It is that they teem with
moral associations, and keep up the ever-interesting story of human
existence.
It is incumbent, then, on the high and generous spirits of an ancient
nation, to cherish these sacred groves that surround their ancestral
mansions, and to perpetuate them to their descendants. Republican as I
am by birth, and brought up as I have been in republican principles
and habits, I can feel nothing of the servile reverence for titled
rank, merely because it is titled; but I trust that I am neither churl
nor bigot in my creed. I can both see and feel how hereditary
distinction, when it falls to the lot of a generous mind, may elevate
that mind into true nobility. It is one of the effects of hereditary
rank, when it falls thus happily, that it multiplies the duties, and,
as it were, extends the existence of the possessor. He does not feel
himself a mere individual link in creation, responsible only for his
own brief term of being. He carries back his existence in proud
recollection, and he extends it forward in honourable anticipation. He
lives with his ancestry, and he lives with his posterity. To both does
he consider himself involved in deep responsibilities. As he has
received much from those that have gone before, so he feels bound to
transmit much to those who are to come after him.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113