do If I did not despond then, with what feelings of confidence you think I shall now return to take my part in defending those institutions? All the excitement that accompanies mighty changes, is now beginning quietly to settle,-the influence, the disturbing influence of those changes, is gradually lessening;—the dazzling illusions of glorious days' are dissipated; and we are now permitted to see things in their true colours. The convictions, the feelings, the affections, of the people are gravitating towards their old centre, in which sit enthroned respect for property,-love of rational freedom, and attachment to long-established and prescriptive authority. Yes; from these walls a spirit shall go forth, that shall survive when this edifice shall be, like an unsubstantial pageant, faded. That spirit shall survive by the remembrance of this day, spreading a contagious influence into every part of the empire,-animating the desponding and encouraging the brave. It shall go forth, exulting in, but not abusing, its strength. It shall go forth, remembering, in the days of its prosperity, the pledges it gave in the time of its depression. It shall go forth, uniting a disposition to correct abuses, to redress grievances. It shall go forth, uniting the disposition to improve, with the resolution to maintain and defend, by that spirit of unbought affection which is the chief defence of nations. Our ancient constitution shall survive at last, protecting the rich from spoliation, and the poor from oppression. No tawdry emblems of revolution shall float over its ruin. The flag, that for a thousand years Has braved the battle and the breeze, shall still float over the ramparts. And that faith, and those national establishments, intended for its protection, as they exist respectively in the three branches of the United Kingdom,-those establishments which kings have sworn to protect, and to the maintenance of which the national honour is pledged, as essential parts of a great national compact,shall survive, and the religion which we profess,-the offspring of free inquiry,-shall find in the diffusion of sound knowledge, new sources of strength; and great as may be the storm of adversity to which it may be exposed, it shall come out proved and fortified by the trial, and remain rooted deeply in the convictions, the feelings, and affections of a Protestant people. EXERCISE XXIII.-KING EDWARD'S ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY, AT THE BATTLE OF GLADSMOOR.- -Bulwer. [An example of the most powerful style of declamation. Voice, attitude and action, should, in this case, be toned to their highest pitch.] Englishmen and friends, to bold deeds go but few words. Before you is the foe! From Ravenspur to London I have marched; treason flying from my sword, loyalty gathering to my standard. With but two thousand men, on the 14th of March, I entered England: on the 14th of April, fifty thousand in my muster-roll. Who shall say, then, that I am not king, when one month mans a monarch's army from his subjects' love? And well ye know that my cause is yours and England's. Those against us are men who would rule in despite of law, ---barons whom I gorged with favours, and who would reduce this fair realm of king, lords, and commons, to be the appanage and property of one man's measureless ambition,―the park, forsooth, the homestead to Lord Warwick's private house! Ye gentlemen and knights of England, let them and their rabble prosper, and your properties will be despoiled,-your lives insecure, all law struck dead. What differs Richard of Warwick from Jack Cade, save that if his name is nobler, so is his treason greater? Commoners and soldiers of England,-freemen, however humble, what do these rebel lords, who would rule in the name of Henry of Lancaster, desire ?-To reduce you to villains and bondmen, as your forefathers were to them. Ye owe freedom from the barons to the just laws of my sires, your kings. Gentlemen and knights,-commoners and soldiers, Edward the Fourth upon his throne, will not profit by a victory more than you. This is no war of dainty chivalry: it is a war of true men against false.-No quarter! Spare not either knight or knave! Warwick, forsooth, will not smite the commoners. Truly not:-the rabble are his friends. I say to you, Slay all! What heel spares the viper's brood?' Hark! to their bombards,-the enemy would fight from afar, for they excel us in their archers and gunners.-*Upon *From the words, 'Upon them,' to the end of the piece,-except the short sentence, 'Sir Oliver,' &c.,-the tone is properly swelled to a shout. them, then,——hand to hand, and man to man! Advance, banners! Sound trumpets!