the period, during its earlier and more °pacific times, for ever memorable in the annals of scientific acquisition and literary greatness. ARCHIBALD ALISON.

LXXX. THE CATARACT OF LODORE.

HERE it comes sparkling,
And thêre it lies darkling;
Here smoking and frothing,
Its tumults and wrath in,

It hastens along, conflicting, strong,

Now striking and raging,

As if a war waging

Its caverns and rocks among.

Rising and leaping,

Sinking and creeping,
Swelling and flinging,

Showering and springing,

Eddying and whisking,

Spouting and frisking,
Twining and twisting,
Around and around,
Collecting, disjecting,
With endless rebound;
Smiting and fighting,
In turmoil delighting;

Confounding, astounding,

Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound.

Receding and speeding,
And shocking and rocking,
And darting and parting,
And threading and spreading,
And whizzing and hissing,
And dripping and skipping,
And whitening and brightening,
And quivering and shivering,

And hitting and splitting,

And shining and twining,
And rattling and battling,
And shaking and quaking,
And pouring and roaring
And waving and raving,

And tossing and crossing,

And flowing and growing,
And running and stunning,
And hurrying and skurrying,
And glittering and frittering,
And gathering and feathering,
And dinning and spinning,
And foaming and roaming,
And dropping and hopping,
And working and jerking,
And heaving and cleaving,

And thundering and floundering.

And falling and brawling and sprawling,
And driving and riving and striving,
And sprinkling and twinkling and crinkling,
And sounding and bounding and rounding,
And bubbling and troubling and doubling;
Dividing and gliding and sliding,
Grumbling and rumbling and tumbling,
Clattering and battering and shattering.

And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,
And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing,
And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping,
And curling and whirling and purling and twirling;
Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting,
Delaying and straying and playing and spraying,
Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing,
Recoiling, turmoiling, and toiling and boiling,

And thumping and flumping and bumping and jumping,
And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing;
And so never ending, but always descending,
Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending,
All at once and all o'er, with a mighty uproar,—
And this way the water comes down at Lodore.

ROBERT SOUTHEY.

LXXXI.-AGAINST THE FORCE BILL.

It has been said that the bill declares war against South Carolina. No. It decrees a massacre of her citizens! War has something. ennobling about it, and, with all its horrors, brings into action the highest qualities, intellectual and moral. It was, perhaps, in the

order of Providence that it should be permitted for that very purpose. But this bill declares no war, except, indeed, it be that which savages wage-a war, not against the community, but the citizens of whom that community is composed.

But I regard it as worse than savage warfare-as an attempt to take away life under the color of law, without the trial by jury, or any other safeguard which the constitution has thrown around the life of the citizens! This bill has been said to be a measure of peace! Yes, such peace as the wolf gives to the lamb-the kite to the dove. Such peace as Russia gives to Poland, or death to its victim! A peace, by extinguishing the political existence of the state, by awing her into abandonment of the exercise of every power which constitutes her a sovereign community.

It is to South Carolina a question of self-preservation; and I proclaim it, that should this bill pass, and an attempt be made to enforce it, it will be resisted at every hazard-even that of death itself. Death is not the greatest calamity: there are others still more terrible to the free and brave, and among them may be placed the loss of liberty and honor. There are thousands of her brave sons who, if need be, are prepared cheerfully to lay down their lives in defence of the state, and the great principles of constitutional liberty for which she is contending. God forbid that this should become necessary!

It is said that the bill ought to pass because the law must be enforced. The law must be enforced! The imperial edict must be executed! It is under such sophistry, couched in general terms, without looking to the limitations which must ever exist in the practical exercise of power, that the most cruel and despotic acts ever have been covered. It was such sophistry as this that cast Daniel into the lion's den, and the three Innocents into the fiery furnace. Under the same sophistry the bloody edicts of Nero and "Caligula were executed. The law must be enforced! Yes, the act imposing the "tea tax must be executed!" This was the very argument which impelled Lord North and his administrators in that mad career which for ever separated us from the British crown.

