carousals. Your real genius is an idle, irregular, vagabond sort of personage; who muses in the fields, or dreams by the fireside: whose strong impulses, that is the cant of it,-must needs hurry him into wild irregular5 ities, or foolish eccentricity; who abhors order, and can bear no restraint, and eschews all labor; such a one as Newton or Milton! What! they must have been irregular, else they were no geniuses. "The young man," it is often said, "has genius enough, 10 if he would only study." Now the truth is, as I shall take the liberty to state it, that the genius will study; it is that in the mind which does study: that is the very nature of it. I care not to say that it will always use books. All study is not reading, any more than all read15 ing is study. Attention it is, though other qualities belong to this transcendant power, attention it is, that is the very soul of genius; not the fixed eye, not the poring over a book, but the fixed thought. It is, in fact, an action of the 20 mind, which is steadily concentrated upon one idea or one series of ideas, which collects in one point the rays of the soul, till they search, penetrate, and fire the whole train of its thoughts. And, while the fire burns within, the outside may be indeed cold, indifferent, negligent, absent 25 in appearance; he may be an idler or a wanderer, apparently without aim or intent; but still the fire burns within. And what though "it bursts forth," at length, as has been said, "like volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, native force?" It only shows the intense action of 30 the elements beneath. What though it breaks like lightning from the cloud? The electric fire had been collecting in the firmament through many a silent, clear, and calm day. What though the might of genius appears in one decisive blow, struck in some moment of high debate, 35 or at the crisis of a nation's peril? That mighty energy, though it may have heaved in the breast of Demosthenes, was once a feeble infant thought. A mother's eye watched over its dawning. A father's care guarded its early youth. It soon trod with youthful steps the halls of 40 learning, and found other fathers to wake and to watch for it, even as it finds them here. It went on; but siler.ce was upon its path; and the deep strugglings of the inward soul silently ministered to it. The elements around breathed upon it, and "touched it to finer issues." The golden ray of heaven fell upon it, and ripened its expanding faculties. The slow revolutions of years slowly added to its collected energies and treasures; till, in its hour of glory, it stood forth imbodied in the form of liv5 ing, commanding, irresistible eloquence. The world wonders at the manifestation, and says, "Strange, strange, that it should come thus unsought, unpremeditated, unprepared!" But the truth is, there is no more a miracle in it, than there is in the towering of 10 the preeminent forest-tree, or in the flowing of the mighty and irresistible river, or in the wealth and waving of the boundless harvest. LESSON VIII.—ANTIQUITY OF FREEDOM.-W. C. BRYANT. Here are old trees, tall oaks | and gnarled pines, 5 To linger here, among the flitting birds, And leaping squirrels, wandering brooks, and winds ' A fragrance from the cedars, thickly set With pale blue berries. In these peaceful shades,10 Peaceful, unpruned, immeasurably old, My thoughts go up the long dim' path of years, O FREEDOM! thou art not, as poets dream, With which the Roman master crowned his slave | When he took off the gyves. A bearded man, Armed to the teeth, art thou; one mailed hand || Grasps the broad shield, and one | the sword; thy brow, 20 Glorious in beauty | though it be, is scarred || With tokens of old wars; thy massive limbs Are strong with struggling. Power | at thee has launched 25 Merciless power has dug thy dungeon deep, Have forged thy chain; yet, while he deems thee bound, 5 Thou wert twin-born with man. 10 Didst war upon the panther As springs the flame above a burning pile, And shoutest to the nations, who return Thy shoutings, while the pale oppressor | flies. Thy birthright | was not given by human hands. In pleasant fields While yet our race was few, thou sat'st with him, To tend the quiet flock | and watch the stars, And teach the reed to utter simple airs. Thou by his side, amid the tangled wood, and the wolf, His only foes; and thou with him' didst draw The earliest furrows on the mountain side, Soft with the deluge. Tyranny himself, Thy enemy, although of reverend look, 15 Hoary with many years, and far obeyed, Is later born than thou; and as he meets The grave defiance of thine elder eye, The usurper trembles | in his fastnesses. Oh! not yet 20 Mays't thou unbrace thy corslet, nor lay by Thy sword; nor yet, O Freedom! close thy lids' In slumber; for thine enemy | never sleeps, 1 And thou must watch and combat || till the day 25 Awhile from tumult and the frauds of men, Thy visit. They, while yet the forest trees | And yet the moss-stains on the rock | were new, 30 Beheld thy glorious childhood, and rejoiced. LESSON IX.