For the
only road to the attainment of liberty is its practice and its abuse,
and the slow education which can be acquired by no theoretical teaching,
but only in the hard and expensive school of experience. For the
terrible birth-pangs of liberty no despotically governed people can
escape, unless it chooses to remain in thraldom.
This is the spirit that breathes through Tegner's speeches and poems,
during his most vigorous manhood; and even, when the rift in his lute
made its music harsh and uncertain, the strain was yet essentially the
same, though transposed into an alien key. It is very tempting to quote
the many noble sayings of this master of the commanding phrase, but one
or two must suffice. It is a delight to read his published
correspondence, because of this power of strong and luminous utterance,
which he wields with such Titanic ease. Then, again, there is no
affectation or cant, but an engaging candor and straightforwardness
which bespeak a true man, considering the time when they were written.
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