Have ever these sweet echoes learned to groan? And soon damnation followed! Ha! she sleeps. [Advancing. [In a whisper. The day's uncommon heat has overcome her. To give such charms as these, and then to call on man, Was it because it was too hard for you? But see, she smiles! never shall smile more. It strongly tempts me to a parting kiss. Ha! smile again. [Goes towards her, and starts back.] She dreams of him she loves. Curse on her charms! I'll stab her through them all. It appears from Dr. Young's "Revenge," that Alonzo was made jealous of Leonora, by the impositions of Zango, the Moor; and that he formed the dreadful resolution, to put a period to her life, by his own hand. For this purpose, he supplies himself with a weapon of death, and steals to the bower where she is sleeping. Jealousy is, indeed, "a green-eyed monster." It "doats, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves"-" it caresses and kills at the same time!" In a word, "it destroys that which it cannot live without." It was emphatically so with Othello. It is equally true of Alonzo. In the beautiful and eloquent language of the Rev. C. C. Burr, of Philadelphia, as the writer found it in one of that gentleman's excellent lectures on the passions:-"At one moment Leonora appears to Alonzo's doting heart, lovely as an angel, beautiful as heaven, soft as a milk-white lamb, libating for him in a bower of roses and amaranths,— whose life and sweetness are met,—a sacrament of love, spread for him alone, and where he may baptize his soul in bliss, where he may revel among those silver curls, clustering there, like tendrils of a parasite upon alabaster columns. The next moment his fancy paints her all begrimed, and black as hell." Under the wrong impression that she had been false to her marriage Vows, he gave vent to the horrors of his mind in the above most admirable soliloquy. Let the declaimer be careful "to suit the action to the word." Let every important sentiment and emotion, be expressed through those "windows of the soul," the eyes, as well as by the voice. 99. DEATH OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON.-Eliphalet Nott.. 1. A short time since, and he who is the occasion of our sorrows, was the ornament of his country. He stood on an eminence; and glory covered him. From that eminence he has fallen-suddenly,-forever fallen. His intercourse with the living world is now ended; and those who would hereafter find him, must seek him in the grave. There, cold and lifeless is the heart, which just now was the seat of friendship. There, dim and sightless is the eye, whose radiant and enlivening orb beamed with intelligence; and there, closed forever, are those lips, on whose persuasive accents, we have so often, and so lately hung with transport. 2. From the darkness which rests upon his tomb, there proceeds, methinks, a light, in which it is clearly seen, that those gaudy objects which men pursue, are only phantoms. In this light, how dimly shines the splendor of victory,-how humble appears the majesty of grandeur! The bubble which seemed to have so much solidity, has burst; and we again see, that all below the sun, is vanity. 3. True, the funeral eulogy has been pronounced. The sad and solemn procession has moved. The badge of mourning has already been decreed; and presently the sculptured marble will lift up its front, proud to perpetuate the name of Hamilton, and rehearse to the passing traveller his virtues. 4. Just tributes of respect, and to the living useful; but to him, mouldering in his narrow and humble habitation, what are they! How vain! How unavailing! 5. Approach and behold, while I lift from his sepulchre its covering. Ye admirers of his greatness, ye emulous of his talents and his fame, approach and behold him now. How pale! how silent! No martial bands admire the adroitness of his movements. No fascinated throng weep, and melt, and tremble at his eloquence. Amazing change! A shroud! a coffin! a narrow, subterraneous cabin! This is all that now remains of Hamilton! And is this all that remains of him? During a life so transitory, what lasting monument then can our fondest hopes erect? 6. My brethren! we stand on the borders of an awful gulf, which is swallowing up all things human. And is there, amidst this universal wreck, nothing stable, nothing abiding, nothing immortal, on which poor, frail, dying man can fasten? 7. Ask the hero, ask the statesman, whose wisdom you have been accustomed to revere, and he will tell you. He will tell you, did I say? He has already told you, from his death-bed; and his illumined spirit still whispers from the heavens, with well-known eloquence, the solemn admonition: "Mortals! hastening to the tomb, and once the companions of my pilgrimage, take warning, and avoid my errors,—cultivate the virtues I have recommended, choose the Savior I have chosen. Live disinterestedly. Live for immortality. And would you rescue any thing from final dissolution, lay it up in God." Alexander Hamilton was doubtless "a great master of language and of song." It is said that on one occasion, he called upon the dead to come forth; and, under the impression that they had broken their sacred slumbers, at the bidding of the speaker, the audience started up, and vacated their seats, for the accommodation of those "that slept!" The duel to which Dr. Nott alludes, and in which Hamilton was killed by Col. Burr, was fought at Weehawk, on the Jersey shore, July 11th, 1804. General Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis, in the year 1757. He wrote a large portion of the constitution of the United States. Fisher Ames well observes: "The country deeply laments, when it turns its eyes back, and sees what Hamilton was; but my soul stiffens with despair, when I think what Hamilton would have been." 100. OUR FEDERAL UNION-ITS INESTIMABLE VALUE.