scribed the value of the Hero, and the service he renders to his country: but he has not compared him with the other characters before us, and therefore has failed to lead us to a conclusion on the matter. Now I have listened very attentively to the speeches already made, and I must say that I feel irresistibly led towards the conclusion that our vote should be decidedly in favour of the Poet. For the Poet seems to me to be in the best points of their character at once the Statesman and the Warrior. What constitutes a state? Not the bodies not the minds - but the free souls of its citizens. To give laws to the soul is the Poet's mission, and nobly he performs his task. Where is the parchment that shows us such a law as Shakspere gives us when he enjoins Mercy?

"The quality of Mercy is not strained,

It droppeth like the gentle dew from Heaven,
Upon the place beneath; it is twice bless'd, -
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes;
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown."

Show me the parchment that contains a law like that, and I will almost fall down and worship the Statesman that devised it. Well does an eloquent writer of the present day say,—

"Whence does the State its inspiration draw
Of mercy? 'Tis the Poet frames the Law."

* John Westland Marston.

And well does another great writer say, that "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world."

And so the Poet is the Warrior too. What hero ever led his men to battle to such strains as those of Henry V. to his soldiers, from the pen of Poet Shakspere: or as those of Bruce to his army, from the pen of Poet Burns?

"Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled!
Scots, wham Bruce has aftimes led,
Welcome to your gory bed!

Or to glorious victory!

"Now's the day, and now's the hour,—
See the front of battle lour;-

See approach proud Edward's power

Edward! chains and slavery!

"Wha wad be a traitor knave?

Wha wad fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?

Traitor coward! turn and flee!

"Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand or freeman fa',-
Caledonians! on wi' me!

"By oppression's woes and pains!
By our sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,

But they shall—they shall be free!

Lay the proud usurpers low,

Tyrants fall in every foe,
Liberty's in every blow!

FORWARD! LET US DO OR DIE!"

Who does not feel that the heart which felt that was the true Warrior heart after all? Who does not feel, as the wild strain flashes through his soul, that he too could fight for liberty and right whilst a pulse of life remained in him?

In another point of view too - a far higher one the Poet is the Warrior. He is for ever at war with the great foe of man Evil. No matter in what shape the monster comes Falsehood-Tyranny-Persecution- Superstition Hypocrisy Selfishness: -he dauntlessly attacks it in all. His life is one battle against wrong. To bring about the reign of good on earth, is his unceasing effort; and with an ardour compared with which the enthusiasm of the soldier sinks into insignificance, he fights under his sacred banner, enduring sorrow and defying death. Yes! the Poet is the Warrior.

I wonder it has not occurred to any other speaker that the Warrior and the Statesman themselves admit the superiority of the Poet. Why does the Statesman toil? That the Poet may celebrate his deeds, and hand his name down to posterity. Why does the Warrior front the cannon's mouth? That the bard may sing his victories.

Is not this an acknowledgment, plain and palpable, that the Warrior and the Statesman both consider the Poet superior to themselves? With this I shall conclude.

FIRST SPEAKER (in reply). — Sir, I have no hesitation in saying that the very full and able debate to which we have listened, has tended to convince me beyond doubt that of the three characters whom I submitted to your judgment the Poet is by far the noblest, the highest, and the worthiest. He is above the Warrior, inasmuch as the immortal must always transcend the perishable; and he is above the Statesman, inasmuch as morality must ever be superior to intellectual wisdom. The good which the Warrior does, tends towards evil, and most generally produces evil; the good that the Statesman does, is mutable and temporary; but the good that the Poet does is everlasting. Love of glory animates the Warrior; so that his good deeds originate, at most, in selfishness. The Statesman follows virtue for expediency's sake, and this shows him to be selfish too. But the Poet worships truth for its own sake alone, and never till he abandons self can he be a Poet at all.

I fear, however, it may be thought that all this is speculative. Let us therefore for a moment view the question with the eye of fact. I will

select from our history the greatest Warrior, the greatest Philosopher, and the greatest Poet that I find there. I will take CROMWELL as our Hero, BACON as our Statesman, and SHAKSPERE as our Poet. The same influences tended to produce all three,- nearly the same time beheld them, they are therefore fit objects to be mu

tually compared.

What then did Cromwell do for his country? Raised it doubtless to its highest pinnacle of political greatness: conquered its enemies-struck terror into the hearts of its malcontents acquired for it the dominion of the seas-first, indeed, gave England that high supremacy in the world which from that time to this she has held.

But let us look a little further. What do we see following his despotic rule? That which always results from military despotism licentiousness, irreligion, moral slavery. Charles the Second would never have demoralised us, had not Cromwell first trodden us down. So it is always with the conqueror. I could show you, were it necessary, many parallel instances, some from our own records some from those of France and other countries. Wherever the iron heel of the Warrior treads, there spring up foul and pestilential weeds which poison the whole atmosphere around, and flower into misery and crime. So much then for our Hero!