[162] prayers were in proper keeping with the solemnities of the commemoration. The eulogy, prepared in a short time, was the outflowing of a warm and afflicted heart. It was written in plain, strong language, and narrated, with lucid order, the prominent facts in Washington's life, and the salient features of his character. It was printed with the following titlepage:--
An Eulogy on General Washington, delivered before the inhabitants of the town of Medford, agreeably to their vote, and at the request of their Committee, on the 13th of January, 1800. By John Brooks, A. M., M. M.S., and A. A.S. Printed by Samuel Hall, No. 53, Cornhill, Boston.We give a few extracts, and select the following because they are short:--
The interjunction of public eulogies with funeral solemnities is a practice neither novel nor unusual. Emanating from the strength and poignance of grief for departed merit, it is the expression of an affection of the human heart which may be beneficially indulged. . . . Vain would be the attempts of the most accomplished eulogist to do justice to a character so transcendently illustrious as that of our late dear and much-loved Washington. . . . So long as wisdom shall be revered, talents command respect, or virtue inspire esteem, so long will the American breast exult that he was a native of this western world. . . . After the wanton conflagration and capture of our sister Charlestown, and the untimely death of the hopeful Warren, the animating presence of Washington, who was received by our army at Cambridge, in July, 1775, elevated the drooping spirits of the troops, then forming the tardy blockade of Boston. Without discipline, badly armed, and destitute of artillery and every description of military stores, no operations against the enemy could be warrantably undertaken until the spring of the year 1776. In consequence of the approaches which better supplies had enabled the army to make against the enemy, General Washington then compelled them to abandon our capital. . . . He maintained, through all vicissitudes, a virtuous empire over the affections of his countrymen. . . . General Washington, in whom were combined the fine polish of Attic refinement with the sternness of Spartan virtue, resisted their solicitations with address, and their menaces with firmness; and the faithful guardian of his country's safety and honor, obeying the dictates of a severe but imposing policy, assigned the hapless Andre to the destiny of a spy. . . . Such is the structure and imbecility of the human mind, that praise is exceedingly prone to destroy its equilibrium; but the Aristides, as well as the Fabius, of the age, neither despondent in adversity nor elated with success, preserved a philosophical equanimity
