not be moved.
But let them not think by searching to find out God. Let them not dream of understanding the Almighty to perfection. Let them not dare to apply their tests and solvents, their modes of analysis or their terms of definition, to the secrets of the spiritual kingdom. Let them spare the foundations of faith. Let them be satisfied with what is revealed of the mysteries of the Divine Nature. Let them not break through the bounds to gaze after the Invisible.
NOTES.—Orion and Andromeda are the names of two constellations.
The Leviathan is described in Job, chap. xli, and the Behemoth in Job, chap. xl. It is not known exactly what beasts are meant by these descriptions.
O Sacred Truth! thy triumph ceased a while,And Hope, thy sister, ceased with thee to smile,When leagued Oppression poured to northern warsHer whiskered pandours and her fierce hussars,Waved her dread standard to the breeze of morn,Pealed her loud drum, and twanged her trumpet horn;Tumultuous horror brooded o'er her van,Presaging wrath to Poland—and to man!
Warsaw's last champion, from her height surveyed,Wide o'er the fields a waste of ruin laid;"O Heaven!" he cried, "my bleeding country save!Is there no hand on high to shield the brave?Yet, though destruction sweep those lovely plains,Rise, fellow-men! our country yet remains!By that dread name, we wave the sword on high,And swear for her to live—with her to die!"
He said, and on the rampart heights arrayedHis trusty warriors, few, but undismayed;Firm-paced and slow, a horrid front they form,Still as the breeze, but dreadful as the storm;Low murmuring sounds along their banners fly,Revenge or death—the watchword and reply;Then pealed the notes, omnipotent to charm,And the loud tocsin tolled their last alarm.
In vain, alas! in vain, ye gallant few!From rank to rank, your volleyed thunder flew!Oh, bloodiest picture in the book of time,Sarmatia fell, unwept, without a crime;Found not a generous friend, a pitying foe,Strength in her arms, nor mercy in her woe!Dropped from her nerveless grasp the shattered spear,Closed her bright eye, and curbed her high career;Hope, for a season, bade the world farewell,And Freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell!—Thomas Campbell.
NOTES.—Kosciusko (b. 1746, d. 1817), a celebrated Polish patriot, who had served in the American Revolution, was besieged at Warsaw, in 1794, by a large force of Russians, Prussians, and Austrians. After the siege was raised, he marched against a force of Russians much larger than his own, and was defeated. He was himself severely wounded and captured.
Sarmatia is the ancient name for a region of Europe which embraced Poland, but was of greater extent.
Horace Greeley,1811-1872, perhaps the most famous editor of America, was born in Amherst, New Hampshire, of poor parents. His boyhood was passed in farm labor, in attending the common school, and in reading every book on which he could lay his hands. His reading was mostly done by the light of pine knots. At fifteen he entered a printing office in Vermont, became the best workman in the office, and continued to improve every opportunity for study. At the age of twenty he appeared in New York City, poorly clothed, and almost destitute of money. He worked at his trade for a year or two, and then set up printing for himself. For several years he was not successful, but struggled on, performing an immense amount of work as an editor. In 1841 he established the "New York Tribune," which soon became one of the most successful and influential papers in the country. In 1848 he was elected to Congress, but remained but a short time. In 1872 he was a candidate for the Presidency, was defeated, and died a few days afterward. Mr. Greeley is a rare example of what may be accomplished by honesty and unflinching industry. Besides the vast amount which he wrote for the newspapers, he published several books; the best known of which is "The American Conflict." ###
Every child should be trained to dexterity in some useful branch of productive industry, not in order that he shall certainly follow that pursuit, but that he may at all events be able to do so in case he shall fail in the more intellectual or artificial calling which he may prefer to it. Let him seek to be a doctor, lawyer, preacher, poet, if he will; but let him not stake his all on success in that pursuit, but have a second line to fall back upon if driven from his first. Let him be so reared and trained that he may enter, if he will, upon some intellectual calling in the sustaining consciousness that he need not debase himself, nor do violence to his convictions, in order to achieve success therein, since he can live and thrive in another (if you choose, humbler) vocation, if driven from that of his choice. This buttress to integrity, this assurance of self-respect, is to be found in a universal training to efficiency in Productive Labor.