-Sir Oliver, my bassinet! Soldiers! if my standard falls, look for the plume upon your king's helmet!-Charge! EXERCISE XXIV.—WARWICK'S ADDRESS TO HIS TROOPS, AT THE BATTLE OF GLADSMOOR.— -Bulwer. [A graver example than the preceding, but in the same general style.] My friends, my followers, and my children! the field we have entered is one from which there is no retreat: here must your leader conquer, or here die. It is not a parchment pedigree, it is not a name, derived from the ashes of dead men, that make the only charter of a king. We Englishmen were but slaves, if, in giving crown and sceptre to a mortal like ourselves, we ask not, in return, the kingly virtues. Beset of old by evil counsellors, the reign of Henry VI. was obscured, and the weal of the realm endangered. Mine own wrongs seemed to me great, but the disasters of my country not less. I deemed that, in the race of York, England would know a wiser and happier rule. What was, in this mine error, ye partly know,-a prince dissolved in luxurious vices, a nobility degraded by minions and bloodsuckers, a people plundered by purveyors, and a land disturbed by brawl and riot. But ye know not all.-God makes man's hearth man's altar:-our hearths were polluted. A king's word should be as fast as the pillars of the world.—What man ever trusted Edward, and was not deceived? Even now the unknightly liar stands in arms with the weight of perjury on his soul. In his father's town of York, ye know that he took, three short weeks since, solemn oath of fealty to king Henry; and now king Henry is his captive, and king Henry's holy crown upon his traitor's head. Traitors, calls he us? What name, then, rank enough for him?-Edward gave the promise of a brave man; and I served him he proved a base, a false, a licentious, and a cruel king; and I forsook him. May all free hearts, in all free lands, so serve kings, when they become tyrants! Ye fight against a cruel and atrocious usurper, whose bold Land cannot sanctify a black heart. Ye fight not only for king Henry, the meek and the godly; ye fight not for him alone, but for his young and princely son, the grandchild of Henry of Agincourt, who, old men tell me, has that hero's face, and who, I know, has that hero's frank, and royal, and noble soul. Ye fight for the freedom of your land, for what is better than any king's cause, for justice and mercy, for truth and manhood's virtues, against corruption in the laws, slaughter by the scaffold, falsehood in a ruler's lips, and shameless harlotry in the councils of ruthless power. The order I have ever given in war, I give now,we war against the leaders of evil,—not against the helpless tools: we war against our oppressors,-not against our misguided brethren. Strike down every plumed crest; but, when the strife is over, spare every common man. Hark! while I speak, I hear the march of your foe!-Up standards! blow trumpets!—And now, as I brace my bassinet, may God grant us all a glorious victory, or a glorious grave! +On my merry men! Show these London loons the stout hearts of Warwickshiret and Yorkshire! On my merry men!-A Warwick! A Warwick! EXERCISE XXV.-NIGHT AMONG THE ALPS.-Montgomery. [The appropriate effect of sublimity of style, as in the following piece, is to deepen and swell the tone, and to lengthen the pauses. The language being in the form of poetry, the effect, in all particulars, is greatly heightened.] Come, golden Evening, in the west Enthrone the storm-dispelling sun, O'er all the mountain-tops ;—'t is done : There take thy stand, my spirit, spread The stars, like saints in glory, meet: Methinks I muse on Nature's tomb, *Pronounced ǎzhincoor. † The tone is here a full shout. Pronounced War'ickshire. And hear the passing foot of Time All in a moment,-crash on crash!- Down to the nethermost abyss,- Follows the uproar, till it dies: Echo on echo, groan for groan, From deep to deep replies! -Silence again the darkness seals,— Darkness that may be felt. But soon The silver-clouded east reveals The midnight spectre of the moon ; In half-eclipse she lifts her horn, Yet o'er the host of heaven supreme, Ha! at her touch, these Alpine heights my -I hold breath in chill suspense,- Yet, O ye everlasting hills! Buildings of God, not made with hands, Whose word performs whate'er he wills, Whose word, though ye shall perish, stands; Can there be eyes that look on you, Till tears of rapture make them dim, Nor in His works the Maker viewThen lose His works in Him? |