LESSON

XIV.

The Morning HYMN of ADAM and EVE.

HESE are thy glorious Works, Parent of Good!
Almighty. Thine this univerfal Frame,

Thus wond'rous fair; Thy felf how wond'rous then!
Unfpeakable! who fitt'ft above thefe Heav'ns,
To us invifible, or dimly fen

In thefe thy loweft Works: vet these declare
Thy Goodnefs beyond Thought, and Pow'r divine.
Speak ye who beft can tell, ye Sons of Light.
Angels! for ye behold him, and with Songs,
And choral Symphonies, Day without Night,
Circle his Throne rejoicing; ye in Heav'n:
On Earth join all ye Creatures to extoll

Him firft, Him laft, Him midft, and without End.
Fairest of Stars! laft in the Train of Night,
If better thou belong not to the Dawn,

Sure Pledge of Day, that crown'ft the fmiling Morn
With thy bright Circlet, praife Him in thy Sphere
While Day arifes, that fweet Hour of Prime.
Thou Sun, of this great World both Eye and Soul,
Acknowledge him thy Greater; found Praife
In thy eternal Courfe, both when thou climb'f,
And when high Noon haft gain'd, and when thou fall'st.
Moon! that now meets the orient Sun, now fly'ft
With the fix'd Stars, fix'd in their Orb that flies;
And ye five other wand'ring Fires! that move
In myftic Dance not without Song, refound
His Praife, who out of Darknefs call'd up Light.
Air, and ye Elements! the eldest Birth
Of Nature's Womb, that in Quaternion run
Perpetual Circle multiform; and mix,

And nourish all Things: let your ceafelefs Change
Vary to our great Maker ftill new Praife.
Ye Mifts and Exhalations! that now raife
From Hill, or ftreaming Lake, dufky, or grey,
Till the Sun paint your fleecy Skirts with Gold,
In Honour to the World's great Author rife:
Whether to deck with Clouds th' uncolour'd Sky,
Or wet the thirty Earth with falling Show'rs,

Rifing, or falling, ftill advance His Praife.
His Praife, ye Winds! that from four Quarters blow,
Breathe foft, or loud; and wave your Tops, ye Pines !
With every Plant, in Sign of Worfhip, wave.
Fountains and ye that warble, as ye flow,
Melodious Murmurs! warbling, tune his Praise !
Join Voices, all ye living Souls! ye Birds,
That finging up to Heaven-gate afcend,

Bear on your Wings, and on your Notes, His Praife!
Ye that in Waters glide, and ye that walk
The Earth, and ftately tread, or lowly creep!
Witnefs if I be filent, Morn or Even,

To Hill, or Valley, Fountain, or fresh Shade,
Made vocal by my Song, and taught His Praife.
Hail univerfal Lord! be bounteous still
To give us only Good: and if the Night
Have gather'd aught of Evil, or conceal'd,
Difperfe it, as now Light difpels the Dark!

SECT. II. On SPEAKING.

N thefe few Leffons which I have felected for the Im

as was poffible to chufe fuch as contain good and useful Sentiments, and at the fame time require many different Manners of Reading, as in the Study and Practice of them we have obferv'd. I now proceed to lay before you fome Lef fons for your Improvement in Speaking, to which a diftinct and proper Manner of Reading is the best Preparative. I thought it beft to take the Speeches I would have you make use of from the Roman Hiftory; as it is of all other Hiftories the most entertaining, the most interefting, and the most useful: and I have chofen to select thofe Speeches from Mr. Hooke, as his Stile is generally allow'd to be more pure and elegant than any other Roman Hiftory in our Language. To each Speech is prefix'd a fhort Account of the Occafion on which it was made, which will enable you to enter the better into the Senfe and Meaning of it, and into the Spirit and Manner in which it ought to be fpoke. Thefe fhort Arguments fhould always be read to thofe who are to hear you before you begin to fpeak. LESSONS

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LESSONS for SPEAKING.

LESSON I

Romulus and Remus being fent by their Grandfather Numitor from Alba, at the Head of a Colony, to feek a new Settlement, quarrell'd about the Choice of a Spot where they fhould fix, and build them a City; Romulus chufing Mount Palatine, and Remus Mount Aventine. Remus is faid to have loft his Life in this Difpute. The City was therefore built on Mount Palatine, and, in Compliment to its Founder, called Rome. As Romulus had not taken upon him the chief Command of the Colony for any longer Time than while the City was building, he, as foon as the Work was finish'd, fubmitted the Form of its future Government to the Choice of the People, and calling the Citizens together, harangu'd them in Words to this Effect.