The world is full of misdirection and waste; but all the calamities and losses endured by mankind through frost, drought, blight, hail, fires, earthquakes, inundations, are as nothing to those habitually suffered by them through human idleness and inefficiency, mainly caused (or excused) by lack of industrial training. It is quite within the truth to estimate that one tenth of our people, in the average, are habitually idle because (as they say) they can find no employment. They look for work where it can not be had. They seem to be, or they are, unable to do such as abundantly confronts and solicits them. Suppose these to average but one million able-bodied persons, and that their work is worth but one dollar each per day; our loss by involuntary idleness can not be less than $300,000,000 per annum. I judge that it is actually $500,000,000. Many who stand waiting to be hired could earn from two to five dollars per day had they been properly trained to work. "There is plenty of room higher up," said Daniel Webster, in response to an inquiry as to the prospects of a young man just entering upon the practice of law; and there is never a dearth of employment for men or women of signal capacity or skill. In this city, ten thousand women are always doing needlework for less than fifty cents per day, finding themselves; yet twice their number of capable, skillful seamstresses could find steady employment and good living in wealthy families at not less than one dollar per day over and above board and lodging. He who is a good blacksmith, a fair millwright, a tolerable wagon maker, and can chop timber, make fence, and manage a small farm if required, is always sure of work and fair recompense; while he or she who can keep books or teach music fairly, but knows how to do nothing else, is in constant danger of falling into involuntary idleness and consequent beggary. It is a broad, general truth, that no boy was ever yet inured to daily, systematic, productive labor in field or shop throughout the latter half of his minority, who did not prove a useful man, and was notable to find work whenever he wished it.
Yet to the ample and constant employment of a whole community one prerequisite is indispensable,—that a variety of pursuits shall have been created or naturalized therein. A people who have but a single source of profit are uniformly poor, not because that vocation is necessarily ill-chosen, but because no single calling can employ and reward the varied capacities of male and female, old and young, robust and feeble. Thus a lumbering or fishing region with us is apt to have a large proportion of needy inhabitants; and the same is true of a region exclusively devoted to cotton growing or gold mining. A diversity of pursuits is indispensable to general activity and enduring prosperity.
Sixty or seventy years ago, what was then the District, and is now the State, of Maine, was a proverb in New England for the poverty of its people, mainly because they were so largely engaged in timber cutting. The great grain-growing, wheat-exporting districts of the Russian empire have a poor and rude people for a like reason. Thus the industry of Massachusetts is immensely more productive per head than that of North Carolina, or even that of Indiana, as it will cease to be whenever manufactures shall have been diffused over our whole country, as they must and will be. In Massachusetts half the women and nearly half the children add by their daily labor to the aggregate of realized wealth; in North Carolina and in Indiana little wealth is produced save by the labor of men, including boys of fifteen or upward. When this disparity shall have ceased, its consequence will also disappear.
[Illustration: A chained man in prison reclining against the wall. He is gazing down at a sleeping young boy.]
Edwin Atherstone, 1788-1872, was born at Nottingham, England, and became known to the literary world chiefly through two poems, "The Last Days of Herculaneum" and "The Fall of Nineveh." Both poems are written in blank verse, and are remarkable for their splendor of diction and their great descriptive power. Atherstone is compared to Thomson, whom he resembles somewhat in style. ###
There was a man,A Roman soldier, for some daring deedThat trespassed on the laws, in dungeon lowChained down. His was a noble spirit, rough,But generous, and brave, and kind.He had a son; it was a rosy boy,A little faithful copy of his sire,In face and gesture. From infancy, the childHad been his father's solace and his care.
Every sportThe father shared and heightened. But at length,The rigorous law had grasped him, and condemnedTo fetters and to darkness.
The captive's lot,He felt in all its bitterness: the wallsOf his deep dungeon answered many a sighAnd heart-heaved groan. His tale was known, and touchedHis jailer with compassion; and the boy,Thenceforth a frequent visitor, beguiledHis father's lingering hours, and brought a balmWith his loved presence, that in every woundDropped healing. But, in this terrific hour,He was a poisoned arrow in the breastWhere he had been a cure.
With earliest mornOf that first day of darkness and amaze,He came. The iron door was closed—for themNever to open more! The day, the nightDragged slowly by; nor did they know the fateImpending o'er the city. Well they heardThe pent-up thunders in the earth beneath,And felt its giddy rocking; and the airGrew hot at length, and thick; but in his strawThe boy was sleeping: and the father hopedThe earthquake might pass by: nor would he wakeFrom his sound rest the unfearing child, nor tellThe dangers of their state.
