fhop to buy a roll. The master, who was church warden, examined me with great attention, and then threatened her with bridewell for putting off bad money, knocked a nail through my middle, and fastened me to the counter; but the moment the poor hungry child was gone, he whipt me up again, and, fending me away with others in change to the next customer, gave me this oppor tunity of relating to you my adventures."

I.

IN

CHAPTER XXXII.

EARTH AND HER CHILDREN.

"how can

Na certain diftrict of the Globe, things one year went on fo ill, that almoft the whole race of living beings, animals, and vegetable, carried their lamentations and complaints to their common mother, the Earth. 2. First came Man. “O Earth,” said he, you behold unmoved the intolerable calamities of your favorite offspring! Heaven fhuts up all the fources of its benignity to us, and fhowers plagues and peftilence on our heads-storms tear to pieces all the works of hu * man labour; the elements of fire and water feem let loofe to devour us; and in the midst of all thefe evils, fome demon poffeffes us with a rage of injuring and destroying one another; fo that the whole fpecies frems doom. ed to perish. O, intercede in our behalf, or receive us again into thy maternal bofom, and fhelter us from these our accumulated diftreffes "

we

3. The other animals then spoke by their deputies, the horfe, the ox, and the fheep. "O pity, indulgent Earth, thofe of your children that repofe on your breaft, and derive their fubfiften e from your fruitful bofom! are parched with drought, we are fcorched by lightning, we are beaten by pitilefs tempeft, falubrious vegetables refuse to nourish us; we languifh under disease, and unfeeling man treats us with unufual feverity. Never, with out thy speedy fuccour, kind parent, can we furvive another year,"

4. The vegetables next, thofe that form the verdant carpet of the earth, that cover the waving fields of harveft, and that fpread their lofty branches in the air, fent forth their complaint. "O, our common mother, to whose breaft we cleave, and whofe vital juices we drain, have compaffion upon us! fee how we wither and droop under the baleful gales that fweep over us! how we thirft in vain for the gentle dew of heaven! how immenfe tribes of noxious infects pierce and devour us! how the famifhing flocks and herds tear us up by the roots, and how man, through fpite, lay waste and destroy us, while yet immature. Already whole nations of us are defolated. Save us, kind parent, fave thy children from ruin, or another year will witness our total deftruction.

5. To whom Earth, the common parent of all, replied: My children, I have exifted now fome thousand years; and fcarcely one of them have paffed in which fimilar complaints have not arifen from one quarter or another. Nevertheless, every thing has remained nearly in the fame ftate, and no fpecies of created beings has been finally loft. The injuries of one year are repaired by the fucceeding. The growing vegetables may be blafted, but the feeds of others lie fecure in my bofom, ready to receive the vital influence of more favourable feafons.

6. "Animals may be thinned by want and disease, but a remnant is always left, in whom furvive the principle of future increase. As to man, who fuffers not only from natural caufes; but from the effects of his own follies and vices, his miferies roufe within him the latent powers of remedy, and bring him to his reafon again; while experience continually goes with him to improve his means of happiness, if he will but liften to its dictates."

7. "Have patience, then, my children! You were born to fuffer as well as to enjoy, and you must fubmit to your lot. But confole yourfeives with this thought, that you bave a kind mafter above, who created you for benevolent pur pojes, and will not withhold his protection when you fland moft in need of it."

G

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE LETTER OF CONDOLENCE FROM THE SENATE TO THE

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ON THE DEATH

OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.

TH

HE Senate of the United States respectfully take leave, Sir, to exprefs to you their deep regret for the lofs their country fuftains in the death of General GEORGE WASHINGTON.

This event, so diftreffing to all our fellow citizens, must be peculiarly heavy to you, who have long been affociated with him in deeds of patriotifm. Permit us, Sir, to min. gle our tears with yours; on this occafion it is manly to weep. To lofe such a man, at such a crifis, is no common calamity to the world; our country mourns her father.— The Almighty difpofer of human events has taken from us our greatest benefador and ornament. It becomes us to sub. mit with reverence to him, who "maketh darknefs his pavilion."

