was despised who did not possess those qualities for which woman herself was so distinguished.

I must confess, however, that I admire less those voluntary exhibitions of courage in the field, than the more delightful, because softer, more natural, more feminine influences; which the females of the feudal times exercised, from the privacy of home, on the manners and spirit of the age. What a splendid light is thrown upon these by the answer of the French Hero, Du Guesclin, when our Edward demanded how he could pay the immense ransom which he himself had fixed. "I know a hundred Knights of Britanny," said he, "who would sell their possessions for my liberation; and there is not a woman sitting at her distaff in France, who would not labor with her own hands to redeem me from yours."

But while the women inspired the men with courage, and prompted the spirit of adventure, courtesy and humanity were enforced by their noble examples and gentle ministrations. "In the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Emperor Conrad, as an offended Sovereign, had refused all terms of capitulation to the garrison of Winnisberg; but as a courteous knight, he permitted the women to depart with such of their precious effects as they themselves could transport. The gates of the town were thrown open, and a long procession of matrons, each bearing a husband, or a father, or a brother, on her shoulders, passed in safety through the applauding camp." The knight who was stained with crime; who was false to his religion, his country, or his friend; who took an unchivalric advantage, or broke his plighted faith, won no word of woman's praise, no favor in her bower.

By such sweet influences, aiding and strengthening the benign pre?epts of Christianity, continents that were once savage and unlettered have become civilized and refined. The spirit of peace, sustained by the experience of all history, has spread her wings above the nations; war is no longer esteemed as an amusement, and, except when waged in defence of some great principle of civil or religious liberty, scarcely tolerated as an occupation. The industry, the skill, the genius of mankind, have been turned into different channels. Nations seek renown by the cultivation of the arts of peace, the creation of just laws and noble institutions; and those who, under a different dispensation, would have been first in the lists, and foremost in the tented field, seek, in the higher regions of intellectual achievement, a more useful and durable renown. And it is delightful to reflect, nay, to feel, that the encouraging efforts of that Being who formerly sent man forth to battle with the infidel, now lures him on in his warfare with ignorance and prejudice; that the greenest laurel earned in the paths of peace, won by the triumphs of

the mind, is that which drops from woman's hand, freshened by her tears, or hallowed by her sweetest smile.

In the mighty revolutions by which these astonishing results have been produced, woman has had her part, and is entitled to her share of praise. If, as I believe, the diffusion of Christianity be at the root of all these political and social ameliorations; that they spring up, as natural consequences, from the divine spirit of justice and of love, which an Almighty mind has breathed into the Scriptures, let it not be forgotten that females were "last at the cross and earliest at the tomb ;" and that, throughout those long ages of persecution, in which the humane and devout Christian had to struggle for his rights and his opinions, whether with the infidel, or with those misguided zealots who, naming the name of Christ, and professing, under various titles, to be his followers, regarded persecution as a duty,— let it, I say, be remembered, that in almost every one of those scenes of religious suffering, some Sophronia or Columba has nerved the hearts of men by her fortitude, and sealed her convictions with her blood.

The cause of civil liberty also, in every quarter of the globe, has been as largely indebted to the operation of female influence. Woman's tenderness of heart makes her the natural enemy of the oppressor, the soother and inspirer of the oppressed. In those exciting epochs of modern history which are emphatically said to have "tried men's souls," -whether in the British Isles, France, Poland, Switzerland, Italy or Spain, not only have women exercised, well and wisely, through the varied channels of social life, an encouraging and salutary influence, but have often set an example of heroism and self-devotion, which has thrilled through the hearts of a whole people, and challenged the admiration of a world. A Joan of Arc has never been wanting to deliver a kingdom; a Charlotte Corday to poignard a tyrant; an Augustina to save a city, or a lady Russell to grace the last hours of a patriot's life, by tenderness and elevation of soul.

Of the blessings secured by these trials and sacrifices, we are admitted to a full particpation; while the art, the science, and the literature, every department of which has been enriched by the Mores, the Barbaulds, the Porters, the Montagues, the Martineaus, the Somervilles, the Hemans, and a long line of amiable women of talent, have descended to us with our language, and comprise by no means the least valuable portion of the high privileges and intellectual treasures which we inherit from our father land. And it is for us to consider; it is for you, ladies, especially, to reflect, how you can best pay to posterity what you owe to the genius and spirit of the past.

Pardon me if I conclude this paper by reminding you, that, to a great extent, you have the destinies of Nova Scotia in your hands. And le me conjure you never to undervalue the character of your own influence or the extent of your moral obligations. Look at the little Province which, small as it is, some of us are proud to call our own; its narrow boundaries, girded by the seas, and surrounded on every side by extensive, populous and powerful states. What resources has such a country to sustain her against the gigantic influences with which she must hourly contend? None, but the character, the intelligence, the energy and selfdevotion of her people. Let it be your constant aim, your study, your pride, my countrywomen, to cultivate these qualities, and to inspire your brothers, husbands, lovers, and children with the sentiments from which they spring. Without throwing aside the modest deportment of the sex; without stepping over the bounds of masculine thought and occupation; without neglecting those household cares and feminine accomplishments, for the want of which no public service could atone, let a regard for your country's welfare, its reputation, its prosperity, be ever present to your minds; and let some portion of your time, and the whole weight of your moral influence, bear steadily on the means of its improvement. A Nova Scotian matron need not, as the Spartan or Roman did, urge her husband on to battle and conquest, because "a change has come over the spirit of the world's dreams;" but she may show him, that, as these States were preserved, enlarged, and rendered illustrious, by discipline and valor, so must ours be strengthened and elevated by an assiduous cultivation of the arts of peace. If he complains that our boundaries are contracted, let her tell him, that, with industry and good husbandry, there is land enough to support millions of men; and that, if this were exhausted, the whole world is the freehold of a commercial people — the seas but the high roads which conduct to their domains. Let her remind him, that a country possessed of science and enterprise, can multiply physical power as she will; that, if she be but rich in intellect, in creative genius and steady application, she may strengthen herself indefinitely with nerves of iron, and muscles of steam, and condense the energy and productive power of myriads within the compass of a few miles.

