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There grewe an aged tree on the greene;
A goodly Oake sometime had it bene,
With armes full strong and largely displayed,
But of their leaves they were disarayde
The bodie bigge, and mightely pight,
Thoroughly rooted, and of wond'rous hight;
Whilome had bene the king of the field,
And mochell mast to the husband did yielde,
And with his nuts larded many swine:
But now the gray mosse marred his rine;
His bared boughes were beaten with stormes,
His toppe was bald, and wasted with wormes,
His honour decayed, his braunches sere.
SPENSER Shepheard's Callender. Februarie.

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I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and with no purpose to construe the Constitution by any hypercritical rules.

LINCOLN First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1861.

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You can have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government; while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend" it.

LINCOLN First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1861.

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