and outermost limits, but which was poured out unbounded and peculiar on them; that various persecution, prolonged through two hundred years, and twelve reigns, from the time of the preaching of Wickliffe to the accession of James 5 the First, from which they gathered sadly so many precious fruits; a larger measure of tenderness of conscience, the sense of duty, force of will, trust in God, the love of truth, and the spirit of liberty; the successive development and growth of opinions, and traits and determinations and 10 fortunes, by which they were advanced, from Protestants to Republicans, from Englishmen to Pilgrims, from Pilgrims to the founders of a free Church, and the fathers of a free people, in a new world; the retirement to Holland; the resolution to seek the sphere of their duties, and the 15 asylum of their rights, beyond the seas; the embarkation at Delft-Haven, that scene of interest unparalleled, on which a pencil of your own has just enabled us to look back with tears, and praise, and sympathy, and the fond pride of children; that scene of few and simple incidents; the setting 20 out of a handful of, not then, very famous persons, on a voyage, but which, as we gaze on it, begins to speak to you as with the voices and melodies of an immortal hymn which dilates and becomes idealized into the auspicious going forth of a colony, whose planting has changed the 25 history of the world ;-a noble colony of devout Christians -educated firm men, valiant soldiers, and honorable women; a colony, on the commencement of whose heroic enterprise, the selectest influences of religion seemed to be descending visibly; and beyond whose perilous path are 30 hung the rainbow and the western star of empire;-the voyage of the "May-flower;" the landing; the slow winter's night of disease and famine, in which so many, the good, the beautiful, the brave, sank down and died, giving place, at last, to the spring-dawn of health and plenty; the 35 meeting with the old red race on the hill beyond the brook; the treaty of peace, unbroken for half a century; the organization of a republican government in the Mayflower's cabin;-the planting of these kindred, coeval and auxiliary institutions, without which such a government, 40 could no more live than the uprooted tree can put forth leaf or flower,-institutions, to diffuse pure religion, good learning, austere morality, the practical arts of administration, labor, patience, obedience, "plain living and high thinking;" the securities of conservatism, and the germs

of progress; the laying deep and sure, far down on the Rock of Ages, of the foundation-stones of that imperial structure whose dome now swells towards heaven; the timely death, at last, one after another, of the first generation of 5 the old Pilgrims, not unvisited by visions, as the final hour drew nigh, of the more apparent glory of the latter day; all these high, holy, and beautiful things, come thronging, fresh on all our memories, beneath the influence of their original hour. Such as we heard them from our mothers 10 lips; such as we read them, in the histories of kings, of religions, and of liberty; they gather themselves about us, familiar, certainly, but of an interest that can never die; an interest, intrinsical in themselves, yet heightened inexpressibly by their relations to that eventful future, into 15 which they have expanded, and through whose light they shine.

And yet, with all this procession of events and persons moving before us, and solicited this way and that by the innumerable trains of speculation and of feeling which 20 such a sight inspires, we can think of nothing, of nobody, -here and now, but the pilgrims, themselves. I cannot, and do not wish for a moment to forget that it is their festival, we have come to keep. It is their tabernacles we have come to build. It is not the reformation,—it is not 25 colonization; it is not ourselves, our present, or our future, -it is not political economy, or political philosophy, of which, to-day, you would have me say a word. We have a specific, single duty to perform. We would speak of certain valiant, good, peculiar men,- -our fathers! We 30 would wipe the dust from a few, old, plain, noble urns; we would shun husky disquisitions, irrelevant novelties and small display; would recall, rather the forms and the lineaments of the honored dead;-forms and features which the grave has not changed; over which the grave has no 35 power: robed in the vestments, all radiant with the hues of an assured immortality!

LESSON CLVI.-
I.-THE SETTLERS OF CONNECTICUT.-KENT.

The policy and the institutions of the settlers of Connecticut, form and display their early national character. Their attention to public instruction, civil and religious, and their superintending and vigilant care of the morals 5 and habits of the people, were doubtless the principal

means, under Providence, of rendering the colony, in every period of its history, free, prosperous, and happy. It has been distinguished, above all other communities, for the orderly, respectful, and obliging deportment of the 5 inhabitants; for their intelligence, industry, and economy; for the purity and solidity of their moral character; for their religious profession and habits; for the dignity of their magistracy, and for unexampled order and decorum in the administration of justice. The discretion and pro10 bity which have attended the elections of their rulers, and the steadiness with which men in power, and deserving of the trust, have been kept in power, even by means of annual elections, and in spite of the temptations to change which such elections present, is a singular fact in the his15 tory of civil society, and most honorable to the character of the State.

