than might have been expected.  Moreover, the thought is the really important thing.  We see plainly that the speaker belongs to the new era and the new generation of national measures and nationally-minded men.  There is no colonialism about him.  He is in full sympathy with the Washingtonian policy of independence in our foreign relations and of complete separation from the affairs of Europe.  But the main theme and the moving spirit of this oration are most important of all.  The boy Webster preached love of country, the grandeur of American nationality, fidelity to the Constitution as the bulwark of nationality, and the necessity and the nobility of the union of the States; and that was the message which the man Webster delivered to his fellow-men.  The enduring work which Mr. Webster did in the world, and his meaning and influence in American history, are all summed up in the principles enunciated in that boyish speech at Hanover.  The statement of the great principles was improved and developed until it towered above this first expression as Mont Blanc does above the village nestled at its foot, but the essential substance never altered in the least.

Two other college orations have been preserved.  One is a eulogy on a classmate who died before finishing his course, the other is a discourse on “Opinion,” delivered before the society of the “United Fraternity.”  There is nothing of especial moment in the thought of either, and the improvement in style over the Hanover speech, though noticeable, is not very marked.  In the letters of that period, however, amid the jokes and fun, we see that Mr. Webster was already following his natural bent, and turning his attention to politics.  He manifests the same spirit as in his oration, and shows occasionally an unusual maturity of judgment.  His criticism of Hamilton’s famous letter to Adams, to take the most striking instance, is both keen and sound.

After taking his degree in due course in 1801, Mr. Webster returned to his native village, and entered the office of a lawyer next door to his father’s house, where he began the study of the law in compliance with his father’s wish, but without any very strong inclination of his own.  Here he read some law and more English literature, and passed a good deal of time in fishing and shooting.  Before the year was out, however, he was obliged to drop his legal studies and accept the post of schoolmaster in the little town of Fryeburg, Maine.

This change was due to an important event in the Webster family which had occurred some time before.  The affection existing between Daniel and his elder brother Ezekiel was peculiarly strong and deep.  The younger and more fortunate son, once started in his education, and knowing the desire of his elder brother for the same advantages, longed to obtain them for him.  One night in vacation, after Daniel had been two years at Dartmouth, the two brothers discussed at length the all-important question.  The next day, Daniel