themselves dishonourable. We may even resort to the streets, and thank Heaven that we are not compelled to be beggars. 'In such a world, so thorny, and where none With less distinguished than ourselves; that thus And sympathize with others suffering more.'-Cowper. XXVI. WHO WASTE GREAT POWERS ON SUBORDINATE SUBJECTS. SHALL We prefer the bark to the stem, the leaves to the flower, the flower to the fruit? Shall men of high powers waste their strength on molehills rather than on mountains; and that, too, at an age when Time proceeds against them with an eager and relentless hand? We have many instances. Whittaker, in his "History of Craven and Manchester;' Bentham, in his History of Ely;' and Cervantes, in recording the fantasies and absurdities of a man who had lost his senses, in preference to the good and great deeds of one who could govern and command the capabilities of the highest. Sir William Jones, too-Oh, what a noble mind was there frittered away! XXVII. WHO ARE TRUE TO THE WORD, BUT FALSE TO THE SPIRIT. JOHNSON says of the Duke of Devonshire: 'He was not a man of superior abilities; but he was a man 'strictly faithful to his word. If, for instance, he had 'promised you an acorn, and none had grown that year, he would not have contented himself with that 6 excuse he would have sent to Denmark for it.' The following anecdote is related of a Mr. Scott, of Exeter. 'Mr. Scott, of Exeter, travelled on business till about eighty years of age. He was one of the 'most celebrated characters in the kingdom for punc-'tuality; and by his methodical conduct, joined to uni'form diligence, he gradually amassed a large fortune. For a long series of years, the proprietors of every inn 'he frequented in Devon and Cornwall knew the day and the very hour he would arrive. A short time 'before he died, a gentleman on a journey in Cornwall 'stopped at a small inn at Port Isaac to dine. The 'waiter presented him with a bill of fare, which he did not approve of, but observing a fine duck roasting, "I'll have that," said the traveller. "You cannot, ""sir," said the landlord; "it is for Mr. Scott of ""Exeter." "I know Mr. Scott very well," rejoined "the gentleman, "he is not in your house." 6.66 sir," ," said the landlord, "but six months ago, when "" he was here last, he ordered a duck to be ready for "" him this day, precisely at two o'clock;" and to the ' astonishment of the traveller, he saw the old gentle 66 True, 'man jogging into the inn-yard about five minutes be'fore the appointed time.' Some men, however, are true to the word, and yet false to the spirit. Cromwell, as we have before stated, promised Charles I., for instance, that not a hair of his head should be touched; when his daughter, therefore, requested a lock of his majesty's hair, the father gave that promise as an apology for not granting her request. XXVIII. WHO BELIEVE THEIR OWN LIES. SOME men, as Johnson said of Foote, are very impartial, for they tell lies of every body; and some tell their own lies over so often, that at last they believe them to be true; and this reminds me of a passage in Prior's Alma. 'Forms you cut, and forms you measure, Till airy seeds of casual wit Do some fantastic birth beget: And, pleased to find your system mended You fancy first, and then assert.' A thief is not so odious as a liar :-as to malignant liars, they ought, on conviction, to be sent to the hulks. XXIX. WHO BREAK OFF IN THE MIDDLE. THERE are some men who stop in the middle of all things; even in mischief. In vain their accomplices exclaim 'Shall we kindle all this flame Only to put it out again? And must we now give o'er, In vain this mischief we have done, If we can do no more.'-Denham. In one respect they would seem to resemble the tiger, and in others the ass. The tiger never repeats an attempt when he misses his spring; and the ass, though he sets out briskly, yet no whip can urge him to mend his pace when once he becomes weary. Virgil describes the agitations of a person wavering in his purposes in a very masterly manner :— - Animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc, In partesque rapit varias, perque omnia versat.' The comparison with which he illustrates is also exceedingly beautiful. Leonardo da Vinci's picture of Christ disputing with the Doctors,' if really painted by him, is no other than a failure; for Christ was only eleven years old when the scene took place, whereas here he has indications of a heard. Neither are the features, whether of Christ or of the elders, worthy so illustrious a hand; and this gives us an opportunity of remembering that Lanzi informs us*, that Leonardo was never pleased if he did not execute as perfectly as he had conceived; and that, when he was unable to reach the point proposed, he sometimes conducted it only to a certain point of completion, and there left it. As to Cæsar da Testo, (one of his scholars,) he aimed at excellence, as it were, only on holidays. XXX. WHO UNDERTAKE TOO MUCH. MILTON fails in all those passages of the 'Paradise Lost' where he represents the sayings and actions of God the Father. Indeed, it is astonishing that he should have presumed to make such an attempt! Raphael, too, fails in all those attempts too mighty for the hand and skill of man: witness his picture of the Deity hallowing the seventh day as a sabbath; that where he represents the same Being looking out from a cloud while Cain and Abel are sacrificing; that where he paints the head of God overlooking the ladder of Jacob; and that in which he represents the same awful Power speaking out of the burning bush. A short time since I saw, at Leigh Court, Leonardo da Vinci's picture of the 'Creator Mundi,' in which the Deity is holding a globe-in his hand, and meditating— 'Let there be light, and there was light.' This is a fine picture; highly ideal; but why will mortal man aspire to such impossible things? * Vol. iv., p. 243. |