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Untitled Article
subject-matter of celebration ; the events which do really make the hearts * blood of the people flow rapidly ia . their veins . Who cares now about such events as those the memory of which is
consecrated by civil and ecclesiastical authority ? What pulse beats at , or what mind attaches any meaning to , the litanies and homilies thereanent , which by his Majesty ' s command are still appointed to be said or sung in all churches and chapels . Not long ago it was denied that there were more than two members of the court of aldermen who knew which came first , the
Reformation , the Restoration , or the Revolution . Now , though there is no occasion for such ignorance of history , even amongst the youngest children of our lowest artisans , a much less degree of it than actually exists would suffice to show that neither the 29 th of May nor the 5 th of November have any character of national commemoration . ' What ' s Hecuba to him , or he to
(Hecuba V The king ' s birthday is more germane to the matter , because then , if we be in a proper office for an address , we goes to court and gets be-knighted . ' The Americans have an anniversary , a glorious national birthday ; and the 4 th of July is a
sunshiny time . They keep it well too . Their processions cost money , and they can afford it . That was no class or clan victory * It was no exploit of military folly . And so the entire people shine away in sense and sublimity , like the stars of heaven , as the poet describes them , glorifying God .
c In reason ' s ear they all rejoice , And utter forth a glorious voice . * It is the day of independence , and eveiy man , woman , and child is independent for the day . Jack is as good as his master ; that is , supposing Jack is in English service , or else Jack has no
master . A high bribe was the English lady obliged to give the solitary boy—the only boy she could find to bribe on that dayto help her to kill the pig , shave off his bristles , and , ' albeit unused to the melting mood , ' cook it for the party whom her husband had invited for the 4 th of July , forgetful of the genexal and joyful turn-out of all domesticity into publicity . It will be
long ere Knglish servants will come to this . And yet the Roman Saturnalia , was a joyous time even for those very aristocratic republicans .. But we have no 4 th of July . The Reform Act should have created an anniversary ; but that dish was too much spoiled in the cooking , and has got too cold since , to be served up for a universal feast . It . is too full of imperfections ,
limitations , and vexations . It smacks of the taxing-man . The grumble at not having a vote had more comfort in it than the uncertainties and disappointments that beset the franchise . A Jog pricking his nose in trying to get at a hedgehog , scarcely becomes more irritated than the tormented ten-pound ? r before the revising barristers . He is in no humour for feast or frolic ,
Untitled Article
National AiCfiitereariei , 755
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1834, page 753, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2639/page/5/
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