On his low couchThe fettered soldier sank, and, with deep awe,Listened the fearful sounds: with upturned eye,To the great gods he breathed a prayer; then, stroveTo calm himself, and lose in sleep awhileHis useless terrors. But he could not sleep:His body burned with feverish heat; his chainsClanked loud, although he moved not; deep in earthGroaned unimaginable thunders; sounds,Fearful and ominous, arose and died,Like the sad mornings of November's wind,In the blank midnight. Deepest horror chilledHis blood that burned before; cold, clammy sweatsCame o'er him; then anon, a fiery thrillShot through his veins. Now, on his couch he shrunkAnd shivered as in fear; now, upright leaped,As though he heard the battle trumpet sound,And longed to cope with death.
He slept, at last,A troubled, dreamy sleep. Well had he sleptNever to waken more! His hours are few,But terrible his agony.
Soon the stormBurst forth; the lightnings glanced; the airShook with the thunders. They awoke; they sprungAmazed upon their feet. The dungeon glowedA moment as in sunshine—and was dark:Again, a flood of white flame fills the cell,Dying away upon the dazzled eyeIn darkening, quivering tints, as stunning soundDies throbbing, ringing in the ear.
With intensest awe,The soldier's frame was filled; and many a thoughtOf strange foreboding hurried through his mind,As underneath he felt the fevered earthJarring and lifting; and the massive walls,Heard harshly grate and strain: yet knew he not,While evils undefined and yet to comeGlanced through his thoughts, what deep and cureless woundFate had already given.—Where, man of woe!Where, wretched father! is thy boy? Thou call'stHis name in vain:—he can not answer thee.
Loudly the father called upon his child:No voice replied. Trembling and anxiouslyHe searched their couch of straw; with headlong hasteTrod round his stinted limits, and, low bent,Groped darkling on the earth:—no child was there.Again he called: again, at farthest stretchOf his accursed fetters, till the bloodSeemed bursting from his ears, and from his eyesFire flashed, he strained with arm extended far,And fingers widely spread, greedy to touchThough but his idol's garment. Useless toil!Yet still renewed: still round and round he goes,And strains, and snatches, and with dreadful criesCalls on his boy.
Mad frenzy fires him now.He plants against the wall his feet; his chainGrasps; tugs with giant strength to force awayThe deep-driven staple; yells and shrieks with rage:And, like a desert lion in the snare,Raging to break his toils,—to and fro bounds.But see! the ground is opening;—a blue lightMounts, gently waving,—noiseless;—thin and coldIt seems, and like a rainbow tint, not flame;But by its luster, on the earth outstretched,Behold the lifeless child! his dress is singed,And, o'er his face serene, a darkened linePoints out the lightning's track.
The father saw,And all his fury fled:—a dead calm fellThat instant on him:—speechless—fixed—he stood,And with a look that never wandered, gazedIntensely on the corse. Those laughing eyesWere not yet closed,—and round those ruby lipsThe wonted smile returned.
Silent and paleThe father stands:—no tear is in his eye:—The thunders bellow;—but he hears them not:—The ground lifts like a sea;—he knows it not:—The strong walls grind and gape:—the vaulted roofTakes shape like bubble tossing in the wind;See! he looks up and smiles; for death to himIs happiness. Yet could one last embraceBe given, 't were still a sweeter thing to die.
It will be given. Look! how the rolling ground,At every swell, nearer and still more nearMoves toward the father's outstretched arm his boy.Once he has touched his garment:—how his eyeLightens with love, and hope, and anxious fears!Ha, see! he has him now!—he clasps him round;Kisses his face; puts back the curling locks,That shaded his fine brow; looks in his eyes;Grasps in his own those little dimpled hands;Then folds him to his breast, as he was wontTo lie when sleeping; and resigned, awaitsUndreaded death.
And death came soon and swiftAnd pangless. The huge pile sank down at onceInto the opening earth. Walls—arches—roof—And deep foundation stones—all—mingling—fell!
NOTES.—Herculaneum and Pompeii were cities of Italy, which were destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 A. D., being entirely buried under ashes and lava. During the last century they have been dug out to a considerable extent, and many of the streets, buildings, and utensils have been found in a state of perfect preservation.