The people of this State appear to have preserved their original manners and character more entire than most other people, and in a remarkable degree, considering their 20 enterprising and commercial disposition. Their young men have explored our infant settlements, and penetrated the western forests and solitudes; they have traversed foreign lands, and visited the shores and islands of every sea, either in search of new abodes, or as the heralds of 25 science and religion, or the messengers of business and commerce. But notwithstanding their migratory spirit, the sons of Connecticut have never lost their native attachments;--"their first, best country ever is at home." This is partly owing to the force of natural sentiment; but more 30 especially, in their case, is it owing to the influence of early education, and to the pride, which local institutions of so simple and so efficient a character, naturally engender. And who indeed can resist the feelings which consecrate the place where he was born, the ground where his 35 ancestors sleep, the hills and haunts lightly trodden in the vehemence of youth, and, above all, where stand the classic halls, in which early friendships were formed, and the young mind was taught to expand and admire?

LESSON CLVII.-BENEFITS OF COLLEGIATE EDUCATION.-JOHN
SERGEANT.

An opinion has already been intimated that the benefits of early education, continued through the period which nature indicates as the time for training and discipline, are

not entirely lost, even though the acquirements in college should afterwards be neglected. Wholesome nourishment and exercise for the mind, are like wholesome nourishment and exercise for the body. They enter into the constitu5 tion, and impart to it general health and strength, and capacity for the exertions it may be called upon to make, and the trials it may be doomed to suffer. This is especially true of childhood and youth, and, as to all that concerns our physical condition, is universally admitted, in practice, 10 as well as in theory. The tender infant is not suffered to lie in torpid inaction. Its little frame is put in motion in its mother's arms. As soon as it can bear exposure, it is sent forth to larger exercise in the open air. The boy is permitted and encouraged to rejoice in active and invig15 orating sports; and the youth, quite up to the season of manhood, is taught to blend the healthful exertion of his sinews and muscles, with the cultivation of his intellectual and moral powers.

Why is this indication of nature thus carefully observed 20 and obeyed? Why do parents watch with so much anxious care over the forming constitution of the body, and seek to train it to grace and vigor? It is because it is forming, and the fashion it then receives may more or less abide by it ever after. Their anxious care is well be25 stowed. Much of the happiness of life depends upon it, and every one is aware that such is the case. Hence it is, that gymnastics have been introduced into places of instruction, where feats are performed which no man of full age expects ever to repeat, unless it should be his lot to be 30 a tumbler or a rope-dancer.

Is there not a precise analogy, in this respect, between the two parts of our nature? Have not the moral and intellectual faculties a growth, a period of expansion, a season for nourishment and direction, when the constitution 35 of the mind and heart is taking a form like that of the body, and when the intellectual and moral capacities are to be assisted and trained into a healthy condition? Are there no gymnastics of the mind? It would be deemed a palpable absurdity, if any one were to argue, that a child 40 was likely to be employed in sedentary occupations, and therefore it was not material, that he should have the use of his limbs. Is it not still more absurd to use such an argument in relation to his higher and better faculties? It is a great calamity to be deprived of sight,—to be unable

to behold the glories of the visible creation, and enjoy the beauties of art. Is it a less one to be destitute of intellectual vision, by which we are enabled to "look through nature up to nature's God," and to discern glories greater 5 far than those, great as we must confess them to be, which are manifested to the eye of the body?-by which, too, we are enabled to look into ourselves, and there to see the fearful and wonderful thing we are, and how it is that, from the source of infinite wisdom and goodness, there is an emana10 tion of light imparted to us, which we are commanded not to allow "to be darkened."

Surely, surely, these are reflections which ought forever to silence the sordid calculation that would bend man's whole powers down to the earth, instead of helping him 15 to grow up towards the heavens. The superincumbent weight of the world's business will press heavily enough upon him. With all the preparation he can have, and all the improvement he can make of it, there is danger that he will but seldom be able to raise himself above the thick 20 fog, that creeps along the ground, and limits his view to the objects immediately around him, into the clear region, where higher duties and higher enjoyments offer themselves to his attention,-where the spirit may breathe, the mind hold communion with intelligence, the affections kin25 dle, the charities be nursed, and his whole nature exalted, under the quickening influence of the consciousness, that he is a man. It is in this consciousness, properly enlightened, that dwells his real dignity, and in it, too, the sense of all his duties.

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What parent, then, who has the ability, will withhold from his child the means of such instruction and discipline, in their fullest measure, as may promise to give him a moral and intellectual constitution fitted to seize upon, and improve the occasions that may arise for purifying and 35 exalting his nature, and fulfilling all his obligations? In this consists his highest happiness. It will not control the course of events. It will not make adverse fortune prosperous, nor the contrary. But, like a wall in the sea, well planted and well supported, broad in its foundation, and 40 carried to its proper height, it will establish a secure and quiet retreat from the shocks, both of prosperity and adversity, to which he may betake himself in the hour of dangerous trial, and escape the imminent hazard of being overwhelmed by either.