tants,
was Emperor of Germany. Paul V, of the House of Borghese, was Pope of
Rome. In the same princely company and all contemporaries were Christian
IV, King of Denmark, and his son Christian, Prince of Norway; Gustavus
Adolphus, King of Sweden; Sigismund the Third, King of Poland;
Frederick, King of Bohemia, with his wife, the unhappy Elizabeth of
England, progenitor of the house of Hanover; George William, Margrave of
Brandenburg, and ancestor of the Prussian house that has given an
emperor to Germany; Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria; Maurice, landgrave of
Hesse; Christian, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg; John Frederick, Duke
of Wuertemberg and Teck; John, Count of Nassau; Henry, Duke of Lorraine;
Isabella, Infanta of Spain and ruler of the Low Countries; Maurice,
fourth Prince of Orange; Charles Emanuel, Duke of Savoy and ancestor of
the King of United Italy; Cosmo de' Medici, third Grand Duke of
Florence; Antonio Priuli, ninety-third Doge of Venice, just after the
terrible tragedy commemorated on the English stage as "Venice
Preserved"; Bethlehem Gabor, Prince of Unitarian Transylvania, and
elected King of Hungary, with the countenance of an African; and the
Sultan Mustapha, of Constantinople, twentieth ruler of the Turks.

Such at that time were the crowned sovereigns of Europe, whose names
were mentioned always with awe, and whose countenances are handed down
by art, so that at this day they are visible to the curious as if they
walked these streets. Mark now the contrast. There was no artist for our
forefathers, nor are their countenances now known to men; but more than
any powerful contemporaries at whose tread the earth trembled is their
memory sacred. [Applause.] Pope, emperor, king, sultan, grand-duke,
duke, doge, margrave, landgrave, count--what are they all by the side of
the humble company that landed on Plymouth Rock? Theirs, indeed, were
the ensigns of worldly power, but our Pilgrims had in themselves that
inborn virtue which was more than all else besides, and their landing
was an epoch.

Who in the imposing troop of worldly grandeur is now remembered but with
indifference or contempt? If I except Gustavus Adolphus, it is because
he revealed a superior character. Confront the Mayflower and the
Pilgrims with the potentates who occupied such space in the world. The
former are ascending into the firmament, there to shine forever, while
the latter have been long dropping into the darkness of oblivion, to be