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tinued action that our powers are improved, while, on the other hand, they are deteriorated by continued repose. It is on this law of our nature that Rousseau's remark is founded-" The man who should live ten years without reflection, will never again be capable of it as long as he lives."

Our progress in knowledge, and our success in applying it, will depend on the continuous attention which we give to its acquirement. It is in our intellectual as it is in our moral habits; both are formed by an exercise regular and constant; so that whatever we wish to practise easily, we must make habitual; and that it may become habitual we must be unremitting in its performance. The time, therefore, that is spent in indolence, is not only spent without making any advancement in intellectual improvement, but is productive, in proportion to its duration, of habits that are hostile to it. Our motion-for such is the appointment of the Author of our nature that we can never remain stationary-our motion is all retrograde; and when we relinquish our efforts to go onwards, the stream, without any effort of ours, will carry us rapidly backwards.

Sic omnia fatis

In pejus ruere, ac retrò sublapsa referri;

Non aliter, quàm qui adverso vix flumine lembum
Remigiis subigit, si brachia forte remisit,

Atque illum in præceps prono rapit alveus amni.

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Who, among the illustrious persons who have become the benefactors of the species by their writings and discoveries, attained to their high eminence by inactivity? There is no branch of knowledge, and

there is no department of life, in which a permanent reputation can be secured, without that ardour of mind which leads in the pursuit of its object to the exercise of self-denial, and to the contemplation and the execution of enterprises of difficulty and labour: and he who has never had his hours of thoughtful musing, and whose fancy has never been warmed by his visions of future attainments, and of high achievements, is not likely by his intellectual power to add to his own fame, or to benefit society. We must begin and continue in the path of knowledge with the determination to overcome all the circumstances, whether seen or unforeseen, that can offer resistance to our progress; to acquire gradually such an entire dominion over ourselves, that our habits will at length urge us onwards; and never to allow any of the thousand obstacles that obstruct our passage to turn us aside from the accomplishment of our original design. Nor should we desist in our application, after considerable successes, but continue to go on from strength to strength, adding to the acquisitions which we have already made, that we may fill, with growing honour and usefulness, the sphere which Providence has assigned us.

It was not by vile loitering in ease

That Greece obtain'd the brighter palm of art;
That soft, yet ardent Athens, learn'd to please,
To keen the wit, and to sublime the heart,
In all supreme! complete in every part!

It was not thence majestic Rome arose,

And o'er the nations shook her conquering dart:
For sluggard's brow the laurel never grows;
Renown is not the child of indolent repose.

"It was said of Hannibal, that he wanted nothing to the completion of his martial virtues, but that when he had gained a victory he should know how to use it." It unfortunately happens, that men, in their literary pursuits, resemble too often, in this respect, the Carthaginian General. It is not uncommon for those who, at their first entrance on their studies, or into the world, were distinguished for their abilities and their ardour, to disappoint the hopes which they had raised, and to end in neglect and obscurity that life which they began in celebrity and honour. Such a change as this, as well as indolence in general, in those whose duty it is to put forth all their energies, must, I fear, be traced to the influence of improper motives in the outset, or at least to the absence of such as are powerful and efficient. "These errors," says Johnson, "all arise from an original mistake of the true motives of action. He that never extends his view beyond the praises or rewards of men, will be dejected by neglect and envy, or infatuated by honours and applause. But the consideration that life is only deposited in his hands to be employed in obedience to a master who will regard his endeavours, not his successes, would have preserved him from trivial elations and discouragements, and enabled him to proceed with constancy and cheerfulness, neither enervated by commendation, nor intimidated by censure.".

I know not how I can better conclude these observations, than in the words of that memorable answer which Sir Isaac Newton gave to the illustrious foreigner who complimented him on the greatness of

his genius, and the wonderful extent of his discoveries. Indeed, sir, you are in a mistake on both points; the objects are, indeed, vast and magnificent, and therefore I made a choice fortunate for my reputation; but they are comprehensible by the most ordinary genius, if he will take my method,-never to hurry. If I have any advantages over other naturalists, it is only in a more patient thinking, in which I perhaps exceed many of them. To this I am indebted for all my success."

The man who distinguishes himself from others, stands in a press of people: those before him intercept his progress; and those behind him, if he does not urge on, will tread him down. He is the man who is most likely to rise to eminence, and to benefit mankind by his labours, to whom the language of the poet is applicable—

"Nil actum reputans si quid superesset agendum."

CHAPTER III.

EXPLANATORY OBSERVATIONS.

THE habit of attaching definite notions to our words is of the first importance to clearness of thought. This is a fact which has been the subject of remark in every age; an while its importance to the progress of science is universally allowed, it is peculiarly felt in studying the operations of mind. From the constitution of our nature, we are long familiar with the

objects of sense before we begin to reflect on what we feel; and when we do begin to reflect, we attempt an explanation of the phenomena of mind by analologies derived from the phenomena of matter; and in consequence of this application we transfer the language of that which we already know to denote the processes of a substance altogether dissimilar, and which comparatively we do not know. This circumstance renders it the more necessary for us carefully to ascertain the notions which metaphysicians affix to their words; to use these words ourselves as nearly as possible in the same acceptation; and to have clear ideas of the things which our expressions are employed to denote.

"The sure and only way," says Locke in his Conduct of the Understanding, "to get true knowledge, is to form in our minds clear and settled notions of things, with names annexed to those determined ideas. These we are to consider, and with their several relations and habitudes, and not amuse ourselves with floating names, and words of indetermined signification, which we can use in several senses to serve a turn. It is in the perception of the habitudes and respects which our ideas have one to another that real knowledge consists; and when a man once perceives how far they agree, and how far they disagree one with another, he will be able to judge of what other people say, and will not need to be led by the arguments of others, which are many of them nothing but plausible sophistry. This will teach him to state the question right, and see whereon it turns; and thus he will stand upon his own legs, and know by his own un

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