doing good, compared to which all the palms of speculative wisdom and science wither on the sight. He did not seek to derive his eminence from the mere profession of letters, which, although laborious, seldom elevates a man to any high rank in the public confidence and esteem ; but he became great by applying his abilities to things useful, and accommodating his instructions to the exigencies of the times, and the necessities of his country.

Had we no other proof of this, the great and dignified part which he sustained in the American Revolution, one of the most important events recorded in the annals of mankind, would have been alone sufficient to immortalize his name; but when we take into the account his previous labors for half a century, on purpose to illuminate the minds of his fellow-citizens, to prepare them for the mighty event, to nurse them into greatness by the arts of industry and virtue, to shew them the happiness which lay within their reach, to teach them to dare, and to bear, and to improve success;-this accumulation of services has woven for his head a diadem of such beauty, as scarcely ever adorned the brow of either ancient or modern worthy. In the earliest stages of life he had conceived the mighty idea of American glory and empire ; but, like Hercules in the cradle, he was ignorant of his own strength, and had not conceived the achievements and the labors that awaited him. He had not yet conceived that he was one day to contend with kings and potentates for the rights of his country, to extort from them an acknowledgment of its sovereignty, and to subscribe with his name the sacred instruments which were to give it a pre-eminent rauk among the nations of the earth, and to assure its liberty and independence to the latest ages!

The

Virtus vera nobilitas, was an adage with which he was well pleased. He considered a descent from any of the virtuous peasantry and venerable yeomanry of America, who first subdued the sturdy oaks of our forests, and assisted to introduce culture and civilization into a once untutored land, as having more true nobility in it, than a pedigree which might be traced through the longest line of those commonly called great and noble in this world. He rose from low beginnings, and advanced not only himself but his country by means of the press. press was the great instrument he made use of in order to draw the attention of Pennsylvania to habits of virtue and industry; to the institution of societies for the promotion of agriculture, commerce, and the mechanic arts; to the founding of schools, libraries, and hospitals, for the diffusion of useful knowledge and the advancement of humanity: When you consider this, you will go and do likewise; you will, with professional joy and pride, observe, that, from the torch which Franklin kindled by means of his press, in the new world, "sparks are already stolen which are lighting up the sacred flame of liberty, virtue, and wisdom, over the entire face of the globe." Be it your part to feed that torch by means of the press, until its divine flame

Stemmata quid faciunt, quid prodest, Pontice, longo
Sanguine censeri ?

JUVENAL.

t This part was addressed to the printers of Philadelphia, who attended in a body.

THE nation grieves, surrounding kingdoms mourn,
Their mingling sighs enshrine their fav'rite's urn;
Columbia's sons their general loss deplore,
The friend of virtue-FRANKLIN is no more!
Cold lies that heart, which beat for all mankind;
Now lost to all that comprehensive mind;
No more shall age admire, no more the young
Receive the golden lessons from his tongue :
No more Poor Richard's annual tale afford
Instructive converse round the rustic board;
No more correct the proud, inform the gay,
No more the world's calm censor now display.

E'en he who soar'd to heaven, and dar'd to chain
The thunder's flash, and half its rage restrain;
Who saw the midnight sky in gorgeous glow,
And taught mankind the hidden cause to know;
E'en he whom science bade new worlds explore,
With philosophic eye unknown before,
Must yield, alas! to Death's relentless call,
And leave, for happier worlds, this earthly ball.

How poor the plaudit of the sorrowing Muse,
Yet, sacred shade! the generous wish excuse;
Far other praise is thine than poets give,

Through time's vast round thy works shall bid thee live.
If genius such as Heaven bestows on few;
If powers that bring important truths to view
If active virtue anxious how to raise

IN VIRGAM FRANKLINIANAM,

ODE ALCAICA.

AUCTORE ANTONIO MUSSI,

PHILOSOPHIE PROFESSORE, MEDIOLANI.

DIRIS per urbes relligionibus

Camposque latè strata metu gravi,

Humana gens horrebat olìm

Tartareum tonitru tyrannum

Nimbos vocantem: cœlo equitans nigro,
Dùm Saga, passo crine, sonantium
Iras procellarum lacessans,
Vipereo fureret flagello.

Formidolosa insomnia! "Num Pater

Naturæ iniquis imperium arbitris

Permittat ?" Has dudùm tenebras

Dispulit exoriens Sophia.

At non timores pectore funditùs
Excussit atros. Vix tonuit polus,
Jam vertici impendere vulgus
Ætheream trepidat ruinam.
"Ergo usque gentes sternere gestiat
Telum coruscans triste Diespiter,

Sedesque funestet piorum,

Ipse suas jaculatus arces?
Qui cuncta leni numine temperat,
Solemque flammis, et Boream gelu,
Terramque complexu rotundam,
Gurgitibus mare belluosis,
Nostros in usus Omnituens parat,
Num semper in nos immedicabilem
Molitur ictum, dùm tonante

Fulgur agens quatit astra curru ?"
Non ille frustra carum hominis caput
Diva efficacis muniit ingenî

Virtute, quâ terras patentes,

Aëraque, oceanumque regnet.

Sophis sagaces ille animos dedit
Tentare naturæ abdita: non vices
Subvertere æternasque leges

Sacrilegâ violare dextrâ.

Hâc mente, Franklin, nubibus imperas,
Vulgare temnens exanimum pecus :
Virgâque sublimi coerces

Fulmineum inviolatus ignem :
Justâ ille labens innocuus viâ
Sensim silenti Alumine avens peti
Telluris amplexum parentis,

Et sociæ freta cæca flammæ ;
Quæ sub profundis monstra frementia
Exercet antris, dum polum anhelitu
Terrasque quassant, montiumque
Ignivomo reboant hiatu.

At tu, corusco in turbine, splendidum
Securus effers philosophus caput,
Remota dum turris fragoso
Fulgure collabefacta fumat.

Regina signis te Philadelphia
Subscribit immortalibus: "Hic Sophus,
Hic ille Franklin, qui tyrannis

Sceptra, Jovi rapuitque fulmen."

Nunc ipsa virgam provida sospitam
Europa centum sustulit urbibus:

Europa nunc artes doceri

Barbaricâ ' stupet Americâ.

Urbs alma princeps Insubrum! adhue tremis

Sub sole larvas? Suspice Palladis

Fastigium ferrata circum

Tecta volans fugat ecce curas

Fulgore puro libera veritas.

At insolenti ne sapientiâ

2

'The reader will easily perceive that this word is used to form a beautiful contrast between what America is now, and what she was hardly a century ago.

2

* Regii gymnasii Braydensis hac in urbe Mediolano, quod anno 1784, munitum est sex virgis Franklinianis, jubente principe.

Mortalis æternum labores

Fallere consilium, caveto : Franklinianis mille licèt domus Horrescat hastis, certus ahenea Per septa, per fidos recessus,

Sontem animam petet ignis ultor.

Virtus, quietis pectoribus sacrum
Tutamen, arces possidet Alpibus
Stantes serenis præliantem

Sub pede despiciens procellam.