F all the Strength of Cities lay in the Height of their Ramparts, or the Depth of their Ditches, we fhould have great Reafon to be in Fear for that which we have now built. Are there in Reality any Walls too high to be scaled by a valiant Enemy? And of what Ufe are Ramparts in inteftine Divifions? They may ferve for a Defence against fudden Incurfions from Abroad; but it is by Courage and Prudence chiefly, that the Invafions of Foreign Enemies are repelled; and by Unanimity, Sobriety, and Juftice, that Domeftic Seditions are prevented. Cities fortified by the ftrongeft Bulwarks, have been often feen to yield to Force from without, or to Tumults from within. An exact mili

*Rome, properly fpeaking, fays Mr. Hooke, was at firft but a very forry Village, whereof even the principal Inhabitants follow'd their own Ploughs; and until it was rebuilt, after the burning of it by the Gauls, did not deferve the name of a City. Such were the Beginnings of the Capital of the World!

tary

tary Discipline, and a steady Obfervance of Civil Polity, are the fureft Barriers against these Evils. But there is still another Point of great Importance to be confidered. The Profperity of fome rifing Colonies, and the fpeedy Ruin of others, have in great meafure been owing to their Form of Government. Was there but one manner of ruling States and Cities that could make them happy, the Choice would not be difficult. But I have learnt, that of the various Forms of Government among the Greeks and Barbarians, there are three which are highly extolled by those who have experienced them; and yet, that no one of these is in all Refpects perfect, but each of them has fome innate and incureable Defect. Chufe you then in what manner this City shall be governed. Shall it be by one Man? fhall it be by a felect Number of the wifeft among us? or fall the Legiflative Power be in the People? As for me, I fhall fubmit to whatever Form of Adminiftration you fhall please to eftablish. As I think myself not unworthy to command, fo neither am I unwilling to obey. Your having chofen me to be the Leader of this Colony, and your calling the City after my Name, are Honours fufficient to content me; Honours, of which, living or dead, I can never be deprived.

Romulus was chofen King; and Rome was governed by Kings for upwards of 240 Years, till the Expulfion of Tarquin the 2d, which was occafion'd by his Son Sextus ravishing Lucretia, the Wife of Collatinus, a noble Roman. Lucretia, upon receiving this Injury, fent for her Hufband, who was then in the Camp at Ardea with Tarquin, and for feveral of his Friends, and having inform'd them of the Outrage he had received, and engag'd them to revenge it, ftab'd berfelf to the Heart, and y'd before them. The Romans had long groan'd under the Tyranny and Cruelties of the Tarquins, and were therefore glad to lay hold on fo flagrant and outrageous an Infult, to shake off their Yoke. The famous Junius Brutus, who for fome Reasons had mask'd himfelf, and concealed great Talents, under the Appearance of Idiotifm, fuddenly threw off his Difguife; and going near to the dying Lady, drew the Penyard out of her Bofom, and Vol. I.

E

Showing

fhewing it all bloody to the Affembly, to their great Aftonishment, thus addreffed them.

YES

ES, noble Lady, I fwear by this Blood, which was once fo pure, and which nothing but Royal Villainy could have polluted, that I will purfue Lucius Tarquinius the Proud, his wicked Wife, and their Children, with Fire and Sword; nor will I ever fuffer any of that Family, or of any other whatfoever, to be King in Rome: Ye Gods, I call you to witness this my Oath-There, Romans, turn your Eyes to that fad Spectacle-the Daughter of Lucretius, Collatinus's Wife-fhe died by her own Hand. See there a noble Lady, whom' the Luft of a Tarquin reduced to the Neceffity of being her own Executioner, to atteft her Innocence. Hofpitably entertain'd by her as a Kinfman of her Hufband's, Sextus, the perfidious Gueft, became her brutal Ravifher. The chafte, the generous Lucretia could not furvive the Infult. Glorious Woman! But once only treated as a Slave, fhe thought Life no longer to be endur'd. Lucretia, a Woman, difdain'd a Life that depended on a Tyrant's Will; and shall We, fhall Men with fuch an Example before our Eyes, and after five and twenty Years of ignominious Servitude, fhall We, through a Fear of dying, defer one fingle Inftant to affert our Liberty? No, Romans, now is the Time; the favourable Moment we have fo long waited for, is come. Tarquin is not at Rome. The Patricians are at the Head of the Enterprize. The City is abundantly provided with Men, Arms, and all Things neceffary. There is nothing wanting to fecure the Succefs, if our own Courage does not fail us. And fhall those Warriors, who have ever been fo brave when foreign Enemies were to be fubdued, or when Conquefts were to be made to gratify the Ambition and Avarice of Tarquin, be then only Cowards, when they are to deliver themfelves from Slavery? Some of you are perhaps intimidated by the Army which Tarquin now commands. The Soldiers, you imagine, will take the Part of their General. Banifh fo groundless a Fear. The Love of Liberty is natural to all Men. Your Fellow-Citizens in the Camp feel the Weight of Oppreffion with as quick a Senfe as you that are in Rome. They will as eagerly feize the Occafion of throwing off the Yoke. But let us grant there may be fome among them, who thro' Bafenefs of Spirit, or a bad Education, will be difpofed to favour the Tyrant. The Number of thefe can be but finall, and we have Means fufficient in our Hands to reduce them to Reafon. They have left us Hoftages more

dear