My friend, the Professor, whom I have mentioned to you once or twice, told me yesterday that somebody had been abusing him in some of the journals of his calling. I told him that I did n't doubt he deserved it; that I hoped he did deserve a little abuse occasionally, and would for a number of years to come; that nobody could do anything to make his neighbors wiser or better without being liable to abuse for it; especially that people hated to have their little mistakes made fun of, and perhaps he had been doing something of the kind. The Professor smiled.
Now, said I, hear what I am going to say. It will not take many years to bring you to the period of life when men, at least the majority of writing and talking men, do nothing but praise. Men, like peaches and pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay. I don't know what it is,—whether a spontaneous change, mental or bodily, or whether it is through experience of the thanklessness of critical honesty,—but it is a fact, that most writers, except sour and unsuccessful ones, get tired of finding fault at about the time when they are beginning to grow old.
As a general thing, I would not give a great deal for the fair words of a critic, if he is himself an author, over fifty years of age. At thirty, we are all trying to cut our names in big letters upon the walls of this tenement of life; twenty years later, we have carved it, or shut up our jackknives. Then we are ready to help others, and care less to hinder any, because nobody's elbows are in our way. So I am glad you have a little life left; you will be saccharine enough in a few years.
Some of the softening effects of advancing age have struck me very much in what I have heard or seen here and elsewhere. I just now spoke of the sweetening process that authors undergo. Do you know that in the gradual passage from maturity to helplessness the harshest characters sometimes have a period in which they are gentle and placid as young children? I have heard it said, but I can not be sponsor for its truth, that the famous chieftain, Lochiel, was rocked in a cradle like a baby, in his old age. An old man, whose studies had been of the severest scholastic kind, used to love to hear little nursery stories read over and over to him. One who saw the Duke of Wellington in his last years describes him as very gentle in his aspect and demeanor. I remember a person of singularly stern and lofty bearing who became remarkably gracious and easy in all his ways in the later period of his life.
And that leads me to say that men often remind me of pears in their way of coming to maturity. Some are ripe at twenty, like human Jargonelles, and must be made the most of, for their day is soon over. Some come into their perfect condition late, like the autumn kinds, and they last better than the summer fruit. And some, that, like the Winter Nelis, have been hard and uninviting until all the rest have had their season, get their glow and perfume long after the frost and snow have done their worst with the orchards. Beware of rash criticisms; the rough and stringent fruit you condemn may be an autumn or a winter pear, and that which you picked up beneath the same bough in August may have been only its worm—eaten windfalls. Milton was a Saint Germain with a graft of the roseate Early Catherine. Rich, juicy, lively, fragrant, russet-skinned old Chaucer was an Easter Beurre'; the buds of a new summer were swelling when he ripened.
—Holmes.
NOTES.—The above selection is from the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table."
Lochiel. See note on page 214.
The Duke of Wellington (b. 1769, d. 1852) was the most celebrated ofEnglish generals. He won great renown in India and in the "PeninsularWar," and commanded the allied forces when Napoleon was defeated atWaterloo.
Easter Beurre', Saint Germain, Winter Nelis, Early Catherine andJargonelles are the names of certain varieties of pears.
Milton. See biographical notice on page 312.
Chaucer, Geoffrey (b. 1328, d. 1400). is often called "The Father of English Poetry." He was the first poet buried in Westminster Abbey. He was a prolific writer, but his "Canterbury Tales" is by far the best known of his works.
Clear, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake,With the wild world I dwell in, is a thingWhich warns me, with its stillness, to forsakeEarth's troubled waters for a purer spring.This quiet sail is as a noiseless wingTo waft me from distraction; once I lovedTorn ocean's roar, but thy soft murmuringSounds sweet, as if a sister's voice reproved,That I with stern delights should e'er have been so moved.
All heaven and earth are still—though not in sleep,But breathless, as we grow when feeling most;And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep—All heaven and earth are still: from the high hostOf stars, to the lulled lake and mountain coast,All is concentered in a life intense,Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost,But hath a part of being, and a senseOf that which is of all Creator and defense.
The sky is changed! and such a change! O night,And storm, and darkness, ye are wondrous strong,Yet lovely in your strength, as is the lightOf a dark eye in woman! Far along,From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,Leaps the live thunder! Not from one lone cloud,But every mountain now hath found a tongue,And Jura answers, through her misty shroud,Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud!
