The Lyceum, Part IV [pp. 764-766]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
sage be connected by a hyphen, and read as one noun
substantive:-" so that the whole, as amended, will
read thus," (as they say at the capitol,)
"For goodness, growing to a plurisy,
Dies in his own too-much."
And now for our second "conjectural reading."
When Laertes demands the cause of his father's death,
at the hands of the villain King of Denmark, that
monarch whets the filial rage of the young soldier
against Hamlet, in a long and most admirable scene:
at the close of which, addressing Laertes, he thus
speaks:
" And where the offence is, let the great axe fall."
This line is weak, and unmeaning as it stands. By
Warburton's aid, smiled on with cool approbation by
Johnson, (that smile itself almost a frown,) we are let
into the probable intention of the poet, in writing that
passage. For "axe" read tax: a word used by Shakspeare, very frequently, in a similar connexion: e.g.
Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright
When it doth tax itself.
Afess. for Mess. II. 4.
etc. etc. The "great axe" could never have been the
doom of a king, so absolute as he of Denmark, of
what crime soever he might have been guilty, and could
not have been invoked by Claudius, as the proper
punishment for the murder, of which Laertes suspected
him. But there is a meaning, and a pregnant meaning
in the line, when read as we now propose. The
players at "The Globe Theatre," with the same contempt for the niceties of poetical diction, and the integ,rity of Priscian's head, as that which (characterizes
their modern successors, probably read the line, (thus
written by the Poet,) in the slovenly way in which it
has come down to us, uncorrected, through so many
editions.
We may resume our remarks upon the Text of Shakspeare in a future number. J. F. 0.
NEW ENGLAND MORALS.
We of the South are usually, quite ready to admit,
in general terms, the morality that prevails in New England; but we do so, sneeringly; and are apt to accompany the admission with a sarcasm, equally novel,
elegant, and just, upon "the land of steady habits and
vooden nutmegtts." Few of us are aware, that in that
same land an integrity and a liberality may often be
found, worthy of Virginia, even according to her own
highest conceptions of herself. The English traveller,
Dr. Reed, speaks thus of the people in the pleasant
village of Northampton, Massachusetts:
'* * * There are no criminals; the jail is often
empty for three months together; and the judge passes
on his way, having no delivery to make. A lady's
veil was found lately on the high road. It was hung
on the hedge by the wayside: it remained there all
day, and, in fact, till the owner came and claimed it.
"Their mnorality has a yet higher complexion. No
small evidence is given of this in their treatment of
the ministers of the mother church. They agree to
their salary in common hall. Dr. P****'s, as the actual pastor, passes as a matter of course. But Mr.
W******* has resigned his charge, and is wholly superannuated. Yet they do not say of him, He is a
withered tree! No: they agree, as freely and without
remark, to the salary hlie has always enjoyed. This I
think noble, and the delicacy admirable. Yet these
people are a plain people: who shall say they are not
refined and elevated?"
THE LYCEUM.
No. IV.
ON THIE PRACTICE OF APPLAUDING PUBLIC SPEAKERS.
I was lately in a city of this Union, where the governor of the state, after having that day reviewed a large
body of handsomely uniformed and well disciplined
troops, was, at night, to deliver an Address before a
Mechanics' Association. I made one of the multitude,
that crowded the immense Church where the orator
spoke.
Various causes wound up my interest to a very high
pitch.-The Association was one for the moral and intellectual improvement of a numerous and important
class of our countrymen; an object high in the regards
of all who hope for the permanence of our republican
institutions. The speaker was, by general admission,
unrivallcd in set oratory, among living Americans —
whether we look to grace in delivery, or to beauty and
force of composition. He wvas the governor of a GREAT
state (for "The MIND'S the measure of the man");
and here, doffing the robes of civil office as well as the
gaudier finery of military parade, he, as a plain citizen,
was to address an humble Mechanics' Association upon
'the importance of the mechanic arts to civilization,
and to happiness.' The vastness of the throng, the
newness of the people to me, and their being reputed
to have some striking peculiarities,-raised my curiosity
on tiptoe, to see how they could appreciate what fell
from one of the most accomplished scholars on this
continent. And I was equally curious to see, how he
would contrive, without descending firom the dignity
of learning or fi-om his habitual elegance of style, to
make himself understood and relished by such an assembly; and by what mode of operation he would
work out the design of his address-namely, to impress
mechanics with such a self-respect, as might elevate
their conduct and characters, and impress all others
with a just and salutary respect for mechanical pursuits.
The Address was, in most respects, happy beyond
my expectations. But what was my surprise, to find
every very fine passage followed by thunders of applause, from a large part of the audience!-hands clappilng —canes, feet, umbrellas, rattling upon the floor! —
The sobriety of the people-their puritan descentthe supposed character of the speaker —the (supposed)
sacredness of the place-had all been, to my mind,
infallible guarantees against the appearance there of a
practice at nearly all times indecorous and irrational,
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