THE

OBLIGATIONS OF LITERATURE

TO THE

MOTHERS OF ENGLAND.

MOTHERS OF ENGLAND!-That noble and endearing appellation, which comprises the highest perfections of our nature, and conveys the loftiest idea of female excellence!-Mothers, who in the exercise of every virtue, and in the performance of every duty may challenge the matrons of all climes, and all ages, with little fear of competition, and no apprehension of rivalry.

Greece boasted of warriors who became

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invincible by the precepts and exhortations of heroines, whose maternal solicitude was lost in their patriotic ardor, and whose natural affections were sacrificed to the love of glory; whose bitterest malediction awaited the son who "returned from battle without his shield," while tears of joy bathed the remains of him who had fallen, overpowered by numbers. The Mother of Brasidas, the renowned Spartan, in honour of whom a yearly festival was instituted by his grateful and admiring countrymen-only inquired whether her son had died bravely. Such traits of the heroic fortitude of Mothers are abundant in antiquity; and as a natural result, it followed that the sole ambition of their sons was to earn the crown of victory, and their unceasing aim from infancy to be distinguished among the heroes of the state.

The Matrons of Rome, stoical, bold, and

resolute, fostered in their children that disregard of death, that daring intrepidity, which

eventually rendered them the masters of the world. Enthusiastic in their love for their

country, they sank the Mother's feelings in the citizen's devotion to the republic and the laws.

The stern virtues that signalized the Roman legislators, and the heroic courage that animated their warriors, were shared by wives, and cherished by Mothers, with whom compassion was considered a weakness, and humanity little less than a crime. But the profound learning, the studious habits, and that severe mental discipline which formed the basis of the undying fame of the sages of Greece and the philosophers of Rome, are in few instances to be traced to maternal influence.

Cornelia, whom Rome honoured with a

statue, simply inscribed "Cornelia the Mother of the Gracchi,”—and Aurelia the Mother of Julius Cæsar, whose lofty spirit induced the ambition that so early led her son to aspire to the office of Pontiff, and whose anxiety for his success made him exclaim in embracing her"You shall this day see me either chief pontiff, or an exile,”—have always been renowned for the services which they rendered their country.

But their offspring were warriors, patriots, and conquerors, whilst our attention must be confined to those who have attained distinction, and benefited their race by the peaceful pursuits of literature; and where can our thoughts be so satisfactorily directed as to our own country-to our native land? There we find, together with sages, and philosophers, heroes great as in the ancient time, in martial glory, and far greater in moral virtues,

since their conduct was regulated by the chastening influence of revealed Religion.

It remained for Christian England to boast of Mothers, who, while they inculcated on their children the courage and dauntless energy of the ancient rulers of the world, also infused into their young minds those sentiments of piety, gentleness, and virtue-that mental rectitude, strict principle, and high sense of honour, which have procured for Great Britain universal respect, admiration, and confidence.

Both Greece and imperial Rome vanquished but to enslave and degrade: their dominion could only be purchased by subduing every moral and social feeling in the victims of their insatiable ambition.

England conquers that she may confer the precious boon of freedom upon all who are persecuted and oppressed. She shelters the alien, protects the exile, unshackles the slave: