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of the "Flower of Essex," at that spot, in King Philip's war, September 18, (O. S.) 1675.

1.14. LXXXVI. Mount Hope: a beautiful eminence of Bristol County, R. I., on the west shore of Mount Hope Bav.

118. LXXXVIII. Nevada, (na-vah'-dah): Antilles, (an-teel'): Archipelagoes, (ar-ke-pel'-a-goze).

120.

121. 123.

127

xc. From a eulogy delivered at Boston, September 17, 1859, on the occasion of the inauguration of the statue of Daniel Webster, which stands in front of the State House.

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Condé, (con-da'): Rocroi, (ro-kroi'): Arbela, (ar-bee'-lah). XCII. JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN was born at Newmarket, in the county of Cork, Ireland, July 24, 1750, and died at London, October 14, 1817. His voice was naturally bad, and his articulation so hasty and confused, that he went among his schoolfellows by the name of "Stuttering Jack Curran." His manner was awkward, his gesture constrained and meaningless, and his whole appearance calculated only to produce laughter, notwithstanding the evidence he gave of superior abilities. All these faults he overcame by severe and patient labor. One of his biographers says, "His oratorical training was as severe as any Greek ever underwent." Constantly on the watch against bad habits, he practised daily before a glass, reciting passages from Shakspeare, Junius, and the best English orators. He became the most eloquent of all Irish advocates, and for more than twenty years he had an unrivalled mastery of the Irish bar. He was member of the Irish House of Commons from 1783 to 1797. In 1806, he was made Master of the Rolls, which office he resigned in 1814.

XCV. CHARLES JAMES FOX was born on the 24th of January, 1749;
was educated at Eton College and Oxford University. He
was fond of the classics, and took up Demosthenes as he did
the speeches of Lord Chatham. As an orator he was much
indebted to the study of the Greek writers, for the simplicity
of his tastes, his entire abstinence from everything like mere
ornament, the terseness of his style, the point and stringency
of his reasonings, and the all-pervading cast of intellect which
distinguishes his speeches even in the most vehement bursts
of impassioned feeling. But his tastes were too exclusively
literary. He could discuss Greek metres with Porson, but he
had little acquaintance with the foundations of jurisprudence,
or the laws of trade; and he always felt the want of an early
training in scientific investigation, correspondent to that he re-
ceived in classical literature. He took his seat in Parliament
in 1768. He was the first man in the House of Commons, who
took the ground of denying the right of Parliament to tax
the colonies without their consent, and he went on identifying
himself more and more to the end of life with the popular part
of the Constitution, and with the cause of free principles
throughout the world, aiming always amid all the conflicts of
party
"to widen the base of freedom, to infuse and circulate

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127.

the spirit of liberty." He made it a point to speak on every question
that came up, whether interested in it or not, as a means of exer-
cising and training his faculties, for he was bent on making himself
a powerful debater. His love of argument was perhaps the most
striking trait of his character, and "he rose," said Mr. Burke, " by
slow degrees to be the most brilliant and accomplished debater
the world ever saw." There was nothing strained or unnatural
in his most vehement bursts of passion.
"His feeling," says
Coleridge, was all intellect, and his intellect was all feeling." In
his language, Mr. Fox studied simplicity, strength, and boldness.
"Give me an elegant Latin and a homely Saxon word," says he,
"and I will always choose the latter." He died on the 13th Sep-
tember, 1806, and was buried with the highest honors of the nation,
in Westminster Abbey.

66

xcv. This extract is from his speech on the rejection of Bonaparte's overtures for peace which was delivered February 3d, 1800, and was considered by most who heard it as the ablest speech he ever made.

This selection is a fine illustration of the use of the circumflex slides.

Suwarrow: a Russian general. Praga: (prah'-gah).

