terms; and the first part of the series may be considered as more particularly applying to such a character as I have brought forward to form the counterpart of my contrast, yet, it requires no great discernment to discover, to which of the two characters, the latter part of the series now more particularly applies. Yes! if the first part of the doctrine here laid down in such plain and distinct terms, as that he who runneth may read, may be considered as having its confirmamation, in the case of Goldsmith; the latter, may assuredly be said, now, to have had its most ample fulfilment in that of Sir Walter Scott-who, too soon found, for his comfort, that as there had been for him "a time to gain," there was also for him "a time to lose ;" and that, at the time he spoke so unwittingly (I shall not give it a harsher term) to Mr Wordsworth, in the early part of 1831,* in respect to having "twenty years mind and health in him yet," no doubt in the hope of being able to devote them to the purpose of relieving his pecuniary engagements, the noblest trait in Sir Wal ter's character, the chance, was so much against him, that he should not see the end of the following year!

It is not, however, to be inferred from this, that man is to lie down in a state of useless apathy at the moment of his birth; or, to stand still, as he grows up, with his arms folded in sullen indifference, on account of his uncertainty of success in accumulating the good things of a present life, or the insecurity of his tenure, after he has accumulated them; for, although it may be considered a hard matter to toil on for a length of time, only to see our efforts thwarted, and our fondest hopes overturned or blasted, just at the time we conceived them to be on the point of being realized;-and a harder still, to have our expectations all blown up, and our fondest anticipations dissipated and scattered before the winds of Heaven, at the precise moment, when we had considered them as having arrived at maturity:

Yet, the early wants and instincts of our nature, must soon produce their necessary consequences, in arousing the

* See reported conversation with Mr W., Imperial Magazine, November 1832, p. 502.

feeble child into action, in order to have his earliest infantile wants supplied.

The developement of his reasoning powers, as he grows up, by his span being prolonged, cannot fail to convince a mind rightly constituted, from the conformation of the various parts of his body and the unsuppressible energies of the intellectual portion of his nature, that, of all creatures, man, was not made for a state of supineness, or inaction, and point out, as his proper field for exertion, HIS Individual, HIS Relative, HIS Social, and, if all is right with his mental rulers, and they are not distorted and warped by prejudice, HIS Devotional duties; while, to render the knowledge of his duty, and expectations, the more complete, RELIGION steps forward to his aid, and, kindly pointing to the skies, bids him set his affections upon the things that are above, for that, this is not his final resting place;-bids him bear up with fortitude, patience, and resignation, under all the trials, and difficulties, and struggles of life, in the prospect of a better, more lasting, and enduring inheritance, where, heavenly HOPE whispers, all that seems mysterious, unaccountable, and perplexing, in this mortal state, shall be cleared up; and "the mighty maze, without a plan," as it now appears to be, to short-sighted mortals, shall no less astonish, by the order, and concord, and harmony, that prevail in its several parts, than astound and startle, when taken collectively, by the infinitude of its magnitude, and splendour of its magnificence:-and fair SCIENCE teaches us, from the greatest discovery she has ever yet made, and which, in fact, amounts, notwithstanding all her recent helps, aids, and inventions, to no more than what she had discovered in the patriarchal ages, viz., only

"To know how little can be known,"

to take a lesson from our ignorance, and not to presume to scan too critically, by our imperfect and feeble powers, far less to find fault with, by our very limited faculties, the operations of that all-powerful and MIGHTY MIND, which, at the present moment, after all the assistance modern science has received from her more recent discoveries and searching instruments, puts the same confounding and puzzling question to human vanity, as in the days of the good man of the

D

land of Uz,-"Canst thou, by searching, find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection ?" and utterly silences all disposition to future cavilling, by that cutting rebuke to human pride.

"He who, through vast immensity can pierce;
See worlds on worlds compose one universe;
Observe how system into system runs,

What other planets circle other suns,

What varied Being peoples every star,——

May tell, why Heaven has made us as we are."

"Presumptuous man! the reason wouldst thou find,
Why formed so weak, so little, and so blind?
First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess,
Why formed no weaker, blinder, and no less ?"

But as such knowledge is still too high for us, as it was in the days of Job-still beyond the possibility of our attainment, in this, our mortal state of existence, it certainly would be more becoming in us, rather, than display our ignorance, as well as presumption, by manifesting any disposition to cavilling, to take the short but comprehensive advice of the bard of Twickenham, whom I have just quoted:

"Hope humbly then, on trembling pinions soar,

Wait the great teacher DEATH, and GoD adore ."

