be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

3. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British Ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourself to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation-the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains

which the British Ministry have been so long forging.

4. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find, which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the Ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne!

5. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free -if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending—if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained-we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!

6. They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?

7. Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!

8. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, peace! but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are

already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

1. STUDY OF WORDS, PHRASES AND FIGURES. There is good, sound argument in this speech, but a consideration of that may well be deferred until we have mastered the meaning of the sentences one after another.

a.

Paragraph 1. (1) "Very worthy gentlemen.” The members of the Convention who had opposed the measure of Patrick Henry. "Very worthy" is a formal phrase, and while we might possibly consider it to be used in a slightly ironical sense, yet it is probably better to think of it merely as an example of the elaborate courtesy sometimes used in debate.

(2) "In proportion to." This is an allusion, and a very common one, to an arithmetical process. You might express it in mathematical terms after this fashion: (Unimportant question): (Great question):: (Free debate): (Very free debate).

The inference of this figure is that the question under debate is so important that a man must be allowed to say exactly what he thinks, regardless of the consequences.

(3) "Giving offense." To whom might there be fear of giving offense? (There might be fear of giving offense to the debaters who had spoken on the other side, but probably he refers here to the British Government.)

(4) "Treason towards my country." What was Patrick Henry's country? Was he not a subject of England? Did he place above his duty to the English crown, his duty to the colony of Virginia? Do you think that he meant that his country was the colony of Virginia, or did he consider his country to be the colonies which then stretched along our Atlantic seaboard? Had anything been done at this time toward a union of those colonies?

(5) “Above all earthly kings." Who was the earthly king to whom he might be supposed to feel allegiance?

b. Paragraph 2. (1) "Illusions of hope." Are we to infer from this that hope is liable to be disappointing; that most of the things which we hope for do not come true? Or does he mean that if man hopes without reason, he is liable to be disappointed?

(2) "That siren." For an explanation of this allusion see page 425. Who is "that" siren? (Hope.) What figure, other than an allusion, is there in the words "that siren"? (Personification. Hope is represented as singing.)

(3) "Transforms us into beasts." The sirens did not transform men into beasts. They lured mariners to destruction on rocks. Circe, however, upon whose magic isle Ulysses tarried just before he met the sirens, did transform some of the followers of the Greek leader into wallowing swine. The story is told in the Odyssey. Do you think Patrick Henry was a little confused in his recollections of Greek mythology?

(4) "Having eyes, see not, etc." You will understand the allusion here if you read Jeremiah v, 21; Matthew xiii, 13.

(5) "Temporal." Earthly, political, governmental. (6) "May cost." Is the word "cost" used in a strictly literal sense?

C.

(1)

Paragraph 3. "Lamp by which, etc." What is the basis of this figure? (A lamp gives light, hence by carrying it we are prevented from stumbling.) Is this a figure based on comparison? Is the comparison expressed or implied? What is the figure? (Metaphor.) Is there also an allusion in the expression "by which my feet are guided"? (See Psalms cxix, 105.)

(2) "The lamp of experience." What is the figure here?

(3) "British Ministry." What was the "British Ministry?" Who were important men in the British Ministry at that time? Which one was a friend to America? (4) "Insidious." Intended to entrap.