On some great sudden haste. O, what portents are these? Some heavy business hath my lord in hand, 25 And I must know it, else he loves me not. Shakspeare. 42. The exercise of the Memory in learning not sufficient. To learn, seems, with many, to imply no more than a bare exercise of memory. To read, and to remember is, they imagine, all they have to do. I affirm on the contrary that a great deal more is necessary, as to exer5 cise the judgment and the discursive faculty. I shall put the case, that one were employed to teach you algebra; and instead of instructing you in the manner of stating and resolving algebraic equations, he should think it incumbent on him, only to inform you of all the 10 principal problems, that had at any time exercised the art of the most famous algebraists, and the solutions they had given; and being possessed of a retentive memory, I shall suppose, you have a distinct remembrance both of the questions and the answers; could ye for 15 this, be said to have learnt algebra? No, surely. To teach you that ingenious and useful art, is to instruct you in those principles, by the proper application of which, you shall be enabled to solve the questions for yourselves. In like manner, to teach you to understand 20 the scriptures, is to initiate you into those general principles, which will gradually enable you of yourselves, to enter into their sense and spirit. It is not to make you repeat by rote the judgments of others, but to bring you to form judgments of your own; to see with 25 your own eyes, and not with other people's. I shall conclude this prelection with the translation of a short passage from the Persian letters, which falls in entirely with my present subject. Rica having been to visit the library of a French convent, writes thus to his friend 30 in Persia concerning what had passed. Father, said I to the librarian, what are these huge volumes which fill the whole side of the library? These, said he, are the Interpreters of the scriptures. There is a prodigious number of them, replied I; the scriptures must have 35 been very dark formerly and very clear at present. Do there remain still any doubts? Are there now any points contested? Are there, answered he with surprise, Are there? There are almost as many as there are lines. You astonish me, said I, what then have all 40 these authors been doing? These authors, returned he, never searched the scriptures, for what ought to be believed, but for what they did believe themselves. They did not consider them as a book, wherein were contained the doctrines which they ought to receive, 45 but as a work which might be made to authorize their own ideas. For this reason, they have corrupted all the meanings, and have put every passage to the torture, to make it speak their own sense. "Tis a country whereon people of all sects make invasions, and go for 50 pillage; it is a field of battle, where when hostile nations meet, they engage, attack and skirmish in a thousand different ways. Campbell. 1 THE boy stood on the burning deck, The flame that lit the battle's wreck, 2 The flames roll'd on--he would not go, 3 He call'd aloud--" Say, father, say He knew not that the chieftain lay *Young Casabianca, a boy about thirteen years old, son to the admiral of the Orient, remained at his post (in the battle of the Nile,) after the ship had taken fire, and all the guns had been abandoned; and perished in the explosion of the vessel, when the flames had reached the powder. 5 4" Speak, Father !" once again he cried, --And but the booming shots replied, 5 They wrapt the ship in splendour wild, And streamed above the gallant child, 6 There came a burst of thunder sound-- 7 With mast, and helm, and pennon fair, 44. Mrs. Hemans. Fitz James and Roderick Dhu. With cautious step, and ear awake, Famish'd and chilled, through'ways unknown, 10 Till, as a rock's huge point he turned, The gale has chilled my limbs with frost." - 20 "Art thou a friend to Roderick ?"—"No." Though space and law the stag we lend, Who ever reck'd, where, how, or when, And let me but till morning rest Thou bear'st the belt and spur of Knight." 40 "Enough, enough; sit down and share 45. Address to the Mummy. Scott. 1 And thou hast walk'd about (how strange a story!) 2 Speak! for thou long enough hast acted Dummy, Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures, 3 Tell us for doubtless thou canst recollect, To whom should we assign the sphinx's fame? Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect Of either Pyramid that bears his name? Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer? Has hob-a-nobb'd with Pharaoh glass to glass ; Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat, Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass, 6 I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed, Long after thy primeval race was run. 7 Since first thy form was in this box extended, We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations; New worlds have risen-we have lost old nations, 8 Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder, 9 If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed, A heart has throbb'd beneath that leathern breast, |