wakened our deepest sympathies. Not alone to
the learned, the scholarly, and the elegant, are these volumes
addressed; their high-toned thought has met response in the people's
heart, and children bend with flushed faces over the high romance of the
struggle that cost the lives of thousands, and recognize, perhaps dimly,
the import of that great advance from the darkness of intolerance to the
light of freedom, that was so well worth the treasure of blood with
which it was bought.

And here we part with Motley the historian, only to clasp hands with
Motley the patriot. In the present tremendous struggle of people against
progress, this fierce contest between labor and the lords, these last
convulsions of the expiring giant of feudal aristocracy, whose monstrous
conception dates far back among the Middle Ages, Motley has shown
himself the true champion of the doctrines advocated in his histories.
His platform is still the same, but how changed the theatre of his
action! His letter to the London _Times_ on the 'Causes of the American
Civil War' is a masterly exposition of facts, whose naked power is
obscured by no useless displays of rhetoric. Its tone is calm,
dignified, confident; its statements are strongly maintained, its logic
convincing. All honor to the man who from his quiet researches in royal
archives and busy deciphering of dusty MSS. turned to his country in her
hour of need, and defended her where defence should have been
superfluous, but was, unhappily, of small avail. And still he works
nobly for the dear old flag, and, intimately _lie_ as he is with the
first literati and politicians of Europe, it is not easy to measure his
influence. His purely literary habits forbid all suspicion of his
disinterestedness, and will go far to commend him to the sympathies of
the commanding intellects of the age. Let us hope for the time when,
with renewed faith in his mighty theories and still renewing love for
his motherland, he shall return to the retirement which has already
produced such noble fruits, and add works as worthy to our American
classics. Meanwhile, _vive qui vince!_

* * * * *

THE LESSON OF THE HOUR.

Thou who for years hast watched the course of nature,
What time the changing seasons swept their round,
And, 'mid the play of every varying feature,
New founts of pleasure for thyself hast found;
Who, when dark clouds upon the mountain glooming,
Threate