"Go, Lucina! Thou sweetly-drooping flower! Go, silver swan, Can any thing be more fine than this? And again; Lucina speaking of Valentinian says, forcibly, "And when he weeps, as you think, for his vices, Tis but as killing drops from baleful yew-trees, That rot their honest neighbors." Here is a song from the last act; the beauty of the language, the smoothness of the rhythm, and the imaginative tenderness of which are peculiarly striking. "Care-charming Sleep thou easer of all woes, Who, of all the poets, has transcended this? Lucina had resolved to follow the illustrious example of that Roman matron Lucretia, if like her's the alternative was to be life with dishonor, or death; and her own husband, Maximus, as we have seen, had strengthened her in this stern purpose by bidding her, like a silver swan, to go, and sing her own sad requiem. She is dishonored, and then dies by her own hand. Valentinian, her royal ravisher, then says to his parasites, She sleeps! "She is not dead-wake her! "Licinius. We are no gods, sir! If she be dead, to make her new again! Planting of worts and onions, -any thing And rise a great deal honester! My garments, The character of old Decius, the victim to the monarch's cruelty, and a martyr to "as much goodness as could die, and excellence as could live," is finely drawn. The following extracts are from his dying speech, addressed to one of his friends, Phidias: "This I charge ye, (Because ye say, ye loved old Decius aye :) Be there No annals of Decius, but' HE Lived.' I have mentioned that the Emperor was poisoned by the servant of that friend himself had murdered; and my last extract is his dying speech. It is a mighty conception of the author, this! Imagining the parting thoughts and horrid blasphemies of a wretch whose life had been devoted to the worship of his own senses; whose hand had been raised only to distress,-whose tongue had been made vocal only to damn,-his eye Valentinian. She cannot die! She must not die! Are those looking but to wither,-is indeed a stupendous effort I plant my love upon but common livers? Their hours, as others', told them? Can they be ashes? That I am all that is? 'The world's my creature; At my command moves not a leaf: the sea, That with my least breath break, no more remembered: Here is a masterly description of honest poverty, exulting in its superiority over hypocritical and empty greatness: it is addressed to one of the minions of courtfavor, by Pontius, a centurion, who had been cashiered by one of the Emperor's generals. "I am poor, And may expect a worse; yet digging, pruning, Mending of broken ways, carrying of water, of human genius! He is dying of poison, and says, as life is fast ebbing away, "Gods! let me ask, what am I, that ye lay A murderer-a hated Cæsar: Oh! But so much perfect time ye make a soul in, My brains are aches-now, my heart, my eyes-Friends, Here, while the volume is open before me, I may as well transcribe three beautiful stanzas from the same fine pens. "Hence, all your vain delights! Wherein you spend your folly: But only melancholy! Oh! sweetest melancholy! A look, that's fastened to the ground! "Weep no more, nor sigh, nor groan,- couth shape and size, lie scattered around me; and the profound stillness of the summer's night, is only broken by the deep-mouthed baying of the faithful watch dog. Imagination pictures to herself the ghosts of my ancestors, frowning upon the degenerate apostacy of their renegade descendant, who, forsaking the time-honored occupation of his forefathers, would call in question the wisdom of that philosophy which would entail upon the child the avocation, sentiments, and opinions of his parent. In the estimation of these venerable sages, book-learning should be left exclusively to the wealthy and high-born; to the plain farmer, so far from being a sine qua non, it but served to distract his attention with a thousand theoretical hypotheses, utterly at variance with the safe and advantageous prosecution of his calling. Science and agriculture were as diametrically opposed as light and darkness; the latter capable of receiving no assistance from the former, nor of reflecting any light upon her researches. Science was to be cultivated by the pale-face man of letters in the silent retirement of his chamber, whilst agriculture, like the mechanical arts, could only be advantageously pursued by him whose life had been practically devoted to its study. The expression of opinions so Co-wide of fact, might at this day excite some surprise, but my countrymen are not now what they were some seventy years back, though I am not entirely satisfied but that many still afford practical illustrations of this same doctrine. The condition of our country at that time was such, as to afford few comparative facilities for the attainment of an education, and those few were solely within the reach of the aristocratic and wealthy. The stirring events of the Revolution, and the consequent excitement produced upon the minds of the people, caused to some extent a suspension in the operations