Were they borne on the wind, wafted on the waves, or carried by the fowls of the air? or were their rudiments, after lying for ages dormant in the bowels of the earth, thrown up, by the agency of subterranean fire, into a situation favorable for vegetable life to burst forth ?

The natural historian in contemplating facts like these, cannot fail to be most forcibly impressed with the wise and benevolent designs of the great Author of the universe, which are so apparent in all the works of the creation, and in none more so than in the providential means He has thought fit to emply for the wide dissemination of plants. Some he will perceive to be supplied with such multitudes of seeds, others so completely protected against injuries, some so amply provided with hooks to hold with, and others with feathers to bear them through the air, that by the assistance of the wind, rain, rivers, birds, and insects, a single pair of plants of every species, according to the opinion of Linnaeus, growing on the first little island, that may be supposed to have peeped out of the universe of waters, will be deemed sufficient, without human aid, to stock the whole surface of the globe.

LESSON XLVI.

Conclusion of a Discourse delivered at Plymouth, Mass. Dec. 22, 1820, in commemoration of the first settlement in New England.-WEBSTER.

Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed in its light and labored for its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, and literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend their influence still more widely; in the full conviction that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceable spirit of Christianity.

The hours of this day are rapidly flying, and this oc

European, yu-rò-pè'ân, belonging to Europe.
.Specks, spots, small discolorations.

Nearest shore. What shore is nearest? See map.
Wafted, carried through the air, or the water, floated.
Rudiments, first principles, first unshapen beginning.
Dormant, asleep, inactive, still.

Subterranean, under ground, sub-têr-rå'nè-ån.
-Burst forth, spring up, gush out, run violently.
Natural historian, one who describes the works of
nature.

Contemplating, kôn-têm'plate-ing.

-Impressed, affected, printed by pressure.
Designs, intentions, purposes, schemes.
Apparent, åp-på'rênt, manifest, visible.
Providential, from provide, effected by Providence,
merciful.

Dissemination, diffusion, act of scattering seeds.
Spell perceive, feathers, completely.
Protected, defended, secured, guarded.

Amply, abundantly, sufficiently, richly, opulently. Through the air. Can you explain the reason of birds' rising in air?

Insects, so named, from a separation in the middle of their bodies.

-Species, sort, subdivision of a general term, show, exhibition.

Linnæus. Who was he?

See App.

-Peeped, made the first appearance, looked slyly.

Deemed, thought, judged, considered.

Surface, superficies, outside.

Globe. Why is the earth called a globe?

Plymouth. What circumstance renders Plymouth

famous? App.

Commemoration, an act of public celebration.

What are the first settlers now called?

.Origin, beginning, ancestry.

Veneration, regard, value.

Our Fathers. Whence did they come before landing

at Plymouth?

Incorporate, embody, unite into one mass.

Elements, beginnings, first principles.

Sentiments, principles, feelings, opinions.

casion will soon be passed. Neither we nor our children can expect to behold its return. They are in the distant regions of futurity, they exist only in the all creating power of God, who shall stand here, a hundred years hence, to trace, through us, their descent from the pilgrims, and to survey, as we have now surveyed, the progress of their country during the lapse of a century. We would anticipate their concurrence with us in our sentiments of deep regard for our common ancestors. We would anticipate and partake the pleasure with which they will recount the steps of New England's advancements. On the morning of that day, although it will not disturb us in our repose, the voice of acclamation and gratitude, commencing on the rock of Plymouth, shall be transmitted through millions of the sons of the pilgrims, till it loses itself in the murmurs of the Pacific seas.

We would leave, for the consideration of those who shall then occupy our places, some proof that we hold the blessings transmitted from our fathers in just estimation; some proof of our attachment to the cause of good government, and of civil and religious liberty; some proof of sincere and ardent desire to promote every thing which may enlarge the understandings and improve the hearts of men. And when from the long distance of a hundred years, they shall look back upon us, they shall know, at least, that we possessed affections, which running backward, and warming with gratitude for what our ancestors have done for our happiness, run forward also to our posterity, and meet them with cordial salutations ere yet they have arrived on the shore of being.

Advance, then, ye future generations! We would hail you, as you rise in your long succession, to fill the places which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of existence where we are passing, and soon shall have passed, our human duration. We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the fathers. We bid you welcome to the healthful skies, and the verdant fields, of NewEngland. We greet your accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed. We welcome you to the blessings of good government, and religious liberty.

Occasion. How soon will a similar occasion return?

Peaceable, from peace.

Regions, realms, countries.

Futurity, time to come; from future.

Trace, follow by the footsteps, mark.

Pilgrims. Why are our fathers called pilgrims? Progress, prog' grêss, passage, advancement, improvement.

Lapse, fall, slide, gliding away.

.Concurrence, union, conjunction; from concur.
Common, ordinary, cheap, equally connected.
Steps. Mention the source of this figure.
That day. What day is intended?

Our repose.

What repose will this be?

Acclamation, shouts of applause; from acclaim.
Transmitted, carried, borne over, sent across.
Pacific seas.
Where are these seas?

Consideration, regard, contemplation, value.
Occupy our places, live after us.

Attachment, adherence; from attach.

-Civil, political, relating to the community, gentle, grave.

Religious liberty, right of worshipping God as conscience dictates.

Hearts, moral faculties in distinction from intellectual.

Long distance. How is time here represented?

Estimation, from estimate.

Affections. Do they belong to the heart or the understanding?

Ancestors. From what country did they come ?
Posterity. Why is posterity said to be forward?
-Cordial, kỏr' jè-ål, sincere, hearty, reviving.

Ere, åre, used for before in poetry and impassioned prose.

Ye future generations. What is this figure called? Succession, series of persons one following another; from succeed.

Salutation, from salute, greeting.

Human duration, mortal life.

Land of the fathers. What land is this.

Verdant, green like the

grass.

We welcome you to the treasures of science and the delights of learning. We welcome you to the transcendent sweets of domestic life, to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting Truth!

LESSON XLVII.

Effects and Influence of War.-CHANNING.

Repair, my friends, in thought, to the field of recent battle. Here are heaps of slain, weltering in their own blood, their bodies mangled, their limbs shattered, and in many a form and countenance, not a vestige left of their former selves. Here are multitudes trodden under foot, and the war horse has left the trace of his hoof on many a mutilated frame.

Here are severer sufferers; they live, but live without hope or consolation. Justice dispatches the criminal with a single stroke; but the victims of war falling by casual, undirected blows, often expire in lingering agony-their deep groans applying in vain for compassion, their limbs writhing with pain on the earth, their lips parched with a burning thirst, their wounds open to the chilling air, the memory of tender relatives rushing on their minds, but not an accent of comfort reaching their

ears.

Amidst this scene of horror, you see the bird and beast of prey, drinking the blood of the dead, and with merciful cruelty, ending the struggles of the dying : and still more melancholy! you see human plunderers, bereft of all human sympathy, turning a deaf ear on the wounded, and rifling the warm, and almost palpitating remains of the slain.

If you extend your eye beyond the immediate field of battle, and follow the track of the pursuing and victorious army, you see the roads strewed with dead; you see scattered flocks, and harvests trampled under foot; the smoking ruins of cottages, and the miserable inhabi