Which advice, it will be observed, is most powerfully backed by the language of the sweetly singing muse of the poet of the Seasons, in drawing towards the end of his task on WINTER :

"Ye vainly wise! ye blind presumptuous! now,
Confounded in the dust, adore that PowER,

And WISDOM, oft arraign'd! See now the cause,
Why unassuming worth in secret lived,

And died, neglected ;-Why the good man's share
In life was gall, and bitterness of soul;—

Why the lone widow, and her orphans, pin'd

In starving solitude; while luxury,

In palaces, lay straining her low thought,

To form unreal wants;-Why heaven-born truth,

And moderation fair, wore the red marks

Of Superstition's scourge ;-Why licens'd pain,
That cruel spoiler, that embosom'd foe,
Imbitter'd all our bliss.

Ye good distrest!

Ye noble few! who here, unbending, stand
Beneath life's pressure, yet bear up a while;
And what your bounded view, which only saw
A little part, deemed evil, is no more!"

And we have the more reason to proceed in our duty, when

animated and inspired, to bear up under the pressure of the

accumulated ills of life, by considerations such as these, from the comfortable truths advanced, and held forth, by another of the sons of song of the last century, the well known author of "Night Thoughts:"

"Life's cares are comforts; such, by Heav'n design'd;

He that has none, must make them, or be wretched.
Cares are employments; and, without employ,
The soul is on the rack; the rack of rest,

To souls most adverse; action, all their joy!"

And again,

"The man who consecrates his hours, By vig'rous effort, and an honest aim,

At once he draws the sting of life and death,

He walks with nature;-and her paths are peace."

Such were the doctrines taught, by these, and others of the favourite poets of my juvenile days, among whom I may reckon GRAY, who wrote his beautiful Elegy in a Country Church-yard, in the middle of the last,-MILTON, whose sublime effusions shed a lustre over part of the preceding, and CowPER, who finished his earthly TASK, in the first year of the present, century: And, there can be no doubt, that their writings were not without their influence, in the formation of my early opinions, as well as of those of some of my contemporaries.

It remains to be seen, in the course of time, whether the doctrines taught and inculcated by the Byrons and the Scotts, of more modern date, will ensure, for themselves, an equally lasting reputation, as the afore-mentioned worthies have done; or afford to their admirers, so much solid mental food and nourishment, as may be, and have been, derived from the labours of their predecessors in this species of literature; adopting it as the test, to try the one, the definition of CICERO, who held "True honour to be, the concurrent approbation of good men," for this forcible reason, “Such, only, being fit to give true praise, who are, themselves, praiseworthy;"-and the criterion, to judge of the others by, THE FRUITS Such doctrines are found calculated, in their tendencies, to produce ;-which rule of judging, will be found, to be exactly conformable, to the standard laid down in the NEW TESTAMENT.

CHAPTER II.

Good reasons why, man should not think of deserting his post in the hour of trial. Two descriptions of persons particularly excluded, by Rousseau, from the commission of suicide.-Christianity embraces a more comprehensive and perfect system of ethics.-No individual, by her standard, allowed to commit such a cowardly crime.-Other methods of suicide, besides the more sudden and violent ones-Who may be classed, among the betrayers of their trust, and true cowards of society.-Human life a state of trial and probation. A kind of isthmus, or middle state of preparation for another world-May be considered as a passage to another country; or, as I have expressed it on my title,―a Journey.—Different estimation, in which the man is held who boldly sets his front to the battle, to him, who basely deserts his post in the moment of danger.-Sublime spectacle, according to Seneca,-Angels' estimate of human worth, according to Addison -Fortitude in adversity, one of the heroical virtues in morals, according to Lord Bacon. My conflicts, however severe and procrastinated, bear no resemblance whatever, to those of "the man of the hundred battles.”. One comfort to those who move in the humbler spheres of life ;- Another, they have not a hard task-master to deal with.-An important question, how it only can be answered.-Other questions arising out of the former, which the Sexagenarian may be allowed to put, and which admit of more easy solution.

BUT, if it is not to be surmised, that man, in consequence of any obstacles he may meet with, or difficulties he may find in his way, and which, a little time, and patient perseverance, might enable him to remove or overcome, is to lie down, or stand still, a jaring string in the creation of God,—while so much harmony, in the midst of such ceaseless activity, prevails, and is produced, around him; so, far less, is it to be imagined, that a Being, possessed with so many noble, and ennobling powers and energies, as he is, should deem himself at liberty to desert his post in the hour of trial, or fly like a coward from that contest, in which, a little firmness of mind, and a proper exercise of the faculties, which nature, who (to use a homely phrase) usually "makes the back meet for the burden," has furnished him with, might enable him to come off victorious.

There are two descriptions of persons particularly excluded, according to the reasoning of Jean Jacques Rousseau, from