e of the Roman empire
with the record of the brave deeds of its ancient warriors and valorous
statesmen. Grecian preeminence and virtue died when liberty expired. I
agree with Sidney when he writes that it is absurd to impute this to the
change of times; for time changes nothing, and nothing was changed in
those times but the government, and that changed all things. These are
his words: 'As a man begets a man, and a beast a beast, that society of
men which constitutes a government upon the foundation of justice,
virtue, and the common good, will always have men to promote those ends;
and that which intends the advancement of one man's desires and vanity
will abound in those that will foment them.' I may not, therefore, be
altogether wrong in attributing the prosperity and well-being of a
nation to the form of government which it possesses.

We will now proceed to the consideration of the social advantages which
an elliptical State affords. This is the form of government and social
position which we, as a nation, at present enjoy; and from mathematical
considerations I am of opinion that it is the best, and hope that no
change will ever be made in our constitution. You may remember that I
have previously stated that an ellipse has a centre and two foci, in
view of all the particles which compose the curve, and connected with
them by close ties. The centre, in the projected figure, represents the
monarchy, which is limited; and the government is carried on by the aid
of the two houses of representatives of the people, depicted in the
projection by the two foci.

Now the social advantages of the ellipse are given by the fact that the
sum of the distances of any point from the foci is always constant. No
particle is left out in the cold; no one does not possess the advantages
of a social government. Though his distance may be far from the Upper
House, he has the advantage of nearness to the Lower, and _vice versa_.
The sum of the distances is constant. The extinction of one focus, the
House of Lords, for example, would create a complete disorganization of
the whole system: the other focus would set up a powerful magnetic
attraction, and a curious bulb-shaped curve would be evolved, very
different from the beautiful symmetrical form which the original figure
presented to the eye. The centre of the system would be disturbed; and
it is probable that ere long it would disappear along the axis and be
vanished to infinity. Thus