commanded them that, "when it should thus be drawn, they should never
sheathe it, nor ever give it up, but prefer falling with it in their hands
to the relinquishment thereof,"--words, the majesty and simple eloquence
of which are not surpassed in the oratory of Athens and Rome.

It will be the duty of the historian and the sage, in all ages, to let no
occasion pass of commemorating this illustrious man; and, until time shall
be no more, will a test of the progress which our race has made in wisdom
and virtue be derived from the veneration paid to the immortal name of
Washington!
Lord Brougham.


LXXII.

WASHINGTON, A MAN OF GENIUS.

How many times have we been told that Washington was not a man of genius,
but a person of excellent common sense, of admirable judgement, of rare
virtues! He had no genius, it seems. O no! genius, we must suppose, is the
peculiar and shining attribute of some orator, whose tongue can spout
patriotic speeches; or some versifier, whose muse can hail Columbia; but
not of the man who supported States on his arm, and carried America in his
brain. What is genius? Is it worth anything? Is splendid folly the measure
of its inspiration? Is wisdom its base and summit?--that which it recedes
from, or tends toward? And by what definition do you award the name to the
creator of an epic, and deny it to the creator of a country? On what
principle is it to be lavished on him who sculptures in perishing marble
the image of possible excellence, and withheld from him who built up in
himself a transcendent character, indestructible as the obligations of