177 



getic to direct the limbs in the most efficient man- 

 ner. Should that head be weakened by fatuity, or 

 perverted by the corruptions of the heart, adieu to 

 all the visions of rising grandeur. 



Far, far be from me to say that Britain is all 

 god-like ! that she owns none of the human im- 

 perfections to which other states are subject ! Her 

 rulers have the same corruptions as those of other 

 lands ; and perhaps the dreadful examples of anarchy 

 around her, have led her to submit too easily to 

 the encroachments of power. Still there is a vi- 

 gour and purity in her constitution, which will ma- 

 nifest itself, — not I trust in the rude efforts of brutal 

 strength, but in calm and steady energy. Dearly 

 do I love my country, and I cannot suppress my 

 indignation, when I see any of her sons or daugh- 

 ters, even in imagination, attempting to bow her 

 neck beneath the feet of a nation which I consider 

 so inferior to her in all moral dignity, as America. 



It is a most unusual thing for me to enter on 

 any subject connected with politics ; but as I know 

 my opinions to be perfectly independent of any 

 party, I thought I might be allowed to express 

 those genuine feelings which arose in my mind on 

 the perusal of a book, which, on the most mature 

 consideration, I cannot find tending to produce any 

 good effect in society ; and which is only the more 

 dangerous on account of its poetical excellence. At 

 the present momentous crisis, we ought to be 

 awakened to a sense of our danger ; but so much 

 the more should the amor patriae be excited to avert 

 it. Had I been acquainted with Mrs. Barbauld, it 



VOL. II. n 