129. XCVI. Utrecht, (yoo'-trekt): Blenheim, (blen'-hime).

131. XCVIII. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, son of John Adams, the second President, was born at Braintree, Mass., on the 11th of July, 1767. He took his degree at Harvard College in 1787, a year after his admission, having been prepared for an advanced class, in Europe, where he had previously resided for several years. He studied law with Theophilus Parsons, at Newburyport, and commenced practice in 1790. He was a member of the Senate of the United States from 1803 until 1808. In 1806 he was appointed Boylston Professor of Rhetoric in Harvard College, which office he held for three years. In 1810 he was appointed Minister to Russia, where he remained until 1815, when with other Commissioners he negotiated the treaty of peace with England at Ghent, and was appointed Minister to that country in the same year, a post which his father had occupied before him, and which is now so ably filled by his son, Charles Francis. He served as Secretary of State during the administration of Monroe, whom he succeeded in the Presidency. On his retirement from the Chief Magistracy, he was elected to represent his native district in the House of Representatives, until his death, which occurred the 23d of February, 1848. His career as a member of the House was distinguished for his fearless and uncompromising defence of the right of petition, and for his bold and effective opposition to the usurpation of the slave power.

133. XCIX. Gracchi: (grak'-ki) two distinguished Romans, sons of Cornelia. 135. CI. JOSEPH WARREN, the first great martyr in the cause of Independence, was born at Roxbury, Mass., June 11th, 1741, and was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. General Warren acted as a volunteer at the battle of Bunker Hill, serving as a private in the ranks in the redoubt, having borrowed a musket from a ser

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geant. When urged against hazarding his life on that day, he replied enthusiastically, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” CV. WILLIAM PITT, the younger, was born on the 28th of May, 1759, and was the second son of Lord Chatham. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he continued nearly seven years, devoting his attention mainly to three things; namely, the classics. mathematics, and the logic of Aristotle applied to the purposes of debate. In early life his whole soul seems to have been absorbed by one ideathat of becoming a distinguished orator. "Multum haud multa," was his motto in most of his studies for life. This language gave direction to most of his reading in English Literature; he had the finest parts of Shakspeare by heart; he read the best historians with great care; he entered Parliament in 1781, and at a single bound, when only twenty-two years of age, he placed himself in the foremost rank of English statesmen and orators, at the proudest era of English eloquence. He was made Prime Minister at the age of twenty-four, and he continued to fill the first place in the councils of his country, during most of the remaining period of his life, which terminated on the 23d of January, 1806, in the 47th year of his age. As a debater in the House, his speeches were logical and argumentative. The strength of his oratory was intrinsic, and his speeches were stamped with the inimitable marks of originality.

This extract was taken from a speech on the abolition of the slavetrade, in the House of Commons, 1792, which is regarded as one of the most brilliant displays of his eloquence.

CVI. HORACE MANN was born at Franklin, Mass., May, 1796, and graduated at Brown University, in 1819, with the highest honors. After a successful career as a politician, having served in both branches of the Legislature, on the organization of the Board of Education in Massachusetts, on the 29th of June, 1837, Mr. Mann was elected its Secretary, which office he continued to fill with great ability, for twelve years. His twelve Annual Reports to the Board of Education probably constitute the most readable and instructive series of educational documents which has been produced by one mind in any language. On his retirement from the Secretaryship, he was elected Representative to Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Quincy Adams. Having served in Congress two terms, he again returned to the educational field by accepting the Presidency of Antioch College, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he died.

CVII. DANIEL WEBSTER was born at Salisbury, N. H., on the 18th of January, 1782, and graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1801. His college life was distinguished by assiduous and various studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1805, and commenced the practice of law in his native town, but soon after removed to Portsmouth. He removed to Boston in 1816, and died at Marshfield, Mass., October, 1852. He was the first orator, the first jurist, and the first statesman of his generation, in America. His most famous forensic performance, was his argument in the Dartmouth College case. His

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157.

greatest parliamentary effort was his second speech on Foote's resolution; and his most important diplomatic service was his negotiation of the treaty of Washington, in 1842. His speeches and orations have been published in six volumes, with an admirable memoir, by Mr. Everett.

CXVI. This Will: of STEPHEN GIRARD, of Philadelphia, providing for the founding of a college for orphans.

160. cxvII. This selection is the peroration to Mr. Webster's second speech on Foote's resolution.

165 cxxII. This extract is taken from the address delivered by Mr. Webster on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the extension of the National Capitol.

168. cxxiv. From the address on the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument, at Charlestown, Mass., the 17th of June, 1825.