The Nova Scotian mother, too, may do her part, while the graceful forms of childhood glide around her knees, and the ductile elements of the youthful mind are forming beneath her eye; she may inculcate not only the ordinary principles of morals, but those lessons of public virtue - applicable to the situation of the country and the probable duties of life which, like bread cast upon the waters, will come back to her, in pride and admiration, after many days. There is a younger class, whose.

influence is chiefly felt in that opening dawn of manhood, when the heart is most susceptible of impressions, when the good and evil principles may be said to struggle most fiercely for the mastery over our nature; and when a word, a glance, a noble sentiment uttered on a summer eve, may turn the scale in favor of public spirit and honorable ambition; and if my young friends knew how powerful is their influence at that age, and on such occasions, they would not fail to smile away the sloth, the senseless and besotted pride, the inveterate idleness and inanity of mind, by which too many of our young men are beset; and which rarely fails to ripen into grovelling vice and ruinous dissipation. Beauty, leading youth to the shrine of public virtue, is no fable in the world's history; and there is no reason why in Nova Scotia it may not be amply realized. Let them teach the idlers and triflers of our sex, that our country has neither hands nor minds to spare; that their favors are to be won by public service, by conquests in the regions of mind; by trophies won in the ranks of patriotism, literature, science and art; by what the poet beautifully styles "those glorious labors which embellish Efe." Nor need my fair friends trust to personal charms alone to sustain this influence; without any dereliction of domestic duty, without sacrificing one feminine grace, one modest attraction, they may go before their brothers, friends and lovers as some of them have already done into those delightful regions. Science and history will disclose to them rich sources of illustration; and the pen and the pencil become eloquent, when other fascinations fail.

Idid with lance and sword

Be it yours, then, ladies, now that the times have changed, to win, with these gentler weapons as the martial heroines of the middle ages a right to stimulate and reproach the other sex, where they fall short of the requirements of patriotism and ambition; and, as they led the way to rescue the sepulchre of our Lord from the infidel, lead you the way to vindicate those admirable precepts and principles of justice, toleration, and truth, which he left for our direction, but which, by the corruption and weakness of our nature, are so frequently sullied and profaned. And believe me, that while you thus wander in the "pleasant ways of wisdom," general admiration and a deathless name are not beyond your reach; for, even the deeds of Jean of Mountfort, as they did less good, shall fade from the world's memory before Mrs. Hemans' moral songs.

I do not ask you to put on an affectation of art, destructive of the freshness of nature. I seek not to entice you from the gentle thoughts and appropriate occupations of home; but, as the Greek and the Roman caught the spirit which led him on to victory and renown, amidst the re

laxations and delights of social intercourse, so would I have my youthful countrymen catch, from your enthusiasm, the energy and determination of which Nova Scotia stands so much in need. I would make beauty's flashing eye, and encouraging smile, at once the beacon and reward of public virtue and honorable exertion. I would have woman breathe around her an atmosphere in which idleness, ignorance, and selfishness, could not for an hour exist; but in which science and literature, high thoughts and honorable enterprises, would blossom and flourish, till they overspread the land. Not choking the domestic affections, or curbing the rational pleasures and enjoyments of life; but giving to them a dignity, a grace, a charm, in the highest degree attractive; while they result in an abundant measure of collective reputation and improvement.

Could I but see these sentiments diffused throughout the land, generally appreciated and acted upon by the females of Nova Scotia, I should laugh to scorn every sentiment of despondency and alarm. The present would be viewed with satisfaction; the future bounded by hope. Though the existing race of men might be ignorant or indifferent, I should know that another was springing up, which, from the cradle to the tomb, would be subjected to a training and an influence, the most admirable and inspiring; and which must ultimately rival the boast of the Athenian, by converting a small Province into a powerful and illustrious State.

LECTURE ON ELOQUENCE:

DELIVERED BEFORE THE LITERARY SOCIETY,

SEPTEMBER, 1845.

MR. PRESIDENT, -I come, in obedience to the expressed wish of this Society, to offer my contribution to the common stock of knowledge. While others have given of their great abundance, I, like the widow in holy writ, must claim to have the insignificance of my offering pardoned, for the cheerfulness and sincerity with which it is bestowed.

At the early meetings of this Institution, I was an occasional attendant; and although, of late, pressed by other avocations, I have been something of a truant, I have constantly heard of its well doing, and have never ceased to feel an interest in its progress.

The design of its founders was, I believe, to establish a School of Eloquence, in which young men of the industrial classes might meet, on leisure evenings, to test each other's powers, and improve each other's minds. Such objects would seem to be praiseworthy; and your expe