character of those who, in very deed, were true scholars, whether from the schools or self-made men. For all the great generals, the founders of states, the rulers of immortal fame, the men who have inaugurated letters, and learning, and science in commonwealths and empires, the great authors, renowned teachers and philosophers, and immortal philanthropists—yea, all the names of might and power in history, with the rarest, scarcest exceptions, have been ranked in the lofty scroll of scholars. "For," says Lord Bacon, "the conceit that learning should dispose men to leisure and privatencss, and make men slothful, it were a strange thing if that which accustometh the mind to perpetual motion and agitation should induce slothfulness, whereas, contrariwise, it may be truly affirmed, that no kind of men love business for itself but those who are learned; for other persons love it for profit, as a hireling that loves work for the wages or for honor, . . . or because it putteth them in mind of their fortune, &c, etc. Only learned men love business as an action according to nature, as agreeable to health of mind as exercise is to health of body, taking pleasure in the action itself and not in the purchase; so that of all men they are the most indefatigable, if it be towards any business which can hold or detain their mind."[1]
In prudence, with assiduousness, under a deep sense of responsibility to God, and man, and the state, may we all determine to use our influence, and to set the example, which may tend to cultivate men and manhood in our country. Let law and religion,
- ↑ Lord Bacon, "Advancement of Learning," b. 1.