-SUNRISE ON THE HILLS.-H. W. LONGFELLOW. [To be marked for Rhetorical Pauses.] I stood upon the hills, where heaven's wide arch 5 The clouds were far beneath me:-bathed in light Like hosts in battle overthrown, As many a pinnacle with shifting glance, 10 Through the gray mist thrust up its shattered lance, 5 10 And rocking on the cliff was left The dark pine, blasted, bare, and cleft. Where upward, in the mellow blush of day, I saw the current whirl and flash;— 15 Came sweetly to the echo-giving hills, And the wild horn, whose voice the woodland fills, That faint and far the glen sent out,- 25 With sorrows that thou wouldst forget,- Dim the sweet look that Nature wears. LESSON X.-THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.-E. COOPER. [This, and the two following pieces, are marked as exercises in application of the rules contained in the Section on Emphasis, Part I., page 28.] The true Christian must show that he is in earnest about religion. In the management of his worldly affairs, he must let it clearly be seen, that he is not influenced by a worldly mind; that his heart is not upon 5 earth; that he pursues his worldly calling from a principle of DUTY, not from a sordid love of gain; and that, in truth, his treasures are in HEAVEN. He must, therefore, not only "provide things honest in the sight of all men ;" not only avoid every thing which is fraudulent and un10 just in his dealings with others; not only openly protest against those iniquitous practices which the custom of trade too frequently countenances and approves;-but, also, he must "let his moderation be known unto all men." He must not push his gains with seeming eagerness, even to the utmost LAWFUL extent. He must exercise forbearance. He must be content with moderate profits. He must sometimes even forego advantages, which, in them5 selves, he might innocently take, lest he should seem to give any ground for suspecting that his heart is secretly set upon these things. Thus, also, with respect to worldly pleasures; he must endeavor to convince men that the pleasures which RELI10 GION furnishes, are far greater than those which the world can yield. While, therefore, he conscientiously keeps from joining in those trifling, and, too often, profane amusements, in which ungodly men profess to seek their happiness, he must yet labor to show, that, in keeping 15 from those things, he is, in respect to real happiness, no loser, but even a GAINER by religion. He must avoid every thing which may look like moroseness and gloom. He must cultivate a cheerfulness of spirit. He must endeavor to show, in his whole deportment, the contentment 20 and tranquillity which naturally flow from heavenly affections, from a mind at peace with GoD, and from a hope full of IMMORTALITY. The spirit which Christianity enjoins and produces, is so widely different from the spirit of the world, and so im25 mensely superior to it, that, as it cannot fail of being noticed, so it cannot fail of being admired, even by those who are strangers to its power. Do you ask in what particulars this spirit shows itself? I answer, in the exercise of humility, of meekness, of gentleness; in a patient bear30 ing of injuries; in a readiness to forgive offences; in a uniform endeavor to overcome evil with good; in self-denial and disinterestedness; in universal kindness and courtesy; in slowness to wrath; in an unwillingness to hear or to speak evil of others; in a forwardness to defend, to 35 advise, and to assist them; in loving our enemies; in blessing them that curse us; in doing good to them that hate us. These are genuine fruits of true Christianity. The Christian must "let his light shine before men," by discharging in a faithful, a diligent, and a consistent 40 manner, the personal and particular duties of his station. As a member of society, he must be distinguished by a blameless and an inoffensive conduct; by a simplicity and an ingenuousness of character, free from every degree of guile; by uprightness and fidelity in all his engagements. |