e fed our heroes from the days of Cressy and Agincourt to the present
times, so the former have fashioned minds fit to animate these mighty
bodies. It is only to those who have a relish for stern virtue and grave
reflection, that I would recommend the following pages.

I have dated this narrative in a peculiarly calamitous period, though
well aware that virtue, like happiness, is supposed to flourish most in
times of tranquility. Such times afford no subjects for the historian or
the bard; and even the moralist is often led to revert rather to those
stormy eras which roused the energies of the human soul, and compelled
it to assert qualities of which they who have observed only the repose
of domestic life can form no conception. Man, attempting with finite
powers to compass the most stupendous designs in spite of physical or
moral obstacles; submitting to every privation, braving danger and
death, often even defying omnipotence, and all for the sake of some
speculative tenet, some doubtful advantage, the post of honour burdened
by superlative responsibility, or the eminence of power attended with
perpetual care, is an object no less interesting to the philosopher,
than it is miraculous to the peasant, who places enjoyment in ease and
animal indulgence. It is on the motives and actions which characterise
this self-denial and enterprise, that the hero and the statesman fix
their attention; forming their models, and drawing their conclusions,
not from the passive inclinations, but from the capabilities of our
species, not from what man would or ought to prefer, but from what he
has achieved when stimulated by hope, goaded by ambition, or instigated
by desperation.

Under the influence of these passions, how often has one restless spirit
disturbed the repose of a prosperous nation, and spread desolation and
misery over the fairest portions of the globe. Does God permit this--and
is he righteous? Yes, short-sighted questioner of Omniscience, the
Father of the universe is never more conspicuous in his paternal care,
than when, by means of temporal afflictions, he draws our regards toward
our heavenly country.--Then is death disarmed of the terrors which are
planted round the bed of prosperity; then is the soul freed from that
bondage of sensual delight, which impedes her spiritual exertion. The no
longer pampered body, subdued to spareness, braced by toil, elastic from
exertion, and patient from habit, is not a clog, but a me