Character of Coriolanus [pp. 737-738]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
737
its highest relish, and affords to virtue the strongest
support and encouragement. I shall conclude, therefore, with the sentiment with which I began, "qua a
Diis immortalibus nihil melius habemus, nihil jucundius."
every one, that it would have a peculiar charm when
used by a person who might happen to be in such a predicament. And taking the thing in this light, and putting myself for a moment in the shoes of the fair young
fiancee who has just set the seal to her letter, I would
expound or explain the motto upon it, something in this
way:
MISPAH.
A late writer tells us, that being on board the packet
ship Silas Richards, on his way from New York to
Liverpool, the captain one day opened the letter bags
in the round house, to sort the contents; and to amuse
the passengers standing about him, read aloud some of
the most singular superscriptions, when he came to a
letter which had a seal with an epigraph on it which ran
thus: "Mispah-Gen. xxxi. 49." "Here," said he
to a clergyman by, (the writer himself, I suppose,) "this
is for you to expound." But the clergyman not being
able to do so, ran for his Bible, and soon returning with
it open at the place referred to, read out, " Mispah: the
Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent
one fiom another." "Beautiful!" said one. "Beautiful!" said another. "A gem! a gem!" exclaimed a
third. "A gem indeed!" cried all together. "And
surely," adds the writer, "the brightest, most precious
gem of all, was to find, in such a place and circle, these
prompt and full-souled expressions of sympathy on this
announcement of religion and christian piety. There
were, indeed, powerful tendencies to such sympathy in
the circumstances of us all. For who present, whether
going to orfrom his home, did not feel himself separated
from those he loved, and loved most dear? And who,
with a wide and fitful ocean before him, tossing on its
heaving bosom, would not feel his dependence, and
looking back or forward to home and friends, lift up his
aspirations to that high Providlence who sits enthroned
in Heaven, and rules the land and sea, and breathe to
him the sweet and holy prayer-' The Lord watch between me and mine, while we are absent one from
another?'
These reflections are all just and natural enough;
but they are, perhaps, a little too vague and indefinite.
At least, they do not strike me as quite true to the text.
For the word "watch" here does not mean simply protect, but rather witness, and Laban's idea when he said
"Mispah," was, "may the Lord stand witness, and look
out to guard against any infraction of the covenant
which has just been made between us." So the author
wanders a little from the point of the thing. And he does
so again when he proceeds to ask, "And whose was
the hand that fixed this stamp of piety on this winged
messenger of love-of love that grows more ardent and
more holy as it is distant and long away from its
object? The first post-mark was quebec, and the letter was directed to a quarter-master in London. Was
it then, from a wife to a husband? or from a sister to a
brother? or what was the relation?" Obviously, such
a seal could be used with strict propriety only by
one who either was, or was engaged to be, married,
to the writee, and who might very nicely use it at
once to assure and remind the absent partner of that
conjugal, or connubial fidelity which they had vowed
before God. At any rate, it must be felt, I think, by
0 what can sooth the sorrow, love,
This anxious absence brings,
But to reflect that one above,
With overshadowing wings,
The witness of our plighted troth,
Will hear, and help, and keep us both?
O may he still our guardian be,
As he hath ever been!
And watch, my love, o'er me and thee,
While ocean rolls between!
And bring thee back, all perils past,
To make our bonds more sweetly fast!
CHARACTER OF CORIOLANUS.
Coriolanus possessed those traits of character, which
in an unpolished age, and amongst a people so renowned for their chivalry as the Romans, are fitted to command universal admiration. Of high birth-of a frank,
ingenuous nature-wise in the council-chamber, as he
was ardent and intrepid in the field, it would have been
strange if he had not soon won his way to the esteem
and confidence of his countrymen. Accordingly we
find him, after having signalized his name by a series of
the most brilliant exploits in a campaign against the
Volsci, returning to Rome, to receive in the gratitude and
applause of his fellow-citizens, the reward of his heroic
deeds. But neither the fame of his splendid successes,
nor his own intrinsic dignity, could exempt him from
the reverses of fortune. The chaplet with which the
fickle goddess one moment decks the conqueror's brow,
the next she snatches away, and leaves him the wretch
ed victim of disappointed ambition. Thus was it with
Coriolanus. The Tribunes of the People, those infamous panders to the morbid appetites of the mob, finding it necessary to sacrifice him, the panoply of virtue
proved a poor shield against their virulence. Taking
advantage of that hauteur of which there was certainly
a spice too much in his composition, they very dexterously managed to excite him to expressions of contempt
for the commons, on the one hand, and, on the other, to
inflame their minds with a sense of imaginary wrongs,
and impress upon them a conviction, that if they would
not be trampled in the dust, they must dispute every
inch of ground with the Patricians, and omit no opportutnity to strike a blow at a class of men they were
taught to consider their natural enemies. As the influ.
ence of the tribunes with the people was unlimited,
so their success was complete-their machinations resulting in~the condemnation of Coriolanus to perpetual
exile. Alas, that we have to deplore that the magnanimity this great man had so often exhibited, should
desert him in the hour whlen most Ihe needed it! Stung
to madness that his distinguished services to the state
should meet so base a return, he resolves, in an ecstacy
of resentment, that Rome shlall suffer the meed of her
dark ingratitude. lIe goes over to the enemy, who
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