of the social system. After the conclusion of that struggle, the entire change which had been effected in government, produced a change almost equally perceptible in the manners of the people. Though the artificial distinctions in the various grades of society, which existed in England, had never been recognized in Virginia, yet the line of demarkation between "distinguished families" and the residue of the community, was clearly defined and well understood. Old family mansions, whether protected by the law of entails or not, descended regularly from sire to son, whilst the My dear Messenger,-Discarding every thing like for- right of primogeniture secured the entire landed estate mality, you perceive I already assume the style of an in the hands of the eldest born. Under our republican old and intimate acquaintance, and in place of the coy system, however, these laws, which hitherto had virdistant address of Mr. Editor, have adopted the more tually debarred the middle ranks of society from the social and affectionate one of my dear Messenger. I hope of making any permanent acquisition of real inhave often imagined, from the writings of the author, terest were abolished, and others enacted in their stead, we might form a correct idea of the character of the suited to the increased exigencies of society, and tendman; such I am sure was the case with Byron; and ing to facilitate the transfer of real property, as the if Willis's delineation of the right-amiable Mrs. Bulwer conveniency of families or the wants of the individual be true to life, I have not been mistaken in my estimate might demand. Industry and economy were now left of her ladyship, from a perusal of the dedication af free to acquire, and an opportunity presented "the fixed to her Cheveley, or the Man of Honor. Well, many" of building up baronial estates similar to those I was about making an application of this dictum to already existing, or at least of participating in the myself, but I will leave this to your more intelligent wreck of such as were ready to decay. Money, therereaders, and pass on. Night sits enthroned in darkness, fore, became the great desideratum, and wealth, not and one solitary star, riding high and wan in its distant education, the legacy which the parent was most desisphere, is holding its lonely vigil over the page upon rous of bequeathing the child. These causes were not which your correspondent embodies the fleeting reflec- of a local or sectional character; but perhaps their intions of an idle hour. A few old dusty volumes of un-fluence operated to a greater extent in the tide water My next shall be a continuation of this subject, but more various in its topics, and of a somewhat lighter strain. At present, adieu ! New York, October 1, 1839. J. F. O. LETTERS FROM OUT THE OLD OAK. NO. II. in each year, bears on its bosom to the beach, a boon which would lend verdure to sterility, and cause the wild flower to bloom more luxuriantly and beautifully. Her surface is white with the merchantman's canvass, and each breeze may waft some portion of the produc tions of our soil to the first marts of our country. Internal sections of Virginia than elsewhere. Be this as it may, some cause existed to produce the effect. The productive resources of our State have not been developed; nor has the cause of education been sufficiently advocated or attended to. My county, in common with others, has suffered from the neglect of matters so important and essential to national improvement and na-improvements we need not. The voice of our represen tional prosperity. tative is never heard in the hall of our legislature asking an expenditure of public funds for the construction of rail roads or the excavation of canals. The Rappahannock and Potomac, fair sisters, with their numerous creeks and inlets, are Nature's highways; we ask not of Art the exercise of her wand, or the display of her powers. A proper application of the means, which our locality presents, will develope resources amply sufficient, and Plenty, fair goddess, blending her blessings with the graces of our land, cause the home of Washington to become the Eden of Virginia. Sæpe, malum hoc nobis, si mens non læva fuisset De cœlo tactas memini prædicere quercus ; Sæpe sinistra cava, prædixit, ab ilice cornix. Incessant and eternal motion, is, however, the law, not less of rational than inanimate nature. Looking to inanimate nature alone, there is not a shrub, or flower of the field, but that would serve to impress it upon the mind. The most usual and familiar phenomena testify to the truth of the assertion, with an impressive emphasis, which man can neither mistake nor question. "It is indelibly imprinted upon the face of the earth, in The cause of agriculture, nevertheless how important revolution and in change; indelibly, also, on that of soever it may be to us, is not one upon which I look the heavens, in never-ending exhibitions of wonder and with so much interest, as that of education. "Animi of beauty." So intimately blended is it with all the