the blessing of his hopes, and the goodness of the giver of all things. Then, especially, should he pour forth the grateful incense of his praise, and his devotion.

The Almighty deserves the praise of his creatures. The flower pays its worship in fragrant exhalation, and the lark when he carols at the gate of heaven, in praise of their glorious Maker. The sun burns incense daily, and the virgin stars keep nightly vigils; the mysterious anthem of the forest proclaims its devotion, and the sea declares its obedience as it murmurs into repose. Every moment of time bears an errand of mercy, and should not be allowed to pass without an acknowledgment of gratitude.

"Ye chief, for whom the whole creation smiles,
Crown the great hymn."

LESSON CXLVIII.

New-England.-J. G. PERCIVAL.

HAIL to the land whereon we tread,
Our fondest boast;

The sepulchre of mighty dead,
The truest hearts that ever bled,
Who sleep on Glory's brightest bed,
A fearless host:

No slave is here our unchained feet
Walk freely, as the waves that beat
Our coast.

Our fathers crossed the occan's wave
To seek this shore;

They left behind the coward slave
To welter in his living grave;—
With hearts unbent, and spirits brave,
They sternly bore'

Such toils, as meaner souls had quelled;
But souls like these, such toils impelled
To soar.

Hail to the morn, when first they stood
On Bunker's height,

And, fearless, stemmed the invading flood,
And wrote our dearest rights in blood,
And mowed in ranks the hireling brood,
In desperate fight!..

O! 'twas a proud, exulting day,
For even our fallen fortunes lay
In light.

There is no other land like thee,
No dearer shore;

Thou art the shelter of the free;
The home, the port of Liberty,
Thou hast been, and shalt ever be,
Till time is o'er.

Ere I forget to think upon
My land, shall mother curse the son
She bore.

Thou art the firm, unshaken rock,
On which we rest;

And, rising from thy hardy stock,
Thy sons the tyrant's frown shall mock,
And Slavery's galling chains unlock,
And free the oppressed:

All, who the wreath of Freedom twine,
Beneath the shadow of their vine
Are blest.

We love thy rude and rocky shore,
And here we stand-

Let foreign navies hasten o'er,
And on our heads their fury pour,
And peal their cannon's loudest roar,
And storm our land;

They still shall find, our lives are given,
To die for home;-and leant on Heaven,
Our hand.

LESSON CXLIX.

Conclusion of a Discourse delivered at Plymouth, Mass. Dec. 22d. 1820, in commemoration of the first settlement in New-England.-By DANIEL WEBSTER.

LET us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed in its light, and laboured in its hope. They sought to incorporate its prin

ciples with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, and literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend their influence still more widely; in the full conviction that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceable spirit of Christianity.

The hours of this day are rapidly flying, and this occasion will soon be passed. Neither we nor our children can ex- · pect to behold its return. They are in the distant regions of futurity, they exist only in the all-creating power of God, who shall stand here, a hundred years hence, to trace, through us, their descent from the pilgrims, and to survey, as we have now surveyed, the progress of their country during the lapse of a century. We would anticipate their concurrence with us in our sentiments of deep regard for our common ancestors. We would anticipate and partake the pleasure with which they will then recount the steps of New-England's advancement. On the morning of that day, although it will not disturb us in our repose, the voice of acclamation and gratitude, commencing on the rock of Plymouth, shall be transmitted through millions of the sons of the pilgrims, till it lose itself in the murmurs of the Pacifick seas.

We would leave, for the consideration of those who shall then occupy our places, some proof that we hold the blessings transmitted from our fathers in just estimation; some proof of our attachment to the cause of good government, and of civil and religious liberty; some proof of a sincere and ardent desire to promote every thing which may enlarge the understandings and improve the hearts of men. And when, from the long distance of a hundred years, they shall look back upon us, they shall know, at least, that we possessed affections, which, running backward, and warming with gratitude for what our ancestors have done for our happiness, run forward also to our posterity, and meet them with cordial salutation, ere yet they have arrived on the shore of Being.

&

Advance, then, ye future generations! We would hail you, as you rise in your long succession, to fill the places which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of existence where we are passing, and soon shall have passed, our human duration. We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the Fathers. We bid you welcome to the healthful skies, and the verdant fields of New-England. We greet your

accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed. We welcome you to the blessings of good government, and religious liberty. We welcome you to the treasures of science and the delights of learning. We welcome you to the transcendant sweets of domestick life, to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting Truth!

LESSON CL.

Effects of Education upon individuals.-Its importance to the publick.-WORDSWORTH.

ALAS! what differs more than man from man!

And whence this difference ?--whence but from himself?
For, see the universal race, endowed

With the same upright form! The sun is fixed,
And the infinite magnificence of heaven,
Within the reach of every human eye :
The sleepless ocean murmurs in all ears;
The vernal field infuses fresh delight
Into all hearts. Throughout the world of sense
Even as an object is sublime or fair,
That object is laid open to the view
Without reserve or veil; and as a power
Is salutary, or its influence sweet,
Are each and all enabled to perceive
That power, that influence, by impartial law.
Gifts nobler are vouchsafed alike to all ;-
Reason, and, with that reason, smiles and tears;
Imagination, freedom of the will,

Conscience to guide and check; and death
To be foretasted,-immortality presumed.

Strange then, nor less than monstrous might be deemed

The failure, if the Almighty, to this point
Liberal and undistinguishing, should hide
The excellence of moral qualities

From common understanding; leaving truth
And virtue, difficult, abstruse and dark;
Hard to be won, and only by a few :-
Strange, should he deal herein with nice respects,

And frustrate all the rest! Believe it not :
The primal duties shine aloft-like stars;
The charities, that sooth, and heal, and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of man-like flowers.
The generous inclination, the just rule,
Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts-
No mystery is here; no special boon

For high and not for low,-for proudly graced
And not for meek in heart. The smoke ascends
To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth,
As from the haughty palace. He whose soul
Ponders its true equality, may walk

The fields of earth with gratitude and hope;
Yet, in that meditation, will he find

Motive to sadder grief, when his thoughts turn
From nature's justice to the social wrongs
That make such difference betwixt man and man.
Oh for the coming of that glorious time
When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth,
And best protection, this imperial realm*
While she exacts allegiance, shall admit
An obligation on her part, to teach
Them who are born to serve her and obey;
Binding herself by statute to secure,
For all the children whom her soil maintains,
The rudiments of Letters, and to inform
The mind with moral and religious truth,
Both understood and practised-so that none
However destitute, be left to droop,
By timely culture unsustained, or run
Into a wild disorder; or be forced

**

To drudge through weary life without the aid
Of intellectual implements and tools;
A savage horde among the civilized,
A servile band among the lordly free!

This right—as sacred, almost, as the right
To exist and be supplied with sustenance
And means of life, the lisping babe proclaims
To be inherent in him, by Heaven's will,
For the protection of his innocence;
And the rude boy who knits his angry brow,
And lifts his wilful hand on mischief bent,
Or turns the sacred faculty of speech

* The British empire,