Ion. Hear and record the oath, Immortal Powers! Now give me leave a moment to approach That altar, unattended. Gracious gods! [He goes to the altar. In whose mild service my glad youth was spent, Beyond ye, that hath breathed through all your shapes In earth and heaven, -to ye I offer up This conscious being, full of life and love, For my dear country's welfare. Let this blow End all her sorrows! [Stabs himself and falls. CTESIPHON rushes to support him. Enter IRUS. Irus. I bring you glorious tidings- Ha! no joy Can enter here. Ion. Yes-is it as I hope? Irus. The pestilence abates. Ion. [Springs on his feet.] Do ye not hear? Why shout ye not? - Ye are strong- think not of me. Hearken! The curse my ancestry had spread O'er Argos, is dispelled. Agenor, give This gentle youth his freedom, who hath brought And, Medon! cherish him as thou hast one 1 WAN'TON-NĚSs (won-). Sportiveness; negligence of restraint. 2 VĒNAL. That may be bought and sold; hireling. ' PRITH'EE. thee. [Dies. FREN'ZIED. Affected with madness. 5 SUF-FÜŞE'. Overspread as with a vapor, fluid or color. 6 LUSTROUS. Bright; shining. A corruption of pray 7 FUNCTION, Office; faculty. 8 IS'SUE (is'shy). Offspring; children. LXXXIX.-NATIONAL MONUMENT TO WASHINGTON. WINTHROP. [Robert Charles Winthrop is a native and resident of Boston. He was for several years a member of the House of Representatives in Congress, and Speaker of the House from December, 1847, to March, 1849. In 1856, he served for a short time in the Senate of the United States, by appointment of the Governor of Massachusetts. During his public life he was a leading member of the Whig party. The following piece is taken from an oration delivered by him, July 4, 1848, on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the National Monument to Washington.] 1. FELLOW-CITIZENS of the United States: We are assembled to take the first step towards the fulfilment of a long deferred obligation. In this eight and fortieth year since his death, we have come together to lay the cornerstone of a national monument to WASHINGTON. 2. Other monuments to this illustrious person, have, long ago, been erected. By not a few of the great States of our Union, by not a few of the great cities of our states, the chiselled statue, or the lofty column, has been set up in his honor. The highest art of the Old World of France, of Italy, and of England, successively — has been put in requisition for the purpose. Houdon for Virginia, Canova † for North Carolina, Sir Francis Chantrey for Massachusetts, have severally signalized their genius by portraying and perpetuating the form and features of the Father of his Country. a monument 3. One tribute to his memory is left to be rendered. One monument remains to be reared, which shall bespeak the gratitude, not of states, or of cities, or of governments; not of separate communities, or of official bodies, but of the people, the whole people of the nation, a National Monument, erected by the citizens of the United States of America. 4. Of such a monument we have come to lay the cornerstone, here and now. On this day, on this spot, in this presence, and at this precise epoch in the history of our country and of the world, we are about to commence this crowning work of commemoration'. 5. Yes, to-day, fellow-citizens, at this very moment when the extension of our boundaries and the multiplication of our territories are producing, directly and indirectly, among the different members of our political system, so many marked and mourned centrifugal' tendencies, - let us seize the occasion to renew to each other our vows of allegiance and devotion to the American Union; and let us recognize, in our common title to the name and the fame of Washington, and in our common veneration for his example and his advice, the all-sufficient centripetal3 power, which shall hold the thick clustering stars of our confederacy in one glorious constellation forever! 6. Let the column which we are about to construct be at once a pledge and an emblem of perpetual union! Let the foundations be laid, let the superstructure be built up and cemented, let each stone be raised and riveted in a spirit of national brotherhood! And may the earliest ray of the rising sun - till that sun shall set to rise no more - draw forth from it daily, as from the fabled statue* of antiquity, a strain of national harmony, which shall strike a responsive chord in every heart throughout the republic. 7. Proceed, then, fellow-citizens, with the work for which you have assembled. Lay the corner-stone of a monument which shall adequately' bespeak the gratitude of the whole American people to the illustrious Father of his Country! Build it to the skies: you cannot outreach the loftiness of his principles! Found it upon the massive and eternal rock: you cannot make it more enduring than * There was a statue at Thebes said to utter at sunrise a sound like the twanging of a harp string or of a metallic wire. 6 his fame! Construct it of the peerless Parian marble: you cannot make it purer than his life! Exhaust upon it the rules and principles of ancient and of modern art: you cannot make it more proportionate than his character! 8. But let not your homage to his memory end here, Think not to transfer to a tablet or a column the tribute which is due from yourselves. Just honor to Washington can only be rendered by observing his precepts and imitating his example. He has built his own monument. We, and those who come after us, are its appointed, its privileged guardians. The wide-spread Republic is the true monument to Washington. Maintain its independence. Uphold its constitution. Preserve its union. Defend its liberty. Let it stand before the world in all its original strength and beauty, securing peace, order, equality, and freedom to all within its boundaries, and shedding light, and hope, and joy upon the pathway of human liberty throughout the world; - and Washington needs no other monument. Other structures may fitly testify our veneration for him; this, this alone can adequately illustrate his services to mankind. 9. Nor does he need even this. The Republic may perish; the wide arch of our ranged union may fall; star by star its glories may expire; stone by stone its columns. and capital may moulder and crumble; all other names which adorn its annals may be forgotten; but as long as human hearts shall any where pant, or human tongues shall any where plead, for a true, rational, constitutional' liberty, those hearts shall enshrine the memory, and those tongues prolong the fame, of GEORGE WASHINGTON! 1 COM-MEM-O-RA'TION. A calling to 15 PA'RI-AN MÄR'BLE. A fine white remembrance by some public act. marble from the Island of Paros, much used by ancient sculptors. 6 HŎM'AGE. Reverence; respect; def XC-ARNOLD WINKELRIED. JAMES MONTGOMERY [James Montgomery was born in Scotland, in 1771, and died in 1854. He wrote numerous poems, which are distinguished for their religious tone, purity of feeling, and gentle, sympathetic spirit. Many of his shorter pieces are alike beautiful in sentiment and style. The incident narrated in the following poem occurred in the battle of Sempach, in which the Swiss, fighting for their independence, totally defeated the Austrians, in the fourteenth century.] 1. "MAKE way for Liberty!" he cried, In arms the Austrian phalanx' stood, A wall, where every conscious stone Till time to dust their frames should wear. 2 All horrent with projected spears, Whose polished points before them shine, 2. Opposed to these a hovering band Peasants, whose new-found strength had broke |