imperio, corporis servitio, magis utimur," says Safunctions of organized animate beings, that motion may lust; the one excelling the other as the gods were well be said to be typical of life, whilst its absence is to superior brutes. The sentiment has lost none of its the unerring emblem of death. Nor is it the law of beauty or force, from its antiquity, whilst the truth of matter alone. It is equally applicable to mind. Nei- the old Roman's assertion would be well sustained ther the one nor the other can ever remain at rest. Pro- by the testimony of the nineteenth century, in which gress or retrograde it must. It is the stern command of of a truth, arma cedant toga, concedat laurea lingu. At inexorable, unyielding destiny. Nations, like indivi- no period in the history of mankind, has intellectual duals, are its subjects, and under the influence of its acquirement been more highly appreciated than now, operations their history is but unending revolution. Genius has never been cheered on her pathway with Thus has it been with us-many of the customs of our more thrilling plaudits, nor has her brow been encircled forefathers lie buried in their graves. Time has intro- with a greener wreath, than that with which America duced innovation, and change succeeded unto change. is ready to reward her. In the best days of Augustan Even the very sports and amusements of the young are literature, when Mæcenas had drawn about the throne not what they once were. The condition of society of the Cæsars those living and undying lights which yet has been improved. A thousand presses are daily send- clothe it in glory and splendor, Intellect was not more ing forth their winged messengers, laden with the cho-highly prized, more richly rewarded. The field for her sen arcana of science; seminaries, academies, and col- labors is illimitable-the necessity for her exertions coleges have been instituted; and the increasing demand eval and coeternal with the existence of man. Consider. for the productions of intellect and genius, must ulti-ations of high moment call on the American, with pecumately lead to results corresponding to the efforts made. The operation of these causes has not been entirely unproductive. Their influence has been felt; and so long as they continue to operate, improvement must be the consequence. As a citizen and son of Virginia, proud of her honors, and alive to her interests, I reiterate the compliment paid the editor of the Farmers' Register, by one of her congressional representatives-"That he has done better service to his State, than all her politicians combined, for the last twenty years." My county has not remained stationary amid the buzz of revolution and of change. The dissemination of correct views, and sound principles, relative to agriculture, must introduce improved systems of cultivation. Every facility here, which the farmer could wish or desire, Nature has placed within his reach. A country origi ginally fertile, remarkably champaign, and intersected with numberless streams capable of boat navigation, needs only the hand of industry and enterprise speedily to approximate the favored Eutopia, as pictured by the dreaming visionary. The very rivers which bathe her shores and beautify her scenery, may be made to afford inexhaustible supplies of the finest manures. Yea, every wave of the majestic Potomac, for some months liar emphasis, to extend and disseminate every facility A FRAGMENT. NUGATRITE. Oh! when in Death's arms, this fond bosom reposes, MILFORD BALD. THE FOREST. Ye dear old Forests! how I love, And through your bowers of laurel stray. While slow and deep the breezes sigh ; How oft I've hasten'd to your bowers, And He who heeds the mourner's cry, Ye dear old Forests! I have wept, And smil'd and pray'd, your shades among, And ye have listen'd while I swept My wild harp to the unstudied song. And when I sleep the dreamless sleep, out the sooner. ENTHUSIASM. LYDIA JANE. As the action of wind upon fire, so oftentimes is that of enthusiasm upon the flame of action or admiration. It is made to burn brighter for awhile, but only to go Enthusiasts taking up strong likes and dislikes, if they are once convinced of a flaw in the character of a person whom they had admired, immediately give them up forever, and frequently go exactly into the opposite direction. Such is the fate of a political favorite-admired and caressed for a season, whilst the enthusiasm in his favor lasts-and when it has burnt out, or when he has gone counter to his admirers in the slightest respect-abused and maltreated, as a man without principle, and as an enemy to his country. Williamsburg, Va. VOL. V.