Under a similar sophistry, "that religion must be protected," how many massacres have been perpetrated; and how many martyrs have been tied to the stake! What! acting on this vague abstraction, are you prepared to enforce a law without considering whether it be just or unjust, constitutional or unconstitutional? Will you collect money when it is acknowledged that it is not wanted? He who earns the money, who digs it from the earth with the sweat of his brow, has a just title to it against the universe.

No one has a right to touch it without his consent except his government, and it only to the extent of its legitimate wants; to take

more is robbery, and you propose by this bill to enforce robbery by murder. Yes: to this result you must come, by this miserable sophistry, this vague abstraction of enforcing the law, without a regard to the fact whether the law be just or unjust, constitutional or unconstitutional.

In the same spirit, we are told that the Union must be preserved, without regard to the means. And how is it proposed to preserve the Union? By force! Does any man in his senses believe that this beautiful structure-this harmonious aggregate of states, produced by the joint consent of all-can be preserved by force? Its very introduction will be the certain destruction of this Federal Union. No, no. You cannot keep the states united in their constitutional and federal bonds by force.

Has reason fled from our borders? Have we ceased to reflect? It is madness to suppose that the Union can be preserved by force. I tell you plainly, that the bill, should it pass, cannot be enforced. It will prove only a blot upon your statute-book, a reproach to the year, and a disgrace to the American Senate. I repeat that it will not be executed it will rouse the dormant spirit of the people, and open their eyes to the approach of despotism. The country has sunk into avarice and political corruption, from which nothing can arouse it but some measure, on the part of the government, of folly and madness, such as that now under consideration.

JOHN C. CALHOUN.

LXXXII. -°CÆSAR'S OFFER OF AMNESTY TO CATO.

DECIUS. Cæsar sends health to Cato.

Could he send it

CATO.
To Cato's slaughtered friends, it would be welcome.
Are not your orders to address the senate?

DECIUS. My business is with Cato: Cæsar sees
The straits to which you're driven; and as he knows
Cato's high worth, is anxious for his life.

CATO. My life is grafted on the fate of Rome:
Would he save Cato, bid him spare his country.
Tell your dictator this; and tell him, Cato
Disdains a life which he has power to offer.

DECIUS. Rome and her senators submit to Cæsar;

Her generals and her consuls are no more,

Who checked his conquests, and denied his triumphs.
Why will not Cato be this Cæsar's friend?

CATO. Those very reasons thou hast urged, forbid it.

DECIUS. Cato, I've orders to expostulate,
And reason with you as from friend to friend.
Think on the storm that gathers o'er your head,
And threatens every hour to burst upon it:
Still may you stand high in your country's honors,
Do but comply, and make your peace with Cæsar.
Rome will rejoice; and cast its eyes on Cato,
As on the second of mankind.

Сато.

No more!

I must not think of life on such conditions.

DECIUS. Cæsar is well acquainted with your virtues ; And therefore sets this value on your life:

Let him but know the price of Cato's friendship,

And name your tėrms.

Сато.

Bid him disband his legions,

Restore the commonwealth to liberty,

Submit his actions to the public censure,

And stand the judgment of a Roman senate.

Bid him do this,-and Cato is his friend.

DECIUS. Cato, the world talks loudly of your wisdom-
CATO. Nay, more,-though Cato's voice was ne'er employed
To clear the guilty, and to varnish crimes,
Myself will mount the rostrum in his favor,
And strive to gain his pardon from the people.

DECIUS. A style like this becomes a conqueror.
CATO. Decius, a style like this becomes a Roman.
DECIUS. What is a Roman, that is Cæsar's foe?
CATO. Greater than Cæsar, he's a friend to virtue.
DECIUS. Consider, Cato, you're in Utica;

And at the head of your own little senate:
You don't now thunder in the capitol,
With all the mouths of Rome to second you.

him.

CATO. Let him consider that, who drives us hither.
'Tis Cæsar's sword has made Rome's senate little,
And thinned its ranks. Alas! thy dazzled eye
Beholds this man in a false, glâring light,
Which conquest and success have thrown upon
Didst thou but view him right, thou'dst see him black
With murder, treason, sacrilege, and crimes
That strike my soul with horror but to name them.
I know thou look'st on me, as on a wretch

Beset with ills, and covered with misfortunes;
But, Decius, mark my words,--millions of worlds
Should never buy me to be like that Cæsar.