-President Polk. 1. The inestimable value of our federal union is felt and acknowledged by all. By this system of united and confederated states, our people are permitted, collectively and individually, to seek their own happiness in their own way; and the consequences have been most auspicious. Since the union was formed, the number of states has increased from thirteen to twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position, as members of the confederacy, within the last week. Our population has increased from three to twenty millions. 2. New communities and states are seeking protection under its ægis, and multitudes from the Old World are flocking to our shores, to participate in its blessings. Beneath its benign sway, peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to man's true interests, in developing his faculties and powers, and the capacity of nature, to minister to his enjoyments. All 3. Genius is free to announce its inventions and discoveries; and the hand is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives, not incompatible with the rights of a fellow being. All distinctions of birth or rank have been abolished. citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. No union exists between church and state, and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds. 4. These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our federal union. To perpetuate them, it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands, under the protection of this glorious union? Every lover of his country must shudder at the thought of the possibility of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic sentiment: "Our federal union,—it must be preserved.” This excellent and eloquent extract is from the inaugural address of James K. Polk, delivered on the 4th of March, 1845, at Washington, on the occasion of his being inducted into the office of president of the United States," the most honorable and most responsible office on earth." All our presidents, except the first, have taken the oath of office on the 4th of March. Washington's inauguration took place in New-York, on the 30th of April, 1789. In the year 1800, the seat of government was transferred from Philadelphia, to the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia,-a -a territory of ten miles square, ceded, in 1790, to the United States, by Virginia and Maryland. The oath or affirmation which our national constitution requires a citizen, on his accession to the presidency, to take, is as follows: "I do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preThe serve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States." oath or affirmation prescribed by the constitution of the state of New-York, for "members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, (except such inferior officers as may by law be exempted,) to take and subscribe, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices," is, in its nature, the same. "I do solemnly swear, (or affirm, as the case may be,) that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of New-York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of - according to the best of my ability." The people of the United States elect the president and vice president, through presidential electors. Each state is entitled to as many electors, as it has senators and representatives in congress. The president and vice president hold their offices four years The salary of the president, for the term, is $100,000. The vice president, whose principal duty is, to preside in the senate, receives $24,000, for the same term. "The president of the United States is commander in chief of the army and navy, and of the militia when in actual service. He grants reprieves and pardons; nominates, and with the consent of the senate, appoints ambassadors, judges of the supreme court and other officers; and with the advice and consent of the senate, makes treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur. He fills vacancies in offices which happen during the recess of the senate. He convenes congress on extraordinary occasions, receives foreign ministers, gives information to congress of the state of public affairs; commissions all the officers of the United States, and takes care that the laws be faithfully executed." The articles of confederation which congress adopted in 1777, were, in many respects, diametrically opposed to the fundamental principles of the Declaration of Independence. The confederation regarded each of the states in the union, as sovereign, the declaration recognizes the constituent and revolutionary power of the people, as the rightful source of all legitimate authority. It was adopted and issued, “in the name and by the authority of the good people of the colonies," the whole people of the united colonies; and not "in the name," or "by the authority of each of the separate colonies." The constitution of the United States which was adopted in 1789, by a convention, over which, "the Father of our country" presided, embodies the same principles, contained in the declaration. The perpetuity of our country's freedom, and the preservation of the union of the states, can be secured only by adhering to the constitution. It is, together with the laws passed by congress in pursuance of it, "the supreme law of the land." Every citizen who prefers liberty and union to anarchy and disunion, will unhesitatingly and cheerfully say, as the president does in his inaugural address: "The constitution, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increas ing family of free and independent states, will be the chart by which I shall be directed." And all true Americans will, "in time of war, in time of peace, and at all times," unitedly and exultingly exclaim: "By our altars, pure and free, We will still be one." |