-92 THE REV. MR. CHAPIN'S ADDRESS. We have been anxious long since to give place to Mr. Chapin's Anniversary Address, delivered before the Richmond Lyceum in April last, and have only been prevented from doing so by the numerous demands upon our pages. The address itself has lost none of its freshness or importance by delay. It inculcates in singularly felicitous language the great and impor tant truth, that Intelligence (by which is meant the clear perception of truth and duty universally diffused,) is essentially requisite to the prosperity of a nation. By prosperity Mr. Chapin means all that "relates to a nation's progress, happiness, and safety;" and with these definitions it will be found, that he has very conclusively proved his main proposition. Few, however, are willing to contest this great truth in the abstract, for the same has been long since demonstrated by reason, as well as by his torical experience. The difficulty lies in carrying out our own convictions into practice, or in cordially uniting for the purpose of establishing and diffusing the only preventives to national decay and dissolution. What boots it that we know of some sovereign specific against contagion, if we madly neglect its use? If universal education, moral and mental, be necessary to perpetuate free government, and men are convinced of the fact, why are our law-makers so listless and indifferent on the subject, or why are the members of society generally so little disposed to make even small sacrifices, to insure so grand a result? The question, perhaps, is not so easily answered; yet we fear that the great prevailing and controlling sin of the present age, is the desire to grow rich. Whilst we acknowledge that such a desire, moderately cherished, is beneficial to society, we believe nothing is so pernicious when it becomes inordinate. It deadens all the finer feelings, contracts the social and domestic affections, and extinguishes the spirit of patriotism. We commend Mr. Chapin's address to general perusal. Besides the excellence of its doctrine, it contains many passages of rare beauty and eloquence.-[Editor So. Literary Messenger. ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS, Delivered before the Richmond Lyceum, in the Capitol, April 3d, 1839.-By Rev. E. H. Chapin. Gentlemen of the Richmond Lyceum : I presume that you have already anticipated, from the occasion, the general strain of remark which I shall employ at this time. The anniversary of an institution like yours, calls for some topic of an intellectual and moral nature, and such, whatever specific grade it may occupy, is the character of the address to which, for a brief portion of time, I request your attention. And here permit me to say, that I feel my own inadequacy to the full accomplishment of the duty required by the present circumstances. Such an opportunity as this, should ever be possessed by the giant and master spirits of the age-the skilful and industrious laborers in the great cause of progress-who are out in the field of humanity, toiling in the sunshine and blessing the shower, removing obstructions, opening the goodly soil and scattering abroad and afar the seeds, we trust, of a rich and glorious harvest for their country. It needs such men as these, who can lay bare all the sinews of a subject, and show its full force and importance; and I feel, therefore, I repeat, my inadequacy to the task now assigned me. I will only premise farther, that I shall advance no novel topic, nor indulge in any startling theory or singular and ingenious argument-content with the fact, that the publication of essential, and, it is to be feared, much-neglected truth, however trite it may be, is better than the exhibition of many finely wrought and beautiful devices. L the "bright wine" flowed in the festal hall, and breathed beneath the lattice, or in the bower of beauty. Physical energy-the zeal and animation which do not depend upon the exercise of the loftiest faculties of mind-were not lacking. A high sense of honor, cour fervor of love, were the distinguishing traits of the higher classes of the time. Young men, panting with ador for the golden spurs, cheerfully underwent all the hardships incident to the course of training which secured them, and held wounds and pain as easy conditions to the obtaining of the victor's wreath and the smiles of "Ladye-Love." The bold baron deemed it a glorious end to die," full knightly in his harness." The gage was but thrown into the ring, and kings moved to the conflict; and a poor hermit lifted up his voice and told of the blessed shrine and the holy sepulchre, and lo! an hundred banners floated to the winds, ten thousand lances flashed in sunshine, and the earth shook beneath the thundering tread of the red-cross warriors-the glory and chivalry of Europe. I lay down, as the motto to my discourse, the broad | thrilling through the proud ranks of the brave, and maxim, that INTELLIGENCE IS ESSENTIALLY REQUISITE melting in the lays of the Troubador-flowing where TO THE PROSPERITY OF A NATION. I use the term prosperity here, in an extensive sense, meaning by it, all that relates to progress, happiness and safety. 