He Had Done That Which Could Never

Re: Robert Montgomery's Poems His Writing Bears The Same Relation To Poetry Which A Turkey Carpet Bears To A Picture. There Are Colours In The Turkey Carpet Out Of Which A Picture Might Be Made. There Are Words In Mr. Montgomery's Writing Which, When Disposed In Certain Orders And Combinations,have Made, And Will Make Again, Good Poetry. But, As They Now Stand, They Seem To Be Put Together On Principle In Such A Manner As To Give No Image Of Anything In The Heavens Above, Or In The Earth Beneath, Or In The Waters Under The Earth.

What Proposition Is There Respecting Human Nature Which Is Absolutely And Universally True? We Know Of Only One,--and That Is Not Only True, But Identical,--that Men Always Act From Self-interest.

Nothing Is So Useless As A General Maxim.

The Object Of Oratory Alone In Not Truth, But Persuasion.

No Particular Man Is Necessary To The State. We May Depend On It That, If We Provide The Country With Popular Institutions, Those Institutions Will Provide It With Great Men.