such a despotic consciousness of duty, as to refuse himself time for surveying the magnificence of its ruins. Such a sin against taste is very far beyond the reach of common saintship to commit. It implied an inconceivable severity of conviction, that he had one thing to do, and that he who would do some great thing in this short life, must apply himself to the work with such a concentration of his forces, as, to idle spectators, who live only to amuse themselves, looks like insanity.

"His attention was so strongly and tenaciously fixed on his object, that even at the greatest distance, as the Egyptian pyramids to travellers, it appeared to him with a luminous distinctness, as if it had been nigh, and beguiled the toilsome length of labour and enterprise by which he was to reach it. It was so conspicuous before him, that not a step deviated from the direction, and every movement and every day was an approximation. As his method referred everything he did and thought to the end, and as his exertion did not relax for a moment, he made the trial, so seldom made, what is the utmost effect which may be granted to the last possible efforts of a human agent: and, therefore, what he did not accomplish, he might conclude to be placed beyond the sphere of mortal activity, and calmly leave to the immediate disposal of Omnipotence."

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II. OF INTELLECTUAL CULTURE AND PRACTICAL EXERTION.

BESIDES their use in forming our moral nature, the intellectual powers require to be cultivated for the ordinary business of life; on a reasonable occupation in which health of mind as much depends, and much in the same way, as health of body on physical exercise.

Intellectual culture presents two aspects; it may be considered both in the stage of preparation, and in its results; in the process of tuition, and in its application to the enlargement of knowledge and to the conduct of affairs.

The advantages of education are commonly undervalued. We see men, who, by sheer force of native talent, and without tutorage or instruction, raise themselves to eminent success in various walks, and not merely in the course of their business, but in their judgment of general affairs, exhibit enlarged and liberal minds, and express their thoughts with that correctness of language and logical arrangement, which we had expected to find exclusively the result of a liberal education. In considering these instances, we are apt to overlook the benefit which the parties have derived from living in a highly-educated community, the current literature of which they have access to, and profit by, at the same time that they are progressively winning their way into its higher

circles. Every man in England, whose industry and abilities raise him above the condition of a mere labourer, has thus before him and within his reach, materials of knowledge and reflection, which he may make, if he possess energy and talent enough, the first step towards the highest fortunes.

What is commonly called a regular education has two especial uses. Intellectually, it is of service to persons of ordinary abilities, by giving them a common table-land of thought and knowledge with those of the greatest. Morally, it benefits all alike, by early associating reflection with our duties, and converting good instincts, and the influence of good examples and good habits, into principle, using the term in its most enlarged and truest sense.

Intellectual education may be said to have a threefold object;-to impart the habit of application and a taste for study,-to give the mind access to every variety of knowledge, to develope and improve the understanding.

The first point is more easily attainable than commonly attained. The characteristic endowment of the human understanding is curiosity, or the thirst after knowledge; it has not to be created; it is there already; but it requires the most careful encourage ment and direction.

The second point is of prodigious importance—

Dimidium facti, qui bene cæpit, habet.

How many in middle life would prosecute various studies, of which they feel the want, if they had

already commenced them. The difficulty of beginning deters them. In languages, ancient and modern, in history, in mathematics, in mental philosophy, in physics, in natural history, the mind of a youth at sixteen years of age should already be well imbued; and the order in which I have enumerated these studies, is perhaps the best in which they can be successively commenced.

The third point is to be attained by considering in what intellectual excellence consists;-which being understood, it should be easy in individual cases; by fostering those elements which seem backward and deficient in vigour, to give the mind its full expansion.

One distinction in the capacities of men is, that some are of a practical, others of a speculative turn. Whatever course of life an individual is destined to pursue, it is most desirable that both these casts of thought should be united in him. It is important to discern in a child whether he is of quick perceptions and ready associations, or more contemplative and disposed to reflection. Whichever is the weaker part, it should be strengthened with sedulous care.

Another distinction, which tallies to some extent with the preceding, is, that some have a ready recollection of instances, while others use and recollect principles only. The profession of the law has a tendency to increase the first intellectual habit, philosophic pursuits to encourage the last. Neither are so good as both; the first, with a subtle discrimination

of differences, is not a less useful quality, than a ready perception of resemblances, and turn for generalizing.

Some minds have a great, others a little cast of thought, which may be incommensurate with their general powers of reflection. Sir James Mackintosh has somewhere dwelt on this distinction between greatness of understanding, and greatness of talent it is founded upon a moral difference. Where the basis of character is a narrow selfishness, every subject of reflection is likely to assume a contracted cast, from being exclusively considered in its bearings upon personal advancement or gratification. He alone whose views and wishes comprehend the good and happiness* of others can possess a great understanding.

There is a wonderful difference among men as to their love of truth; I do not here mean as to their veracity, or to their power of discovering new truths, but as to their turn for being dissatisfied with any thing short of truth. Many seem to read and think

* When one adverts to freedom from selfishness as an element of character, one is led by a natural transition to think of the mind of Woman. Women are intellectually, as in voice and complexion, improved children. Children are remarkable for their quickness of observation and their imitativeness; likewise for their facile changes of mood and humour. The tact, and pliancy, and variety of a woman's mind are the expansion of these germs. Women, in general, have inferior powers of reflection to men. This arises in a great measure from their not having been cultivated. When in a woman acquirement and reflection are united with the quickness of perception, and delicacy, and moral elevation, which are her own, who is there disputes her sovereignty?