enter the lists with Raphael, not as an historical, but as a portrait, painter. His best portraits are those of Paul III., Clement VII., Julia Gonzaga, and Aretino.

The only peculiarly personal characteristics of Piombo were an irresolution to begin, and a difficulty in executing. These characteristics are so seldom found united in men of superior genius, that I am not aware, of another instance.

XLI.

WHO STAND ALONE.

'I'm like some aged mountain, that has stood
In the sea's watery bosom thousand shocks
Of threatening tempests; yet by the flattering waves,-
That cling and curl about his stormy limbs,
Is undermined and ruin'd.'-Glapthorne.

SOME provinces, and even nations, in the midst of many changes, preserve for ages the characteristics by which they were distinguished in early periods. Thus the natives of the Biscay mountains are said still to resemble a colony of republicans rather than the members of an absolute government. Others change easily, with every wind and impulse. Awed by no principle, and undeterred even by ridicule,-that potent giant of all civilized societies!-they yet succeed in many a difficult enterprise. If the former stand like the ruins of a castle, destitute of ivy, lichen, weed, or moss, shorn of half its beauty, and destitute of half its grandeur; the latter resemble the pholas, which perforates hard surfaces by means of an organ resembling a tongue, after having softened those substances with a fluidical secretion, which exudes from its body.

VOL. II.

E

Some walk, as it were, by themselves. As long as they do so, they move safely, protected by their ignorance or by their singleness of purpose; but when they join interests with others, or embrace two objects, the arch of fortune, as it were, sinks beneath them. Thus the Peruvians, in passing over the rope bridges of their mountain torrents, move quickly and alone with great facility and safety; but the moment they pause to gaze upon the water, seen through the meshes below, or lean upon the ropes that serve as rails, they become entangled with the meshes, or fall over the ropes into the torrent.

Some men delight in standing singly, let them say, do, and meditate what they will. They love to live, as it were, like the spider in its web, or the lion and hyena in their dens and deserts.

I have no brother; I am like no brother.

I am myself alone.'

Pope Theophylact was not quite of this order; but he stands alone in one circumstance. He sold every benefice as it became vacant:-many popes had done the same. He had not less than two thousand hunters. Perhaps some popes have had as many. But none of them ever fed them with pistachios, figs, dates, and dried grapes, steeped in wine, saturated with perfumes. Nor is such a fact as this recorded against them. One Holy Thursday*, as he was celebrating high mass, information was brought him that a favourite mare had brought forth a fine foal. Every thing fled from his holiness's mind but this happy event. He rose from * Fleury, Hist. Eccl. lv. Mosheim, ii., 93.

his knees, threw down the liturgy, ran out of the church, and flew to the stables. There, with delighted eyes, he beheld the object of his wishes; and, having patted the mother on the back, and stroked the young stranger gently with his hand, he returned to the altar to finish the service.

-The snail!

Where'er he dwells, he dwells alone,
Except himself has chattels none,

Well satisfied to be his own

Whole treasure!'

Some men we may compare to those parasitical plants of Trinidad and Cuba, which rise so luxuriantly around the trees, that the trees are scarcely to be distinguished from the creepers by which they are embosomed*; others, on the other hand, may be assimilated with the air-plants of South America, which hang round the gratings of the balconies, and flower for many successive years, with no earth to sustain them.

When I was a boy, and went frequently to bathe in the river with other boys, many of the smaller would never bathe near the larger ones. Their fear was not of being drowned, but of being supposed not to be able

* Of these may be particularly mentioned the silk-cotton tree (Bombax heptaphyllum), which grows in the island of St. Thomas. Its branches extend one hundred and twenty feet. They are 'destitute of leaves, except at the extremities; but this deficiency ' of foliage is amply supplied by the innumerable creepers and ' parasitic plants which cover its trunk and branches, and which, 'when in flower, by the diversity of their forms and colours, give 'to the whole a singular and imposing appearance.'—Mons. Schomburck's Paper, read at the Linnæan Society, Feb. 1834.

to swim well enough to keep themselves from drowning. Most of these have done well in the world.

It is certain, that private ties too often moderate public enthusiasm. They walk with speed,' said Napoleon to Bourrienne, 'who walk alone.' He might have said, also, they sometimes walk too fast.'

There seems to have been some likeness between John, Earl of Bristol, as sketched by Clarendon, and Lord Chatham, as drawn by Mr. Grattan. 'Lord Bristol,' says Clarendon, was a man of great parts, ' and a wise man; yet he had been, for the most part, single and by himself in business, which he managed 'by himself with good sufficiency. But he had lived little in consort, so that, in council, he was passionate ' and supercilious:' and thus Grattan of Lord Chatham; The ordinary feelings that make life amiable. ' and indolent, those sensations, which soften and allure, ' and vulgarize, were unknown to him. No domestic 'difficulties, no domestic comforts, reached him; but ' aloof from the sordid difficulties of life, and unsullied 'by its intercourse, he came, occasionally, into our system, to counsel and to decide.' He, too, from standing alone, was passionate and supercilious.

Those who stand alone, are apt to be ignorant and shallow; therefore presumptuous and arrogant. As to reward, the poet is a philosopher who reasons thus:

-The reward

Is in the race we run; not in the prize.'-Rogers, p. 206.

Unless, indeed, the obtainment of that prize leads us to another race which is often, perhaps too often, the case; more especially in age.

If it is agreeable, in some respects, to resemble the vine, the jessamine, the clematis, and the honeysuckle, in being supported by a stronger step, still more delightful is it to breathe the air of labour, and like the goat and the hind,

Walk unsustain'd, and unassisted feed.

They live at once; forsake the dam's warm side;
Take the wide world, with Nature for their guide;
Bound o'er the lawn, or seek the distant glade;

And find a home in each delightful shade.'-Young.

In some respects it is the best of fortunes to be left to ourselves; always so in philosophy, if capable of first principles.

XLII.

MEN OF MERE PLAUSIBILITY.

SOME men are loquacious, plausible, adroit, and subtle; but their loquacity creates enemies; their plausibility the victory of an hour; their adroitness the success of a day; their subtlety-sometimes-the ruin of years.

XLIII.

WHO HAVE STRENGTH AND NO POWER TO COMMUNICATE

IT.

It is fortunate for mankind, that many skilful men possess neither the opportunity nor the industry to bring bad designs to successful issues. To some both are wanting; to others only one. Thus Goring, in the days of the parliament (at least so Clarendon assures