170. CXXV. WILLIAM PITT, first Earl of Chatham, was born at London, on the 15th of November, 1708. He became a member of Parliament in 1735, at the age of twenty-six, and was made Secretary of State in December, 1756, which office he continued to hold, with a brief interval, until October, 1761. He was appointed to the office of Lord Privy Seal in 1766, and elevated to the peerage with the title of Earl Chatham. He died at Hayes, in Kent, on the 11th of May, 1778, in the seventieth year of his age. His devotion to the interest of the great body, especially the middling classes, of the English nation, won for him the title of "the Great Commoner." He consecrated his great talents and commanding eloquence to the defence of the popular part of the Constitution. In the latter part of his life, though suffering much from bodily infirmities, he was the champion of the American cause, standing forth, in presence of the whole British empire, to arraign, as a breach of the Constitution, every attempt to tax a people who had no representative in Parliament. This was the era of his noblest efforts in oratory. He has been generally regarded as the most powerful orator of modern times. His success, no doubt, was owing in part to his extraordinary personal advantages. In his best days before he was crippled by the gout, his figure was tall and erect; his attitude imposing; his gestures energetic even to vehemence, yet tempered with dignity and grace. His voice was full and clear; his loudest whisper was distinctly heard; his middle notes were sweet and beautifully varied; and, when he elevated his voice to its highest pitch, the House was completely filled with the volume of sound. The effect was awful, except when he wished to cheer or animate; then he had spiritstirring notes which were perfectly irresistible. But although gifted by nature with a fine voice and person, he spared no effort to add everything that art could confer, for his improvement as an orator. 174.CXXVIII. HENRY CLAY was born in Virginia, April 12, 1777, and died at Washington, June 29, 1852. In early life his advantages of education were limited. He commenced the practice of the law in 1797. His political career began in 1803, and ended in 1852. He was twice Speaker of the National House of Representatives. In 1814, he was one of the commissioners to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent.

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He represented the State of Kentucky in the United States Senate at various periods from 1806 till 1852. He was Secretary of State during the administration of John Quincy Adams, and he was three times the unsuccessful Whig candidate for the Presidency. He was a man of the warmest sympathies, and he captivated the hearts of all who came in contact with him. He was a patriot, and willingly sacrificed private preference to public good. He said truly in his valedictory address to the Senate, "In all my public acts, I have had a single eye directed, and a warm and devoted heart dedicated to what, in my best judgment, I believed the true interest, the honor, the union, and the happiness of my country required." He was a consummate orator. In his manner he united the gentleness of woman with the pride and dignity of the haughtiest manhood. His style was full, flowing, and manly; and his voice was sonorous, sweet, and powerful.

183. CXXXVI. ELIPHALET NOTT was born in Connecticut, in 1773, and is now upwards of ninety years of age. He has occupied the office of President of Union College for about sixty years.

190.

191.

203. 220.

The eloquent discourse on the death of Hamilton was delivered at
Albany, in 1804.

CXL. JOHN HANCOCK, President of the American Congress in 1776, and
Signer of the Declaration, was born in Massachusetts, in 1739,
and died in 1793.

This extract is from an oration delivered March 5th, on the anniversary of the massacre of Boston citizens by British soldiers, which took place four years before.

CXLI. EDMUND BURKE, who was preeminently the great philosophical
orator of our language, was born at Dublin, January 1, 1730, and
died at Beaconsfield, near London, July 9th, 1797. His political
career commenced in the House of Commons, of which body he
was a member during the greater part of his subsequent life. He
wrote out six of his great speeches, the last of which was that on
the Nabob of Arcot's debts. He was strenuously opposed to the
American war, and two of his greatest speeches, that on the
Stamp Act, and that on Conciliation with America, supported the
cause of the colonies. Of the latter, Mr. Everett says,
"It was
less than a month before the commencement of hostilities, that
Burke pronounced that truly divine oration on 'Conciliation with
America,' which, in my poor judgment, excels everything, in the
form of eloquence, that has come down to us from Greece or
Rome." And he said further, - "Certainly, no compositions in the
English tongue can take precedence of those of Burke, in depth
of thought, reach of forecast, or magnificence of style.
political disquisition elaborated in the closet, the palm must per-
haps be awarded to Burke over all others, ancient or modern."
CL. Platea, (pla-te'-a): Artemisium, (ar-te-me'-ze-um).
CLXII. SIR WALTER SCOTT was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, August 15,
1771, and died at Abbotsford, his country seat, on the banks of
the Tweed, September 21, 1832. He passed through the High
School and University of his native city, without attaining any

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