"Non meus hic sermo, sed quae praecepit Ofellus,
Rusticus, abnormis sapiens."
[Footnote: 56]
It is the genuine produce of the ancient, rustic, manly, homebred sense of this
country.--I did not dare to rub off a particle of the venerable rust that rather
adorns and preserves, than destroys, the metal. It would be a profanation to
touch with a tool the stones which construct the sacred altar of peace. I would
not violate with modern polish the ingenuous and noble roughness of these truly
Constitutional materials. Above all things, I was resolved not to be guilty of
tampering, the odious vice of restless and unstable minds. I put my foot in the
tracks of our forefathers, where I can neither wander nor stumble. Determining
to fix articles of peace, I was resolved not to be wise beyond what was written;
I was resolved to use nothing else than the form of sound words, to let others
abound in their own sense, and carefully to abstain from all expressions of my
own. What the law has said, I say. In all things else I am silent. I have no
organ but for her words.
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