And this is in the night.—Most glorious night!Thou wert not sent for slumber! let me beA sharer in thy fierce and far delight,—A portion of the tempest and of thee!How the lit lake shines,—a phosphoric sea!And the big rain comes dancing to the earth!And now again, 'tis black,—and now, the gleeOf the loud hills shakes with its mountain mirth,As if they did rejoice o'er a young earthquake's birth.
Now, where the swift Rhone cleaves his way betweenHeights which appear as lovers who have partedIn hate, whose mining depths so intervene,That they can meet no more, though broken-hearted;Though in their souls, which thus each other thwarted,Love was the very root of the fond rage,Which blighted their life's bloom, and then—departed.Itself expired, but leaving them an ageOf years, all winters,—war within themselves to wage.
Now, where the quick Rhone thus hath cleft his way,The mightiest of the storms hath ta'en his stand!For here, not one, but many make their play,And fling their thunderbolts from hand to hand,Flashing and cast around! Of all the band,The brightest through these parted hills hath forkedHis lightnings,—as if he did understand,That in such gaps as desolation worked,There, the hot shaft should blast whatever therein lurked.—Byron.
NOTE.—Lake Leman (or Lake of Geneva) is in the south-western part of Switzerland, separating it in part from Savoy. The Rhone flows through it, entering by a deep narrow gap, with mountain groups on either hand, eight or nine thousand feet above the water. The scenery about the lake is magnificent, the Jura mountains bordering it on the northwest, and the Alps lying on the south and east.
Sir William Blackstone, 1723-1780, was the son of a silk merchant, and was born in London. He studied with great success at Oxford, and was admitted to the bar in 1745. At first he could not obtain business enough in his profession to support himself, and for a time relinquished practice, and lectured at Oxford. He afterwards returned to London, and resumed his practice with great success, still continuing to lecture at Oxford. He was elected to Parliament in 1761; and in 1770 was made a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he held till his death. Blackstone's fame rests upon his "Commentaries on the Laws of England," published about 1769. He was a man of great ability, sound learning, unflagging industry, and moral integrity. His great work is still a common text-book in the study of law. ###
In the beginning of the world, we are informed by Holy Writ, the all- bountiful Creator gave to man dominion over all the earth, and "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." This is the only true and solid foundation of man's dominion over external things, whatever airy, metaphysical notions may have been started by fanciful writers upon this subject. The earth, therefore, and all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, exclusive of other beings, from the immediate gift of the Creator. And while the earth continued bare of inhabitants, it is reasonable to suppose that all was in common among them, and that everyone took from the public stock, to his own use, such things as his immediate necessities required.
These general notions of property were then sufficient to answer all the purposes of human life; and might, perhaps, still have answered them, had it been possible for mankind to have remained in a state of primeval simplicity, in which "all things were common to him." Not that this communion of goods seems ever to have been applicable, even in the earliest ages, to aught but the substance of the thing; nor could it be extended to the use of it. For, by the law of nature and reason, he who first began to use it, acquired therein a kind of transient property, that lasted so long as he was using it, and no longer. Or, to speak with greater precision, the right of possession continued for the same time, only, that the act of possession lasted.
Thus, the ground was in common, and no part of it was the permanent property of any man in particular; yet, whoever was in the occupation of any determined spot of it, for rest, for shade, or the like, acquired for the time a sort of ownership, from which it would have been unjust and contrary to the law of nature to have driven him by force; but, the instant that he quitted the use or occupation of it, another might seize it without injustice. Thus, also, a vine or other tree might be said to be in common, as all men were equally entitled to its produce; and yet, any private individual might gain the sole property of the fruit which he had gathered for his own repast: a doctrine well illustrated by Cicero, who compares the world to a great theater, which is common to the public, and yet the place which any man has taken is, for the time, his own.
But when mankind increased in number, craft, and ambition, it became necessary to entertain conceptions of a more permanent dominion; and to appropriate to individuals not the immediate use only, but the very substance of the thing to be used. Otherwise, innumerable tumults must have arisen, and the good order of the world been continually broken and disturbed, while a variety of persons were striving who should get the first occupation of the same thing, or disputing which of them had actually gained it. As human life also grew more and more refined, abundance of conveniences were devised to render it more easy, commodious, and agreeable; as habitations for shelter and safety, and raiment for warmth and decency. But no man would be at the trouble to provide either, so long as he had only a usufructuary property in them, which was to cease the instant that he quitted possession; if, as soon as he walked out of his tent or pulled off his garment, the next stranger who came by would have a right to inhabit the one and to wear the other.
