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III.

Some trees yield a precious balsam for the healing of wounds; some a quantity of turpentine and resin; and others give out valuable oils and gums. Nor are trees serviceable only in a natural state. By the assistance of art some are converted into houses to protect man from the inclemency of the weather, or are moulded into a variety of forms for the purposes of building and domestic comfort; others raise the huge fabric of the floating castle or bulky merchant-ship, by which our shores are protected from foreign invasion, and articles of industry and commerce transported to the remotest regions. "Book of Nature."

CLASSICAL STUDIES.

I.

Mr. Williams will probably ground you more perfectly in the grammar of the classical languages than has hitherto been done, and this you will at first find but dry work. But there are many indispensable reasons why you must bestow the utmost attention upon it. A perfect knowledge of the classical languages has been fixed upon, and not without good reason, as the mark of a welleducated young man; and though people may have scrambled into distinction without it, it is always with the greatest difficulty, just like climbing over a wall instead of giving your ticket at the door. Besides, the study of grammar, from its very asperities, is calculated to teach youth that patient labour which is necessary to the useful exertion of the understanding upon every other branch of knowledge; and your great deficiency is want of steadiness and of resolute application to the dry as well as the interesting parts of your learning.

II.

But exerting yourself, as I have no doubt you will do, under the direction of so learned a man and so excellent

a teacher as Mr. Williams, and being without the temptations to idleness which occurred at home, I have every reason to believe that to your natural quickness you will presently add such a habit of application and steadiness as will make you a respected member of society, perhaps a distinguished one. It is very probable that the whole success of your future life may depend on the manner in which you employ the next two years; and I am therefore most anxious you should fully avail yourself of the opportunities now afforded you.

You must not be too much disconcerted with the apparent dryness of your immediate studies. Language is the great mark by which man is distinguished from the beasts, and a strict acquaintance with the manner in which it is composed, becomes, as you follow it a little way, one of the most curious and interesting exercises of the intellect.

Sir W. SCOTT, "Letters to his Son Charles."

SUCCESS IN BUSINESS.

The path of success in business is usually the path of common sense. Patient labour and application are as necessary here as in the acquisition of knowledge or the pursuit of science. The old Greeks said, "To become an able man in any profession, three things are necessary -nature, study, and practice." In business, practice, wisely and diligently improved, is the great secret of success. Some may make what are called "lucky hits," but like money earned by gambling, such hits may only serve to lure one to ruin. Bacon was accustomed to say that it was in business as in ways-the nearest way was commonly the foulest, and that if a man would go the fairest way he must go somewhat about. The journey may occupy a longer time, but the pleasure of the labour involved by it, and the enjoyment of the results produced, will be more genuine and unalloyed.

Attention, application, accuracy, method, punctuality, and despatch are the principal qualities required for the

efficient conduct of business of any sort. These, at first
sight, may appear to be small matters; and yet they are
of essential importance to human happiness, well-being,
and usefulness.
SMILES, "Self Help."

TACITUS.

I am glad to find, by your letter just received, that you are reading Tacitus with some relish. His style is rather quaint and enigmatical, which makes it difficult to the student; but then his pages are filled with such admirable apothegms and maxims of political wisdom, as infer the deepest knowledge of human nature; and it is particularly necessary that any one who may have views as a public speaker should be master of his works, as there is neither ancient nor modern who affords such a selection of

admirable quotations. You should exercise yourself frequently in trying to make translations of the passages which most strike you, trying to invest the sense of Tacitus in as good English as you can. This will answer the double purpose of making yourself familiar with the Latin author, and giving you the command of your own language, which no person will ever have who does not study composition in early life.

Sir W. SCOTT, "Letters to his Son."

IMPORTANCE OF COLONIES.

Without transmarine possessions no modern nation has held, or can hold, dominion of the sea; and without dominion of the sea it is impossible for a small island like Great Britain to maintain her place amongst the nations.

It is worthy of notice that so long as Spain, Portugal, Holland, and even Venice and Genoa, held dependencies which were separated from them by the sea, so long were those nations great, powerful, and prosperous; but that from the moment they ceased to hold colonies, they detained in the scale of nations.

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When a colony has been matured, it is frequently of advantage that it should be severed from the parent state. No one can doubt that the separation of the United States from Great Britain towards the close of the last century has materially benefited our own country in the extension of our trade, and has contributed to the more speedy advance of civilization throughout the world.

HEWITT, "British Colonies."

MENTAL COMPOSITION.

Robert Hall had, like Johnson, a singular facility for continuous mental composition. He had only to think closely on a subject, and the topics became associated with appropriate terms and phrases. Writing was a pain and fatigue to him; he had, therefore, disciplined his mind to compose without the help of his pen. He could follow out a connected chain of ideas at pleasure, and accompany them with a series of elaborately finished sentences. Whoever adopts this system of mental composition, will, of course, find the practice of writing an admirable preparation for the art of speaking also; for, it is a habit which enables us to fix the memory upon some substantial mental product, instead of the eye being listlessly employed with only a few words at a time.

One of the greatest masters of composition we have ever had the pleasure of knowing, evolved his mighty powers during a season of temporary blindness. We should accustom ourselves to sketch our subject less on material tablets and far more on the tablets of the mind. In this quarter lies an intellectual mine, which yet remains to be worked-a powerful, though a dormant faculty—which, we have good reason for saying, admits of a degree of growth and development almost incredible to those who have not seen mental composition, like mental arithmetic, fairly tried by a gradual course of systematic exercise.

PYCROFT, "Ways and Words of Men of Letters."

GRECIAN ORATORY.

Our legislators, our candidates, on great occasions even our advocates, address themselves less to the audience than to the reporters. They think less of the few hearers than of the innumerable readers. At Athens the case was different; there the only object of the speaker was immediate conviction and persuasion. He, therefore, who would justly appreciate the merit of the Grecian orators should place himself, as nearly as possible, in the situation of their auditors: he should divest himself of his modern feelings and acquirements, and make the prejudices and interests of the Athenian citizen his own. He who studies their works in this spirit will find that many of those things which, to an English reader, appear to be blemishes-the frequent violation of those excellent rules of evidence by which our courts of law are regulated—the reference to extraneous matter,-the reference to considerations of political expediency in judicial investigations, the assertions, without proof,-the passionate entreaties, the furious invectives,-are really proofs of the prudence and address of the speakers. He must not dwell maliciously on argument or phrases, but acquiesce in his first impressions. It requires repeated perusal and reflection to decide rightly on any other portion of literature. But with respect to works of which the merit depends on their instantaneous effect, the most hasty judgment is likely to be best.

MACAULAY, "On the Athenian Orators.".

USES OF CURRENTS.

The great oceanic currents are one of the grandest phenomena presented by the wise economy of Nature. Owing to these permanent streams, the sea waters mingle from pole to pole, and move with sleepless flow from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, and from this to the Atlantic; and this unending agitation preserves their healthfulness

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