With patriotic pride we review the life of our WASH. INGTON, and compare him with thofe of other countries who have been pre-eminent in fame. Ancient and modern names are diminished before him. Greatness and guilt have too often been allied; but his fame is whiter than it is brilliant. The deftroyers of nations flood abafbed at the majefly of his virtue. It reproved the intemperance of their ambition, and darkened the splendour of victory. The fcene is clofed, and we are no longer anxious left misfortune fhould fully his glory; he has travelled on to the end of his journey, and carried with him an increafing weight of honour; he has depofited it fafely, where misfortune cannot tarnish it, where malice cannot blaft it. Favoured of heaven, he departed without exhibiting the weakness of humanity; magnanimous in death, the darkness of the grave could not obfcure his brightness.

Such was the man whom we deplore. Thanks to God his glory is confummated; WASHINGTON yet lives on earth in his fpotlefs example—his fpirit is in heaven.

Let his countrymen confecrate the memory of the heroic general, the patriotic ftatefman, and the virtuous fage; let them teach their children never to forget that the fruits of his labour, and his example are their inheritance.

I

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE PRESIDENT'S ANSWER.

Gentlemen of the Senate,

RECEIVE with the moft refpectful and affectionate fentiments, in this impreffive addrefs, the obliging expreffions of your regret, for the lofs our country has foftained, in the death of her most esteemed, beloved and admired citizen.

In the multitude of my thoughts and recollections, on this melancholy event, you will permit me only to fay, that I have feen him in the days of adverfity, in fome of the fcenes of his deepeft diftrefs and most trying perplexities; I have also attended him in his highest elevation and most profperous felicity; with uniform admiration of his wif dom, moderation and conftancy.

Among all our original affociates, in that memorable league of the Continent in 1774, which first expreffed the Sovereign Will of a free nation in America, he was the only one remaining in the General Government. Although, with a constitution more enfeebled than his, at an age when he thought it neceffary to prepare for retirement, I feel myfelf alone, bereaved of my last brother; yet I derive a ftrong confulation from the unanimous difpofition, which appears in all ages and claffes, to mingle their forrows with mine, on this common calamity to the world.

The life of our WASHINGTON cannot fuffer by a comparison with thofe of other countries, who have been noft celebrated and exalted by fame. The attributes and decorations of royalty could have ferved only to eclipfe the majefty of thofe virtues, which made him, from being a modeft citizen, a more refplendent luminary. Misfortune, had he lived, could hereafter have fullied his glory only with those fuperficial minds, who, believing that characters, and actions are marked by fuccefs alone, rarely deferve to enjoy it.Malice could never blast his honour, and Envy made him a fingular exception to her univerfal rule.

For himself he had lived enough, to life and to glory. For his fellow citizens, if their prayers could have been anfwered, he would have been immortal. parture is at a most unfortunate moment.

For me his de-
Trufting, how.

ever, in the wife and righteous dominion of Providence over the paffions of men, and the refuts of their counfels and actions, as well as over their lives, nothing remains for me, but humble refignation.

His example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom. and virtue to magiflrates, citizens, and men, not only in the prefent age, but in future generations, as long as our history Thall be read. If a Trajan found a Pliny, a Marcus Aure-lius can never want biographers, eulogists, or hiftorians.

CHAPTER XXXV.

EXTRACT FROM MAJOR GENERAL LEE'S FUNERAL ORA-TION ON THE DEATH OF GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Delivered before both Houses, at the request of Congress, December 26, 1799.

I. N obedience to your will, (1) I rife your humble organ, with the hope of executing a part of the fyf tem of public mourning, which you have been pleased to adopt commemorative of the death of the most illuftrious. and most beloved perfonage this country has ever produced; and which, while it tranfmits to posterity your fense of the awful event, faintly reprefents your knowledge of the con-fummate excellence you fo cordially honour.

2. Defperate indeed is any attempt on earth to meet cor refpondently this difpenfation of heaven; for, while with pious refignation we fubmit to the will of an all gracious Providence, we can never ceafe lamenting in our finite view of omnipotent wisdom, the heart-rending privation for which our nation weeps. When the civilized world (hakes to the centre; when every moment gives birth to strange and momentous changes; when our peaceful quarter of the globe, exempt as it happily has been from any fhare in the Daughter of the human race, may yet be compelled to aban don her pacific policy, and to rifque the doleful cafualties of war: what limit is there to the extent of cur lofs?None within the reach of my words to exprefs; none which your feelings will not difavow.

3. The founder of our federal republic-our bulwark in war, our guide in peace, is no more! O that this were

(1) The two Houses of Congress.