In the case of habitations, in particular, it was natural to observe that even the brute creation, to whom everything else was in common, maintained a kind of permanent property in their dwellings, especially for the protection of their young; that the birds of the air had nests, and the beasts of the fields had caverns, the invasion of which they esteemed a very flagrant injustice, and would sacrifice their lives to preserve them. Hence a property was soon established in every man's house and homestead; which seem to have been originally mere temporary huts or movable cabins, suited to the design of Providence for more speedily peopling the earth, and suited to the wandering life of their owners, before any extensive property in the soil or ground was established.
There can be no doubt but that movables of every kind became sooner appropriated than the permanent, substantial soil; partly because they were more susceptible of a long occupancy, which might be continue for months together without any sensible interruption, and at length, by usage, ripen into an established right; but, principally, because few of them could be fit for use till improved and meliorated by the bodily labor of the occupant; which bodily labor, bestowed upon any subject which before lay in common to all men, is universally allowed to give the fairest and most reasonable title to an exclusive property therein.
The article of food was a more immediate call, and therefore a more early consideration. Such as were not contented with the spontaneous product of the earth, sought for a more solid refreshment in the flesh of beasts, which they obtained by hunting. But the frequent disappointments incident to that method of provision, induced them to gather together such animals as were of a more tame and sequacious nature and to establish themselves in a less precarious manner, partly by the milk of the dams, and partly by the flesh of the young.
The support of these their cattle made the article of water also a very important point. And, therefore, the book of Genesis, (the most venerable monument of antiquity, considered merely with a view to history,) will furnish us with frequent instances of violent contentions concerning wells; the exclusive property of which appears to have been established in the first digger or occupant, even in places where the ground and herbage remained yet in common. Thus, we find Abraham, who was but a sojourner, asserting his right to a well in the country of Abimelech, and exacting an oath for his security "because he had digged that well." And Isaac, about ninety years afterwards, reclaimed this his father's property; and, after much contention with the Philistines, was suffered to enjoy it in peace.
All this while, the soil and pasture of the earth remained still in common as before, and open to every occupant; except, perhaps, in the neighborhood of towns, where the necessity of a sale and exclusive property in lands, (for the sake of agriculture,) was earlier felt, and therefore more readily complied with. Otherwise, when the multitude of men and cattle had consumed every convenience on one spot of ground, it was deemed a natural right to seize upon and occupy such other lands as would more easily supply their necessities.
We have a striking example of this in the history of Abraham and his nephew Lot. When their joint substance became so great that pasture and other conveniences grew scarce, the natural consequence was that a strife arose between their servants; so that it was no longer practicable to dwell together. This contention, Abraham thus endeavored to compose: "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." This plainly implies an acknowledged right in either to occupy whatever ground he pleased that was not preoccupied by other tribes. "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, even as the garden of the Lord. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and journeyed east; and Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan."
As the world by degrees grew more populous, it daily became more difficult to find out new spots to inhabit, without encroaching upon former occupants; and, by constantly occupying the same individual spot, the fruits of the earth were consumed, and its spontaneous products destroyed without any provision for future supply or succession. It, therefore, became necessary to pursue some regular method of providing a constant subsistence; and this necessity produced, or at least promoted and encouraged the art of agriculture. And the art of agriculture, by a regular connection and consequence, introduced and established the idea of a more permanent property in the soil than had hitherto been received and adopted.
It was clear that the earth would not produce her fruits in sufficient quantities without the assistance of tillage; but who would be at the pains of tilling it, if another might watch an opportunity to seize upon and enjoy the product of his industry, art and labor? Had not, therefore, a separate property in lands, as well as movables, been vested in some individuals, the world must have continued a forest, and men have been mere animals of prey. Whereas, now, (so graciously has Providence interwoven our duty and our happiness together,) the result of this very necessity has been the ennobling of the human species, by giving it opportunities of improving its rational, as well as of exerting its natural faculties.
Necessity begat property; and, in order to insure that property, recourse was had to civil society, which brought along with it a long train of inseparable concomitants: states, government, laws, punishments, and the public exercise of religious duties. Thus connected together, it was found that a part only of society was sufficient to provide, by their manual labor, for the necessary subsistence of all; and leisure was given to others to cultivate the human mind, to invent useful arts, and to lay the foundations of science.