6. Were we asked, what are those powerful ties which bind us to the place of nativity, we should find some difficulty in answering the question. It is, perhaps, the smile of a mother, of a father, of a sister; it is, perhaps, the recollection of an old preceptor[487] who instructed us, and of the young companions of our childhood; it is, perhaps, the care bestowed upon us by a tender nurse or by some aged domestic, so essential a part of the household; finally, it is something most simple, and, if you please, trivial,—a dog that barked at night in the fields, a nightingale that returned every year to the orchard, the nest of the swallow over the window, the village clock that appeared above the trees, the churchyard yew, or the Gothic tomb. Yet these simple things demonstrate the more clearly the reality of a Providence, as they could not possibly be the source of patriotism, or of the great virtues which it begets, unless by the appointment of the Almighty himself.
[477] In-vestˊ-ed, clothed.
[478] Paˊ-tri-ot-ism, love of one’s country.
[479] Ex-cluˊ-sive, tending to exclude, or shut out.
[480] Exˊ-tir-pate, to root out, to destroy.
[481] Trivˊ-i-al, trifling, worthless.
[482] Prim-i-tive, first, original.
[483] O-rigˊ-i-nal, primary, first.
[484] Pol-luˊ-tion, defilement corruption.
[485] Il-luˊ-sion, error; false show, unreality.