1 presume that no one will dispute this proposition, but that it will be received as a truism. It requires no argument, therefore, to sustain it, or to convince you of its correct-age, and a reckless daring, mingled with a romantic ness. If it did, our evidence is palpable, and ready to the tongue of every one who has at all reflected upon the subject. We point to the primitive or savage man, surrounded by all the rude circumstances of his condition. He plucks his food from the thick greenwood and the running stream, sleeps beneath a roof of bark, and clothes himself with skins won by his prowess in hunt ing. Physically, he is perfect. His is the robust frame, the plant sinew and the stalwart arm. You would readily select him for display in a triumphal procession or a gallant and mighty war-host. He is free, and, doubtless, in many respects happy. But, after all, his happiness is in a great measure, at least, derived from the gratification of the lower faculties of our nature his freedom is that of the wild beast, and maintained by a strong arm, and a "red right hand." Those wholesome restraints which bind society together, and prevent the disastrous outbreaking of evil passions, and are the safeguards of property and life-those better and in-long night, brooding between the illustrious times of ward principles of action, which obtain among other portions of humanity, are in his mode of existence, unknown, or but feebly exercised. Has his cabin been fired by some hostile brand? In the spirit of retaliation, a village smoulders in ruins, and fields are blighted; is his brother murdered to-day ?-to-morrow, the avenging weapon quivers in the bosom of the transgressor. But it is unnecessary to specify and to direct your attention to all the revolting evils of superstition and ignorance. You have but to turn your eyes to those lands where knowledge is cultivated and diffused among the people, and you will behold, every where, the bene-general traits, and fix its character from these. While, fits of civilization, the supremacy of law, and the blessed sanctity of religion; and you will discover a contrast as marked as that which exists on the physical globe, between that portion where "the day beams" rest, and the hemisphere which sleeps in star-light and in shadow. But, allow all the intelligence and energy we can to this period, still it must merit the appellation of the dark or iron age. Still it rested upon the world, a long, antiquity and the glory of a brighter morning. Its starry gleamings, as we have said, were few and far between-or, perhaps, in its earlier or latter watches, the descended orb of the past yet gilded here and there a mountain-peak, or the gray light of the approaching dawn fell dim and uncertainly upon the distant and misty summits. But in the depths, the depths !—below, and all abroad, was thick and palpable gloom. The intellect of the great mass, slept in shadow, silent, and almost stagnant, like the doomed waters of the Eastern Sea. In describing any nation or period, we regard its Apart sat on a hill retired, then, we remember, that there were men like Erigena, Alfred, Abelard and John of Salisbury, we also remem ber that such were exceptions, and rare exceptions to the common rule. And we must not forget, moreover, the nature of much of even the wisdom that did exist at that time. It was blended with mysticism, employed But we may illustrate the truth of our proposition on idle questions and in dialectic contests, and moulded better, perhaps, by history. We refer to the middle to the uses of a subtle and scholastic philosophy. Con ages-the dark lapse which intervened from the over-cerning such men as Scotus and Aquinus, "the most throw of the regal city by the iron-handed Goth, to the subtle" and "the angelic" doctors, we might, perhaps, dawning of mental splendor and the revival of letters, appropriately use the language of Milton-they in the fourteenth century. A period of wide spread and deep seated intellectual and moral torpor was this! The perception and energy of true and spiritual religion were dim and weak-lost in the thick gloom of ignoAnd found no end in wandering mazes lost." rance, and fettered, in their free impulses, by an all despotic power. The living principle of genius was al- Now these abstractions and chimeras, could have most without an oracle upon earth. The home of wis-none of those universal and purifying effects which flow dom was in the past. Her shrines were the tombs of from true philosophy. Knowledge, confined to the the mighty dead, and her records the chronicles of an- student's cell, or imprisoned in the dark walls of the cient glory. We do not mean to say that all was dark-cloister, could not move in its own free sphere and shed ness. Here and there were orbs of light, burning soli-abroad its healthful and glorious influences. When we tary and far apart in the vast and lonely firmament. call this a dark age, therefore, we speak particularly of There were learned and skilful men, whose nice distinc- the condition of the people-the common people-the tions in reasoning and subtle metaphysics, were worthy everlasting pillars of society. They give the hues and Aristotle, their master. And there was poetry, too, i changes to times and nations. The impulses of the In thoughts more elevate and reasoned high, * * |