Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

introduced the bordering barbarians into the service of the Romans; and those fierce nations, having now added discipline to their native bravery, could no longer be restrained by the impotent policy of the emperors, who were accustomed to employ one in the destruction of the others. Sensible of their own force, and allured by the prospect of so rich a prize, the northern barbarians, in the reign Arcadius and Honorius, assailed at once all the frontiers of the Roman empire; and having first satiated their avidity by plunder, began to think of fixing a settlement in the wasted provinces. The more distant barbarians, who oc cupied the deserted habitations of the former, advanced in their acquisitions, and pressed with their incumbent weight the Roman state, already unequal to the load which it sustained. Instead of arming the people in their own defence, the emperors recalled all the distant legions, in whom alone they could repose confidence; and collected, the whole military force for the defence of the capital and centre of the empire. The necessity of self preservation had superseded the ambition of power; and the ancient points of honor, never to contract the limits of the empire, could no longer be attended to in this desperate extremity.

HAZLITT ON THE PAINTINGS OF RAPHAEL.

It is many years since I first saw the prints of the Cartoons hanging round the old fashioned parlour of

a little Inn, in a remote part of the country. I was then young: I had heard of the fame of the Cartoons, but this was the first time I had ever been admitted face to face into the presence of those guests. How was I then uplifted! Prophets and Apostles stood before me as in a dream, and the Saviour of the christian world, with his attributes of faith and power; miracles were working on the walls; the hand of Raphael was there; and as his pencil traced the lines, I saw godlike spirits and lofty shapes descend and walk visibly on the earth, but as if their thoughts still lifted them above it. There I saw the figure of St. Paul, pointing with noble fervor to the "temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"; and that finer one of Christ in the boat, whose whole figure seems sustained by meekness and love; and that of the same person surrounded by his disciples, like a flock of sheep listening to the music of some divine shepherd. I knew not how enough to admire them. Later in life I saw other works of this great painter, collected in the Louvre where art, at that time, lifted up her head, and was seated on her throne, and said, all eyes shall see me, and all knees shall bow to me! There was her treasure, and there the inventory of all she had. There she had gathered together her pomp, and there was her shrine, and there her votaries came and worshipped as in a temple. The crown she wore was brighter than that of kings. Where the struggles for

human liberty had been, there were the triumphs of human genius. It was there that I learned to become an enthusiast of the lasting works of the great painters, and of their names no less magnificent: Whom having once seen we always remember, and who teach us to see all things through them; without whom life would be to begin again, and the earth barren; of Raphael who lifted the human form half way to heaven; of Titian who painted the mind in the face, and unfolded the soul to the things of the eye; of Rubens, around whose pencil gorgeous shapes thronged numberless, startling us by the novel accidents of form and colour, putting the spirit of motion into the universe, and weaving a gay fantastic round of dance with nature; of Rembrandt too, who smoothed the raven down of darkness till it smiled, and tinged it with a light like streaks of burnished ore; of these, and more than these, of whom the world was scarce worthy, and for the loss of whom scarcely any thing can make amends.

THE HOLY ALLIANCE.

ABBE DE PRADT.

Right is the legitimate master of the world, but it is not to be found in this alliance; nor are the purest intentions equivalent for it, for by its nature it is not to be replaced. The same want of harmony so appa

rent in the Holy Alliance, is to be remarked in its prototype the Quintuple Alliance, for in reality, the two form but one and the same Alliance: the common interest of four of its members, is opposition to the aggrandizement of Russia. France, though at a distance from her, is as repugnant to it as her nearer neighbours. Engalnd is in the same state: it may prove her interest to defend, what it might be that of Russia to attack. In the general state of Europe, the opposition of these two powers, is a natural, permanent, and necessary state. England, free from all apprehension from the continent, requiring no support finds herself bound by the force of circumstances to oppose Russia, as a state which threatens Europe. The proud character of protectress of the liberties of Europe against this Colossus, has devolved to her in consequence of her insular situation, and of the perfection of her institutions which give her government a strength which no other can acquire.

ON THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

GRATTAN.

If I had lived when the 9th of William took away the woolen manufacture, or when the 6th of George 1st declared this country to be dependant, and subject to the laws to be enacted by the parliament of

England, I should have made a covenant with my conscience to seize the first moment of rescuing my country from the ignominy of such acts of power.Or, if I had a son, I should have administered to him an oath that he would consider himself as a person separate and set apart for the discharge of so important a duty. Upon the same principle am I now come to move a declaration of right, the first moment occurring in my time, in which such a declaration could be made, with any chance of success, and without aggravation of oppression. Eighteen counties are at your bar; they stand there with the compact of Henry, with the charter of John, and with all the passions of the people. "Our lives at your service, but our liberties, we received them from God; we will not resign them to man.

Speaking to you thus, if you repulse these petitioners, you abdicate the privileges of parliament, forfeit the rights of the kingdom, repudiate the instructions of your constituents, bilge the sense of your country, palsy the enthusiasm of the people, and reject that good which-not a minister, not a Lord North, not a Lord Buckinghamshire, not a Lord Hilsboro', but a certain providential conjecture, or, rather, the hand of God, seems to extend to you. Nor are we only prompted to this when we consider our strength; we are challenged to it, when we look to Great Britain. The people of that country are now waiting to hear

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »